06-28-2013, 03:21 AM
Talking about the T/O WRT the T/E is a great discussion. The 13 man rifle squad has been around for a while in the Marines, but the battles we have been fighting over the last several years (and will probably continue to fight to some extent and the big land army battles are a thing for the operational planners to play with in the school house) have proven that there is not enough ass in the squad - hence all the ad-hoc T/O where you strap on a Human intel guy, CA, DM/sniper, J-TAC Etc. Puts an awful lot of moving parts on that young Sgt Sqd Ldr to manage after not training with those assets.
There was an experiment conducted several years ago called 'Distributed Operations' https://www.mccdc.usmc.mil/FeatureTopics...d%20co.pdf that I had a part in. The two long poles in the tent were training and logistics. The young squad leader had not had the seasoning/military education to manage all of the assets he was given, and the standard military logistics system was woefully inadequate to supply small units all over the battlefield with any type of reliability or stealth.
There was an experiment conducted several years ago called 'Distributed Operations' https://www.mccdc.usmc.mil/FeatureTopics...d%20co.pdf that I had a part in. The two long poles in the tent were training and logistics. The young squad leader had not had the seasoning/military education to manage all of the assets he was given, and the standard military logistics system was woefully inadequate to supply small units all over the battlefield with any type of reliability or stealth.