The Army has “declared war” on activities that keep soldiers from the tough, realistic training they need to remain combat-ready, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee subcommittee on personnel.

“Taking care of our people is the foundation for a lethal combat ready force, the lifeblood of that force is tough, realistic training,” Weimer said in a hearing Feb. 11 alongside his counterparts from the other services on quality-of-life issues faced by service members and their families.

“We must train for the fight we face today, not the one we fought yesterday,” Weimer said. “Our people are the heart of the Army … the engine of our combat power. Our commitment is to provide them with [the] quality of life they need, the leadership they deserve and the cutting-edge training required to dominate any adversary.”

Pointing to high retention rates and meeting last year’s ambitious goal to recruit 61,000 new soldiers four months early, Weimer said, “Americans join the Army to stay in our ranks, to be soldiers,” an ethos that he said could fail if the Army can’t provide them with what they need.

With the frequency of unpredictable funding and government shutdowns, Weimer said, the Army is “fighting uphill” to decrease facility maintenance backlogs. 

“A soldier’s focus must be on their mission, not on a work order that can’t be filled,” Weimer said. “We’ve declared war on distractions. We are relentlessly eliminating burdensome administrative requirements to free up our leaders to do what they do best—build lethal teams. Every hour a leader spends on a redundant task is an hour they are not training their soldiers.”

The sort of tough, realistic training Weimer is promoting, he said, “is not cheap.” He said the Army is actively transforming its training to reflect the “brutal realities” of the modern battlefield, where the skies are saturated with drones and electronic warfare and contested logistics are relentless.

In opening remarks at the hearing, David Isom, senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee that the joint force has three priorities—a properly armed force, global integration across all domains with interagency, industry, allies and partners, and a force that is ready.

“Being ready is about repetitions, tough training and building muscle memory,” Isom said. “This also includes being clear-eyed about the future and being candid with our force and their families. Underpinning these priorities is our most important asset, and that's our people.”

People, Isom said, are “fulfilling their end of the bargain through tough training, long deployments and ensuring they are ready every day. On their behalf, I'm asking that we uphold our end of the bargain by providing the stable, predictable funding that they need to succeed, provide the tools and training they need to win, and the quality of life that honors their service and their sacrifice.”