The Joint Readiness Training Center is pleased to present the seventeenth episode to air on ‘The Crucible - The JRTC Experience.’ Hosted by the Commander of Ops Group (COG), COL Matthew Hardman. We have a special treat for our audience, today’s guest is retired US Army COL John Antal. The event was designed to encourage discourse and offer insights of the evolution of modern warfare and its impacts on the battlefield of tomorrow to future Leaders while promoting the Joint Readiness Training Center as a whole.

COL John Antal is a renowned author, military historian, and foreign affairs subject matter expert. He served 30 years in the US Army, where he led formations from platoon level through regiment and served on corps and multinational staffs. He is the author of hundreds of articles on military affairs and leadership subjects as well as having authored fourteen books, including his most recent book: '7 Seconds to Die: A Military Analysis of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and the Future of Warfighting.'

Faculty and team members from across the US Army’s Combat Training Centers were able to participate in this briefing as it was part of the CTC Commander’s Conference at the Combined Arms Center in the Summer of 2022.

In this episode they discuss the evolution of technology and the impact it has had on modern warfare as well as the training provided to brigade combat teams in preparation for conducting large scale combat operations across multiple domains. The material referenced comes from multiple recent or on-going conflicts, including but not limited to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and the Russo-Ukrainian Conflict. Specifically addressed are the so-called battlefield disruptors of modern war, which are the:

• Transparency of the battlefield.


• First strike advantage, often maintained by the opposition.


• Accelerating of the operations tempo.


• Fury & effectiveness of top attack.


• Unmanned to fully autonomous systems.


• From “kill-chain” to “kill-web” constructs.


• Visualization of the battlespace across all-domains.

One of the repeatedly emphasized methods for mitigating these disruptors was through the technique of “masking,” which was loosely defined as the full-spectrum, multi-domain effort to deceive enemy sensors and disrupt enemy targeting.

Part of S10 “Out-Thinking the Enemy” series.

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