Grinder
14 August 2003, 18:53
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2003 - The ongoing war against global terrorism makes U.S.
military transformation efforts an imperative goal, DoD's top civilian and
uniformed officer said here today.
Accompanied by Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld opened a Pentagon town
hall meeting by thanking service members and civil servants both here and
around the globe for their "remarkable" efforts since the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks on the United States.
"You and your comrades and colleagues around the world have performed
magnificently in so many ways" in defending the American people "against those
who seek to harm this country," the secretary observed.
Rumsfeld had special praise for "the brave men and women in uniform that risked
their lives to help liberate" the Afghan and Iraqi people from despotic
regimes.
Despite these victories, "the global war on terror is far from over," the
secretary cautioned, noting the war "poses some difficult times ahead for us,
as we've seen just in recent weeks and months since the end of major combat
operations in Iraq."
However, Rumsfeld emphasized that America and its allies will "win this global
war on terror."
And DoD must continue its transformation to meet 21st century threats, such as
terrorism, Rumsfeld maintained.
This requires U.S. military forces to become "lighter, more agile," the
secretary pointed out, as well as overhauling the way the department
administers its civilian workforce, such as by using performance as a metric
for rewards rather than seniority.
And in tandem with transformation, the department has strived in the past two
years to improve service members' quality of life, Rumsfeld pointed out,
working with Congress to achieve needed military pay raises and reducing out-
of-pocket expenses for housing.
Those efforts are paying off, he noted, since the armed services' recruiting
and retention programs are meeting or exceeding their goals.
The fruits of DoD transformation efforts are evident even today, the secretary
pointed out, noting that the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq required
"far fewer troops" and less time to assemble forces and materiel than in past
wars.
And he noted that Operation Iraqi Freedom was the most "joint" U.S. war in
history.
U.S. troop presence in Bosnia, Kosovo and the Sinai is being drawn down,
Rumsfeld pointed out, while every day more coalition forces and "Iraqis are
taking over the police and civil defense duties" in Iraq that were done by
American troops.
"And that's a good thing," the secretary asserted.
The U.S. military is also working to establish "a more efficient deployment and
re-deployment process," Rumsfeld said. That, along with a rebalancing of "skill
sets" between active forces and the Guard and Reserve, he added, should assist
in reducing personnel turbulence and increasing efficiency across the force.
For example, he pointed to the current heavy concentration of civil affairs
troops and other especially needed specialties in the reserve component, which
has made for those service members' repeated deployments to places like
Afghanistan and Iraq.
Citizen soldiers, the secretary observed, did not sign up for such continuous
military duty when they volunteered for the Guard or reserve.
On a related issue, Rumsfeld noted that both active duty and reserve component
troops and their families "need to know when they're leaving" for deployments
and when they'll return.
"We're going to work on that," the secretary asserted, noting that many Guard
and reserve members have recently been called up with just five days' notice,
rather than the desired goal of 30 days. Some other troops, he added, were
called up three to four months in advance only to find out later that they
weren't going to deploy.
This state of affairs "is not really fair to them and it's not fair to their
families or their employers," the secretary maintained.
"We need to fix it and we're in the process of getting it fixed," he vowed.
And Rumsfeld noted the Pentagon is now looking over studies that say 300,000
non-core-competency military positions could be transferred to civil servants
or to contractors.
If all, or part, of the studies prove workable, then DoD might free up more
slots for uniformed members "to reduce the stress on the force," he noted.
Summing up, the Defense Department must continue its transformational march
even as it has "the war on terror to pursue and win," Rumsfeld emphasized, so
that the armed services "will be able to meet the challenges that we face and
to deter future adversaries from posing new threats to the people of our
country."
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2003 - The ongoing war against global terrorism makes U.S.
military transformation efforts an imperative goal, DoD's top civilian and
uniformed officer said here today.
Accompanied by Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld opened a Pentagon town
hall meeting by thanking service members and civil servants both here and
around the globe for their "remarkable" efforts since the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks on the United States.
"You and your comrades and colleagues around the world have performed
magnificently in so many ways" in defending the American people "against those
who seek to harm this country," the secretary observed.
Rumsfeld had special praise for "the brave men and women in uniform that risked
their lives to help liberate" the Afghan and Iraqi people from despotic
regimes.
Despite these victories, "the global war on terror is far from over," the
secretary cautioned, noting the war "poses some difficult times ahead for us,
as we've seen just in recent weeks and months since the end of major combat
operations in Iraq."
However, Rumsfeld emphasized that America and its allies will "win this global
war on terror."
And DoD must continue its transformation to meet 21st century threats, such as
terrorism, Rumsfeld maintained.
This requires U.S. military forces to become "lighter, more agile," the
secretary pointed out, as well as overhauling the way the department
administers its civilian workforce, such as by using performance as a metric
for rewards rather than seniority.
And in tandem with transformation, the department has strived in the past two
years to improve service members' quality of life, Rumsfeld pointed out,
working with Congress to achieve needed military pay raises and reducing out-
of-pocket expenses for housing.
Those efforts are paying off, he noted, since the armed services' recruiting
and retention programs are meeting or exceeding their goals.
The fruits of DoD transformation efforts are evident even today, the secretary
pointed out, noting that the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq required
"far fewer troops" and less time to assemble forces and materiel than in past
wars.
And he noted that Operation Iraqi Freedom was the most "joint" U.S. war in
history.
U.S. troop presence in Bosnia, Kosovo and the Sinai is being drawn down,
Rumsfeld pointed out, while every day more coalition forces and "Iraqis are
taking over the police and civil defense duties" in Iraq that were done by
American troops.
"And that's a good thing," the secretary asserted.
The U.S. military is also working to establish "a more efficient deployment and
re-deployment process," Rumsfeld said. That, along with a rebalancing of "skill
sets" between active forces and the Guard and Reserve, he added, should assist
in reducing personnel turbulence and increasing efficiency across the force.
For example, he pointed to the current heavy concentration of civil affairs
troops and other especially needed specialties in the reserve component, which
has made for those service members' repeated deployments to places like
Afghanistan and Iraq.
Citizen soldiers, the secretary observed, did not sign up for such continuous
military duty when they volunteered for the Guard or reserve.
On a related issue, Rumsfeld noted that both active duty and reserve component
troops and their families "need to know when they're leaving" for deployments
and when they'll return.
"We're going to work on that," the secretary asserted, noting that many Guard
and reserve members have recently been called up with just five days' notice,
rather than the desired goal of 30 days. Some other troops, he added, were
called up three to four months in advance only to find out later that they
weren't going to deploy.
This state of affairs "is not really fair to them and it's not fair to their
families or their employers," the secretary maintained.
"We need to fix it and we're in the process of getting it fixed," he vowed.
And Rumsfeld noted the Pentagon is now looking over studies that say 300,000
non-core-competency military positions could be transferred to civil servants
or to contractors.
If all, or part, of the studies prove workable, then DoD might free up more
slots for uniformed members "to reduce the stress on the force," he noted.
Summing up, the Defense Department must continue its transformational march
even as it has "the war on terror to pursue and win," Rumsfeld emphasized, so
that the armed services "will be able to meet the challenges that we face and
to deter future adversaries from posing new threats to the people of our
country."