Light Fighter Manifesto is testing out a “Print on Demand” Service for both issues, Vol I and II. Unfortunately, the service doesn’t offer international shipping but if you missed out on Vol I or II, now’s your chance.
They’ll close it come Oct 31st in preparation of Vol III for December which will be a more “pocket” friendly publication, similar to a Ranger Handbook and it will be available to EU partners and will be coming in close to 200 pages of Light Fighter Content.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall announced the Air Task Force as the next step in the Air Force’s Force Generation model during the Air and Space Forces Association’s 2023 Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Sept. 11 in National Harbor, Maryland.
“Major initiatives in the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, such as Air Force Force Generation in the Air Force and the evolving allocations of responsibility across Space Force field commands are moves in the right direction,” Kendall said. “On Friday, I approved the Air Force creation of three Air Task Forces to serve as pilots in order to experiment with ways to more effectively provide deployable, integrated units — two for U.S. Central Command and one for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command … they are a major step in the right direction, and we will learn from this experience.”
As part of an ongoing effort to build high-end readiness for the future, the Air Force continues to evolve the way it presents its forces through the AFFORGEN model.
What Airmen need to know about the Air Task Force
– The ATF provides the Air Force with a definable unit of action at a sustainable pace for employing and posturing forces.
– The first ATFs will enter the AFFORGEN cycle in Summer 2024 and will deploy beginning in fiscal year 2026.
– These Airmen which form the ATFs will team, train and deploy together through the AFFORGEN cycle.
– As ATFs are built, Airmen will be sourced from across the Air Force. Further details will be available in the coming months.
In addition to a disciplined force generation model, the Air Force is refining Agile Combat Employment tactics, Multi-Capable Airmen training, A-Staff constructs, and implementing a Mission Command approach to command and control.
Air Task Force construct
The ATF will consist of a Command Element with an attached expeditionary A-Staff; an Expeditionary Air Base Squadron to provide Base Operating Support; and Mission Generation Force Elements with attached Mission Sustainment Teams to facilitate Agile Combat Employment.
– The Command Element will be the ATF’s dedicated leadership team throughout the entire AFFORGEN cycle, focused on building, training, certifying and deploying a cohesive unit postured for success across the spectrum of conflict. The Command Element will consist of the commander, deputy commander, a senior enlisted leader and an expeditionary A-Staff.
– The ATF commander will be a colonel; the ATF deputy commander will be a lieutenant colonel who has successfully completed at least one squadron command assignment; and the senior enlisted leader will be a command chief master sergeant.
– The A-Staff will assist the ATF commander by providing staff support in interacting with higher headquarters and fulfilling the commander’s responsibility to provide resourcing, policy, oversight and guidance.
“Concepts like Multi-Capable Airmen and Agile Combat Employment are aligned with meeting the pacing challenge,” Kendall said.
The ATF model represents the next step in adopting a more modular organization of teams, which generate through the AFFORGEN cycle together and then deploy as a unit to maximize effectiveness.
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
Fort Moore, Ga. – Top Army leadership from the Pentagon and major commands gathered here Sept. 12-14 for the Maneuver Center of Excellence’s Maneuver Warfighter Conference. The annual event, hosted by Maj. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, MCoE commanding general and Fort Moore’s senior commander, focused on the way forward for large scale combat operations, including presentations on maneuver modernization, multi-domain operations, robotics, electronic warfare, and data literacy as well as holistic health and fitness.
“For three days, we get to hear from the leaders of our Army. We get to focus on driving change and meet the challenges of Army 2030, shape the Army of 2040, and build a common visualization of where we’re going,” Buzzard said, emphasizing the importance of the MWFC.
Buzzard also mentioned the Army pivot to large scale combat operations, combined arms in a multi-domain environment, transparent battlefields, and the proliferation of unmanned systems as topics to be covered and discussed.
“We are at the epicenter of the changing character and immutable nature of war at the Maneuver Center of Excellence. This is exactly what we do: we focus on building the foundation and delivering trained and combat ready Soldiers and leaders to the operational force while also developing and integrating the doctrine and capabilities for the future,” Buzzard said.
Senior leader presenters attending the event included Gen. Randy A. George, U.S. Army acting Army Chief of Staff; Sergeant Major of the Army, Sgt. Maj. Michael R. Weimer; the U.S. Army Forces Command command team, Gen. Andrew P. Poppas and Command Sgt. Major TJ Holland; the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command command team, Gen. Gary Brito and Command Sgt. Major Daniel T. Hendrex; U.S. Army Pacific commanding general, Gen. Charles A. Flynn, and the U.S. Army Futures Command command team, Gen. James E. Rainey and Command Sgt. Maj. Brian A. Hesler; among others.
Special guest speakers included author and strategist Peter Singer and Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski.
Realizing the Strategic Vision
“I want to talk to you a little bit about where the Army’s going,” said Gen. Randy George, acting Chief of Staff of the Army.
“We’re going to talk about our four focus areas,” the general stated, noting his newly refined focus areas of warfighting, continuous transformation, strengthening the profession, and delivering ready combat formations which were published only a week prior. “Our Army exists to fight and win wars; that’s why our number one focus area has to be warfighting – and be laser-focused on that.”
The general expanded that thought. “I expect you to focus on what makes you more lethal and cohesive,” he said, adding that anything “not contributing to lethality and cohesiveness” would have to be reviewed for possible removal.
“We going to have to change how we’re organized,” George continued, stating that he asked commanders at the four-star level to review their structure and adjust based on capability and environmental advances.
“We are going to change how we train,” he said, noting the current multi-domain environment. “We’re going to have to adjust going forward. We’re going to have to do things more rapidly.”
The best ideas, he added, most often were “bottom up”, originating in the field and the operational environment. “I ask you to think that, to write about it, to pass them up and to make sure we’re seeing them.”
“We’ve got some work to do,” said Michael Weimer, the recently sworn-in Sergeant Major of the Army. “We’ve got to transform how we develop our non-commissioned officers; we have to transform how we train; we have to transform how we manage our time, and I do believe that, at echelon, the non-commissioned officer has a key role to play in every one of those things.”
Achieve Army 2030
Gen. James E. Rainey presented remarks on the future of war from his perspective as head of U.S. Army Futures Command.
“There are three big things that are not going to change.” Rainey said, describing the first enduring element of the future of war as its definition: a contest of wills, the second as the immutable decisiveness of the land domain, and the third as the Army’s commitment to its values.
Regarding the last point, Rainey stated, “I believe the United States is going to continue to abide by the law of armed conflict, and that matters because that’s what separates us from the people we fight.”
“What is going to change?” he asked. “We’re going to have to learn how to fight under constant observation and in constant contact in one form or another. That’s game changing. If I was a commander right now, I’d make sure I was putting more into counter-C5ISR (command, control, communication, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) than my own C5ISR.”
“Technology,” he stated, “indisputably favors the defense.” While defensive postures are getting stronger, he said, offensive warfighting is only getting harder and “more costly.”
Rainey also discussed the operational relationship between fires and maneuver.
“I think fires is going to bump up above maneuver again. We’ve gotten into thinking that fires is something to condition maneuver. I think the future is going to be about maneuvering to position fires. That’s a big, fundamental change.”
Rainey addressed other key issues facing the future Army, beginning with what he considers the impossibility of avoiding combat in urban areas.
“We’re kidding ourselves if we think we’re going to avoid fighting in cities. We’re not going to be able to avoid it.”
Shifting his comments to technology, he notably stated that, “If there’s one thing that you recall from today, this is it: technology is increasing the punishment of unskilled commanders and untrained units. If you’re not good, if you’re not prepared, you are going to pay for it at an unprecedented level.”
His remarks were echoed by Brig. Gen. Brian Vile, commanding general of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon, Ga., in a later panel discussion.
“It really boils down to two things,” Vile said. “First, we enable and defend friendly use of cyberspace and the electro-magnetic spectrum – EMS. The second thing we do is we deny our adversaries the use of cyberspace and EMS. If we’re successful, you’re going to fight like it’s 2030 and the adversary is going to fight like it’s 1914. We’re going to force them back to carrier pigeons. We’re going to force them back to runner-on-foot. We’re going to force them back to dumb weapons.”
Look Beyond 2030
The future is going to be about artificial intelligence, but in a very different way from how it’s been discussed so far, said Peter W. Singer, New York Times best-selling author and strategist for the New America Foundation. The age-old question of, “What if machines became intelligent?” is being addressed now, he said.
“It’s happening now, in our lifetime, and you are tasked to lead through this challenge,” Singer stated. “We’re only at the start of this journey. There’s no other area that is seeing as much change, as much investment, as much activity as this space.”
Artificial intelligence, Singer said, involves every country, every industry and will create opportunities everywhere.
“The editor of Wired magazine put it this way, ‘I think the recipe for the next ten-thousand start-ups is to take something that already exists and add AI to it.’”
Singer added that AI should be applied to the U.S. military today regarding maintenance, military medicine, acquisitions, intelligence analysis, and battle maneuver – nearly every aspect of what the Army does.
The three-day event concluded with remarks by coach Mike Krzyzewski, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and former Duke University and U.S. Olympics basketball coach.
“I’m retired from coaching now, but I’m not retired from being a leader. I’ve been a leader my whole life. It’s the best profession in the world. It changes daily and you have to stay on top of things, and it really transcends every profession on this planet. If you do not have good leadership, you’re going to fail.”
“You are (leading),” the coach told the audience virtually from his office in North Carolina, “because you represent the best team on this planet – the United States Army. To be leaders on the best team in the world is such an honor and a huge commitment.”
“To me, leadership simply is having a group of people that you have the honor to lead, to use their talents to the highest level – not to put a ceiling on their talents – and coordinate them in the accomplishment of a mission.”
By Randy Tisor, Fort Moore Public Affairs Office
Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, who ignored his own wounds and repeatedly entered a burning vehicle to save his soldiers, is the focus of the latest graphic novel in the Association of the U.S. Army’s series on recipients of the nation’s highest award for valor.
Medal of Honor: Alwyn Cashe tells of the infantryman’s actions on Oct. 17, 2005, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb near Samarra, Iraq. Cashe suffered terrible burns, but he kept returning to the burning vehicle to rescue his soldiers.
Cashe pulled six soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter from the wreckage and made sure everyone was taken care of before agreeing to be evacuated. Suffering burns on more than 70% of his body, Cashe died three weeks later.
“I’ve been wanting to tell this story for years. Alwyn Cashe’s actions were extraordinarily heroic, and I am glad he received the recognition he is due,” said Joseph Craig, director of AUSA’s Book Program. “I’m also glad we had such a talented team to put this book together.”
Medal of Honor: Alwyn Cashe is available here.
AUSA launched its Medal of Honor graphic novel series in October 2018. This is the 20th novel in the series. A paperback collection of the four issues produced this year is scheduled for release in the fall.
The digital graphic novels are available here.
A native of Oviedo, Florida, Cashe joined the Army in 1989. He served in South Korea, Germany and at installations across the U.S. and deployed in support of the Gulf War in 1991 before becoming a drill sergeant at Fort Benning, now known as Fort Moore, Georgia.
He participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and deployed there again in 2005 as a platoon sergeant in the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment.
On Oct. 17, 2005, Cashe and his soldiers were on a nighttime patrol near Samarra when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle came under enemy fire and was hit by a roadside bomb. The blast tore into the vehicle’s fuel cell, causing it to burst into flames.
Drenched in fuel, Cashe escaped through a front hatch. His uniform began to burn as he and another soldier pulled the Bradley’s driver to safety. Already suffering from severe burns, Cashe refused to stop, moving back to the Bradley’s troop compartment to help his soldiers trapped inside, according to his Medal of Honor citation.
Ignoring the pain and the incoming enemy fire, Cashe opened the troop door and helped four of his soldiers to safety. When he noticed that two other soldiers had not been accounted for, he went back to the burning Bradley to get them.
“Despite the severe second- and third-degree burns covering the majority of his body, Cashe persevered through the pain to encourage his fellow soldiers and ensured they received needed medical care,” the citation says.
Cashe died Nov. 8, 2005, at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He was 35.
While he was quickly awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor, there was a long campaign to have his award upgraded after the extent of his actions became known.
On Dec. 16, 2021, Cashe posthumously was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Each AUSA graphic novel is created by a team of professional comic book veterans. The script for the graphic novel on Cashe was written by Chuck Dixon, whose previous work includes Batman, The Punisher and The ‘Nam.
Pencils and inks were by PJ Holden, a veteran of Judge Dredd, Battlefields and World of Tanks; colors were by Peter Pantazis, who previously worked on Justice League, Superman and Black Panther; and the lettering was by Troy Peteri, who has worked on Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men.
FORT GORDON, Ga. — When a Signaleer graduates from initial military training their learning has all but ended; rather, it is only beginning.
As members of a career field that is ever evolving, it is imperative to seek out — and take advantage of — opportunities for professional development.
One such opportunity is the Signal Digital Master Gunner, or S-DMG, Course. Offered exclusively at Fort Gordon, Georgia, it is the only S-DMG course in the Army that is approved by U.S. Army Training Command.
This five-week functional course supports the training of noncommissioned officers to install, operate, and maintain the local area network integration with the tactical server infrastructure and various mission command information systems.
Instruction encompasses the installation and configuration of hardware and software including: routers, switches and networking devices, Warfighter Information Network-Tactical operations, signal flow, troubleshooting, Exchange server, Active Directory, Structured Query Language server, domain controller, tactical messaging solutions, Extensible Messaging Presence Protocol, Cisco Unified Call Manager, Tactical Local Area Network Encryptor, Tactical Operations Center Intercommunication System and virtual machine software. Additionally, students are taught how to integrate data using the Data Dissemination Services, Joint Battle Command Platform and Command Post Computing Environment.
Students are initially trained in a classroom environment then required to conduct performance-based tasks on unit-fielded equipment.
Claudius Blanding, S-DMG course manager, said the course’s primary objective is integration, noting that students do not become experts on any one particular system but instead become well-versed in several.
“We teach them as integrators, so they know what questions to ask so that they know where to go to get the information,” Blanding said.
Each learning position in the classroom represents a brigade’s worth of servers, and each student, from beginning to end, builds those assets.
“They are utilizing that same network from day one in order for them to move on to the next block,” Blanding said.
The course is designed primarily for information technology specialists and signal support systems specialists, military occupational specialties 25B and 25U respectively, in the rank of sergeant or above. However, all other enlisted signal military occupational specialties — specialist and below — are eligible to attend with a waiver signed by their battalion commander. The training students receive is intended to complement the training that signal warrant officers and chief information officers receive at the battalion and brigade level.
Blanding said that there are many benefits to Signaleers taking the S-DMG Course.
“What this does is … when you have your warrant [officers] and S6 up at either brigade or division, they can call down at the battalion level and talk to somebody like one of these trained NCOs, and they understand the lingo,” Blanding explained. “It really benefits the battalion and below having a S-DMG graduate, because it helps out the signal warrant officers on that side.”
Ultimately, the intent is to develop signal noncommissioned officers as signal-digital master gunners and the commander’s subject matter expert providing critical and near real-time situational awareness in the unit’s integrated common operational picture.
Furthermore, Soldiers who complete the course are offered a resource of lifetime tech support.
“We encourage them to reach back to us if they have any questions … and we constantly get emails and phone calls from [graduates] giving us new updates on stuff or things that are changing out in the force, so we learn from them as well and pass that information along,” Blanding said.
Soldiers who are interested in enrolling must pass a pre-entrance exam. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis by registering in the Army Training Requirements and Resources System.
There is no pre-entrance exam study material available, as Soldiers are expected to have networking fundamentals experience and knowledge of the various Mission Command Information Systems.
Classes fill up quickly, so Soldiers should begin the process to enroll as soon as they know they want to attend.
For more information about the course, click here.
By Laura Levering
WASHINGTON (AFNS) —
The Department of Defense announced Aug. 25, changes to the special leave accrual policy for service members. The DoD Instruction 1327.06, “Leave and Liberty Policy and Procedures,” was reissued incorporating change five to implement the provisions of section 701 of title 10 United States Code that was revised by section 632 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.
A service member may retain a maximum of 60 days of annual leave from one fiscal year to the next. However, a service member who is assigned to certain duties that prevent them from taking annual leave may be eligible for SLA that qualifies the service member to retain more than 60 days of leave at the end of the fiscal year.
The revised provisions of section 701 U.S.C. title 10 reduced the maximum amount of accrued leave that may be retained by a service member at the end of the FY from 120 days (60 days of annual leave plus 60 days of SLA leave) to 90 days (60 days of annual leave plus 30 days of SLA leave). Also, the timeframe a service member may retain SLA leave was shortened from three fiscal years to two fiscal years following the fiscal year in which the SLA qualifying duty ended. Further, a duty assignment in support of a designated contingency operation by itself is no longer a qualifying duty for SLA. These changes went into effect Jan. 1.
The revised provisions of law made by the FY2023 NDAA do not negatively impact the unused SLA leave of service members who accumulated SLA leave due to the COVID-19 or due to other reasons that occurred before FY2023. Service members may continue to use this SLA leave according to the timelines previously established by their service.
Beginning in FY2023, a service member in an SLA qualifying duty such as an assignment to a designated deployable ship may retain a maximum of 90 days of accrued leave (60 days annual leave and 30 days of SLA leave) at the end of the fiscal year if he or she receives written approval to do so from the first flag or general officer in their chain of command.
The service member’s leave that is approved as SLA will be forfeited unless used before the end of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the SLA qualifying duty ended. For example, SLA leave that is approved for FY2023 will be forfeited unless used by September 30, 2025.
Service members who have approved SLA leave that caused their accrued leave balance to exceed 90 days as of Dec. 31, 2022, may continue to carry SLA leave that is in excess of 90 days; however, any SLA leave that exceeds 90 days on or before Sept. 30, 2026, will be forfeited. No service member may be authorized additional SLA at the end of the FY2023 if their accrued leave balance exceeds 90 days.
Enlisted service members who would lose accumulated SLA leave in excess of 90 days may elect to be paid for SLA leave up to 30 days. This election can only be taken once in a career. The sell back counts toward the enlisted service member’s cap of 60 days over a career.
Service members are encouraged to review the “remarks” section of their Leave and Earning Statement to monitor their SLA leave balance and to determine the expiration date of their SLA leave to avoid forfeiting days of SLA leave.
The reissuance of DoD Instruction 1327.06 incorporating change can be found here.
The Army has published ATP 3-01.81 Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS), which provides brigades and below actions and considerations for conducting local security and counterreconnaissance to deny enemy unmanned aircraft systems from accomplishing their mission. This includes a description of threat unmanned aircraft systems, how to plan for them at brigade and below, defensive and offensive actions for Soldiers and units to take, resources for additional training, and example counter-unmanned aircraft system equipment a unit may be issued or can request.
Chapter 1 provides an overview of threat unmanned aviation systems.
Chapter 2 provides C-UAS planning considerations for brigades and below.
Chapter 3 provides defensive measures for units to take.
Chapter 4 provides offensive measures for units to take.
Appendix A provides C-UAS training resources that can be used while at home station. Appendix B describes current counter unmanned aircraft systems equipment.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —
The Air Force recently released two documents on mission command.
On Aug. 16, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. released a memo that elaborates on the operationalization of mission command and its application to the Air Force Future Operating Concept, Agile Combat Employment and the daily mission accomplishment of Airmen at all levels.
In addition, Brown signed Air Force Doctrine Publication 1-1, Mission Command, which illustrates the mission command framework of centralized command, distributed control, and decentralized execution. It also introduces the “Five Cs” of mission command — character, competence, capability, cohesion, and capacity — which are the individual and organizational attributes needed to implement mission command.
In 2021, Air Force Doctrine Publication-1: The Air Force was revised to orient the Air Force for strategic competition and reflect the service’s strategic approach, Accelerate Change or Lose. AFDP-1 acknowledges that Airmen will operate in environments characterized by increasing uncertainty, complexity and rapid change, and establishes mission command as the Air Force’s approach to command and control of airpower. AFPD 1-1 provides additional guidance on the application of mission command.
The release of these two additional documents reinforces the service’s return to a philosophy of mission accomplishment that empowers subordinate decision-making guided by commander’s intent.
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
