Ground Assault Convoys at the JRTC

by Captain Dean J. Dominique

You are stuck at an intermediate staging base in Cortina. Your brigade is getting ready to move into its area of operations, and you have been tasked to organize the "GACs." First, you wonder what a GAC is. You learn that GAC stands for "ground assault convoy" and is simply a nondoctrinal term for a tactical road march. Field Manual (FM) 3-0, Operations, defines a tactical road march as "a rapid movement used to relocate units within an area of operations to prepare for combat operations."

Next, you wonder how to organize an entire brigade combat team's equipment to flow according to the tactical plan. When deploying to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana, a brigade combat team (BCT) must conduct reception, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSO&I) into the area of operations (AO) as the initial phase of the tactical training. The RSO&I focal point is the intermediate staging base (ISB) in Alexandria, Louisiana. The BCT receives its mission 4 days before D-day, and the GACs then assemble in a staging area at the ISB while the rest of the brigade prepares for combat.

GAC Command and Control

The GAC, an integral part of the tactical plan, is a major movement of personnel and equipment. Command and control (C2) of the GAC is essential to ensuring that the BCT properly moves into the AO. In most cases, an officer or noncommissioned officer in the forward support battalion is responsible for GAC C2. However, one or two personnel cannot effectively coordinate the staging and control the execution of a GAC, which can last 48 hours. In one case I observed, one lieutenant was placed in charge of the entire operation. In another, the medical company commander was placed in charge according to the unit's tactical standing operating procedures (TACSOP) and did not leave the ISB until the trail party left. Although this may have worked at the home station, it does not make sense when the BCT is deploying into a hostile area and could begin taking casualties immediately.

A 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) soldier clears a path in order to extract mine-strike casualties.

Instead of assigning a single officer or noncommissioned officer to handle GAC C2, the following actions should be taken—

• Establish a GAC control team responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing the GAC movement out of the ISB to the release point. A well-organized GAC team has personnel responsible for staging, preventive maintenance checks and services, load plans, and march unit manifests and is resourced for 24-hour
  operations.
• Establish a communications node between the release point and the ISB. Thus, if the GAC is backing up, the control team can be told so it can slow the flow of vehicles into the AO if needed. This communications node also facilitates tracking combat power into the AO.

	The OPFOR (opposing force) initiates an ambush.
A convoy reacts to civilians on the battlefield.

Staging

The ISB has a staging area for preparing BCT vehicles for GAC operations. When units deploy to the ISB, many initially will park in the staging area in a disorganized manner. Once the order of march is established as part of the tactical plan, units must reorganize into march units to prepare for onward movement. Often, no staging plan exists, which results in confusion and waste of the limited land available for staging. Reorganizing vehicles consumes massive amounts of time and resources.

To avoid this confusion and to conserve time and resources, the unit should—

• Establish a tentative order of march before deploying to the ISB, convoy to the ISB in that order, and then park accordingly.
• Send a staging team to the ISB early to facilitate parking.
• Establish a priority vehicle list (PVL) as part of the TACSOP. Having a BCT PVL gives the BCT a planned order of march that is known or can be referred to by all. Changes to the PVL may be needed to match the tactical plan, but the impact is lessened because the basic vehicle order of march will have been set up.
• Plan for only 18 vehicles per march unit in case vehicles have to be "bumped" forward. The maximum number of vehicles allowed in a march unit at JRTC is 20.
• Avoid creating arbitrary "unit blocks" for staging. For example, do not arbitrarily designate three march units for a unit that has only enough equipment to fill two march units. Creating more march units than needed means that some march units will be empty. These "ghost" march units will affect the estimated time of departure.
• Place placards in the windows of vehicles with the march unit listed on them, and mark the staging area with the spot where each march unit will stage to avoid confusion at the staging site.

Tracking Combat Power

Often, the control team knows only which unit is in each convoy and not where the vital equipment or personnel are. This lack of knowledge may result in key equipment being destroyed and key personnel being killed during initial entry operations. If the BCT develops a tracking mechanism for locating personnel and key equipment, the GAC flow can be manipulated to impact the fight. For example, if an Avenger is destroyed, a second Avenger can immediately be placed in the next departing GAC. See the example above of a form used at the JRTC to maintain this information by march unit.

This form can be used to track combat and logistics power by march unit at the JRTC.

Tools for Success

Here are some tools that will aid in making the GAC successful—

• GAC rehearsals. Include GAC rehearsals as part of the combined arms rehearsal. Often, GAC rehearsals are conducted separately and are not linked to the
  tactical plan.
• GAC control team. Train and fully rehearse a GAC control team. Make this part of your TACSOP.
• PVL. An established PVL simplifies movement. It is a plan that can be changed easily.
• Communication. Communication with the release point is critical if the GAC control team expects to be able to control the convoys and impact the fight. If retransmission equipment is not used, the C2 element will not know if GACs are backed up because of enemy
  interference.
• Detailed strip map. Often strip maps are unreadable and have no basis in reality. However, a good strip map will help any driver find the release point.
• Web site: http://geocities.com/tacticalconvoy. This site contains tools to help the tactical convoy commander prepare to execute his mission properly.

The GAC does not have to be a difficult and challenging operation. Units that practice proper GAC procedures as part of home-station training can do well when conducting GAC operations at the JRTC or in combat.

Captain Dean J. Dominique is an instructor in the Tactical Transportation Branch of the Army Transportation School at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He has a master's degree in military history from Louisiana State University and is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic Course, the Combined Logistics Officers Advanced Course, the Combined Arms and Services Staff School, the Support Operations Course, and the Division Transportation Officer Course.