Future of the U.S. Army: Background & the National Commission’s Report

The American people expect their Army to be trained and ready whenever called upon to achieve national objectives. In an increasingly complex world with an increasing array of diverse threats at home and abroad, Americas Army must possess a wide range of capabilities to fulfill its myriad missions. However, even as the demand for Army forces expands and diversifies, the fiscal resources necessary to meet that demand have declined and will remain challenging for several years. This tension between growing requirements and fewer resources not only creates national-level risk, it also has resulted in some unhealthy competitive tension among the Armys components, especially between the Regular Army and the Army National Guard. In large part, these factors, plus the Armys proposal, endorsed by the Department of Defense, to consolidate all Apache aircraft in the Regular Army, prompted the Congress to establish the National Commission on the Future of the Army (NCFA). This book provides a background, discusses the National Commission’s Report to the President and the Congress of the United States regarding the future of the Army.