HAMMER:

The ABCT rotational model currently in place for Korea, Kuwait, and Europe is hardly sustainable. The costs imposed by the model are significant for both units and personnel, as units are required to focus on deployment and redeployment for a significant portion of their time in theater and are only able to dedicate a relatively small portion of their effort to training and readiness. Additionally, the high optempo for ABCTs will inevitably wear down soldiers personally. Perhaps most importantly, the model is ineffective because it requires three brigades to do the “job” of one brigade, as one BDE deploys, one resets, and one trains up for deployment.

However, while this specific model of force projection is perhaps unsustainable, I believe that a rotational concept is truly the only way to conduct decades-long counterinsurgency operations as in Iraq and Afghanistan. When wars continue as long as a successful military career, rotating units on a regular basis is the only way to ensure that units remain capable of continuing the fight.

Finally, when comparing force rotation in the Korean War to the “In Theater” model of prior wars, I would argue that it is vital to consider that large-scale rotations and “deployments” are made possible only by modern force projection and logistical capabilities, as well as by American naval hegemony. In Korea, the US was able to stage forces in Japan and modern flight made it possible to move large numbers of troops across the Pacific quickly. American naval forces were essentially unchallenged, and were able to transport large quantities of supplies and vehicles at will. These warfighting capabilities have only increased since the Korean War. In prior wars, naval movement of soldiers and supplies was an extended logistical operation made more dangerous and complex by the threat of enemy attack at sea. While troops may have remained “In Theater,” units would be rotated to rear areas regularly for refitting and R&R. If our Military operations abroad today were similarly impacted by logistical and military threats, it is not hard to imagine that a similar system would be instituted.