The Army Equipping Strategy- Equipping an ARFORGEN-Based Army
What is it'
The Army's Equipping Strategy describes the Army plan to achieve equipment balance across the force while engaged in persistent conflict. The key component of this strategy is the Equip to Mission requirements: As units move through the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) cycle-Reset, Train/Ready, and Available-their mission changes, as do their equipment requirements. We must manage equipment to ensure units have the right types and amounts at the right times.
What has the Army done'
In the Cold War era the Army had tiered readiness. Some active component units were the first to deploy and had all the equipment they were authorized and the most modernized. Other active component and reserve component units had less modern equipment because we could not afford to field the most modern equipment to the entire force and there was time to equip and provide additional training to these second tier units before deploying them to theater.
Today, in this era of persistent conflict, the Army has developed a cyclical readiness process called ARFORGEN. This shift from tiered readiness to cyclical readiness has resulted in a fundamental change in the Army's equipping goal.
The ARFORGEN cycle is intended to ensure that units have sufficient dwell time to reset their equipment after a deployment, then time to receive new equipment and conduct training in preparation for deployment, and finally, to be ready to deploy where needed. ARFORGEN divides the process into three phases or force pools: Reset, Train/Ready, and Available. What this means is that Soldiers in each force pool have different missions and different equipment requirements. For instance, in Reset the mission is to restore the equipment and in Train/Ready a Soldier's mission is to train and get ready to deploy. The missions are different and in turn, have different equipment requirements.
Why is this important to the Army'
This process ensures the Army has an affordable equipping strategy to make sure Soldiers operating within ARFORGEN have the right equipment amounts, types and modernization to meet their mission whether in combat, training for combat, operating as part of the generating force, or conducting Homeland Defense and Defense Support to Civil Authorities missions.
Resources:
<a href="https://www.g8.army.mil/" target="_blank"> G-8 Web site</a>
Information paper on Army Posture System: <a href="http://www.army.mil/aps/09/information_papers/army_force_generation_process.html " target="_blank">The Army Force Generation Process </a>
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