Armed Forces and Training

¶ … Army Force Generation Model

In order for the armed forces to fight effectively, they need to be manned, equipped, and trained properly. The proposed changes would have an impact on all three areas, and this might result in an armed force that is not prepared to fight effectively. The reduction in budget will definitely require there be changes in the structuring of the armed forces. Reduction in manpower will be inevitable, and this would lead to few soldiers being sent to the battleground. Equipment shortages would also occur since there will be a reduction in funding and only utterly necessary equipment would be serviced or purchased. Training is the area that will be highly impacted. This is because there will be few man-hours for the soldiers to train and prepare for any eventuality. The most modern equipment will require highly trained personnel to man and operate it. The shortage of enough training hours will result in the soldiers being less prepared and less knowledgeable on the equipment they have to use in battle. With the budget cuts, there is need to maintain an appropriate balance between these three dimensions and this would be quite difficult to do. According to Gen. Odierno time and time again the U.S. Military has been faced with reduced soldiers, and this has had a negative effect on the effectiveness of the armed forces.1 The future is always uncertain, and the lack of preparedness will result in an Army that is not able to meet the national security needs.

The proposed changes are not sufficient to provide the required manned, equipped, and trained Army forces as required in order to sustain the national security needs of the country. Restructuring the Army to a smaller force will mean there are fewer Soldiers to be deployed to

1 Congress, House. "Statement by Gen. Odierno before the House Armed Services Committee, First Session, 113th Congress on 18 September 2013." In Planning for Sequestration in Fiscal Year 2014 and Perspectives of the Military Services on the Strategic Choices and Management Review.

missions and this will result in the country relying heavily on Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) for it to achieve its security needs. The few Armed forces deployed will have a hard time trying to achieve their objective, and they might have less equipment to work with in the difficult terrain or area deployed. Training is a huge requirement for the Armed forces, and this has been on a decline since the introduction of budget cuts. 2 The required training cannot be offered, and this has resulted in Soldier not been equipped with the core warfighting skills. This puts the Soldiers at risk if they are faced with an unforeseen contingency because they would not be able to handle the situation. The lack of enough training cannot be overlooked, and there is need to ensure that all Soldiers receive the requisite training before they are deployed. This compounded with the reduction in personnel is resulting in huge strains on the Soldiers left since they have to handle more with less.

In order for the changes to have less impact on the Soldiers and preparedness of the Armed forces, there is need to do a proper analysis and determine how best to implement the changes. The Armed forces need advanced equipment if they are to win any war. The equipment should have proper personnel manning and operating it to ensure its effectively used. The lack of equipment and training will result in an Armed force that is weak. As Gen. Odierno posits, it is vital to look into other ways or reducing the budget by reforming the compensation offered to Soldiers. It is noted that this accounts for 46% of the total budget allocated and it will increase to almost 80% by 2023. With the savings made the Armed forces would have funds that could be directed towards equipment purchase and training of the Soldiers.