ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Army commanders face significant decisions when trying to overcome challenges and solve problems. But too often, one of the best sources of information and insights remains unexplored or excluded from the decision-making process—data analytics. 

In the early 2000s, as the Army expanded its combat operations in Iraq, commanders at echelon struggled to identify trends and gain insights into local, regional and national environments, to include trends in adversary activities. Hours were spent locating and consolidating disparate data sources (for example, surveys, Combined Information Data...

Army commanders face significant decisions when trying to overcome challenges and solve problems. But too often, one of the best sources of information and insights remains unexplored or excluded from the decision-making process—data analytics. 

In the early 2000s, as the Army expanded its combat operations in Iraq, commanders at echelon struggled to identify trends and gain insights into local, regional and national environments, to include trends in adversary activities. Hours were spent locating and consolidating disparate data sources (for example, surveys, Combined Information Data...

Technology Alters Warfare, Army Culture

Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connections in Modern War. John Spencer. Potomac Books. 280 pages. $24.95

By Lt. Col. Joe Byerly

Over the past two decades, the technological landscape of society has changed. Cellphones became smartphones. Social media applications scaled from the purview of college kids wanting to meet each other to 4.62 billion people around the world with social media accounts.

While technology advanced, soldiers in the U.S. Army found themselves deploying and redeploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. With...

At a time of critical transformation and in the face of new global threats, the Association of the U.S. Army stands ready to help America’s Army.

Founded in 1950 as a nonpartisan, educational nonprofit, our growing professional association exists to strengthen the bond between soldiers and the American people, promote the military profession and enhance ties with industry.

This has always been a worthy mission. It is even more important today as America faces national security challenges from new and expanding threats and an increasing disconnect between service members and the citizens...

In her second year as Army secretary, Christine Wormuth faces many challenges, but she is also upbeat.

“I think the Army is in a good place,” Wormuth said in an interview timed for publication as the Association of the U.S. Army hosts its Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. The Oct. 10–12 meeting is shaped around a theme focused on the future: “Building the Army of 2030.” Wormuth is satisfied about the path the Army is on.

Transformation of the force, more focus on people and talent management, and an array of other initiatives are starting to show success, Wormuth said. “I...

Entering a pivotal year in the Army’s energetic transformation effort, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville is balancing the needs of a force that is very busy today with an urgent push to prepare for a future, more lethal battlefield.

This fall, the Army will unveil its new Multi-Domain Operations doctrine, and over the next 12 months, it plans to field or produce prototypes for 24 of its signature modernization programs. Together, these milestones could usher in significant changes to the way the Army trains and fights.

At the same time, the Army remains in high demand, with...

Facing a recruiting crunch and unrelenting demands on the force, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston is concerned about taking care of soldiers and their families.

Now in his fourth year as the Army’s senior enlisted adviser, Grinston continues, as he has throughout his tenure, to concentrate on building stronger, more cohesive teams. He also remains immersed in efforts to improve quality-of-life programs for soldiers and their families, and emphasizes caring, commonsense leadership from teams and squads on up.

He has kept this course as the Army responded to a devastating pandemic...

The Army National Guard is working to meet the challenges of motivating a new generation to serve while modernizing the force after weathering one of the busiest periods in its recent history.

Called upon time after time to support the nation’s responses to floods, wildfires, storms, hurricanes, civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Guard stepped up during more than two years of overlapping missions, deferring some of its combat readiness to meet domestic operational requirements.

With demand for the National Guard back at a manageable pace, recruiting is in high gear...

Shaping the force for tomorrow means training realistically today, said Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, who is on a campaign to get more of her soldiers out to the field as she prepares the U.S. Army Reserve for big changes.

Daniels, who has been chief of the Army Reserve and commander of the U.S. Army Reserve Command since July 2020, is navigating a tough recruiting slump and what she calls a “COVID hangover” in parts of the force that has slowed a return to some full-scale training.

To get ahead of these challenges, Daniels said, she is overhauling the component’s recruiting effort to appeal to...

Army Regulation 600-20: Army Command Policy defines the roles and responsibilities of a senior commander as follows: “The mission of the [senior commander] is to care for Soldiers, Families, and [Department of the Army] Civilians, and to enable unit readiness.”

Typically the senior general officer at an installation, the senior commander exercises command of Army installations. Not all commanding generals are senior commanders, but all senior commanders are commanding generals. Well, sort of.

What I have learned as a senior commander in close to four years across two installations is...

Many characteristics of today’s Army come from George Washington’s leadership: He integrated the militia and the Regular Army; emphasized the role of officers and sergeants; introduced discipline, training and values as key attributes of America’s Army; ensured all soldiers were treated with dignity and respect due a citizen of a democracy; and held civil control over the military as vital to a republic.

Often overlooked, however, is Washington’s reading habit. He was a voracious, practical reader, educating himself, in part, through his reading program.

The purpose of this essay is to...

“Get the hell out to Pearl Harbor and don’t come back until the war is won.” President Franklin Roosevelt’s order to Adm. Chester Nimitz after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor was clear and simple. Nimitz quickly organized and led a complex and grueling war in the Pacific involving multiple approaches, hard-fought incremental gains won through island-hopping campaigns and joint solutions across all warfighting functions. And he moved a land force that steadily produced unbearable pressure on imperial Japan.

The strategic surprise attack on Pearl Harbor taught the U.S. military a...

For many years, I’ve known a young man who is an expert on all things related to the National Guard’s 26th “Yankee” Infantry Division. With a graduate degree in U.S. history, he’s a valuable resource concerning the weapons, campaign histories and even the long-forgotten legends of the division in which I once served. There’s nothing he likes better than to spend a weekend riding through reenactor encampments in a restored Willys Jeep while wearing an authentic World War II uniform with the division’s “YD” patch on his shoulder, cradling an M1 carbine across his lap.

I’ve often thought how...

It can be called human resource management, human resource development or talent management. Regardless of the term used, recruiting, maintaining and managing talent is a focus of all organizations.

An organization can choose to handle its talent inclusively or exclusively. Inclusive talent management means every employee has the same opportunity for education, assignments and promotions. In exclusive talent management, individual selections are competitive, and there are gates to future promotions.

The Army suffers from a disconnect between its Talent Management Task Force’s utopian...

The job of Army leaders is to lead the mission and take care of their soldiers. In order to take care of their soldiers, leaders must be aware of soldiers’ ailments, especially those not widely known or represented. When it comes to mental health treatment, the Army largely neglects issues like body dysmorphic disorder and, specifically, muscle dysmorphia.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is often grouped by psychologists with eating disorders like bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa and binge eating. BDD is a mental health condition in which a person can’t stop thinking about one or more...