Readiness for ground combat is, and will remain, the U.S. Army's number one priority," said Gen. Mark A. Milley, the 39th Chief of Staff of the Army, in his initial message. "We must ensure the Army remains ready as the world's premier combat force."
But the Army's approach to readiness has completely transformed in the past couple years.
As the U.S. fought sustained wars on two fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the demand for trained and ready forces required the Army to adopt its force generation model, ARFORGEN. ARFORGEN was a rotational readiness model, a method for effectively and efficiently generating brigade-based modular units for operational deployment on a sustainable, rotating basis.
With ARFORGEN, Soldiers were able to concentrate on their deployed tasks while contractors and civilians, many from U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), took care of the other requirements, from providing large fully operational dining and laundry facilities to equipment reset.
During the first decade of the 21st century, that meant ensuring Soldiers on the battlefield had the equipment they needed, in battle-ready condition.
The majority of today's Soldiers and officers only know a post-9/11 Army, said Gen. Dennis L. Via, commander of AMC. The Army they know is one of nearly unlimited resources, with equipment often delivered, stored, maintained and deployed by contractors and civilians.
In 2014, as operations slowed and budgets declined significantly, the Army introduced the Sustainable Readiness Model (SRM), a new model that charges units to maintain high readiness levels at all times. SRM reduces readiness "peaks and valleys," allowing the Army to maintain a viable and credible deterrence capability while meeting contingency requirements.
"The Sustainable Readiness Model will be the guidepost upon which we will provide readiness to Army units," said Lt. Gen. Gustave "Gus" Perna, U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4. "Gone are the days of predictable rotations. We have new missions all over the world, and now we have to be ready for anything at any time."
AMC is on the forefront of the transition to SRM, providing the foundation for sustainable readiness through Life Cycle Management Commands (LCMCs). AMC and its LCMCs provide integrated materiel life cycle management of systems and equipment -- including maintenance, repair, upgrades and reset -- in partnership with the Materiel Enterprise.
"We remain committed to ensuring that our Army remains the best-equipped fighting force, prepared to meet future operations and contingencies, regardless of their location in the world," Via said.
A key focus of the transition to SRM is a return to Soldiers taking responsibility for maintenance of their equipment. The Army is reinvigorating Soldier ownership for maintaining and sustaining equipment.
"What our Soldiers know after more than a decade of war is similar to a rental car mentality," said Via. "Soldiers fell in on trustworthy, ready equipment, and then turned it in to someone else for maintenance and upkeep without a second thought."
Now the Army must strike the right balance between contracted logistics support and Soldier
sustainment to ensure Soldiers are capable of preserving operational effectiveness.
"To make this transition successful, we must develop an expeditionary mindset among Army
logisticians, which will require a well-planned and well-executed logistics leader development
campaign that provides logistics leaders with the training, education and experience necessary to
support an expeditionary Army," Perna said.
Today's world -- from budget constraints to a complex, uncertain global environment -- requires the Army to rethink and reassess its approach to readiness, said Via.
"AMC delivers readiness as the all-inclusive provider of everything a Soldier drives, flies, wears, shoots, communicates with or eats," said Via. "Readiness will remain the priority, but we must adapt and find new ways to ensure our Army remains prepared to respond to any contingency, whenever and wherever that may be."
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