DO is not going to be a Corps wide, there are not going to be DO BNs I haven't heard anyone say that, They organic AT and bunker busting capabilty is going to remain with the BNs. Do is being much over blown by some, it is not as new a concept as some have posted here think. It is pretty much going to be used in asymetric warefare in a role quite similar to LRR, the emphasis is going to be on controlling the move,ment of irregular forces over wider areas by using CAS and arty to diruppurt movement.
It is not going to be used by every infantry unit, not in the assualt and not against conventional type forces. I for one am one who believes it is much over blown. The USMC is doing a lot of different things in the Iraq and Afganistan AO,s all of which are somewhat temporary, For example, one company in 1/8 is training up using 5 man fire teams right now, the reason, They are slated to be a HUMVEE mounted mobile patrol force, Gunner+ normal fireteam as an organic unit rather than a fireteam using a non organic It is nothing special, just a temporary adaptation to the mission, That unit also converted the weapons sqd to a forth rifle sqd, no need for 60 mm mortars in their assigned mission
DO is capable of being augmented with an AT capability, but I personally and from the few I spoke with that know, do not intend that to be the norm at all. You will most likely see 1 DO capable plt per BLT in the near future, Not companies or BNs operating that way, but what you will see is some aspects of DO assimilated into the line BNs over time as lessons are learned.
|