2014 ARMY

POSTURE STATEMENT
RECIPIENTS

On March 18, 2014, President Barack Obama presented 24 Army Veterans, or 

their family members, with the Medal of Honor. Each of these Soldiers’ bravery 

was previously recognized by award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Nation’s 

second highest award; that award was upgrade to the Medal of Honor. Congressional 

action in the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prompted a review 

of Jewish American and Hispanic American veteran war records from World War Two, 

the Korean War and the Vietnam War. During the review, records of several Soldiers 

of neither Jewish nor Hispanic descent were found to display criteria worthy of the 

Medal of Honor. The 2002 NDAA was amended to allow these Soldiers to be honored 

with the upgrade as well. The White House ceremony recognized these 24 men for 

their gallantry, intrepidity and heroism above and beyond the call of duty. The United 

States Army is proud of these Soldiers and glad to see their professionalism, service 

and sacrifice recognized.

CPL Joe R. Baldonado

SGT Victor H. Espinoza

SFC Eduardo Corral Gomez

PFC Leonard M. Kravitz

MSG Juan E. Negron

MSG Mike C. Pena

PFC Demensio Rivera

PVT Miguel A. Vera

SGT Jack Weinstein

Vietnam War

SP4 Leonard L. Alvarado

SSG Felix M. Conde-Falcon

SGT Ardie R. Copas

SGT Jesus S. Duran

SGT Santiago J. Erevia*

SGT Candelario Garcia

SFC Melvin Morris*

MSG Jose Rodela*

* Living Recipient

Korean War

PVT Pedro Cano

PVT Joe Gandara

SSG Salvador J. Lara

SSG William F. Leonard

MSG Manuel V. Mendoza

SGT Alfred B. Nietzel

1LT Donald K. Schwab

World War II

valor 24

Medal of Honor
A STATEMENT ON THE 

POSTURE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY 2014

submitted by

THE HONORABLE JOHN M. McHUGH and

GENERAL RAYMOND T. ODIERNO

to the Committees and Subcommittees of the 

UNITED STATES SENATE

and the

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

2ND SESSION, 113th CONGRESS

April 2014
The U.S. Army logo brilliantly evokes feelings of valor, 

courage, patriotism and fearlessness. The official mark of 

the U.S. Army consists of a very basic, yet powerful design. 

The colors of the U.S. Army are black and gold. The color 

black represents the black gun powder used in muskets and 

cannons during the Revolutionary War. The color gold 

represents the gold buttons worn on the uniform of the 

Continental Army. The white star was adopted as the sole 

emblem for vehicle marking during preparations for the 

invasion of Normandy in 1944 as the massive formation of 

allied vehicles brought the need for uniformity in marking 

styles. Prior to this time, there were many variations of 

star symbols used for national identification but from 1944 

onwards the plain white star became the most common 

form of national identification symbol for the U.S Army. 

The five-pointed star logo of the U.S. Army is often 

considered as one of the most memorable logos in history. 

The U.S. Army projects it as the guardian of freedom all 

over the world. It is affiliated with the determination of the 

American forces towards protecting their nation’s interests 

abroad while strengthening US alliances around the globe.

The strength of our Nation is our Army, The strength of 

our Army is our Soldiers, The strength of our Soldiers is 

our Families, And that is what makes us Army Strong!

GEN Raymond T. Odierno 

Chief of Staff of the Army
2014 Army Posture Statement

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Budgetary Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Leader Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Army: Globally Responsive, Regionally Engaged Strategic Land Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Missions as a Member of the Joint Force

Regionally Aligned Forces

Missions at Home and Support of Civil Authorities

Ensuring a Ready Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Training

Force Structure

Soldiers, Civilians and Our Families: The Premier All Volunteer Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Ready and Resilient Campaign

Sexual Harrassment / Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Program

Suicide Prevention

Role of Women in the Army

Recruitment and Retention

Role of the Army Civilian

Compensation Reform

Equipment Modernization, Business Process Improvement and Sustainment . . . . . . . . . . 14

Focus Area Review

Equipment Modernization 

Ground Vehicles

Army Aviation

The Network

Equipment Reset and Retrograde

Organic and Commercial Industrial Base

Installations

Energy and Sustainability

Business Transformation

Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Table of Contents
2014 Army Posture Statement 1

America’s Army remains heavily committed in operations 

overseas as well as at home in support of our Combatant 

Commanders. More than 66,000 U.S. Army Soldiers 

are deployed to contingency operations, with nearly 

32,000 Soldiers supporting operations in Afghanistan. 

In addition, there are approximately 85,000 Soldiers 

forward stationed across the globe in nearly 150 countries 

worldwide. Every day, the Soldiers and Civilians of 

the Active Army, Army National Guard and Army 

Reserve inspire us with their competence, character 

and commitment to serving our Nation. A typical day 

for our Soldiers may include patrolling alongside our 

Afghan National Army partners, standing watch on the 

DMZ in Korea, manning missile batteries in Turkey and 

Guam, delivering humanitarian relief to the Philippines, 

conducting logistics training in Sierra Leone, securing 

facilities in South Sudan and responding to floods, 

wildfires and tornados across the United States. 

Throughout our Nation’s history, the United States has 

drawn down military forces at the close of every war. 

Today, however, we are in the process of rapidly drawing 

down Army forces before the war is over. At the same 

time, we continue to face an uncertain, complicated and 

rapidly changing international security environment, as 

stated in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review. In light 

of domestic fiscal challenges, the Army is committed to 

doing its part to restore fiscal discipline and contribute 

to our Nation’s economic strength. In a time of budget 

stringency, the Army’s greatest challenge is providing 

steadfast support to worldwide operational commitments 

to include Afghanistan while simultaneously drawing 

down, reorganizing and preparing the force for a wider 

array of security missions and threats in the future. We 

are committed to ensure the U.S. Army remains the most 

highly trained and professional land force in the world. 

Together, we must ensure our Army is trained and ready to 

prevent conflict, shape and set theaters for our geographic 

Combatant Commanders, deter aggression, and if 

necessary, win decisively in a sustained major combat 

operation. However, over the last two years, the impact 

of the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 has resulted 

in declining readiness throughout the Total Army (Active 

Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve). 

BUDGETARY REDUCTIONS AND 

STRATEGIC CHOICES

Over the past four years, the Army has absorbed several 

budget reductions in the midst of conducting operations 

overseas and rebalancing the force to the wider array of 

missions required by 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance. 

To comply with the funding caps specified in the BCA, 

the FY 13 Budget proposed $487 billion in DOD 

funding reductions over 10 years, of which the Army’s 

share was an estimated $170 billion. In addition, 

sequestration was triggered in 2013, forcing an additional 

$37 billion reduction in FY 13 and threatening a further 

total reduction in DOD funding of approximately $375 

billion through FY 21, with the Army’s portion estimated 

at $95 billion. In FY 13, a combination of sequestration 

and overseas contingency operations funding shortfalls 

INTRODUCTION

THE ARMY’S STRAGETIC VISION

The All-Volunteer Army will remain the 

most highly trained and professional 

land force in the world. It is uniquely 

organized with the capability and 

capacity to provide expeditionary, 

decisive land power to the Joint Force 

and ready to perform across the range 

of military operations to Prevent, Shape 

and Win in support of Combatant 

Commanders to defend the Nation and 

its interests at home and abroad, both 

today and against emerging threats.
2 2014 Army Posture Statement

degraded Army readiness levels. It caused the Army to 

carry over a readiness shortfall of $3.2 billion to FY 14. 

The Army continues to face an uncertain fiscal environment 

in the years ahead. The Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 

2013 provides the Army modest, temporary relief from 

BCA defense spending caps in 2014. The predictability 

afforded by known budget levels is appreciated, and the 

BBA supports an FY 15 Army funding level of $120.5 

billion. However, the Army still faces budget cuts of 

$7.7 billion in FY 14, and an additional $12.7 billion in 

FY 15, when compared to the President’s FY 14 Budget 

request. While we welcome the relief and predictability 

that the BBA provides, the Army will be forced to cut 

$20.4 billion in planned funding, an abrupt reduction 

over a short two-year period of time. Beyond FY 15, fiscal 

uncertainty remains, including the potential resumption 

of the sequestration-level spending caps in FY 16.

During this period of uncertainty in the fiscal and 

strategic environment, our goal has been to maintain 

the proper balance between end strength, readiness and 

modernization across the Total Army. We are reducing 

end strength as rapidly as possible, while still meeting 

our operational commitments, in order to concentrate 

remaining funds on rebuilding readiness. However, to 

do this we must accept greater risk in our modernization 

programs. To rebuild and sustain a force capable of 

conducting the full range of operations on land, to 

include prompt and sustained land combat, it is essential 

that we take steps to prevent hollowness within the force. 

Therefore, consistent with the 2012 Defense Strategic 

Guidance, we are in the process of drawing down Active 

Army end strength from a wartime high of 570,000 to 

490,000—a 14 percent cut—by the end of FY 15. The 

Army National Guard will reduce from 358,200 to 

350,200 and the Army Reserve will remain relatively 

constant, decreasing from 205,000 to 202,000 Soldiers. 

In conjunction with these end strength reductions, the 

Army decided to reorganize the current operational force 

of Active Army Infantry, Armored and Stryker Brigade 

Combat Teams (BCTs) from 38 to 32. This force 

structure reorganization will allow us to eliminate excess 

headquarters infrastructure while sustaining as much 

combat capability as possible. 

The FY 15 Budget request provides a balanced and 

responsible way forward in the midst of ongoing fiscal 

uncertainty. It allows the Army to reduce and reorganize 

force structure, but incurs some risk to equipment 

modernization programs and readiness. Under the 

FY 15 Budget request, the Army will decrease end 

strength through FY 17 to a Total Army of 980,000 

Soldiers—450,000 in the Active Army, 335,000 in 

the Army National Guard and 195,000 in the Army 

Reserve. This reduction will also adjust the force mix 

ratio between the active and reserve components. We will 

reverse the force mix ratio, going from a 51 percent active 

component and 49 percent reserve component mix in FY 

12 to a 54 percent reserve component and 46 percent 

active component mix in FY 17. The Army will be able 

to execute the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance at this 

size and component mix, but it will be at significant risk. 

But with sequestration-level caps in FY 16 and beyond 

the Army will be required to further reduce Total Army 

end strength to 420,000 in the Active Army, 315,000 

in the Army National Guard and 185,000 in the Army 

Reserve by the end of FY 19. This would end up being a 

total reduction of 213,000 Soldiers with 150,000 coming 

from the Active Army, 43,000 coming from the Army 

National Guard and 20,000 from the Army Reserve. This 

includes a 46 percent reduction in Active Army BCTs and 

a 21 percent reduction in Army National Guard BCTs. 

Sequestration-level spending caps would also require a 
2014 Army Posture Statement 3

25 percent reduction to Army modernization accounts, 

with no program unaffected. Major weapon programs 

will be delayed, severely impacting the industrial base 

both in the near and long term. Most significantly, these 

projected end strength levels would not enable the Army 

to execute the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance. 

For the next 3 years, as we continue to draw down and 

restructure into a smaller force, the Army will continue 

to have degraded readiness and extensive modernization 

program reductions. Under the President’s Budget, 

we will begin to regain balance between end strength, 

modernization and readiness beyond FY 17. Our goal 

would be to achieve balance by the end of FY 19 with 

450,000 Soldiers in the Active Army, 335,000 in the 

Army National Guard and 195,000 in the Army Reserve. 

Under sequestration-level spending caps, from FY 19 to 

FY 23 the Army will begin to establish the appropriate 

balance between readiness, modernization and end 

strength, albeit for a much smaller Army at 420,000 

Soldiers in the Active Army, 315,000 in the Army 

National Guard and 185,000 in the Army Reserve. We 

will stabilize our end strength and force structure. From 

FY 20 to FY 23 we would begin achieving our readiness 

goals and reinvesting in modernization programs to 

upgrade our aging fleets. Our goal is to achieve balance 

by FY 23. The reduction in our institutional base will 

make reversibility significantly more difficult. Finally, the 

size of our Army at this level of funding will not allow us 

to execute the Defense Strategic Guidance and will put in 

doubt our ability to execute even one prolonged, multiphased major contingency operation.

LEADER DEVELOPMENT

Developing adaptive Army leaders who possess the 

individual toughness, battlefield skill and fighting spirit 

that typify the American Soldier is one of our highest 

priorities. The unpredictable nature of human conflict 

requires leaders to not only lead in close combat but 

understand the operational and strategic environment, 

to include its socio-economic, cultural and religious 

underpinnings. Our leaders must demonstrate the 

competence, proficiency and professional values necessary 

to achieve operational and strategic mission success. 

We must continue to educate and develop Soldiers and 

Civilians to grow the intellectual capacity to understand 

the complex contemporary security environment to 

better lead Army, Joint, Interagency and Multinational 

task forces and teams. Therefore, we will reinvest and 

transform our institutional educational programs for 

officers and noncommissioned officers in order to prepare 

for the complex future security environment.

We will continue to build leaders who exhibit the 

character, competence and commitment that are 

hallmarks of the Army Profession. We are aggressively 

and comprehensively reinforcing our core values and 

ethical leadership throughout all unit and institutional 

training, leader development programs and professional 

military education. We will also transition to a new 

officer evaluation system that strengthens accountability 

and emphasizes the evaluation of character attributes and 

competencies. We have completed a 360-degree assessment 

pilot for all battalion and brigade commanders, which 

will be fully institutionalized across the force in 2014. We 

will continue peer assessments for all general officers and 

will institute 360-degree assessments for all general officers 

upon promotion to each general officer rank. 

Today, our leaders are the most competent and 

operationally experienced since World War II. We must 

build on this incredible experience to develop leaders 

who can operate in an ever-changing, complex strategic 

environment, understanding the implications of critical 

thinking, rapid communications and cyber warfare as it 

relates to combined arms maneuver, irregular warfare and 

counterinsurgency operations. 

THE ARMY: GLOBALLY RESPONSIVE,

REGIONALLY ENGAGED STRATEGIC 

LAND FORCES

There is no more unambiguous display of American 

resolve than the deployment of the American Soldier. 

As part of the Joint Force, the Army deters potential 

adversaries by presenting a credible element of national 
4 2014 Army Posture Statement

power: landpower that is decisively expeditionary and 

strategically adaptive. The Army possesses a lethal 

combination of capability and agility that strengthens 

U.S. diplomacy and represents one of America’s most 

credible deterrents against hostility. If necessary, a ready 

Army can defeat or destroy enemy forces, control land 

areas, protect critical assets and populations and prevent 

the enemy from gaining a position of operational or 

strategic advantage. Ultimately, potential adversaries 

must clearly perceive Army forces as being capable of 

appropriate and rapid response anywhere in the world 

and across the entire range of military operations, from 

stability operations to general war.

A ready and capable Total Army provides Joint and 

Combined forces with expeditionary and enduring 

landpower for the full range of military operations. 

Regionally aligned Army forces provide direct support 

to geographic and functional combatant commands. 

Army forces are tailorable and scalable, prepared to 

respond rapidly to any global contingency mission. The 

Army maintains a responsive force posture through an 

effective mix of Total Army capabilities and network 

of installations at home and abroad, to include Army 

prepositioned stocks. The Army National Guard and 

Army Reserve provide predictable, recurring and 

sustainable capabilities and strategic depth. Rapidly 

deployable Army forces, to include airborne forces, are 

able to respond to contingencies and conduct forcible 

entry operations anywhere in the world on short notice. 

Army prepositioned equipment across the globe also 

enables the rapid air deployment of Army combat 

and support forces. 

Missions as a Member of the Joint Force

As an interoperable member of the Joint Force, the 

Army sets the theater for Combatant Commanders by 

providing unique capabilities en route to, and operating 

within, austere environments to support all plans and 

contingencies. These capabilities include special operations 

and ground forces, operational leadership and mobility, and 

critical enablers such as aviation, missile defense, intelligence, 

engineers, logistics, inland ground transportation 

infrastructure, medical and signal/communications. 

The Army provides the Joint Force versatility across 

the full range of military operations, underpinning 

operational and strategic reach through the full length of 

a campaign, often in contested environments. Effective 

joint operations require Army ground combat forces and 

Army critical enablers. A significant portion of the Army’s 

force structure is devoted to enabling the Joint Force as 

well as our Multinational and Interagency partners. 

We provide a variety of Joint Task Force headquarters 

certified and trained to lead Joint Forces, plan operations 

and exercise mission command of units across the full 

range of military operations. We provide strategic, 

operational and tactical logistics, worldwide engineering 

support and intelligence capabilities, as well as spacebased and terrestrial command and control networks 

that connect our own units, the Joint community, and 

Interagency and Multinational partners. The Army is 

also investing in emerging and evolving missions such 

as operations in cyberspace and countering weapons of 

mass destruction. For example, we continue to develop 

and field cyber mission forces that enable the success of 

our national mission force, combatant commands and 

Army land forces.

Regionally Aligned Forces

The Army is regionally aligning forces in support of 

the geographic and functional combatant commands. 
2014 Army Posture Statement 5

These forces provide deployable and scalable regionallyfocused Army forces task organized for direct support of 

geographic and functional combatant commands and 

Joint requirements. Forward stationed Army forces in 

the Republic of Korea, Japan and Europe, along with 

Army units based in the United States are aligned with 

combatant commands. These forces shape and set theaters 

for regional commanders employing unique Total Army 

characteristics and capabilities to influence the security 

environment, build trust, develop relationships and gain 

access through rotational forces, multilateral exercises, 

military-to-military engagements, coalition training and 

other opportunities. 

Army forces strengthen alliances and ensure collective 

capability while building capacity and serving common 

interests. In many regions of the world, Army militaryto-military relationships have enabled the U.S. to 

remain a trusted and welcome partner over the years. 

The Army’s Special Forces Groups provide extraordinary 

regional expertise and unique capabilities, as well as years 

of experience, to the combatant commands. The Army 

National Guard, through the State Partnership Program, 

maintains long-term partnerships worldwide.

We are expanding regional alignment of the Total 

Army as the drawdown in Afghanistan continues and 

additional formations become available. The Army’s first 

regionally aligned BCT—the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry 

Division stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas—began actively 

supporting U.S. Africa Command in March 2013 and 

has conducted over 70 missions, from crisis response 

to security cooperation, in more than 30 countries. 1st 

Infantry Division headquarters, building upon the initial 

success of its 2nd Brigade and aligned with U.S. Africa 

Command, is planning a Libyan General Purpose Force 

training mission. The 48th Infantry BCT, Georgia 

Army National Guard, is aligned with U.S. Southern 

Command and has deployed teams to several Central 

and South American countries. The Fort Hood-based 1st 

BCT, 1st Cavalry Division, aligned with U.S. European 

Command, participated in multilateral exercises and 

training as the primary U.S. land force contribution to 

the NATO Response Force.

EUROPE

28,190 SOLDIERS

EUROPEAN COMMAND CENTRAL COMMAND PACIFIC COMMAND NORTHERN COMMAND

AFRICA COMMAND SOUTHERN COMMAND

AFGHANISTAN

32,720 SOLDIERS

IRAQ

90 SOLDIERS

KUWAIT

8,280 SOLDIERS

QATAR

1,520 SOLDIERS

HORN OF AFRICA

820 SOLDIERS

SINAI

690 SOLDIERS

BALKANS

940 SOLDIERS

HOMELAND SECURITY

6,350 SOLDIERS

GUANTANAMO

1,560 SOLDIERS

CENTRAL AMERICA

320 SOLDIERS

SOUTH KOREA

20,320 SOLDIERS

JAPAN

2,620 SOLDIERS

OTHER OPERATIONS 

& EXERCISES

10,790 SOLDIERS

PHILIPPINES

310 SOLDIERS

ALASKA

12,710 SOLDIERS

HAWAII

21,490 SOLDIERS

SOLDIERS DEPLOYED AND FORWARD STATIONED

150,090 SOLDIERS IN NEARLY 150 COUNTRIES

JORDAN

730 SOLDIERS
6 2014 Army Posture Statement

About 80,000 active and reserve component Soldiers 

are postured to support operations and engagements in 

the Asia-Pacific region. I Corps, stationed at Joint Base 

Lewis-McChord, Washington, and assigned to U.S. 

Pacific Command, provides deployable mission command 

capability for contingencies and enhances an already 

strong Army presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The 

Army maintains a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense 

battery deployed to Guam, defending our allies and 

supporting the Pacific theater’s ballistic missile defense 

posture. During FY 13, U.S. Army Pacific conducted 

28 large-scale exercises with 13 countries. Soldiers also 

conducted security cooperation engagements with 34 

countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

During FY 13, a total of more than 109,000 Soldiers 

deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan. More 

than 4,300 Soldiers supported Operation Spartan Shield, 

our ongoing effort to maintain stability in the region 

and reassure our allies and partners in U.S. Central 

Command’s area of responsibility. In addition, during 

FY 13 more than 2,200 Soldiers participated in seven 

exercises in the region. III Corps, stationed at Fort Hood, 

Texas, and 1st Armored Division headquarters, stationed 

at Fort Bliss, Texas, are both aligned with U.S. Central 

Command. In June 2013 the 1st Armored Division 

headquarters deployed to Jordan, providing mission 

command for several regional exercises and conducting 

training with allied and partner forces. 

Missions at Home and Support of Civil Authorities

The Total Army defends the Homeland and supports civil 

authorities for a variety of complex missions. Soldiers 

from the active and reserve components are engaged in 

the Homeland on a daily basis, in capacities ranging 

from personnel serving as defense coordinating officers in 
2014 Army Posture Statement 7

support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

to U.S. Army North leading and coordinating Army 

missions in support of civil authorities. The Army stands 

ready to conduct a no-notice response in support of civil 

authorities, particularly for a complex catastrophe that 

may require the employment of a significant Army force. 

The Total Army also provides the preponderance of forces 

for the Department of Defense’s Chemical, Biological, 

Radiological and Nuclear Response Enterprise. Army 

National Guard air and missile defense units protect 

our Nation’s Capital and provide manning for Groundbased Midcourse Defense systems deployed in Alaska and 

Colorado that will deter and defeat missile attacks on 

our Nation. Soldiers support Federal drug enforcement 

efforts along our Nation’s southern border every day. 

Over the past year, the Army responded to natural disasters 

in the United States with sustained, life-saving support. 

The Army National Guard conducted firefighting 

operations in several Western States. In September 

2013, active and reserve component Soldiers provided 

rapid assistance when severe storms caused devastating 

floods and landslides in northern Colorado. A team of 

about 700 Soldiers from the Colorado and Wyoming 

Army National Guard, as well as the Active Army’s 4th 

Infantry Division stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, 

evacuated more than 3,000 displaced residents. Soldiers 

and Civilians from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

also supported operations in Colorado, and continue 

to support ongoing national efforts to restore critical 

infrastructure following Hurricane Sandy. 

ENSURING A READY ARMY

A trained and ready Army must be able to rapidly deploy, 

fight, sustain itself and win against complex state and 

non-state threats in austere environments and rugged 

terrain. Readiness is measured at both the service and 

unit levels. Service readiness incorporates installations 

and the critical ability of the Army to provide the 

required capacities (units) with the requisite capabilities 

(readiness) to execute the roles and missions required by 

combatant commands. Unit readiness is the combination 

of personnel, materiel and supplies, equipment and 

training that, when properly balanced, enables immediate 

and effective application of military power. 

Training

Training across the Total Army serves two main purposes: 

preparing units to support combatant commands 

worldwide and developing leaders who can adapt to 

the complex security environment. To meet demands 

across the full range of military operations, the Army 

will shift the focus of training on rebuilding war fighting 

core competencies. We are reinvigorating our Combat 

Training Centers (CTCs), to challenge and certify Army 

formations in a comprehensive and realistic decisive action 

training environment that features regular, irregular and 

insurgent enemy forces. Tough, realistic multi-echelon 

home station training using a mix of live, virtual and 

constructive methods efficiently and effectively builds 

Soldier, leader and unit competency over time. 

From 2004 to 2011, all CTC rotations were focused 

on building readiness for assigned missions in a 

counterinsurgency environment. This shift impacted 

5,500 company commanders, 2,700 field grade officers 

and 1,000 battalion commanders. Recognizing this 

atrophy in readiness for the full range of military 

operations, the Army returned to conducting decisive 

action CTC rotations in 2011, with a plan to cycle nearly 
8 2014 Army Posture Statement

all Active Army BCTs by the end of FY 15 along with 

the requisite amount of available Army National Guard 

BCTs. However, due to sequestration, the Army canceled 

seven CTC rotations in 2013 and significantly reduced 

home station training, negatively impacting the training, 

readiness and leader development of more than two 

divisions’ worth of Soldiers. Those lost opportunities only 

added to the gap created from 2004 to 2011, creating a 

backlog of professional development and experience. 

The BBA allows us to remedy only a fraction of that lost 

capability. Even with increased funding, in FY 14 the 

Army will not be able to train a sufficient number of BCTs 

to meet our strategic requirements. Seventeen BCTs were 

originally scheduled to conduct a CTC rotation during 

FY 14. BBA-level funding enables the addition of another 

two BCT rotations, for a total of 19 for the fiscal year. 

However, due to the timing of the additional funding, 

some BCTs were still unable to conduct a full training 

progression before executing a CTC rotation. Without 

the benefit of sufficient home station training, BCTs begin 

the CTC rotation at a lower level of proficiency. As a 

result, the CTC rotation does not produce the maximum 

BCT capability, in terms of unit readiness. For BCTs that 

do not conduct a CTC rotation, we are using available 

resources to potentially train these formations up to only 

battalion-level proficiency. 

The Army can currently provide only a limited number 

of available and ready BCTs trained for decisive action 

proficiency, which will steadily increase through FY 

14 and the beginning of FY 15. But with potential 

sequestration in FY 16, readiness will quickly erode 

across the force. We must have predictable, long-term, 

sustained funding to ensure the necessary readiness to 

execute our operational requirements and the Defense 

Strategic Guidance.

Fiscal shortfalls have caused the Army to implement 

tiered readiness as a bridging strategy until more resources 

become available. Under this strategy, only 20 percent 

of operational forces will conduct collective training to a 

level required to meet our strategic requirements, with 80 

percent of the force remaining at a lower readiness level. 
2014 Army Posture Statement 9

Forward stationed forces in the Republic of Korea will 

remain ready, as will those dedicated as part of the Global 

Response Force. Forces deployed to Afghanistan are 

fully trained for their security assistance mission but not 

for other contingencies. The Army is also concentrating 

resources on a contingency force of select Infantry, 

Armored and Stryker BCTs, an aviation task force and 

required enabling forces to meet potential unforeseen 

small scale operational requirements. Unless Army 

National Guard and Army Reserve units are preparing for 

deployment, the Army will only fund these formations to 

achieve readiness at the squad, team and crew level.

Force Structure

We have undertaken a comprehensive reorganization of 

Army units to better align force structure with limited 

resources and increase unit capability. Unit reorganizations 

are necessary to begin balancing force structure, readiness 

and modernization. However, when combined with 

reduced funding and operational demand, the pace of 

force structure changes will reduce our ability to build 

readiness across the force during FY 14 and FY 15. 

Reorganization of the current operational force of Active

Army Infantry, Armored and Stryker BCTs from 38 to 32 

reduces tooth to tail ratio and increases the operational 

capability of the remaining BCTs. All Active Army and 

Army National Guard BCTs will gain additional engineer 

and fires capability, capitalizing on the inherent strength in 

combined arms formations. Initially, 47 BCTs (29 Active 

Army and 18 Army National Guard) will be organized 

with a third maneuver battalion. The remaining 13 BCTs 

(3 Active Army and 10 Army National Guard) will be 

reevaluated for possible resourcing of a third maneuver 

battalion in the future. 

Following a comprehensive review of our aviation 

strategy, the Army has determined that it must restructure 

aviation formations to achieve a leaner, more efficient 

and capable force that balances operational capability and 

flexibility across the Total Army. We will eliminate older, 

less capable aircraft, such as the OH-58 A/C Kiowa, the 

OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and the entire fleet of TH-67 

JetRangers, the current trainer. The Army National Guard 

will transfer low-density, high-demand AH-64 Apache 

helicopters to the Active Army, where they will be teamed 

with unmanned systems for the armed reconnaissance 

role as well as their traditional attack role. The Active 

Army in turn will transfer over 100 UH-60 Blackhawk 

helicopters to the Army National Guard. These aircraft 

will significantly improve capabilities to support combat 

missions and increase support to civil authorities, such as 

disaster response, while sustaining security and support 

capabilities to civil authorities in the states and territories. 

The Army will also transfer nearly all Active Army 

LUH-72 Lakota helicopters to the United States Army 

Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama, 

and procure an additional 100 LUH-72 Lakotas to round 

out the training fleet. These airframes will replace the 

TH-67 JetRanger helicopter fleet as the next generation 

glass cockpit, dual engine training helicopter. At current 

funding levels, this approach will enable the Army 

National Guard to retain all of its LUH-72 aircraft 

for general support requirements as well as ongoing 

border security operations. The Aviation Restructure 

Initiative allows us to sustain a modernized fleet across all 

components and reduces sustainment costs. Eighty-six 

percent of the total reduction of aircraft (687 of 798) will 

come out of the active component. The Active Army’s 
10 2014 Army Posture Statement

overall helicopter fleet will decline by about 23 percent, 

and the Army National Guard’s fleet of helicopters will 

decline by approximately eight percent, or just over 100 

airframes. The resulting active and reserve component 

aviation force mix will result in better and more capable 

formations which are able to respond to contingencies at 

home and abroad.

SOLDIERS, CIVILIANS AND OUR 

FAMILIES: THE PREMIER ALLVOLUNTEER ARMY

Trust is the foundation of military service. An individual’s 

choice to serve, whether enlisting or reenlisting, depends 

on a strong bond of trust between the volunteer, the 

Army and the Nation. Soldiers need to know that the 

Nation values their service and will provide them with 

the training, equipment and leadership necessary to 

accomplish their mission. They also want to know 

that their Families will enjoy a quality of life that is 

commensurate with their service and sacrifice. For that 

reason, one of our top priorities as we make the transition 

from war and drawdown the Army—regardless of fiscal 

challenges—must be the welfare, training and material 

resources we put toward maintaining the trust of our 

Soldiers, Civilians and their Families. 

Ready and Resilient Campaign 

Perhaps nothing exemplifies the idea of trust more than 

President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address 

when he called upon the Nation to care for those who 

have borne the burdens of battle and their Families. The 

effects of deploying are sometimes severe and lifelong. As 

a result, the continued care and treatment of Soldiers and 

their Families is a lasting priority. Yet even as we work 

to recover and rehabilitate those most severely affected 

by two wars, we know that an ever increasing portion of 

our Army has not faced warfare. Understandably, they 

have new and different challenges. In both cases, Army 

readiness is directly linked to the ability of our force to 

deal with personal, professional and unforeseen health 

concerns, such as mental and physical challenges. We 

must also begin to view health as more than simply 

health care, and transition the Army to an entire system 

for health that emphasizes the performance triad—sleep, 

activity and nutrition—as the foundation of a ready 

and resilient force. 

The Ready and Resilient Campaign, launched in March 

2013, serves as the focal point for all Soldier, Civilian, and 

Family programs and promotes an enduring, holistic and 

healthy approach to improving readiness and resilience in 

units and individuals. The campaign seeks to influence a 

cultural change in the Army by directly linking personal 

resilience to readiness and emphasizing the personal and 

collective responsibility to build and maintain resilience 

at all levels. The campaign leverages and expands existing 

programs, synchronizing efforts to eliminate or reduce 

harmful and unhealthy behaviors such as suicide, sexual 

harassment and assault, bullying and hazing, substance 

abuse and domestic violence. Perhaps most importantly, 

the campaign promotes positive, healthy behaviors 

while working to eliminate the stigma associated with 

asking for help. 
2014 Army Posture Statement 11

Sexual Harassment / Assault Response and

Prevention (SHARP) Program 

The Army is an organization built on and bound by values. 

Sexual harassment and assault in all its forms is abhorrent 

to every one of those values. Simply put, sexual assault 

is a crime that will not be tolerated. The overwhelming 

majority of Soldiers and Civilians serve honorably and 

capably, but we must recognize that the ill-disciplined few 

jeopardize the safety of all our people as well as the trust 

and confidence the American people have in their Army. 

Army actions to combat sexual assault and harassment are

driven by five imperatives. First, we must prevent offenders 

from committing crimes, provide compassionate care for 

victims and protect the rights and privacy of survivors. 

Second, we must ensure that every allegation is reported, 

it is thoroughly and professionally investigated, and we 

must take appropriate action based on the investigation. 

Third, we shall create a positive climate and an 

environment of trust and respect in which every person 

can thrive and achieve their full potential, and continually 

assess the command climate. Fourth, we will hold 

every individual, every unit and organization and every 

commander appropriately accountable for their behavior, 

actions and inactions. Finally, the chain of command must 

remain fully engaged—they are centrally responsible and 

accountable for solving the problems of sexual assault and 

sexual harassment within our ranks and for restoring the 

trust of our Soldiers, Civilians and Families.

Our goal is to reduce and ultimately eliminate this crime 

from our ranks. To underscore the importance of the 

chain of command’s role in preventing sexual assault, 

the Army now includes command climate and SHARP 

goals and objectives in all officer and non-commissioned 

officer evaluations and unit command climate surveys. 

Accountability is reinforced by training and education 

on the appropriate behaviors, actions and reporting 

methods. The Army has integrated SHARP training into 

every professional development school, making sure it is 

tailored to roles and responsibilities appropriate to each 

course’s population. 

We are making progress, particularly on reporting and 

investigating these incidents. Over the past year the 

Army expanded the Special Victim Capability Program 

to include 23 special victim prosecutors, 22 sexual assault 

investigators and 28 special victim paralegals at 19 

installations worldwide. These professionals are trained 

in the unique aspects of investigating and prosecuting 

sexual assault cases. We have also trained 81 active and 

24 reserve component judge advocates through our 

Special Victim Counsel Program, which was established 

in September 2013. As of December 2013, 241 victims 

had received over 1,443 hours of legal services from these 

specially-trained counsel, including appearances at Article 

32 hearings and courts-martial.

Army commanders, advised by judge advocates, continue 

to take the most challenging cases to trial, including 

cases that civilian authorities have declined to prosecute. 

For cases in which the Army had jurisdiction over the 

offender and a final disposition was made, commanders 

prosecuted rape and sexual assault at a rate more than 

double the estimated average prosecution rates in civilian 

jurisdictions. The Army also provides sexual assault 

patients with expert, emergency treatment for their 

immediate and long-term needs. Regardless of evidence 

of physical injury, all patients presenting to an Army 

medical treatment facility with an allegation of sexual 

assault receive comprehensive and compassionate medical 

and behavioral health care.

Sexual assault is antithetical to competent command, and 

it is important that commanders retain their authority 

over the disposition of sexual assault cases. Removal of 

that authority would make it harder to respond to the 

needs of Soldiers within the command, especially the 

victims. Many of the Army’s most difficult problems—

such as integration—were solved by making commanders 

more accountable, not less. Therefore the Army opposes 

legislative efforts to remove commanders from the 

disposition process.
12 2014 Army Posture Statement

Suicide Prevention

The Army Suicide Prevention Program, part of the Ready 

and Resilient Campaign, has significantly enhanced our 

understanding of one of our greatest challenges: the 

loss of Soldiers to suicide. The Army has expanded 

and increased access to behavioral health services and 

programs that develop positive life-coping skills. A 

comprehensive education and training program is 

helping Soldiers, Civilians and Family members improve 

their ability to cope with stress, relationships, separations, 

deployments, financial pressures and work-related issues. 

The goal is to increase resiliency and, just as important, 

access to support. Our Suicide Reduction Working 

Group provides a forum for stakeholders to collaborate 

on initiatives that mitigate high-risk behaviors. The Army 

continues to revise and create policy to promote and 

increase awareness of prevention and intervention skills, 

services and resources. We have seen an aggregate drop 

in suicides, and while not a declaration of success, it is a 

leading indicator that our resiliency efforts are starting to 

take hold across the force. 

Role of Women in the Army

Women continue to play an important role in making 

our Army the best in the world. We are validating 

occupational standards for integrating women into all 

career fields. By reinforcing universal standards for each 

Soldier—regardless of gender—in a deliberate, measured 

and responsible manner we increase unit readiness, 

cohesion and morale while allowing for qualification 

based on performance, not gender, across our profession. 

Army Training and Doctrine Command is leading our 

effort with the Soldier 2020 initiative, which seeks 

to ensure we select the best Soldiers for each military 

occupational specialty, regardless of gender. It is a 

standards-based, holistic and deliberate approach that 

uses scientific research to clearly define physical accessions 

standards based on mission requirements for each Army 

occupation. Simultaneously, we are conducting an 

extensive study to identify the institutional and cultural 

factors affecting gender integration, to develop strategies 

for the assimilation of women into previously restricted 

units. An important part of that process will be to 

ensure we have a qualified cadre of female leaders, both 

officers and noncommissioned officers, in place prior to 

the introduction of junior female Soldiers to serve as role 

models and provide mentorship during this transition. 

During the last year the Army opened approximately 

6,000 positions in 26 BCTs, select aviation specialties in 

special operations aviation and approximately 3,600 field 

artillery officer positions. The Army anticipates opening an 

additional 33,000 previously closed positions during FY 14.

Recruitment and Retention 

The Army is defined by the quality of the Soldiers it 

recruits and retains. We are only as good as our people, 

and recruiting standards and reenlistment thresholds 

remain high. During FY 13, 98 percent of the Army’s 

recruits were high school graduates, exceeding our goal of 

90 percent. We are also on track to achieve retention rates 

consistent with the past 3 years. The need to recruit and 

retain high-quality Soldiers will only grow in importance 

as we continue to draw down our forces. 

Unfortunately, natural attrition alone will not achieve the 

Army’s reduced end strength requirements. Inevitably, 

the Army will not be able to retain good Soldiers on active 

duty who have served their Nation honorably. The Army 

must responsibly balance force shaping across accessions, 
2014 Army Posture Statement 13

retention, and promotions, as well as voluntary and 

involuntary separations. During FY 13, the Army reduced 

accessions to the minimum level needed to sustain our 

force structure, achieve end strength reductions and 

reestablish highly competitive but predictable promotion 

opportunity rates. The Army also conducted Selective 

Early Retirement Boards for lieutenant colonels and 

colonels and, likewise, a Qualitative Service Program 

for staff sergeants through command sergeants major, all 

aimed at achieving 490,000 Active Army end strength by 

the end of FY 15. During FY 14 the Army will conduct 

Officer Separation Boards and Enhanced Selective Early 

Retirement Boards for qualified majors and captains. We 

remain committed to assisting Soldiers and their Families 

as they depart Active Army formations and transition to 

civilian life, and we encourage continued service in the 

Army National Guard or Army Reserve. 

Role of the Army Civilian

As the Army evolves so too must its civilian workforce, 

which will also draw down concurrent with reductions 

to military end strength. Army Civilians will reduce 

from a wartime high of 285,000 to 263,000 by the 

end of FY 15. As the civilian workforce is downsized, 

we will do it smartly, focusing on preserving the most 

important capabilities. This requires a broader strategy 

that links functions, funding and manpower to produce 

the desired civilian workforce of the future—one that 

fully supports the generation of trained and ready combat 

units. The Army will manage the civilian workforce 

based on workload and funding available. We will use all 

available workforce shaping tools such as Voluntary Early 

Retirement Authority and Voluntary Separation Incentive 

Pay to reduce turbulence in our civilian workforce. We 

will target the skills we need to retain, and voluntarily 

separate those with skills no longer needed. If we cannot 

achieve our Army Civilian reduction goals by voluntary 

means, we will use Reduction in Force as a last resort. 

The possibility of future reductions only adds to the 

burdens we’ve placed on Army Civilians in recent years. 

Last year, the Army furloughed more than 204,000 civilian 

employees, forcing them to take a 20 percent reduction 

in pay for six weeks during the fourth quarter of FY 13. 

Furloughs came on the heels of three years of frozen 

pay and performance-based bonuses. The tremendous 

impact on the morale of our civilian workforce cannot 

be understated, and some of our highest quality civilian 

personnel have sought employment in the private sector. 

We rely heavily on our Army Civilians, and they have 

remained dedicated and patient during the last few 

years of uncertainty and hardship. Like their uniformed 

counterparts, Army Civilians are required to demonstrate 

competence, technical proficiency and professional values 

to achieve mission and individual success. Over the past 

three years the Army has implemented a number of 

changes to improve training, educational and experiential 

opportunities for the civilian workforce. Focused leader 
14 2014 Army Posture Statement

development, improvements to the Civilian Education 

System and continued maturity of the Senior Enterprise 

Talent Management Program are all designed to build a 

more professional and competency-based civilian workforce. 

The Army is also streamlining its contractor workforce 

by reducing contract spending at least to the same degree 

as, if not more than, reductions to the civilian workforce; 

contractor reductions are approximately $1.5 billion in 

FY 15. The use of contracted services will continue to 

be reviewed to ensure the most appropriate, cost effective 

and efficient support is aligned to the mission. As the 

Army continues its workforce shaping efforts, contracted 

manpower will be appropriately managed based on 

functional priorities and available funding to ensure 

compliance with law.

Compensation Reform

We are extremely grateful for the high quality care and 

compensation our Nation has provided to our Soldiers 

over the last decade. Military manpower costs remain 

at historic highs. We must develop adjustments to 

military compensation packages that reduce future costs, 

recognize and reward our Soldiers and their Families for 

their commitment and sacrifice, while ensuring our ability 

to recruit and retain a high quality All-Volunteer Army. 

While we recognize the growing costs of manpower, we 

must also approach reform from the perspective that 

compensation is a significant factor in maintaining the 

quality of the All-Volunteer Army, and always has been. 

After 13 years of war, the manner in which we treat our

Soldiers and Families will set the conditions for our ability 

to recruit in the future. That said, if we do not slow the 

rate of growth of Soldier compensation, it will consume a 

higher, disproportionate percentage of the Army’s budget 

and without compensation reform we will be forced to 

reduce investments in readiness and modernization. The 

Army supports a holistic and comprehensive approach 

that reforms military compensation in a fair, responsible 

and sustainable way. Changes to military compensation 

included in the FY 15 Budget request—which include 

slowing the growth of housing allowances, reducing the 

annual direct subsidy provided to military commissaries 

and simplifying and modernizing our TRICARE health 

insurance program—are important first steps that generate 

savings while retaining competitive benefits. These 

savings will be invested in readiness and modernization.

EQUIPMENT MODERNIZATION, 

BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT 

AND SUSTAINMENT

The Army makes prudent choices to provide the 

best possible force for the Nation with the resources 

available, prioritizing Soldier-centered modernization and 

procurement of proven and select emerging technologies. 

The institutional Army manages programs that sustain 

and modernize Army equipment, enabling the operational 

Army to provide responsive and ready land forces. We 

will continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness 

of our business processes to provide readiness at best value.

Focus Area Review

Army senior leaders conducted reviews to consolidate 

and reorganize organizations, programs and functions 

across several focus areas—readiness, institutional and 

operational headquarters reductions, operational force 

structure, installations services and investments, the 
2014 Army Posture Statement 15

acquisition workforce and Army cyber and command, 

control, communications and intelligence. As a result of 

this effort, the Army will achieve greater efficiency across 

our core institutional processes, consolidate functions 

within the acquisition workforce and reduce headquarters 

overhead by up to 25 percent. 

Equipment Modernization

Modernization enables the Army to meet requirements 

with a smaller, fully capable and versatile force that is 

equipped to defeat any enemy and maintain dominance 

on land. BCA-driven budget reductions have placed 

Army equipment modernization at risk through 

program terminations, procurement delays and program 

restructures. Research, development and acquisition 

funding has declined 39 percent since the FY 12 budget 

planning cycle and the long-term effect will be additional 

stress on current vehicle fleets, reduced replacement of 

war-worn equipment, increased challenges sustaining 

the industrial base and limited investment in the 

modernization of only the most critical capabilities.

The Army’s equipment modernization strategy focuses 

on effectively using constrained resources for near-term 

requirements and tailoring our long-term investments to 

provide the right capabilities for Soldiers in the future. 

This approach calls for carefully planned investment 

strategies across all Army equipment portfolios, which 

will involve a mix of limiting the development of new 

capabilities, incrementally upgrading existing platforms 

and investing in key technologies to support future 

modernization efforts. The strategy captures the Army’s 

key operational priorities: enhancing the Soldier 

for broad joint mission support by empowering and 

enabling squads with improved lethality, protection and 

situational awareness; enabling mission command by 

facilitating command and control, and decision making, 

with networked real-time data and connectivity with the 

Joint Force; and remaining prepared for decisive action 

by increasing lethality and mobility, while optimizing the 

survivability of our vehicle fleets.

In the short-term, the Army remains focused on several 

efforts. We are reducing procurement to match force 

structure reductions. We will continue to apply business 

efficiencies such as multiyear contracts, planning for 

should-cost and implementation of Better Buying Power, 

to facilitate smarter investing. We will tailor capabilities 

in development to meet requirements under affordability 

constraints. We will not transition four programs to 

the acquisition phase, to include the Ground Combat 

Vehicle and the Armed Aerial Scout. Additionally, we 

will end four programs, restructure 30 programs and 

delay 50 programs. Lastly, the divestiture of materiel and 

equipment, where appropriate, will reduce maintenance 

and sustainment costs and support the maximization of 

resources. Over the long-term, investing in the right 

science and technology and applying affordable upgrades 

to existing systems will allow us to keep pace with 

technological change and improve capabilities. 

ARMY’S EQUIPPING STRATEGY

• Managing equipment retrograde,

• Deploying and redeploying units, 

• Reorganizing BCTs,

• Supporting rebalance to the AsiaPacific region,

• Resetting our equipment, 

• Redistributing equipment to raise 

readiness across all Army components,

• Repositioning forces,

• Aligning wartime equipment with the 

Army’s current needs,

• Divesting equipment we no longer 

need, and

• Remaining prepared for homeland 

defense priorities.
16 2014 Army Posture Statement

Ground Vehicles

A new Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) remains a key 

requirement for the Army. However, due to significant 

fiscal constraints, the Army has determined that the 

Ground Combat Vehicle program will conclude upon 

completion of the Technology Development phase, 

expected in June 2014, and will not continue further 

development. In the near-term, the Army will focus on 

refining concepts, requirements and key technologies in 

support of a future IFV modernization program. This will 

include investment in vehicle components, sub-system 

prototypes and technology demonstrators to inform 

IFV requirements and future strategies for developing 

a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle replacement. Over 

the long-term, the Army anticipates initiating a new 

IFV modernization program informed by these efforts as 

resources become available.

The Army is also committed to developing and fielding

the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle to replace our 

obsolete M113 family of vehicles and augmenting our 

wheeled vehicle fleet with the Joint Light Tactical family 

of vehicles. In addition, the Army will continue to fund 

a third brigade’s set of Double V-Hull (DVH) Stryker 

vehicles, while supporting an incremental upgrade to 

DVH Strykers for power and mobility improvements.

Army Aviation

The Army will divest legacy systems and fund the 

modernization and sustainment of our most capable and 

survivable combat-proven aircraft: the AH-64 Apache, 

UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. We 

will divest almost 900 legacy helicopters including the 

entire single engine OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and TH-67 

helicopter training fleets. The Army will also modernize 

our training fleet with LUH-72 Lakota helicopters. 

The Network

The equipment modernization strategy seeks to 

provide the Soldier and squad with the best weapons, 

equipment, sustainment and protection with the support 

of the network. LandWarNet is the Army’s globally 

interconnected network that is “always on and always 

available,” even in the most remote areas of the globe. 

LandWarNet enables mission command by carrying 

the data, voice and video every Soldier and leader needs 

to act decisively and effectively. It supports all Army 

operations, from administrative activities in garrison 

to operations conducted by our forward stationed and 

deployed Soldiers. Additionally, it forms the basis of our 

live, virtual and constructive training. 

Equipment Reset and Retrograde

Retrograde is the return of equipment to facilities for 

reset and to support future force structure and operations. 

By December 2014, the Army plans to retrograde 

approximately $10.2 billion of the $15.5 billion worth of 

Army equipment currently in Afghanistan. The balance 

of the equipment will be used by our forces, transferred to 

the Afghans or to another troop contributing nation, or 

disposed of properly in theater, which will provide a cost 

avoidance of more than $844 million in transportation, 

storage and security costs. The total cost of moving the 

equipment out of Afghanistan is estimated at roughly 

$1-3 billion. The cost range is due to the unpredictable 

nature of our ground routes through Pakistan and other 

Central Asian countries that may require a shift to more 

expensive multimodal or direct air cargo movement. 
2014 Army Posture Statement 17

Once the equipment returns to the United States, our 

reset program restores it to a desired level of combat 

capability commensurate with a unit’s future mission. A 

fully funded Army reset program is critical to ensuring 

that equipment worn and damaged by prolonged conflict 

in harsh environments is recovered and restored for 

future Army requirements. During FY 13, the Army reset 

approximately 87,000 pieces of equipment at the depot 

level and about 300,000 pieces of equipment, such as 

small arms; night vision devices; and nuclear, biological 

and chemical equipment, at the unit level. As a result of 

sequestration, we deferred approximately $729 million of 

equipment reset during FY 13, postponing the repair of 

nearly 700 vehicles, 28 aircraft, 2,000 weapons and Army 

prepositioned stocks. The projected cost of the reset 

program is $9.6 billion (not including transportation 

costs), which extends for three years after the last piece 

of equipment has returned. Resources available under 

planned spending caps are not sufficient to fully reset 

returning equipment from Afghanistan in a timely 

and efficient manner. 

Organic and Commercial Industrial Base

The Army’s industrial base consists of commercial and 

Government-owned organic industrial capability and 

capacity that must be readily available to manufacture 

and repair items during both peacetime and national 

emergencies. The Army must maintain the critical 

maintenance and manufacturing capacities needed to meet 

future war-time surge requirements, as well as industrial 

skills that ensure ready, effective and timely materiel 

repair. We are sizing the organic industrial workforce to 

meet and sustain core depot maintenance requirements 

and critical arsenal manufacturing competencies. We 

will also continue to work with our industrial partners to 

address energy, water and resource vulnerabilities within 

our supply chain. 

Both the commercial and organic elements of the 

industrial base are essential to the efficient development, 

deployment and sustainment of Army equipment. Over 

the past decade, the Army relied on market forces to create, 

shape and sustain the manufacturing and technological 

capabilities of the commercial industrial base. However, 

reduced funding levels due to sequestration accelerated the 

transition from wartime production levels to those needed 

to support peacetime operations and training. During FY 

13, the Army lost more than 4,000 employees from the 

organic industrial base and will continue to lose highly 

skilled depot and arsenal workers to other industries due 

to fiscal uncertainty. Hiring and overtime restrictions, in 

addition to furloughs, affected productivity and increased 

depot carryover, not to mention the detrimental effect on 

worker morale. 

Installations

In FY 13, the Army deferred critical upkeep on thousands 

of buildings across Army installations due to a reduction of 

$909 million in sustainment, restoration and maintenance 

funding. End strength reductions have reduced some 

associated sustainment costs, but key facility shortfalls 

remain that will continue to impact Army readiness. 

Increased funding in FY 14 enables investment in facility 

readiness for critical infrastructure repair as well as high 

priority restoration and modernization projects. The 

FY 15 Budget reflects our measured facility investment 

strategy that focuses on restoration, modernization and 

limited new construction.

ORGANIC INDUSTRIAL BASE

During Operations Iraqi Freedom and 

Enduring Freedom, the organic industrial 

base surged capacity and in some cases 

tripled their prewar output. The organic 

industrial base consists of:

• Five maintenance depots,

• Three manufacturing arsenals and

• Eleven ammunition plants.
18 2014 Army Posture Statement

The capacity of our installations must also match the 

Army’s decreasing force structure. At an Active Army end 

strength of 490,000 Soldiers, which we will reach by the 

end of FY 15, we estimate that the Army will have about 

18 percent excess capacity. We need the right tools to 

reduce excess installations capacity, or millions of dollars 

will be wasted maintaining underutilized buildings 

and infrastructure. Failure to reduce excess capacity is 

tantamount to an “empty space tax” diverting hundreds 

of millions of dollars per year away from critical training 

and readiness requirements. Trying to spread a smaller 

budget over the same number of installations and facilities 

will inevitably result in rapid decline in the condition 

of Army facilities.

The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process is 

a proven, fair and cost-effective means to address excess 

capacity in the United States. BRAC has produced 

net savings in every prior round. On a net $13 billion 

investment, the 2005 BRAC round is producing a net 

stream of savings of $1 billion a year. We look forward 

to working with Congress to determine the criteria for a 

BRAC 2017 round.

Energy and Sustainability

We are establishing an energy informed culture as a key 

component of Army readiness. Through a synchronized 

campaign of performance initiatives, business process 

changes and education and training opportunities, 

the Army seeks to achieve a lasting capability to use 

energy to the greatest benefit. The campaign includes 

efforts focused on both the energy required for military 

operations (operational energy) and the energy required 

by our power-projection installations around the world. 

In a tighter budget environment, the Army must manage 

its installations in a sustainable and cost-effective 

manner, preserving resources for the operational Army 

to maintain readiness and capability across the range 

of military operations. We will leverage institutional 

energy savings to generate more resources that we can 

use to train, move and sustain operational forces and 

enhance Army mobility and freedom of action. To take 

advantage of private sector efficiencies, Army installations 

are privatizing utilities and entering into public-private 

energy-saving performance contracts. By partnering with 

experienced local providers, the Army has privatized 144 

utilities systems, avoiding about $2 billion in future utility 

upgrade costs while saving approximately 6.6 trillion 

British thermal units a year. The Army is also exploring 

opportunities to expand public-public partnerships. 

Operational energy improvements to contingency 

bases, surface and air platforms and Soldier systems 

will increase overall combat effectiveness. Improved 

efficiencies in energy, water and waste at contingency 

bases reduce the challenges, risks and costs associated 

with the sustainment of dispersed bases. Next generation 

vehicle propulsion, power generation and energy storage 

systems can increase the performance and capability of 

surface and air platforms and help the Army achieve 

its energy and mobility goals. Advances in lightweight 

flexible solar panels and rechargeable batteries enhance 

combat capabilities, lighten the Soldier’s load and yield 

substantial cost benefits over time. Emergent operational 

energy capabilities will enable Army forces to meet 

future requirements and garner efficiencies in a fiscally 

constrained environment. 
2014 Army Posture Statement 19

equipped and ready. No one can predict where the next 

contingency will arise that calls for the use of Army forces. 

Despite our best efforts, there remains a high likelihood 

that the United States will once again find itself at war 

sometime during the next two decades. It is our job to 

be prepared for it. 

Business Transformation

The Army continues to transform its business operations 

to be smarter, faster and cheaper. We are working to 

reduce business portfolio costs by almost 10 percent 

annually as we capitalize on the progress made with 

our Enterprise Resource Planning systems. Our 

business process reengineering and continuous process 

improvement efforts continue to confer significant 

financial and operational benefits. Through our focus area 

review we will reduce headquarters overhead, consolidate 

and streamline contracting operations and improve space 

allocation on Army installations. We are reengineering 

core processes in acquisition, logistics, human resources, 

financial management, training and installations to 

improve effectiveness and reduce costs. Over the longterm, the Army will improve its strategic planning, 

performance assessment and financial auditability so that 

commanders can make better-informed decisions on the 

utilization of resources to improve readiness.

CLOSING

Throughout our history, we have drawn down our armed 

forces at the close of every war. However, we are currently 

reducing Army end strength from our wartime high 

before the longest war in our Nation’s history has ended, 

and in an uncertain international security environment. 

Our challenge is to reshape into a smaller, yet capable, 

force in the midst of sustained operational demand for 

Army forces and reduced budgets. The resulting decline 

in readiness has placed at risk our ability to fully meet 

combatant commander requirements. Our ability to 

provide trained and ready Army forces will improve 

as we begin to balance readiness, end strength and 

modernization. However, if sequestration-level spending 

caps resume in FY 16, we will be forced to reduce end 

strength to levels that will not enable the Army to meet 

our Nation’s strategic requirements.

We have learned from previous drawdowns that the cost 

of an unprepared force will always fall on the shoulders 

of those who are asked to deploy and respond to the next 

crisis. The Nation faces uncertainty and, in the face of 

such uncertainty, needs a strong Army that is trained, 
Army Recipients

2013

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the highest award for VALOR

t h a t c a n b e b e s t o w e d u p o n a n i n d i v i d u a l s e r v i n g i n 

the Armed Services of the United States.

CPT 

William D. Swenson

United States Army

SPC 

Ty M. Carter

United States Army
EUROPE

28,190 SOLDIERS

EUROPEAN COMMAND CENTRAL COMMAND PACIFIC COMMAND NORTHERN COMMAND

AFRICA COMMAND SOUTHERN COMMAND

AFGHANISTAN

32,720 SOLDIERS

IRAQ

90 SOLDIERS

KUWAIT

8,280 SOLDIERS

QATAR

1,520 SOLDIERS

HORN OF AFRICA

820 SOLDIERS

SINAI

690 SOLDIERS

BALKANS

940 SOLDIERS

HOMELAND SECURITY

6,350 SOLDIERS

GUANTANAMO

1,560 SOLDIERS

CENTRAL AMERICA

320 SOLDIERS

SOUTH KOREA

20,320 SOLDIERS

JAPAN

2,620 SOLDIERS

OTHER OPERATIONS 

& EXERCISES

10,790 SOLDIERS

PHILIPPINES

310 SOLDIERS

ALASKA

12,710 SOLDIERS

HAWAII

21,490 SOLDIERS

JORDAN

730 SOLDIERS

SOLDIERS DEPLOYED &

FORWARD STATIONED

150,090 SOLDIERS IN

NEARLY 150 COUNTRIES