Ep. 43: The New Cavalry is Coming

The Army's Multi-Domain Task Force: Soldier-Driven Innovation in Action

About our Guests

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Burns serves as the Deputy Commander of the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF), headquartered in Germany in support of US Army Europe and Africa. With a background in traditional Army operations, Burns brings a task force-level perspective on how new capabilities need to integrate into joint warfighting concepts.

Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Ritzema commands the 2nd Multi-Domain Effects Battalion (MDEB), which serves as the primary sensing and non-kinetic effects arm of the task force. His battalion comprises specialized companies focused on space, cyber, electronic warfare, and unmanned systems. Ritzema's role involves organizing, training, and equipping soldiers across multiple technical specialties that historically have been siloed across different parts of the Army.

Together, these officers represent the operational leadership of one of the Army's most innovative organizational constructs - a unit specifically designed to counter anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities that potential adversaries have developed to keep U.S. forces at bay.

About the Multi-Domain Task Force

Established through Army Chief of Staff General James McConville's 2021 vision paper "Army Multi-Domain Transformation," the MDTF concept represents the Army's primary organizational innovation for multi-domain operations. The Army is currently building five such task forces, with three currently established - two focused on the Indo-Pacific and the 2nd MDTF focused on Europe.

The 2nd MDTF, activated in late 2021, consists of a headquarters element, an intelligence/cyberspace/electronic warfare/space detachment, and a brigade support company. At its core is the Multi-Domain Effects Battalion, which is organized into specialized companies:

* A signal company providing mission command networks

* A military intelligence company for target analysis

* An extended range sensing and effects company with unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare, and high-altitude balloon platoons

* A space company with modular and fixed space control capabilities

* An information defense company with defensive cyber and electromagnetic attack platoons

What makes the MDTF concept unique is that it brings capabilities previously reserved for joint or national-level commands down to the tactical level, enabling field commanders to integrate and synchronize effects across domains. As LTC Ritzema explains, the task force's mission is fundamentally about finding adversaries faster than they can find you, then delivering effects - whether kinetic or non-kinetic - to enable broader joint operations.

For more on Arcane Thunder 25: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/496977/exercise-arcane-thunder-25-press-release

For more Crossing the Valley: www.valleycrossers.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.valleycrossers.com