REORGANIZING THE FIGHTING FORCE

Not resting on its laurels, the Army revamps itself, beginning with the 3d ID.

The 3rd will be the first of the Army's 10 active duty divisions to reorganize its primary fighting forces, the brigade combat teams, into smaller, more mobile units that are expected to retain their firepower and lethality.

But in order to do that, said Maj. Gen. Glenn Webster, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, "we've got to break some china."

That means the Army will have to set aside many of its conventional theories and practices, and many long-held traditions. It will also have to work more closely with the other services, relying heavily on the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy to do jobs it once did...

Actual reorganization for the 3rd Division will begin Jan. 15 with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, the unit that led the Army into Baghdad last April.

During the war the 2nd Brigade had about 5,000 soldiers in two armor battalions and one mechanized infantry battalion. The division's other two brigades were combinations of armor and mechanized infantry battalions.

Under the reorganization, said Webster, each brigade will have only one armor and one mechanized infantry battalion. But each will add engineer and artillery battalions and will have other assets such as intelligence, communications and transportation permanently assigned to it.

Brigades normally add these assets when they go to war in what the Army refers to as "task organization." When they return to their home posts, these assets go back to their own units.

The new plan has the brigades being permanently task-organized so they regularly train with additional assets in place.

"These brigades will now be able to operate independently or semi-independently out on the battlefield," said Webster.