Enduring Power: The Army Needs to Focus on What it Does Best by Chad Pillai, Barefoot Strategist
Once again, the Army is attempting to transform itself. The question the Army can’t seem to answer is, “why?” Yes, the world is becoming more complex and competitive: China’s rise, a resurgent Russia, an unstable Middle East, and the continued threat of the metastasizing cancer of Al Qaeda spanning from North Africa to Central Asia are all challenging America’s global leadership position. However, no single threat has emerged as existential to the U.S. or its vital national interests.
The real challenge lies at home. Domestically, the U.S. has become war fatigued as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and faces economic challenges stemming from the 2008 Financial Crisis and political gridlock resulting in sequestration. As a result, DoD, and in particular the Army, faces severe budgetary cuts. While all the Services face cuts of various magnitudes, the Army faces the steepest cuts to its manpower and acquisition programs. This has left Army leaders scrambling to combat critics of the Army’s utility in future conflicts (i.e. U.S. will not engage in land combat in the foreseeable future) while seeking to fundamentally change the Army to meet emerging threats.
The Army needs a convincing narrative of its purpose, but it has only muddied the waters with new joint and institutional concepts which fail to explain what problem the Army is attempting to solve and why it needs to change. Maybe the answer is not that the Army needs to change, but instead that it should return its focus to the core competencies that provide political and military leaders a range of options to deal with emerging threats…
Comments
It seems that the Army secret fear is that in the future there may be no market for what the Barefoot Strategist calls its core competencies? Hopefully the Army can figure out that narrative of its purpose better than it did with how it looks. Their Class A uniforms make the U. S. Army standout among all nations as the army most resembling the doorman at the Waldorf. Contrast this with the U. S. Marine Corps who know exactly who they are and the customer they serve.