Army Water Transport Operations (ATTP 4-15)

Book excerpt: The transformation of the Army into a strategically responsive, expeditionary force that is dominant across the full spectrum of operations requires significant cultural, doctrinal and organizational change as well as advanced technological solutions. Such changes and technology must support the Army at every point on the spectrum of operations and must be suitable for the current as well as future forces. These changes and technologies must offer far-reaching capabilities that enable the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO) and the Army's Future Force Capstone Concept. Simply improving existing platforms, doctrine, organizations and Army culture does not support the transformation envisioned in either of the aforementioned conceptual documents. Achieving this robust water transport capability requires new ways and means - enabled by truly transformational doctrine, organizations, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel and facilities (DOTMLPF) and policy. The major shift in Army watercraft operation focuses on our ability to rapidly project and sustain operational forces within and through the littoral areas of the world. Expeditionary units and enabling technologies provide the commander the water transport capability to achieve positional advantage over operational and tactical distances. These water transport assets are not limited to operating in major or minor ports, but can also operate in austere port environments or over bare beaches. To maximize effectiveness, combat forces must be able to move autonomously, plan and rehearse while en route, and arrive in an immediately employable configuration. Transformation also emphasizes an improved link between operations and logistics, resulting in precise, reliable distributed support and sustainment to the warfighter. Future watercraft, and the units that employ them, must be fast, efficient, and agile; able to move with precision in a quickly changing environment. They must be capable of moving intact current and future force units forward of the strategic port; delivering platforms laden with retail supply; or delivering humanitarian and disaster relief materiel, all the while staying fully aware of the current and future operational situation. Army water transport forces provide the combatant commanders the maneuver capability to rapidly move forces, support and sustainment to the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantities. As the Army transforms, potential adversaries will adopt anti-access strategies. State or non-state forces will rely on anti-access measures to delay or counter the application of U.S. military capabilities. Future adversaries will marshal their limited assets and focus them on the most likely points of entry into the region. Traditionally, these are major air and seaports or major geographical choke points that must be navigated to achieve entry. Joint Force enabling concepts, units and technologies must provide the operational commander lift assets that bypass these known points, diminishing any asymmetrical advantage held by an adversary. They must allow the commander to pick the time and place of their choosing to initiate action and, thereby, to seize and hold the initiative in a tactical environment. Army watercraft and Army soldier-mariners must be fully trained, equipped and capable of operating in this dynamic joint environment.