U.S. Army Central (USARCENT) is both an expeditionary Army Service Component Command (ASCC) and a Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC), operating from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina and Camp Arifjan, Kuwait in support of U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM). The nature of the CENTCOM AOR makes our mission, our disposition, and our vision for Army forces in the region very different than others. Throughout the CENTCOM AOR, there are multiple conflicts arising not only from state-sponsored militaries but also from trans-regional violent extremist organizations, fueled and spread by ideology. These conflicts may originate in a specific area or country in the Central Region but, by their very nature, they are constrained neither by boundaries of the Combatant Command nor national borders. Tribal and cultural allegiances undoubtedly transcend traditional nation state lines so events in one area very often have significant implications for multiple countries throughout the CENTCOM AOR.

Consequently, USARCENT's sustained forward presence and continual engagements throughout the AOR are critical to countering the emerging and deeply interconnected threats. The complexities of the CENTCOM AOR make it a tough region in which to operate; however, in each challenge, there is tremendous potential, and because of the AOR's complexities, USARCENT has emerged as the ideal organization to validate the Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) concept. RAF is designed to facilitate pre-crisis or "Phase 0" shaping operations to enhance partner capabilities and build capacity of host nation land forces that eventually can deter potential conflicts -- of which the CENTCOM AOR has many. Accordingly, to fully leverage assigned and allocated RAF units, USARCENT has developed its campaign plan (CAMPLAN) to synchronize our efforts, matching resources to requirements in a dynamic and fluid environment.

The ends and ways codified in ARCENT's CAMPLAN hinge upon the basic conceptual framework of RAF as a dependable and predictable means. The Army makes forces available which provides maximum flexibility and agility to national security decision-makers. First, based on threat and need, CENTCOM determines mission requirements. Then, to meet those mission requirements, FORSCOM provides forces through the Mission Alignment Order. There are three types of forces in the RAF construct: Assigned, Allocated and Service Retained Combatant Command Aligned (SRCA).

Forces assigned to USARCENT include the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade, the 160th Signal Brigade, and the 4th Battlefield Coordination Detachment. These units already have a longstanding relationship with the command, and have been utilized overtime to address standing requirements within the AOR as the environment mandates.

Allocated forces are those forces temporarily provided to USCENTCOM with capabilities to meet specific mission requirements. The majority of RAF forces task organized under USARCENT control are allocated. They rotate in and out of theater, generally on nine month rotations, and currently include the following units:

- 1st Armored Division HQ tactical command post engaged in Jordan.

- 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team from the 1st Infantry Division and 34th Combat Aviation Brigade from the Minnesota Army National Guard, both primarily engaged in Kuwait.

- The 17th Fires Brigade, the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, and the 32nd Military Engagement Team from the Wisconsin Army National Guard, all engaged throughout the CENTCOM AOR.

Based on the needs of the CENTCOM AOR and the capabilities of allocated and assigned RAF units, the ARCENT CAMPLAN organizes and prioritizes a series of major activities, such as theater security cooperation efforts, bilateral and multilateral exercises, and training seminars. We have organized the campaign plan's operational approach around five lines of effort (LOEs), each of which traverses traditional warfighting functions. This enables the prioritization of RAF forces, leveraging all available assets to maximize the use of resources.

Our first LOE, our main effort, is Transition Afghanistan. In addition to the herculean efforts of ARCENT's 1st Theater Sustainment Command, which is currently executing retrograde operations in country, ARCENT also remains focused on our future relationship with both the Afghan and Pakistani militaries, as well as longstanding ties of cooperation with the Central Asian national militaries. While most associate Afghanistan's transition with the retrograde of material, we are also looking for opportunities to build a strong partnership with both land components in the post-2014 security environment.

Therfore, this LOE is not focused solely on the retrograde of Afghanistan, but it takes into account the interconnectedness of the region moving into a post 2014 environment. We have spent tremendous effort reassuring our partners, especially in the Central Asian and South Asian (CASA) states, that we will work with them to build capable land forces that can secure their borders, execute security operations against Violent Extremist Organizations, and train their Soldiers on everything from weapons employment, leadership, tactics, and planning operations. The confidence we give these nations through their land forces in "Phase 0," before conflicts arise, inevitably deters our mutual enemies. These efforts embody the essence of the RAF concept, designed to provide culturally astute Soldiers and Leaders capable of identifying opportunities to enhance bilateral security, improve interoperability, and increase collective security objectives in the region.

Our second LOE, Set-The-Theater, seeks to prevent future conflicts by establishing our stance: correctly posturing assigned theater enabling commands, allocated forward stationed forces, Army prepositioned stocks (APS), and required infrastructure. Known as the backside support or backbone of Army forces executing RAF type activities throughout the CENTCOM AOR, the enabling commands are growing accustomed to accomplishing their respective missions over difficult terrain and in a dispersed fashion. In addition to supporting RAF forces executing Theater Security Cooperation training exercises or other missions, these units are trained, ready, and available to rapidly respond to any crisis, receive and integrate deploying apportioned forces, and fight and win in conflict as part of a joint and combined force.

The third LOE, Shape, focuses on our Security Cooperation and Key Leader Engagement activities with partner nations using ARCENT leaders, RAF forces, and especially our International Military Affairs (IMA) Directorate. We continually seek to

establish, revitalize, and strengthen partnerships throughout the CENTCOM AOR. Our efforts primarily consist of:

- Bilateral and multilateral military exercises and theater security cooperation activities across the region. In Fiscal Year 13, USARCENT and our RAF forces conducted 19 theater security cooperation events on the Arabian Peninsula, 15 partnered events in the Levant, and 61 partnered events in the Central Asian region.

- Key Leader Engagements with senior land forces commanders in various countries and U.S. Embassy personnel allow us to nest USARCENT's objectives within CENTCOM's end states and embassies' goals. Ranging from enhancing border security training to improving interoperability among partner nations, ARCENT has tremendous capabilities to assist partner nations and support U.S. interests in a region. More than 75 of these engagements occurred in FY13, at multiple levels, all of which served to inform the CAMPLAN's intermediate military objectives and end states.

- A multitude of professional conferences and exchanges provide venues for multilateral discussion of regional issues. Most recently, the Central Asian South Asian Senior Strategy Seminar (CASA S3) held this past June in Washington, D.C., brought together senior military representatives and defense attaches from every country in that specific sub-region. Co-sponsored by the Near East and Central Asia strategic Studies Institute of NDU, the conference yielded valuable dialogue about the region's security issues. A similar conference for the Levant and Arabian Peninsula, cosponsored by the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning in March, provided valuable guidance on our theater security cooperation efforts as well.

Along this LOE, our assigned and allocated RAF units enhance U.S. access, basing and permissions while increasing our partner nation interoperability, capability, and relationship with the U.S. Army before a conflict begins. Undoubtedly, along this LOE, we posture the force to deter future conflicts and encourage mutual cooperation among the various countries in the CENTCOM AOR. Proactive sustained engagements with partner nations will lower the likelihood of committing U.S. forces in combat in the future -- once again, this is the essence of RAF and how the USARCENT CAMPLAN is designed to leverage the concept.

Our fourth LOE, Unified Land Operations, is focused on ensuring the USARCENT headquarters is optimally structured to execute its war fighting roles and responsibilities. This LOE focuses on the Army's role in the various contingency and functional plans approved by the Secretary of Defense for our region. USARCENT must maintain the ability to transition in fairly short order into a CFLCC or C/JFLCC, integrating and synchronizing land component entities to maximize their effect. This line of effort leverages the capabilities of RAF units in crisis, should efforts to prevent hostilities fall short or should an unforeseen contingency arise. RAF leaders understand their potential roles in these plans and contribute to the appropriate Mission Command structure as part of the combined theater land force. USARCENT recognizes that the employment of RAF is only as good as our ability to provide mission command, enablers, and a higher headquarters capable of synchronizing a whole host of activity. This LOE is designed to achieve quantifiable objectives that enable our team to accomplish this difficult mission given the nature of the challenges throughout the CENTCOM AOR.

Our final LOE is Enhance the Force. This LOE helps us develop resilient, tailored, and effective Army land forces capable of meeting the USCENTCOM Commander's requirements across a wide range of military operations found throughout the AOR. Ready and resilient Soldiers and Families are better able to overcome adversity by leveraging mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual strength and healthy behaviors. Additionally, ARCENT is in the unique position to provide valuable feedback and lessons learned that will inform our Army in required capabilities for the future to ensure we are the premiere land force in the world.

Given the high potential for RAF units and assigned USARCENT personnel to deploy in support of CENTCOM objectives, our Soldiers and leaders have to understand that in resiliency is the key to long term success. RAF and assigned personnel should depart USARCENT being proud to have served in an historical unit conducting a real mission. To do so, we have to foster resilience, even in the execution of difficult missions. Just as the RAF concept demands Soldiers understand the nuances of the human terrain in their assigned area of operations, ARCENT leaders must also understand the human domain in their own ranks and actively combat the internal threats we face as a team. Suicide awareness efforts, Sexual Harassment and Assault Response Programs, and Spiritual Fitness activities all contribute to a ready and resilient 21st Century force capable of accomplishing our assigned mission.

For USARCENT, RAF is the best method to employ forces and provide mission command for all allocated and assigned Army elements in the CENTCOM AOR. We have structured our CAMPLAN to synchronize our efforts and fully leverage the potential inherent in this new concept. As we mature the RAF construct, we are also developing a RAF Community of Purpose (COP) that will encourage learning, facilitate collaboration, and build understanding through various channels including lessons learned, web portals, and persistent unit reach back. We are also building on the idea of RAF as we establish the Regional Land Power Network, which is designed to again leverage RAF in cooperation with Special Operations forces, U.S. Marines, and all our partner nations to build synergy across the spectrum of the land forces "team of teams" that, as a CLFCC, we lead.

USARCENT's unique combination of land power and Army support prevents confrontations from becoming conflicts, shapes our AOR through engagement with our partners, and sets the conditions to win in the emerging security environment. The RAF concept builds capable units, which build capable partners, which in turn builds deterrence. Establishing and sustaining our relationships allows us to build trust and leverage partnerships, while furthering our understanding of the region and our adversaries.

All future CENTCOM operations will be through our partner nations and the success of that model is assured by our employment of Regionally Aligned Forces as directed by the ARCENT campaign plan. As with any other new concept, there must be driving mechanisms to actually operationalize it. Through our CAMPLAN, ARCENT has taken the theoretical underpinnings of RAF and employed the concept to meet the CENTCOM Commander's intent for the AOR. Although the theory of RAF is new, the means by which we all can fully leverage the idea is not -- a CAMPLAN which both operationalizes and synchronizes activities is by far the best method to fully realize RAF's tremendous potential.