The Army is developing the underlying intellectual foundation for its future as it transitions from executing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to preparing for an uncertain future enmeshed in fiscal uncertainty.
“The world as we know it today is as dangerous and complex as any in our past,” said Gen. Robert Cone, commanding general of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.
This new world and smaller Army will still require capabilities, both new and upgraded, to prevail in whatever mission is required.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said recently the transition means changing how the service organizes, mans, equips and trains the force. That means the service is required to review and adapt in a variety of areas “to remain the most capable, most lethal, most dominant land force in the world,” and better enable the Joint Force of 2020.
Cone brought three messages: there’s an uncertain and fiscally constrained future, the Army must invest in the process–“we’ve gotten away from the processes”–and readjust the focus to the future, he said at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Winter Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Some of the current uncertainty is reflected in the fact that Cone said he handpicked only 57 personnel to attend the conference, specifically chosen to communicate where the service is heading. Costs have dropped 95 percent year over year, he added.
The drop in Army attendees is part of Army budget belt-tightening in the face of a potential sequester of funds and possible year-long continuing resolution and also meant much of the conference was live-streamed over the Internet for those who could not attend. Conversely, a number of symposium panelists participated by video or video teleconference.
Also, AUSA is leaving Fort Lauderdale after 13-year tenure, association President Gordon Sullivan said. While he did not reveal where the association event would go, the City of Raleigh, N.C, Feb. 6 revealed AUSA was committed to bringing its winter symposium to town Feb. 26-28, 2014. The event is likely to generate an estimated $4 million in economic impact, the city’s website said.
Cone said in an era of “prevent, shape and win,” the reality of his business is, “no one stands behind us.” The Army will do what others cannot and has to maintain that capability.
“If we lose the ability to win, I’m not so sure our prevent and shape will be …effective,” he said.
Innovation must be driven by “simplicity and trainability” Cone told the mostly industry audience. Young soldiers don’t understand why they can hop on the Internet and find out how to do something while they have to spend weeks learning about equipment the service gives them.
Solutions must be fully integrated into the doctrine, organization, training, leader development and education, materiel and personnel and facilities (DOTLM PF) world. And those solutions must be simpler, cheaper and with a low overhead, he said.
Where industry plays a part is in filling gaps for the Army, or improving capabilities to flesh out concepts laid out by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Some of the areas would be: extending the network, more cloud-enabled command and control, more capability to analyze and exploit data, mobile protected firepower, counter anti-access and area denial, strategic and operational mobility, and logistics with global visibility of people and equipment. Other areas would be en route mission command, warfare on the move, counter WMD, extended range precision fires and traumatic brain injury.
Lt. Gen. Keith Walker, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center and deputy TRADOC commander, warned that “despite our best efforts there’s a high likelihood the U.S. once again will likely find itself in conflict.”
Walker pointed out that the past 12 years of war made clear that the nation must never enter conflict only with a strategic plan based solely on engaging and destroying an enemy force. The outcome will rest on “the ability of soldiers to defeat an enemy force, seize and hold terrain and with direct human interaction create the conditions for strategic victory.”
Strategic land power as part of the joint force also requires “getting there,” and of concern for Walker are air- and sea-lift needs. Looking at strategic mobility before the war and today, he said: “we have less air and sea mobility than we did before 9/11 and that is an issue.”
The Army livestreamed both Cone and Walker’s speeches over the Internet.