Maintaining the Combat Edge

THE UNITED STATES has been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for over nine years. During this time, there have been profound changes in the Armys force structure across all warfighting functions. These changes have accompanied a steady atrophy in our ability to conduct major combat operations MCO and should give us cause for concern. Much of the unit structure and training competency that existed nine years ago are no longer present, even though the National Security Strategy of May 2010 mandates We must maintain our militarys conventional superiority, while enhancing its capacity to defeat asymmetric threats. The Armys recent shift to emphasize a single mission essential task list METL is a positive change. However, due to the short dwell time within the Army Force Generation ARFORGEN model, we have not fully exercised the modular force structures that exist in the Army today under the rigor of our new METL. Our modular force has also not been subject to long-term ARFORGEN requirements and sustainment operations at home station. This shift in focus to a single METL, combined with extended dwell periods, will allow commanders at all echelons to experience and identify modularitys effect on their units.