FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas – Military Professionals now have instant access to all Army branch journals through the new Line of Departure app, which currently delivers more than 1,200 professional military articles directly to the field.

Army University Press launched the app on May 12, 2026, expanding the reach of their Line of Departure website that previously consolidated the Army’s branch journals into a single, searchable interface. The new mobile version enhances the user experience by letting readers receive article alerts, build custom bookshelves, and share content with others.

Maj. Nate Green, a Harding Fellow for Armor Magazine, noted that the app’s ease of use directly meets reader needs on the go. “I am a big fan of the mobile app and how it brings resources to readers. In less than three clicks, I can be reading an article from a professional bulletin,” Green said.

Putting professional discourse and leadership lessons learned directly in Soldiers’ hands supports the Army’s mandate to reinvigorate professional writing. Lt. Gen. Jim Isenhower, commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Command, emphasized the importance of effective writing earlier this year, calling it “a critical aspect of our Army profession.”

“Modernization is one of the key initiatives of the Line of Departure — to help all of the branch journals have a more modern capacity to provide lessons learned and share their content with Soldiers across the Army,” said Michael Serravo, director of Line of Departure.

The mobile app builds upon a highly successful web foundation. Since its launch in October 2024, the centralized Line of Departure platform has acted as a force multiplier and an “equalizer” for smaller journal teams with minimal staffing. Website usage has consistently grown, reaching more than 50,000 views and 19,000 new visitors in April 2026 alone.

By pushing this established platform to mobile devices, the Army is breaking down branch silos. Capt. Garett Pyle, Harding Fellow at the Army Sustainment Bulletin, noted that the centralized system provides an avenue to cross-communicate. “Now, I can easily view articles from other branches that I would otherwise never see. We are sharing insights and overall increasing Army lethality through this process,” Pyle said.

Sgt. 1st Class Marcel Blood, Harding Project deputy director and Ordnance noncommissioned officer, stressed the universal value of this information flow for the Total Force. “I can’t stress enough that there is something in the journals for everyone. Whether you’re on division staff and are trying to solve problems for the CG, or a Soldier learning to use a drone for the first time, there are articles published by your Soldiers, peers, and leaders that can help you,” he said.

Recognizing these benefits, Master Sgt. Travis Ragle, the co-editor in chief of the Special Warfare Journal, expects the mobile app to drive exponential growth in readership as awareness builds.

“The broader reach sparks discourse and coordination among branches, as well as assists in special operations recruitment through the amplified exposure Line of Departure provides,” Ragle said.

Readers can expect publication of approximately eight articles per branch journal each month.

Download the Line of Departure App on your mobile device’s app store.

About Army University Press and Line of Departure

Army University Press serves as the U.S. Army’s premier multimedia organization, functioning as the entry point for rigorous tactical analysis, doctrinal debate, and discussion on emerging topics vital to national defense.

Line of Departure, in collaboration with the Harding Project, is leading the Army’s effort to modernize branch journals and reinvigorate professional military writing as part of the service’s broader transformation initiative.

• Visit the AUP website to learn more about its educational portfolio.

• Visit Line of Departure to access all Army branch journals in one central location and find information on getting published.

(Note: This article references “Isenhower: Writing ‘Critical’ to Army Profession” which can be found here.)

By Jessica H. Brushwood

This entry was posted
on Saturday, May 30th, 2026 at 00:00 and is filed under Army, Guest Post, Profession of Arms.
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WASHINGTON — District of Columbia National Guard leaders introduced a new assignment patch, honoring America’s 250th birthday and recognizing the National Guard’s support of key events in the nation’s capital.

The historic, once-in-a-generation opportunity to serve reflects the United States’ grounding principles while also reinforcing partnerships with local and federal authorities.

The patch features the Betsy Ross flag, with stars encircling the number 250 in place of the traditional 13 stars. Service members began wearing the patch Memorial Day weekend.

The top of the patch reads, “District of Columbia National Guard,” identifying the soldiers’ assignment area, and the bottom features the District of Columbia National Guard mission statement: “Protect the Capital – Defend the Nation.”

The Freedom 250 patch will be worn on the left shoulder of D.C. National Guard and members of Joint Task Force District of Columbia who are supporting the D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission.

Special events in Washington will commemorate the American colonists’ fight for freedom against Great Britain during the Revolutionary War, beginning with the establishment of the Continental Army, June 14, 1775, and concluding with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Sept. 3, 1783, which formally recognized American independence and marked the end of the war.

Freedom 250 events highlight significant milestones and the enduring spirit of the nation.

National Guardsmen from various states and territories will provide command and control, foot patrols, crowd management and traffic control operations, way-finding assistance for visitors, as well as law enforcement partners with street closures. The goal is to support a safe, secure and navigable environment for attendees while serving as a vital asset to federal and local partners supporting Freedom 250 events throughout the nation’s capital.

By SGT Sherald McAulay, Joint Task Force District of Columbia

This entry was posted
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TUCSON, Ariz., May 26, 2026 — The Javelin Joint Venture (JJV), a partnership between Raytheon, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, and Lockheed Martin, has delivered the first Lightweight Command Launch Units (LWCLU) to the U.S. Army. The LWCLU, a next-generation launcher for the Javelin® weapon system, is designed to be adaptable and compatible with all current, past and future Javelin variants. The launcher is replacing the weapon system’s legacy command launch unit.

To date, Raytheon has invested $22 million to modernize the LWCLU factory to increase speed of production and expand capacity. In collaboration with the U.S. Army, the facility in Tucson, Ariz., is ramping annual production. 

“Delivering the first LWCLUs to the U.S. Army reflects the Javelin Joint Venture’s commitment to continuously advancing technology for service members,” said Jenna Hunt Frazier, JJV president and Javelin program director at Raytheon. “Our investments in modernization and production capacity ensures soldiers receive this cutting-edge capability faster.”

The Javelin LWCLU provides soldiers with twice the target detection and recognition range while reducing size by 30% and weight by 25%. The LWCLU maximizes surveillance for soldiers, offering day and night engagement capability.

“The production and delivery of the LWCLU marks a pivotal step in modernizing the Javelin system for today’s warfighter,”?said Rich Liccion, JJV vice president and Lockheed Martin Javelin program director. “Its innovative design enhances mobility and survivability while preserving the precision firepower that users rely on.”

Javelin is developed and produced by the JJV between Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona and Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida.

This entry was posted
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FORT IRWIN, Calif. — This April marked the beginning of the fourth iteration of Multi-Domain Command – Europe’s premiere exercise, Arcane Thunder, happening simultaneously at Fort Irwin, California and throughout the European theater. The lessons learned by the Pershing Soldiers in California’s high desert will shape the future of large-scale combat operations.

Multi-Domain Command – Europe is one of three units established within the past five years, charged with combining the five fingers of the Army’s air, land, sea, space and cyber capabilities into a fist, capable of destroying any target.

“The opening salvo of the next fight will not be something that comes out of an ammunition supply point,” says Maj. Guglielmo, operations officer for Multi-Domain Command – Europe and lead planner for Arcane Thunder 26. “It is going to be something more in the domains, literally, that we operate in here.”

The MDC-E’s primary role is creating anti-access and area denial, the strategy by which the U.S. military restricts enemy movement and prevents adversaries from deploying forces into a theater of operations throughout the battlefield. For MDC-E that means supporting U.S. Army European Command in reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank against Russian incursion should the need arise.

What Multi-Domain Command – Europe brings to the fight that a combined arms unit wouldn’t is the capability to sense the enemy at extreme ranges and create opportunities for the unit’s long-range fires battalions to engage those targets. Fixed wing UAVs serve as the unit’s Swiss army knife of sensing and detecting, capable of carrying electromagnetic or explosive payloads if necessary, while high-altitude balloons capable of floating near the top of the Earth’s exosphere for more than a year at a time monitor signals in the electromagnetic spectrum from hundreds of miles away.

Capabilities within all domains of warfare employed by the MDC-E work in concert to “bring the fight as deep as possible,” says Guglielmo. “The Army wide is trying to make sure that it has as innovative and as advanced technology as possible to provide the warfighter that advantage.”

This year’s Arcane Thunder tests the scale at which those capabilities can be employed through the formation of Multi-Domain Company Teams, or MDC-Ts.

“Multi-Domain Company Team is a company size element that combines multiple disciplines outside of its organic structure to create multiple options for a commander to affect things on the battlefield,” says Guglielmo.

“Much like using combined arms to create multiple dilemmas, a MDC-T can do the same thing,” says Guglielmo. “Instead of tanks and artillery, you have an extended range sensing asset, a kinetic element, and a space element all working in concert together to accomplish whatever the combatant commander needs.”

Responsible for testing the employment of the MDC-T concept are the Soldiers of MDC-E’s Extended Range Sensing and Effects Company, commanded by Capt. Garrett Murray. Drone operators, electronic warfare specialists, and tactical space operations specialists merged into one unit to detect targets at extreme ranges and destroy them.

The Extended Range Sensing and Effects Company and the rest of the MDC-E team have been tasked with answering the question of how to take these capabilities and integrate them with the ground force, says Murray.

“We’re still building the foundations,” says Murray. “Everyone knows the exact roles that we fill. There’s not much question besides how do we change up the tactics.”

“We’re making those steps during this exercise now that we’re coordinating with a long-range fires unit,” says Murray. “The next step, once we continue through experimentation and developing our capabilities is, now we need to start working on synchronizing with the maneuver force.”

Deciding upon what technologies to incorporate into the Army’s warfighting functions is an enduring effort throughout the force known as Transforming in Contact, focused on delivering new technologies into the hands of Soldiers so that they can experiment, innovate, and be ready to fight on a modern battlefield. Leading the charge at Multi-Domain Command – Europe is Maj. Don Duong.

Maj. Duong’s call sign is “CTO”. He’s the Multi-Domain Command’s chief technology officer.

“It’s… new position that’s reflective of where the Army and the military’s been going in terms of the acknowledgement that the pace at which new capabilities and technologies are entering into the marketplace and the warfare domains are quickly outstripping traditional procurement pathways,” said Duong.

“We’re focused on trying to find current emerging and future capabilities aligned against what the MDC concept of employment and mission sets are.”

Arcane Thunder puts that concept into practice. Soldiers operating between Mainz-Kastel, Germany and Fort Irwin, Texas, employ emerging technologies across multiple training scenarios, stress-testing what the industry has to offer.

“What we’re doing with multi-domain reconnaissance is something that’s quite different from how traditional Army reconnaissance has been done at the tactical level,” says Duong. “We’re developing the doctrine, the procedures and the capabilities to execute reconnaissance at extended distances. That hasn’t been considered in the past at the tactical level.”

“Everything we do here will inform the direction that the Army takes with regard to multi-domain reconnaissance and then how we can converge or layer all these different effects together to create an effect or multiple dilemmas on adversary forces,” says Duong.

MSG John Healy

This entry was posted
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Rampart Range Day 26 – Canadian Modular Assault Rifle Update

BEMOWO PISKIE TRAINING AREA, Poland – U.S. Army Capt. Harold McMurrin quickly stood out in the Field Artillery Squadron (FAS), 2d Cavalry Regiment (2CR), for his technical skills and innovative ideas. As commander of the Launched Effects “Demon” Battery, he was tasked with building the unit from scratch and introduced advanced\, unmanned aerial systems — remotely piloted aircraft with cameras and sensors — to the regiment. His experience, leadership, and vision have placed the Launched Effects Battery at the center of the Army’s modernization efforts.

“He’s got a long, varied background… very smart, very growth-minded,” U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steven Huckleberry, commander, FAS, 2CR. “Giving him this ambiguous problem set and creating a new capability that fills a gap — he’s the right person for this.”

Huckleberry said McMurrin was hand-selected six months ago to form and lead the unit, tasked with implementing multiple unmanned armed systems within 2CR’s FAS.

McMurrin graduated from the Cavalry Leaders Course and served as a squadron fire support officer (FSO). He brings reconnaissance, armor, and fire support experience. This mix helped him build a functional battery from limited equipment and an ambiguous mission set.

Throughout the combined-arms live-fire exercise during Saber Strike at the Bemowo Piskie Training Area (BPTA), Poland, McMurrin was seen testing drones with his team, conducting arms rehearsals and moving between the tactical operations center (TOC) and the field.

These early actions highlighted McMurrin’s hands-on approach and commitment to integrating advanced technologies into real-world training. His visible leadership during Saber Strike not only demonstrated the potential of UAS in a dynamic environment, but also set the tone for how Demon Battery would operate under his command.

His unique role — possibly the only one in the Army — means he wears two hats: commanding the launch effects battery and, filling a staff position in the TOC, managing the regiment’s firefight as the assistant FSO.

McMurrin’s path into field artillery is a family tradition. Both his mother and father served as field artillery officers, and he has served for eight years in the Army. He held prior jobs as a biologist and a truck driver before committing to a career in the military.

He participated in exercise Saber Strike, a multinational training event, while his first sergeant and other Soldiers of the battery took part in Project Flytrap 5.0, a joint initiative at the Pabrad? Training Area, Lithuania.

Launched Effects Battery’s first sergeant, 1st Sgt. Mohammad Bihamta said, “Capt. McMurrin is a key contributor to the regiment’s success during Saber Strike 26 and Flytrap. His ability to connect teams, systems, and capabilities across the formation ensures Demon Battery delivers effects that directly support the regiment’s mission. He thrives in complex environments. He leverages relationships and a persistent, solutions-oriented mindset to overcome friction and maintain momentum.”

Across the regiment and U.S. Army Europe, launched effects batteries like “Demon” Battery and another in the 25th Infantry Division are among a growing number of units experimenting with UAS integration in field artillery.

McMurrin stated that the work done during Saber Strike and associated experiments helps shape standard operating procedures and informs how emerging technologies will be employed in future engagements.

Both Project Flytrap and Saber Strike, part of Sword 26, are exercises that turn investment into capability. Soldiers integrate unmanned systems such as AI-enabled command and control and live data networks to move, decide, and fight more effectively across all domains. Sword 26 demonstrates how U.S. Army Europe and Africa drives transformation at scale while strengthening deterrence.

Thanks to McMurrin’s dedication and strong communication skills within the battery, the Launched Effects Battery demonstrated precision during Saber Strike. In just six months since creation, they used several types of reconnaissance drones: medium, long-range, short-range, and a few first-person-view drones. This showcased the battery’s strength and versatility.

“UAS provides the Soldier on the ground the ability to look further than ground-based sensors have, so further than their binoculars, their mark-one eyeball (eyes), the sights on their weapons, and other sensors that they carry on their person,” said McMurrin. “It lets them go further; it lets them naturally go beyond terrain that would block their view, the other side of a hill, the other side of a wood line and it lets them see the enemy before the enemy can gain ground and observe them.”

His role as commander of the battery is essential to providing this type of support to the troops of the Field Artillery Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

“The regimental operating concept is to be able to deploy and fight upon arrival,” McMurrin said. “Training in Poland and Lithuania simulates the conditions the regiment could face if employed in crisis, whether for deterrence, presence, or combat operations.”

By SSG Emilie Lenglain

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on Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 at 00:00 and is filed under Army, Drone, Fires, Forces Focus, Guest Post.
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JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii – Maritime Soldiers assigned to the 8th Special Troops Battalion, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, were recognized during an Army Mariner Badge pinning ceremony aboard the U.S. Army Vessel Maj. Gen. Robert Smalls, LSV-8, on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, recognizing their expertise and service as Army mariners.

Hosted by Lt. Col. Micah J. Hall, commander of the 8th Special Troops Battalion, the ceremony honored Transportation Corps port watercraft and seaport operations mariners for achieving significant professional milestones through certification, operational experience and sustained service aboard Army watercraft. During the ceremony, one Soldier received the Army Mariner Senior badge and 11 Soldiers received the Army Mariner Basic badge.

The Army Mariner Badge symbolizes the technical expertise, discipline and operational readiness required of Soldiers serving within Army maritime occupational specialties. Approved in October 2024, the badge recognizes Army mariners who demonstrate proficiency in nautical logistics and sustainment operations while supporting missions across the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

The badge is awarded based on certification and years of operational maritime service. Soldiers awarded the basic badge must complete required certifications and serve at least one year aboard an Army vessel, while the senior badge recognizes mariners with a minimum of five years of service and demonstrated expertise within their maritime field.

“This badge is more than a uniform item,” said Hall during the ceremony. “It represents technical competence, operational experience, discipline and commitment to the Army’s maritime mission.”

Hall emphasized the critical role Army mariners play in enabling sustainment and transportation operations throughout the Indo-Pacific theater, including interisland logistics, joint exercises and strategic sealift missions. He recognized the professionalism and resilience required to operate Army watercraft in demanding maritime environments far from home station.

Maj. Gen. Gavin Gardner, commanding general of the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, also addressed attendees and highlighted the longstanding legacy of Army mariners throughout military history, from supporting operations during World War II to modern-day joint logistics over-the-shore missions.

“This is not earned in port,” Gardner said. “This is earned underway.”

Gardner further noted that Army mariners continue to play a vital role in projecting and sustaining combat power across the Indo-Pacific region, particularly as the Army modernizes maritime sustainment capabilities in austere environments.

For many Soldiers, the ceremony represented more than professional recognition — it represented visibility for a uniquely specialized field within the Army.

“Being awarded the Army Mariner Badge means a lot to us because it’s the first visible identification the Army has given us that is unique to being a mariner,” said CW2 George Schwarz, one of the mariners recognized with the 8th Theater Sustainment Command. “We’re a really small field within the Army that doesn’t always receive a lot of recognition.”

As the ceremony concluded, the newly badged Army mariners were recognized not only for their technical qualifications but for their continued role in sustaining and moving combat power across the Indo-Pacific region.

SGT Deneisha Owens-McParland

This entry was posted
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Yesterday, in the early morning dawn, soldiers assigned to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard,” marched into the only two national cemeteries managed by the Army, their rucksacks packed with small American flags.  

Their mission: to honor America’s fallen heroes by placing a flag in front of each headstone and columbarium column — approximately 250,000 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, and 13,500 at the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in Washington.  

This tradition, known as “Flags In,” takes place annually at both cemeteries on the Thursday before Memorial Day.  

As the soldiers fanned out through Arlington National Cemetery’s 639 acres, they placed a booted toe against each headstone and columbarium column before inserting a flag into the ground at their heel, creating a uniform distance for each flag.  

“Getting this right is important,” said Army Master Sgt. Jeb Hague, as he turned back to a flag and adjusted it slightly. Hague, who has served in the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps since 2006, has placed flags in nearly every section of the cemetery. “When I do this, I learn a little bit more each year,” he said, adding that different sections have different meanings.  

The Old Guard has been placing flags in front of headstones since 1948, when it was first designated as the Army’s official ceremonial unit. Every available soldier in the regiment participates. At Arlington National Cemetery, where service members from the Revolutionary War through today’s conflicts are laid to rest, “Flags In” connects today’s soldiers to generations of military service and sacrifice — spanning 250 years of American history.  

For many Old Guard soldiers, “Flags In” is also a deeply personal mission.  

Hague is among those with friends and family members laid to rest in Arlington. His great-uncle, Alvin J. Buchanan Jr., who served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War, is buried in Section 66. His friend Army Staff Sgt. Adam Dickmyer, a fellow Old Guard soldier who served as a tomb guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 and is buried in Section 60.  

“Memorial Day is so special and solemn,” Hague said. “But for me, [Flags In] is much more personal. “In the early morning quiet, before the cemetery opens to the public, soldiers can reflect on those who have lost their lives to defend our nation. I make sure to take a few seconds to read the name and remember them,” Hague said.  

Later in the day, the tomb guards, also members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, placed flags at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to honor the three unknowns buried there, along with all unidentified and missing American service members.  

Meanwhile, at the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery, veterans residing in the Armed Forces Retirement Home joined uniformed Old Guard soldiers in placing flags.  

By the afternoon, American flags waved across the iconic landscapes of both cemeteries.    

During Memorial Day weekend, visitors and family members will see the results of the soldiers’ meaningful mission — one of the many ways the U.S. military ensures that its fallen are never forgotten. For the Old Guard, the day represents, in Hague’s words, “a chance to give back” by commemorating all who served and sacrificed throughout the nation’s 250-year history.

– Via US Army

This entry was posted
on Monday, May 25th, 2026 at 00:00 and is filed under Army, Memorial, Press Release.
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Soldiers assigned to the 10th Mountain Division can once again wear the division’s historic crossed ski insignia on their Army Green Service Uniform garrison caps, restoring a visual link to the unit’s World War II roots and reinforcing the alpine spirit that resonates across the formation.

The insignia was first adopted in 1943, when the Army created the 10th Mountain Division as a specialized alpine force. The symbol represented the unit’s ability to fight in harsh winter conditions and rugged mountain terrain. Today, leaders say bringing the emblem back to everyday uniform wear honors that legacy while reminding soldiers of the division’s high standards.

Army Maj. Gen. Scott Naumann, commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division, said the decision carries real meaning for the force.

“The crossed skis are more than a symbol from our past,” Naumann said. “They represent the toughness, adaptability and spirit that define this division. Seeing them on our soldiers’ caps connects who we are today with the mountaineers who built our reputation.”

The division’s origins trace back to Camp Hale, Colorado, where soldiers trained on steep slopes, icy ridgelines and snow-covered trails before deploying to Italy during World War II. Their assault on Riva Ridge and the breakthrough of the German Gothic Line became defining moments in U.S. military history. Although today’s 10th Mountain Division no longer fights on skis, its mission as a rapidly deployable light infantry force still demands the same warrior spirit, readiness and grit.  

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Brett Johnson, the division’s senior enlisted leader, said the return of the insignia helps reinforce that identity.

“When a soldier puts on that cap and sees the crossed skis, it’s a reminder of the legacy they’re part of,” Johnson said. “It tells them, ‘You belong to a division known for going where others dare not go and you’re expected to carry that forward.’”

Leaders say the change not only strengthens esprit de corps but ensures that the division’s heritage remains visible in modern formations. For those across the formation, the crossed skis serve as a proud reminder of the unit’s identity and the generations who shaped it.

By Army Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael, 10th Mountain Division

This entry was posted
on Sunday, May 24th, 2026 at 17:00 and is filed under Army, Guest Post, Mountaineering.
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This April marked the beginning of the fourth iteration of Multi-Domain Command – Europe’s premiere exercise, Arcane Thunder, happening simultaneously at Fort Irwin, California, and throughout the European theater. The lessons learned by the Pershing Soldiers in California’s high desert will shape the future of large-scale combat operations.

Multi-Domain Command – Europe is one of three units established within the past five years, charged with combining the five fingers of the Army’s air, land, sea, space, and cyber capabilities into a fist, capable of destroying any target.

“The opening salvo of the next fight will not be something that comes out of an ammunition supply point,” says Maj. Guglielmo, Operations Officer for Multi-Domain Command – Europe and lead planner for Arcane Thunder 26. “It is going to be something more in the domains, literally, that we operate in here.”

The MDC-E’s primary role is creating anti-access and area denial (A2/AD), the strategy by which the U.S. military restricts enemy movement and prevents adversaries from deploying forces into a theater of operations throughout the battlefield. For MDC-E that means supporting U.S. Army European Command in reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank against Russian incursion should the need arise.

What Multi-Domain Command – Europe brings to the fight that a combined arms unit wouldn’t is the capability to sense the enemy at extreme ranges and create opportunities for the unit’s long-range fires battalions to engage those targets. Fixed wing UAVs serve as the unit’s swiss army knife of sensing and detecting, capable of carrying electromagnetic or explosive payloads if necessary, while high-altitude balloons (HABs) capable of floating near the top of the Earth’s exosphere for more than a year at a time monitor signals in the electromagnetic spectrum from hundreds of miles away.

Capabilities within all domains of warfare employed by the MDC-E work in concert to “bring the fight as deep as possible,” says Guglielmo. “The Army wide is trying to make sure that it has as innovative and as advanced technology as possible to provide the warfighter that advantage.”

This year’s Arcane Thunder tests the scale at which those capabilities can be employed through the formation of Multi-Domain Company Teams (MDC-Ts).

“Multi-Domain Company Team is a company size element that combines multiple disciplines outside of its organic structure to create multiple options for a commander to affect things on the battlefield,” says Guglielmo.

“Much like using combined arms to create multiple dilemmas, a MDC-T can do the same thing,” says Guglielmo. “Instead of tanks and artillery, you have an extended range sensing asset, a kinetic element, and a space element all working in concert together to accomplish whatever the combatant commander needs.”

Responsible for testing the employment of the MDC-T concept are the Soldiers of MDC-E’s Extended Range Sensing and Effects (ERSE) Company, commanded by Capt. Garrett Murray. Drone operators, electronic warfare specialists, and tactical space operations specialists merged into one unit to detect targets at extreme ranges and destroy them.

ERSE company and the rest of the MDC-E team have been tasked with answering the question of how to take these capabilities and integrate them with the ground force, says Murray.

“We’re still building the foundations,” says Murray. “Everyone knows the exact roles that we fill. There’s not much question besides how do we change up the tactics.”

“We’re making those steps during this exercise now that we’re coordinating with a long-range fires unit,” says Murray. “The next step, once we continue through experimentation and developing our capabilities is, now we need to start working on synchronizing with the maneuver force.”

Deciding upon what technologies to incorporate into the Army’s warfighting functions is an enduring effort throughout the force known as Transforming in Contact, focused on delivering new technologies into the hands of Soldiers so that they can experiment, innovate, and be ready to fight on a modern battlefield. Leading the charge at Multi-Domain Command – Europe is Maj. Don Duong.

Maj. Duong’s call sign is “CTO”. He’s the Multi-Domain Command’s Chief Technology Officer.

“It’s… new position that’s reflective of where the Army and the military’s been going in terms of the acknowledgement that the pace at which new capabilities and technologies are entering into the marketplace and the warfare domains are quickly outstripping traditional procurement pathways,” said Duong.

“We’re focused on trying to find current emerging and future capabilities aligned against what the MDC concept of employment and mission sets are.”

Arcane Thunder puts that concept into practice. Soldiers operating between Mainz-Kastel, Germany and Fort Irwin, Texas, employ emerging technologies across multiple training scenarios, stress-testing what the industry has to offer.

“What we’re doing with multi-domain reconnaissance is something that’s quite different from how traditional Army reconnaissance has been done at the tactical level,” says Duong. “We’re developing the doctrine, the procedures and the capabilities to execute reconnaissance at extended distances. That hasn’t been considered in the past at the tactical level.”

“Everything we do here will inform the direction that the Army takes with regard to multi-domain reconnaissance and then how we can converge or layer all these different effects together to create an effect or multiple dilemmas on adversary forces,” says Duong.

By MSG John Healy

This entry was posted
on Sunday, May 24th, 2026 at 00:00 and is filed under Army, Forces Focus, Guest Post.
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