Thoughts from the new Chief of Staff, Army...

From a friend. Note even the Chief of Staff has his pay dicked up by those twits at DFAS who can't get the pay of Guardsmen and Reservists called to active duty straight.

Sad the CSA can't get paid. Sadder that it may take that in order to get the command emphasis to get the problem fixed. Mebbe it's time to privatize...

Other good nuggets in here. I'll let you warriors, soon-to-be-warriors, and used-ta-be warriors make your own judgements.

Hey SGT Hook - wanna get stabilized in Hawaii?

Have just finished with about 5 hours with the CSA in this "strategic thinking" course I'm in and wanted to pass on some of his thoughts. Although this course is designed to train senior leaders to think strategically, his comments transition through a number of areas and levels of command. Would be willing to dialogue further in any of these areas, but my purpose in sharing is to provide some insights from our Chief's perspectives. Believe you'll find them insightful.

- One way you know if your organization is ready for war is how much ammunition you shoot and training with body armor. CSA specifically mentioned 3ID's [3rd Infantry Division] efforts to increase STRAC allocations. [ed. note - STRAC = Standards in Training Committee. In this case it refers to number of rounds allocated per year for training]

- America underfunds its military. Strategically, our country's industry base is not geared to support Army's requirements (only one 5.56 manufacturer and surging means to add another shift; we also can only produce 80 up-armor HMMWV's per month). Active engagement with Congress to resource - Congress is open and willing.

- PERSCOM. "May have to take it completely down in order to build it
back up". [ed. note: This is Personnel Command, the Army's HR people]

- DFAS. CSA has had a pay problem himself every months since his return to active duty. In addition, yesterday DFAS [Defense Finance and Accounting System - the paymasters] sent a letter to his wife that he had died. These bureaucracies need to get fixed.

- Global War on Terrorism. "Isn't just about a battle, it's about war. Strategically, military component is only one element of power. Must get all elements of power involved in the war".

- 150 Members of Congress already signed up for an increase in end strength. However cost to Army is $1.2B/yr for every 10K people. [Perspective - sounds like a huge number, but it's only 120K per body. That covers salary and taxes, clothing and equipment, weapons, training, housing, transporting, etc. It's not an outrageous number]

- We already have a 20K increase through stop loss/move. [Yes, and that's starting to cause some retention problems elsewhere, boss.]

- Will relook stabilization. Army has 56K [troops] in a PCS transition at any one time. Will reassess the TTHS [ed. note -Trainees, Transients, Holdees, and Students ]account. Does not make sense to him to move a Master Gunner to FT Bragg and teach him a whole new skill set, while he can be stabilized at great benefit to him, his family, the installation, and the Army.

- His biggest strategic issue: What kind of volunteer Army do we need to recruit for the future. He is concerned that we have 15% of the active force non-deployable at any one time.

- Has noted that since 9-11, the quality of the Army is better.
Currently up to 97% HS grads, CAT IV is .2% [CAT IV is the lowest acceptable level of mental capacity, as measured by the intake exams upon enlistment]

- Headgear. Beret will stay. But commanders should determine
appropriate headgear based on METT-T [Army shorthand for take circumstances into acount - term is miltary jargon for Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops & Time Available] i.e. soft caps for motor pools, etc.

- Is relooking purpose and value of Class A [Business casual Army? This is the 'coat and tie' uniform]. Will direct all BDU [Battle Dress Uniform - green camouflage] and DCU [Desert camouflage uniform] wear American flag on right shoulder to emphasize Expeditionary mindset.

- Must train and equip leaders, not only for the Army, but for America

- Asymmetrical warfare: Terrorists operate at strategic level and military tactical operations at tactical level. Needs to be fixed.

- Build trust and confidence in subordinates through...Allowing them to do their job, understand what your boss is doing and take something off his plate. The more in-box/email you do, the more you get back. Keep your priorities in order, and allow time to think and conceptualize.

- Strategic leaders visualize, and then communicate complexity in a concise, simple manner. "If you want to get into the weeds, you'll see more shit go by quickly"

- He is amazed at how fast soldiers at the lowest levels understand and resonate with his focus points and vision.

- Most important part of his vision is a joint and expeditionary
mindset. "I am first a joint officer and then an army officer". He has
voted in the Tank in favor of a joint issue, even at the expense of the Army
as a service. So has CNO [Chief of Naval Operations] and CMDT [Marine Corps Commandant] and CSAF [Chief of Staff, Air Force - the CSA's peers]. He signed a piece of paper at confirmation that if a conflict between his role as CSA and his role as a member of the Joint Staff, that the Joint Staff is supreme.

- Training. Must change conditions to be adaptive, relative, responsive.

- Joint Interdependence. "We cannot operate the Army the way we used
to. Must move toward Joint Interdependence which means we will give up
capability to gain some other capabilities". Two defining report cards for
the Army: 507 Maint Company (Jessica Lynch) and TF Hawk (Kosovo) - took 270 C17 sorties to get 24 AH64's to Albania. Reason is doctrine says to move
MLRS for SEAD, Infantry for protection, etc. "We have to learn that we
don't need it all to cross the LD". [amen, brother!]

- "All of OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] and Congress realize the next several decades will be the decades of Land Forces. We just need to organize and to get to the fight."

- Effectiveness vs Efficiency. "I don't care how hard people work as long as we win. I don't care what it takes to get the water to the soldier, as long as when he turns on the spigot, water comes out". Bureaucracies attempt to be efficient; professions attempt to be effective. [Let's have another amen!]

- Training - Education - Experience. "When experience is tied to training and education, it is a huge multiplier". Mentioned the recent combat experience of 3ID and the tremendous multiplier it gives the Division's warfighting capability even through refit and reorganization. Also defines his rational of "building the bench" - need to get future senior leaders the experience they need.

- Chaos. Some want to order it. A strategic leader learns how to move it forward. "Strategic leadership is like skiing - once you get it, it starts making sense". Many 3 and 4 stars can't think strategically, yet many Platoon Leaders can. Recognize this capability in leaders and reward them".

- Transformation. "As far as I'm concerned there is not a damn thing sacred about what we are doing in the Army except our values. Right now the sun, moon, and stars are lined up. Inertia is in place because the Army is in motion and supplemental is flowing. But fastest way to drive cattle is slowly. Takes most energy to get it off its feet. We are in a tremendous window of opportunity".

- "I'm often asked how far can I move the Army? I tell them as far as I can. The Army is tremendously resilient. You can't fool around on the margins if we're going to change. We're going to move very quickly and we will be well resourced. Only thing that can't change are our values"

- Not necessarily "Do the Right Thing" - rather "Do What's Right"

John | Permalink | Comments (0) | Observations on things Military