Military Review English Edition January-February 2014 | Page 82

corrected this deficiency by walking the company
commander through two additional iterations
without maneuver elements and with the FSCOORD coaching him through the “new” concept.
The mortar section sergeant and his team quickly
gained an appreciation of how to position tubes
with emphasis on when and where mortars should
bound and displace while maintaining responsive
firing capability. The other retraining issue was
easy to identify, but more challenging to correct.
We observed most company commanders
effectively using their first sergeants and platoon
sergeants during the attack. However, one company did not implement this approach. The senior
NCOs were more like potted plants than actual
participants in the iteration. We corrected this
through a professional discussion during the hot
wash and explained the importance of enforcing
the partnered team approach at both the platoon
and company levels. Our full expectation was for
the first sergeant and platoon sergeants to understand the plan just as well as their officer counterparts. We also expected the company officers
to leverage the unmatched experience levels of
their senior NCOs to navigate the complexity
of the dynamic tactical scenario. In retraining, it appeared that the chance to focus on the
partnership seemed to unlock the organizational

potential of that company. They were exceptional
during the retraining iteration.
Where some companies required retraining,
other company sized units performed remarkably
well under pressure. For example, Alpha Company
2-505 conducted repeated rehearsals both off-site
and on the BCT terrain model. This team was well
prepared to execute their live fire iteration and
effectively employ all weapon systems in their
fight. The platoon leader/platoon sergeant teams
understood the commander’s intent for fires, knew
what assets were available, and possessed a grasp
of delivery response times. Equally important,
the company fire support officer, along with each
platoon forward observer team, clearly articulated
fire support tasks, purposes, locations, and triggers for all targets with synchronized movement
times and deconflicted airspace along gun target
lines. Throughout this company’s deliberate attack
to secure the objective, every leader confidently
requested the right asset at the right time to best
support their maneuver. Because of clear reporting, their higher headquarters quickly approved
all fires, and airspace was rapidly deconflicted
through U.S. Air Force joint tactical air controllers. Three-dimensional battle space symmetry
was achieved, enabling the simultaneous engagement of multiple targets from offset air weapons

A 60mm mortar team conducts a bounding displacement during the FSCX. (U.S. Army)
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January-February 2014 MILITARY REVIEW