Where Is the Heavy-Light Organization in the Army's Future Force?
Abstract
On 28 March 2003, Task Force 2-70 Armor was detached from the 3rd Infantry Division and attached to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) West of Al Kifl, Iraq. The tactical relationship between the Army's Air Assault Division and a heavy Task Force was a success even though the soldiers at the Captain level and below had never worked with nor trained with the other force. However, the logistical relationship between the two organizations was a failure because the two forces never developed a logistical structure that would have allowed the heavy Task Force to maintain and regenerate its heavy equipment and operate with the light division longer than it did. As a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom, it appears that the U.S. Army can place a heavy Task Force into a Light Infantry organization during combat operations and the resultant combined arms team will be immediately effective. Throughout the U.S. Army's history, soldiers have fought together as a Heavy-Light force and have recognized that the Heavy-Light force is the correct organization in many wartime tactical situations, but they have matriculated back to separate and distinct light and heavy forces in peacetime. The Heavy and Light forces are marginally prepared to fight as a Heavy-Light Team and are unprepared to support each other logistically for extended periods of time. In many tactical scenarios, the best solution is a Heavy-Light team with durable armored vehicles combined with many Infantrymen on the ground. The Army is transforming to a modular structure with three types of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs). What is not found in this future structure is a force with both heavy and light forces. Solutions to this problem are a Heavy-Light BCT or an Independent Heavy Maneuver Battalion assigned to a Light Infantry UEx. Both organizations will give the Army a fully trained Heavy-Light force capable of fighting as a team and of maintaining itself logistically for extended periods of time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 26, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA435937
Entities
People
- Jeffrey D. Ingram
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College