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AUSA president addresses ROA conference
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| Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., president of the Association of the United States Army, told attendees at the Reserve Officers Association winter meeting that national security issues have been missing from the U.S. presidential campaigns. |
The president of the Association of the United States Army said, “Outside of Iraq, there is no mention of national security” in the already yearlong presidential campaign.
Delivering the keynote address at the winter meeting of the Reserve Officers Association in Washington Feb. 11, Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., said the question should be asked of the candidates: “What will you do about the national security needs of the United States? I think this is a huge issue. … Getting out of Iraq is not the answer and it is certainly not the answer regarding: What are you going to do about national security? National security is a much larger issue,” involving the military, other agencies of the federal government and economic development.
Adding, “Certainly it is no surprise to me” that criticisms are being hurled at the Defense Department’s request for $515.4 billion in its base budget and another $70 billion in emergency spending to pay for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It echoed an earlier experience, Sullivan said.
He said when he first came to Washington in 1989 as the Cold War was ending, similar criticisms were being made about defense spending and there was a call for taking money from defense – “the peace dividend” – and applying those funds to domestic programs.
But what followed was the deployment of American forces to the first Gulf War, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda and the Balkans, he said.
“We had all kinds of aviators turning cold air into hot over Baghdad and the southern part of Iraq. …and many of you in this room participated in that in that so-called era of peace,” Sullivan said.
Adding, it was during this time “we began to see kinks in the armor. Money disappeared” and a number of service members began to leave active and reserve service voluntarily and involuntarily.
“In 1992, in the midst of a horrible drawdown, we were taking the Army down from 1 million five in uniform to 1 million and we had to do it in four or five years. … The cuts had to come from the Army, all the services, the active and reserve components.”
When asked at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., then what he would preserve in the Army [as the serving chief of staff], he said it would be the service’s essence – “selfless service to nation in the causes of the nation” and “serve something larger than themselves.”
Using the Navy as his first example, he said, “I could take you to Pearl Harbor. … Look down at the dark water [at the Arizona Memorial]. Four years later, the deck of the USS Missouri was where the peace treaty was signed. Essence of the Navy.”
Adding, “I can take you to Omaha Beach … and stand in a cemetery, 10,000 crosses and Stars of David, countless thousands of names on the monument to American youth –airmen, sailors, soldiers, marines Coast Guardsmen.”
Ten years ago when Sullivan assumed the AUSA’s presidency, he said he began talking about three points to focus attention on national security: “The Army and the other services as well were over committed, under-resourced and underpaid, pretty simple.”
Sullivan said the nation has stepped up to reduce the pay gap and many of the quality-of-life issues that a number of associations fought for over this decade have been achieved, but he expressed concern “over these continuing attacks on the health care system.”
He said, “What is still a challenge is the over commitment of the forces and the under-resourcing. … People are far apart on this vast undertaking that we are pursuing in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines.”
He said “persistent conflict,” such as what has been happening in the Philippines for 100 years, “costs money” to buy equipment, train the force and recruit and retain soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.
Sullivan called the size of the Army, Marine Corps and special operations forces “woefully short.”
Citing the Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his call for the floor of defense spending to be set at 4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), Sullivan said, “Right now, … in the government’s budget, less than 4 percent of the gross domestic product is being spent on defense. … and that certainly remains my position and the Association of the United States Army’s.”
The Army Reserve should feel very proud of its accomplishments in its 100 years of service, Sullivan said. “Our American tradition of militia service is strong and very value added.”
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