Global Strike Task Force and Stryker Brigade Combat Team

Presented with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's "transformation" challenge, both the United States Air Force and United States Army devised organizational structures to meet the demand for fast reaction expeditionary forces. One of the Air Force's structures is the Global Strike Task Force (GSTF). The Army created the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT). GSTF is deployable under the Aerospace Expeditionary Force (AEF) construct. It leverages the standoff capability of the current bomber and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) fleets with new platforms, such as the F/A-22. Deployable within 96 hours, the SBCT, while presented by the Army as an early entry force, is not conceived as a forcible entry organization. The GSTF may be effective against anti-access strategies, but clearly lacks the ability to occupy terrain and secure lodgments. Traditional forcible entry forces lack survivability. Consequently, before friendly forces can gain the initiative, additional combat power must arrive on the scene. The solution may be an integrated GSTF-SBCT force. The thesis concludes that, under the right conditions, SBCT components do possess capabilities applicable to forcible entry operations, and that integration with GSTF is indeed possible. However, significant gaps in joint and Service doctrine make this integration difficult.