U.S. Army Deployments: How are Things Changing?
Abstract
Management of frequent deployments is not a new issue for the Department of Defense though it has been exacerbated by the marked increase in Operations Tempo in the past decade. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 U.S. threats have become more diverse and U.S. military deployments have become more frequent while at the same time the U.S. has downsized its Armed Forces. Currently the U.S. military finds itself sustaining troop concentrations in Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Afghanistan, South Korea the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, Honduras, Cuba, Kuwait and Iraq while struggling to maintain trained and ready forces back home. This enormous pressure on U.S. military systems and personnel in the Armed Forces has caused its senior leadership considerable concern about the readiness and condition of the U.S. military forces. In response to prompting from the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Army the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army created a task force called the Unit Manning Task Force (UMTF) in October 2002 to address this mounting issue. This paper will look at current policies analyze the work that the UMTF has done to date explore deployment models of the other branches of the armed forces and provide some possible insights to consider for the future.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 03, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA423646
Entities
People
- Bryan R. Owens
Organizations
- United States Army War College