Army CMO School Takes on CATEX Experience
“Be the best that you can be, be relevant, and maintain the high standard of discipline…”
These are the marching orders our school commandant conveyed to us as we prepared to leave the comfortable confines of the Civil-Military Operations School in Fort Bonifacio and proceed to Camp O’ Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.
Still fresh from the grueling week-long learning activities of the command post exercise, the students of Information Support Affairs Course and Civil Affairs Course maximized a two-day rest to recharge before hurdling another learning endeavor as participants in the Combined Arms Training Exercise (CATEX) 2018 to be held in the Headquarters, Training and Doctrine Command in Tarlac.
A total of around 1,400 students currently taking various courses under TRADOC all converged in the Asean Armies Rifle Meet Grandstand under the heat of the afternoon sun of the 23rd of April 2018 for the opening of the Training Exercise. The students of CMO School are about to test the students’ knowledge of CMO fundamentals and apply what they have learned in the classroom and interoperate with the other various specializations of the Army. ISA and CA students were grouped accordingly and assigned either as staff members of a Task Force or operators in a CMO company.
Armed with the knowledge and expertise acquired in the Army CMO School, the CMO students worked diligently within the scenarios provided by the Exercise Control. The exercise centered on Military Operations in an Urban Terrain, recreating the siege of Marawi. The Marawi setting was chosen to prepare the participants and the concerned units of the Army in case such a crisis becomes imminent yet again.
For three productive days, students assigned as Task Force staff officers and NCOs learned how to integrate their CMO expertise to complement the overall plan which is spearheaded by the infantry advance and infantry basic student officers. Just a week before, the command post exercise held at CMOS provided the students the opportunity to apply the inter-operability of the three pillars of Civil-Military Operations, but CATEX is a different setting wherein the pillars must combine their efforts to support the infantry, engineers, artillery, cavalry, quartermasters, signal officers, and other service support elements. Each task force separately conducted a detailed mission analysis in order to understand the operational environment. The student officers embedded in each task force provided advice with regard to the CMO aspect of the operation, asserting the importance of Civil Affairs (CA) in integrating military efforts with that of the civilian authorities to assist the civilians who will be directly affected while Information Support Affairs (ISA) laid out ways on how to weaken the enemy’s will to fight and cause them to surrender.
Of the courses of action developed by the different task forces, the winning proposal was then selected for execution by the other student groups designated as infantry companies, support and service support units. On the last day of the activity, while the combatants were preoccupied with destroying the enemy, the CMO Company initiated activities aimed at engaging the stakeholders and causing the enemy to surrender. The various ISA activities such as leafletting and loudspeaker operations became significant in supporting the sustained military operations against the enemy. The students were able to learn firsthand that the simultaneous application of military and psychological pressure against the enemy can put the outcome of the operations in favor of the government.
Although it has been a well-accepted notion that civil-military operations assumes the role of a bench player in times of war, ISA and CA students have accomplished their mission in terms of showcasing the vital role of the CMO pillars in the outcome of any operation. Leafletting and loudspeaker operations may not necessarily directly result in body counts and the destruction of the enemy, but the often intangible and immeasurable results may even be more significant in the peaceful resolution of conflicts. It is our job as CMO professionals then to keep our commanders abreast of our capabilities in gaining the support of the people and weakening the enemy’s will to fight.
