As it downsizes over the next five years, the Army will undergo the largest organizational change since World War II. By the end of Fiscal Year 2015, we will decrease our end-strength in the active component to 490,000 Soldiers. The National Guard will reduce from 358,000 to 353,000 Soldiers, and the Army Reserve will reduce from 206,000 to 205,000. We will also reduce our Civilian workforce by approximately 22,000 men and women. In sum, the Army will lose approximately 108,000 Soldiers and Civilians by 2015.
As we execute this drawdown, we need to leverage the talent of each individual -- Soldiers and Civilians -- to the greatest advantage, to develop and maintain the necessary capabilities within our smaller total force. As the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army have stated, the United States faces a rapidly changing global security environment that is volatile, unstable and increasingly threatening to U.S. interests. We must examine how we will adapt to meet future challenges within this dynamic environment. Just as we must recruit, train, assign, and retain the best military talent, we must have a civilian personnel system that maximizes the talent of each individual and gets the right person, with the right skills, in the right job to support the challenges we face as an Army and as a Nation. Simply put, we must select, challenge, and prepare the people who will take us to the future.
Attracting and Retaining the Best Military Talent
The Army's ability to meet the challenges of the current and future operational environment depends on our ability to recruit and retain men and women for the All-Volunteer Army. The Soldiers and Civilians of the Army of 2025 are now in elementary school -- it is their Army for which we must now prepare.
We know that Soldiers with a high school diploma, and who score in the top half of the Armed Forces Qualification Test, have better job performance, and less indiscipline and attrition. We must attract the best talent. However; our recruiting operations will face great challenges due to the percentage of America's youth ineligible for military service due to fitness, medical conditions, criminal history, or failure to graduate from high school. Today, fewer than one in four 17-24 year olds meet the current academic, physical, and conduct qualifications to serve. Further, over the last twenty years estimates of the number of American youth willing to consider military service has dropped from 68% in 1994 to 58% in 2013.
We must also consider the changing demographics of our nation as we recruit for the future Army. For example, we can project that over the next two decades or so, the proportion of Hispanics in America will grow to replace Caucasians as the majority ethnic group. In light of this fact, the Army is reaching out to the Hispanic community with recruiting messages.
The Army Marketing and Research Group (AMRG) is launching the Enterprise Army Brand, a marketing initiative that promotes the value of the Army as an institution. Historically the Army's marketing and recruiting efforts have focused on informing potential recruits on the personal benefits of Army service, but not the bigger picture of the value of Soldiers to the nation. Through use of traditional media as well as social media, the Enterprise Army Brand will highlight stories of Soldiers serving their community and their nation to illustrate to the public the relevance of Army Values and Army service.
Targeting Specific Skill Requirements
One way we are filling specific vital personnel needs and increasing readiness is through programs that target individuals with specific skill sets. The Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program expands the eligible market to include certain non-citizens who are legally present in the US if they speak one of 44 strategic languages or are licensed healthcare professionals.
Retention
The Army will continue to retain its best Soldiers. We will tailor retention to ensure personnel needs are met in specific Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) and skill levels. Precision Retention is the primary tool designed to facilitate enlisted force alignment by Primary Occupational Specialty and skill level while meeting end strength goals. Under Precision Retention, commanders have the authority to reenlist a specific number of Soldiers serving in critical over-strength MOSs and skill levels. Soldiers who are not selected for retention in their MOS will be reclassified, assigned to a location that is critically short in their current MOS, or will leave the Army. Precision Retention will allow the Army to closely monitor retention requirements and notify commands when the Army nears its maximum retention thresholds. Soldiers who cannot remain on active duty under Precision Retention will be encouraged to transition to the Reserve Components wherever their skills match existing and projected requirements.
Transitioning to Civilian Life
When Soldiers complete their terms of service -- whether that be after three years or 30 years, the Army wants them to remain Soldiers for Life. Their leadership, teamwork, reliability, values, and commitment serve as a calling card to American companies and communities across the nation.
The Army is working with industry partners to offer training, education, and employment opportunities for transitioning Soldiers. For example, General Motors and Raytheon now offer a training program called Shifting Gears: Automotive Technician Training Program. This program includes classroom, online, and hands-on technical training. There are similar programs in fields such as plumbing, welding, truck driving, and computer technology.
As Soldiers complete their transition to civilian life, the Army wants them to talk about their experiences, so that Americans will come to understand their Army, its capabilities and its needs -- needs that include future Soldiers, resources, and continued support.
The Capabilities-based Civilian Workforce
The Army could not function without a cadre of Civilian employees who have the passion and dedication to use their knowledge and skills to take care of Soldiers and their Families. Civilians stand in support of our Soldiers and deploy with them across the globe. We have to invest in the training, education and the experience of our Army Civilians if we want them to be part of the Army Profession.
The Civilian workforce vision is: An adaptive and flexible Civilian Capabilities-based cohort supported by integrated policies, procedures and programs that produce and deliver the right person, to the right place, at the right time, to support current missions and enable Army 2025 and beyond. Army Capabilities-based Workforce provides for capabilities to the Army in three critical areas: Enterprise Leaders, who provide senior-level leadership; Functional Leader/Managers, who have leadership and management roles as well as specialized occupational skills; and Technical Experts, who have occupation-specific, specialized knowledge, and skills.
The program that drives the initiatives to achieve a Capabilities-based workforce is the Civilian Workforce Transformation (CWT). One of the CWT's many efforts is focused on developing and maintaining a cadre of Senior Civilian leaders and managers, with enterprise-wide perspective and potential, who are capable of enabling the execution of Army, joint, interagency, and multinational missions and operations. In support of this initiative, we have aligned our entire Civilian workforce into 31 Career Programs, which allows all of our Civilian employees to see a clear path and understand the competencies required for career progression.
The Senior Enterprise Talent Management (SETM) Program is a key component to achieve the Army's strategic development for Army Civilians in the grades of GS-14/15 or equivalent. SETM is the means by which the Army prepares its Senior Civilians to assume positions of greatest responsibility across the Army, and resembles career progression opportunities of Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers. The SETM Program is designed to afford selected Army Senior Civilians an exceptional professional development, senior-level educational or experiential learning opportunity.
The Civilian Senior Leader Development Office (CSLDO) is working collaboratively with Army stakeholders on a recommendation to expand professional development opportunities to Army Civilians in grade GS-13 (and equivalent) under the Enterprise Talent Management Program. Likewise, CSLDO is exploring developmental opportunities for Army Civilians in grades GS-11/12.
Sustaining SETM and other Civilian leader development programs is the bridge that will prepare adaptive leaders for a rapidly changing global environment, meeting the Army's challenges with the right enterprise leader qualities and competencies in the generating force.
Looking Forward
Our people -- Soldiers, Civilians, and Families -- have always been the foundation of our Army. In order to meet the challenges of the future, it is imperative that we develop and leverage the unique skills and talents of each individual regardless of race, gender, or lifestyle differences. At the Office of Manpower and Reserve Affairs, we are proud to work to develop and implement plans, programs, and policies designed to recruit, retain, and eventually transition an educated Force of professionals that is second to none. We are committed to the Army of the future.
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