The Real Army

Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers, July, 2002 by Monte R. Lieutenant Colonel Anderson

In 1985, I was reassigned to the Pentagon, and I despaired of ever finding the Real Army. There, we tried to forecast what the Real Army of the future should be, based on our own concept of what that might be. This was made more difficult by the ending of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet empire, and the growing threat in the Middle East. New equipment was developed to support the AirLand Battle tactics. New organizations were designed to handle the new equipment and tactics. But I never actually saw these units come into being. After 3 years, I gave up on ever finding the Real Army and was transferred to a Reserve Officer Training Corps assignment.

As the Professor of Military Science at a university, it was hard to describe to my students what the Real Army was like, having never seen it myself. My only hope was that one of my young students would take up my torch, search for the Real Army, and one day find it. Although I retired without ever fulfilling my quest, I now had time to reflect and put things into perspective, which is what retirees do I am told. And I have reached these conclusions:

* There is no perfect army. Not really. Never was, never will be. That theoretical Real Army--at 100 percent strength, with 100 percent operational new equipment, and that is well-trained--doesn't exist except in military classrooms.

* The Real Army is an ideal, a goal. It is what could be. You don't seek it, you create it. It means being "All You Can Be, An Army of One"--doing your best, going the extra mile, and doing the extra push-ups. Okay, so your unit is not the best. Why not? What are you doing about it? Will it be a better unit because of you? It had better be!

* It is all the Real Army, every bit of it. There is only one Army, and you are in it. It may be like the five blind men feeling different parts of an elephant for the first time, but it is all one Army. It doesn't matter whether you are in Europe, Korea, Alaska, or stateside. It is not important whether you are airborne, ranger, mechanized, light infantry, armor, or aviation. It is the same Army doing the same mission. You are just seeing a different part of the Real Army. It is all too real.

* The Real Army is the people in the Army. It is as true today as it was at Valley Forge. It is made up of real people, fighting men and women. They are the greatest people on earth. Everywhere I served, I found real people doing a real job serving their country. I may have run out of fuel or bullets, or wished for better equipment, or thought the training and skills were lacking, but the people never once let me down. Not once! It was the soldiers who got the job done in spite of any hardships.

I am convinced that the best-equipped, best-supplied, and best-trained army will fall to pieces in a conflict if it doesn't have the best people. I spent my whole career looking for the Real Army--only to discover that it was always there, just outside my tent. I rest easy in the knowledge that it will always be so.