Tactical Excellence By Design: QMN067

The Battle Drill, "a collective action rapidly executed without applying a deliberate decision-making process” allows high-performing teams to simplify the problem and create a common basis of action.

(This week’s report is a 5 minute read)

BLUF: Nobody always gets time to plan, and how a group of people reacts to unplanned events can mean the difference between life and death. The Battle Drill, "a collective action rapidly executed without applying a deliberate decision-making process” allows high-performing teams to simplify the problem and create a common basis of action. Battle Drills reduce the number of decisions needed to an absolute minimum, they allow for a lightning-fast, practiced response, and they decrease the probability of confusion. If your team needs to get better at the basics, read on. 

Brady here. We spend a lot of time talking about deliberate planning processes here on the Quartermaster Newsletter. To be sure, elite military units have some excellent practices for coming up with the best possible course of action and preparing for when the plan changes. This is because realistic preparation is the key to strategic and operational success. But nobody always gets time to plan, and how a group of people reacts to unplanned events can mean the difference between life and death. For these events, at the tactical level, we have battle drills. 

US Army infantrymen conduct squad level battle drills with their Rwanda Defence Force counterparts in Gabiro, Rwanda as a part of the Shared Accord 2019 exercise. Image by Senior Airman Deven Schultz, Regional Media Center (RMC) Europe & AFN Europe. 

The old field manual that covers infantry tactics defines a battle drill as "a collective action rapidly executed without applying a deliberate decision-making process." Battle drills are typically sequential steps that are trained responses to enemy actions or a leader's orders. They’re standardized across the force, require minimal direction from leaders, and apply to all units at the tactical level (generally 40-person organizations and smaller). When adopted and executed appropriately, they look like the results of organizational muscle memory. 

Battle Drills are particularly effective where the immediate, violent action of the group is imperative. An example would be Battle Drill 1A, when a squad (a 9-person group in the US Army and a 13-person group in the US Marine Corps) reacts to making enemy contact on a patrol - also called “Squad Attack”. The lead sub-unit, a fire team, begins to suppress the enemy with overwhelming fire while the trailing fire team, now designated an “assault element” maneuvers around to the enemy’s flank. Since the enemy is suppressed - essentially keeping their heads down because of all the fire coming from that lead fire team, now designated “base of fire” - the enemy can’t react to the fire team coming at them from an angle. As that assault element gets close, the base of fire shifts their fire and the assault element overruns the enemy. The entire force then consolidates on the enemy position and gets ready for a counter-attack. 

This whole process almost always starts with getting spotted and shot at by the enemy. The only deliberate decisions that have to be made are the squad leader determining if the squad is big enough and equipped appropriately to defeat the enemy force, and which direction to take the assault element. The rest of the drill is memorized actions taken in concert as a unified team. This means that if done right, the squad can overwhelm the enemy before the enemy can figure out what’s going on.

Squad Attack, from FM 7-8, per 550cord.com

Getting good at battle drills typically looks like endless repetition. We’ve talked here about rehearsals before, and battle drills are often rehearsals for unplanned events. A really proficient infantry squad has probably practiced reacting to enemy contact literally hundreds of times - starting with no ammo (aka “dry fire”), then blanks, and then live-fire. Immediate, smooth reaction is key: Don Purdy’s Rules to Live By explains in Rule 31 how quickly squads have to react and put Battle Drill 1A into action in combat. 

So why are battle drills so important to high-performing teams in the military? Doesn’t pre-directing actions limit the ability of junior leaders to use creativity to solve a problem? By limiting the ways a task can be performed, Battle Drills allow high-performing teams to simplify the problem and create a common basis of action. Battle Drills reduce the number of decisions needed to an absolute minimum, they allow for a lightning-fast, practiced response, and they decrease the probability of confusion.

Battle Drills can be made for any situation your team needs to react to quickly and with little notice - and are usually termed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The difference between a Battle Drill and an SOP is that a Battle Drill is he same across the entire enterprise and is considered doctrine. Someone brand new to your section of organization, but experienced in another part, should come ready to execute a Battle Drill because they’re the same everywhere. An SOP, conversely, is unit-specific. We explained the SOP here this past summer  and I’ve given an example of what they look like, and how to make one, on Ars Ductus. If you’re looking to improve the tactical proficiency of your team, think about codifying your immediate actions into memorized, fluid processes. 

For an idea of what practicing battle drills looks like, dry fire, check out the recent DVIDs video Squad Level Battle Drills - Shared Accord 2019. (BJM)

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CONSIDERED USE OF TECH: Why Slow Mornings May Be the Secret to Tech-Life Balance (8 min) “Americans spend an average of four hours a day with digital media content, the majority of it on smartphone apps. More research this decade links time spent online with increasing levels of anxiety. Taking a “digital detox” was once a popular solution. The strategies people are now employing — especially those who use technology the most — are about redefining their relationship with technology in a way that orients their lives toward better mental health and wellbeing. What Hancock, Loher, and others are seeking are small ways to make technology a means to an end, instead of the end itself.” (BJM)

DEEP MEME ANALYSIS: Trump Tweets Faked Photo of Hero Dog Getting a Medal (3 min) “In a phone interview on Wednesday, Mr. McCloughan, 73, who had not seen the image before a reporter sent it to him, said that he interpreted it as Mr. Trump recognizing the dog’s heroism. He certainly was not offended and laughed when he compared the two images. After all, he said, Medal of Honor recipients accept on behalf of their entire teams, especially those that did not return from battle. And canines have long been part of war efforts. “This recognizes the dog is part of that team of brave people,” he said.” (BJM)

FIGURING IT OUT: Army Assessment Showcases Tech for Multi-Domain Ops (8 min) “We believe that some of the systems that we are investing in right now in the Army with the cross-functional teams will mature and be in the hands of our men and women in uniform,” he said. “So we’ve placed some of those capabilities in the simulation here, where our soldiers are fighting in a near-peer environment.”…“That’s pretty cool,” he added. “And it’s an eye opener, because we’re asking our leaders to fight in the futuristic environment in all domains.” Davis’ comment about all domains reflects the Army’s expectation that future operations will be contested in land, maritime, cyberspace, air and space domains across an increasingly lethal and expanded battlefield. Consequently, JWA 19 explored related challenges in areas like cross-domain maneuver, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, multi-domain mission command, sustainment and cross-domain fires. Specific learning objectives were assigned to each of the areas.”(BJM)

Remarks Complete. Nothing Follows.

KS Anthony (KSA) & Brady Moore (BJM)