Dominant Logistics
Defining the Peacekeeping Force
Changes in geopolitics have led many to conclude there is a need to form military units dedicated to the roles of peacekeeping and nation-building. Unfortunately, few go beyond abstract concepts in defining just what this force would be. This article is to outline what the peacekeeping force should be, its organizations, its capabilities, and its overall place in the United States military.
General Overview
For organizational purposes, the peacekeeping force should be formed of six divisions that will reside in the National Guard and Army Reserves. Because peacekeeping rarely requires more than a few thousand personnel, these divisions should be formed of three Brigade Peacekeeping Teams per division, with the division defining the region of the world in which the BPT is trained and equipped to operate. The divisions should be organized for the following regions:
Individual and unit training should be tailored to the units region of interest.
Individual Servicemembers
Members of the peacekeeping force should complete the traditional basic training, if for no other reason than familiarization with the art and tools of warfare. Peacekeeping means stopping and preventing war so it is critical that these personnel know what they are up against when it comes to snipers, artillery, mortars, armored vehicles, and ordnance in general. Peacekeeping is not about policing - it is about stopping war and the two are quite different.
Advanced individual training should be focused on elements of policing without getting into the legal side of the matter. This training should focus on crowd control, non-lethal weaponry, conflict resolution training, and defensive and security methods. The basic idea is to stop the fighting without killing those involved. This should be the focus of training for all personnel within peacekeeping forces.
The "Peace" Team
Where the basic element of the combat unit is the fire team, the basic element of a peacekeeping unit is the "peace" team. This is a three-man team that fundamentally serves as a forward element to direct higher level support assets. Team members consist of:
This team is designed to have the ability to go into a village or neighborhood, communicate effectively with the people, address the likely needs of the people, and direct higher echelon assets to effectively meet the needs of the mission, whether it be directing engineering assets for a construction role or a combat element to fight elements hiding amongst the population.
The Squad
As with other military units, the squad should consist of three peace teams. The communications personnel of the squad should each be trained in a different language, allowing comms personnel to become fluent in their primary language while also gaining some functionality in two other languages and cultures of the assigned region. This also places multiple logistics and medical personnel in each squad to enhance the knowledge and experience base of the overall team.
The Support Squad
The support squad should consist of a squad of engineers. These personnel will serve primarily in an engineering support role but their systems also provide a fire support base for the platoon. The squad should be outfitted with a Track Support Vehicle with dump pallet, an M9 ACE for earthmoving and demolition work, and a Cub for mine clearing, smoke, and fire support.
The Platoon
At the platoon level, we now have three squads for a total of nine peace teams being supported by an engineering squad. Each peace team should be assigned a vehicle for transportation and to carry the team's needed gear while the engineers will ride on their own vehicles as well as an additional TSV. While the individual members of the platoon will be relatively lightly armed, the platoon will have two 30mm cannons, two 7.62mm GPMG, and a 155mm heavy mortar available for fire support as well as substantial engineering capabilities to dig in defensively. The platoon will also have three available translators for each of three different languages, nine medics, and nine logistics personnel. Vehicles should be chosen based upon the vehicles that are in use in the region to which the unit is assigned, such as Land Rovers and Toyota trucks.
The Fire Support Platoon
Because we are dealing with warfare situations, we need to include some dedicated combat troops in these units. I would mount these troops in the Cobra variants of the HMMWV with a squad consisting of two Cobras with 30mm cannons and a third Cobra carrying dismount troops with rifles and grenades. These personnel would be trained more completely in the roles of military police. As with the other platoons, the support squad of the Fire Support Platoon should also be a squad of engineers but these should be riding in four M113s with bulldozer blades and armed with 30mm cannons.
The Headquarters Platoon
The headquarters platoon should include a medical ambulance squad for evacuation purposes, a logistics squad for supporting the peacekeeping unit, as well as command, control, and intelligence sections. All of this together forms our peacekeeping company that is the basic element within the peacekeeping force. The company will have nine translators for each of three assigned languages. It will also have substantial engineering support assets and sufficient firepower to deal with most any peacekeeping matter that arises. It also has considerable logistics and medical assets to help the people of the nation being assisted.
The Battalion Level
At the battalion level, our peacekeeping force becomes self-sustaining. For the majority of peacekeeping and nation-building missions, a battalion is really all that needs to be sent. As previously defined, we should be organizing the peacekeeping force around six geographical regions. With the formation we have defined, we can operate effectively amongst up to nine different languages and cultures within each geographical region with a minimum of nine fluent translators for each of the languages and an additional 72 personnel trained in non-verbal and symbolic communications. We also have all of the key roles addressed by most peacekeeping missions.
Two support companies will be required at the battalion level to make the unit self-sustaining. The first is a support company that will serve a role similar to what Foward Support Battalions serve in the Brigade Combat Teams. There will be a platoon each for higher level maintenance, medical, and logistics, while an additional platoon should be added for fire support consisting solely of Escort Vehicles, giving the battalion effective anti-tank, anti-air, and communications support through JTRS. The headquarters company will round out the battalion filling the adminstrative roles as well as providing legal services and civil affairs personnel.
This formation would be an asset to the overall force in a variety of ways. For smaller missions, it can operate independently as a peacekeeping or humanitarian aid force. It can also be easily merged into larger formations for larger roles. But it can also be effectively added to combat forces for operations where these types of missions exist. For example, in recent actions in Iraq, peacekeeping battalions could have been assigned to the combat forces to assist in interacting with the civilian populace as well as to initiate the rebuilding process which ended up delayed for a considerable time.
The Brigade Peacekeeping Team
The brigade level is where function meets organization in this formation. The objective of this idea is to form a brigade sized element that can function effectively amongst up to 27 different languages and cultures. With three line battalions per brigade, we have that capability in the BPT. This is also a substantial logistics, medical, policing, and engineering force that can address virtually any peacekeeping or humanitarian aid mission that arises anywhere in the world, including here at home. This would give the overall military the ability to operate amongst any of 162 different languages and cultures in an effective manner given that we are defining 6 divisional regions.
Each division should have a total of three BPTs, with one active and the remaining BPTs in reserve or Guard status. This forms a nominal rotation where inactive units will have months of advance notice before activation for deployment. This also limits the need for reserve activation as the active BPT can carry out longer missions while inactive units would be called up at the most for a period of six months every two years.
Since typical divisions also have support formations like cavalry and aviation units, I would recommend assigning an Aviation Cavalry Regiment to each of the peacekeeping divisions. These formations replace ground combat systems with aerial systems that can be used in a variety of roles. Of particular relevance to peacekeeping is that this will make a significant quantity of aerial transport and recon assets organic to the division. For example, each lone battalion would have as many as 13 Blackhawks and nine Cessna Cargomasters available for support missions while other aviation assets would also be available.