Team,
The Department of the Army rolled out the new Army Operating Concept in October. It describes the future environment in which we will operate, describes the Army's role in that environment, and determines the capabilities the Army must have in order to fulfill its role.
This new Army Operating Concept was developed to deal specifically with the unknown, because the future is unknown and is unknowable.
A year ago, it was unknown that Russia would illegally annex Crimea, move to expand their borders, and try to fracture our great Alliance.
Less than six months ago, it was unknown that the world would see an outbreak of the Ebola virus and that the U.S. Army would be an integral part of the response and support effort.
The environment of the future is a very complex one that will change very quickly and most likely be multinational. So the Army must have multiple options, in multiple domains, with multiple allies and partners.
That's why Gen. David Perkins, commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, called United States Army Europe "custom made" for, and "indispensible" to the new Army Operating Concept during his visit here in January. We are right in the middle of a very complex environment, working with multiple Allies and partners in multiple domains every day, and are surrounded by multinational capability.
Other key points of the new Army Operating Concept include developing adaptive and innovative leaders and institutions to understand and operate in complex environments, and ensuring interoperability with our Allies and partners.
In United States Army Europe, we address these points and these complexities with our "Strong Europe" framework.
We are the "leadership laboratory" for the Army, with the unique advantage of working side by side with our Allies and partners every day, where junior officers and NCOs are operating under mission command, often far away from their higher headquarters.
Our forward presence and training and exercises give us the confidence and skills to perform any mission in a complex world.
We help enable the Alliance and are here to underwrite the guarantee of collective defense, our Article 5 obligation to our NATO Allies; an attack on one is an attack on all.
We are living the Army Operating Concept already and will continue to ensure a "Strong Europe"! Thanks for what y'all do every day in support of our great mission!
Army Strong! Strong Europe!
LTG Ben Hodges
Freedom 6
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