Good Things Happen, No Reporting, Did They Happen?
So, did you get on the Stand-To! mailing list? No? Hmmm … we need to talk. 
The US Army has provided the second part of their discussion of battle command. Again, I’ll help those that are asleep at the switch and haven’t seen today’s installment:
“What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future? The Army continues to focus on the synchronization of operations, logistics and intelligence in order to provide Commanders and leaders with the most accurate information needed to conduct combat operations and achieve mission success. The Army will use the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) process to field robust Joint Network Battle Command capabilities to the units as they prepare and engage in combat operations. The Army will use these new Joint Networked Battle Command capabilities to leverage information from intelligence, logistics, operations and medical sources, improve analysis, enable greater collaboration, to synchronize efforts quicker and reduce Commander’s decision cycles in the execution of operations to include Force on Force, Stability and Security Operations (SASO) and Counter Insurgency (COINS). The Battle Command systems will connect more soldiers to the network, and provide increased throughput, improve security, enhance collaboration, provide situation awareness, unit readiness status and Command & Control analysis. Battle Command will move toward closer integration with Logistics, including the Movement Tracking System. This system automates tracking of continuous, distributed, and Joint focused logistics across the battle space. Battle Command will also add gateways to US Marine Corps, joint, and coalition tracking systems. As with Blue Force tracker, the result will be a better integrated common operational picture.
Why is this important to the Army? Battle Command is an essential Warfighter Mission Area operational capability for both our current and future joint operations. Joint fully networked Battle Command capabilities will bridge to the Future Force and enable the Joint Force Commander to conduct fully interdependent, network-centric warfare. The Army must continue to work with the Combatant Commanders, Joint Forces Command, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Network and Information Integration to identify, align and develop Joint Force capabilities relevant to joint operations. Battle Command will align with Joint ground combat capabilities while simultaneously spiraling in proven Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) technologies.”
Is this approach new to the US Army, or the US Military as a whole? No.
Is there something missing that no matter the good intentions of the US Army and the entire US Military Command Structure, this is all for naught? Yes.
To wage an effective campaign in this 5th Generation Warfare watershed, the media is an integral component to success. Without getting too down on the main stream media (I know, fish in a barrel) an effective holistic campaign can only be waged with communications not just inward but outward. The Milbloggers are behind you and already on board, but multiple media outlets are still not working effectively together with the war. This war on terror is lacking a primary component and we are sacrificing the high ground by not executing in this area.
One can see the net-effect difference by comparing Al Jazeera teamed up with al Qaida and the terrorists currently in the field of battle. In a 5th Generation Warfare command structure, communications between soldiers and communications to the support structure, like the people sacrificing their sons and daughters, results in a highly effective overall campaign. Terrorists have a lock on that, albeit they utilize tactics that should nullify any effort, but theirs works very effectively. We are not to accept or emulate their approach, but it is clear without an outward communications component, all effectiveness is diminished to an unbearable level.
It is a fact that the main stream media is refusing to support our military, our politicians are thrashing to keep their jobs, and the counter-media (Al Jazeera) utilizing propaganda to shift opinion and mold fact to fiction. All of this gives testament to the lack of the US Military’s ability to effectively execute a holistic campaign in the global war on terror. We have technology that dwarfs the competition, yet we cannot use true shock and awe because we all know we’d be set upon by our own media and politicians. It is a given that the European Union is against us, they always will be, so move on, nothing to see here. But the negative energy from within our own boarders is continuously aimed inward thereby reducing the overall effectiveness of waging a true campaign. In the end, it is impossible to be effective in a 5th Generation Warfare watershed until the entire battlefield is conflated. Therefore, our US Military Command Structure needs to gain the high ground on this primary objective, take this last hill and hold it, or we will never be able to effectively field a successful force in battle.
For review, here are my 5GW posts, in order from oldest to newest:
Seems the family has a rift
We Blew Through 4th Generation Warfare!
Boundaries for the Fourth Generation
Clues to the 5th: Shorter Chains?
Yeah, 5GW Means Squat, Right?
Again, any 5GW stuff you find, forward on to me.
TAGS: Fix4RSO, Milblog, Military, 5GW, Generational+Warfare, Battle+Command, Future+Weapons
January 24th, 2007 at 12:23
Great post, and so true. Everyone knows we can beat any enemy militarily. Unfortunately, only al-Jazeera is a sneakier media outlet than the U.S. press.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:50
Therefore, our US Military Command Structure needs to gain the high ground on this primary objective, take this last hill and hold it,…
We tried this once before and failed, largely due to hand-wringing and “outrage” from our friends in the MSM. The fact that the linked article states US law prohibits the military from conducting propaganda operations doesn’t help, either… I quote:
U.S. law forbids the military from carrying out psychological operations or planting propaganda through American media outlets. Yet several officials said that given the globalization of media driven by the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle, the Pentagon’s efforts were carried out with the knowledge that coverage in the foreign press inevitably “bleeds” into the Western media and influences coverage in U.S. news outlets.
In the immortal words of Walt Kelly: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
January 24th, 2007 at 22:53
Buck, that was a topic of conversation at the first milblog conversation. How can the military get the word out about what they are doing without it violating that. And the MSM’s perception that anything written by the military is skewed. For example, all kinds of press releases from Centcom and the other military news outlets are freely available every single day, but the only ones the MSM pick up are the casualty notices or anything negative.
January 24th, 2007 at 23:02
So, giving the US Military the opportunity to take, say, 5 minutes on the nightly news cycle to provide _FACTUAL_ stories about the successes of the GWOT is psyops or propaganda?
True, to the left-wing MSM, it is propaganda. The key here is that it must be made clear that the US Military is part of the US Government, just as much is Nancy Pelosi’s clap-trap - and she doesn’t spew propaganda?
See, we need to take this hill and hold it. This is the final piece to enable success.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:33
01/25 Morning Report
On the subject of media effectiveness, there is a continuing series on 5th Generation Warfare over at…
January 25th, 2007 at 21:30
“See, we need to take this hill and hold it. This is the final piece to enable success.”
Well said, Fix. That’s why I love ya!