ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

In the 2016-17 special Green Book edition of ARMY magazine, the Army’s top general says the force has made “real progress” improving readiness in the last year “but much remains to be done.”

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley writes in his status report that readiness remains his top priority and the security challenges facing the Army “also have not changed.”

“Great power competition is returning to a world wracked by irregular war and stressed by violent instability and rapid change,” Milley writes.

A broad strategic review of about 780 Army weapon and equipment programs is about to get underway in an effort to set priorities for the future, a top Army official said.

The goal of the Strategic Portfolio Analysis and Review, or SPAR, is “very simple,” Lt. Gen. John M. Murray, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for programs, said Sept. 15 at a breakfast hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.