Company Commander Survivability at the National Training Center (NTC): Initial Analyses for Attach-and-Defend Battles

Abstract

For this report, analyses of instrumented data from the National Training Center (NTC) for 42 deliberate attack battles and 31 defend battles were conducted to determine the survivability rates of company commanders. Additionally, information concerning the extent to which commanders who became casualties were firing their weapon(s) before being 'hit' and the tactical location of these commanders vis-a-vis the Operating Force when they became casualties was collected and examined. Results revealed an overall survival rate of 70% for company commanders across both types of battles. Armor company commanders during attack battles experienced the lowest survivability. Additional findings indicate that the majority of the commanders who became casualties were not firing their weapons before being hit. Commanders who were hit and those who survived positioned themselves in the forward area of the battlefield. Results agree with earlier reported findings concerning commander survival during WWII and in the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as earlier studies based on NTC battles.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA258527

Entities

People

  • Robert F. Holtz

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army
  • Battlefields
  • Battles
  • Casualties
  • Command And Control
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Forward Areas
  • Infantry
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Research
  • Social Sciences
  • Survivability
  • Survival
  • Task Forces
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Military Science