{"id":24111,"date":"2023-08-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=24111"},"modified":"2023-08-23T06:41:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T06:41:26","slug":"george-lays-out-his-vision-for-the-future-of-the-army-and-how-the-guard-fits-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=24111","title":{"rendered":"George lays out his vision for the future of the Army, and how the Guard fits in"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Gen. Randy A. George, the 38th vice chief of the U.S. Army and nominee to lead the service, addresses attendees at the 145th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference, Reno, Nevada, Aug. 20, 2023.
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\n Army Gen. Randy A. George, the 38th vice chief of the U.S. Army and nominee to lead the service, addresses attendees at the 145th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference, Reno, Nevada, Aug. 20, 2023.
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\n Army Gen. Randy A. George, the 38th vice chief of the U.S. Army and nominee to lead the service, addresses attendees at the 145th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference, Reno, Nevada, Aug. 20, 2023.
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\n Army Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard, right, addresses attendees at the 145th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference, Reno, Nevada, Aug. 20, 2023.
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\n Army Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard, addresses attendees at the 145th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference, Reno, Nevada, Aug. 20, 2023.
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RENO, Nev. \u2014 The Army\u2019s senior leader conveyed his perspective on the state of the Army, his vision for its future and how the National Guard \u2014 one of its two reserve components \u2014 fits into the current environment on Aug. 20.<\/p>\n

First, Army Gen. Randy A. George, the Army\u2019s vice chief of staff and nominee to lead the service, shared how essential the National Guard is to the Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Army Guard is nearly 40% of our operational force,\u201d George told an annual meeting of National Guard leaders. \u201cWe don\u2019t go anywhere with only 60% of our team. We\u2019re going to need everybody. I\u2019m used to that because that\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen over the last 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 9\/11, more than 1 million Guardsmen have deployed overseas to theaters, including Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

In April, George, who served in the Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom operations, was nominated to become the Army\u2019s top officer. He shared his latest impressions of the Guard from a recent visit to Camp Grayling, Michigan \u2014 his first trip as nominative CSA \u2014 to observe exercise Northern Strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I saw up there was super impressive and very refreshing,\u201d George said. \u201cI was impressed, but I wasn\u2019t surprised because every time I\u2019ve deployed, I\u2019ve had National Guard Soldiers right there inside my formations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northern Strike, held annually during the winter and summer, is one of the Guard\u2019s premier training events designed to validate the readiness of the joint force. Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, also visited Camp Grayling this month and called it an \u201cincredible, complex training environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

George was commissioned as an Army officer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1988 and warned the current environment \u2014 with Russia\u2019s brutal war on Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific region with China as the United States\u2019 pacing threat \u2014 is as complex and dangerous as he has seen in his time in service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe character of war has changed over the last two years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe talk about Europe. We talk about the Pacific. Our Army is global, and we\u2019re going to have to be ready to go wherever we need to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever we go, it\u2019s going to be a multi-component solution. It has always been that way. And it will continue to be and probably increasingly so.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Defense Strategy names allies and partners as crucial to America\u2019s integrated deterrence efforts. In July, hundreds of Guard leaders and international counterparts marked 30 years of the Department of Defense National Guard State Partnership Program during a two-day conference in the National Capital Region.<\/p>\n

The SPP, established in 1993, now boasts security cooperation agreements between the National Guard of every state, territory and the District of Columbia and 100 countries on every continent and within every U.S. geographic combatant command.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of experience with and seen the power of the state partnerships,\u201d George said. \u201cThey are very, very powerful for our country, not just our military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enduring partnerships are just one way the joint force can deter aggression. George outlined his four focus areas for the Army: warfighting, delivering ready combat formations, undergoing continuous transformation and strengthening the profession of arms.<\/p>\n

As the combat reserve of the Army, the National Guard exists and is largely funded to fight and win the nation\u2019s wars, aligning with Army and DOD core missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s something you\u2019re doing that\u2019s not contributing to you being more lethal and cohesive, then we\u2019ve got to take a hard look at if we should be doing it,\u201d George told Guard leaders. \u201cWhat we want are trained, fit, disciplined, cohesive and lethal teams. We are here to fight; that\u2019s why we have a U.S. Army.\u201d<\/p>\n

To build, maintain and measure Soldiers\u2019 fitness, the Army developed the new Army Combat Fitness Test. George and the Army\u2019s senior enlisted leader favor keeping the ACFT as the Army\u2019s fitness test of record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the ACFT,\u201d George said. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned a lot in the last 20, 30, 40 years. The science is a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely staying with the ACFT,\u201d said Michael R. Weimer, sergeant major of the Army. \u201cWe are changing the culture of fitness in the total Army and it\u2019s a journey. We\u2019re staying the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

George said delivering ready combat formations is another Army imperative, and it starts at the lowest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must reinforce commanders at every level and give them the authorities that they need,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to make sure they have different resources to manage different challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be ready to answer the nation\u2019s call, George said the Army must be agile and adaptable to undergo continuous transformation. He cited Ukraine as an example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe battlefield is changing and changing quickly with unmanned systems, unmanned aerial systems and counter unmanned aerial systems,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to change how we do business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want lean, mobile, variable formations at the brigade level and below.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of George\u2019s vision requires Soldiers to focus on and strengthen their profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis underpins everything that we do,\u201d George said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get after discipline and standards. These are the foundations of success in battle. You don\u2019t just turn a switch on when you deploy. You build that inside your unit when you train. That is not something you can just decide to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

George recognized Guardsmen are asked to do a lot. About 85% of Army Guardsmen serve part-time, balancing service with civilian careers and family responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the National Guard,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Army is busy as ever and the Guard is busy as ever. You are important and valuable members of your community; that\u2019s a strength I certainly value.\u201d<\/p>\n

A percentage of Guardsmen serve in uniform full-time, on long-term active Guard\/Reserve orders, temporary operational support orders or as dual-status technicians. George turned to Army Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard, to elaborate on the Army Guard\u2019s full-time manning challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at our full-time manning model, which pre-dates 9\/11, what we were asked to do, pre-9\/11, is significantly different than what we were asked to do in the last 20 years or in the last couple of years,\u201d Jensen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m convinced the pre-9\/11 model doesn\u2019t fit the post-9\/11 Army,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Army is going to be all three components going forward. We need the whole Army to do what our nation is asking us to do. We have to take a very hard look at the full-time manning model.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another challenge facing all military services is recruiting new men and women to fill formations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out how we can maintain our standards \u2014 and we\u2019re going to \u2014 and how to get people in,\u201d George said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important we all tell our story about why we\u2019re in the military. I joined because I couldn\u2019t afford to go to college.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all in this together,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want an all-volunteer Army. That\u2019s what has made us great over the last 50 years. But if anyone has any ideas, we\u2019re all ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

George acknowledged the Senate\u2019s hold on military promotions but said it would not detract the Army, or its components, from the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always want to field a full team,\u201d George said. \u201cI\u2019m concerned about the impact this will have on people wanting to stay. And I\u2019m concerned about the families.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m confident about, though, is the Army is really good at figuring out how to get things done,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will be nice to get this behind us so we can field a full team. In the meantime, we\u2019re going to get after it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Army Gen. Randy A. George, the 38th vice chief of the U.S. Army and nominee to lead the service, addresses attendees at the 145th National Guard Association of the United States General Conference, Reno, Nevada, Aug. 20, 2023. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24113,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24119,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24111\/revisions\/24119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}