This article compares the Army in January 2017- almost broken, to the Army of January 2021- in the best shape it has been in decades. How did this happen?
Giving the Army enough money to rebuild after almost two decades of war. Keeping the Army out of new conflicts and lessening its present in current conflict. And appointing civilian leaders who agreed with these policies (at least most of them).
The U.S. Army Is In Great Shape. Let’s Not Screw It Up.
Read the rest at the link.Domestic conditions in the U.S. over the last year have been so poor—a pandemic, a recession, an insurrection—that a casual observer could easily conclude the Trump years were a non-stop nightmare.
The truth is more complicated. Not only did the economy grow steadily during Trump’s first three years, but some institutions actually benefitted from his priorities. The U.S. Army is a case in point.
When Trump took office in early 2017, the service was worn out from 16 years of continuous warfighting, and political gridlock in Washington had imposed spending limits making adequate preparations for future conflict nearly impossible.
On February 7, 2017, the Army’s Vice Chief of Staff warned the House Armed Services Committee that only a third of brigade combat teams were at an acceptable state of readiness. He described his service as “outranged, outgunned and outdated”—rapidly falling behind potential adversaries in its ability to wage war.
Shortfalls were especially noticeable in the Army’s anemic modernization program. The Obama administration’s fiscal 2017 budget request for Army weapons research, development and procurement amounted to a grand total of two days’ worth of federal spending ($22 billion).
Donald Trump’s presidency changed all that, using a simple formula. He gave the Army more money, and then kept it out of new conflicts for four straight years. In fact, he pushed to reduce overseas commitments the service had to meet, even when Army leaders warned of potentially adverse consequences.
And Trump did one other thing: he installed a team of leaders in the Department of the Army that had a shared commitment to rebuilding the institution. Although the president later soured on Mark Esper, his first Army Secretary who was elevated to Secretary of Defense, the service was allowed to stick with a rebuilding plan formulated during the administration’s first year in office.
So here is where the Army stands today. Its 2021 budget plan envisions that two-thirds of brigade combat teams will be at their highest state of readiness in the fiscal year that begins October 1. Weapons procurement is up 60% from where it stood in 2017, while research and development are up 70%.
As a result, the Army is poised to execute its first comprehensive modernization of combat systems since the Reagan years. The service is developing new long-range fires (artillery and missiles) with much greater range, new rotorcraft with greatly enhanced performance, more survivable combat vehicles, more effective air defenses, and more resilient communications networks.
And it is modernizing its Abrams main battle tank, still the most lethal armored vehicle in the world, at a more sustainable rate. It is also buying tens of thousands of “joint light tactical vehicles” to replace dangerously vulnerable Humvees developed during the Cold War.
This outcome was not achieved simply by throwing money at the problem. Choices had to be made. Army leaders decided to forego increases in force structure to concentrate on readiness and modernization, while killing or shrinking 180 programs less important than the service’s top modernization priorities. Today, 80% of the service’s research budget is focused on those priorities.
Bottom line: for the first time in a generation, the U.S. Army is in great shape. It doesn’t have everything it needs to fight and win future wars, but it is making steady progress.
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Originally Posted by The Booman
