ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The U.S. military is working toward a “new normal” as it continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said.

“The long-term view is what do we do over the next six, 12, 18 months,” Esper said May 4 during a virtual event hosted by the Brookings Institution. “My view, the view of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the view of our commanders, is there will be a new normal that we will have to adapt to for a certain period of time.”

This period could last until a vaccine “we are confident in” is developed and available, Esper said.

Soldiers who played on sports teams in high school are more likely to have the traits needed to succeed as leaders in the Army, according to Army Secretary Mark T. Esper, who said a sports background “just jumps out for me.”

“People who play sports, who are on sports teams, I think are valuable,” Esper said June 13 to an almost exclusively female audience at the Women in Defense National Conference in Arlington, Virginia, where he was the keynote speaker.

The Army has told Congress that 10 installations face “climate-related threats,” but rising sea levels isn’t the biggest problem. Drought is the primary concern.

Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper, replying to a question from the Senate Armed Services Committee, said desertification is the threat at nine installations. Only one, Military Ocean Terminal Concord in California, is threated by riverine flooding.

Desertification is the loss of water, vegetation and wildlife that can result from overuse of soil, usage by farming, and from drought.

The Army’s modernization efforts are a “tremendous opportunity” for companies that are willing to work with the service, the Army’s top civilian leader said.

Since the Army revealed an extensive effort to cancel, reduce or delay nearly 200 programs to funnel more than $30 billion into its six modernization priorities, the service has gotten pushback from some who believe the Army’s priorities are “misguided,” Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said.

Civilians who work for the Army provide vital cohesion for the service, Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said Oct. 10.

“You are the continuity for the force,” Esper told civilian employees at a luncheon on the final day of the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. “This is how we will sustain reforms into the future.”

Civilians who remain in their jobs while military colleagues rotate in and out maintain key institutional knowledge, Esper indicated. “Department of the Army civilians will carry the ball forward,” he said.

The Army has been shifting more research and technology funding to autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles because future battles could be won by the side with the best robotics, Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said.

Artificial intelligence and robotics have “the potential to fundamentally change the character of warfare,” Esper said earlier this month at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “We want to get there first, and I tell you we will get there first.”

The Trump administration’s nominee to be first commanding general of the U.S. Army Futures Command “brings to bear a lot of attributes,” Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper said of the selection of Lt. Gen. John M. Murray to the new post. “He will get it off on the right foot, and get it headed in the right direction.”

Murray’s nomination for promotion to four-star general and assignment to the new Austin, Texas-based command is pending before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Esper said he has “utmost confidence” Murray will be confirmed by the Senate.

Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said the Army has launched some bold changes but that doesn’t mean today’s force is weak. “We are ready for any type of threat today,” he said, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

Esper was introduced by retired Lt. Gen. Guy C. Swan III, the Association of the U.S. Army’s vice president for Education, who said the Army secretary “brings a remarkably wide array of skills and experiences to this position,” at least partly because Esper has “been a soldier with the unique distinction of serving in all three components of the U.S Army.”

The Regular Army needs to grow to a force of 500,000 soldiers by 2028 to have sufficient forces to deter or defeat potential enemies, Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper says.

To grow, the Army needs to continue to recruit and retain quality soldiers, and to also make associated growth in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, Esper said in June 5 remarks before the Brookings Institution. This requires increasing deployability of soldiers across the Army and raising recruiting standards, he said.