Military Review English Edition July-August 2016 | Page 30

• Field grade officers do the heavy lifting.
• Managing change in the Army is at a
critical point.
• Army officers are professionals.
• The future of the Army depends on it.
• Force management is part of the job.
• Force management links to every aspect of
the Army at every level.
• Army officers are leaders.
• Force management will be included in

follow-on assignments.
Field grade officers do the heavy lifting. Senior
leaders rely on field grade officers to be subject-matter
experts to help them run the Army and assist them
during decision-making processes. Majors that appreciate the complexity and nuances of how the Army
operates will set themselves apart from their peers
and will be better prepared to understand, visualize,
describe, and direct their organizations. In the Officer
Professional Management System (OPMS) XXI Final
Report of 1997, Gen. Dennis Reimer, then Army
chief of staff, emphasized that “while warfighting must
remain the paramount skill of the officer corps, the
Army should begin to foster officers who thoroughly
understand how the Army works as an institution.”9
Managing change in the Army is at a critical
point. Gen. David Perkins, commander of U.S. Army
Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), in
a briefing to TRADOC civilians, explained that the
problem for the Army is “how to win in a complex
world where the future is unknown, unknowable,
and constantly changing.”10 Force management is the
process that the Army uses to address that problem.
He observed that the Army is structured around the
conventional capabilities for heavy combat in the “Big
Five” weapon systems—the Abrams tank, the Bradley
fighting vehicle, the Patriot surface-to-air missile
system, and the Apache and Blackhawk helicopters.
However, he noted, the operational environment has
changed and with it requirements for different capabilities. Perkins said this operational focus has been replaced by the need for harder-to-measure capabilities
of “optimized soldier and team performance: capabilities overmatch, joint/interorganization interoperable,
scalable and tailorable joint combined arms forces, and
adaptive professionals and institutions to operate in
complex environments.”11
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Today’s field grade officers must prepare themselves
to help build then lead the next Army by ensuring the
r equired capabilities are developed. To assist them,
in October 2014, TRADOC published TRADOC
Pamphlet 525-3-1, The U.S. Army Operating Concept:
Win in a Complex World, 2020-2024.12 This doctrine
guides future force development through the identification of first-order capabilities the Army must
possess to accomplish its missions. It identifies twenty
enduring Army warfighting challenges that must be
overcome.13 Officers at organizations above brigade
level should have a good understanding of this document because the Department of the Army is changing the organization of the Army to meet these new
challenges with new capabilities.
Army officers are professionals. ADRP-1, The
Army Profession, published in June 2015, states in
chapter 1:
The Army Profession is a unique vocation
of experts certified in the ethical design,
generation, support, and application of
landpower, serving under civilian authority
and entrusted to defend the Constitution
and the rights and interests of the American
people. An Army professional is a Soldier
or Army Civilian who meets the Army
Profession’s certification criteria in character, competence, and commitment.14 [bold
is author emphasis]
As professionals, field grade officers are obligated to
understand the basics of force-management concepts
so they can better support Army “business” processes
and increase their professional character, competence,
and commitment. Leaders must understand the
force-management systems in order to operate within
them effectively no matter what position, branch, or
specialty they hold.
The future of the Army depends on it. Fleetwood
Mac sang, “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow, it will
soon be here.”15 In ten years, when the current senior
leaders have long-since retired, the majors of 2016 will
be the strategic thinkers and planners of the Army,
so they need to start understanding the anticipated
future Army now. When the Army reaches the goal of
“Force 2025 and Beyond,” they will be colonels; they
will be the brigade commanders and key staff officers
leading the Army being built and designed today.
July-August 2016  MILITARY REVIEW