Scott Dawe and David Neuzil
Buckle up: This piece is going to get wonky. For those readers who particularly enjoy the minutiae of Army organizational structures, you’re welcome. For the rest of you, please accept our apologies—but since this issue affects vastly more people in the Army than are engaged on the topic, we hope you’ll stick with us. After all, it’s only 1,400 words.
If we’ve learned one thing from the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) and the recent Army Structure (ARSTRUC) memorandum for 2028–2032, it’s that the Army recognizes it needs rapid, organizational change to meet the challenges posed by the modern battlefield. If we’ve learned a second thing, it’s also that the Army is in fact capable of this change. Units represented by what are known as MTOEs (modified tables of organizational equipment)—the vast majority of the operating force—will likely soon look nothing like they did fifteen, ten, or even five years ago. But one set of organizations left behind by all of the restructuring and modernizing efforts seems to be those operating under a different model of apportioning personnel and equipment—the TDA (table of distribution and allowances).
To put it bluntly, TDA organizations are weird—almost inexplicably so. They reflect their evolutionary and piecemeal design and redesign, with bits and bobs bolted on, ultimately taking on a Frankenstein’s monster structure all their own. It is invariably shocking when those who have grown up in brigade combat teams in the operating force arrive at a TDA organization, likely still called a brigade, and find key position grade plate differences or even entire staff sections completely absent. Even TDA organizations with the same mission set (e.g., the 197th and 198th Infantry Brigades at Fort Benning, Georgia, responsible for training 11B infantrymen and 11C indirect fire infantrymen, respectively) do not have the same structure. How we got to this mashup is mildly interesting, but where those structural changes are going will be critical.
The Current Situation
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