The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers - US Army Center Of Military History

a tight, iterative cycle. That will lead us to
make doctrinal, organizational, and materiel
decisions concurrently. This is very different
from our traditional approach but it is necessary
and appropriate-we will use Information
Age processes to create the Information
Age force. This innovative design process will
continually lead us to improving units, capable
of assimilating technology as technology
evolves.
I expect that this effort will also have an
impact on the sustainment base of the Armythe
MACOMs, agencies, and other organizations
primarily in the TDA Army. We must be
a seamless Army designed to leverage the
power of information and the explicit
strengths of America's Army. Therefore, within
the intent of these guidelines, I expect every
part of the Army to continue reengineering
and redeSign efforts to bring our processes
into the 21st century. These efforts will be a
part of the large whole-America's Army. We
must be one in design and purpose. The Army
Staff will be the coordinating and integrating
mechanism for these actions, since I expect
the impact to be broad.
I have charged the LAM TF to develop a
campaign plan for me to integrate and synchronize
these actions. LAM TF will coordinate
this with the major participants and report
out to the BoD in May. In July, at
Carlisle, LAM TF will coordinate our first
major AAR at which all primary participants
will report out. At that meeting I expect to
chart a specific course through 1995. I expect
to begin organizing experimental units
within calendar year 1994. Ultimately, it is
my intent that timely fielding decisions be
made for implementation before the turn of
the century.
It is important for me to note that I do
not expect this effort to impact the enduring
aspects of our profeSSion-basic soldier
skills, courage, self-sacrifice, leadership, values-based
cohesion. These will be the essential
virtues for winning tomorrow, as they
were yesterday and are today. No amount of
technology will change that, nor will any operational
concept or design make them less
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critical to our success. It is, in fact, this human
dimension that will give Force XXI its
ultimate value.
I want each of you in the Army Chain of
Command to develop a vision for what Force
XXI means to your command. I want my staff
to do the same. Identify proponency, network,
challenge the processes we need to
change, take risks, encourage innovation.
Send me your visions, your thoughts, your
papers; send them to each other. Press the
envelope: what could this meant I believe
that we can create a 21st century Army, capable
of defending our nation, and that we
can do it with the resources at hand and at
acceptable strategic risk.
I am confident of our success because
America's Army is a growing, learning organization
that truly is operating with one foot
in the future. To the extent that we have been
able to control our destiny, we have maintained
the post-war readiness of the force to
a degree unprecedented in our history. Now
our challenge must be to take the most difficult
step in our growth. This is not unlike
the problem Grant faced after the Wilderness.
He knew that to do the expected, to
pull back and regroup, would be to fail. We
must go forward. Now is the time to redesign
our units: "keep up the fire," "right of
the line," "prepared and loyal," "brave rifles,"
"duty first," and all the others have fought
and won our nation's wars. They are our
strength. As our units have changed in the
past, they must change now: the same heritage,
different equipment and organizations-not
necessarily smaller, but better.
Ultimately, an Army is what it believes, what
it says about itself, how it trains, and how it
organizes itself. The power of information,
superior technology in the hands of superior
soldiers, gives us unprecedented battle
command capability and lethality and enables
much more effective and efficient
power projection. Force XXI and the power
of information give meaning to the seamless
web of America's Army.
AMERICA'S ARMY. INTO THE 21ST
CENTURY! SULLIVAN .
The Modern Louisiana Maneuvers