1LT JORDAN BLOOMFIELD 1LT SAMUEL PANNEK
Light, mobile, and agile — these are all terms used to describe the new light support battalion (LSB) concept. As transformation in contact (TiC) progresses, we continually look for ways to live up to them; to do so, we must rightsize our organization and the equipment it carries. Legacy power generation continues to weigh us down as we prepare for the next war. While generators are required for maintaining command and control (C2) nodes as well as conducting general operations within an LSB, they are often underutilized, with our Soldiers possessing no true understanding about how much power a single generator produces. Reducing the size and number of generators within the LSB ultimately improves the battalion’s capabilities and balances the formation against our future mission.
Waste of Energy Throughout Operation Lethal Eagle (OLE) 24.1, the 526th Light Support Battalion operated three 5-kilowatt (kW) generators, three 15-kW generators, and two 30-kW generators in a moderately dispersed base cluster. These generators, while capable of producing 185 kW of power, on average produced 31 kW of power daily. The average power usage per company was 28.56 percent of its total capability. The most notable energy waste was from the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) node: It was capable of producing 65 kW of power but only required 3 kW daily, a mere 5 percent of its capability. J Forward Support Company had the least utilized amount of energy based off its capabilities; it was able to produce 25 kW but only utilized .5 kW of power daily — just 2 percent of its maximum capability. The only company that frequently met the max capability was C Company (medics), which used 3-10 kW daily (the 10 kW being utilized during X-rays). This met the 10 kW capacity. The effects of wasting a generator’s power are more serious than simply transporting unnecessary equipment. During large-scale combat operations (LSCO), near-peer threats possess the capability to detect emitted energy in a given area and target the source with deadly unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and indirect fires. It is critical to reduce energy emissions as much as possible.
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