ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Faced with a shifting global security environment that has grown even more uncertain in recent days, the Army is building readiness through the warfighting skills that come with trusting and empowering people, the commander of Army Forces Command said.

On the third and final day of the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., Gen. Andrew Poppas led a discussion on what it will take to fight and win future wars, having listened in on security forums from Army leaders in the Indo-Pacific, Europe and Africa.

The Army National Guard must prepare to face and define a new reality of war, the commander of Army Forces Command said. 

“We have to win the first fight,” Gen. Andrew Poppas said Oct. 9 during the MG Robert G. Moorhead National Guard and Army Reserve Breakfast at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Exposition. “We have to prepare for the battle today, especially in this uncertain world. … We have to be ready today.” 

Readiness must be “at the forefront of all we do” if the Army is to stay ahead of complex global threats and win in any domain, a senior leader said.

Describing the world as a “much more uncertain environment” today than it was during 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. Andrew Poppas, commander of Army Forces Command, said this means that “our readiness must increase exponentially.”

Army leaders at every level must get back to knowing the soldiers in their formations and reestablishing the “human-to-human contact” that was lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior commander said.

Gen. Andrew Poppas, commander of Army Forces Command, said Sept. 15 at the Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Benning, Georgia, that the only way to ensure a trained and ready force is through “engaged leadership.”

In an impassioned call to leaders, Poppas reminded members of the audience that leadership is a 24/7 task.

Soldiers from five active-duty divisions are providing “campaign-level support” to help the Army navigate the national recruiting crisis, a senior commander said.

A new two-day event focused on the Army’s warfighters, hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, kicks off July 27.

The inaugural AUSA Warfighter Summit and Exposition will take place July 27–28 at the Crown Complex near Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The in-person summit is focused on the warfighter, and its theme is “America’s Response Force: Ready Today, Ready Tomorrow.”

On-site registration is available. For more information, click here.

In preparing for war, the Army cannot assume anything, the commander of Army Forces Command said.

“We cannot assume we’ll have the time to train. We cannot assume we’ll be familiar with the terrain,” Gen. Michael Garrett said during the recent Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Benning, Georgia. “We cannot assume we’ll know where we will fight next. We cannot afford to orient our sights only along one theater.”

Because of that uncertainty, the Army must train “relentlessly,” he said.

The Army National Guard and Army Reserve are critical to the Army’s success, but this upcoming year may be an opportunity for leaders to reassess what citizen-soldiers are called upon to do, a senior Army leader said.

The Army has resumed brigade-level collective training following a three-month pause to emplace safety measures aimed at preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus among soldiers, observer-controllers and civilian role players.

All major training was halted in mid-March after DoD issued orders restricting travel for troops, employees and family members. The Army began putting measures in place so that units could resume home station training safely in smaller numbers, but major training exercises hadn’t resumed until now.

The Army’s largest command has a new leader, and for the first time in history it is a woman.

Lt. Gen. Laura J. Richardson, an aviator once featured on the cover of Time magazine in a story about mothers going to war, became U.S. Army Forces Command acting commanding general on Oct. 16. She had been deputy commanding general but was tapped to fill the top job when Gen. Robert B. Abrams relinquished command to take a new post heading U.S. Forces Korea in early November.