TOW is Back

[Kirkhill]

Please don't tell me there are 9 coys worth of those wogs floating around.

Next thing you'll be telling me that you have an Occupational Health and Safety rep on strength.

 

[McG]

It's true this is big new, but we still need to figure out how we're going to man these things. 

You are going to shut-down a rifle company in each brigade.  In return each brigade will get a mortar platoon, a heavy direct fire platoon (TOW & C-16), and pioneers.

   

   

... and all of these changes are occurring specifically in the light battalions.

 

[ballz]

You are going to shut-down a rifle company in each brigade.  In return each brigade will get a mortar platoon, a heavy direct fire platoon (TOW & C-16), and pioneers.

   

   

... and all of these changes are occurring specifically in the light battalions.

I would hate to be in the 8-man mortar platoon, heavy direct fire platoon (TOW & C-16), or pioneer platoon, that's a lot of humping... Not sure the exact numbers we are talking here to man those 3x specific platoons, but it would seriously take all 3x rifle coys from a light battalion to legit man 3x platoons.

 

[Tow Tripod]

Without a doubt the Cyberwarfare anylist that will appear in the near future will be bayonets taken out of the Infantry Battalions. How do we protect from depleting the Infantry Regiments of internal assets and assist the CF in establishing new Units? You know if the Americans are implementing CYBER Warfare Units it wont be to long before we will be doing the same.
https://marinecorpsconceptsandprograms.com/organizations/operating-forces/us-marine-corps-forces-cyberspace-marforcyber

The gutting of TOW, Pioneers and Mortars from the Battalions must be viewed as an error that we should not repeat... 

 

[PuckChaser]

Nah, they'll likely triple task Sigs guys to do it, it'll be a side job between moving Bde main, making coffee, and ensuring DWAN is up and running.

 

[Kirkhill]

Without a doubt the Cyberwarfare anylist that will appear in the near future will be bayonets taken out of the Infantry Battalions. How do we protect from depleting the Infantry Regiments of internal assets and assist the CF in establishing new Units? You know if the Americans are implementing CYBER Warfare Units it wont be to long before we will be doing the same.
https://marinecorpsconceptsandprograms.com/organizations/operating-forces/us-marine-corps-forces-cyberspace-marforcyber

The gutting of TOW, Pioneers and Mortars from the Battalions must be viewed as an error that we should not repeat...

I think the role of Cyberwarfare Analyst demands at least a Captain or a Warrant Officer.  I understand there are a lot of them in circulation. 

 

[a_majoor]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, shifting riflemen to high value position like Combat Support Company has far more value added than just adding more riflemen. This is an echo of the debate about breaking up Machinegun Battalions in the Great War to flesh out Infantry units, the massive loss of firepower would be in no way offset by having more files in an Infantry battalion.

For the foreseeable future, I would suggest that every battalion have one fully fleshed out rifle coy as their QRF, a second coy to house people on courses, administrative issues etc. and have two other "shadow" rifle companies made up of reservists on callup. The actual HR division can have them as full time class whatever, while the other two divs can have them on standby, training rotations and so on. The main argument here is where the leaership is going to come from (Reservists will certainly say their own people should be Pl Comds, 2I/C's, OC's etc., while there is a much stronger argument that the bulk of the leadership positions should be Regular Force).

Regardless of how that argument is resolved, there will be little difficulty in finding 200+ reserve bodies per division to create two rifle Coys (Indeed you will probably ahve to fend people off with a stick), so the things that must be manned are always covered, and with proper lead time and planning we can fill all the files in a proper infantry battalion.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

and have a portion of the equipment for those shadow companies in stock, so if you can raise a company, part of the equipment is there right away. It can also be a reserve stockpile that can be cycled through by the Reg companies. A couple of positions for the shadow companies that would allow injured soldiers to stay in the Battalion and perhaps a couple of rotating Class B's to have a bit of reserve "ownership" in the process. 

 

[Loch Sloy!]

The main argument here is where the leaership is going to come from (Reservists will certainly say their own people should be Pl Comds, 2I/C's, OC's etc., while there is a much stronger argument that the bulk of the leadership positions should be Regular Force).

Given that reserve infantry officers do the same training as their RegF counterparts any argument against reserve Inf Pl Comds cannot truly be "much stronger". In fact given that many of the reserve NCMs filling those companies would be people those Pl Comds (and WOs and OCs for that matter) will have known and trained with for years there would be some fairly compelling arguments for ensuring that they do end up in those leadership positions.

 

[dangerboy]

Given that reserve infantry officers do the same training as their RegF counterparts any argument against reserve Inf Pl Comds cannot truly be "much stronger". I

In the beginning, however most reserve officers do not do DP1.2 (the mechanized phase) which all regular force officers do.

 

[Loch Sloy!]

In the beginning, however most reserve officers do not do DP1.2 (the mechanized phase) which all regular force officers do.

I would think that the reserve companies inside HR battalions would likely be light Inf rather than mech anyway? If not then send the few PRes leaders needed on their IODP1.2 or crew commander course as required. Sending a guy on a course to enable a specific task seems a lot more efficient than playing a shell game of pilfering people from other battalions. Building more capacity in the reserve force wouldn't hurt either.

We are hearing that the Reg Force battalions (out west anyway) are hurting for junior officers as much as for NCMs at the moment. PRes leadership positions to round out HR taskings might end up being a necessity regardless of any argument.

I didn't mean to drift the discussion too far off topic. Very happy to hear about the revival of an ATGM capacity in the CF, and would love to see us round TOW out with something man portable like Javelin and perhaps also (please God) a modern 60mm mortar back to the light infantry.

 

[Infanteer]

We are hearing that the Reg Force battalions (out west anyway) are hurting for junior officers as much as for NCMs at the moment.

Not true.

 

[Good2Golf]

Yes, but you cannot make a LAV 6 without the licence manufacturer's data plate of an existing LAV.  It is the magic component.

FTFY, MCG.  CFR plates can on rare occasion be moved around...a builder's data plate is forever.*


Regards
G2G


* unless the vehicle is literally a complete loss, then you stamp another one, and 'rebuild' the vehicle.

 

[Jarnhamar]

[quote author=Thucydides]

For the foreseeable future, I would suggest that every battalion have one fully fleshed out rifle coy as their QRF, a second coy to house people on courses, administrative issues etc. and have two other "shadow" rifle companies made up of reservists on callup.
[/quote]

Bringing in a bunch of reservists on a year+ contract shouldn't be too hard. The real issues I think would be physical fitness, some work and leadership ethics and the cost IF the CAF pays for food and quarters for the duration.

I don't believe a company dedicated to members on course would work however. We will often walk into a room last minute, find a suitable candidate and put them on a driver wheel, comms, recce course for a few weeks then they are back in the company to deploy to Wainwright, Norway, where ever.  Career courses can come out of the blue as well as specialty courses. A separate company would be added, constant paperwork.  Getting off topic though sorry.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Bringing in a bunch of reservists on a year+ contract shouldn't be too hard. The real issues I think would be physical fitness, some work and leadership ethics and the cost IF the CAF pays for food and quarters for the duration.

If there was an operational tasking for the reserves to provide fit and well trained members to augment the Reg F on a regular basis, we could fairly easily realign our training to put people on a skills and fitness on ramp. Kind of like during the AFG adventure...

If it was all done the usual way e.g., no guarantees and off the cuff, you'll likely get a higher level of garbage in.

 

[MilEME09]

If there was an operational tasking for the reserves to provide fit and well trained members to augment the Reg F on a regular basis, we could fairly easily realign our training to put people on a skills and fitness on ramp. Kind of like during the AFG adventure...

If it was all done the usual way e.g., no guarantees and off the cuff, you'll likely get a higher level of garbage in.

I'm inclined to agree, give the reserves a purpose/goal to move towards, and they will do their best to reach it, however without a reason to do something, it's not likely to get done or have good results.

 

[Jarnhamar]

If there was an operational tasking for the reserves to provide fit and well trained members to augment the Reg F on a regular basis, we could fairly easily realign our training to put people on a skills and fitness on ramp. Kind of like during the AFG adventure...

If it was all done the usual way e.g., no guarantees and off the cuff, you'll likely get a higher level of garbage in.

Agree 100%  Also regs get 2 paid hours a day to work out and shower afterwards. Harder to do with a full time job or school.
Giving someone 6 months work up training brings them up to a good level of fitness, it's the last minute CFTPO "who wants to go somewhere in 2 weeks" where it really stands out.

 

[RCPalmer]

If there was an operational tasking for the reserves to provide fit and well trained members to augment the Reg F on a regular basis, we could fairly easily realign our training to put people on a skills and fitness on ramp. Kind of like during the AFG adventure...

If it was all done the usual way e.g., no guarantees and off the cuff, you'll likely get a higher level of garbage in.

This is becoming a real problem.  We need some focus and predictability to be built into the planning cycle.  The current model of scrambling to fill every last minute CFTPO task is really not setting up reserve force pers for success, resulting in unsatisfactory conditions for both the member and the gaining unit.  While we can provide a lot of people and capabilities in a real emergency (like a DOMOP), we set ourselves up for failure when we apply that model to routine training and operations.