The United States Army released a new 46-page operational warfighting guidance titled “How the Army Fights,” emphasizing that positioning combat forces near potential adversaries is essential for deterring aggression. Signed by Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the blueprint states that winning initial engagements within enemy theaters is vital before strategic mass can arrive.
The strategy envisions European allies assuming primary ground defense responsibilities while U.S. forces optimize resources to counter primary pacing threats in the Indo-Pacific. Domestic mobilization nodes face significant vulnerability from major adversaries capable of attacking homeland infrastructure, rail networks, and ports before deployment. To mitigate these risks, the service plans to combine rotational units with hardened equipment stockpiles and rapid-response hubs. Meanwhile, lessons from Ukraine highlight critical capability gaps, including vulnerable space-based communications networks and a severe shortage of attack drones and artificial intelligence systems required for modern high-threat combat environments.
The emphasis on forward-deployed Close Battle capabilities within the How the Army Fights doctrine directly addresses the vulnerability of intercontinental deployment timelines against modern anti-access networks. Pre-positioned equipment sets in locations like Poland and western Europe serve to bypass contested strategic lift corridors during the initial phase of a conflict. However, relying on hardened stockpiles assumes that host-nation infrastructure and rail networks remain intact under long-range precision strikes. This operational model shifts the primary friction point from strategic transit to immediate force generation from dispersed regional hubs.
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