Scenario: Acceptable US Casualties Against 3rd World Armies

[Airborne Rifles]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

I know from personal experience up till the 80's the USMC was still working under the "achieve this objective" model, how it was achieved was up to the subordinate commanders.

During Gulf-I (I was with 2nd MarDiv) each regimental task force (more-or-less the equivalent of a US Army Brigade) was given a corridor of responsibility and the final objective, Kuwait City. Each subordinate battalion had it's own section of that corridor. Units were expected to coordinate with those on their flanks to insure they stayed in a more-or-less in a cohesive line of advance.

While it may not sound like a terribly large improvement from "Go to A, now go to B, now..." being assigned a sector of responsibility and an axis of advance is pretty significant.

This is still how it is, in the Army as well. Operation orders can get voluminous, but in the end you get a mission and a commander's intent from higher, and you have great freedom in how you execute within those wide boundaries.