THE FUTURE OF THE ARMY

U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brian Hamilton
“…An evaluation and identification of force generation policies for the Army with respect to size and
force mixture in order to fulfill current and anticipated mission requirements for the Army in a manner
consistent with available resources and anticipated future resources…”
2015 NDAA, Section 1703(a)(2)(B)
DEVELOPING ONE ARMY
From the mountains of Afghanistan during Operation
Enduring Freedom to the streets of New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina, Americans saw images of U.S. Army
soldiers doing their duty for our nation, fulfilling their oaths of
service, demonstrating teamwork and a willingness to sacrifice
for us all, and laying down their lives if necessary. Only by
listening closely to newscasts or by reading the captions with
photographs would the typical American know whether a
soldier was in the Regular Army, the Army National Guard, or
the Army Reserve. In times of war and crisis, “the Army” is the
only label that matters to the American people.
In legislation, administration, and funding, Army
components fall into distinct categories. The Army has
assigned broad mission sets to each component according to
accessibility of units over time and to stretch force structure
within budget constraints. A cultural divide exists between the
components, as well: Some of that is good, healthy unit pride
and esprit de corps; unfortunately, some of that is the result of
National Commission on the Future of the Army 59