Training in force protection and risk management should be mandatory for officers and senior NCOs deploying to high threat areas. Unity of Command Unity of Command is a basic principle of all military operations. In order to have a unified approach to force protection, one man must be in charge in the Gulf region. The Goldwater-Nichols act assigned great power to the unified combatant commanders. I believe the law's intent was to strengthen joint operational command while allowing the services the mission of training, equipping and sustaining the force.
Force protection is an operational issue.
There are training and equipping pieces to it, but ultimately it is an inherent function of command. While a commander in chief may, under Goldwater-Nichols, delegate operational control of forces in his theater to the service components, doing so dilutes the concept of unity of command and circumvents the real intent of the law, which was to put the joint commander in chief in charge of operational matters. We believe it is very important to assign operational control of all forces operating in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region to one forward-deployed headquarters. Resourcing and Manning Emphasis must be placed on proper resourcing and manning. Our manning policies must support continuity and cohesion.