ALLIED LAND COMMAND
Commander ' s Message
My name is Thomson , and I am a proud Allied Land Command Warrior ! It is a tremendous honor and privilege to serve in your ranks . After only a few weeks , I am highly impressed with the professionalism and dedication of our magnificent Land Domain teammates , as well as the importance of our mission and responsibilities . Special thanks to Lieutenant General Darryl Williams for his superb leadership and to Lieutenant General Paolo Ruggiero for managing an excellent transition . Looking ahead , it is clear that we have an outstanding opportunity to strengthen the team as we get to the hard work of implementing NATO Command Structure Adaptation ( NCS-A ). Agreed upon by the Alliance members , NCS-A is the first time in decades that reform does not mean reduction . However , NCS-A involves more than just adding personnel and refining organizational structure . Rather , it is cultural change to make us fit for purpose in today ’ s complex , dynamic , and uncertain security environment , as well as being able to adapt and operate at the speed of relevance .
Cultural Change
Implementing change is tough business , requiring leaders at echelon to understand and embrace it to make it successful . This means that we must be transparent , candidly sharing insights and lessons along the way , and gain “ buy-in ” from organizational members . I was once told that “ change is inevitable , but growth is optional ”. This quote is fitting as we shift our mind-set to a 360-degree approach , provide more flexible and agile command and control ( C2 ) capability , foster multi-domain operations , and improve responsiveness to counter nearpeer threats . Ultimately , NCS-A allows us to more effectively execute warfighting for the range of military operations and dominate the land domain .
Lieutenant General John C . Thomson III Commander
Fit for Purpose
For LANDCOM , NCS-A is a broad effort involving change to be relevant in our environment . Our role to provide land domain readiness , interoperability , standardization , and competency remains the same , but in the context of a 360-degree approach underpinned by new and refined processes to make us fit for purpose . Over the coming months , we will work together with SHAPE on several new concepts nested under NCS-A . These “ big rocks ” include the Readiness , the Reinforcement , and the Enablement initiatives . We will play a key role in these and other emerging concepts to meet the strategic challenges facing the Alliance . Within LANDCOM , we will also develop a detailed roadmap with tangible milestones to achieve the capabilities to meet adaptation goals . Meanwhile , as we move through implementation , LAND- COM remains responsible for providing Land Component Command ( LCC ) capability to SHAPE . These important initiatives are all interconnected lines of effort , reinforcing the essential linkage between LANDCOM and the Graduated Response Forces ( Land ) on the one hand , and Allied armies and national land forces on the other .
Speed of Relevance
Recent events clearly dictate that we must be ready to respond quickly for both crisis and collective defense . This applies not only to the pool of high readiness forces , but also to follow-on forces , reinforcements , and various C2 capabilities . It also applies to planning , indicators and warnings , decision-making , and individual and organizational deployability . We must invest now to ensure we are capable of dominant combined arms operations to prevail in high-intensity warfighting . Accordingly , our training and exercises must also adapt to provide us with repetition and proficiency to build agile and competent command and control capability that ensures we seize and retain the initiative . Deter and defend – our collective tasks – extend far beyond this command , but I am confident that the Land Domain will lead this historic change because of the teamwork among our great Warriors who understand that we must be “ Ready Now .”
Strengthening the Land Domain
This is a very important and rewarding time to be part of the Land Domain team , forging land power dominance and adaptation . Over the past year , our collective knowledge and expertise resulted in the enhanced Forward Presence ( eFP ) Lessons Learned Handbook , the certification of Multi-National Division South-East ( MND-SE ), and significant contributions to tailored Forward Presence ( tFP ). We are grateful to all of our teammates from the Alliance , the Nations , and the Partners for their contributions . In addition to pressing forward on NCS-A , we will close 2018 by robust participation in Trident Juncture , certification of the 1st German-Netherlands Corps ( 1GNC ) in
4 LAND POWER