{"id":29964,"date":"2020-10-10T22:11:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-10T22:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/10\/army-eyes-shorter-deployments-reducing-low-priority-unit-obligations\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:44:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:44:51","slug":"army-eyes-shorter-deployments-reducing-low-priority-unit-obligations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/10\/10\/army-eyes-shorter-deployments-reducing-low-priority-unit-obligations\/","title":{"rendered":"Army eyes shorter deployments, reducing low-priority unit obligations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Army has been looking at the possibility of instituting shorter deployments, as well as reducing some requirements on units that would trickle down to the squad and platoon levels, the Army chief of staff<\/a> said Oct. 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working our way through that right now,\u201d Gen. James McConville told Army Times during a telephone interview. \u201cNine-, 10-month deployments, year-after-year, [put a] strain on families, so we\u2019re looking for opportunities to reduce those lengths.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to make promises that I can\u2019t deliver, but I certainly would like them less than what they are right now, especially for the non-combat deployments,\u201d McConville said. \u201cCombat ones are different. It makes a lot of sense to have people there [longer], but some of our other deployments could be shorter.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The potential changes coincide with an effort by Army Forces Command and other readiness officials to analyze how the service can better balance its global missions with modernization and the reality that some key assets, including air defense artillery and armored forces, have been saddled with a high operations tempo recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am concerned about the Army\u2019s ops tempo as a whole,\u201d McConville said. \u201cFor the last 19 years, the Army has been heavily, heavily deployed. And even more recently, with our air defense units<\/a>, our requirements around the world and particularly in the Middle East have really upped their ops tempo.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That tempo has also been high on armored units, those built around Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles<\/a>, which are in the midst of modernizing their guns, rounds, defensive kits and other systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade\r\rCombat Team, 1st Armored Division in support of Operation Spartan Shield, is loaded onto a U.S. Air\r\rForce C-17 Globemaster at Ali Al Salem Airbase in Kuwait on Sept. 18, 2020, during a load out exercise.\r\rThrough exercises like this, U.S. Army armored elements maintain readiness and the ability to rapidly\r\rdeploy anywhere in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility in a matter of hours. (U.S. Army Reserve Photo by Spc. Jorge Reyes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur armored brigade combat teams<\/a> are on a rotational model \u2014 rotating into Korea, rotating into Europe, rotating into the Middle East \u2014 and also modernizing at the same time,\u201d McConville added. \u201cAnd some of the other low-density, high-demand-type units fall in the same category.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of those demands can put stress on soldiers, their formations and their gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo what we\u2019re doing is taking a look at how we can reduce the lower priority requirements on a unit to give time back to our command and to the lowest levels so they have time to train their individuals, their squads, their platoons and companies,\u201d McConville said. \u201cThat\u2019s where we want to focus. They get the higher level training at the Combat Training Center.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rotations to CTCs create brigade-level training exercises for armored, infantry and Stryker units. Oftentimes, the rotations are culminating events for brigades prior to an overseas deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2020 Fires Conference<\/a> Oct. 1 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, McConville explained how it\u2019s up to brigade and division commanders \u201cto take a hard look\u201d at how company-level leadership manages time.<\/p>\n\n\n\t