I wrote a few months ago that Distributed Operations as an Overall concept was not dead, but had moved away fr/the Tactical side, concerning the Distributed Squad/Plt, to now focus on the Operational side, Housed at the Company Level, in the form of 'Enhanced Company Operations'.
For those who thought that DO was Dead only needs to look at BN 2/7 in A'stan, which I said early was the more interesting of the 2 Marine Depl's in A'stan.
2/7 is Operating in the very Infantile stages of what the USMC envisions for DO.
Presently 2/7 is Dispersed thru-out & Controlling an Area of Operations of over 16,000 sq miles in Plt-sized elements w/70 miles of dispersion btwn them. This is w/out the support of the MAGTF, this is on straight Organic FirePower.
They're Operating in 3 ways that are crucial to the way the USMC plans to fight in the Future.
1) These Distributed Reinforced Plt's are not only conducting Combat Ops but like the Combined Action Plts could simultaneously running continuous Civic Actions.
2) Like the CAPs they are also simultaneously running embbed training operations w/local indigenous forces.
3) Combined w/1&2 like the CAPs the Small Dispersed Units are conducting their own Combat Ops, developing their own Intel independent of but in coordination w/ Higher HQ.
The Tactical portion of DO is sound and is partially in place in the PTP. The rest of the tactical portion I believe will come on line when the Pipeline can support it.
Which is where ECO comes into play. Its the Logistical/Operational side of DO. |