This is Chapter 6 of the 2022 Profile of the United States Army, a top-to-bottom reference handbook that lays out everything you need to know about how and why the Army works—and what it’s doing around the world right now. Links to other chapters can be found at the bottom of this page.

Introduction

America’s Army is the most capable and lethal ground force in the world. It was founded on 14 June 1775, when the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army, instituting the first service of the armed forces of the United States. For 247 years, Soldiers have built a legacy of character, competence and commitment, symbolized by the 190 campaign streamers that adorn the Army flag—each one signifying the great sacrifices of Soldiers on behalf of the nation and the American people. Today, the U.S. Army is a force that is prepared to defend the nation and protect America’s national interests, both at home and abroad, through prompt and sustained land combat.¹

The U.S. Army—Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve—remains prepared to fight and win its nation’s wars as a member of the joint force, while continuing to serve as the nation’s premier response force to protect Americans, allies and America’s vital interests when unexpected crises arise at home and abroad. America’s Army delivers highly trained forces for a broad spectrum of challenges, including continued COVID-19 response efforts in local communities, unprecedented natural disasters, non-combatant evacuations and support to NATO in response to an unprovoked Russian invasion into Ukraine.² In sum, Army forces compete below the level of armed conflict, and they fight and win against great-power competitors.
 

Army Support to Integrated Deterrence

Integrated deterrence is a whole-of-government effort across multiple domains, theaters and the spectrum of conflict to ensure that the joint force—in close coordination with U.S. interagency and with America’s allies and partners—makes the costs of aggression so clear to adversaries that they refrain from hostile behavior altogether. The Army’s role is to provide combatant commanders (CCDRs) with combat-credible ground forces capable of fighting and winning in large-scale combat operations (LSCOs). As examples, the Army is the backbone of the joint force in the Indo-Pacific—the priority theater for responding to China as the pacing challenge. In Europe, the Army remains the tip of the joint-force spear both in responding to Russia as an acute threat and in reassuring NATO Allies.³

In the past two decades, the U.S. Army has feverishly worked to enhance its global capabilities in four areas, among others: strategic responsiveness; multi-domain operations (MDO); support to Allies and partners; and a strategy and resources for the Arctic region.

Strategic Responsiveness

Never before 2022 has the Army moved so many forces so quickly. For example, it took less than one week after receiving deployment orders for an armored brigade to deploy from Savannah, Georgia, and land on the ground in Germany to start live-fire exercises with tanks drawn from Army Prepositioned Stocks (APS) in Europe. This is a tribute to the Army’s collective strategic readiness that is exemplified by Army logisticians, force generation installations and power projection platforms required to equip, transport and project combat-ready ground forces.⁴ 

MDO

The rapid and continuous integration of all domains of warfare—MDO—is the Army’s contribution to the Joint-All Domain Operations (JADO) concept to present adversaries with multiple, simultaneous dilemmas. The joint force’s ability to deter and, if necessary, win a conflict is significantly enhanced if the Army is not only equipped to fight on land, but also to leverage its landpower capabilities to affect the air, sea, space and cyberspace. Multi-domain task forces (MDTFs) are the organizational centerpiece in the Army’s operationalization of MDO. They are theater-level, multi-domain maneuver elements that synchronize long-range effects—e.g., electronic warfare, space, cyber and information—with long-range precision fires. MDTFs integrate these capabilities under one commander (CDR) while the unit’s components conduct distributed operations to enhance survivability. The role of the MDTFs is to persistently compete to gain positions of advantage that it can leverage in crisis or conflict. By integrating non-kinetic effects and kinetic fires across all domains, MDTFs provide CCDRs with an enhanced menu of counter-A2/AD capabilities, that is, antiaccess/area-denial capabilities. The first MDTF—established in 2017 as an experimental unit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord—is focused on the Indo-Pacific. The Army’s second one was activated on 16 September 2021 at the U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden in Germany; it is aligned to Europe. The third one is in Hawaii, and the Army plans to create two more: one for the Arctic and one for global response.⁵

Support to Allies and Partners

A key dimension of the Army’s transformation is the need to strengthen and expand—where possible—its work with Allies and partners to actively campaign against coercive and revisionist Chinese and Russian activities. The Army’s access, presence and influence around the world support dynamic, day-to-day military activities that bolster Allies and partners while frustrating competitors. The Army’s security assistance enterprise annually executes more than 6,100 foreign military sales cases, with 135 countries to build and strengthen Allied and partner capacity. The leading edge of this campaign is the Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs). The six new SFABs, the last of which activated in 2020, are aligned with each geographic CCDR; they are strengthening relationships with Allies and partners through training, advising and assistance.⁶ 

Strategy and Resources for the Arctic Region

This region encompasses a vast geographic area, overlapping the areas of responsibility (AORs) of three separate geographic U.S. combatant commands (Northern Command, European Command and Indo-Pacific Command) and includes eight sovereign nations with inherent interest in the region.⁷ Key adversaries in the region, Russia and China, have deployed and continue to advance a range of capabilities to hold the homeland at risk with nuclear, conventional and cyberspace weapons. Additionally, these adversaries are taking actions below the level of armed conflict to erode U.S. global influence. For example, throughout 2019, Russia continued its expansion of military infrastructure in the Arctic by lengthening existing runways and building new ones. China invested heavily in the Arctic Region, proclaiming itself to be a “near-Arctic” nation. Geographically, the Arctic is no longer a fortress wall, and the oceans are no longer protective moats for the United States; they are now avenues of approach for advanced conventional weapons and the platforms that carry them.⁸

In recognition of the strategic importance of the Arctic region to U.S. vital interests, the Army’s senior leadership reactivated the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska in June 2022—this is the Army’s only Arctic airborne division. As part of the Army’s 2021 Arctic Strategy, the division consolidates two major Army units in Alaska—the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team (BCT) based at Fort Wainwright and the 4th Infantry BCT based at Fort Richardson—uniting 12,000 Soldiers in Alaska under one flag, underscoring the unit’s Arctic orientation. Specifically, the Stryker BCT was reflagged to become the 1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division, and will convert to an infantry BCT with a strong air assault capability, but it will also be able to maneuver in the Arctic. The 4th BCT was reflagged to become the 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division, with an airborne capability. The 11th Airborne Division—these two newly reflagged brigades together with Headquarters, U.S. Alaska—will serve as the Army’s leading experts for Arctic military operations.⁹ 
 

The Global Army

The Army has arrayed its general purpose and special operations forces in three ways: forward-stationed, forward-deployed and U.S.-based. What follows is a depiction of Army presence in numerous regions of the world and how the Army is truly part of a joint and multinational team, able to compete and win in a multi-domain, strategic environment.

Figure 1: Geographic and Functional Combatant Commands (Click to view)
 

The Pacific 

For nearly 125 years, the U.S. Army has maintained a constant presence in the Indo-Pacific theater, assuring security and stability as an integral part of the joint force. As World War II ended, the Army’s leadership proved to be the cornerstone of renewed peace and prosperity in this region. The Army’s action at this juncture laid the foundation for some of America’s most critical and enduring international partnerships—Japan and South Korea, to name just two. Today, this region has reemerged as one of the world’s most militarily significant and challenging areas. Army partnerships are invaluable, as the majority of the twenty-seven militaries in the region are led by local army officers. 

American defense strategy emphasizes that the key to meeting future security challenges is to engage in sustained and persistent cooperation and engagement with America’s allies and partners. This is particularly true in the Indo-Pacific theater—where about three-fourths of the world’s population resides, and more than three-fifths of the world’s economy thrives. Yet, not all countries in the region share this view. China is heavily investing in advanced military capabilities and seeks to change the current global balance of power. While, for the present, Russia has demonstrated capabilities to challenge U.S. interests, China remains America’s greatest long-term challenge. By 2030, it is expected to be the world’s largest investor in research and development and, by 2035, it is expected to array a fully modernized force that will contain artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage, 5G networks, quantum information systems and biotechnology.¹⁰

The Chinese are also focused on joint, integrated operations across multiple domains of war. Tactically, its leadership has supported increasing naval force deployments and developing new air force assets. Strategically, the Chinese have sought to employ soft attacks with electromagnetic energy systems, followed by hard attacks. For example, cyberattacks or the use of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons might precede precision kinetic weapons.¹¹ As early as July 2019, General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), called China “the main challenge to the U.S. national security over the next 50–100 years.”¹² 

A U.S. Army Infantryman with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington is seen during Exercise Tiger Balm 2022, 15 June 2022. Tiger Balm builds readiness and demonstrates U.S. Army commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher Hernandez)

 

Operational Concept

To counter these threats and overcome the “tyranny of distance” (the Maldives to the coast of California is 9,000 miles), the Army operates through U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), the Army Service Component Command (ASCC) to the joint force. It provides forward-stationed and rapid-reinforcing, rotational forces, as well as an operational and deployable theater Army headquarters at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, to support U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). USARPAC is engaged throughout this vast region, providing active and reserve component (AC and RC), combat-credible forces. As the backbone of the joint force in the Indo-Pacific, USARPAC provides the joint force with decisive, integrated landpower required to: succeed in competition; rapidly transition and respond during crisis; and prevail in low-intensity and large-scale conflict.¹³ USARPAC contributes to integrated deterrence through three flagship efforts: the Joint Pacific Multinational Training Center; Operations Pathway; and Exercise Forager.¹⁴

Northeast Asia

Forward-stationed in Japan, the U.S. Army Japan and I Corps (Forward), located at Camp Zama on the island of Honshu, is a major subordinate command of USARPAC. It is responsible for conducting bilateral relations between the United States and Japan, furthering the mutual defense of Japan and providing mission command in support of contingency operations in Asia. Also forward-stationed is the Eighth Field Army in Korea. It provides mission command over multiple U.S. and multinational corps. It contributes to the joint force by providing intelligence, air and missile defense, theater communications, infrastructure and sustainment. Administrative and logistical responsibilities in Korea previously held by Eighth Field Army now reside with USARPAC, making it the sole ASCC for the theater. This realignment has allowed Eighth Field Army to exclusively focus on its operational mission, as well as implementing two bilateral agreements between the United States and South Korea. These agreements relocate U.S. Forces Korea from Seoul to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek and consolidate the American footprint, thereby providing strategic depth on the peninsula. 

In addition to the forward-stationed forces in Korea, the Army has provided, in nine-month intervals, combat-credible, rotational forces—an armored BCT—from the United States to bolster the defense of Korea. This capability to rapidly flow forces from the United States remains a cornerstone of America’s defense strategy. USARPAC also has available forward-deployed forces in or around the rim of the Indo-Pacific region. Together with the ever-increasing capability and readiness of APS in theater, these measures strengthen the American network of allies and partners and improve the Army’s ability to conduct LSCOs against great-power competitors.¹⁵

Expeditionary Capability

Expeditionary mission command capability is extremely important to the joint force in this theater, and the Army provides numerous response options to meet this need. Beyond large-scale assets such as a deployable corps, a corps (forward) and a division headquarters, USARPAC has a smaller-scale contingency command post—a rapidly deployable mini-theater army headquarters—that can perform mission command functions for up to a month anywhere in the region without augmentation. Combined with Eighth Field Army’s capability to support joint operations outside of the Korean peninsula, USINDOPACOM has in its tool kit an agile, scalable Army mission command capability. 

Support to Allies and Partners

The Army’s theater engagement and partnership program has been a bedrock of American defense cooperation for many years. Such engagement improves the readiness of Army forces and their partners, reinforces U.S. commitments, assures regional powers of U.S. intentions and strengthens cooperative networks with emerging powers. Military relationships with U.S. allies in the region—Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Thailand—remain strong. They do so, in part, because of USARPAC’s Operation Pathways program, which annually projects thousands of Army forces and equipment sets into the region to execute a series of international exercises that strengthen joint force integration and promote interoperability with Allies and partners. It also allows USARPAC, as the Theater Army, to prepare, rehearse and validate training for strategic movement, operational maneuver and tactical employment of lands forces across extended distances west of the International Date Line.¹⁶ In June 2022 alone, U.S. Soldiers trained in Singapore, Malaysia, Guam, Mongolia and Hawaii, with exercises in Australia, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Japan, Fiji and India planned for the remainder of 2022.¹⁷ These multinational, Army-led exercises throughout the region are central to the development of partner military capabilities and the demonstration of U.S. expeditionary capability. 

As previously mentioned, the SFABs play a crucial role in strengthening relationships with allies and partners through training, advising and assistance. In the USINDOPACOM region during Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) and FY22, the 5th SFAB has deployed 40 advisory teams to 14 nations: Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua-New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand.¹⁸ 
 

Europe and Africa

U.S., European and African defense concerns are inseparable as part of a stable international order. The close geographic and economic ties between Europe and Africa mean that if a regional security issue is left unchecked, it could quickly spread between both continents. Together, these continents face a growing number of transnational threats, to include armed conflict, violent extremism, global terrorism, illicit trafficking, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and infectious disease.¹⁹

Russia’s nuclear arsenal and strike capability remain an enduring, existential threat to the United States and its peaceful allies and partners. A central concern is Russia’s non-strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and its government’s potential to use these weapons in crises or conflict.²⁰ The unprovoked and unjustified Russian armed attack against Ukraine, beginning again in February 2022 six years after the 2014 Russian annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, is yet another example of great-power competitors posing a formidable challenge to protecting U.S. vital interests. Russia also retains a military presence on sovereign soil in Moldova and Georgia against the will of those nations.²¹ Additionally, Russian activities in the Arctic—increased basing, military hardware, exercises, etc.—have dramatically increased since 2017.²² 

U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams assigned to 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division move to a staging area during Defender Europe 22 in Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, 25 May 2022. Defender Europe 22 is a series of U.S. Army Europe and Africa multinational training exercises which demonstrate U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s ability to conduct large-scale ground combat operations across multiple theaters in support of NATO. (U.S. Army photo by Captain Tobias Cukale)

 

China and Russia have long recognized the strategic and economic importance of Africa and continue to seize opportunities to expand their influence across the entire African continent. Over half the world’s farming land is in Africa and, when effectively managed, Africa’s population growth and rich national resources drive progress. 

Of particular note is that 26 African nations hold reserves of minerals determined to be critical to the U.S. economy and national security. Beyond its geostrategic location—it sits astride six strategic chokepoints—Africa possesses vast, untapped energy deposits, including one-third of the world’s mineral reserves and rare earth metals.²³ 

Fortunately, DoD has two unified commands—U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM), both headquartered in Europe—that oversee U.S. security interests on these two large continents. Simply put, these commands and their partners counter transnational threats and malign actors, strengthen security forces and respond to crises, advancing U.S. national interests and promoting regional security stability.²⁴ 

The U.S. Army previously had an ASCC for each of the unified commands, USEUCOM and USAFRICOM. However, on 10 November 2020, the Army announced the consolidation of U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) and U.S. Army Africa (USARAF) into one ASCC—U.S. Army Europe-Africa (USAREUR-AF). This transformation improves the Army’s ability to meet African and European strategic and operational objectives outlined in the National Defense Strategy (NDS) by consolidating ASCC functions under one four-star headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany.²⁵

USAREUR-AF forces are strategically positioned across a 104-country AOR; there are more than 45,000 U.S. Army personnel assigned and deployed throughout Europe and Africa.²⁶ The increased responsibilities of overseeing Army operations across two continents are enabled by the reactivation of V Corps and the Southern European Task Force (SETAF), Africa.²⁷ USAREUR-AF remains at the center of the framework for strong deterrence and defense posture on both continents. Its continued presence strengthens the security and stability in the region, provides the physical deterrence necessary to counter threats to U.S. interests and honors its international commitments.²⁸ 

On the European Continent (except Italy)

The primary mechanism through which U.S. Soldiers are stationed in Europe is NATO. It has provided security and safeguarded members’ freedom since its inception in 1949. The U.S. Army presence in Europe represents more than 70 years of strong and steadfast commitment to regional stability and collective defense. The presence of Army forces reassures allies and partners and provides the physical and lethal deterrence necessary to counter threats to U.S. interests in Europe while honoring America’s commitment to NATO. As such, the U.S. Army not only has forward-stationed (under the lineage of Seventh Army) but also has U.S.-based rotational forces (rapid reinforcement) trained and ready to deter and, if that fails, to fight and win.

The Army in Europe provides to USEUCOM ready, lethal and combat-credible ground forces—airborne, Stryker, fires and sustainment—strategically positioned across 51 countries, to deter aggression and contribute to peace and stability in Europe. Considering Russian incursions since 2014, the Army has bolstered its forward-stationed forces with rotational forces—combat-credible armored, aviation and logistics—deploying from the United States. These nine-month rotations, in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, not only increase capability and capacity, but also build readiness, increase interoperability and enhance the bond between ally and partner militaries through multinational training events. In the face of the aforementioned 2022 unprovoked Russian armed attack on Ukraine, the Army has also sent additional combat and combat support units to Eastern Europe to bolster NATO’s defenses and has also taken measures to increase the readiness of forward-stationed sustainment units. To provide oversight of operations in Europe for this array of Army assigned and rotational forces, the senior leadership of the Army reactivated V Corps, placing its headquarters at Fort Knox, Kentucky, with a forward command post in Poznan, Poland. The Army also established in Europe the 56th Field Artillery Command and the 2nd MDTF to increase U.S. and NATO capabilities across multiple domains.²⁹ U.S. Army crisis-surge deployed forces included: two corps (XVIII Airborne Corps and the reactivated V Corps); two divisions (82nd Airborne Division and the 1st Infantry Division); six BCTs (three of which are armored BCTs); and two combat aviation brigades.³⁰

In late June 2022, President Biden announced that additional headquarters and forces would deploy to Europe (beyond the crisis-surge mentioned above); specifically, the Army will: permanently station in Poland its forward V Corps headquarters; establish in Germany an air defense and engineer headquarters; rotate a BCT to Romania; reinforce the Baltic countries with rotational forces; and “seek to enhance” rotational forces in Poland. In sum, the Army will have at least four BCTs in Europe.³¹

The Army’s participation in more than 50 multinational exercises in Europe each year sharpens both strategic and tactical readiness. One of the most critical of these exercises is Defender Europe. Its purpose is to build strategic readiness by deploying a combat-credible force to Europe in support of the NDS. Units deploy from the United States and, once in theater, draw APS from locations in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. They then spread out across the region and participate in various annual exercises. Defender Europe 2022 included more than 3,400 Army personnel and more than 5,100 multinational servicemembers from 11 allied and partner nations. This exercise involved elements of the Total Army—active Army (nearly 2,000 Soldiers), National Guard (more than 1,250 Soldiers from six states) and Army Reserve (180 Soldiers)—who drew 300 pieces of equipment from APS.³² Moreover, in FY21 and FY22, the 4th SFAB deployed advisory teams to 10 nations in support of field exercises: Albania, Bosnia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, North Macedonia, Poland and Romania. SFAB advisory teams also are training with several multinational partners to assess and enhance their integration into forward deployed NATO battlegroups.³³

Finally, AC and RC Soldiers support NATO missions such as the Enhanced Forward Presence in Poland and the Kosovo Force. Additionally, the Army in Europe (not including Italy) conducts important regional security initiatives—the Georgia Defense Readiness Program and the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine training mission.

On the African Continent (and Italy)

The U.S. Army’s involvement in Africa dates to 25 October 1955, when SETAF was activated in Italy. During the latter half of the 20th century, the Army recognized the need for contingency forces for this region and increased its force levels by adding an airborne battalion combat team and a signal support unit, together with taking operational control of two Army artillery groups in Greece and Turkey. From the early 1990s through the first decade of the 21st century, SETAF became the C2 headquarters for the Army and joint units—a joint task force headquarters (JTF-HQ). The headquarters and/or its elements led operations in northern Iraq (Operation Provide Comfort), Entebbe Uganda, Rwanda, the Congo, Libera, Afghanistan, Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Georgia. By then, the airborne battalion had evolved into SETAF’s 173rd Airborne Brigade, which conducted a parachute assault into northern Iraq in March 2003. By 2006, the 173rd Airborne Brigade transformed into an airborne BCT and deployed again in May 2007, this time to Afghanistan.

A soldier from the Tunisian Special Forces Group begins taking off his parachute during an airborne operation alongside U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment (Airborne) near Bizerte, Tunisia on 3 March 2022. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant John Yountz)

 

Recognizing the broad mission set and the increased importance of Africa to America’s national security interests, the Army, early in the 21st century, redesignated SETAF to be USAFRICOM’s ASCC—U.S. Army Africa (USARAF)—headquartered in Vicenza, Italy. While in implementation, USARAF provided mission command, set the theater, conducted security force assistance and supported joint and international partners. It also served as the JTF-HQ in support of USAFRICOM contingency operations, its most important mission. The 173rd Airborne BCT and its supporting AC and RC units largely comprised Army forces in the theater as part of the lineage of Ninth Army. In November 2020, as previously mentioned, the USARAF ASCC combined with the previous USAREUR ASCC to form the new U.S. Army Europe-Africa: USAREUR-AF. The Africa/Italy portion of the new ASCC does, however, remain responsible for all operations and assets in Africa and Italy, including the 173rd Airborne Brigade and SFAB teams deployed to Africa. Additionally, in accordance with President Biden’s June 2022 announcement of additional forces being stationed in Europe, Italy will gain a short -range air defense artillery battery.³⁴ To bolster readiness, the 2nd SFAB deployed 38 advisory teams to nine African countries, including Djibouti, Ghana, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, Tunisia and Uganda, in addition to partnering with Senegalese units for a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center.³⁵ 

To assess USARAF’s capability, the CJSC sponsored, and USAFRICOM scheduled, a combined joint exercise—African Lion 20—which was to be conducted in Morocco with related activities in Tunisia, Senegal, Italy and the United States. USARAF established the exercise’s combined JTF-HQs, integrating USAFRICOM’s components and internal partners, to solve a complex, trans-regional crisis. Nearly 4,000 U.S. servicemembers began to join approximately 5,000 military personnel from Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in USAFRICOM’s largest exercise to date. However, due to COVID-19, the exercise was initially merely scaled back while deployments continued, but it was eventually entirely canceled just prior to its planned start date of 23 March 2020. Some exercise objectives were still met, however, and were used to formulate planning for African Lion 2021. In the summer of 2021, 31 partner nations joined USAFRICOM for African Lion 2021 to enhance readiness of U.S. forces and to strengthen African security capabilities. Unfortunately, USAFRICOM’s joint exercise program saw cuts from 2020, resulting in the cancellation of three exercises in 2022.³⁶ On 20 June 2022, the United States and Morocco launched African Lion 2022 amid heightened tensions between Morocco and Algeria. The exercise, which began in the southern Moroccan region of Agadir, involved approximately 7,500 personnel from 10 nations, such as Brazil, France and the United Kingdom. Some aspects of the exercise occurred in Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana. According to CDR, SETAF-Africa, the goal was to increase the cooperation between the countries of Africa (specifically in West Africa) and to strengthen relations with Morocco.³⁷

Another important mission is the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti. This JTF comprises Soldiers and servicemembers from other U.S. armed forces, civilian employees and representatives of coalition and partner countries. Using a whole-of-government approach to face challenges in this region, CJTF-HOA focuses on military-to-military activities as well as on humanitarian initiatives. It works to promote security in the region—a goal that inevitably reaches far beyond the immediate area. Established at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in 2002, and now located at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti City, Djibouti, CJTF-HOA has supported medical civil action and veterinary civil action projects in addition to digging wells and building schools, clinics and hospitals.
 

The Middle East

The Middle East has been a volatile region since the breakup of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The United States, along with other nations, has tried to create stability and security in the region for almost 50 years, often involving U.S. military forces, most recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. Currently, regional state adversaries, such as Iran, present significant challenges as they pursue advanced capabilities and WMDs to gain regional influence and ensure regime survival. Moreover, transnational terrorist organizations continue to threaten the vital interests of the United States and those of U.S. allies and partners throughout this region.³⁸ 

In the early 1980s, the Middle East emerged as a complex region that requires a broad and continuing U.S. focus. Unfortunately, DoD’s ability to adequately resource this theater faced numerous challenges, such as overflight restrictions enroute to the theater, limited access into the theater and few fixed bases once there. To overcome these conditions, DoD formed a standing, rapid-deployed JTF, headquartered in Florida, to respond to threats emanating from this area of the world. It soon became apparent, however, that in an AOR which, at the time, covered more than 4 million square miles, included 20 countries and intersected three continents, a new command arrangement was necessary: one that not only would have command and control (C2) over U.S. forces, but would also have directive authority regarding logistics and sustainment. These conditions and challenges led to the establishment of a new unified command—U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) in March 1982. Its broad and continuing mission is to protect U.S. vital interests in the Middle East. Now, USCENTCOM’s AOR consists of more than 550 million people (22 ethnic groups speaking 18 languages), located in 21 countries (Israel became the newest, in 2021), still spanning more than four million square miles, and containing three internationally strategic chokepoints. The synergy of these data points highlights why the current CDR of USCENTCOM is prioritizing efforts to understand the culture of this AOR—not only to educate but also to rebuild America’s human intelligence capability.³⁹ Since its establishment, USCENTCOM has played and will continue to play a critical role in executing America’s defense strategy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other countries in the region.

U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Stanley, U.S. Army Central Military Intelligence, shakes Kuwait Land Forces Brigadier General Al-Mayde Salabah's hand during the 100th Key Leader Engagement (KLE) on 27 April 2022 at the Kuwait Land Forces Headquarters. KLEs are professional interactions between unit leadership and key power figures with our host partner nations. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. William China)

 

Operational Concept

The U.S. Army is postured, through enduring forward-presence and robust and capable partnerships, to protect U.S. national interests in this region; it also has the capability to rapidly transition to command joint and coalition forces to defeat emerging threats. Initially, U.S. Third Army was the command responsible for continuous oversight and control of Army operations in support of USCENTCOM. In June 2006, Third Army was redesignated as USCENTCOM’s ASCC, U.S. Army Central Command (USARCENT), with a main command post on Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. In addition, USARCENT has a forward command post located on Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, with Area Support Groups in Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. USARCENT’s mission is to provide enduring support to the joint force, to set and maintain the theater and lead building partner capability mission sets to secure U.S. and allied interests in the AOR and, on order, to transition to a Coalition Forces Land Component Command.⁴⁰ 

Operations

USARCENT also leads several named operations that are actively engaged in counterterrorism and in advising in hostile territory as part of other multinational missions. Since there are limited numbers of ground forces assigned to USARCENT, the Army provides rotational forces as well as no-notice reinforcing forces from the United States to enhance capabilities and capacity in the theater. The command regularly participates in 18 exercises and more than 200 engagements with its allies and partners.⁴¹ Unfortunately, COVID-19 and reduced budgets for exercises impinged upon USARCENT’s ability to even maintain (let alone expand) existing exercises, despite a desire to do so.⁴²

Afghanistan: Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (OFS)

In response to 9/11, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was launched on 7 October 2001, with the mission to destroy terrorist training camps and the al Qaeda infrastructure within Afghanistan. The initial focus of OEF was to destroy the regional terrorist threats and then to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for al Qaeda and other extremist organizations. OFS is the follow-on campaign that replaced OEF on 1 January 2015; at that time, 13,000 military personnel from forty-one nations (10,000 from the United States) commenced a new NATO mission called Resolute Support (RS). This mission focused the coalition’s effort on training, advising and assisting the Afghan security institutions and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. In the past, the 3rd SFAB has supported: Operation Inherent Resolve; Operation Freedom's Sentinel; and the entire AOR. After the withdrawal from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 (which the SFAB helped coordinate), in FY22 it will deploy approximately 10 teams to the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq to advise partner land forces on interoperability through persistent presence.⁴³

Iraq and Syria: Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR)

In March 2003, a coalition led by the United States invaded Iraq and overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein—Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Though Hussein was captured in December of that same year and was subsequently executed, the conflict continued for much of the next decade, as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition and the newly formed Iraqi government. In 2011, the United States withdrew from Iraq; however, three years later, a new coalition, also led by the United States, was formed to counter the extant insurgency. On 15 October 2014, DoD designated Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) to degrade and destroy the Islamic State, frequently known as ISIS. This was followed two days later by USARCENT being designated as the CDR of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR). In this role, CJTF-OIR established a combined (multinational) and joint (multiservice) headquarters to oversee operations. The U.S. Army has provided both general purpose—airborne, armored, etc.—as well as special operations rotational forces to OIR. In addition to named operations, approximately 2,500 Soldiers from the Army’s no-notice ready brigade in the U.S. rapidly deployed to Iraq in late December 2019—one battalion in 21 hours and one BCT in 122 hours—to bolster security in the USARCENT area after a rocket attack killed an American contractor in Iraq and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was stormed.⁴⁴ The SFAB and Army SOF are now the primary Army forces in these two countries.

Sinai Peninsula: Multinational Force and Observers (MFO)

MFO is an organization of twelve countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Republic of Fiji Islands, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay. The U.S. Army provides the single largest contingent to the MFO. The operation, which began on 25 April 1982, supervises the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty and aims to prevent violations of the treaty’s terms. MFO duties include the operation of checkpoints, reconnaissance patrols and observation posts along the international boundary separating Egypt and Israel on the Sinai Peninsula. It also ensures freedom of travel through the Strait of Tiran. Contingents in the MFO generally rotate in and out of the Sinai Peninsula using a system of progressive personnel changeover.
 

South America, Central America and the Caribbean 

Between the end of the Vietnam War and 9/11, the U.S. military participated in three armed conflicts. Two of the three—Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada and Operation Just Cause in Panama—occurred in the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) AOR. This area encompasses 31 countries and 15 special sovereignty areas across more than 15 million square miles, including all of the Central and South American landmass and adjacent water south of Mexico, and the Caribbean Seas and island nations. This environment presents challenging conditions, such as unequal wealth distribution, social exclusion and corruption. It also poses a unique combination of security issues: transnational organized crime, illicit networks, mass migration, narco-terrorism and natural disasters. 

An MH-60 helicopter, part of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, takes off during sunset for exercises alongside Ecuadorian partner forces in Manta, Ecuador, 16 May 2022. These exercises promote military-to-military relationships, increase mission readiness, and improve regional security. (U.S. Army photo by Specialist Christopher Sanchez)

 

Joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational commitment has quietly but effectively prevented additional armed conflict, but this environment remains influenced by persistent tensions, challenging conditions and security issues that make it imperative to maintain an engaged, committed presence in the region. Conditions in the AOR, just a short distance from the U.S. southern coast, present a real and present danger to the homeland. 

In 2019, the Chinese government absorbed three more Latin American countries into its “One Belt One Road” initiative, bringing the regional total to 19—more than half of all countries in the region. China now has 29 government exchange programs with Latin America and the Caribbean, and it continues to expand offers of professional military education, equipment donations and funding for infrastructure projects. Russia once again projected power into the region, establishing a military footprint in Venezuela; deploying for the first time its most advanced nuclear-capable warship; and sending a research ship capable of mapping and cutting underseas cables, as well as two other naval research vessels to operate near the North America continent. Under Russian and Cuban tutelage, oppression in Venezuela is ever-increasing. Iran, which has exported its state-sponsored terrorism to the Americas in the past, maintains facilitation networks and raises funds through its proxy, Lebanese Hezbollah. Having a footprint in the region also allows Iran to collect intelligence and conduct contingency planning for possible retaliatory attacks against U.S. and/or Western interests. These malign state actors are part of a vicious circle of threats that deliberately erode stability and security in the region.⁴⁵ USSOUTHCOM, headquartered in Miami, Florida, is postured to counter these threats and to maintain the regional balance of power in favor of the United States by recognizing the importance of and strengthening partnerships within the region.

Concepts and Initiatives

The U.S. Army, with a long history in the Caribbean and in Central and South America, continues to share responsibility for fostering peace and stability in the Western Hemisphere. U.S. Army South (USARSOUTH)—the ASCC of USSOUTHCOM—conducts and supports multinational operations and security cooperation in this AOR to counter transnational threats and to strengthen regional security in defense of the homeland. It can also be required to serve as a Joint Task Force Land Component Command, or simply as a JTF, as directed. Headquartered at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, USARSOUTH has supported U.S. national security objectives in the region through proactive engagement and enduring partnerships with its judicious use of limited assigned forces—intelligence, signal, sustainment and medical—under the lineage of Sixth Army. The command maintains depth through regional alignment with Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve units. 

USARSOUTH regional efforts are also integrated with and complemented by 18 National Guard State Partnership Program units (Army and Air Force) that maintain enduring relationships with 24 counterparts in the AOR. In 2021, the New York National Guard exchanged counterterrorism lessons learned from 9/11 and took part in Exercise Tapio 21, led by Brazil. Moreover, in September 2021, South Carolina National Guard medical personnel, working with its state partner, Columbia, provided care to remote villagers in Tamana. The RC is embedded in all major USSOUTHCOM exercises and, through a combination of part-time and full-time support, provides 30 percent of the USSOUTHCOM headquarters staff, 20 percent of its Security Cooperation mission, 63 percent of its Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay (JTF-GTMO), 25 percent of Joint Task Force-Bravo (JTF-B) and 25 percent of Special Operations Command South.⁴⁶ This combination of active and reserve forces provides a scalable, flexible, agile and responsive team with unique professional skills and unmatched experience. 

Contingency response represents the most likely venue for the deployment of Army forces in this AOR. The unique geographical characteristics of the region make it vulnerable to devastating natural disasters, which often require international support to save lives and mitigate suffering. In addition to frequent hurricanes and destructive earthquakes, the region is also affected by volcanoes, mudslides, flooding, fire and tsunamis. As the largest of the USSOUTHCOM components, USARSOUTH is tasked to form the core of a JTF for contingency response. It maintains a C2 node capable of responding to short-term contingency requirements. Within 72 hours, it can deploy in response to natural disasters and catastrophic events throughout the AOR. The initial deployment package can be expanded to a larger contingency command post or JTF, depending on the severity of the contingency event.

In Central America, USSOUTHCOM’s JTF-B has built collective response and security capability and readiness in Army forces and partner militaries. Established in 1984, its mission is to: conduct and support U.S. joint, combined and interagency operations that increase regional security; support interagency operations in coordination with U.S. military and U.S. embassy country teams; support regional humanitarian and civic assistance, disaster relief and contingency missions; and plan, coordinate and conduct regional search and rescue operations.

Support for Allies and Partners

There are myriad examples of strengthening partnerships in the region: 

The Conference of American Armies (CAA) is an international military organization consisting of armies from the North and South American continents. The organization conducts a two-year cycle of special conferences and exercises hosted by different member armies—the Brazilian Army hosted the 35th Cycle in April 2022. Since 1961, the CAA has provided a venue for the U.S. Army Chief of Staff to engage in multilateral and bilateral dialogue with counterparts from Latin and South American partners and allied nations.⁴⁷  

USARSOUTH Command Post Deployment Exercise, finished in May 2022, was an exercise in Honduras to increase readiness for upcoming contingences, such as disaster relief. During the nine-day exercise, more than 60 Soldiers from USARSOUTH, 470th Military Intelligence Brigade, 410th Contracting Support Brigade and the 56th Signal Battalion set up the contingency command post (CCP) and the tactical satellite communications and participated in several operations and intelligence briefings. The CCP will support USSOUTHCOM, the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development), other federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations during humanitarian crises, natural disasters and other contingency operations in the AOR.⁴⁸ 

Centam Guardian, as part of USARSOUTH’s mission to respond to and be ready for disaster situations, was an exercise conducted for the first time in May 2022 to build readiness, resilience and confidence across the Central American region. Divided into three phases in El Salvador, this exercise consisted of a field training exercise (FTX)—a humanitarian assistance and disaster response table-top exercise. The FTX involved U.S. Army Soldiers from the 7th Special Forces Group, the Puerto Rico Army National Guard and 60 soldiers from the Salvadorian Army.⁴⁹

Cyber Defense Exchange was a three-day subject matter expertise exchange with the U.S. Army Cyber Command and the Argentine Cyber Defense Directorate. Conducted at the Argentine Army Cyber headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and coordinated by personnel from USARSOUTH, this exchange in May 2022 helped to share best practices in cyber defense and to build cyber program interoperability.⁵⁰
 

North America

The 21st-century world faces a complex set of challenges that do not fit into traditional categories. Historically, the U.S. homeland has largely been spared the catastrophic events seen in much of the rest of the world. However, since 9/11, the steady convergence of terrorism, hybrid threats, natural disasters, the recent COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest across the nation—coupled with the instability and uncertainty of the global environment—require that the United States prepare for contingencies on her own soil. Protecting citizens, mitigating the impacts of crises and preserving the American way of life are enduring Army concepts. These concepts require constant attention and the ability to anticipate and quickly respond to any type of mission, regardless of location. A secure homeland is vital to U.S. interests at home and abroad.

The Northern Lights glow behind an Army Patriot M903 launcher station at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, 5 March 2022, during exercise Arctic Edge 2022. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Joseph P. LeVeille)

 

The threat to North America is complex. Since 2020, America’s competitors have accelerated their fielding of kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities specifically designed to threaten the homeland. Of equal or greater concern is competitors’ relentless, coordinated effort to weaken the institutions and alliances at the core of America’s strength and influence—all while expanding their own influence internationally. Now competitors hold the homeland at risk in multiple domains and constantly strive to exploit perceived vulnerabilities.⁵¹ In addition to near-peer competitors, countries such as North Korea and Iran, as well as violent extremist organizations, remain committed to attacking the United States, either directly or indirectly, by inspiring homegrown violent extremists. If successful, these many threat capabilities can not only destroy or incapacitate U.S. defensive systems, but also severely degrade DoD’s ability to project military force from the United States into other theaters in response.⁵² 

Initiatives

To defend against these, the homeland defense enterprise reflects the fact that the threats have expanded beyond violent extremism. In fact, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, was originally established on 25 April 2002 in recognition of the threat of violent extremism. Today, USNORTHCOM has refocused its efforts to not only counter violent extremism, but also to deter and defeat the complex nation-state threats and adversarial strategies that have eroded America’s advantage.⁵³ The ability of the United States to deter in competition, de-escalate in crisis and defeat in conflict is dependent upon America’s collective ability to detect and track potential threats and friendly forces from anywhere in the world—while delivering data to decisionmakers as rapidly as possible. 

U.S. Army North (USARNORTH)—the ASCC of USNORTHCOM—forms the foundation, along with its myriad partners, of a deep and credible protection of the homeland. This requires a careful and deliberate blend of military, civilian and law enforcement elements into a unified, mutually supporting team. In pursuit of that goal, three key missions emerge: conducting theater security operations with the partner nations of Mexico and Canada; planning, training and conducting theater sustainment and response efforts as the joint force land component command (JFLCC); and providing C2 to federal forces that support domestic law enforcement and disaster relief agencies responding to a range of contingencies. Also headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USARNORTH is building the enduring relationships—inside and outside of the United States—to accomplish those missions and to defend the homeland through the prevention of threats and, in the event of crises, swift support of civil authorities. 

Army Forces and Exercises

USARNORTH consists of limited organic forces (e.g., Task Force 51, a scalable, deployable command post) as part of the lineage of Fifth Army, but it does have assigned, allocated or operational control (OPCON) active and reserve forces. These non-organic units perform critical functions, such as mission command, sustainment, intelligence and air and missile defense (e.g., the Army’s National Guard’s 167th Theater Sustainment Command and Task Force 76, a deployable Army Reserve element that provides C2). Since homeland defense is USARNORTH’s top priority, it is prepared to assume OPCON of dedicated ground forces anywhere in the continental United States (CONUS) to deter, detect and defeat threats against America and its people, to include protecting DoD’s ability to project combat power globally. 

In May 2022, approximately 680 U.S. Army Soldiers, 20 U.S. Marines and 3,200 Canadian and British forces participated in the largest allied exercise that is regularly conducted in North America. The annual exercise, Maple Resolve 22, occurred at the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre at Camp Wainwright in Alberta, Canada; it provided opportunities for Canadian, British and American servicemembers to learn from each other and to improve interoperability and military readiness. The exercise helped ensure the ability to operate together at home and abroad in support of future coalition operations. According to CDR, USARNORTH, Maple Resolve strengthens bonds with NATO allies and enhances the ability to defend the different homelands. Moreover, for an exercise of this magnitude to be successful, sustainment and logistics play a vital role. This year, U.S. forces, equipment and supplies traveled to numerous Canadian destinations via two subset exercises: Nationwide Move 22 and Maple Caravan 22. Specifically, Nationwide Move 22—a U.S. exercise—involved a logistical movement across the country to and from the Canadian border; Maple Caravan—a joint U.S. and Canadian exercise—involved a similar movement across Canada to and from the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre.⁵⁴

USARNORTH, in its role as USNORTHCOM’s JFLCC, provided oversight for approximately 1,250 military and civilian personnel assigned to numerous military organizations across the nation during the annual disaster response training exercise, Vibrant Response, 22 April 2022 through 13 May 2022. The exercise trained and certified Joint Task Force-Civil Support, Task Force-76 and Task Force-46’s response to a simulated chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incident. These three subordinate USARNORTH task forces provide C2 to DoD personnel when they are deployed in support of civilian responders to manage CBRN incidents. The CDR USARNORTH stated, “While the threats to our homeland are complex, our ability to rapidly respond with our interagency partners is vital to maintaining our strategic advantage.”⁵⁵

Support to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 placed the U.S. Army and, in particular, USARNORTH/Fifth Army, the Army Medical Corps and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at the center of the military’s response in support of civil authorities. In May 2020, the Army’s senior leadership—the Secretary of the Army, the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Sergeant Major of the Army—addressed the Army’s response to this crisis.⁵⁶ Among other matters, they highlighted the Army’s: immediate support to local, state and federal governments; many enabling capabilities that are critical to large-scale contingency operations; and a comprehensive approach to ensuring readiness for such operations as these. They noted that the Army is uniquely suited to respond to the pandemic because of its multicomponent structure. All components—Regular Army, National Guard and Army Reserve—are in the fight. Through them, the Army is supporting local, state and federal requirements with unique capabilities, all while maintaining trained and ready forces that can respond to multiple simultaneous contingencies worldwide. In 2021 and 2022, USNORTHCOM continued DoD’s COVID-19 support by deploying military medical provisions to civilian medical facilities around the country. Building on existing pandemic response plans and quickly adapting lessons learned during the pandemic, this support to FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and DHHS (the Department of Health and Human Services) provided significant relief to hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19 case-loads.⁵⁷

USARNORTH, growing to more than 1,000 personnel, was the COVID-19 JFLCC, integrating the myriad capabilities provided by AC and RC Army forces—medical, logistics, C2, etc.—as well as other governmental agencies supporting the COVID response force. Governors in all 54 states and territories activated more than 46,000 Army National Guard Soldiers in tailored and scalable units to provide critical capabilities for local incident response CDRs. The Army Reserve activated 1,190 medical personnel in more than a dozen Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces to reinforce civilian medical personnel at hospitals in impacted communities across the nation. Among other missions, USACE redesigned the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City into a nearly 3,000-bed health care facility, equipping it with FEMA deployable hospital equipment. USACE continued to provide “build” options to local and state leaders across the country, helping them tailor each location to local requirements. The last of the 68 military COVID-19 medical response teams that deployed, beginning in August 2021, completed their mission on 29 March 2022 at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 68 teams, comprised of approximately 1,275 military personnel, supported 62 hospitals in 59 cities across 30 states and the Navajo Nation. USARNORTH’s assigned forces, and others, coordinated the overall effort.⁵⁸ 
 

Global: Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF)

ARSOF plays a significant role in U.S. military operations and, in recent years, has been given greater responsibility for planning and conducting worldwide counterterrorism operations. U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has more than 70,000 active duty, National Guard and reserve personnel from all four services and the DoD civilians assigned to its headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, its four service component commands and its eight sub-unified commands.⁵⁹

The U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC)—the ASCC of USSOCOM—is among the most diverse organizations in the U.S. military, bringing a broad range of competencies and disciplines to support CCDRs and ambassadors worldwide. Headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the fundamental mission of USASOC is two-fold: to organize, train and equip ARSOF units and Soldiers; and to deploy them worldwide to meet the requirements of war plans, COCOM Theater Security Cooperation Plans and ambassadors’ Mission Strategic Plans.

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Chapter 7: Army Families
 

2022 Profile of the United States Army

Foreword
Chapter 1: National Defense
Chapter 2: The Land Component
Chapter 3: Army Organization
Chapter 4: The Soldier
Chapter 5: The Uniform
Chapter 6: The Army on Point
Chapter 7: Army Families
Chapter 8: Army Commands
Chapter 9: Army Service Component Commands
Chapter 10: Direct Reporting Units

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