The choice of location will depend in part on our willingness to properly resource the reachback center. The reachback center must be a turnkey operation, able to quickly become active and supportive. Additionally, it must be as responsive and useful to the deployed commander as if it resided on the other side of the tactical operations center tent flap. Reachback, in several forms, will be built into our future forces as both a force economizer and an information multiplier. Operationally, a nondeployed reachback center could replace the main command post as the element that accomplishes deliberate planning and analysis functions.
Reachback capabilities can only increase as advances in technology.
Discussing, defining and developing the concept at this early stage are critical to leverage fully this potent and evolving capa-bility. Emerging organizational and operational concepts associated with reachback are founded on leveraging information technology but will not happen without a deliberate and adequately re-sourced plan. MR Major John M. Neal is a senior project officer for the Battle Command Battle Lab, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He received a B.A. from St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, New York. He has participated in several areas of the Army's transformation effort, including developing the Strike Force concept of a Home Station Support Node and contributing to the C 4 ISR chapter of the Objective Force Organizational and Operational Concept document.