The Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) turned to decisive action training with what was called, at the time, a full spectrum operations (FSO) rotation in October 2010. The shift to a decisive action training environment (DATE) did not lessen the challenges of FSO; it merely placed them inside DATE as a more accurate depiction of unified land operations.
Regardless of rotational design (FSO versus DATE), company-level leaders find decisive action a challenge for themselves, their Soldiers, and their units. As the opposition force (OPFOR) in the DATE, 1st Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Geronimo) made the DATE rotation at the JRTC a “school of hard knocks.” For those company-level leaders, a JRTC DATE rotation was combined arms maneuver (CAM) centric.
This newsletter is about company-level CAM, concentrating on basics for company leaders and their units. When reading it, think home-station training. Units that get after the basics discussed here during home-station training fare better against Geronimo. Those that do not will prove themselves a meal ready-to-eat for the Geronimo personnel.
