At its best, our doctrine gives us ways to think about and explain how we fight. For sure, our doctrine is just a starting point: our manuals are never intended to limit the initiative, flexibility, and adaptation that is required to fight and win on the battlefield. Still, it’s important from time to time to remind ourselves of the importance of reading, understanding, and talking with our teammates about doctrine.
I suppose that my own relationship with our doctrine has changed over the years. It might be that I had a preference to learn by doing versus reading a book to guide how I thought about training and fighting. It might be that I valued my training experiences and intuition over anything that I could read in a manual. And it might be that I found reading doctrine to be less interesting than reading something else or doing other things. I only offer you these thoughts to acknowledge that this kind of thinking could be out there in the force. Maybe yes, maybe no.
Over time, I’ve come to value our doctrine more and more for three reasons. First, our doctrine is usually the best starting point if you want to learn something new, see how to do a task or operation, or review something that you think you already know. Doctrine is authoritative – it will be more correct than something you might find on the internet. Second, our doctrine can serve as a useful reference point as we talk about and teach each other about fighting. Our manuals provide a common language and a common set of ideas that can help us when we develop unit SOPs, conduct AARs, and bring on new teammates to our formations. Finally, our fighting manuals contain the tactics, techniques, and procedures that actually work in training and combat. In a sense, our doctrine reflects the lessons we have learned by combat in the past and then applies this to how we will train and fight today (and in the future). When it comes to fighting, certain things just work (for example, movement techniques like bounding overwatch). Doctrine lays all of this out for us, allows us to start with a baseline way of thinking and doing, and then postures us to fight with initiative and flexibility. Doctrine makes us ready to adapt (and try new things) in training and combat. To sum it up, doctrine – if we use it – can serve as our common azimuth to learn, to teach, and to train to fight and win.
We think the new tank platoon manual helps us do the kind of work described in the preceding paragraph. ATP 3-20.15, Tank Platoon, is a fighting manual that describes what the formation is (how it’s organized), what the formation is for (it’s fundamental purpose), and what the formation does (how it fights). The following is a summary of the key changes and adaptations in the manual:
Armor Fundamentals: a discrete list of tasks that allow you to fight effectively.
The Wingman Concept: outlines the logic for why this is an effective fighting technique for mounted formations.
Close with and Destroy the Enemy: descriptive language to describe how to fight.
Counter-UAS Tactics and Techniques: ways that we can employ our current capabilities to defeat the UAS threat.
Electromagnetic Warfare: ways we can employ our current capabilities to operate in a contested electromagnetic spectrum battlefield.
Platoon Battle Drills: establishes an authoritative set of tank platoon battle drills that allow the platoon to survive first contact, develop the situation, and generate options for the commander.
Finally, I want to highlight that we will publish two manuals by Summer 2026: ATP 3-20.98, Scout Platoon, and ATP 3-20.96, Cavalry Squadron. Last published in 2019, the Scout Platoon Manual will focus on describing how to fight in today’s operational environment and the ways it operates with a cavalry troop and a combined arms battalion. Last published in 2016, the new Cavalry Squadron Manual will anchor on the formation’s role to inform the main body, protect the main body, and fight for the main body. We’re excited about both of these manuals.
We appreciate all that you do to drive readiness and develop leaders across the Armor Force. If there’s anything the Armor School can do to support you, just holler.
Forge the Thunderbolt!
Social Sharing