Empowering Future Forces through Army Values and Advanced Sustainment

Strategic Sustainment: Army Values in Action

Background. The U.S. Functional Concept for Sustainment is the framework for providing logistics, personnel services, and health service support to build creative development and integration of inter-organizational, multi-national, and joint partners for future capabilities. Personnel and systems sustain the Army’s operation to integrate processes and deliver services and support. This concept focuses on strategic, operational, and tactical responsibilities, allowing leaders to learn from past lessons and develop new ways to sustain the Army in complex environments. The basis of this concept development encourages growth in the sustainment force and creates capabilities-based assessments that emphasize operational adaptability at all echelons.

Functional Level Capabilities Required for Human Resources. The Army’s awareness of being able to now identify and foresee the enemy’s next move clearly identifies its evolution of sustainment service support within operational environments. It is required that all Army assets have the critical skills to respond rapidly to adverse situations. To accomplish this, talented individuals who possess these skills must be recruited, managed, and retained. At a strategic level, the future of the sustainment mission is dependent on continued joint command relationships, force generation, readiness, and accountability.

Uniquely, being able to adapt operationally by keeping the Army’s educational capability agile guarantees more combat-ready Soldiers and effectively puts the right people in the right positions. This sustainment process also includes the Army Reserves and National Guard from a positioning and readiness point of view, which, without their support, the Army’s future sustainment mission will not happen. Nevertheless, the development, adaptation, and resiliency of future leaders drive a more ready, dynamic, and synchronized force.

The tactical goal of this sustainment capability is to master the skills to survive in uncertain conditions. At this level in the sustainment warfighting function, sustainment capabilities require timely decision support given from higher so that field commanders can operate efficiently and effectively on the battlefield.

Echelon Sustainment: Navigating Battlefield Challenges

Sustainment by Echelons. The future Army sustainment forces require highly trained, inspired, and adaptive leaders to lead organizations during difficult times and are extremely knowledgeable in continuing sustainment operations.

Generating the force’s primary mission is to sustain and generate the operational Army’s capabilities for employment. The Army Concept Framework has paved a path needed to allow Army sustainment forces to build relationships and enlist in creating a more powerful way to obtain a competitive advantage. This framework offers the rational support for formal revisions and future investments required to boost the Army’s capacity to manage operations. The Army’s Operational Concept is an extension of the Army Concept Framework. It identifies that Army forces will be critical elements of joint operations to make supportable results.

The operating forces’ role is to participate in combat and the integral supporting elements thereof. At this level, sustainment leaders accomplish mission requirements by having the knowledge to maneuver on the battlefield and anticipate enemy actions. Survivability, anticipation, thinking critically, and understanding their role in the operational environment increase leaders’ ability to engage and combine unified war operation capabilities.

Conclusion. The future Army sustainment force has changed to a more functional and cross-leveling organization. The Army will move forward with radical change at all echelons to strategically accomplish the sustainment mission to build relationships in a joint environment, be able to rapidly respond and anticipate enemy actions on the battlefield, and, more importantly, train and retain talented Army forces.

References:

1. Baxter, L.L.J. (2022). Army Sustainment and the 21st Century: A Modern Perspective. Washington D.C.: Army Publications.
2. U.S. Department of Defense. (2021). The U.S. Functional Concept for Sustainment. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.
3. Harrison, J.T. (2019). Leadership and Operational Adaptability in Modern Warfare. Journal of Military Studies.
4. Smith, A. & Reyes, T. (2020). The Role of Army Reserves and National Guard in Sustainment Operations. Military Operations Research.
5. Campbell, R. (2021). The Army Concept Framework: A Blueprint for Future Operations. Military Review.