Institutionalized ad hoc units? A contradiction in terms?
C6ISR? Never heard of this before.
Thanks to the Internet web site of Thomas Wictor and found quite accidentally so! Read the whole article. Worth doing so.
"Feign disorder, and then crush your enemy and his supporters"
From several years ago but the topic still valid.
"There’s no doubt in my mind [Thomas Wictor] that Israel and the Arab League have created strategic special forces, dubbed 'C6ISR forces' by IDF Brigadier General Gal Hirsch (retired). The term C6ISR stands for 'Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Cyber, Commando, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance.'”
"No need to feign."
"Open sources give me [Thomas Wictor] a good idea. A C6ISR force is based on a rapid-reaction, rapid-intervention, rapid-deployment, or expeditionary unit. Here’s the organization of a US Marine Corps Expeditionary Unit (MEU)".
That Table of Organization and Equipment, an archetype C6ISR unit all-arms and beyond that. Click on image to see an enlarged view. A unit of six self-propelled guns deemed more correctly a battery. Agreed I am being pedantic but not without good reason.
More than anything else these C6ISR units resemble what has traditionally been referred to as a "flying column".
A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ad hoc unit, formed during the course of operations. The term is usually, though not necessarily, applied to forces less than the strength of a brigade."
"As mobility is its primary purpose, a flying column is accompanied by the minimum of equipment. It generally uses suitable fast transport; historically, horses were used, with trucks and helicopters replacing them in modern times."
Minimum amount of equipment but maximum amount of firepower and able to call on assets of whatever echelon as needed during active operations. Commander a man of proven ability and experience, and given great latitude as how to accomplish a mission.
C6ISR!
coolbert.