discussion.docx

Multi-Domain Operations in the Unites States Army is described as how the United States Army, who is a part of the joint force consisting of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. The joint force can counter and defeat adversaries that are capable of opposing the United States in competition and or armed conflict through. The following are the domains in which Multi-Domain Operations consist of air, land, maritime, space and cyberspace. Commander are provided several options for pursuing simultaneous and continuous operations, where the art of surprise and other strategies come in to play to gain physical, psychological advantages and control over the operational environment. According to Army Publication The U.S. Army in Multi-Domain Operations 2028 “MDO was developed in response to the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which shifted previous focus of U.S. national security from countering violent extremists worldwide to confronting revisionist powers.” Army leaders have high hopes for the MDO; so much that they strive to have this concept adopted by the other forces to be used as a multiservice concept.
               Next subject that brings me to is the Army Modernization Strategy, which is “describes how the Total Army – Regular Army, National Guard, Army Reserve, and Army Civilians – will transform into a multi-domain force by 2035, meet its enduring responsibility as part of the Joint Force to provide for the defense of the United States, and retain its position as the globally dominant land power” (Army, 2019, p.2). For the MDO to be this capable force, the Army had provided six modernization priorities that will drive MDO’s material development. These six priorities are long range precision fires, next generation combat vehicles, future vertical lift, network, and air and missile defense and soldier lethality.  A soldier’s lethality is the soldier’s capacity to cause death or serious harm or damage. The Army is doing so by increasing the individual soldier’s weapon, enhancing the soldier’s night vision and lastly improving the soldier’s situational awareness and reaction to emerging situations.
 
               I will continue to meet the soldier lethality by steadily maintaining my fitness and my soldier’s fitness. We continue to prep and stay ready for the upcoming ACFT whenever it is deemed ready for us to take officially. My nutrition has always been a valuable part of my life and will always be accounted for whether I am a soldier or not. It is also my MOS, so I take pride in my job as a Nutrition Care Nutrition Care Specialist in and out of uniform. Nutrition is one of the efforts to ensure soldiers are staying modernized. I am doing my part to keep soldiers educated in nutrition and taking care of themselves nutrition wise. That’s how I meet the Army’s intent in modernizing soldiers.
 
 
References
 
Defense Primer: Army Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) (2021) Retrieved from
 

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/IF11409.pdf

 
               Army Modernization Strategy (2019) retrieved from
 

https://amedd.ellc.learn.army.mil/bbcswebdav/pid-6986720-dt-contentrid51684449_2/courses/082_3-68-C45DL_2021_219_01_A/Army%20Modernization%20Strategy%202019.pdf

 Soldier lethality is more important now, than ever before. With constantly emerging new threats it is a true test of how a soldier can adapt and overcome in a situation they are put in. This is a key role in following suit in the Army’s plan for Multi-Domain Operations (MDO). Making the Soldier more lethal starts with training in all areas. The Army’s plan to restructure the way Soldiers shoot, move, and communicate during weapons qualifications was a much-needed step in the right direction. This really challenges a lot of soldiers to know their weapons inside and out, while also successfully changing magazines under pressure, and moving through shooting positions without prompt. Another big change the Army has implemented is the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). This challenges the soldier on all physical levels and proves that a soldier is fit and ready for any physical task, if they can obtain a passing score. While both, the weapons qualification and ACFT, are very small in the big picture of Multi-Domain Operations, I do believe that implementing them are crucial ways to modernize the soldier. 
          Multi-Domain Operations is a very complex idea that is challenging the Army to think outside the box and to stay one step ahead of our threats. It combines all the forces of the military to come together and operate as a whole. Once this concept is mastered will be very hard to compete with. It is how the Army envisions a joint warfighting concept that will bring to bear all of the firepower, both kinetic and non-kinetic, to help the U.S. military regain superiority in what is increasingly becoming a contested, access-denied world of near-peer competitors such as China and Russia. (South, 2019) While MDO is still in its early stages, and will constantly need reevaluated once in motion, I believe this is new and improved heartbeat of the Army and the way it thinks. 
 
                                                                    Reference 
South, T. (2019, August 9). Army to build at least two new multi-domain task forces. Army Times. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/08/11/this-3-star-army-general-explains-what-multi-domain-operations-mean-for-you/ 

Muti-Domain Operations are the new reality we face in today’s modern theater of warfare. They include fighting across domains that we have not seen in past conflicts such as cyber warfare, and space. Modern engagements with near-peer adversaries will require more than just dominance of the land and air. In to prepare the Army to be capable to deal with MDO they have created six modernization priorities. Those priorities are long range precision fires, next generation combat vehicles, future vertical lift (new aircraft), modernizing Army technology, investing in air and missile defense capabilities, and increasing soldier lethality.
As a Non-Commissioned Officer I feel that our main role will be in training soldiers to meet the increased soldier lethality priority. One way in which I anticipate doing this is making sure my soldiers are proficient on the Army’s new weapon systems. Currently the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons Program is in its second prototype test with plans to equip the first unit is FY22 (Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW), n.d.). The NGSW currently has three vendors that have submitted prototypes for testing which are Sig Sauer, General Dynamics, and Textron Systems. The new weapons will be chambered in 6.8mm which will outperform the most modern 5.56mm ad 7.62mm ammunition. This will increase the individual soldier’s lethality. However, this new weapon system alone will not meet the Army’s modernization priority. It will require Non-Commissioned Officers such as myself to drill with these soldiers until they understand these new weapon systems inside and out. I will train my subordinates on the ballistics of the new 6.8mm ammunition and how it will directly impact their capabilities with that system compared the last gen ammo types. This knowledge will provide a more holistic approach to improving the lethality of my soldiers compared to just issuing them new and better equipment.
 
References

Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW). (n.d.). USAASC. https://asc.army.mil/web/portfolio-item/fws-cs-2/