Sixty Years of Reorganizing for Combat: A Historical Trend Analysis

摘要

Throughout the twentieth century, the U.S. Army has periodically reviewed the structure and organization of its primary combat unit, the division, to posture itself better to meet changing requirements. Since 1939, the Army has conducted at least eleven such reviews with associated testing and validation exercises, the most recent being the reorganization of the light and heavy divisions in the mid-to-late 1980s. Given the significant changes in the world political environment since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in the early 1990s, another such review is warranted, if not overdue. In November 1999, Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army Chief of Staff, directed the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command to undertake just such a comprehensive review. In response, the TRADOC commander, Gen. John Abrams, began the development of a brigade-sized force capable of rapid deployment, yet with the staying power of the current heavy force. Toward that end, the Combined Arms Center tasked the Combat Studies Institute to analyze four U.S. Army division/brigade restructuring initiatives that took place between the years 1960 to 1994 in an attempt to 'determine critical historical insights gained and common themes from previous Army experiments germane to standing up the Prototype Initial Brigade.' To provide a broader historical context and a wider range of key themes and trends that may be relevant to the current restructuring efforts, the Combat Studies Institute expanded its efforts to include several additional restructuring initiatives that have occurred since 1939.