Engineer presents professional information designed to keep U.S. military and civilian engineers informed of current and emerging developments within their areas of expertise for the purpose of enhancing their professional development.
Issue link: https://engineer.epubxp.com/i/284727
January–April 2014 8 Engineer maneuver and wide area security. A ready, robust, respon- sive force deters adversaries, reassures allies and, when necessary, compels our enemies to change their behavior. Maintaining such a force requires high levels of adapt- ability throughout each echelon of the Army. Only Soldiers with tactical skill and operational can effectively respond to changing tactical situations in support of our Nation's strategic goals and interests. This is where company commanders ft into the concept of strategic landpower. Much like company grade offcers did in Iraq and Afghanistan, the company commander of the future must be mentally agile enough to thrive within the parameters of mission command. Developing leaders who can do so, while providing clear task and purpose to their subordinates, will be critical to the success of any mis- sion across the range of military operations. Effective Army commanders, including those at the company level, do not use fscal constraints as an excuse for failing to develop the best possible mix of training, equipment, and regional expertise they can within their formations. Rather, they motivate their people and guide their units in a way that makes optimal use of available resources to create adaptive, effective forces. Our Army has three primary and interconnected roles— prevent , shape the operational environment, and win the Nation's wars. The company commander has impor- tant responsibilities in each of these. I t is prudent here to defne what a is. Since the term gets thrown around a lot and attached to a lot of different situations, it is easy to misunderstand the doctrinal meaning. is an armed struggle or clash between organized groups within a nation or between nations in order to achieve limited political or military objectives. Irregular forces frequently make up the majority of enemy combatants we face now and may continue to do so in the future. is often protracted, geographically confned, and constrained in the level of violence. Each one also holds the potential to esca- late into major combat operations. Many of the contingencies to which the United States responded militarily in the past 50 years have been appropriately defned as The same can reason- ably be expected in the future, but with the addition of cyberspace. As was true during the Cold War, many of our greatest successes in the future will not occur on the battlefeld; rather, maintaining peace may be our greatest achievement. This will be no easy task as global tensions and instability increase in ungoverned or weakly governed spaces around the world. History has taught us that without a capable, highly trained land force, the United States has little in many of those spaces. That land force, our Army, must remain the best equipped, best trained, and most combat-ready force in the world if it is to have the strategic effect we seek. That readiness is built from the bottom up. This is the frst critical point where company command- ers must help shape the future. As owners of the training schedule, commanders have a critical role in developing team, squad, and platoon skills. Commanders ensure that broadening training—like language, geographical, and cultural familiarization—is done effectively, in a rigorous manner. Soldiers from the generation that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be satisfed with training that is focused on artifcial scenarios and made-up adversaries, so their commanders need to be innovative about prepar- ing well-coordinated, realistic training. Subordinates must be challenged, and they have to feel that their challenges have a direct link to future operations. In order not to lose 12 years of combat-proven leader development, company grade offcers must fnd a balance between building an Army prepared for the range of military operations and succumb- ing to pressure to "get back to the way it used to be." Unfortunately, the possession of such a trained and ready force is useless if it cannot affect regions where trouble is brewing. As units reposition from overseas bases and return to the United States, it becomes more crucial than ever for the Army to adopt an expeditionary mind- set and improve its expeditionary capability. To do so, the Army is aligning units to specifc geographical regions and arranging them into scalable and tailored expeditionary force packages that meet the needs of the joint force com- mander across the range of military operations. In short, our Army will be better postured to generate strategic in u- ence anywhere in the world and, as part of the joint force, to deter aggression. In this construct, company commanders must conduct operational environment training specifc to their region. Becoming familiar with the people, cultures, and languages A team leader from the 370th Engineer Company, 54th Engineer Battalion, prepares the initiator for an explosive charge while other members of his team pull security during military operations on urbanized terrain training. EN Cone.1.indd 11 3/12/2014 1:11:21 PM