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2 February 2016

Report calls for sweeping Army changes while praising Colorado Springs brigade


January 30, 2016

The 100th Missile Defense Brigade, a National Guard unit based out of Colorado Springs, has been cited as a "very good example" of how the Army can integrate full-time and part-time forces. U.S. Army photo. 

The Army needs to better focus on missile defense and anti-aircraft duties and should cut two infantry brigades to beef up other areas that have withered since the 9/11 attacks, retired Gen. Carter Ham and a panel of experts wrote in a report to Congress that will help shape the Army's future.

The National Commission on the Future of the Army also chided lawmakers about the need for stable Army budgets and called for better integration of part-time troops so the Army can respond to emerging threats including rising Russian aggression.

In a Friday interview with The Gazette, Ham, who led the panel, said he expects some resistance to the 63 recommendations it issued, especially cutting infantry brigades.

Cutting about 7,000 infantry troops, he said, will allow the Army to change how it employs soldiers without growing the force, which includes 450,000 active-duty troops and 530,000 reservists and Guardsmen.

"There has to be a bill payer," said Ham, who retired in 2013 after leading American military efforts in Africa.

The commission spent nearly a year examining the Army and weighing its existing structure against future threats. To counter the uncertain global environment, the service needs to better use all of its assets and improve training for the Guard and reserve, the report found.

One unit that drew special interest from the panel is the Colorado Springs-based 100th Missile Defense Brigade, a National Guard unit that Ham said is a "very good example" of how the Army can integrate full-time and part-time forces.

Missile Defense, though, needs to be embraced by the active-duty Army, he said.

"Without some connective tissue, there is some risk that the full weight of the regular Army may not be behind the mission," Ham said.

The report calls for further efforts to mix full-time and part-time troops. One idea would have National Guard helicopter units share equipment and more closely train with their full-time counterparts. Another would combine the marketing efforts of the Guard, Reserve and Army and allow recruiters from the three components to enlist soldiers into any of the three.

"The Army and Army Reserve are competing with the National Guard for candidates in the same pool," Ham said.

Two other suggestions would beef up the Army's presence overseas. Ham said the panel wants to station a brigade of tanks in Europe, replacing a plan for rotating armor units to Europe for training.

The panel would also move a helicopter brigade to South Korea to counter ongoing aggression from Pyongyang.

The panel also identified critical shortfalls in staffing for air defense. The regular Army used to integrate anti- aircraft units into every division. Those were cut, though, in Iraq and Afghanistan where U.S. forces faced no enemy air forces but needed more ground troops to quell insurgencies.

"Remedying these shortfalls within a 980,000-soldier Army will require hard choices and difficult trade-offs," the report found. "Budgetary pressures make end strength increases unlikely, at least for the next few years. If end strength cannot increase, the Army should consider reducing two Infantry Brigade Combat Teams in the Regular Army in order to provide the manning necessary to strengthen aviation, short-range air defense, and other capabilities."

If Congress and the Pentagon agree to cut infantry units, that could put Fort Carson's 2nd Brigade Combat team at risk. But any decision is likely years away.

"It is an indication of the very difficult choices that lie ahead," Ham said.

The panel's report was ordered after in-fighting between the Army and National Guard over congressional cash. The Army moved last year to pull attack helicopters from the Guard and into the full-time force, prompting a war of words that spilled into budget debates.

The panel called for leaving some attack helicopters in Guard units but growing the Army's fleet.

The helicopter peace accord and other recommendations drew praise Friday.

"We appreciate the Commission's recognition of the need to integrate manpower and capabilities for a 'One Army' approach at home and abroad," Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy said in a statement issued by the National Governor's Association. "We believe this approach best serves governors' emergency response needs in our states and takes advantage of the cost-efficiencies of the Guard over time."

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