Commander’s Edge: Synchronizing Operations Through Fighting Products Pt 2 (Ep. 36)
Off the Radar, Special Operations Training DetachmentShow Notes
This is part 2 of a 2-part interview focused on Fighting Products that are useful and essential to the planning and execution of Multi-Domian Large Scale Combat Operations with the Joint and Combined Force. A fighting product is a visual product that doctrine desires created by a staff to enable the commander to visualize the battlefield, understand the operational environment, and synchronize action in time and space. This supports the commander’s decision-making process and ensures common understanding throughout the unit. This interview covers the core fighting products that ARSOF Company staffs and above should be producing, additional products that are highly useful, and methods of displaying and sharing these products to increase shared understanding at the headquarters and up and down the chain of command. These fighting products have value at the Combat Training Centers and across the spectrum of operations from competition to conflict.
About the Guest:
MAJ Philip Ficken: Phil Ficken is the current Special Operations Training Detachment AOB-West Officer in Charge aka Commander. Prior to the he served as the Exercise Control Officer and J3 Operations Officer for SOTD AOB-W. Prior to that He served in various roles in 5th Special Forces Group including Company Commander, Staff positions, and Detachment Commander.
About the Host:
CPT Weston Rich is the of SOF Plans Chief at the NTC and former member of Burro Team, the Special Operations Training Detachment OC/T Team at NTC. Prior to his time at NTC, Weston served as a Detachment Commander with 1st SFG (A) and as an Infantry Officer with 3-509th IN (ABN)/4/25 ID (now part of 2/11 ABN DIV). Following his time at NTC, Weston will attend Carnegie Mellon University with a follow-on assignment to Army Futures Command.
This episode covers:
- Displaying fighting products: digital versus analog the pros and cons of both
- Digital is great for sharing, especially up the chain of command but becomes more difficult sending down the chain of command; requires connectivity, consistent electricity, and access to digital workspace / system
- Analog is for everyone: allow for immediate common access to the information to those present, reduces digital signature and increases protection to force, unable to be jammed
- Staff must reproduce products on both digital and analog to ensure redundancy and understanding; digital products need to be reduced in size to allow transmission over systems with minimal bandwidth, staff must dedicate time and personnel to conduct these actions
- Down trace units must be able to receive textual information and transform it into visual products such as a common operating picture
- Methods to display analog products: battle board- large or small – center map with overlays, left side enemy, right side friend bottom center timelines; tabletop page protectors; shower curtain white board
- Staff handover / commander update drills – when conducting shift changes or commander returns after an extended time away
- Digital products allow only one person to look at them at one time (computer or cell phone screen), it is difficult to display multiple products at the same time
- Risk to force and mission by producing a digital signature in a contested or denied environment, especially for units in front of the forward line of troops (FLOT)
- Sand tables, map overlays, and other means of analog products enable faster, more collaborative, and more iterative planning and shared understanding
- Take away: Detachments and Companies should utilize those 6 essential fighting products to enable visualization and understanding of the environment and synchronization of actions
Please like, subscribe, and share these episodes with ARSOF any conventional Soldiers and Leaders to spread the knowledge of ARSOF in LSCO.
To provide feedback please email the host, CPT Rich, at [email protected]
More from Off the Radar, Special Operations Training Detachment
This episode is a year in the making. We talk with the Commander of Special Operations Training Detachment. We pick his brain on the state of ARSOF, training priorities, and the future of CTCs. The National Training Center and SOTD are in the middle of a transformation and modernization effort to increase lethality and improve readiness; let's see what the leadership's take on it is.
We continue our discussion with the Civil Affairs Company leadership as we talk Realistic Military Training during the rotation and their take aways from the exercise.
In this episode of Off the Radar, we sit down with leaders from B/96th Civil Affairs Company fresh off their rotation at the National Training Center (NTC). Operating within a Large-Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) scenario, the unit faced the complex realities of supporting maneuver forces while simultaneously navigating civilian populations, governance challenges, and information dynamics in a contested environment. The conversation dives into how the company adapted its traditional Civil Affairs skill sets—key leader engagements, civil reconnaissance, and population analysis—to a high-intensity fight where access was limited and the pace was relentless. Leaders reflect on friction points, including integration with supported brigades, survivability on a kinetic battlefield, and maintaining relevance. The episode highlights critical lessons learned: the importance of early integration into the planning process, the need to digitize and rapidly share civil information, and the challenge of balancing influence operations with physical security constraints. Wrapping up, the team explores how these insights are shaping future training and readiness for their unit, and how these lessons learned will influence them.
In this episode of OTR, MAJ Casey Phillips, a career SOF Logistician and past NTC Observer, Coach, and Trainer, shares his experiences from the SOF community. We explore how special operations logistics operate, balancing speed, knowledge, and flexibility. From improvised resupply in austere environments to integrating with conventional forces during large-scale operations, SOF logisticians ensure that elite units—and the broader joint force—can sustain momentum in complex missions. Whether it’s supporting a small team deep behind enemy lines or enabling large-scale operations alongside conventional units, the logistics professionals working behind the scenes prove that sometimes the most critical part of the mission is the part no one sees.
As the calendar turns and a new training year begins, Special Operations Training Detachment is sharpening the force for the challenges ahead. In the vast training environment at NTC, Fort Irwin, CA, innovation and fundamentals are not competing priorities — they are pillars of readiness. This episode dives into how the detachment is setting the tone for the year by strengthening ARSOF integration, accelerating modernization, and recommitting to the core skills that define elite performance and success.