1977 & 2013 THE ‘FIFTH SERVICE’


“Te more things change, the more they stay the same” is an old proverb assert- ing that superficial changes over time do not alter basic realities. Case in point: the continuing debate about America’s industrial base. How much is enough? What can we afford to “lose”? What sorts of risk can we afford to take? Read the following paragraphs and ask your- self how long ago the chief of staff of the Army spoke these words—10 days, or decades?


“In the spring of 1950, Congress could not find $13 billion for defense. But when our interests were threatened in Korea, that same Congress found $50 billion for it.


“So we see these traditional thought pat- terns at work today in some areas: new isolationism, idealism, especially strong antimilitarization, which I believe is waning but still powerful, and material- ism, ‘what’s in it for us?’


Tis means no longer do we have the time to mobilize the forces in the industrial base and we just have to be ready now. We must be prepared to fight and win with forces, equipment and material that we have on hand at any moment in time.”


Te year was 1977. In the wake of the Vietnam War, Army Chief of Staff GEN Bernard W. Rogers saw the need for the Army to remain prepared. His remarks appeared in the May-July 1977 issue of


VALUED EXPERTISE The Army uses skills and capabilities for which it may be the only customer, such as those of JP Plowden, who has nearly 30 years of experience. Here, Plowden works on a 120 mm mortar base plate at Watervliet Arsenal, NY. (Photo by John B. Snyder)


Army Research and Development maga- zine, now Army AL&T.


Nearly two decades later, in the January- February 1994 edition, LTG Lawrence F. Skibbie (USA, Ret.) referred to the defense industrial base as a “fifth service” supporting a high-tech, well-armed mil- itary. He wrote: “With these awesome arms has necessarily come a special- ized, high technology defense industry that is dramatically different from the converted automobile and refrigerator factories


that churned out quantities


of weapons in World War II and the Korean conflict.”


Two decades on, the Army’s 2013 Strate- gic Planning Guidance makes clear the need to maintain the industrial base.


“Te Army must preserve options for the future by retaining the capacity to expand


and provide the capabilities


needed for future challenges. Investment in regeneration includes a coherent strat- egy across all Army functions, including


... maintaining an industrial base capable of providing quality material to meet future threats,” the guidance states.


Rogers’ statement that “no longer do we have the time to mobilize the forces in the industrial base” is no less true today than it was nearly 40 years ago. It is prob- ably even more important


than it was


then, given the growth of technology and the military’s dependence on niche tech- nologies for which the government may be the only customer.


176


Army AL&T Magazine


January–March 2014


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