FORT BENNING, Ga., (Sept. 17, 2014) -- DAY 1 - THE BASICS
•Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning commanding general, discussed maneuver force rigor and training the basics.
"I know I have this background that people are always trying to figure out," Miller said. "What I tell people is the Special Operations community is not a mystery. Oftentimes, when you look at the Special Operations community, what is the hallmark? They do the basics very well, whether it's shooting, moving, communicating. They master those basics and continue to refine those basics to a level of mastery that allows them to do other things."
•Maj. Gen. Charles Flynn, 25th Infantry Division commander, discussed fundamentals in the current fight.
"The 25th has to be prepared to address stability, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions in its area of responsibility, not just in a training environment," Flynn said. "Repetition leads to confidence and confidence leads to true mastery, especially among junior leaders. Always go back to training the fundamentals - the basics - because of the turnover the Army has in its organizations.
"We have to, as an organization, as an Army, learn how to fight off the ramp," Flynn said.
•Maj. Gen. Paul Funk, 1st Infantry Division commander, discussed fundamentals of regional alignment.
The 1st ID focuses on movement to contact in order to be globally available and regionally engaged.
Funk said simplicity is the most underappreciated principle of war. A leaders job is to simplify the complex and execute violently.
"Our job is take very complex environments and turn situations into simple instructions that a Soldier can execute on the ground. ...
"If you train at the direct action level - the highest level - for the most rigorous fight, the rest will follow because we've developed leaders and teams. It's that simple," Funk said.
•Lt. Gen. Michael Tucker, First Army commander, discussed Bold Shift initiative.
First Army is responsible for mobilizing, training, validating, deploying and redeploying all reserve component forces in the continental U.S. Bold Shift is First Army's move from focusing on helping reserve units with pre-mobilization concerns to post-mobilization concerns.
Tucker said Bold Shift is part of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno's push to get the Army into more of a balance between focusing on counterinsurgency and focusing on the core fundamentals of soldiering. Over the past 13 years, counterinsurgency operations have taken center stage as U.S. forces operated in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tucker also pointed out the importance of all three components of the Army - active, Reserve and National Guard - working together. As he pointed out, the reserve and guard comprises over half of the Army and during deployments and operations, all three components function together. Tucker said Soldiers can expect to see more multi-component training exercises in the future.
•Maj. Gen. Paul LaCamera, 4th Infantry Division commander, discussed basic combat teams and lessons learned.
LaCamera delivered a talk entitled "Brigade Combat Team and Division Challenges and Lessons Learned in Operation Enduring Freedom."
LaCamera outlined five main challenges: defining the fight, fostering command relationships, managing transition to local forces, battlespace management and DIME, which stands for diplomacy, information, military and economics. He said the non-military aspects of DIME need to be taken into account more often.
LaCamera also discussed a number of lessons learned from 13 years in Afghanistan. Some of them included a need to focus on the basics of physical fitness and marksmanship, as well as the need to continually stress proper and frequent combat lifesaving training.
DAY 2 - LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
•Brigadier Ben James, Australian Army, gave a talk entitled "Australian Army: Future Trends and Combat Effectiveness." He focused his talk on Australia's plans for modernizing its force over the coming decade.
Plan Beersheba is the name for how Australia's army will be modernized. It is aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of Australia's 36-month force generation cycle through several approaches, including reorganization of its Multi-Role Combat Brigades and training system reform. Australia is also looking to better position its force to provide combined arms capabilities.
James said part of the modernization also includes updating the Australian military's equipment. Plans are in place to replace vehicle systems over the next 10 years in the most rapid modernization the Australian Army has ever seen.
•Lt. Col. Sebastien Chenebeau, French Army, who currently serves as the French liaison officer to the Joint Staff J7 in Washington, D.C., spoke about French Airborne operations in Mali in early 2013. Operation Serval was launched in January of that year against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which was rapidly gaining control of the northern part of Mali.
Chenebeau explained in detail how France was able to accomplish its objective in a short period of time. Some of the major features of the operation, he said, were short notice of deployment, long distances between objectives and locations in Mali, and degraded road and airfield infrastructure in Mali's north. French leaders chose to use airborne operations to avoid having to send troops long distances over poor roads.
France was joined in the operation by some of its partners in Africa. Just 13 days after the start of the conflict, French forces were able to seize Gao, one of their targets. Chenebeau credited strong training with giving the troops the ability to quickly achieve success.
•Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave a talk about hybrid threats, which are threats that consist of regular military elements, irregular elements and criminal elements. Flynn retired in August 2014 after serving 33 years on active duty.
Flynn talked about future challenges and how intelligence will fit into defeating 21st century threats. He pointed out that the world population is projected to surge to 10 billion by 2050 and that a growing proportion of the world will continue to move into cities, making them potential hot spots for conflict. He also discussed the importance of information technology to future fights.
Flynn emphasized the importance of achieving security through partnerships with other nations and organizations. As he pointed out, many international conflicts have been won, not by the U.S. Army alone, but by international coalitions.
•Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, commander of III Corps, discussed the Future of Armored Maneuver.
In recent years as the Army has conducted counterinsurgency, it has lost its combined arms maneuver capacity, specifically the operational maneuver capacity, MacFarland said.
The Armor doctrine needs to address fighting in megacities. Combined arm maneuver needs to be ready to fight in a complex environment against hybrid threats anywhere in the world, MacFarland said. Echelons above brigade facilitate maneuver through the use of fire, and divisional artillery is coming back.
DAY 3 - CHECKING THE AZIMUTH
•Gen. David Perkins, Training and Doctrine commander, discussed TRADOC priorities and supporting the operational force.
"The Army is the force of resolution, and needs to be interoperable with anybody, regardless of service or country," Perkins said.
In the future, all domains - land, sea, air, space and cyber - will be contested. The Army may have to project activity from land to protect the other domains.
"To win," Perkins said, "firepower is not enough. ... There is potential to win without fighting."
TRADOC is redesigning the Army to constantly readapt - need adaptive professionals and institutions to operate on complex environments. Training is important for developing the Army's capability.
•Brig. Gen. Darsie Rogers, commander of U.S. Army Special Forces Command, spoke about the reorganization of U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the creation of the new umbrella organization, the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) (Provisional). The reorganization will bring all Army Special Operations and special warfare forces under one umbrella.
Rogers discussed the importance of Special Operations and how it fits into the bigger picture of U.S. military operations. Special warfare, he said, is often referred to as the "missing middle," meaning its capabilities can bridge the gap between counterterrorism operations and conventional forces. He said misunderstanding of the capabilities and roles is one of the biggest challenges in special operations and conventional units working together, but that challenge can be overcome through communication.
Rogers said the U.S. Army currently has special operators deployed to about 50 countries, engaged in a variety of low-visibility operations. He said all Special Operations Soldiers receive regionally aligned culture and language training to better prepare them for success in their operating environments.
•Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, spoke on the topic of Special Operation Forces and conventional forces integration and training opportunities.
"Integrating SOF and conventional actions can produce a greater effect at a higher tempo with less potential for fratricide, physical and otherwise, than operating separately," he said. "The only way to achieve true interoperability and interdependence is to continue to train together at all levels."
Communication is key and a common language is a challenge.
It is the special operating force's responsibility to continue to train and educate the convention force on SOF's abilities, therefor professionals need to know how to employ capabilities and mission sets. Adaptability begins with training.
Votel's message is to work together to keep the nation safe and protect national interests.
•Gen. Mark Milley, commander of Forces Command, said FORSCOM provides about 80 percent of command and control for the Army, provided the Maneuver Warfighter Conference attendees with an "azimuth check" on Readiness and Joint Combined Arms.
Milley's speech included three messages: teamwork, still an Army at war, and winning.
Speaking on the 13 anniversary of 9/11, Milley said the attacks were an attack on civilization and that war is not yet over.
"The Army's business is winning," he said. "It's not Saturday morning soccer. It's winning. People die. Winning matters - the Army is judged by victory or not. There is no room for second place."
Leaders have to train themselves and subordinates to be comfortable in chaos. A lot of the fundamentals remain the same, but the conditions have changed. FORSCOM's mission is readiness, health of the force, leader development, operationalize the Army's total force policy, working with National Guard and Reserve, and fostering relationships and enduring partnerships with allied partners, coalitions, interagency and ad hoc groups, Milley said.
"The Army is one big team and we need to build relationships within the team," he said.
• Fort Benning's commanding general wrapped up the conference by telling the audience his takeaways - the Army, institutions, organizations and Soldiers need to be adaptive as a national power, be able to work with interagencies to win in a complex world and be prepared to accomplish the mission.
Editor's note: Nick Duke, Caroline Keyser, Ignacio J. Perez and Lori Egan contributed to this report.
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