ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

After 20 years of war followed by an unprecedented level of activity at home, the Army National Guard is more integrated than ever with the Total Army and ready to support the joint force, said Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard.

Fighting overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, then responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread civil unrest during one of the most challenging times in recent U.S. history, the National Guard has become more than a traditional strategic reserve, Jensen said.

The active and reserve components have “come a lot closer, and it’s no longer...

The U.S. Army Reserve is on a strategic path to grow its force, enhance its capabilities and effect the cultural change needed for the Army of 2030 and beyond, the component’s top officer said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when recruiting plummeted and the Army was forced to make big changes to the way it trained soldiers, the Army Reserve saw its troop strength flag, and many of its soldiers were unable to make it to battle assembly weekends.

After weathering the circumstances for more than two years and instilling a new ethos that empowers leaders to forgo repetitive paperwork in...

On Jan. 1, after 32 years of service, I officially left the active-duty ranks of the U.S. Army. Like most others who serve for an extended period, I dove into deep reflection on my time spent in the military and the “so what” of it all. Was it worth it? Did I make an impact? Was I a good leader? And did I make a difference?

I would like to think the answer to these questions is a resounding yes. I asked myself two last questions: Would I do it again, and would I change anything? No matter how much time I spent reflecting and how many scenarios I played out in my mind, the conclusions were...

The Duke of Wellington is quoted as saying: “The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” As he reflected on the rich, athletic tradition of Eton College in England, Wellington drew a comparison between the qualities of the successful athlete and team, and those of the victorious soldier and army. What were those qualities? Leadership? Teamwork? Esprit de corps? No doubt these and more.

From experience, Wellington understood that hard work and teamwork create winners, and that the fundamentals of readiness and winning are transferable from one challenge to another...

The U.S. Army is at a strategic inflection point. Rapid and unprecedented technological advancements are changing the character of war, demanding aggressive modernization actions to ensure we have overmatch. Threats from across the globe generate a constant demand for soldiers, taxing readiness and increasing operational tempo. Even American society is changing, with younger generations possessing worldviews, workplace expectations and ways of interacting that are incongruent with the way the Army has operated in the past.

All these trends create requirements to maintain readiness...

Maj. Gen. David Meade had seen enough after less than 48 hours on the ground in Somalia, where he had 1,200 soldiers deployed as a quick-reaction force.

The 10th Mountain Division commander reported to his superiors: “We have a war going on in Somalia. From a tactical and maybe operational perspective it is not going well.” In the secret Sept. 15, 1993, memo that has since been declassified, Meade said the security situation was trending in the wrong direction, and Mogadishu “is not under our control. Somalia is full of danger.”

In his memo, declassified in 1994, Meade wrote that he...

Sexual assault and harassment—hereafter referred to as sexual violence—is a serious problem that affects the Army’s readiness and morale. Although the purpose of the Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program is to protect victims and discipline abusers, it is not enough for prevention. SHARP is a reactive program that only addresses the symptoms, not the root causes.

If the true goal is to create an environment in which sexual violence cannot survive, a different approach is needed, one that prioritizes the health of the organization by strengthening its professional...

Covering nearly half of the Earth’s surface, scale and noncontiguous landmasses are defining characteristics for land forces operating in the Indo-Pacific Theater. For sustainers, this creates unique challenges for supporting the joint warfighter. Coupled with the ability of China, described by top military leaders as the United States’ pacing challenge, to contest this space with kinetic and nonkinetic capabilities, regional sustainment requires an approach unlike any other theater of operation.

Through Operation Pathways, I Corps, which is headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord...

Covering nearly half of the Earth’s surface, scale and noncontiguous landmasses are defining characteristics for land forces operating in the Indo-Pacific Theater. For sustainers, this creates unique challenges for supporting the joint warfighter. Coupled with the ability of China, described by top military leaders as the United States’ pacing challenge, to contest this space with kinetic and nonkinetic capabilities, regional sustainment requires an approach unlike any other theater of operation.

Through Operation Pathways, I Corps, which is headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord...

Soldiering Continues After Shooting Stops

Real Soldiering: The US Army in the Aftermath of War, 1815–1980. Brian McAllister Linn. University Press of Kansas. 336 pages. $44.95

By Col. Kevin Farrell, U.S. Army retired

Brian McAllister Linn has found an important but largely overlooked question in the history of the U.S. Army: What happens when the battles are over and peace (or at least a truce) is in place?

His new book, Real Soldiering: The US Army in the Aftermath of War, 1815–1980, is an interesting investigation of what any Army veteran would know as the “Old Army,” that...

When the 17th sergeant major of the Army is sworn in in August, he will be the first in the Army’s history to have earned the job by going through a tough new assessment and selection program.

Senior nominative sergeants major competing for the Army’s top enlisted position have always been evaluated with a physical fitness test, a review of their enlisted record brief, a letter of recommendation from their current commanding general and high-level interviews.

Those elements are still part of the new assessment program, but this time, candidates also were evaluated on written and oral...

Patton Proves Himself During World War II

Patton’s War: An American General’s Combat Leadership, Volume 2, August–December 1944. Kevin Hymel. University of Missouri Press.              480 pages. $39.95

By Col. Cole Kingseed, U.S. Army retired

Nearly 80 years after Allied forces invaded France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Gen. George Patton Jr. continues to fascinate military historians and students of World War II. In the second volume of his acclaimed Patton’s War trilogy, Kevin Hymel provides a more comprehensive understanding of his subject’s leadership from the time Third U.S...

Just as it was on his first day on the job, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville’s top priority—and top concern—remains the men and women in the ranks.

During his four-year tenure as the Army’s top general, McConville has repeatedly emphasized the importance of putting people first. From soldiers and family members to veterans and Army civilians, the Army is about people, McConville said during his Aug. 9, 2019, swearing-in ceremony.

Since that day, he has pushed initiatives to transform the way the Army selects its battalion and brigade commanders and senior enlisted leaders...

When students step off the bus at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to attend the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, it quickly becomes clear that they’re not on a school campus.

They are met by drill sergeants in campaign hats. Haircuts happen, uniforms are issued, posture is corrected, formations take shape, drill and ceremony begins, phone use is curtailed, and Army Values are introduced.

But it’s a reception that is intentionally gentler than it is for basic trainees, because the students are there for a purpose: to improve their military entrance test scores or to slim down, or both, so...

In his 2003 book, Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations, Peter Feaver says that “in a democracy, civilians have the right to be wrong. Civilian political leaders have the right to ask for things in the national security realm that are ultimately not conducive to good national security.” That pithy phrase, “the right to be wrong,” is often repeated. Repetition, however, does not confer meaning or validity.

A close look at this asserted right finds that the actual right is quite different. The actual right that certain civilian political leaders have is a right to...