{"id":45350,"date":"2019-06-04T14:59:50","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T14:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/04\/how-changes-to-mission-command-will-mean-soldiers-taking-risks-and-taking-charge-on-complex-battlefields\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:46:10","slug":"how-changes-to-mission-command-will-mean-soldiers-taking-risks-and-taking-charge-on-complex-battlefields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2019\/06\/04\/how-changes-to-mission-command-will-mean-soldiers-taking-risks-and-taking-charge-on-complex-battlefields\/","title":{"rendered":"How changes to mission command will mean soldiers taking risks and taking charge on complex battlefields"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An unnamed Army brigade commander has seemingly constant strikes against his units, jammed radios, enemy air attacks, indirect fires landing from what looks like every direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/ausa\/2017\/10\/10\/the-new-way-to-fight-army-unveils-field-manual-3-0\/\" target=\"_blank\">battalions and companies <\/a>in his formation are moving around the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2018\/09\/06\/the-army-is-extending-training-for-thousands-of-new-soldiers-heres-whos-affected\/\" target=\"_blank\">battlespace<\/a>, returning fire, hitting enemy sensor nodes as they wade through thousands of displaced civilians in the rubble of the city they\u2019ve patrolled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe pace of fighting was exceptionally fast \u2013 confusion was the norm\u201d is the battle vignette that Col. Charles Lombardo hopes commanders will take with them when they leave a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2018\/06\/26\/will-longer-basic-training-make-stronger-infantrymen-the-army-is-adding-8-weeks-to-osut-to-find-out\/\" target=\"_blank\">ramped-up rotation<\/a> at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/10\/08\/tradocs-new-boss-on-how-the-army-plans-to-prepare-for-war-and-grow-the-force\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Gen.-Stephen-Townsend-TRADOC.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">TRADOC\u2019s new boss on how the Army plans to prepare for war and grow the force<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Major changes to Army training and accessions are under way. Gen. Stephen Townsend is overseeing those changes across the force.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That location is one testbed for an overhaul of how Army leaders push authority down to the lowest levels of fighting units. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of the Army\u2019s Training and Doctrine Command, looks at ways to reinvigorate Army doctrine on mission command and how that will fit in garrison, at training centers and on deployment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armyupress.army.mil\/journals\/military-review\/online-exclusive\/2019-ole\/march\/reinvigorating-mc\/\" target=\"_blank\">in an article he co-authored<\/a> with Maj. Gen. Douglas Crissman at the Maneuver Center of Excellence and Maj. Kelly McCoy, a TRADOC strategist. The article was published by the Army University Press in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The general spoke with Army Times about how near-peer adversaries \u201cchallenge us in all ways and the only way that we can really overcome that is leadership and mission command.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest challenge, he said, is at low-level unit training and garrison operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s too much top down direction, too much philosophy of compliance in mission command,\u201d Townsend said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The effort is being spread across the Army, permeating beyond just combat training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We continue to analyze the right level of instruction devoted to mission command throughout a leader\u2019s professional military education,\u201d Col. Ken Hawley, director of policy and plans at Army University, told Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The university recently adjusted the Noncommissioned Officers Education System and the Captains Career Course common core, updated the Advanced Operations Course to the Command and General Staff College, increased emphasis at Pre-Command Course, and revised the Tactical Pre-Command Course to place greater emphasis on the commander\u2019s role in mission command, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of that is happening through what Townsend described as \u201ctweaks\u201d to doctrine such as reinserting the term \u201ccommand and control\u201d rather than using \u201cmission command\u201d as a catch-all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe used the same words to mean too many different things and confusion resulted. The uniqueness and importance of our approach to command and control was lost,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s why this year TRADOC will update its doctrine in a revised ADP 6-0, \u201cMission Command: Command and Control of Army Forces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking back to an earlier time in his career, Townsend said that when he was a company commander he answered to one person \u2013 the battalion commander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if the battalion S4 called own and said they wanted an equipment inventory done because the division G4 is calling for this, it didn\u2019t necessarily change his schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s nice to know but it\u2019s not on my training calendar this week so I\u2019ll get to it when I get to it,\u201d Townsend said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And his battalion commander supported adhering to that schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A basic change is for higher-level leaders, especially at the general level and above, to stop filling the schedules of their subordinates for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Townsend wants to see unit leaders filling their own \u201cwhite space\u201d on a schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of that was necessary as the Army had to free up manpower for recent wars and create \u201cturnkey training\u201d where a cookie cutter approach was used and a whole support system put in place to feed, clothe, house and model training as a unit pushed out the door to combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey go through this hamster wheel, then they\u2019re ready for their next deployment,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cWe sort of forgot how much leader development is deciding what to do for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now commanders will need to figure out a lot of that on their own and be as expeditionary as possible in their thinking, training and behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The simplest version of it is to push aside the non-combat essentials such as giving commanders the discretion for whether to conduct safety briefings or instead use valuable time in the day for combat specific training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That emerged from Army Secretary Mark Esper\u2019s memo that removed many of the mandatory, non-combat training requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as Townsend talked to troop and battery level commanders in the field, he soon learned that what\u2019s said and what\u2019s believed can be vastly different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey didn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Townsend said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The response he got was that leaders at those levels and lower knew what mission command was, taking decisive action and prudent risk, but they didn\u2019t really buy it when they were being told to execute it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And a lot of that will flow from the combat training centers such as NTC and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, Townsend said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re going to expect more from our CTCs, which will backwards evolve and affect home station training,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of that is simplifying how commanders issue orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The general said much of the time a commander should just issue an operations order and let their subordinates go from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProvide just enough information but not too much,\u201d he said. \u201cJust enough direction but not too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has a vision for how that home station training works. If the battalion is headed to the field for two weeks, then at least three days of that exercise should be devoted to squad training. The squad leaders brief the platoon and company commanders on what they need, and that gets resourced and executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019ll see the higher-level events will be better,\u201d Townsend said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The four-star has seen improvement in the past two to four years, especially at the combat training centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur sparring partner is bigger and badder than they\u2019ve ever been,\u201d Townsend said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And at his level, Lombardo is seeing the effects of changes on both ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They\u2019ve seen units be able to jump a brigade combat team\u2019s battalion command post 90 to 120 times in a rotation. And cut down that jump time from 18 hours down to just over three hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s largely a function of having each of the 10 battalions in a BCT rotation jumping their command post every other day for weeks on end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of that is shrinking down to the essentials. Instead of three computer screens, use one. Make a three- day supply fit on one truck where in the past a tactical operations center took multiple busloads of gear to stand up, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From garrison to combat training centers to deployments, soldiers will need to be decisive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":84676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,23,92,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3366],"class_list":["post-45350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"EBPQMUXXVREH3FPIPL7RV35NGU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2019\/06\/04\/how-changes-to-mission-command-will-mean-soldiers-taking-risks-and-taking-charge-on-complex-battlefields\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How changes to mission command will mean soldiers taking risks and taking charge on complex battlefields - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From garrison to combat training centers to deployments, soldiers will need to be decisive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How changes to mission command will mean soldiers taking risks and taking charge on complex battlefields\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From garrison to combat training centers to deployments, soldiers will need to be decisive.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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