As part of National Security Policy, the Army is stepping up work in the Asia Pacific region, building partnerships and promoting stability, the Chief of Staff said in a Thursday roundtable.
“The wave of the future is going to be multi-national exercises and training,” Gen. Raymond Odierno said during a roundtable discussion from Yongsan Garrison, Korea, live cast on the Pentagon Channel. “We want to shape the region to maintain economic vitality” important to the United States.
The Asia-Pacific area is a vital region for the United States, he said, “one where we want to keep a level of stability for the economic development for our country.”
Therefore, it’s important to develop relationships with up and coming nations, such as Vietnam, he said, as well as working with other nations to improve relations and promote regional stability.
For example, he said the Army just did an airborne exercise–a combined jump–in Thailand, and in a recent exchange Chinese military visited Hawaii on a humanitarian assistance project. Joint training also is about to start with the Koreans.
It is “exciting times,” Odierno said, with the opportunity to do many different things with the nations of the Asia-Pacific region.
Odierno also addressed the topic of leader development. Today, “people know more” and the world is constantly changing because of the amount of information flowing globally and how fast people understand it, he said.
For the Army, that leads to decentralized decision making, with decisions made at lower and lower levels.Thus, leaders and future leaders must be prepared for the critical thinking leading to decisions.
The Army is adjusting training across the board to do this, Odierno said.
As he sees the future, Odierno reiterated what the future Army needs to be: a highly trained all volunteer force, with a wide range of capabilities that are unique: ranging from humanitarian assistance to high end operations. That mix must be kept to meet the requirements of the national security strategy.
And as part of the joint force, the Army must go back to an expeditionary mind set of how to go to remote places starting with a small force that expands. The Army must be ready to go at a moment’s notice, so “we must make ourselves more efficient” and smaller to be ready to prevent conflict, shape the environment and, if necessary, win decisively.
These necessities lead to his previously stated five priorities, with the number one being to train leaders to operate in a complex environment. The Army must also be globally responsive and regionally engaged and ready.
Further, soldiers must be committed to the profession, competent and have high character, he said. They stand on the shoulders of those who came before. Finally, the service must maintain the all-volunteer Army.
Odierno has listed these priorities and his vision in Waypoint #2, his follow-up to the CSA’s Marching Orders he issued in January 2012.
Responding to concerns about fraternization, sexual harassment, assault and alcoholism, Odierno said: “It all comes down to character.”
The service has rules and regulations and in the case of fraternization, which is forbidden, the soldier involved must make a decision. Agreeing that rules can be frustrating, he said it is “a bit confusing.” And it’s up to the Army to make them more “user friendly to provide right and left limits.” It is when lines get blurry that problems occur, he noted.
The important point is to do a better job. “There are rules for a reason and we expect people to follow the rules.”
As to drugs and alcohol, in a larger sense, he worries that they lead to other problems, such as sexual assault.
The Army is stepping up its efforts in this area, improving what it has in place and working to constantly assess what it’s doing. “We have a long way to go with this problem,” Odierno said.
And it’s important for the land service: women are now playing a larger role throughout the service. But it’s a problem not confined to women.
However, the point for the Army is to provide a culture where every individual has the opportunity to succeed, Odierno said. “We have to hold people accountable.”