TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01 - TRADOC - U.S. Army

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01“Let’s just suck it up one more time. Go take care of your units and get back on the sleepplan we followed at Irwin. Any questions?”Colonel Stacy and his combined arms battalion are getting no break after a month at theNational Training Center, a rotation unlike the routines they had experienced before. In this casethe vignette is couched inside a larger story in which Stacy’s unit, equipped with the latest FSVhave spent a month literally training for mounted vertical maneuver, and rehearsing for anoperation that was unfolding on the other end of the hemisphere. This extreme example ofrushing to employ an untested combat capability in an emergency is not unprecedented. Indeed,the First Cavalry Division’s insertion into combat in 1965 so well related in the book We WereSoldiers Once and Young was the culmination of years of study and experimentation with theconcept of airmobile operations. Just as this effort taxed the leaders of Colonel Hal Moore’sbeleaguered battalion in the jungles of Vietnam, the upcoming Battle of Pekanbaru will tax ourfictional battalion’s leadership. What is significantly different in this case are years of moldingthe force and the emerging leaders of that future Modular Force so that when Stacy’s battalionenters combat, it will be on his terms and not a slugfest with a determined alerted enemy. Takingnothing away from the extraordinary performance of the First Cavalry in Vietnam, this chapterhighlights that the Army’s preparedness, training, and ability to deal with the unknown on ahigher level than in the past. It all starts with the selection and grooming of leaders,S&T produces more than just hardware. The next chapter explores many of the potentialcontributions that S&T can contribute to enhance Soldier performance.Required CapabilitiesThe future Modular Force requires Soldiers who embrace the Army ethic, are technicallycompetent, tactically proficient, and can rapidly adapt to the complex OE of the future. Due tothe changes in the OE, Soldiers serving in the future Modular Force will experience newopportunities for promotion, career development, and methods of serving the Army. The keyelement of these changes is the adaptations of the Army’s personnel system from themanagement of assignments to the management of careers. To achieve this, the future ModularForce must have the capabilities listed below.A human capital management system that provides for the development of Soldiersthrough programmed assignments, military education, and civilian education.The Army needs to develop a continuum of service policy that enables Soldiers to fluidlytransition across components with minimal degradation of skills and opportunities.A promotion system that incorporates decentralized inputs from local leaders and peersbut retains centralized standards for evaluation and selection.A career oriented compensation program that both facilitates and encourages increasedretention and career length.An accession system that ensures the Army has sufficient strength while simultaneouslycontrolling attrition during initial Service obligation.165