Fighting Downtown

This book examines current U.S. Army urban operations doctrine and training and their adequacy to prepare the Army's heavy forces to fight in future conflicts. The purpose of this examination is to determine whether the heavy brigades are ready to fight in an urban environment. This book begins by analyzing urbanization trends in world demographics and their impacts on warfare in the future. This work also analyzes the lessons learned and impacts of the relatively recent post-Cold War battles of Mogadishu and Grozny to identify the methods that potential adversaries will likely use to counter the United States combat power advantage. This book next analyzes the relevancy of U.S. Army urban operations doctrine and training, focusing primarily at the heavy brigade level. It evaluates heavy brigade doctrine and training by analyzing how well they address full spectrum operations, anticipated threat tactics, light infantry / joint integration, and the use of current equipment and technology. This work concludes that the likelihood of U.S. Army heavy brigades participating in an urban conflict is greatly increasing. It also finds that current urban operations doctrine for heavy forces is inadequate, but that new and relevant doctrine will arrive soon. This book also finds that urban operations training for heavy forces is insufficient to prepare the force to fight the next war. Lastly, this book concludes with recommendations for improving urban operations doctrine and training.