Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood Commanding General

By MG Christopher G. Beck

January 1, 2023 | Protection, 2023 Annual Issue

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Major General Christopher G. Beck

I am honored to have been in command at the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence (MSCoE), Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for 6 months, and I am proud to serve with this incredible team of professionals!

One of my responsibilities is to fulfill Army force modernization doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities, and policy (DOTMLPF-P) requirements. Proponent requirements for Protection are designated in Army Regulation (AR) 5-22, The Army Force Modernization Proponent System.1As MSCoE leads the development and synchronization of Protection capabilities, we are all responsible! As we work together, let’s stay mindful of our purpose—to be ready to fight and win our Nation’s wars. Everything we do should contribute to a more lethal and cohesive force.

Your efforts in fiscal year (FY) 2023 were incredible, ensuring that, in 2030, Protection will be a continuous process that is assessed throughout operations and across the battlefield to deny the enemy freedom of action; enable access to friendly forces; and preserve our critical capabilities, assets, and activities. I am particularly excited about three efforts to better educate the force:

• Updating Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 3-37, Protection.2

• Transitioning the Protection Integrator’s Course from a pilot to a programmed institutional course in FY 25.

• Enhancing professional military education, including electives at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and improving assessments of captain’s career courses.

In addition to these efforts, we will continue to explore Protection-related force design efforts for 2030 capabilities with guidance from the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, and the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC), Austin, Texas.

I am also very proud of AFC and the Maneuver Support–Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate in looking to 2040, including the recent completion of the all-domain Protection capabilities-based assessment gap analysis phase. With the resulting approved list of Protection capability gaps, we will begin FY 24 experimentation and workshops at Fort Leonard Wood to develop recommended approaches to materiel and nonmateriel solutions to apply the Protection warfighting function at echelons.

As we develop solutions, we ask for your continued support and input, including your participation in experiments, workshops, and recurring forums such as the semiannual Protection Working Group (institutional team engagement) and the Protection Warfighter Forum (operational force engagement). Based on your input in FY 23, we learned that there has not always been a consistent understanding of Protection. We listened and are now addressing your feedback by—

• Engaging leaders, including leaders at combat training centers and mission command training programs, to ensure that we help operational forces succeed.

• Ensuring the proper presence at warfighter exercises to better inform division and corps commanders of available capabilities.

• Assessing Protection in professional military education—from captain’s career courses to electives at the Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College—to ensure that we accurately inform and educate the next generation.

• Integrating Protection into the operations and targeting processes.

• Updating publications to better frame and clarify the following aspects of Protection in order to help commanders and staffs focus the right resources to enable mission success:

  • Foundational—concentrated on the Protection of individuals, units, platforms, or information.

  • Operational—focused on corps/division Protection cells and commanders.

  • Institutional—driven by policy, as dictated by AR 525-2, The Army Protection Program.3

Figure 1. Protection

Although development and synchronization efforts span all aspects of Protection, MSCoE focuses on operational Protection, which synchronizes multidomain effects to create convergence at multiple decisive points.

As we develop and synchronize the Protection capabilities that our Army needs to fight and win today, in 2030, in 2040, and beyond, I see tremendous opportunity for continued progress in this great community of practice. Thank you for all you do!

Victory Starts Here! Victory Through Skill!

Endnotes