RESHAPING AMERICA'S ARMY

Army, Mar 2005 by Lowe, Karl

A Proposal for the Future Army

Among the Army Reorganization Plan's objectives is trimming headquarters to just two unit of employment (UE) designs-UEx and UEy. UE is a temporary identity adopted to avoid sidetracking the Army's reorganization scheme with debates over what senior command echelons would be called. It is now time to select a naming convention that fits the new structure.

Atop the chain are Army component commands that fulfill Title 10 responsibilities for providing and supporting trained and ready forces for employment by joint and alliance commanders. They include U.S. Army Europe, supporting U.S. European Command, and Eighth Army, supporting U.N. Command/Combined Forces Command/ U.S. Forces Korea, both led by dual-hatted generals who also have alliance roles. In contrast, U.S. Army Pacific, supporting U.S. Pacific Command, and Third U.S. Army, supporting U.S. Central Command, are led by lieutenant generals, while U.S. Army South, supporting U.S. Southern Command, is led by a major general. Reporting to Forces Command (FORSCOM), First and Fifth Armies, led by lieutenant generals, each support two combatant commands. They support U.S. Northern Command for homeland defense and support civil authority missions and U.S. Joint Forces Command for training and mobilizing the reserve components. I, III, V and XVIII Corps, also commanded by lieutenant generals, are often interposed between regional combatant commands (RCCs) or Army component commands and divisions or brigades.

An echelon down, 20 divisions, 10 U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) regional commands, and three special commands (U.S. Army Alaska, U.S. Army Japan and Southern European Task Force), are commanded by major generals. Ten divisions have three to four active component (AC) maneuver brigades and two have responsibility for training, but not employing, six of the Army National Guard's high readiness brigades. When deployed, eight Army National Guard (ARNG) division headquarters are used interchangeably with AC counterparts.

Imagine trying to explain all that to a member of Congress or a senior civilian in the Defense Department, particularly one with no military experience. Arcane command arrangements and confusing names open nearly every aspect of the Army's structure to unsupportive critique.

Naming and Organizing the New UEx

An alternative, which would streamline and rationalize the Army's command structure, comply with congressional guidance to reduce management overhead and free up officers to staff new brigades, would be to reduce the current mixture of 46 army, corps, component command, special command, regional command and division headquarters in the Army's three components to seven theater armies, commanded by lieutenant generals, and 24 field forces, commanded by major generals.

The number of theater armies suggested is based on functions the Army must perform. They include providing regional combatant commands trained forces, support mandated by Title 10 and agreements with the other services and advice on the Army's employment. A theater army could be augmented with staff from other services to serve as a joint or combined land forces command for major combat operations.

Under a standardized naming convention, the seven theater armies could be assigned the numerical designations, lineages and insignia of former field armies, putting to use the rich histories of commands that distinguished them in past wars (Figure 1). An option for forming them and the rationale for each is described below their insignia.

* Headquarters First Army, at Fort Gillem, Ga., would be augmented with Army Reserve and Army National Guard personnel to help FORSCOM oversee reserve component training and mobilization nationwide, relieving Fifth Army of responsibility for the western United States.

* Headquarters Third Army, at Fort McPherson, Ga., would continue to support U.S. Central Command, its current mission.

* Headquarters Fifth Army, relieved of its current responsibilities, would be consolidated with Headquarters U.S. Army South, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to support U.S. Southern Command.

* Headquarters Sixth Army would be formed from Headquarters III Corps and moved to Fort Carson, Colo., to support U.S. Northern Command for homeland defense and to support civil authority missions.

* Headquarters Seventh Army, at Heidelberg, Germany, would be formed by reflagging the consolidated headquarters of U.S. Army Europe and V Corps to support U.S. European Command.

* Rather than retaining a theater army headquarters in Korea to oversee just one brigade or go through the costly process of moving the headquarters to Camp Humphries, Headquarters Eighth Army would be inactivated in Korea and Headquarters I Corps at Camp Zama, Japan, would concurrently be reflagged as Headquarters Eighth Army to support U.S. Pacific Command.

* Headquarters Ninth Army would be formed from Headquarters XVIII Airborne Corps to reinforce any theater in which two combat contingencies occur at the same time.