ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The Army must change the way it does business as it transforms the force for the future, the service’s top general said.

“The battlefield is changing as fast as the technology in your pocket, and we know we have to change,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said.

Speaking on May 19 on a Council on Foreign Relations panel with the other service chiefs, George emphasized the importance of not just pursuing the latest capabilities but also the need to change how the Army buys things, how it trains and how it fights.

A new Army field manual homes in on what it means to be a soldier dedicated to the profession of arms.

With the proliferation of drones presenting an “inflection point” in how war is waged, the Army must completely rethink how it is transforming to meet enemy capabilities, senior Army leaders said.

“As we view it, war in the last couple of years in human history has hit an inflection point … and will no longer look like what it has for the past two millennia,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said May 7 at a hearing before the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense.

Big changes in force structure, weaponry, platforms and acquisition are coming to the Army “to build a leaner and more lethal force,” according to a DoD memorandum.

Effective leaders can successfully solicit feedback from their soldiers, recognize bottom-up innovation and stay curious, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said during a recent episode of the From the Green Notebook podcast.

The Army is gathering insights from its initial transforming in contact brigades and adjusting in real time to shape the future of the force, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said during Defense One’s 2025 State of Defense series.

“In the Army, we like to say they’re only lessons observed, they're not lessons learned until we actually change how we train and operate, change how we organize, and then change how we buy things,” he said. “I think that that's the most exciting thing, is that we're seeing changes in weeks and months, rather than waiting years to advance.”

Bottom-up innovation continues to drive the Army’s transformation as the service seeks to move “at the speed of change,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said.

“Our soldiers are very innovative. They are very welcoming of this change. They can move at this kind of speed,” George said Jan. 29 during a Coffee Series event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army. “I’m a believer in bottom-up innovation. … Our challenge is the processes back here to support all of that.”

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George will speak Jan. 29 as part of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Coffee Series.

The event will take place at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The event opens at 6:30 a.m. with registration, coffee and networking. The program is scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m.

For more information or to register, click here.

When it comes to manufacturing, the biggest challenge facing the Army is the service’s approach to it, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said.

“It’s a process change, that’s what we’ve got to get after,” George said Dec. 7 during a panel discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. “I think that’s the biggest challenge we have.”