ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The general officer in charge of recruiting the next generation of soldiers said the shrinking pool of young people who are eligible to serve represents “a problem in our nation.”

Gen. Paul Funk, commander of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, said the two biggest hurdles to qualifying young people for service are obesity and addiction, which he considers “national security issues that we’ve got to address.” 

The Association of the U.S. Army’s Coffee Series will feature Gen. Paul Funk, commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command, on June 2.

The in-person event will take place at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The event opens at 6:30 a.m. with coffee and networking. Funk is scheduled to speak at 7:20 a.m.

Army leaders must seek innovative solutions and embrace technology as they prepare their soldiers to fight on a tougher, more lethal future battlefield, the commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command said.

“The Army of 2030 requires soldiers and leaders who are highly trained, disciplined and fit, with the knowledge, skills and behaviors to operate advanced technological systems to fight in multidomain environments,” Gen. Paul Funk said during the recent Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Business as usual will no longer be enough, Funk said.

The Association of the U.S. Army is releasing seven new podcast episodes in December, including exclusive interviews with paratroopers who deployed for the Afghanistan evacuation mission and a look at the role of hypersonic weapons on the future battlefield.

The Army continues to look for ways to put the right talent in the right places across the force, all while focusing on improving quality of life for soldiers and their families, a top general said.

“We are absolutely trying to put talent where it needs to be used and actually allow it to grow,” Gen. Paul Funk, commanding general of Army Training and Doctrine Command, said May 6 during a virtual discussion hosted by the Center for a New American Security. 

Retired Gen. William Hartzog, whose 35 years in the Army included command of the 1st Infantry Division, Army South and Army Training and Doctrine Command, died Oct. 15 at the age of 79.

The Wilmington, North Carolina, native and lifetime member of the Association of the U.S. Army was commissioned in 1963 after graduating from The Citadel, and he retired in 1998.

Army divisions should start rotating through the combat training centers as the service continues to train to fight a near-peer adversary, the commanding general of Army Training and Doctrine Command said.

“I think we ought to have one a year, just to learn,” said Gen. Paul Funk, who used as an example a recent rotation by the 1st Infantry Division to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.

A policy that would require every soldier to see a mental health professional once a year is under development at Army Training and Doctrine Command, whose commander suggested it would “take the stigma away” of asking for help.

In remarks at the Fires Conference hosted virtually by the Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Gen. Paul Funk, who has been the TRADOC commander since June 2019, said he is “working my way through” the idea, which is not yet policy.

Operating in an urban environment is one of the most difficult challenges facing the Army as it prepares for the next war, according to a new pamphlet from Army Training and Doctrine Command.

From recent large-scale operations in Baghdad and Mosul in Iraq and counterinsurgency missions in Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan, to counterterrorism operations in Paris and Mumbai, India, and humanitarian assistance missions in Asia, urban areas pose a unique challenge to ground troops, according to the pamphlet.