Recognizing Signposts: Anticipating the Future Role of the Corps

By examining four historical contexts featuring corps headquarters performing their doctrinal roles, this study indentified three signposts that assist practitioners with anticipating the future role of a corps headquarters at onset and throughout the duration of a campaign. These signposts are the nature of the conflict, the campaign objectives by phase, and the theater structure. Using these signposts as a framework for historical analysis, the assessment demonstrates that when the operational environment presents traditional warfare, and the campaign objectives require the conduct of large-scale offensive and defensive operations with multiple divisions and corps, then a corps headquarters will perform the role of an intermediate tactical headquarters. When the operational environment presents a mix of traditional and irregular warfare requiring the conduct of small-scale offensive and defensive operations with one division and one corps headquarters, the corps headquarters will perform the role of a joint task force headquarters. However, when the operational environment presents a mix of traditional and irregular warfare requiring the conduct of large-scale full spectrum operations with multiple divisions and the integration of joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational efforts, the corps headquarters may perform the role of a joint task force for a relatively short period of time, followed by transition to its role as a land component command headquarters. The purpose of this study is not to provide a Nostradamus-style prediction of the future role of a corps headquarters. However, since preparing to perform multiple roles effectively presents numerous training challenges, the study provides future corps practitioners with a historical framework for inquiry that can assist with anticipating the future role of a corps headquarters. To validate the framework logic, the study presented analysis of four historical contexts featuring the corps headqua

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