ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Know how many soldiers you are responsible for and ensure their readiness, both professionally and personally. This is the fundamental requirement given to leaders at all levels of the U.S. Army. Personnel systems reflect the unit a soldier is assigned to, without effectively considering the location they work at.

Yet, most Army services for health, welfare and morale are based at installations to serve the population working at or near that location. This presents a challenge for garrison and senior commanders who must take care of all soldiers within a particular geographic area, but do...

The U.S. Army Reserve soldier’s career development autonomy and agency are unmatched in the U.S. military. That is for a good reason, as the Army Reserve is the second-largest reserve component of the military, without the state-specific limitations of the Army National Guard. The Army Reserve must find a staffing sweet spot that balances the component’s requirements with enough flexibility for fulfilling civilian employment.

This structure most benefits those in the know and demands that Army Reserve leaders share their understanding of and experience in the component. Geography is a...

The U.S. Army Reserve soldier’s career development autonomy and agency are unmatched in the U.S. military. That is for a good reason, as the Army Reserve is the second-largest reserve component of the military, without the state-specific limitations of the Army National Guard. The Army Reserve must find a staffing sweet spot that balances the component’s requirements with enough flexibility for fulfilling civilian employment.

This structure most benefits those in the know and demands that Army Reserve leaders share their understanding of and experience in the component. Geography is a...

Changes are coming and signature programs are set to grow as the Army’s talent management initiatives enter their fifth year.

A top priority for senior Army leaders, the service has worked to implement programs designed to better identify, manage and use the talents of soldiers and civilian employees across the force.

“The United States Army exists for one purpose, to protect the Nation by fighting and winning our Nation’s wars as a member of the Joint Force, and our readiness depends on a quality All-Volunteer Force,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and then-Army Chief of Staff Gen...

After being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the South Korean army in 1981, I had a short leadership position as the leader of a rifle platoon. I then spent three years as an aide-de-camp to the chairman of the Republic of Korea, which is highly unusual for a lieutenant. 

South Korea in the early 1980s was different than it is now. The country enforced a curfew from midnight to 4 a.m. each day. Anyone moving around during this time would end up in jail under suspicion of sabotage or criminal intent. North Korean armed infiltrators were often caught and killed by South Korean troops...

In 2011, when I was deputy chief of staff for operations for the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, now known as Fort Moore, Gen. Robert Cone, then-commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, said, “Not everyone deserves a mentor.” This bold statement, made at the Maneuver Warfighter Conference, came at a time when the Army was promoting an initiative to formally assign every soldier a mentor.

The context of Cone’s message was that to earn the position of mentee, you must fully embrace your profession. A soldier who simply shows up for duty is...

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve before joining the University of Puerto Rico’s ROTC program to become an officer. There, the cadre, staff, students and our families all played critical roles in my mentoring experience.

I graduated at the top of my class. I was selected to join the Regular Army in military intelligence, serving at home and around the world, including in Germany and Southwest Asia during the First Gulf War. Ultimately, I was the first Puerto Rican woman to attain the rank of general in the Army Reserve.

Reflecting on my ROTC years, my...

Every major achievement in my life over the past half-century-plus can be attributed to the leadership lessons learned during my service in the U.S. Army. The Noncommissioned Officer Candidate Course during the Vietnam War was dubbed the “Shake ‘N’ Bake” school. It provided truly outstanding leadership training and allowed me to become a staff sergeant less than 10 months after being drafted at age 24.

The skills taught to me and my fellow “Shake ‘N’ Bakes” by awesome, demanding NCOs were validated in Vietnam a few months later, and they have served me well since then. Up to that point in...

Growing up in the 1930s in Memphis, Tennessee, Philip Larimore Jr. was the ultimate Boy Scout—able to read maps, put a compass to good use and traverse wild swamps and desolate canyons. While visiting relatives’ farms, the youngster found great joy in hunting, fishing and, most of all, caring for and riding horses.

His father taught him to shoot guns, and, by his sixth birthday, Phil could knock corn kernels off a fence post with a .22-caliber rifle at 25 yards. He was a daring lad and even swam back and forth across the Mississippi River during flood stage.

But Phil did poorly in...

It has been said, “You don’t have to get ready when you stay ready.” In 2018, upon assuming duties as logistics director for U.S. Forces Korea, I considered U.S. military forces’ preparedness to conduct large-scale ground combat in the Indo-Pacific region. I quickly realized U.S. forces are not ready, but must get ready—and stay ready.

As a result of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. homeland, the U.S. Army focused primarily on prosecuting the global war on terrorism, which tied U.S. forces to the Southwest Asia region and counterinsurgency fights in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. This...

With the Arctic region warming in more ways than one, the implications for the Army are critical. As rising global temperatures melt the polar ice caps, access to critical resources at the top of the globe increases. This unprecedented access to precious resources will invariably lead to near-peers such as the U.S., its allies and Russia coming in close contact.

As more military assets surge into the region, creating an escalating security dilemma, the possibility for conflict rises exponentially. The U.S. Army is not yet positioned to deal with the medical implications of such a conflict...

He was a decisive, plain-spoken leader who became the 33rd president of the United States. But more than two decades before he became president, Harry Truman served as an artillery officer in World War I. His time in uniform tested his courage and core values, and transformed him from a struggling Missouri farmer into a decisive leader. Leadership skills forged in that conflict helped propel him into a career of public service, culminating in the highest office in the land.

As a young man, the studious Truman wanted to attend college but could not afford to do so. An alternative was the...

Today’s Army recruiters face challenges not seen since the all-volunteer force was implemented in 1973. Both Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George now spend considerable time on recruiting. Their work is not easy. The past two years were the worst for Army recruiting since the all-volunteer force was fielded 50 years ago. This year likely will be more of the same.

Historically, when recruiting has been an issue for the Army, two things are normally on the table: offering more financial incentives and relooking at existing entry criteria/standards...

Protection in the Indo-Pacific is equivalent to possessing a boxer’s on-guard stance. Metaphorically, America’s I Corps aspires to see, sense and understand the adversary like a boxer preparing to enter an arena. When the boxer enters the ring, they must be able to see over and “through” their gloves, possessing an on-guard stance that is synchronized, integrated and not separated from the ability to fire, maneuver and think.

I Corps can deliver and survive any number of punching combinations. The opponent knows the corps can deliver a knockout blow with the first salvo and will think...

Risks to the international system have never been more evident, given Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific. Initial military observations from the Russia-Ukraine war reinforce then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s idea, expressed in his commencement speech to the West Point Class of 2022, that the nature of warfare is immutable.

The U.S. Army must prepare for the combined arms fight by retaining the world-class fundamental warfighting capability that the U.S. has come to expect from its Army. The nation and the military also should...