WIESBADEN, Germany -- Col. Jimmy L. Hall Jr., commander of 5th Signal Command and the U.S. Army Europe Chief Information Officer/G6, discussed Europe signal force restructuring at a town hall April 24, 2015 at the Tony Bass Theater at Clay Kaserne.
Hall spoke to members of Team Signal in the Wiesbaden area, including 5th Signal Command, 2nd Signal Brigade, 102nd Signal Battalion and the USAREUR G6, in an effort to communicate with the workforce on a number of topics such as mandated force reductions, current operations and Theater Signal Mission Analysis.
"It's human nature to want stability, to want certainty. Our business sometimes is about change and ambiguity," Hall said.
He said Headquarters, USAREUR has been directed to make 40 percent cuts in fiscal years 2016-2019, affecting how Team Signal is organized and staffed. Hall said he believes most, if not all, of the required cuts can be achieved through natural attrition such as military PCS, retirements and voluntary civilian job moves. He said overseas tour extensions would continue to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, but in keeping with applicable policies and regulations.
Hall said senior signal leaders are considering six different courses of action to rebalance signal forces within 5th Signal Command, taking into account the unit's current posture here in Europe and the posture of our adversaries. One year ago, he said, there was a lot of momentum moving to combine 5th Signal Command and 2nd Signal Brigade.
Hall said the current plan is to keep both 5th Signal Command and 2nd Signal Brigade, but to look for efficiencies and areas where functions can be combined then determine at what level they should reside, which may mean going to Headquarters, Department of the Army with a course of action to keep both 5th Signal Command and 2nd Signal Brigade. For example, in response to a question Hall said most network engineers and project managers would likely move to 2nd Signal Brigade or be assigned to higher headquarters.
In the coming weeks Hall and Command Sgt. Maj. Harry Mercado, 5th Signal Command senior enlisted advisor, will conduct a series of town hall meetings within the USAREUR G6, and with 5th Signal Command and 2nd Signal Brigade units outside of the Wiesbaden area to further discuss signal force mission analysis and address questions and concerns from the field. Since their town hall in Wiesbaden, Hall and Mercado have spoken with the 52nd Signal Battalion in Stuttgart, the Network Enterprise Center in Kaiserslautern and the 181st Signal Company near Ramstein.
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5th Signal Command's mission is to build, operate and defend network capabilities to enable mission command and create tactical, operational, and strategic flexibility for Army, Joint and Multinational forces in the EUCOM and AFRICOM areas of responsibility.
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