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| Former Ranger Instructor Calls For Army To Create Urban Warfare School |
| 2017-04-06 |
| [Daily Caller] Army Maj. John Spencer, a scholar the Modern War Institute, argued Wednesday the Army needs to create a school of urban warfare as soon as it possibly can. Global trends make conflict in urban areas much more likely in the future, but Spencer noted in an opinion piece for the institute at West Point that the Army has not adequately prepared its soldiers to fight in this environment, which means that the service is violating one of its ten core principles. For Spencer, the way to fix this major gap is to create a school of urban warfare. As pointed out recently by Army chief of staff Gen. Mark Milley, "Army forces operating in complex, densely populated urban terrain in dense urban areas is the toughest and bloodiest form of combat and it will become the norm, not the exception in the future." And yet, Spencer said the Army is woefully underprepared at this point to effectively fight in dense urban areas, which feature endless enemy positions, civilians mixed in with combatants, narrow alleys and close-quarter firefights. "The Army is fighting in cities today," Spencer wrote. "It will find itself fighting in cities in the future. It is time to commit to preparing soldiers for this environment. To do so, the Army needs a school that provides soldiers the opportunity to build necessary skills, feel the stress, and mentally prepare for the hell of urban warfare -- before combat." As it stands now, soldiers receive training on breaching small buildings and only sometimes get the chance to participate in live-fire exercises in houses. While it’s true that many soldiers have fought in locations like Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi, new units and new soldiers coming into the service lack this experience and have to start from scratch. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #11 You know, the Russians under Zhukov would encircle, bypass and just starve out centers of resistance...which explains their doctrinal rapid advancement metrics. And Montgomery is still pivoting around Caen. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2017-04-06 21:36 |
| #10 Magpie, your tactic sounds like it would be familiar to Edward, Black Prince of Wales. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2017-04-06 20:57 |
| #9 IIRC Pendleton has one for USMC |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-04-06 19:40 |
| #8 We're not using Detroit, and no one would miss Chicago. Make them useful! |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2017-04-06 16:54 |
| #7 Cities are just meat grinders for armies and if one isn't really needed, I am for just leveling it with artillery and moving on. In WW2 the Germans were astounded that the US Army was so concerned with line straightening that we had to clear the Hurtgen Forest. They then moved one good Infantry Division supported by totally green Volksgrenadier in there and lets us bleed ourselves white. Sometimes the best tactic is to just cordon off an area and whack it with indirect fire when it gets uppity. |
| Posted by: magpie 2017-04-06 13:06 |
| #6 This is a good call. We need to be able to teach MOUT operations at a better level. If we are going to ask out troops to be door kickers we need to give them more than a simple exposure to it before we ask them to go forward and fight. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2017-04-06 13:04 |
| #5 Cities are just meat grinders for armies and if one isn't really needed, I am for just leveling it with artillery and moving on. Also thermobaric weapopons or fuel-air bombs to level the playing field instead of dealing with meat-grinders. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2017-04-06 10:50 |
| #4 There isn't a formal school. Every base has a MOUT area and units train on their own in it. Cities are just meat grinders for armies and if one isn't really needed, I am for just leveling it with artillery and moving on. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2017-04-06 09:35 |
| #3 Mckenna MOUT site. No formal 'school' that I know of. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-04-06 08:49 |
| #2 After 16 years of Iraq you still don't have one? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-04-06 08:32 |
| #1 So small game snares, fish trap and L-shaped ambush training will be replaced with drive-by shooting and bus stop trolling. Welcome to LA. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-04-06 02:48 |