Fall 2025 Issue
Commandant's Note
PDF Version
Brig. Gen. Phillip J. Kiniery
Professional Forum
The Infantry Master Trainer Strategy: Transforming Marksmen into Master Trainers
Maj. Richard Chandler
The Infantry Master Trainer Strategy (IMTS) is a comprehensive modernization initiative aimed at overhauling U.S. Army Infantry School (USAIS) programs of instruction (POIs) to create formation-based master trainers for infantry formations. It was developed to govern and standardize institutional training for weapons and systems-based Infantry functional training across the force, ensuring consistency and excellence in leader development and readiness.... read more
The Knife’s Edge: Adapting Army Combatives for Tomorrow’s Fight
Capt. Luke Hodsden
Earlier this year, a chilling viral video out of Ukraine emerged depicting the stark reality of modern warfare. The footage showed a Ukrainian soldier engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat with a Russian soldier, who mortally wounds the Ukrainian with his knife. As the Ukrainian soldier lay dying, he spoke to his enemy: “This is the end. Let me die in peace… You were better.” The raw footage is a reminder that even in the age of drone warfare and precision strikes, hand-to-hand engagements remain a real possibility for Soldiers on the ground. ....read more
Transformation Before Contact: A Rapid Transition to Improve Quality of Life, Instructors, and Instruction
Capt. Samuel J. Quattrone
The Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course (IBOLC) at Fort Benning, GA, is the first step for aspiring Infantry officers who need branch qualification and certification before joining the operational force. The POI has seen different areas of emphasis evolve throughout the years as the art and science of war have changed and the expectations of junior officers have adapted to meet the requirements of the global force… IBOLC has recently undergone a major structural transformation into a committee model to maximize the quality of instructor — and instruction — that is rooted in the basics: troop leading procedures (TLPs), unit training management (UTM), fires integration, fitness, and leadership. ...read more
Preparing for the Next Fight: The Final FTX at Infantry OSUT
Capt. Charles J. Gulotta and Lt. Col. Michael B. Moore
As the U.S. Army shifts its focus from counterinsurgency operations to large-scale combat operations (LSCO), the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, GA, has taken deliberate steps to reshape initial entry training. At the center of this transformation is the Infantry One Station Unit Training (OSUT) pipeline — a 22-week course designed to forge fit, disciplined, lethal, and resilient Infantry Soldiers. The culminating event of this transformation is the field training exercise (FTX), a rigorous, multi-day, immersive event that evaluates each trainee’s tactical competence, leadership potential, and mental fortitude under conditions that replicate the demands of LSCO ......read more
The MFRC and the Future of Army Reconnaissance
Capt. Preston B. Wiley
At the Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leaders Course (RSLC), our team trains more than 300 students annually across the joint force — including Infantry scouts, reconnaissance Marines, tactical air control party (TACP) Airmen, and a range of special operations personnel. Our program of instruction spans fundamental small-unit tactics, high frequency (HF) radio communications, advanced land navigation, and troop leading procedures (TLPs)/military decision-making process (MDMP) as applied to reconnaissance teams. Although RSLC has operated for over 25 years, the force it serves, and the demands placed upon it, have changed significantly. ....read more
The Multi-Domain Effects Platoon: A Brigade-Level Solution for Multidomain Operations
1st Lt. Parker Mitchell
The Multi-Domain Effects Platoon is a new formation designed to bring multidomain effects to the brigade fight, enabling rapid detection and destruction of threats by converging capabilities across the electromagnetic spectrum, cyber, and physical domains. In an era where the Army’s doctrine emphasizes that “all operations are multidomain operations,” the MDEP provides a practical way for brigade commanders to harness effects traditionally only available at higher echelons ....read more
The Multi-Purpose Company: Shaping the Future Battlefield through Innovation, Sensors, and Destruction
Capt. Patrick Nelson
The Maxim machine gun was first introduced to significant combat by the U.S. Army during World War I. In 1912, each regiment received four of these machine guns, believing this quantity would be suitable. By 1919, however, the number of Maxims in each regiment had increased to 336. The machine gun proved to be a combat multiplier that changed the history of warfare. Like the introduction of the machine gun, the multi-purpose company’s (MPC’s) capabilities in sensing and targeting the enemy will also have a sizeable impact on our next battlefield and must not be undervalued ...read more
Bridging the Reconnaissance Gap: The Stryker Brigade Combat Team’s MFRC
Capt. Mark Parillo
The 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment “Tomahawks” of the 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) employed a multi-functional reconnaissance company (MFRC) during its rotation to the Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC) in March 2025… Although the MFRC concept has been employed by the 101st Airborne Division, 25th Infantry Division, and 10th Mountain Division, 1-2 SBCT was the first Stryker brigade to implement the concept.... read more
Multi-Functional Reconnaissance Team: The Fighting Formation of the Future
Maj. Jonathan R. Paul and 1st Sgt. Miles Q. Capehart
The Information Age demands a fighting formation that can operate on multiple spectrums, fight a multitude of mission sets, and win in the land domain. We must push our formations into the modern era with new ideas and experimentation. The multi-functional reconnaissance team (MFRT) encapsulates these ideas and combines new and old practices into a unified fighting formation. In this article, we will examine the 75th Ranger Regiment’s MFRT formation .....read more
Shifting the Paradigm: Combat Casualty Care as a Top Training Priority
Maj. Jonathan Austin
"I know I’m going to meet death; evacuation is impossible.” These words, spoken by Mykhalio, a soldier in Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, relay the horror of casualty response and evacuation in large-scale combat. Walking wounded move alone to evacuation points. Frontline troops remain cutoff for days from medical care. Evacuation vehicles are easy targets and therefore never come. When soldiers attempt to move their wounded, they are targeted; the “lucky” ones often carry the wounded distances greater than five kilometers before being evacuated. U.S. forces can avoid the tragedies befalling soldiers in eastern Europe through command prioritization, increased training, and pre-deployment preparation for casualty response, particularly of non-medical personnel. ....read more
Building the Elite – A 5-Day H2F Immersion Program
Lt. Col. Tyler Patterson and Capt. Nathaniel Piser
In 2024, the Army fielded a Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) Performance Team to the 3rd Mobile Brigade, 25th Infantry Division as one of the first brigades to drive toward the program’s goals: improve Soldier readiness, increase lethality, and prevent injuries… In May 2025, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment partnered with our H2F Performance Team to conduct a five-day H2F immersion program with 43 volunteer Soldiers from across the battalion ranging from specialist to first lieutenant. ....read more
The Game Tape Shows All: Using sUAS to Improve After Action Reviews
Lt. Col. Teddy Borawski and Capt. Cody McCurry
Over the past year, our battalion — 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team (MBCT), 25th Infantry Division — transitioned from an infantry brigade combat team to an MBCT as part of the Army’s Transformation in Contact (TiC) initiative… Fielding of the C-100 medium-range reconnaissance (MRR) system in February of this year presented our battalion with another opportunity. Not only did we have a new UAS with an extended range and more sophisticated camera system to train on, but we also realized that we had an asset that could help us critique ourselves while we conducted training ...read more
A Hidden Lesson of Gettysburg: How the Toughness of Soldiers Secured Victory for the Army of the Potomac
Lt. Col. David Chichetti
This article recommends best practices for multinational integration at the company level and below. Each section addresses one main lesson learned during a Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) rotation fought under an Italian regiment and alongside nine other nations. Each section opens with a fact pattern and closes with recommendations....read more
Stryker Infantry Needs Tanks: Mutually Supporting, Mobile Combat Power in Restricted Terrain
Lt. Col. Jonathan Bate, Maj. Wade Redenius, Maj. Adam Timms, and Capt. Mitch Nelson
A recent Armor article titled “Tanks Need the Infantry to Lead the Way” highlighted the significant advantage that infantry provides armored formations. A Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) rotation in which that same armor company was attached to a Stryker battalion in 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), 4th Infantry Division proved that tanks provide a decisive edge in restrictive terrain. The tank company’s support was an overall net gain for our brigade’s lethality, and we recommend continued armor support to future JRTC rotations. ....read more
Leading Through the Lens: Strategic Communication in the Social Media Age
Capt. Stephanie Snyder
The modern battlefield extends beyond physical terrain; it encompasses the information environment. This article explores the importance of strategic communication, both formal and informal, in the social media age, focusing on how leaders can leverage these platforms to effectively communicate their unit’s story, maintain public trust, and reinforce the core tenets of lethality, readiness, warfighting, and the warrior ethos — the very qualities that make the “tip of the spear” so effective and drive recruiting success as we continue to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday .....read more
