Family Readiness in the ARFORGEN Cycle

Since the Army Force Generation ARFORGEN cycle of Reset-TrainReady-Available was established in 2005, units and installations throughout the Army have been viewing all aspects of readiness, training, and Army life though this new lens. The executive officer of 1st Engineer Battalion, Fort Riley, Kansas, framed the sustainment and logistics plans, and the battalion operations and training officer framed the training plan for the battalion around ARFORGEN. The 1st Infantry Division chief of staff directed the assistant chief of staff for resource management to come up with new graphics and charts to show how units spend operational funds based on this cycle, rather than on a fiscal year. However, family readiness is still not framed in terms of ARFORGEN. Family readiness is a task outlined to all commanders in Army Regulation 600-20, Army Command Policy. Units give it a high priority, but there is no standing operating procedure or guideline stating what the units family readiness goals should be within the ARFORGEN cycle. This article contains a comprehensive guide on specific tasks and goals for family readiness during each phase of the ARFORGEN cycle. The significance of this guide to the Engineer Regiment is that companies and battalions often deploy separately from the battalion or brigade to which they are assigned in the garrison environment. A company that deploys separately from its battalion will not necessarily have the support of a battalion staff when conducting the military decisionmaking process. This can leave family readiness tasks within the ARFORGEN cycle up to individual leaders. The solution is to establish an ARFORGEN plan that includes family readiness.