Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | Page 72

planning. They can adapt to unforeseen changes in terrain and enemy situation. Recent exercises have demonstrated the ability to provide full-motion video over the
horizon from dismounted LRS teams, a complementary
and often more persistent capability than aerial platforms. Advances in LRS capabilities have surpassed the
legacy voice and still-picture reporting and will remain
relevant for the future.
However, Army LRS is poorly organized, making
each unit’s success entirely personality dependent.
Techniques and capabilities are neither universal
between companies nor predictable over time as
leaders come and go. This limits senior leaders’ understanding of LRS and makes the companies unreliable.
Surveillance and communication equipment is outdated, and support units are fragmented between the
companies, limiting training in support of specialized
skills like military free-fall and waterborne insertion.
Facilities are spread throughout the Army, increasing
cost and redundancy. The separate companies do not
have a unifying headquarters to ensure standardization of tactics techniques and procedures, competency
of leaders, or relevancy of equipment and training.
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U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Eric Zubkus and Australian Defence Force
Pvt. James Adams conduct surveillance from behind the mesh net
of their hide site 17 July 2011 during Exercise Talisman Sabre at the
Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia. (Photo by
Spc. J. P. Lawrence, U.S. Army)

Since 1986, former LRS commanders such as Lt.
Col. Isaac Rademacher and others have advocated the
consolidation of LRS units.7 These commanders identified shortfalls that have not been solved by assigning the
LRS companies to military intelligence battalions, cavalry
squadrons, or corps headquarters battalions. These shortfalls include a lack of expertise in unit-specific tactics,
techniques, and procedures at the battalion and brigade
level, lack of adequate support from parachute riggers,
and inadequate force structure to support sustained operations. Each commander advocated the establishment
of a headquarters above the company level to provide
standardization and accountability.

Recommendations
LRS companies are the conventional forces’ organic, persistent, and most reliable surveillance capability.
January-February 2017  MILITARY REVIEW