Reconsidering Division Cavalry Squadrons

Part III: 1stSquadron, 4thCavalry Regiment,in Operation Desert Storm

Reconnaissance operations, like security efforts, are central to shaping favorable conditions for division maneuver during offensive, defensive, stability and even civil-assistanceoperations. As defined by Army division doctrine, they are missions “undertaken to obtain, by visual observation or other detection methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy.”While adversaries often demand the most attention–especiallyduring forcible entry in expeditionary theaters–avariety of manned and unmanned sensors also collect “data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic or geographic characteristics of a particular area.”1Similar to security efforts designed to protect main-force units, cavalry has specialized in proactive information collection (IC) and reporting since antiquity. Divisions doctrinally execute four types of reconnaissance designed to orient “on the enemy, terrain, infrastructure and society to collect information” that is then “turned into intelligence products that influence the conduct of current and future operations.” These tasks include conducting zone reconnaissance across a linear area with defined boundaries, area reconnaissance around a specific location, route reconnaissance along roads and highways, and reconnaissance-in-force to test enemy strengths and dispositions. Cavalry formations, depending on the habitual or ad hocforcemix of armored, wheeled, dismounted and aerial platforms, also execute counter-reconnaissance against enemy scouts to deprive opposing commanders of battlefield clarity.