ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Without the resources it needs, the Army could not sustain global commitments, maintain unit readiness or push forward with its modernization efforts, senior Army leaders said. 

“We’re going to try to protect readiness at all costs, we’re going to try to protect as much modernization as we can at all costs, but there’s not a lot of room to maneuver in the Army budget,” said acting Army Secretary John Whitley.

The Biden administration continues to work on its fiscal 2022 budget request, so the Army’s budget is still not finalized, Whitley said April 27.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville has some simple advice for soldiers considering whether to get a COVID-19 vaccine. 

“We need to do it for society, we need to do it for the team, and we need to do it for the Army,” he said. 

The Army is working with the other services to build a military that’s ready for tomorrow’s battlefield, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said.

“We all want to win,” McConville said. “We all bring different perspectives. Your view of the future fight may be different … but what we look at is we’re trying to provide options to combatant commanders, things that they can use.”

It is often said that generals like to refight the last war, but Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said that isn’t true for him. 

“What we are trying to do in the Army today is fight the next fight,” he said during a March 25 seminar hosted by the Brookings Institution. 

The Army needs to plan for the worst while hoping for the best, said McConville, a Quincy, Massachusetts, native who is serving as the 40th chief of staff at a time when transformation is the big push. 

In a new paper, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville emphasizes the importance of the service’s transformation efforts as it prepares for future conflicts and growing threats from competitors such as China and Russia.

“Although our Army still maintains overmatch, it is fleeting,” McConville writes. “In the face of determined adversaries and accelerating technological advances, we must transform today to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Future conflicts will manifest at longer range, across all domains, and at much greater speed, both physical and cognitive.”

The U.S. Army has embarked on its biggest transformation in 40 years, boldly revolutionizing the force in far deeper ways than just new weapons and capabilities, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said March 16.

In a keynote address March 16 during Global Force Next, a three-day virtual conference hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, McConville said every part of the Army is evolving in an effort that changes how the force fights, how it does business and how it treats people, uniformed and civilian.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville defended the role played by women in the military, saying he has served with many during his 39 years of service, including in combat. 

His comments come after a cable television host claimed changes in grooming standards and uniforms to accommodate women in the ranks was making “a mockery of the U.S. military.” 

The Army’s top general had a stern warning for soldiers who harbor extremist views as the service continues to battle “corrosive behaviors” in the ranks.

“There’s no room for extremism of any type in the United States Army,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said. “That’s just where we stand, and if you’re an extremist, you need to go somewhere else. We don’t need you in the United States Army.”

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Army remains committed to helping defeat the virus, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said.

“Right now, we have this domestic enemy, this invisible enemy called COVID,” he said. “When you look at the casualties that our country has taken, well in excess of what we took in World War II, from where I sit, we all should do what we can to defeat this virus.”

The Army’s modernization efforts remain as critical as ever in 2021 amid a high operations tempo and growing competition from adversaries such as Russia and China, the Army’s top general said.

“The Army must always be ready to fight and win,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said Jan. 19 during The AUSA Noon Report, a webinar hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army. “In this era of great-power competition, the Army must always be ready to compete to aggressively protect our national interests.”