The smaller Army of the future must consist of high quality volunteers like this soldier concentrating on precision packing of a parachute at Ft Meade, MD. V. Quality Force In 1948, owing to the shortage of funds, basic training had been cut to a mere eight weeks. The cycle was increased to fourteen weeks in March 1949, but that did not include specialty or "branch" training. The 1948, 1949, and 1950 peacetime drafts, which provided a total of 300,000 men, bad filled the Army with all too many disgruntled, indifferent, or even hostile soldiers. (For the affluent the draft was not difficult to evade.) Nor was the Army combat-minded. Most enlisted Army volunteers of that era had not joined to fight. An Army general put it this way in 1951: "In an attempt to fill their quotas, our recruiting officers had painted a rosy picture: 'Join the Army and see the world.' 'Have fun in Japan.' 'Good pay. Many benefits.... Recruiters didn't stress the obligations of a soldier." (Blair. The Forgotten War) Quality soldiers are key to any successful army. Regardless of where we end up with our force structure, quality will always be paramount. We plan to maintain high standards for recruiting and retaining soldiers. Quality soldiers are the cornerstone of a trained and ready Army. Quality Personnel The ability to attract and retain high quality young Americans to serve as soldiers remains the critical clement in the success of the volunteer Army. Quality soldiers are easier to train and perform better in all critical skills than those less qualified. The flexibility offered by quality soldiers is critical to shaping the Army of the future, as the demands placed on the soldier will continue to increase as technology and associated requirements advance. Quality is the most critical of the Army's imperatives, as it fosters the synergy necessary for continued success of the modern volunteer Army. FY91 accessions represent the highest quality ever recruited, and our goals for the future will continue to reflect the need to maintain a quality force. Recruiting and Retention The Army is facing the most turbulent period since the force reduction following the Vietnam War. Critical to maintaining readiness during the drawdown will be the recruitment and retention of the best soldiers. Retention programs have been designed to retain the best soldiers, to eliminate substandard soldiers carlier in their careers, and to direct the reclassification of soldiers out of overstrength skills. To recruit and retain a quality force, the Army still needs an attractive set of enlistment and reenlistment programs, a sound marketing strategy, and compensation packages to ensure an adequate quality of life. The retention of quality soldiers in the active and reserve components will continue to require leaders to conduct challenging training, demonstrate genuine care and concern for their soldiers, and garner support from family members and employers. Recruiting Initiatives The Army College Fund (ACF), to include the ACF Plus, along with the Montgomery GI Bill benefits and enlistment bonuses for quality applicants, continue as Manning the Total Force through the 1990s will provide significant challenges as the Army reduces its structure to meet post-Cold War defense requirements. The retention of quality initial term soldiers in the active Army and the transition of quality soldiers leaving the active Army to reserve components (RC) units are essential to fielding a competent, ready force despite planned force reductions. As we transition to a smaller Army, the focus of the active Army retention program will be the selective retention of our top performers to fill Army requirements. This is a significant change from our recent efforts to retain the maximum number of qualified soldiers. Changes to the Retention Control Points Program, which governs how long enlisted soldiers may remain in the service in their current rank, and the implementation of a qualitative retention system will provide increased flexibility in the reenlistment process as a means of improving the quality of our smaller active Army. The active Army will complete its transition to a revised retention program by FY94. The goal of the RC Transition Program is to continue the placement of cligible transitioning specialists, corporals, and sergeants into units of the Army National Guard (ARNG) and the United States Army Reserve (USAR). This will be accomplished by an extensive counseling program and supporting automation systems Family support is a critical element of a soldier's job satisfaction and retention in the Army. Operation Desert Shield/Storm brought to the forefront the vital role of the family in the retention of the soldier in the Total Army. The goal of the Total Army Family Program is to contribute to readiness through the retention of quality soldiers. The increased reliance on the Reserve Components (RC) has changed the nature of membership for the families of RC soldiers. The Total Army Family Program provides an infrastructure that develops a partnership between the families and the soldiers. This partnership is designed to contribute directly to the mission. Both the Army National Guard (ARNG) and the Army Reserve (USAR) have regionally based family programs. In the ARNG there is a full time family coordinator in each state. In concert with the full time attrition/retention force, the family coordinator works directly with commanders in developing the partnership. In the USAR, family coordinators provide effective linkage and training for USAR commanders and family members. The success of these endeavors will be measured in the retention of quality soldiers and increased personal affairs readiness. Transition Assistance The Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP) is a comprehensive program designed to provide transition and job assistance services to the Army family: soldiers, civilians, and their family members. Its objective is twofold. First, it ensures eligible soldiers and civilians are informed of all benefits and entitlements prior to separation. Secondly, it promotes retention of quality personnel and those with critical occupational skills. The result is that the Army is seen as an employer that cares, which ultimately enhances its recruitment efforts. The Army has established a total of 62 Army Carcer and Alumni Program transition offices worldwide, which are capable of serving approximately 180,000 to 220,000 people each year. Fifty-five of these offices are also coupled with contracted Job Assistance Centers. The Job Assistance Centers provide job search preparation through seminars, workshops and individualized assistance. Preparation includes small group sessions on resume writing, job interviewing, negotiating for salaries, and networking. The Army Career and Alumni Program is not a job placement agency; however, job leads are provided through the automated Army Employer Network (AEN). The Army Employer Network lists employers interested in hiring Army alumni geographically. It also provides, among other things, a nationwide listing of state employment agencies for placement referral. Personnel Management The Army personnel management system must meet the rapidly paced and fundamental changes ahead if we are to preserve the high quality of the force while shaping the smaller Army to meet the warfighting requirements of the future. Officer Management The challenge in Officer Personnel Management is to use the solid foundation of the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) to shape the officer corps to meet the needs of the 21st century. The smaller officer corps of the future must be balanced, able to answer new leadership challenges and maintain warfighting readiness, while providing continued carcer opportunity. We must use the increased flexibility which the National Defense Authorization Acts of 1991 and 1992 granted the Army to reduce the officer corps carefully and prudently. These acts authorize the Army to maximize voluntary losses during the drawdown years through waiving service and timein-grade requirements, to increase early retirements, and, if necessary, conduct reductions-in-force. The Army needs Congressional support to execute these difficult programs effectively. In addition, we need to maintain the incentive for officers to voluntarily leave the Army through a Voluntary Separation Incentive and Special Separation Benefit sustained throughout the drawdown. The quality force of Desert Storm must be carefully managed to meet the future needs of the Army and of soldiers and their families. Warrant Officer Management The Warrant Officer Management Act (WOMA) modernizes the outdated warrant officer (WO) management laws by establishing a single promotion system, selective retirement authority, regular below-zone promotions, equitable release requirements, selective continuation, a new grade (Chief Warrant Officer 5), and provisions for a complete warrant officer career pattern. Many features of WOMA parallel those in the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) from which WO's were excluded. The law permits implementation of WOMA in the RC under regulations approved by the Secretary of the Army. ments Noncommissioned Officer Require The caliber of the Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) has been, and will remain, key to victory for our Army. NCOs are essential to the Army's ability to fulfill its worldwide strategic role in spite of our decreasing size. As we face constrained fiscal resources, we will continue to sustain and expand, where possible, the tools NCOs use to accomplish their mission, ensuring opportunities for promotion, enhancing the Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES), linking NCOES to promotions, and emphasizing quality of life programs. Our priorities are to sustain an acceptable promotion flow, maintain personnel readiness, minimize involuntary separations during the reshaping years, and retain the quality NCOs essential to our professional volunteer force. Everything we do to build the trained and ready force of the future must have, as its basic foundation, topnotch men and women in the NCO Corps of the Total Army. Reserve Component Management Personnel management within the reserve component (RC) will be a major challenge of the 90s. As the world threat changes and the Army reshapes to meet that threat, the RC role is significantly more critical to the success of the Army's new contingency missions. The establishment of the United States Army Reserve Command (USARC) as a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) has been completed. This new command has the mission of developing and implementing those personnel management programs necessary for maintaining the high level of personnel readiness attained by the USAR. Individual soldier development and career progression programs continue to be developed to ensure soldiers are ready to serve effectively in their military specialties upon mobilization. The USAR and ARNG continue to progress in integrating all of their personnel data bases through the Total Army Personnel Data Base (TAPDB) They have tested and will implement the Reserve Component Automation System (RCAS) designed to take the RC into the 21st century. Full-Time Support (FTS) Program Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm served to show just how critical our full-time support force is to the readiness of the U.S. Army Reserve and Army National Guard. The ability of the USAR and ARNG to meet their mission-essential requirements is directly related to the availability and professional competence of their fulltime support force. Active Guard Reserve and military technician soldiers mobilized and deployed shoulder-toshoulder along with other reservists and active Army counterparts. There is little doubt that our high level of deployable units is due in large part to our FTS program. Proposed reductions to the Full Time Support force carry the risk that the future force will be less capable and responsive. The USAR and ARNG support efforts to maintain our current numbers of Full Time Support personnel as the force structure decreases, effectively raising the percentage "level of support." Military Retirees as an Army Manpower Resource It has long been recognized that military retirement contributed towards the accomplishment of two objectives. The first objective was to compensate individuals for their arduous military service to the nation. The second objective provided for a pool of trained soldiers for the purpose of a rapid expansion of the active duty force, should it be necessary. The legal authority established by Congress in the U.S. Code provides for the various degrees of expansion |