“Cyber operations is an enabler, another tool, in the commander’s kit bag, along with fires, joint fires, information operations, (psychological operations).”
— Chief Warrant Officer 4 Thomas O’Neill
By Spc. Anthony Bryant
14th Public Affairs Detachment
Col. Michael T. Oeschger, commander of the Division Artillery, 4th Infantry Division, hosted the 4th Inf. Div.’s Fires Symposium at the Elkhorn Conference Center last month.
The purpose of the Dec. 14, 2016, event was to engage in critical dialogue about future warfighting functions the division may face within the scope of United Land Operations-Decisive Action.
Dr. Lester W. Grau, research coordinator for the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, discusses weapons buildup of adversarial armies during the 4th Infantry Division Fires Symposium Dec. 14, 2016.
“(The 4th Infantry Division) has a brigade going over (to Europe) in support of Atlantic Resolve; we’re going to be operating in that environment,” said Oeschger. “It makes sense to be educated on what the threat might be, what their capabilities are, how we address those threats, how we observe those threats, how we identify those threats … it makes sense that we get smarter.”
The symposium covered in detail the changing scope of enemy military capabilities on a multifaceted battlefield.
Artillery is called the “King of Battle” and mass fires create psychic terror, said Dr. Lester Grau, research coordinator for the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
“It’s one thing to have a couple of rounds lobbed your way; it’s another thing to be under an intense barrage for 20, 30, 40, 80 minutes,” he said. “At the end of that time, when you’re deaf from the blasts and crawling to the top of what used to be your fighting position to meet what’s coming for you, you realize artillery is dangerous. Artillery enables maneuvers.”
Artillery has various missions, and annihilation is one of them, said Grau. Potential adversaries to U.S. allies are after the mathematical probability of destruction to 80 percent of targets in an area by artillery.
Speakers also briefed on the modernization of enemy military weapons systems and vehicles.
Opposing armies are trying to reduce the human component in a vehicle, said Charles K. Bartles, linguist and military analyst at the FMSO.
“Compared to the amount of personnel in an Abrams (tank), adversaries have reduced to three guys in their tank because there is nobody in the turret,” he said. “Their new turret is unmanned. What they’re trying to do is get less people and more electronics in that vehicle.”
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Thomas O’Neill, senior targeting officer, U.S. Army Cyber Command, answers questions from the audience about cyber operations during the 4th Infantry Division Fires Symposium Dec. 14, 2016.
The integration of fires and cyber capabilities to achieve certain effects on the battlefield were discussed.
“Cyber operations is an enabler, another tool, in the commander’s kit bag, along with fires, joint fires, information operations, (psychological operations),” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Thomas O’Neill, senior targeting officer, U.S. Army Cyber Command. “They are all enablers to achieve effects.
“There are so many stakeholders in everything that happens inside of the cyber realm, one wrong move in cyberspace can completely mess up treaties we have with multiple nations,” said O’Neill. “In cyber, there’s a serious vetting process before a target ever goes to action to ensure that we don’t violate treaties with our partners and with other nations.”
The symposium is a forum to talk about fighting in a multidomain environment, said Oeschger.
“You have to understand how all the pieces work and how you have to put it all together. The goal here, really, is to expose Soldiers … to understand what’s available, what the threat is, and to give them an understanding of what happens at the national strategic level.”
The fires symposium will be an annual event with the goal of educating Soldiers from the 4th Inf. Div. on how to do this in an ever-changing environment.