Headquarters, Department of the Army. Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited. The Professional Bulletin of the Armor Branch, Headquarters, Department of the Army, PB 17-12-5 Editor in Chief Features LISA ALLEY 5 Armored Forces: Mobility, Protection and Precision Firepower Essential for Future Commandant COL David B. Haight, COL Paul J. Laughlin and CPT Kyle F Bergner COL PAUL J. LAUGHLIN 9 Keeping the Sabers Sharp: Maintaining Relevance in the Modern Era CPT Ken Segelhorst ARMOR (ISSN 0004-2420) is published bi month­­ly by the 14 Armor’s Asymmetric Advantage: Why a Smaller Army Needs U.S. Army Armor School, McGinnis-Wickam Hall (Bldg. 4), Mobile, Protected Firepower Suite W142, 1 Karker Street, Fort Benning, GA 31905. MG Bill Hix and Mark C. Smith Disclaimers: The information contained in ARMOR repre- 16 Armor at a Crossroads (Again)? sents the professional opinions of the authors and does not LTC Andrew Morgado necessarily reflect the official Army, U.S. Army Training and 20 Subjective Thinking and the Relevancy of Heavy Armor Doctrine Command or U.S. Army Armor School position, nor does it change or supersede any information presented in in Modern Warfare other official Army publications. CPT Thomas A. Rebuck Manuscripts and their accompanying figures become gov- 24 From Blackhawk to Bradley: A Quick Story about Flexibility ernment property and public domain upon receipt in AR- Christopher G. Hume MOR editorial offices. (The ideas within the manuscript re- main the author’s intellectual property and may be reused 26 The Ground Combat Vehicle by the author, but the work itself - the particular expression Darrell W. Barden of the ideas - passes to public domain upon receipt of the 28 Filling in the Blanks: Leveraging Simulations to Provide manuscript.) ARMOR staff will make necessary grammar, Tactical Experience syntax and style corrections on the text to meet publication standards and will redesign illustrations and charts for clar- Dale Spurlin, Steven R. Scholtz and James Valentine ity and to standards as necessary. ARMOR staff may co- 31 Special Operations as a Warfighting Function? ordinate changes with authors in the interest of ensuring John P.J. DeRosa that content remains accurate and professionally develop- mental. As a non-copyrighted government publication, no 34 A Scout Platoon Leader’s Perspective on the Complex Threat copyright is granted if a work is published in ARMOR, and 1LT Derek Wales in general, no copyrighted works should be submitted for 38 Active Listening: the Leader’s Rosetta Stone consideration to publish. On occasion, however, ARMOR may wish to publish copyrighted material, and in that in- MAJ Joel P. Cummings stance, individual authors’ copyrights will be protected by 43 The Army Family special arrangement. CPT Lance Brender As the primary purpose of ARMOR content is the profes- 48 Whither Armor? sional development of Armor Branch soldiers, ARMOR prints only materials for which the Armor School has propo- retired COL Clinton J. Ancker III nency: armored, direct-fire ground combat systems not serv- 52 Operation Saber Junction ing primarily as infantry carriers; weapons used exclusively in these systems or by CMF 19-series enlisted soldiers; mis- Departments cellaneous items of equipment which armored and armored 1 Contacts cavalry organizations use exclusively; training for all 19-se- 2 Letters ries officers and CMF 19-series enlisted soldiers; and infor- mation concerning the training, logistics, history and leader- 3 Commandant’s Hatch ship of armor and armored cavalry units at a brigade/regi- 4 Gunner’s Seat ment level and below, to include Threat units at those levels. 53 Shoulder-sleeve Insignia: 4th Cavalry Regiment Distribution: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlim- ited. Official distribution is made as one copy for each armored brigade headquarters; armored cavalry regiment headquar- ters; armor battalion headquarters; armored cavalry squadron headquarters; reconnaissance squadron headquarters; or ar- mored cavalry troop, armor company and motorized brigade Buik Rate U.S. postage paid at Louisville, KY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Editor, headquarters of the U.S. Army. In addition, Army libraries, Army U.S. Army Armor School, ATTN: ARMOR. McGinnis-Wickam Hall (Bldg. 4), Suite W142, 1 Karker Street, Fort Benning, and DoD schools, HQDA and Army Command staff agencies GA 31905. with responsibility for armored, direct fire, ground combat PERMIT #249 systems, organizations and training of the personnel for such organizations may request two copies by sending a request to the editor in chief. By Order of the Secretary of the Army: Reprints: ARMOR is published by the authority of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, and is in the public domain ex- Official: RAYMOND T. ODIERNO cept where copyright is indicated. ARMOR requests that General, United States Army reprinted material carry credit given to ARMOR and the Chief of Staff author. Direct inquiries to Editor in Chief, ARMOR, Mc- JOYCE E. MORROW Ginnis-Wickam Hall (Bldg. 4), Suite W142, 1 Karker Administrative Assistant to the Street, Fort Benning, GA 31905. Secretary of the Army 1229801 November-December 2012, Vol. CXXI, No. 5 Armor School Points of Contact ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS: Articles can be submitted as email attachments to usarmy.benning.tradoc.mbx.armor-magazine@ ARMOR Editorial Offices mail.mil. For all submissions, please include a complete mail- ing ad dress and daytime phone number. Editor in Chief Lisa Alley (706) 545-9503 SUBMISSION POLICY NOTE: Due to the limited space per Email: [email protected] DSN 835 issue, we will not print articles that have been submitted to, and accepted for publication by, other Army professional bulletins. Deputy Editor Please submit your article to only one Army professional bulletin Erin Wold (706) 545-8701 at a time. Email: [email protected] DSN 835 GRAPHICS AND PHOTOS: We will accept conventional pho- Art Director to prints or electronic graphic and photo files in no less than 300 Jody Harmon (706) 545-5754 dpi TIF or JPG format. (Please do not send photos embedded in Email: [email protected] DSN 835 PowerPoint and Word.) If you use Power Point for illustrations, please try to avoid the use of excessive color and shading. If Editorial Assistant you have any questions concerning electronic art or photo sub- Jenny Forte (706) 545-2698 missions, contact Erin Wold. Email: [email protected] DSN 835 UNIT DISTRIBUTION: To report unit free distribution delivery problems or changes of unit address, email usarmy.benning.tra- [email protected]; phone DSN 835-2350 or U.S. Army Armor School com mercial (706) 545-2350. Requests to be added to the offi- cial dis tribution list should be in the form of a letter or email to Commandant (ATZK-DF) the Editor in Chief. COL Paul J. Laughlin (706) 545-2029 Email: [email protected] DSN 835 SUBSCRIPTIONS: Subscriptions to ARMOR are available through the Government Printing Office Bookstore for $27 per Deputy Commandant (ATZK-DF) year. To subscribe, call toll free (866) 512-1800, visit the GPO COL Scott D. King (706) 545-3815 Website at bookstore.gpo.gov, mail the subscription form pub- Email: [email protected] DSN: 835 lished in an issue of ARMOR, or fax (202) 512-2104. Armor School Command Sergeant Major (ATZK-CSM) EDITORIAL MAILING ADDRESS: U.S. Army Armor School, CSM Miles S. Wilson (706) 545-2029 ATTN: ARMOR, McGinnis-Wickam Hall (Bldg.4), Suite W142, Email: [email protected] DSN 835 1 Karker Street, Fort Benning, GA 31905. 192nd Infantry Brigade (ATSH-BC) REPRINTS: ARMOR is published by authority of the Chief of COL Ronald P. Clark (706) 544-8623 Staff, U.S. Army. Material may be reprinted, provided credit is Email: [email protected] DSN 784 given to ARMOR and to the author, except where copyright is in- th dicated. Request all organizations not affiliated with the Depart- 194 Armored Brigade (ATZK-BAZ) ment of the Army contact ARMOR for reproduction/reprinting COL Kevin S. MacWatters (706) 626-5989 permission. Inquiries may be directed to Editor in Chief, ATTN: Email: [email protected] DSN 620 ARMOR, McGinnis-Wickam Hall (Bldg. 4), Suite W142, 316th Cavalry Brigade (ATZK-SBZ) 1 Karker Street, Fort Benning, GA 31905. COL David S. Davidson (706) 626-8105 Email: [email protected] DSN 620 ARMOR MAGAZINE ON-LINE: Visit the ARMOR maga- zine Web site at www.benning.army.mil/armor/ArmorMagazine/. Office, Chief of Armor (ATZK-AR) George DeSario (706) 545-1352 ARMOR HOTLINE — (706) 626-TANK (8265)/DSN 620: The Email: [email protected] DSN 835 Armor Hotline is a 24-hour service to provide assistance with questions concerning doctrine, training, organizations and equip- ment of the armor force. LETTERS Lighter e-components mechanical pieces of drive train removed from the Stryker and replaced by the e-drive components, but an impor- allow more armor tant fact is that the exchange of drive trains reduced the Dear ARMOR, Stryker vehicles’ weight by 900 pounds. This simple ex- change would allow 900 pounds of armor, for example, to On behalf of Bob Hoeltzel and myself, I wish to express be added to the vehicle while staying at its original weight. my gratitude to you and your staff for the assistance in Not an insignificant advantage. publishing our article on the in-hub hybrid-capable elec- tric drive. We both realize that some editing to fit in the space allocated is necessary, but I would like to point out to your readers that one crucial figure was left out of the R.G. DUVALL caption for Figure 2 on Page 46.