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Fort Carson, Colo. - Over 900 service members converged on Fort Carson, Colorado, for the 4th Infantry Division’s inaugural Multi-domain Operations (MDO) Symposium, Jan. 23, 2025.
Service members representing the Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force met virtually and in person to discuss enhancing the overall force's understanding and capabilities in MDO to achieve military objectives in large-scale combat operations (LSCO).
Lt. Col. Chris Cook, chief of operational level doctrine, Mission Command Center of Excellence, kicked off the symposium with an introduction to MDO doctrine, highlighting current capabilities across each military branch and future potential to ensure success on the ever-evolving global battlefield.
"Peer threats possess advantages, capabilities, and formations that contest the joint force through all domains and employ standoff approaches that increase the risk to joint forces," said Cook.
Cook explained that MDO is the combined-arms employment of joint and Army capabilities to create and exploit relative advantages that achieve objectives, defeat enemy forces, and consolidate gains for joint forces commanders. It integrates land, maritime, air, space, and cyberspace to achieve strategic goals.
The idea of MDO is to create a unified, cohesive, and synchronized effort across these domains, enabling military forces to operate more effectively and efficiently. MDO recognizes that modern conflicts are no longer limited to a single domain but involve a complex interplay of multiple domains, each with unique characteristics and challenges.
After Cook’s overview of MDO doctrine, the symposium began its question-and-answer segment led by a panel of experts representing each domain.
Command Sgt. Maj. Alex Kupratty, command sergeant major of the 4th Infantry Division, began the conversation with a commonly asked question: why, as a platoon leader or platoon sergeant, does MDO matter?
Kupratty responded that when you have near-peer competitors modernizing at the speed of relevance and a potential fight in an immature environment, you are not used to; you must know when to use the available tools.
All of the panelists agreed that the primary aspects that commanders should focus on are training and innovation development.
U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Daniel K. Staggs, senior enlisted leader assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Carson, said one of the most significant issues is misunderstanding the applications we are dealing with. Joint Forces would often use non-lethal force, but it is to disrupt, delay, and disorganize the enemy. Now, those non-lethals can defeat the enemy, impacting our training, maneuvers, and how we distribute our force.
“For us, it is not only a challenge of upscaling our Guardians to confront the challenges of tomorrow's operational environment, but also doing that while building the rocket in ascent velocity,” U.S. Space Force Col. Phoenix L. Hauser, commander of Space Delta 7, Space Operations Command for Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. “When you have a remarkably technologically sophisticated enlisted force, you can do advanced training.”
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Brian H. Bennett, deputy director for special operations within the Joint Staff for the Department of Defense, addressed the topic of innovation from a communications perspective, stating that we plan to have communications everywhere we go; however, that is not always the case. Bennett stressed the necessity of training in environments without the ability to communicate.
During the afternoon portion of the symposium, attendees participated in breakout sessions hosted by the panelists. The sessions allowed attendees to ask specific questions regarding the different domains and their roles in LSCO.
“There is a lot of thought into developing MDO, and all the branches are looking forward to the next conflict and how to execute that properly,” Said Sgt. 1st Class Conor Heath, operation noncommissioned officer assigned to 10th Special Forces Group. “To successfully win the next fight, we must implement MDO at all levels; there are lessons to learn, but we are on the right path.”
By integrating land, maritime, air, space and cyberspace, military forces can create a unified, cohesive, and synchronized effort, enabling them to operate more effectively and efficiently. While MDO presents several challenges and limitations, its potential benefits are substantial, including enhanced lethality, increased speed and agility, and improved situational awareness.
Maj. Gen. David Doyle, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, closed the symposium by describing a series of exercises his division is preparing for. The division will collaborate with different centers of excellence to field-test MDO in these exercises.
“Our obligation is to take the information that comes out of the exercises and share it through knowledge management tools and The Harding Project,” said Doyle. “One of the things you will see through the Military Review is a multi-domain operations practitioner paper that shares many of the things we have done in the field that ties us back into multi-domain operations.”
| Date Taken: | 01.23.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 01.24.2025 15:29 |
| Story ID: | 489629 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 45 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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