Dr. Robert S. Cameron's "To Fight or Not to Fight? Organizational and Doctrinal Trends in Mounted Maneuver Reconnaissance from the Interwar Years to Operation Iraqi Freedom" provides a narrative analysis of US Army reconnaissance, scout, and cavalry evolution from the post-World War I era through the Iraqi conflict. It outlines key developments in the concepts governing reconnaissance units from the armored cavalry regiment down to the maneuver battalion scout platoon. These changes are placed in the context of national defense policy decisions and major Army initiatives. The title derives from the almost cyclic shifts between reconnaissance organizations oriented on information collection and those designed for a broader mission set. The text focuses on doctrinal and organizational changes, but training, material developments, and the impact of combat operations constitute important supporting themes. This study also traces the transition from horse to vehicular reconnaissance, later bolstered by air cavalry and more recently with a variety of sensors and unmanned systems. The chronicle of this transition highlights another persistent theme: the impact of technology on reconnaissance. It addresses an issue with which scouts in today's high-tech world continue to grapple: finding the correct balance between man and machine for effective reconnaissance.

Format not distributed to depository libraries. Full text also available via Internet from the Combined Arms Research Library web site.

Introduction: past as prologue / Setting the stage: the interwar era. In the beginning -- Horse cavalry doctrine -- Mechanized cavalry -- Mounted reconnaissance in transition / The crucible of combat: World War II. Something old, something new, 1940-41 -- 1941 GHQ maneuvers -- Reconnaissance in transition, 1942 -- Combat operations in North Africa and Italy -- Refining reconnaissance, 1943-44 00 European theater of operations, 1944-45 / From postwar to Korean War. Analysis of the wartime experience -- Reconnaissance restructured -- Doctrinal revision -- Training -- Upgrading reconnaissance materiel -- Reconnaissance in Korea -- Organizational and materiel lessons learned -- The way ahead / Survival on a nuclear battlefield. Massive retaliation -- Reorganization of the Current Armored Division (ROCAD) -- ROCAD revisited -- FM 17-35, Armored Cavalry Platoon, Troop, and Squadron -- Flexible response and ROAD -- Battalion reconnaissance -- Armored cavalry regiment / Vietnam: reconnaissance in counterinsurgency operations. Prelude to war -- Nascent awareness of counterinsurgency operations -- Training the basics -- A question of need -- Showing the way: initial operations 1965-67 -- Mechanized and armor combat operations in Vietnam (MACOV) -- Evolving doctrine -- Operations 1968-70 -- End game 1970-72 / Change, controversy, and a desert victory. Army 86 -- Reconnaissance refocused -- Active defense reconnaissance doctrine -- Organizational flux -- The search for a new reconnaissance vehicle -- AirLand Battle and the Army of Excellence -- Cavalry at the crossroads -- Whither the scout? -- Reconnaissance training and doctrine in the 1980s -- Operation DESERT STORM / Force XXI and the winds of change. The post-Cold War Army -- Armor 2000 -- Light cavalry emphasis -- Heavy cavalry -- Battalion scouts: observers, killers, or victims? -- Scout modernization strategy -- Reconnaissance platforms -- Reconnaissance doctrine in the 1990s -- Reconnaissance at the Combat Training Centers -- Scout training -- The Force XXI division and the brigade reconnaissance troop -- Regimental strike force / Army transformation, RSTA squadrons, and ISR operations. Army transformation -- Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- Transforming the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment -- ISR operations and the new contact paradigm -- Cavalry at the crossroads, again -- Brigade and battalion scouts -- Operation IRAQI FREEDOM: major combat operations -- Modularity / Into the storm: counterinsurgency in Iraq. Overview -- Operational environment -- Mounted reconnaissance -- Armored cavalry -- RSTA squadron operations -- Doctrinal refinement -- HBCT reconnaissance squadron experiment -- Organizational limbo -- The battlefield surveillance brigade -- The quest for core competencies -- Into the future / Conclusion.