{"id":40841,"date":"2018-04-09T18:14:24","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T18:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/09\/heres-how-the-army-secretary-plans-to-build-a-ready-deployable-force\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:32:17","slug":"heres-how-the-army-secretary-plans-to-build-a-ready-deployable-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/04\/09\/heres-how-the-army-secretary-plans-to-build-a-ready-deployable-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how the Army secretary plans to build a ready, deployable force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Army moves to build a force that can take on a near-peer adversary, some of its most important \u2014 and immediate \u2014 initiatives start with the individual soldier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes a soldier\u2019s ability to deploy<\/a> \u2014 a fundamental requirement for a force that\u2019s in demand across Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan \u2014 and the everyday mandatory training<\/a> and minutiae required of soldiers and their commanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Army leaders are working hard on these issues, Army Secretary<\/a> Mark Esper<\/a> told Army Times April 4, and the efforts are all part of a larger plan to build a force<\/a> that\u2019s prepared and equipped to fight future wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere do I want to see the Army in 10 years?\u201d Esper said. \u201cI articulate that in terms of the ability to fight and win a war, [and] continue to conduct irregular warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to get there, Esper said, the Army must overhaul its acquisitions process and develop its multidomain battle doctrine and propagate it into the Army\u2019s schoolhouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also must get its personnel management system \u201cto the next level\u201d to better match soldiers with assignments to meet the Army\u2019s needs, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By focusing on soldiers \u2014 and not just on vehicles and equipment \u2014 the Army hopes to better hone and train its most precious resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To start, the Army is working to determine how it\u2019ll carry out a new Defense Department policy that would separate troops who have been non-deployable for 12 months or longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDeployability is an issue,\u201d Esper said. \u201cFor commanders, it\u2019s a readiness matter, \u2026 and for soldiers, they look to their left and their right, and they know somebody is not deploying, and they wonder why, and they know it increases their frequency of churn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Army also has quite a large number of non-deployable soldiers \u2014 including about 19,000 of them who are permanently unable to deploy because of a combat wound or severe illness, Esper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to work our way through those numbers because those are 19,000 billets that are being occupied, that are non-deployable,\u201d Esper said. \u201cWe need to take care of them. We need to be very empathetic to their challenges. We need to make sure that as they transition out they have good health care provided by the VA. But we are a team that plays away games, which means you have to be able to deploy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t