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So a non-doctrinal army has doctrine that it doesn't publish? This is some Schrödinger's Army that simultaneously has and does not have doctrine?

In war there are always adaptations, and each adaptation can in turn expose another vulnerability. The Israelis and Hezbollah were locked in a counter-insurgency campaign in the late 90s in the south-Lebanon "security zone", a strip of Lebanon that remained occupied by the IDF. There was a...

The design requirements had blast ratings, but there was no belief that the TAPV would result in an "utterly IED proofed vehicle." Everybody understood that that was impossible and there are always trade-offs.

The TAPV was acquired to meet the needs of Kandahar circa 2008 and any future Kandahars. It was meant to replace RG-31s and GWagons etc. It then expanded to try to cover reconnaissance as Coyotes were suffering significant losses and were at the limits of blast-proofing. I am not an...

As a CO I agree with much of what you say here, but I do grant Compassionate Leave for situations like pets and childbirth. Maybe I'm soft, but I am granted a lot of latitude for what constitutes compassionate circumstances and I am grateful for that. I appreciate manoeuvre room. I am not...

This thread proves the First Immutable Law of Army.ca that all threads eventually decay to dress discussions (the shirt shown above), but also the Second Immutable Law that all threads decay to a discussion of the TAPV. The Third Immutable Law is that all threads decay to a Reserve Restructure...

In fairness to the RCN, having a RAdm and a Cmdre on each coast is fine. The Cmdre has a Fleet and Fleet Staff and does embark as an operational commander of TGs. Those Fleet Staffs are quite lean since they do embark. So the Cmdre is "down and in" with the operational ships while the RAdm is...

The Canadian Army can absolutely run exercises in Canada. The decision to conduct the Combat Team and Battle Group exercises for Build Year elements in Latvia was taken in the interests of efficiency, allowing us to square the circle of readiness and reconstitution. Light Battalion validation at...

The large number of rockets is one thing, but the ground incursions are very significant. Speaks to a long planning horizon and very good security. Footage is always questionable, but I’ve seen at least one clip of a Merkava on fire with a crowd around it.

I am not sure that using school-yard experience as your frame for dealing with great-power relations with nuclear weapons is a good idea, nor is taking lightly the threat of open war between nuclear powers. Analogies can be useful, but they can also be a mental trap. A border fence can be...

I am struggling to understand what you are saying. What is the "futility of trying to avoid a fight?" Counter-factual history can be fun, but I am not sure of the value. Do you think that the nuclear piece is an "occasional concern?" Are you saying that the eFP formations should be in...

I don't think that you understand what NATO is and how it operates. A NATO country has not been attacked in this war (I am not counting stray ordinance), so there is no "refusal to defend." As to your comment about refusing to aggressively man listening posts and lines along its borders, what...

My goodness this thread has diverted. "Attrition warfare" was a strawman created to support the existence of "manoeuvre warfare." This then gets even more confusing because we use the term manoeuvre for several things. The attrition warfare strawman uses WW1 battles where western front...

The Cdn-led eFP BG is, actually, quite big. I imagine he was referring to the eFP BG writ-large. Having enemy-force exchanges like this is excellent. Good training for all involved.

Land Ops is a bit over-stuffed, but I am not sure what is confusing about this part? Land Ops describes the basic force elements: combat elements, combat support elements, combat service support element and command support elements. Its a useful breakdown. It adds combat arms as a colloquial...

Not sure what you are worrying about here for terminology? "Doctrine" wise we have the following from Land Operations: Combat Elements - those that engage the enemy directly (armour, infantry, direct fire units). Considered ground manoeuvre units. Combat Support Elements - fire support...

An NCE does not have to be large, but I don't think it would make sense to roll it into the multi-national (or US) division to which a CMBG would be attached. That Div HQ would be focused on prosecuting the fight - they don't need NCEs attached to them. I would expect to find the NCE somewhere...

If we have Canadian troops on an operation then we need some form of NCE. There are bone fide national command requirements that need to be met. An NCE relieves the Brigade HQ of that. We also need some form of NSE, apart from the CSS that is with the fighting formation and any allied CSS...

Brigade Commanders have training and experience and are enabled by a staff and arms advisors. The load required for synchronization of combat power at that level is considerable, but they have staff to help. They have CO Guns, CO Engineers and CO Svc Svc Bn as advisors, each with their own...

Good little video there - thanks for sharing! Watching guys mounting and dismounting from moving AFVs gave me a few starts. As a tanker I certainly practiced assaults during combat team attacks with infantry stacked up behind me and sometimes there was even somebody on the tank telephone. As...