Large-Scale Combat Operations: How the Army Can Get Its Groove Back
James King | June 19, 2018
The Army is no longer able to conduct large-scale, division- and corps-level combat operations. That’s what retired Army Lt. Gen. David Barno and Dr. Nora Bensahel suggest in a recent article on War on the Rocks titled “The U.S. Military’s Dangerous Embedded Assumptions.†In it, the authors list several assumptions that the military has made about itself that could have a significantly negative impact on operations if proven wrong in combat. Number one on the list? “The U.S. military still knows how to fight a major war.†If Barno and Bensahel are correct, then the US military is in serious trouble—Task Force Smith-level trouble.
Military planners use assumptions to fill gaps in knowledge in order to continue the planning process. As the plan is developed, either these assumptions are confirmed as facts or the decision maker is made aware of the assumption and will change the plan if and when the assumption is validated. Almost every major war plan—from the defense of the Korean Peninsula to the protection of NATO’s eastern flank—hinges on the assumption that the United States Army still knows how to fight a major war.
https://mwi.usma.edu/large-scale-combat-operations-army-can-get-groove-back/
