Yes, fighting insurgents and terrorists without such capabilities has instilled bad habits in communications:
U.S. troops have some bad habits to kick after a generation of counterinsurgency operations, the report said. During counterinsurgency missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance, U.S. troops often conducted “battle update briefs” to rear echelon command centers over the radio or a phone line.
“In a confrontation with Russians or their proxies, this type of action will get units targeted through electronic warfare and then killed with artillery,” the report said, adding that U.S. forces also need to practice better “radio discipline”—meaning shorter radio calls and other brevity tactics.
That applies to any electronic signal emission. Do read how Ukrainian units attempt to cope.
I remember signal training about breaking radio transmissions frequently to avoid enemy tracking. I guess that wasn't needed in the post-Cold War era.
The basic lesson is that if you emit, move. And if you don't want to move, don't emit.
And I recall decades ago reading about how an American electronic warfare unit let loose in a Cold War era Army field exercise wreaked havoc via the radio waves, including giving fake orders that sent American units off on wild goose chases that took them out of the fight.
We're starting to remember the long-standing Russian ability in this area because of Ukraine. It is good to have our attention gained with the clue bat applied to someone else.
We'd best learn this lesson before we experience it directly.
