guidance that drove our overwatch operations:
- Cover as many possible enemy ingress and egress routes as
possible. - Set up positions that mutually support each other.
- Pick solid fighting positions that could be defended against
heavy enemy attack for an extended period of time if
necessary.
With their lives and the lives of their men at risk, my platoon
commanders understood this guidance as well—perhaps even better than
I. Therefore, I did not need to spell it out for each operation; it was
embedded in their thoughts. With it, my frontline leaders were
empowered to make the tactical decisions during the operation. They
were the ones who were on scene to make the call while I was located
over a kilometer away at COP Falcon, tracking the mission alongside the
U.S. Army commanders.
Sometimes, despite detailed map studies and planning, my frontline
leaders discovered that their preplanned locations were not viable. On
numerous occasions, our overwatch elements arrived at a building they
had planned to utilize only to realize that the building was set farther
back from the road than it appeared on the map or did not have optimal
angles to cover enemy routes and protect friendly positions. Other times,
the building was surrounded by “dead-space”—areas that would be
difficult to see and difficult to defend. Then it was up to the platoon
leadership to select another building that could best accomplish the
mission.
Here, Decentralized Command was a necessity. In such situations,
the leaders did not call me and ask me what they should do. Instead, they