Auftragstaktik: How Low Can You Go?

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Chaos is acknowledged as an integral part of battle, and future battles will be no different. At a time when the United States Army is feverishly striving to master its ability to synchronize the effects of modern weaponry on the battlefield, the potential for friction and electronic warfare to disrupt that process is at its highest. Key to fighting successfully on the AirLand battlefield is a command and control system which minimizes those effects of friction and confusion. Auftragstaktik is an approach to such a command and control system, and the U.S. Army has embraced it as the technique which best supports its new doctrine. Several questions remain as we endeavor to implement such a leadership style, most conspicuous of which is whether such a technique is universally applicable within the Army. To implement Auftragstaktik a number of characteristics must be present and certain prerequisites met. This paper identifies some of those characteristics and prerequisites and attempts to determine their presence or absence at the lower tactical levels of command.