The Shaping of Service Roles Through History - Get Back to Fundamentals
Abstract
Over 50 proposals were made to reorganize the military between 1921 and 1945. In 1945, after the experiences of WWII, President Truman observed, "we cannot have the sea, land, and air members of our defense team working at what may turn out to be cross purposes.. .engaging in open competition for funds." In 2003, the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines fly a variety of aircraft developed, acquired, maintained, flown, and fought differently. The Army of today possesses ships and is discussing the acquisition of catamarans to help fight in future wars. The line between the war fighting capabilities of the Services is becoming significantly more blurred as technology expands the dominance of Service weapons systems across all environmental mediums. How has history shaped role duplication within the Services? What are the implications of forcing the individual Services to concentrate on their original statutory role specialties? That is, the Army as the sole expert and resource sponsor for all land warfare and logistics, the Navy for all sea warfare and logistics, and the Air Force for all air warfare and logistics. Can efficiencies be gained from this organizational setup? What are the implications of attempting this strict Service alignment? This paper will attempt to answer these questions with a view towards infusing efficiency into the Department of Defense as the Services march towards transformation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 07, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA415333
Entities
People
- James D. Heffernan
Organizations
- United States Army War College