Fort Bliss Monitor

Troop Talk

“In this week's Troop Talk I want to share with you comments from the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff about the accomplishments of our Army over the past year. The success we have had on all fronts can be directly attributed to our men and women in uniform and the family and community support from the homefront.”

As the new year begins, it is fitting to reflect on the Army's significant accomplishments in 2005, thank senior Army leaders for their vital contributions, and look forward to an important 2006.

In Iraq, our Soldiers, as part of a joint team, enabled that country to continue to progress politically, militarily and economically. Successful elections were held in January for the Transitional National Assembly; in October for the referendum on the constitution; and Dec. 15 for the election of a permanent government. Each of these milestones reflects the Iraqi people's growing optimism about the future. Almost 11 million Iraqis voted in the most recent election.

Progress continues on other fronts as well. In March of last year, there were about 140,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces; today, there are 212,000 – a 50 percent increase in just the past eight months. Of the 112 trained and equipped battalions, a full one-third are capable of conducting operations independently. Less well known, but equally important, is the progress made in improving the lives of the Iraqi people: Great strides have been made in electricity and water production; 6.75 million Iraqis now have access to clean potable water versus the pre-war level of 5.5 million. In March 2003, there were about 400,000 cars in Iraq; today, there are 1.6 million. There are now 3 million cell phone users versus the pre-war level of 100,000. Among its many accomplishments to date, the Army's Project Contracting Office has completed or is in the process of completing more than 3,500 projects in the areas of water, electricity, oil, education, health, transportation, communications, security and justice. Of note, the PCO has completed four primary health care centers with another 138 that are underway; 784 of 800 schools which will provide classrooms for more than 300,000 students; and over 90 miles of roads.

In the ongoing debate about Iraq, some have recently said the Army is severely stretched. A few have even described it as "broken." These comments are not true. To be sure, the Army is facing great challenges, but the more accurate description is a full-spectrum force that remains the preeminent land power in the world today. From highly successful combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to maintaining worldwide security commitments - all while we simultaneously transform the force – today's Army is the most capable, best trained, best equipped and most experienced force our nation has ever fielded. It is also more ready, more lethal, more flexible and better protected.

Especially noteworthy is the contribution of the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. Last year reaffirmed that we truly are an 'Army of One.' Thousands of Army Guardsman and Reservists rotated in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The 42nd Infantry Division completed the first deployment of a Guard divisional headquarters since the Korean War. Our efforts to win the Global War on Terrorism would not be possible without the commitment and dedication of our Citizen-Soldiers. Simply put, the Army could not perform full spectrum operations without the Army Guard and Reserve's tremendous contribution.

With mobilized Guardsman and Reservists, this is the largest force we've fielded in a decade with 616,000 Soldiers currently serving on active duty. Most importantly, the Army has more capability today than it did just a few years ago. Our actions to create more deployable units, to stabilize Soldiers and families, to attain the right mix of units and skills between the active and reserve component, and to increase the size of the warfighting Army are doing much to significantly increase overall capability. The Army's ability to surge more than 50,000 National Guard and active-duty Soldiers to the Gulf Coast in just over a week for hurricanes Katrina and Rita to quickly respond to disasters in Asia, Pakistan and Guatemala, while fighting the global war on terrorism, are only the most recent evidence of an increasingly capable force.

The Army made much headway in 2005 in the execution of its fundamental responsibilities of organizing, training, equipping and sustaining the force. Under transformation, the Army continued to build a force that is more powerful, more flexible, more rapidly deployable, and inherently more joint and expeditionary. We activated four new Modular Brigade Combat Teams in 2005 and with the activations in 2004, we now have seven new BCTs. We also made great progress in the transformation of existing brigades. We now have 37 new or existing combat and sustainment brigades that have completed transformation or are well into the process of modular conversion. Furthermore, we initiated a plan to increase the size of the Operational Army from its current level of 315,000 to 355,000 by FY08. We realigned more than 30,000 of approximately 125,000 planned skill structure changes between the active and Reserve components. We also implemented life-cycle management for nine BCTs. Each of these efforts is also doing much to reduce personnel stress on the force.
In the area of modernization, we made great strides. The entire Army budget for FY05, composed of the president's base budget and the supplemental, totaled $160 billion. This was a marked increase more than FY04's total budget of $140 billion. In FY05, Congress appropriated $2.9 billion for the Future Combat Systems Program. The Army also received $10.1 billion for other RDT&E, $5 billion for the Army Modular Force Initiative, and $3.2 billion to fully reset over 9,000 pieces of equipment and more than 850 aircraft at the depot level. In April we established the Future Combat Force Strategy that formally links the Future Combat System Program to the Modular Force. This year eighteen of the FCS critical technologies are at technology readiness level 6 or higher - meaning a model or prototype has been field tested in a relevant environment. The Army remains totally committed to fielding this essential component of Army modernization to close the almost four decade gap in the modernization of our ground forces.

In 2005, we also initiated a comprehensive Army-wide Business Transformation to free up additional financial resources for the operational Army. This initiative is centered on re-engineering business processes by taking work out of our system through the application of the lean/six sigma methodology. Business Transformation extends the same mindset of Force Transformation to the Institutional Army to ensure its ability to provide the people, training, resources, quality of life, and infrastructure that are critical to the Army's continued success.
In the area of Force Protection, the Army has fielded more than 9,600 new Level 1, factory-built up-armored HMMWVs to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 – 4,400 of them in the last year alone. There are now more than 39,000 up-armored tactical wheeled vehicles in the CENTCOM AOR. We also made significant progress in countering improvised explosive devices. Through the Joint IED Defeat Task Force, more than $1.2 million of counter-IED solutions were provided to Iraq and Afghanistan this year. This has enabled U.S. forces to locate or render safe 30 to 40 percent of all IEDs before detonation. We crossed a major milestone with the 500,000th Soldier being equipped under the Rapid Fielding Initiative. RFI has equipped an average of 23,000 Soldiers per month with the best individual equipment available and will reach the end-state of 873,000 equipped Soldiers by the end of FY07.

The Army also made significant progress in taking care of our most precious asset – our people. The Army invested $472 million to improve government-owned housing and another $136 million for privatized housing. Almost 12,000 homes were privatized under the Residential Communities Initiative this past year. Additionally, the Army invested $760 million to build or renovate barracks from the ground up and another $250 million to improve sub-standard barracks. We still have much work to do in improving the quality of life for our Soldiers and their families, but our efforts are clearly paying off.

One indicator of that success is our reenlistment rate. The Army achieved its highest reenlistment total in five years in FY05. More than 69,500 Soldiers chose to stay with the Army. In fact, the 3rd Infantry Division, now completing its Iraq deployment with many of its Soldiers on their second tour, led the way in reenlistments by achieving 136 percent of its FY05 goal. We must maintain vigilance of this critical indicator of morale, but there is much reason for optimism. In the final analysis, Soldiers vote with their feet. Our magnificent Soldiers are clearly choosing to stay.

Although we did not meet our recruitment goals, we exceeded our objectives for the last four months of FY05 by an average of almost 400 per month. This is the result of a number of initiatives started earlier in the year. That momentum continued during the first three months of FY06. Most importantly, the number of recruits who have signed an enlistment contract is almost 25 percent higher than it was at this same point the previous year. Consequently, we have already contracted for approximately 33 percent of our July goal of 10,450, which is the largest monthly goal of the year.

These are just a few of the Army's major accomplishments in 2005 – made possible by the unsurpassed professionalism, courage and commitment of our Soldiers and senior leaders like you, dedicated to something much greater than self.

We look forward to 2006 as another year of extraordinary achievement in the storied history of the United States Army. We will remain engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. We will provide for homeland security, continue to transform, and as always, stand ready to serve the Nation.
As we move forward together, we remain committed to producing units that are fully manned, trained, and equipped to accomplish the missions they will be assigned in an uncertain and increasingly complex world. Moreover, we are committed to developing multi-skilled "pentathletes" – both leaders and Soldiers – that are able to adapt to the challenges they will face. The 2006 Army Posture Statement and our internal Game Plan, to be published in February and March respectively, will help explain and reinforce these ideas. Please read, distribute, and discuss these documents.

Thank you for all you are doing to serve our Soldiers and the nation in this time of war.

Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	January 19, 2006

	Troop Talk “In this week's Troop Talk I want to share with you comments from the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff about the accomplishments of our Army over the past year. The success we have had on all fronts can be directly attributed to our men and women in uniform and the family and community support from the homefront.” As the new year begins, it is fitting to reflect on the Army's significant accomplishments in 2005, thank senior Army leaders for their vital contributions, and look forward to an important 2006. In Iraq, our Soldiers, as part of a joint team, enabled that country to continue to progress politically, militarily and economically. Successful elections were held in January for the Transitional National Assembly; in October for the referendum on the constitution; and Dec. 15 for the election of a permanent government. Each of these milestones reflects the Iraqi people's growing optimism about the future. Almost 11 million Iraqis voted in the most recent election. Progress continues on other fronts as well. In March of last year, there were about 140,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces; today, there are 212,000 – a 50 percent increase in just the past eight months. Of the 112 trained and equipped battalions, a full one-third are capable of conducting operations independently. Less well known, but equally important, is the progress made in improving the lives of the Iraqi people: Great strides have been made in electricity and water production; 6.75 million Iraqis now have access to clean potable water versus the pre-war level of 5.5 million. In March 2003, there were about 400,000 cars in Iraq; today, there are 1.6 million. There are now 3 million cell phone users versus the pre-war level of 100,000. Among its many accomplishments to date, the Army's Project Contracting Office has completed or is in the process of completing more than 3,500 projects in the areas of water, electricity, oil, education, health, transportation, communications, security and justice. Of note, the PCO has completed four primary health care centers with another 138 that are underway; 784 of 800 schools which will provide classrooms for more than 300,000 students; and over 90 miles of roads. In the ongoing debate about Iraq, some have recently said the Army is severely stretched. A few have even described it as "broken." These comments are not true. To be sure, the Army is facing great challenges, but the more accurate description is a full-spectrum force that remains the preeminent land power in the world today. From highly successful combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to maintaining worldwide security commitments - all while we simultaneously transform the force – today's Army is the most capable, best trained, best equipped and most experienced force our nation has ever fielded. It is also more ready, more lethal, more flexible and better protected. Especially noteworthy is the contribution of the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. Last year reaffirmed that we truly are an 'Army of One.' Thousands of Army Guardsman and Reservists rotated in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The 42nd Infantry Division completed the first deployment of a Guard divisional headquarters since the Korean War. Our efforts to win the Global War on Terrorism would not be possible without the commitment and dedication of our Citizen-Soldiers. Simply put, the Army could not perform full spectrum operations without the Army Guard and Reserve's tremendous contribution. With mobilized Guardsman and Reservists, this is the largest force we've fielded in a decade with 616,000 Soldiers currently serving on active duty. Most importantly, the Army has more capability today than it did just a few years ago. Our actions to create more deployable units, to stabilize Soldiers and families, to attain the right mix of units and skills between the active and reserve component, and to increase the size of the warfighting Army are doing much to significantly increase overall capability. The Army's ability to surge more than 50,000 National Guard and active-duty Soldiers to the Gulf Coast in just over a week for hurricanes Katrina and Rita to quickly respond to disasters in Asia, Pakistan and Guatemala, while fighting the global war on terrorism, are only the most recent evidence of an increasingly capable force. The Army made much headway in 2005 in the execution of its fundamental responsibilities of organizing, training, equipping and sustaining the force. Under transformation, the Army continued to build a force that is more powerful, more flexible, more rapidly deployable, and inherently more joint and expeditionary. We activated four new Modular Brigade Combat Teams in 2005 and with the activations in 2004, we now have seven new BCTs. We also made great progress in the transformation of existing brigades. We now have 37 new or existing combat and sustainment brigades that have completed transformation or are well into the process of modular conversion. Furthermore, we initiated a plan to increase the size of the Operational Army from its current level of 315,000 to 355,000 by FY08. We realigned more than 30,000 of approximately 125,000 planned skill structure changes between the active and Reserve components. We also implemented life-cycle management for nine BCTs. Each of these efforts is also doing much to reduce personnel stress on the force. In the area of modernization, we made great strides. The entire Army budget for FY05, composed of the president's base budget and the supplemental, totaled $160 billion. This was a marked increase more than FY04's total budget of $140 billion. In FY05, Congress appropriated $2.9 billion for the Future Combat Systems Program. The Army also received $10.1 billion for other RDT&E, $5 billion for the Army Modular Force Initiative, and $3.2 billion to fully reset over 9,000 pieces of equipment and more than 850 aircraft at the depot level. In April we established the Future Combat Force Strategy that formally links the Future Combat System Program to the Modular Force. This year eighteen of the FCS critical technologies are at technology readiness level 6 or higher - meaning a model or prototype has been field tested in a relevant environment. The Army remains totally committed to fielding this essential component of Army modernization to close the almost four decade gap in the modernization of our ground forces. In 2005, we also initiated a comprehensive Army-wide Business Transformation to free up additional financial resources for the operational Army. This initiative is centered on re-engineering business processes by taking work out of our system through the application of the lean/six sigma methodology. Business Transformation extends the same mindset of Force Transformation to the Institutional Army to ensure its ability to provide the people, training, resources, quality of life, and infrastructure that are critical to the Army's continued success. In the area of Force Protection, the Army has fielded more than 9,600 new Level 1, factory-built up-armored HMMWVs to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 – 4,400 of them in the last year alone. There are now more than 39,000 up-armored tactical wheeled vehicles in the CENTCOM AOR. We also made significant progress in countering improvised explosive devices. Through the Joint IED Defeat Task Force, more than $1.2 million of counter-IED solutions were provided to Iraq and Afghanistan this year. This has enabled U.S. forces to locate or render safe 30 to 40 percent of all IEDs before detonation. We crossed a major milestone with the 500,000th Soldier being equipped under the Rapid Fielding Initiative. RFI has equipped an average of 23,000 Soldiers per month with the best individual equipment available and will reach the end-state of 873,000 equipped Soldiers by the end of FY07. The Army also made significant progress in taking care of our most precious asset – our people. The Army invested $472 million to improve government-owned housing and another $136 million for privatized housing. Almost 12,000 homes were privatized under the Residential Communities Initiative this past year. Additionally, the Army invested $760 million to build or renovate barracks from the ground up and another $250 million to improve sub-standard barracks. We still have much work to do in improving the quality of life for our Soldiers and their families, but our efforts are clearly paying off. One indicator of that success is our reenlistment rate. The Army achieved its highest reenlistment total in five years in FY05. More than 69,500 Soldiers chose to stay with the Army. In fact, the 3rd Infantry Division, now completing its Iraq deployment with many of its Soldiers on their second tour, led the way in reenlistments by achieving 136 percent of its FY05 goal. We must maintain vigilance of this critical indicator of morale, but there is much reason for optimism. In the final analysis, Soldiers vote with their feet. Our magnificent Soldiers are clearly choosing to stay. Although we did not meet our recruitment goals, we exceeded our objectives for the last four months of FY05 by an average of almost 400 per month. This is the result of a number of initiatives started earlier in the year. That momentum continued during the first three months of FY06. Most importantly, the number of recruits who have signed an enlistment contract is almost 25 percent higher than it was at this same point the previous year. Consequently, we have already contracted for approximately 33 percent of our July goal of 10,450, which is the largest monthly goal of the year. These are just a few of the Army's major accomplishments in 2005 – made possible by the unsurpassed professionalism, courage and commitment of our Soldiers and senior leaders like you, dedicated to something much greater than self. We look forward to 2006 as another year of extraordinary achievement in the storied history of the United States Army. We will remain engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. We will provide for homeland security, continue to transform, and as always, stand ready to serve the Nation. As we move forward together, we remain committed to producing units that are fully manned, trained, and equipped to accomplish the missions they will be assigned in an uncertain and increasingly complex world. Moreover, we are committed to developing multi-skilled "pentathletes" – both leaders and Soldiers – that are able to adapt to the challenges they will face. The 2006 Army Posture Statement and our internal Game Plan, to be published in February and March respectively, will help explain and reinforce these ideas. Please read, distribute, and discuss these documents. Thank you for all you are doing to serve our Soldiers and the nation in this time of war. Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker