Tag Archives: US Army

The Future of Strategic Landpower

The Future of Strategic Landpower

Marines during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2012, at Pohakuloa Training Area, (PTA) Hawaii om July 21, 2012. US Marines Photo

Marines during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2012, at Pohakuloa Training Area, (PTA) Hawaii om July 21, 2012. US Marines Photo

When the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps said, “Virtual presence is actual absence,” the attendees at a special forum Wednesday on “Strategic Landpower” laughed in agreement. Gen. John Paxton said, “We’re committed to getting it right. . . . We’re on board” with developing an agreement among the Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command on future operations on land that acknowledges the “linkage between human actions and strategic outcomes.” Read More

Winnefeld: What the Army Can Learn from the Marine Corps

Winnefeld: What the Army Can Learn from the Marine Corps

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Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr. addresses an audience attending the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association(AFCEA) 6th Annual Joint Warfighter IT Day.

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr. addresses an audience attending the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association(AFCEA) 6th Annual Joint Warfighter IT Day.

The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has some advice for the Army—struggling with future missions, fewer soldiers, and less money for training and modernization. It sounded very much like what he might say to the Marines: “I’d like to see the Army place more emphasis on the growth industry—protecting American citizens abroad.” Read More

Document: Pentagon's Aviation Plan

Document: Pentagon’s Aviation Plan

An F/A-18F Super Hornet flies from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). US Navy Photo.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet flies from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). US Navy Photo.

The following is the Pentagon’s aviation plan, dated May 2013.
From the report:

Summary of the Annual Plan and Certification

This plan was developed based on the FY14 President’s Budget submission and does not include the effects of sequestration / Budget Control Act funding decreases. The Department is in the process of a Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR) to resolve these impacts.

As such, changes to this plan are probable in next year’s report. Moreover, sequestration is already having an adverse effect on readiness across multiple mission areas, including aviation.

Changes in technology and organizational structure make categorizing aircraft into bins of like capability increasingly difficult.

However, this aviation force structure plan provides the diverse mix of aircraft needed to carry out the eleven missions identified above. The capabilities provided by aircraft identified in this plan reflect five principal investment objectives identified Read More

Document: Pentagon Sequestration Impacts In Detail

Document: Pentagon Sequestration Impacts In Detail

From the introduction from the June Department of Defense Report on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013: This report summarizes the financial impact on the Department of Defense discretionary budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 as a result of the Joint Committee Sequestration directed in the Presidential Order of March 1, 2013. Read More

Document: Think Tanks Call for Personnel and Base Reforms

Document: Think Tanks Call for Personnel and Base Reforms

The following is a Monday open letter to Pentagon leaders and Congress from a bi-partisan group representing ten D.C. think tanks that focus on national security issues. The groups are calling for reform on the most politically sensitive defense expenditures: Military compensation, closing excess military facilities and the size of the Pentagon civillian workforce. The letter appeared as an advertisement in The Hill newspaper.

Dear Secretary Hagel, Chairman Levin, Ranking Member Inhofe, Chairman McKeon, Ranking Member Smith,
Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Cochran, Chairman Young, and Ranking Member Visclosky:

A striking bipartisan consensus exists today across the think tank community on the need for Pentagon and Congressional leaders to address the growing
imbalances within the defense budget that threaten the health and long-term viability of America’s volunteer military.

It is our shared belief that the Department of Defense urgently needs to close excess bases and facilities, reexamine the size and structure of the DoD civilian
workforce, and reform military compensation. While we do not all agree on the best approach to reform in each case, we agree that if these issues are not addressed, they will gradually consume the defense budget from within. Read More

Think Tanks Call For Massive Pentagon Personnel Cuts Under BCA

Think Tanks Call For Massive Pentagon Personnel Cuts Under BCA

Four D.C. think tanks took a crack at cutting the Pentagon's budget under sequestration. CSBA Image

Four D.C. think tanks took a crack at cutting the Pentagon’s budget under sequestration. CSBA Image

Four D.C. think tanks took a crack at balancing the Department of Defense’s budget if the Pentagon has to weather ten years of ten percent across-the-board sequestration budget cuts sequestration on Wednesday.

The consensus of the four (American Enterprise Institute, Center for a New American Security, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment) was unanimous.

First, cut the Department of Defense’s civilian employees – including shipyard and depot workers. Then reduce the services’ end strength – particularly the Army’s. Read More

East: U.S. Army Needs Focus on Human Dimension

East: U.S. Army Needs Focus on Human Dimension

Gen. Robert Cone, TRADOC commander in 2011. US Army Photo

Gen. Robert Cone, TRADOC commander in 2011. US Army Photo

The hard learned lesson of how important the human dimension and human domain is in warfare could be lost when budgets gets tight, the Army’s top training officer told attendees at the EAST: Joint Warfighting 2013 symposium in Virginia Beach, Va. on Wednesday.

“We need to prepare the land force [Army, Special Operating Force and Marine Corps] for a sophisticated understanding of the human dimension and human domain,” and invest in it, Gen. Robert Cone, commanding general of U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, said. Read More

Iraq War Deserter, Mother of Four to Face Trial Today

Iraq War Deserter, Mother of Four to Face Trial Today

An undated picture of U.S. Army Pfc. Kimberly Rivera. Amnesty International Photo

An undated picture of U.S. Army Pfc. Kimberly Rivera. Amnesty International Photo

A previous version of this story reported Pfc. Kimberly Rivera will be sentenced in Ft. Collins, Colo., today. In fact, Rivera’s court martial begins today. She has not been convicted in the matter. USNI News regrets the error. 

U.S. Army Pfc. Kimberly Rivera will face desertion charges on Monday prior to an expected court martial in Ft. Carson, Colo., according to a report in The Gazette of Colorado Springs. Read More

Women to Fill Army Special Forces Aviation and Marine Artillery Jobs

Women to Fill Army Special Forces Aviation and Marine Artillery Jobs

US Army MH-60 from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment taking off from USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) during a training mission in 2011. US Naval Institute Photo

US Army MH-60 from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment taking off from USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) during a training mission in 2011. US Naval Institute Photo

By June, the U.S. Army will open positions to women in its most elite Special Operations helicopter unit as part of a Pentagon push to include more than 6,000 women in previously closed jobs in the Army and U.S. Marine Corps, according to documents obtained by USNI News. Read More