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CAAT is reinvented for counterinsurgency and low-intensity conflict.
Combined antiarmor team (CAAT) platoon provides an infantry battalion commander with a significant antiarmor capability, great firepower, mobility, and the ability to conduct reconnaissance and security operations during a conventional conflict. With minor changes in task organization and equipment, the CAAT platoon can be remade into a flexible, motorized infantry task force capable of conducting a broad spectrum of missions in a lowto mid-intensity conflict or a counterinsurgency operation, chasing the mouse-the insurgent.
From April to mid-July, the 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (22d MEU(SOC)) deployed to southern Afghanistan in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. During this time Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marines (BLT 1/6) operated across a 90 kilometer (km) by 90km area where villages are small, remote, and isolated. The small, scattered villages required infantry to conduct actions on the objectives, while the great distances involved and broken terrain required cross-country mobility. To meet the demands of the environment and to defeat the enemy, a rifle squad was paired with a CAAT section. During Operation MOUNTAIN STORM, BLT 1/6 created, experimented with, and perfected this task organization.
The CAAT platoon is a task organization created at the discretion of a battalion commander. The elements that make up the platoon are drawn from the weapons company of an infantry battalion. Units take the heavy machinegun (HMG) platoon and merge it with the TOW section of the antiarmor platoon, making CAAT a standing task organization. CAAT platoons vary greatly from battalion to battalion, but the majority of battalions follow the TOW/HMG model, and the accepted base unit of the platoon is the team, comprised of one HMG vehicle and one TOW vehicle, each weapons system complementing the other in terms of what it offers to defeat armor on the conventional battlefield.
Task Organization
Based on the environment and the enemy faced in Afghanistan, several changes were made to the predeployment training program task organization. The overall size of the platoon was increased, three rifle squads were attached, and a number of individual attachments with special skills were added.
Early on the platoon was augmented by the addition of several M1043A2 (HMG variant) hardback HMMWVs from headquarters and service (H&S) company, bringing the...