ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

A top Army commander has been named the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s effort to find a vaccine for COVID-19 by the beginning of next year, President Donald Trump announced.

Gen. Gus Perna, commander of Army Materiel Command, will spearhead the White House initiative. The goal is to produce about 300 million vaccines by January.

“We are looking to get [a vaccine] by the end of the year if we can, maybe before,” Trump said May 15.

The Army general responsible for post housing wants to see conditions improve now and in the future.

“This is not only about day-to-day living. It is about what we want our installations to look like in 40 or 50 years,” said Gen. Gus Perna, who as Army Materiel Command’s commanding general is responsible for Army housing.

Two top Army generals – the commanders of U.S. Army Pacific and Army Materiel Command – had similar messages about preparing for multi-domain operations during the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2019 Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Ala.

Gen. Robert B. Brown, the Army Pacific commanding general, is responsible for a multi-domain task force that is working out kinks in an evolving two-year-old doctrine that embraces joint and multinational operations. Brown said the forces will need to adopt the multi-domain operating concept “or they will become irrelevant.”

The inspection and condition of Army housing is now being overseen by the U.S. Army Materiel Command, whose commander has vowed to restore soldiers’ and families’ confidence in the service’s commitment to their welfare and safety.

Army Secretary Mark T. Esper and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley launched a sweeping inspection of on-post housing following reports of widespread problems with potential hazards and serious maintenance issues, mostly in privatized housing.

In the program-cutting process the Army has termed “night court,” representatives from every corner of the Army were given a voice in “passionate” discussions to define requirements, said Gen. Gus Perna, commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.

Led by Army Secretary Mark T. Esper and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, the night court sessions were undertaken over the last 18 months to identify Army programs that could be cut or reduced to free up money for modernization priorities. 

The Army Futures Command is on schedule to be stood up in July, Gen. Gustave F. Perna, Army Materiel Command commanding general, said May 23.

“I have never seen the Army move as fast as it is,” Perna said, describing the service’s effort as an attempt to overcome the parochialism and bureaucracy embedded in the Army’s current acquisition system.

In a battle cry for modernization, the head of Army Materiel Command said, “It is shameful what we’ve come to.”

“This really should scare you,” said Gen. Gus Perna, in a Tuesday address at the Global Force Symposium and Exposition hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. “The enemy is not restrained by our bureaucracy.”