Finding Relevance on the Battlefield: The Adjutant General Corps After Army Transformation

The Army Vision for the Objective Force calls for revolutionizing the way in which Army forces are supported. Streamlining procedures, improving efficiency, and reducing the support footprint have become top priorities for the Combat Service Support community. These mandates are particularly fitting for the Adjutant General AG Corps, whose antiquated personnel support systems and redundant Cold War bureaucracy have become more of a liability than an asset to the combat commander. To remain relevant to the force, the AG Corps must streamline its personnel support doctrine and organizational design. This monograph explores the possibility of accomplishing this by including the AG officer in the multifunctional logistician family. In doing so, this monograph searches for relevance of the Adjutant General Corps on the battlefield and ultimately answers the question Should the Adjutant General Corps officer be aligned with the Functional Area 90 FA90 Multifunctional Logistician This monograph traces the evolution of the terms logistics and Combat Service Support demonstrating how the synonymous use of the terms resulted in confusion as to how to organize the Armys support forces. A clear case in point being the exclusion of AG officers from the Multifunctional Logistician Career Field even though they are routinely categorized as logisticians. By comparing and contrasting current and emerging support doctrine, organization, and leader development this monograph provides insight into why AG officers are currently excluded from the Multifunctional Logistician Career Field, and whether or not alignment would be desirable in the future. The monograph concludes that aligning the Adjutant General Officer Corps with the Multifunctional Logistician Career Field is not desirable for four reasons. First and foremost, AG officers should not align