1963 US Army Vietnam War Armor Operations ... - Survival Books

WWW.SURVIVALEBOOKS.COMAttachments to subordinate units establish aand the coordination required to consinglecommand authority at that level. Thetinue the attack on converging axes.commander at each level must have commandFire support coordination will be moreor control of all resources required to accom-difficult if constant changes are madeplish the mission. Unity of command insuresin the actual operation.the following: Coordination of maneuver; ade- (3) CA 3 is the simplest way the comquatemaneuver space and control measures;mander can conceive to accomplishprevention of mutual interference by attackinghis mission. Control is centralized, theteams converging on the objective from dif-use of one axis, the ease of fire supferentdirections; and unity of effort.port, all lend to the simplicity of the(1) CA 1, CA 2, and CA 3 achieve unity plan.of command through singleness of (4) CA 3 is selected based on this princommandat each level and centralizedciple.coordination of the final assault.coordination. Conclusion. of the final assault. As a result of the commander's(2) Unity of effort results from unity of analysis of the three courses of action, basedcommand. Unity of effort can fail if solely on the principles of war, CA 3 wassubordinates do not carry out the com- favored.mander's orders in the manner prescribedor in the spirit and with the 2. Summaryintent desired by the commander.Although the application of the principles ofwar is more apparent at higher levels, they canplans and execution. plans and execution.A simple plan with only and must be applied as illustrated above at allsuch such detail detail to to insure insure understanding understanding by by sub-sub- levels. The platoon leader as well as the fieldordinates generally precludes a cumbersome,uncoordinated, complex, and time-consuming army commander, must apply the principles ofexecution.war to every situation. The seasoned commander,in arriving at a course of action, will(1) CA 1 is more complex in planning andexecution than CA 3. Maneuver on normally concurrently consider the factors oftwo axes requires plans for fire sup- METT and the principles of war. A less exportof each maneuver force as well asthe coordination of the assault.perienced commander may find it helpful toarrive at courses of action by initially consider-(2) CA 2, although appearing relatively ing the factors of METT only and then by thesimple, is the most complex plan. This application of the courses of action againstis brought about by the seizing of an each of the principles of war to establish theintermediate objective that will re- relative validity of a course of action beforequire a temporary defensive posture, final selection of the best course of action.256 AGO 9139A