Engineer presents professional information designed to keep U.S. military and civilian engineers informed of current and emerging developments within their areas of expertise for the purpose of enhancing their professional development.
Issue link: https://engineer.epubxp.com/i/284727
January–April 2014
10 Engineer
success here by applying key interpersonal skills to know
and understand offcers, NCOs, and soldiers from other
armies and to be humble when dealing with them.
D
espite our best efforts to shape a stable global envi-
ronment and prevent violence is likely to
remain endemic to the human condition. It has been
said that "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
2
While
we do everything possible to prevent the outbreak of war,
we must ensure that there never will be a day when the
U.S. Army is not ready to fght and win wars in defense of
our Nation.
What is a war? Historically, war has been defned as a
carried out by force of arms, either between nations
or between parties within a nation. However, as we con-
sider hostile acts in cyberspace, the defnitions of war and
acts of war will continue to evolve. For example, large-scale
cyberattacks against government operations or critical
infrastructure—such as those in the 2008 Russian-Georgian
reasonably be considered acts of war. Leverag-
ing the technological savvy of today's Soldiers requires that
leaders have an engaged interest in their development. This
will require junior leaders from the same generation who
are as adept at leader development as they are technologi-
cally competent.
To defend our Nation, the Army must maintain the capac-
ity to conduct strategically decisive land operations anywhere
in the world. Though we will always conduct such operations
as part of a joint force, we also acknowledge that war is a
clash of wills that requires the ethical application of violence
to compel change in human behavior. Here, company com-
manders make a dramatic contribution to the application of
strategic landpower by being tactically and technically prof-
cient in the execution of combined arms maneuver and wide
area security. Without successful tactical execution, the best
strategic concepts are doomed to failure.
The U.S. Army capstone concept lays out the details of
what capabilities the Army must sustain and provides some
guidance on how the force may be employed in the future.
But it all boils down to one crucial point: An Army that can-
not win on the battlefeld is of little worth to the security
of the Nation. As everyone is aware, we are facing austere
times ahead. This fscal reality cannot be an excuse for not
doing our duty or losing sight of our purpose. In the fnal
analysis, this country will one day—maybe soon—ask us
to deploy to some distant land, close with and destroy an
enemy, and then build a secure and lasting peace. Our
Army is uniquely qualifed to ensure the training neces-
sary to make those things happen, thanks to the strength
of our NCO Corps. Commanders must leverage the experi-
ence of their senior NCOs and fnd creative ways to properly
train the fundamentals despite resource constraints. We've
successfully done it before in our Army, and we are counting
on our young leaders to do it again.
Conclusion
I
t was often platoon and company leaders who took the
lead in solving strategic issues in Iraq and Afghani-
stan. It will continue to be platoon and company leaders
who keep the Army the well-trained and globally respon-
sive force that our Nation needs to deter our adversaries,
protect our friends, and defeat our enemies in the 21st cen-
tury. The U.S. Army must have company commanders who
understand strategic landpower and their role in it. Seek
out opportunities to ingrain your training events within
the framework of strategic landpower. Write articles for
your branch professional bulletin, discussing the impacts
of strategic landpower for your specialty. You can fnd the
strategic landpower white paper on the TRADOC Web site
at