Army Chief of Staff: Four Years to Put Army "Back in Balance"

Several key congressional staff members joined the Army and defense industry leadership to hear Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, Jr., give his assessment of the Army at AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare breakfast last week.

Gen. Casey told the group that it would take about four years to put the Army back in balance.  “I wrestle hard to describe the state of the Army [and settled on] out of balance,” said Gen. Casey.

He said that was caused by the force “being so consumed by the current” pace and nature of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and that has put it “at a point where we have difficulty sustaining the All Volunteer Force.”

In answer to a question, he said the Army would need units to be home for at least 18 months to train for full spectrum operations.  They are now back for about a year before re-deploying and primarily training in counterinsurgency warfare.

He said he has changed his mind from his time as a division commander in the late 1990s saying: “If we could do conventional warfare, we could do anything.  I don’t believe that now.”  Now he sees the place for new doctrine covering offensive, defensive and stability operations.

To put the force back in balance in an era of “persistent conflict,” Casey has launched four initiatives.  “You have to keep the mid-level officers and NCOs” to sustain the force and also support Army families. “We have put our money where our mouth is with $1.4 billion” committed to the covenant with families.

To prepare the force for future operations across the spectrum of conflict, “we’re having a hard time” because soldiers do not have enough time at home to train for operations other than counterinsurgency.  This will be alleviated over time as the size of the Army grows and the number of brigades committed to Iraq decline.

In speaking about resetting the force and its equipment, Casey said the Army is seeing that “the effects of seven years of war is cumulative.”  Adding, “Reset is about money.”

Casey said the Army is still committed to transformation and “to building that flexible force for the full spectrum of operations.”

What concerns him most now and in the future is having terrorist organizations possessing weapons of mass destruction and having states or sections of states providing safe havens for terrorist training, staging and operations.  Terrorists “are not bound by the rules of warfare.  I see a long-term struggle” that will be fought in irregular ways and often in urban areas. 

Adding, “We will be fighting more among the people, not around the people,” as the Israelis found themselves in the summer of 2006 battling a militarily sophisticated Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

To succeed, “we are going to depend on others” in and out of government, and by using indigenous forces in applying “all the elements of power.” 

There will be an even greater need for precision weapons because combat will likely be taking place in cities and “done in the unblinking eye of the 24-hour news cycle.”

Casey said the Army will unveil a revised FM-3 in February on how it will be operating, structured and trained in the future. “The force has got to be agile,” as does the institution. “Our institutions were designed for a pre-9/11 Army.”

FY08 Defense Authorization Bill Passes House Again

By a vote of 369-46, the House approved a revised version of the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill.

In a move that surprised many, President Bush vetoed the original bill over language that would have allowed lawsuits against Iraqi assets for crimes committed by the Saddam Hussein regime.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters that while many Democrats opposed changing the lawsuit provision, they did not want to further delay pay raises for military personnel.  He added that Democrats did not have enough votes to override President Bush’s veto.

The revised bill is expected to swiftly win Senate approval next week when they return to work.  It will then be sent to the President for signature.


Emergency Funding for VA Released

As expected, President Bush released $3.7 billion in emergency money for veterans’ health care.  The emergency money was included in the $550 billion omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2008. 

In a statement President Bush said, “While I believe that these funds should have been considered as regular appropriations, the men and women who have sacrificed for our country should not be held hostage to budgetary wrangling in Washington.”

With the release of the funds, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs funding for fiscal 2008 reached $87.6 billion - $8 billion more than in fiscal 2007.