Military Review English Edition November-December 2013 | Page 11

R E G I O N A L LY A L I G N E D F O R C E
leaders to meet partners and build relationships,
whether with partner nations or at the combatant
command. These types of engagements should be
part of the regionally aligned force generation model
and scheduled early in the alignment period.
Finally, a challenge internal to the regionally
aligned force is in fostering intellectual curiosity
across the headquarters. All of the training and touch
points described previously—be they academic seminars, relationship building, or command post touch
points—all build understanding of the operational
environment. This is just a beginning, however, and
the staff must build on this understanding through its
own reading. While leaders cannot instill curiosity,
they can encourage it in the staff. The community
of interest, for example, can collectively create a
recommended reading list as a starting point for
such individual studies.
Mission command and the regionally aligned
force are mutually supportive concepts. Preventing conflict and shaping the environment in a
region requires continued engagement, which the
regionally aligned force can do through physical

presence or from home station. Mission command, as both a philosophy and a warfighting
function, enables the force to do this. In its support of the combatant commander, the regionally
aligned force can then demonstrate the value and
necessity of mission command, as it builds relationships with partners in the region and keeps
“hands on the problem.”
For 1st Armored Division, embracing mission
command meant a shift toward conducting staff
operations at home station the same way we do
while deployed, including establishing a home
station command post linked into the Army service component command and combatant command, setting a battle rhythm at home station
similar to that used while deployed, and keeping
a “forward mindset” all the time. While there is a
cost involved in equipping the regionally aligned
force to remain connected forward, this is more
about “head ware” than it is about hardware. The
regionally aligned force must adopt a forwardfocused mindset to be most responsive and add
value to the supported combatant commander. MR

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MILITARY REVIEW

• November-December 2013

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