AUSA Institute of Land Warfare

AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) recently released two Defense Reports.

POW/MIA

"Until They All Come Home: The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency" (Defense Report 16-1, February 2016) discusses this agency’s efforts to ensure that all deceased American service members are recovered, identified and returned to their families.

Three separate organizations – the Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office, the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command and the Air Force Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory – were merged over the last year to form a single organization, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Action Accounting Agency (DPAA).

In laying out the particulars of some of what the DPAA has accomplished, this paper demonstrates how the merger has allowed for better oversight of case research, recovery operations and family communications.

Americans owe a great deal to the service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect their freedom; DPAA is dedicated to ensuring that they are not forgotten.

National Commission on Future Army

ILW has also released "National Commission on the Future of the Army: A Potential Blueprint for the Total Army" (Defense Report 16-2, February 2016).

This paper discusses the role of the National Commission on the Future of the Army (NCFA), its research and analysis of major concerns facing the Army, and the implications that their resultant recommendations could have on the future of the Total Army.

The NCFA was established by Congress to address two major concerns: first, how best to organize and employ the Army despite a decline in resources; and second, whether the Army should consolidate all AH-64 Apache helicopters into the Regular Army.

Historically, declining resources following the end of a major conflict have resulted in reticent responses to overcoming challenges.

The commission released its report on Jan. 28 providing 63 recommendations for the president, Congress, the Department of Defense and the Army to consider.

The majority of the recommendations require the Total Army to conduct detailed analysis to implement the suggested changes.

The force structure changes are based on the current threat environment, which is constantly changing within the globalized world.

The NCFA report is the beginning, not the end, of the process to determine how the Army will adjust in the next five to ten years.

Recommendations to better integrate Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve forces are critical to sustaining and maintaining the all-volunteer force.

These Defense Reports and other ILW publications are available online at http://www.ausa.org/ilw, and can also be obtained by calling (800) 336-4570, Ext. 4630, or by e-mailing a request to ilwpublications@ausa.org.