OPERATING DIFFERENTLY: I CORPS TESTS 6 PURPOSE-DRIVEN PILLARS TO MEET DEMANDS OF MULTIDOMAIN MISSIONS
Thursday, August 25, 2022
“Get the hell out to Pearl Harbor and don’t come back until the war is won.” President Franklin Roosevelt’s order to Adm. Chester Nimitz after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor was clear and simple. Nimitz quickly organized and led a complex and grueling war in the Pacific involving multiple approaches, hard-fought incremental gains won through island-hopping campaigns and joint solutions across all warfighting functions. And he moved a land force that steadily produced unbearable pressure on imperial Japan.
The strategic surprise attack on Pearl Harbor taught the U.S. military a lesson that is woven into the fabric of its military history. This lesson informs much of the U.S. Army’s strategy and operational approach to focus on being ready and active in competition so it is prepared for an abrupt crisis and/or conflict. Add the contested multidomain (space, cyber, land, air and maritime) environment spread across the great distances of the Pacific, and the effort by Adm. John Aquilino, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, to “think, act and operate differently” becomes a good starting point as the U.S. pushes its strategic weight into the region.
But approaching the Pacific differently, along with viewing the environment through multiple domains, does not change the fact that wars are won on land. After the war, Nimitz concluded: “The optimum of pressure is exerted through that absolute control obtained by actual physical occupation. This optimum is obtainable only on land where physical occupation can be consolidated and maintained.”
https://www.ausa.org/articles/operating-differently-i-corps-tests-6-purpose-driven-pillars-meet-demands-multidomain
