The FORSCOM Team
The mission of U.S Army Forces Command is to train, mobilize, and provide forces to operate as part of the Joint team when our Nation calls in order to prevent conflict, shape outcomes, or, if necessary, win decisively against any foe, anywhere, anytime. And winning matters; there is no second place in combat. The key to victory lies in a professional land force -- tough, well trained, and led by smart, inspired, adaptive leadership. That is U.S. Army Forces Command's (FORSCOM) task, and for four decades, the dedicated Soldiers and Civilians of FORSCOM have answered the Nation's call to service and accomplished every mission every time. Located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, FORSCOM prepares U.S. Army conventional forces to provide a sustained flow of trained and ready land power to Combatant Commanders (CCDR) in defense of the Nation at home and abroad.
To accomplish our mission, FORSCOM operates as a strong, integrated Total Army team -- Active Component (AC), Army National Guard (ARNG) and U.S. Army Reserve (USAR). FORSCOM incorporates a Total Force approach into everything we do. The deployable formations from our Army Total Force are organized into three Corps headquarters, 16 Division headquarters (eight AC and eight ARNG), and 22 AC, ARNG and USAR functional general officer-level commands. These headquarters, along with their subordinate Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) and Multi-functional and Functional Brigades, create a powerful land power team.
First Army, headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois -- provides essential pre-mobilization and post-mobilization training and readiness support to the ARNG and USAR. U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC), co-located at Fort Bragg, provides mission command for USAR units stationed in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico. Also assigned to FORSCOM are the US-based combat training centers (CTCs): National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California, and Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), Fort Polk, Louisiana. Together, these organizations deliver a trained and ready Total Force that is expeditionary, globally deployed, and regionally engaged worldwide to meet the full range of land power capabilities to CCDRs.
A Year of Mission Success
The FORSCOM team met every Joint Chiefs of Staff validated request from the CCDRs for trained and ready decisive land capabilities at every echelon from small teams to Corps and Divisions in 2014. Early in 2014, III Corps redeployed from its successful mission in Afghanistan and was replaced by XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters. I Corps, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, continued its assigned mission in support of Pacific Command (PACOM), developing a Joint Task Force (JTF) capability specifically for PACOM. Throughout 2014, all eight of FORSCOM's AC Divisions deployed as allocated or aligned forces to CCDRs, providing mission command forward and reach back analysis and planning from home station. This year saw 90 percent of FORSCOM's AC combat brigades, 15 percent of NG combat brigades and 100 percent of USAR functional and multi-functional brigades were either allocated or aligned to Combatant Commands under the Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) concept. Thousands of soldiers deployed globally in small tailored units to conduct deliberately planned exercises as part of regional CCDR engagement or in response to emerging contingencies.
The RAF concept is exemplified by the achievements of 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (2/1 ABCT), allocated to Africa Command. 2/1 ABCT deployed 2,240 Soldiers to live and train alongside African partners while supporting 161 U.S. Africa Command-sponsored security cooperation events in 29 nations across Africa. Demonstrating the Army's inherent flexibility, RAF units postured forward in Djibouti responded in five hours to reinforce the threatened U.S. Embassy in Juba, South Sudan where they remained for 121 days until relieved by USMC forces.
FORSCOM units deployed to all U.S. Geographic Combatant Commands this year with units performing key missions in Asia, Europe, Africa, Central and South America, Continental U.S., and of course throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Below is a representative chart from just one month, August 2014, depicting FORSCOM deployed forces in support of CCDR requirements.
Supporting European Command, an armored BCT from 1st Cavalry Division serves as the NATO Response Force and European Rotational Force (NRF/ERF) throughout 2014. The 48th IBCT, Georgia ARNG, supports Southern Command as an allocated BCT. In support of Pacific Command (PACOM), we deployed a maneuver battalion to Korea to inaugurate a rotational presence on the peninsula. Also supporting PACOM's theater engagement plan is 2nd Stryker BCT, 2nd Infantry Division, stationed at JBLM. This BCT is participating in PACOM's Pacific Pathways with maneuver task force capabilities in Malaysia. Finally, a 3rd Infantry Division ABCT stands ready to support Northern Command's homeland defense mission.
As anticipated, 2014 provided ample challenges and opportunities. The Budget Control Act of 2011 (Sequestration), forced FORSCOM to accept readiness risks such as the cancellation of seven FY13 CTC rotations. To offset this impact on FY14 readiness, the Army directed full readiness resources to six of our 32 AC BCTs and a Combat Aviation Brigade enabling them to train to the Army's highest readiness level. Referred to as the Army Contingency Force, (ACF), this prioritization of resources provided a vital hedge against sequestration's impact to readiness by ensuring a portion of the Army remained fully ready and immediately available to provide our Nation's leaders with strategic flexibility and operational depth. We continue to rebuild readiness in FORSCOM units, and will expand our Army's readiness posture through 2015.
In collaboration with sister commands and agencies, we transformed the way we employ home station and CTC training enablers. At the CTCs we implemented a program employing multi-component OC/T teams for every rotation. Our CTC training strategy also focuses our units to operate as members of the Joint and Combined team. We have dramatically increased integrated training events between U.S. conventional forces and special operations forces (SOF) at home station and CTCs, integrating SOF in 12 of 18 CTC rotations in 2014. Similarly, this past year saw units from partner nations Japan and Korea training at the NTC alongside their regionally aligned US counterparts during two separate rotations, reinforcing the combined nature of the modern battlefield.
Our training strategy is fully nested with the Army Total Force Policy (ATFP). In 2014 we tripled RC unit participation in our CTC rotations, and the Total Force team achieved similar results with the 2014 Mission Command Training Program (MCTP). Of the 38 brigade-level and above formations that participated in MCTP in 2014, 21 were ARNG or USAR. In 2015, all CTC rotations, ARNG Exportable-Combat Training Center (X-CTC) events, and USAR Combat Support Training Exercises (CSTX) include fully integrated, multi-component organizations.
To complement CTC training integration, we implemented the Total Force Partnership Program. All eight ARNG Division headquarters are partnered with an AC Corps headquarters using a rotational alignment methodology. FORSCOM also partnered each of the 28 ARNG BCTs to AC BCTs. Instead of a rotational model -- as with the ARNG Division headquarters -- geographically based BCT partnerships allow AC and ARNG BCT Commanders to optimize training and leader development opportunities and share lessons learned. In 2014, seven AC maneuver battalions and numerous AC company level formations trained with ARNG BCTs during XCTC events. Four of the seven AC maneuver battalions that participated were partner units to the ARNG BCTs executing the training.
To better enable leader development in units, we reorganized our headquarters structure to create a multi-component Leader Development Directorate. This reorganization enhanced FORSCOM's interaction with the broader network of Army leader development partners and serves as a foundation for values-based decision-making focused on developing leaders of character across the continuum of service. Simultaneously, we published FORSCOM Leader Development Guidance that reflects five guiding principles: integrate leader development in all we do; focus on character; focus on the early years; certify leaders, and manage talent. We also developed and fielded an online "Leader Development Tool Box," which streamlines access to the Army's repository of leader development resources and is available to the Total Force from any computer or smart device.
Other priority areas of command-wide focus are Health of the Force, implemented by our Ready and Resilient Campaign (R2C) and our Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention Program (SHARP). Combined, issues of behavioral health and sexual assault and harassment are the most significant detractor from readiness, and inhibit our ability to build cohesion and trust in our units. FORSCOM Commanders and Command Sergeants Major fully support the tenets of the SHARP program, and have implemented innovative approaches to defeat the scourge of sexual crime in our Army. Many of these tools, including Senior Commander best practices and initiatives such as Fort Irwin's Desert Strong Program, JBLM's Sisters-in-Arms Program, and Fort Stewart's By-stander Intervention Program, are being replicated in units Army-wide. These reflect our enduring commitment to support an environment of dignity and respect based on mutual trust that is essential to our current and future readiness. Additionally, FORSCOM leaders have put great emphasis on behavioral health, and have embraced the Army Surgeon General's Performance Triad - Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise.
This Year's Opportunities
FORSCOM's top priority for 2015 remains Readiness. We will provide CCDRs trained, manned, equipped, and well-led conventional forces that can win decisively, or conduct a myriad of other operations in order to deter our enemies and assure our our allies. Our ability to provide decisive Land Power capability at home and abroad, requires emphasis on the health of the force and continued focus on Leader Development. In 2015, FORSCOM will maximize opportunities to improve readiness and continue our efforts to enhance regional engagements and provide globally responsive forces in support of Combatant Commanders within the RAF framework. We will mature the AC-RC Partnership Program and execute longer range planning and coordination to provide increased predictability to our units and greater responsiveness to CCDRs. Expansion of the AC-RC Partnership program will align AC-RC Functional and Multi-functional Brigades, and increase the frequency of integrated training and partnered activities.
Regionally engaged units will expand responsive support to our CCDRs. We will continue our close collaboration and coordination between Army Service Component Commands and Corps headquarters to sustain delivery of mission-tailored Total Force Landpower capability to CCDRs. Most decisively, we will increase momentum with leader development efforts across the operational force with particular focus on rigorous unit home station training programs supported by improved training support systems.
Today, we are taking practical steps to prepare through planning, innovation, and strengthening the resilience of our Team while fully leveraging our technological and industrial edge. We recognize that our Army's strength is our people, and our decisive advantage remains the commitment, competence, and character of our Army's Leaders. As members of the Army Profession, we will remain true to our values. Our values sustain our daily walk, define us as we apply them, and assure our legacy. In short, war is about politics, and politics is about people, and people live on the land. To prevent wars, to shape outcomes, or to decisively win, THE essential capability is a dominant Land Force. Air and sea power are key and necessary, but not sufficient to prevail and gain decision--that requires Land Power. And it is FORSCOM's mission essential task to prepare, mobilize, and deploy the Army's conventional land forces as the decisive capability for the Geographic Combatant Commanders. 2015 will bring challenges; however, all members of the FORSCOM team are united in the shared commitment to deliver globally responsive, regionally engaged, decisively capable Army forces to the Joint Team.
The FORSCOM Team stands strong as . . . Freedom's Guardian!
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