From the Editor-in-Chief M
y first tour in Germany with an M110 203 mm howitzer artillery unit taught me a lot about readiness, albeit at a unit level. To ensure that our unit could
respond to any event, anytime, we would be hit without notice with an emergency deployment readiness exercise (EDRE). Within two hours of an alert, I and 110 of my clos- est friends in my firing battery had to be in formation, in our vehicles, off the installation and on our way to a local ammunition site and our initial rally point. Te sight of those men, the howitzers and support vehicles rolling out— prepared for whatever may come—is seared in my memory. Readiness for me was being able to marshal troops, training and equipment on time whenever the EDRE was called.
For our nation, readiness is much the same, at a much more strategic level. It is having the troops, training and equip- ment that can deter conflict or prosecute war at a moment’s notice, anywhere in the world. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the 39th chief of staff of the Army, made his priorities pretty clear in his initial message to the Army, writing, “Readiness for ground combat is—and will remain—the U.S. Army’s #1 priority. … Readiness is #1, and there is no other #1.”
Milley went on to clarify that Soldiers must never be sent into harm’s way “untrained, poorly led, undermanned, or with less than the best equipment we can provide” [emphasis mine]. For every member of the Army Acquisition Work- force (AAW), those last five words are key to what readiness means and what we must do to support it, because without the acquisition professional, Soldiers can’t do their job— fight and win this nation’s wars.
Another way to look at readiness from an acquisition point of view comes from Dr. Laura Junor, an economist you’ll meet in this issue who has more than 20 years of experience in military readiness. As Junor describes it in “Readiness: More Tan a Concept” on Page 10, readiness is the ability of a massive and complex supply chain to deliver a single product: military power. I like how she views it as a matter of supply meeting demand. It’s a simple concept yet very com- plicated at the same time. For our readers, it means one thing: Make sure you do your part to supply needed equipment on
time, and make sure it meets or exceeds requirements.
As an important part of that sup- ply chain, it’s the job of the AAW to provide the equipment Sol- diers need. How we do that is the theme of this issue and the sub- ject of a wide variety of articles.
It’s been a year since the Army created its Rapid Capabilities Office to boost readiness by increasing the supply of capabilities to meet demand. Read about its growth and future in “Te Power of Prototypes” on Page 62.
@
Email Nelson McCouch III
ArmyALT@gmail.com
Soldiers can’t win wars, however, much less meet any readi- ness requirements, if they’re sick. In “A Test of Medical Readiness” on Page 74, see how years of preparation to defend against biological warfare enabled the U.S. military to help identify and defeat a diabolical enemy—the Ebola virus—during the outbreak in Africa that began in 2014.
Finally, just as it has often been said that U.S. Soldiers are the best-educated and best-equipped in the history of the world, the AAW is arguably the best the world has ever known, despite the bureaucratic hurdles and fiscal uncer- tainty you face daily. It’s getting even better thanks to long-term thinking such as the Human Capital Strategic Plan (HCSP), built by the Army Director for Acquisition Career Management Office. Te HCSP just marked its first anniversary and, as the estimable Joan Sable notes in “AAW Human Capital Strategic Plan: Year One” on Page 133,
“What good is a plan if there is no action towards its imple- mentation?” Learn about what’s been done, what remains to be done, and what it means for you.
Comments, suggestions or a great story idea for the future? Please contact the magazine at
ArmyALT@gmail.com to send them my way. You never know, your idea might be the key to readiness.
Nelson McCouch III Editor-in-Chief
ASC.ARMY.MIL 5
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