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

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01Army CultureArmies have cultures that influence their members’ worldview. These beliefs arise from thenature of the military function; the nature of the government and parent society; and from historyand traditions. How an Army thinks about itself affects its ability to adapt to new requirements.In November 2005, DODDirective Number 3000.05acknowledged new realities andelevated stability operations tothe status of a core U.S. militarymission, requiring that, “Theyshall be given prioritycomparable to combat operationsand be explicitly addressed andintegrated across all DODactivities including DOTMLPF,and planning.” Observing thatcivilians perform many tasksassociated with stabilityoperations, the directive went onto direct: “Nonetheless, U.S.military forces shall be preparedto perform all tasks necessary to establish or maintain order when civilians cannot do so.”By 2005, the realities of Afghanistan and Iraq combined to initiate change in Army’sperception of its role. What remains is to reframe the institutional identity so that it is moreconsistent with the experience of the current generation of Army leaders, while avoiding thepitfall of forgetting that conducting major combat operations remains a core capability the Armycannot abandon in order to focus exclusively on COIN operations. This trend requires an Armyculture that develops, sustains, and rewards self-aware, adaptable leaders and formations, capableof making seamless transitions from one mode of conflict to another. This cultural change willserve as the catalyst to revise doctrine, organizations, training, leader education, materialdevelopment, and Soldier recruitment.Culture of Other Governmental Agencies and ContractorsAs the joint warfare culture continues to grow, in the future, the gap between service culturesmight shrink, but competition for resources will remain a challenge should specializationdifferences between the services increase. Soldiers deployed to conflicts in future operations willhave to understand and be sensitive to cultural differences between the Army and other militaryServices, and the military and other government agencies. Increasingly, more non-DODgovernment agencies expect to have representatives in or near the AO. Representatives of non-DOD executive departments provide a very large share of the expertise and capability to helpfailed states gain their footing and provide necessary services and functions to the localpopulation.73