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The Army Strategic Planning Guidance 2013

Thursday February 7, 2013

What is it?

The Army Strategic Planning Guidance (ASPG) nests the Army strategy within national, Department of the Defense, and joint directives. It provides Army leaders’ vision, direction and strategic objectives and is the principle expression of the Army’s institutional strategy.

What has the Army done?

The Secretary and Chief of Staff approved the Army Strategic Planning Guidance articulating the Army’s vision, imperatives, and strategic objectives.

_Army vision_: The Army is globally responsive and regionally engaged; it is an indispensable partner and provider of a full range of capabilities to the combatant commander in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational (JIIM) environment. As part of the joint force and as America’s Army, the Army offers the guarantee of the agility, versatility and depth to Prevent, Shape, Win.

A force of decisive action that can Prevent, Shape and Win - has four imperatives: (1) Provide modernized and ready, tailored land force capabilities to meet combatant commanders’ requirements across the range of military operations, (2) Develop leaders to meet the challenges of the 21st century, (3) Adapt the Army to more effectively provide land power and (4) Enhance the all-volunteer Army.

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?

The Army is in transition following the culmination of the war in Iraq and the continued downsizing of the force in Afghanistan. Based on the missions laid out in the Defense Strategic Guidance, the Army will retain focus on the CENTCOM area over the next few years while simultaneously rebalancing in the short- and mid-term to the Asia Pacific region.

To achieve this rebalance requires reprioritization. This effort should protect the Army’s ability to accomplish our core competencies - combined arms maneuver and wide area security, while ensuring our ability to meet emerging requirements and shape the environment to prevent conflict. This careful balance must be accomplished in the context of declining resources. To do this, the Army will reinvigorate capabilities that have declined, develop new capabilities for the changing environment, and adapt processes to reflect the broader range of requirements.

Why is this important to the Army?

The Army is faced with new challenges and new opportunities that require innovative approaches built on the lessons of the past decade. This guidance provides strategic planning parameters for implementation of the president and the secretary of defense’s strategic guidance.

Resources:

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