AT WAR AND TRANSFORMING Recruiting and Retaining the Force In 1999, The Army missed its recruiting goals for the Active Component (AC) by about 6,300 inductees, and for the Reserve Component by some 10,000. Our recruiting situation was simply unacceptable, and we committed ourselves to decisive steps and reversed that trend. In FY02, The Active Component achieved 100% of its goal in recruiting and retention - for the third consecutive year. The Army exceeded its AC 79,500 enlisted accession target in FY02 and exceeded our aggregate FY02 retention objective of 56,800 Soldiers in all three categories by 1,437. We are poised to make the FY03 accession target of 73,800, and we expect to meet our Active Component FY03 retention target of 57,000. The FY04 accession target is set at 71,500 (Addendum B). The Army Reserve has met mission for the last two years, and its recruiting force is well structured to meet FY04 challenges. The Army Reserve continues to maintain a strong Selected Reserve strength posture at 205,484 as of 17 January 2003 over 100.2% of the FY03 End Strength Objective. Overcoming many recruiting and retention challenges in FY02, the Army National Guard (ARNG) exceeded endstrength mission, accessions were 104.5% of goal, and we exceeded reenlistment objectives. To ensure that we continue to recruit and retain Reserve Component Full-Time Support (FTS) Today, more than 50% of our Soldiers are in the Reserve Component (RC). The GWOT and Homeland Defense are significant undertakings that demand a high level of resourcing. The RC has been Key to our success in these operations. To ensure The Army's RC continues to meet ever-increasing demands with trained and ready units, The Army plans to increase Full-Time Support authorizations 2% each year through FY12, increasing additional Full-Time Support authorizations as the number one priority of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve leadership. Civilian Component As a comprehensive effort to consolidate, streamline, and more effectively manage the force, The Army has begun an initiative to transform our civilian personnel system. High quality, well-trained civilians are absolutely essential to the readiness of our force and our ability to sustain operations today and in the future. Recruiting, training, and retaining a highly skilled, dedicated civilian workforce is critical in meeting our obligations to the Combatant Commanders and the Nation. Aggressive transformation of our civilian force in which projections through FY05 indicate a 16% annual turnover due to retirements and other losses - will ensure we continue to meet those obligations. As of FY02, The Army employed 277,786 civilian personnel. To forecas. future civilian workforce needs with precision, we developed the Civilian Forecasting System (CIVFORS), a sophisticated projection model that predicts future civilian personnel requirements under various scenarios. The Army is working closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and other federal agencies to demonstrate the power of this system so they can fully leverage its capabilities, as well. The Civilian Personnel Management System XXI (CPMS XXI) has identified the reforms necessary to hire, train, and grow a civilian component that supports the transforming Army. To achieve this, we have redefined the way civilians are hired, retained, and managed. Mandatory experiential assignments will become the vehicle by which we develop future leaders. CPMS XXI fully responds to current mandates in the President's Management Agenda and incorporates the results of the Army Training and Leader Development Panels. For example, two initiatives for recruiting well-trained civilians are: The Army Civilian Training, Education, and Development System (ACTEDS) a centrally managed program that accesses and trains civilian interns and grows a resource pool of personnel who can accede to senior professional positions. The DoD Appropriations Act for FY02 and FY03 provided Direct Hire Authority (DHA) for critical, hard-to-fill medical health care occupations and enabled the reduction in average fill-time for these positions to 29 days. ARMY WELL-BEING The readiness of The Army is inextricably linked to the well-being of our people, and Army Well-Being is the human dimension of our Transformation. Well-Being responds to the physical, material, mental, and spiritual needs of all Army people - Soldiers, civilians, retirees, veterans, and their families. We recognize the fundamental relationship between Well-Being programs and institutional outcomes such as readiness, retention, and recruiting. To support mission preparedness as well as individual aspirations, Well-Being integrates policies, programs, and human resource issues into a holistic, systematic Soldiers appreciate the Nation's devotion to them, and they are grateful for the country's recognition of their service and sacrifices. Recent improvements to the Montgomery GI Bill, TRICARE for Life, TRICARE Reform, Retired Pay Reform, the 4.1% general pay increase, and additional pay increases in 2003, are all important to Soldiers and their families. These initiatives have helped The Army respond to the well-being needs of our people. Army voluntary education programs improve our combat readiness by expanding Soldier skills, knowledge, and aptitudes to produce confident, competent leaders. Other Well-Being initiatives include: Spouse Employment Summit. The Army is developing Spouse Orientation and Leader Development (SOLD). SOLD connects Army Army University Access Online. eArmyU offers Soldiers access to a variety of In-State Tuition. To level the playing field for access to education opportunities, High School Senior Stabilization. This policy enhances predictability by allowing Secondary Education Transition Study (SETS) Memorandum of Agreement LEADER DEVELOPMENT - TRAINING SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS, The Army is a profession - the Profession of Arms. Conducting decisive ground combat By its nature, our profession is extraordinarily complex and dangerous. The American people entrust The Army with the sacred responsibility to apply lethal force in defense of US interests. As such, the Profession of Arms must remain firmly grounded in constitutional values and must constantly change and grow to preserve its competitive advantage in an evolving strategic environment. At all levels, our leaders - military and civilian must apply their professional knowledge in increasingly varied and unique 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, Giebelstadt Army Airfield, Germany situations that are characteristic of today's strategic environment. Ultimately, we must grow professional Army leaders who provide wise and discerning military judgments founded on long experience and proven professional expertise. This capacity is developed only through a lifetime of education and dedicated service - in peace and in war. Soldiers serve the Nation with the full realization that their duty may require them to make the supreme sacrifice for others among their ranks. Soldiers fighting the war on terrorism today, those who will fight our future wars, and those who have fought in our past wars are professional warfighters and a precious national asset. To ensure we remain the greatest landpower in the world defending the greatest country in the world, The Army and the Nation rely upon their unique and hard-earned experiences and skills. To develop the operational skills required to defend the Nation, training must remain our number one priority. The evolving strategic environment, the gravity of our responsibilities, and the broad range of tasks The Army performs require us to review and periodically update the way we educate, train, and grow professional warfighters. The Army's strategic responsibilities to the Nation and Combatant Commanders now embrace a wider range of missions. Those missions present our leaders with even greater challenges than previously experienced. Therefore, leader development is the lifeblood of the profession. It is the deliberate, progressive, and continuous process that trains and grows Soldiers and civilians into competent, confident, self-aware, and decisive leaders prepared for the challenges of the 21st Century in combined arms, joint, multinational, and interagency operations. In June 2000, we convened the Army Training and Leader Development Panel (ATLDP). The ATLDP's purpose is to identify skill sets required of Objective Force Soldier and civilian leaders. Further, ATLDP assesses the ability of current training and leader AT WAR AND TRANSFORMING development systems and policies to enhance these required skills. In May 2001, The Army Training and Leader Development Panel Phase I (Officer Study) identified seven strategic imperatives and generated 89 recommendations. With those, we validated the requirement to transform our Officer Education System (OES) - from the Officer Basic Course through the Command and General Staff Officer Course. Additionally, the panel reconfirmed the value of Joint Professional Military Education II (JPME II) in preparing our leaders for joint assignments. The most significant product of the officer ATLDP is our OES Transformation. ATLDP Phase I (Officer Study) identified three high-payoff institutional training and education initiatives for lieutenants, captains, and majors. The first of these is the Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC). BOLC will provide a tough, standardized, graduatelevel, small-unit leadership experience for newly commissioned officers. The second of these initiatives is the Combined Arms Staff Course (CASC) for staff officers, and the Combined Arms Battle Command Course (CABCC) for company commanders. Both courses will capitalize on advanced distributed learning and intensive resident training methods. The third initiative, Intermediate Level Education (ILE), will provide all majors with the same common core of operational instruction, and it will provide additional educational opportunities that are tailored to the officer's specific career field, branch, or functional area. Beyond ILE, Army officers continue to attend Joint or Senior Service Colleges to develop leader skills and knowledge appropriate to the operational and strategic levels of the profession. Completed in May 2002, the ATLDP Phase II (NCO Study) resulted in 78 findings and recommendations extending across six imperatives Army culture, NCO Education Systems (NCOES), training, systems approach to training, training and leader development model, and lifelong learning. Among others, the ATLDP Phase II recommended building new training and leader development tools for NCOs to replace current methods, as required. The ATLDP Phase III (Warrant Officer Study) culminated with 63 recommendations extending across four crucial imperatives. Recommendations included. clarifying the warrant officer's unique role in The Army and improving the Warrant Officer Education System (WOES) to ensure timely training and promotion. The Civilian Training and Leader Development Panel (Phase IV) study results are complete, and we are forming the Implementation Process Action Team (1-PAT). I-PAT will identify actions The Army must take to increase the professional development of our civilian workforce. At the senior leader level, The Army initiated the Army Strategic Leadership Course (ASLC). The program is aimed at teaching principles of strategic leadership, with emphasis on visioning, campaign planning, leading change, and Transformation. To date, we have completed twelve of the foundation courses and three alumni courses, training the majority of The Army's general officers. |