A FLEET MUST BE ABLE TO FIGHT

摘要

While commanding the U.S. Pacific Fleet ten years ago, Admiral Robert "Rat" Wil-lard sometimes would remark that he had never been trained to be a carrier strike group (CSG) commander. Despite his success in command of the Kitty Hawk (CV-63) Battle Group, he regarded the steep learning curve of the job as a wasted opportunity and sought to do better for the officers who would come after him. The current week-long Joint Force Maritime Component Commander (JFMCC) course at the Naval War College is a direct result of his drive to train junior flag officers in the operational level of war (OLW). While the course has introduced flag officers to the OLW, Admiral Willard's observations remain true in many ways today. Our "small war" experiences define the metrics by which we measure the junior flag officers who complete the JFMCC course, and their familiar U.S. Central Command experience remains the greatest influence on how they think about fleet operations. That experience highlights the CSG as the basic naval maneuver element, employs a tremendously efficient sustainment mechanism, leverages near-perfect maritime domain awareness and communications, and seamlessly integrates with the rest of the joint force. It is warfighting Nirvana-and impossible in any but the most mature theaters of war and only when fighting a non-peer adversary.