I am writing this diary as a supplement to some of the materials that Kos has put out to explain our military’s organizational and philosophical doctrine: Combined Arms.
I wanted to supplement his great diaries with a sort of ground-up understanding of what it is. I think this will help people understand why it is taking so long to deploy our modern equipment to the Ukrainian battlefield. It might also help people understand that the United States and NATO are NOT stringing Ukraine along, holding back on the best equipment, but rather they are strategically trying to help Ukraine deploy its forces in the most effective way. For combined arms to be effective it must be indoctrinated in every member of the military from the lowest private to the highest general. THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS
First, I think it is hard to overstate how much different the Russian and United States military philosophies are. Just looking at the basic infantryman’s weapon provides a good start:
Russian weapon = AK-47
This is an extremely tough weapon that can be dragged through mud and fired, but is not high precision. It is most effectively deployed in high volume.
US weapon = M16 (various takes on it)
This is a weapon that requires lots of maintenance and training, but is high precision. Thus, it is a more effective weapon deployed individually than the AK.
These weapons serve as a metaphor for our overall strategies perfectly. The US believes it is important to invest time and energy training their lowest level soldiers to operate and maintain precision weapons. The Russians prefer to make tons of easy to operate weapons to deploy en masse. More to the point, the US invests significant resources to create an effective, highly trained, and heavily coordinated military.
Thus, everyone is indoctrinated in combined arms the day they enter bootcamp or basic training. For the rank and file, they learn that the way to become a great Soldier (Marine, Airman, etc.) is not to be Rambo, but to learn to effectively SHOOT, MOVE, and COMMUNICATE
That is what combined arms is, and even before the private knows it, they are being taught it.
Shoot, Move, and Communicate is applied at every level in the military. A good brigade commander must be good at it, just like a private must be good at it.
Shoot---be fully versed in how your weapon operates, how to maintain it, how to repair it, and how to effectively deploy it in combat.
For the private, that means be able clean, maintain, and properly operate several small arms and other weapons M16, M240, SAW, ATGM, etc. It also means understanding what role you individually play in your overall unit’s fire plan.
For the Brigade Commander, that means understanding all of the capabilities and limitations of the weapons systems in the brigade, having the personnel that operate them properly trained, and ensuring there are sufficient support personnel to maintenance them. It also means that all subordinate units understand the role their weapon systems play in the overall mission both tactically and strategically.
Move----be fully versed in tactical, strategic, and logistical maneuvers
For the private this means understanding basic combat formations and their role in moving as a member of a team, squad, platoon, etc. It also means understanding how and where one finds rally points, ammo supply points, casualty collections points, etc. It also means understanding the commander’s intent for the mission, so that if the battlefield dictates adaptations to maneuver, that the individual solders know what the overall goal is. Why bother maneuvering on a meaningless objective?
For the Brigade Commander, this means that all subordinate units are properly trained in various maneuvers and that SOPs are developed, so that independent units can work together relatively easily. The commander must also ensure that all necessary vehicles required for movements are well maintained and equipped. Of course, this also involves the logistical movements of everything the subordinate units need. Food, Medical Supplies, Ammunition, Special Equipment, etc. Commanders must also ensure that at all levels the tactical and strategic objectives are understood, so that when subordinate elements need to make field maneuver decisions they can act independently and quickly.
Communicate---be fully capable of communicating on a tactical, logistical, and strategic level.
For the private, this means learn all of the hand and arm signals for tactical maneuvers, learn how to use the radio properly, understand how to call superiors for guidance, understand how to call for medevac, resupply, air, or artillery support. Understand which units are adjacent and supporting and how to contact them if you need to. Lastly, fully understand the chain of command and your role within it. Every single person on the battlefield should be ready to assume the role of the next higher rank at a moments notice.
For the Brigade Commander, this means supply call signs and frequencies for all subordinate unit communications, so that no two units are stepping on each other. it means providing encryption devices and scheduling regular switches. It means coordinating with all units so everyone understands who is supporting who, who is adjacent to who, who is playing what role in the actual mission. It also involves coordinating the use of other means of communication in the brigade—i.e. smoke, flares, IR tags, etc.
Of course there are many many levels between the private and the Brigade Commander, but at every level the basic fundamentals still apply. Platoon Sergeants, Squad Leaders, Battalion Commanders, Company Commanders, etc. they all need to know how to Shoot, Move, and Communicate.
So, you can see this is a bottom up approach that requires significant resources for training, equipping, and maintaining unit effectiveness. It also requires time. There is no way around that.
Combined arms is not hard, but it is a team effort. Everyone has to understand what their specific role is at every level. So simply training the high level commanders is useless. It is also useless to simply provide basic training to enlistees.
Preparing to stand up a Combat Brigade is a serious task. People must first be trained at all levels, then the brigade must train as a unit. Our brigades typically deploy to training centers like NTC or JRTC to work on their capabilities. There they practice their shoot, move, and communicate doctrine.
I suspect that the way in which we have given Ukraine weapons matches their needs at the moment, but I would also suspect that NATO is holding back materials, not to make Ukraine suffer, but to wait until a few brigades are fully operational. Then the limited weapons systems NATO has to donate can be effectively deployed in a combined arms assault.
Anyway, I hope this adds something to what Kos has already explained.
