Engagement through Deployment: Shaping America's Future Military

Abstract

The collapse of Soviet-led communism changed the simple rules by which US security was planned during the Cold War. While the debate over the new rules proceeds, US forces are moving out of overseas bases and are demobilizing. The remaining forces are conducting temporary overseas deployments more frequently and to more places than ever before, mostly for what is now called "operations other than war" (OOTW). These are the day-to-day military operations of regional deterrence, stability, and humanitarian assistance that have long been critical to US global access and influence. They will continue to be critical to the nation's engagement in world affairs. The Defense Department Bottom-Up Review established the requirement to fight two near-simultaneous "major regional conflicts" as the primary basis for US military force structure planning. Current reductions are reshaping the military both to meet this mission and to meet stringent budget limits. It is becoming clear that these budget limits are too small to support a future force large enough to fight two wars, yet still modern and ready enough to win them. Without a compelling global threat, the spending is unlikely to increase. America's military is faced with a mismatch between its requirements and its resources. The United States has not faced more than one major war at a time in 50 years, but over this same period its national interests and influence have depended on a robust capability to conduct multiple OOTW. The nation's future military should be shaped to follow this same broad pattern: joint operations both in global OOTW and in a single regional war. This article will characterize the nature of future joint operations and will describe the capabilities and shape of the military best-suited to conduct them.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA528120

Entities

People

  • Arthur H. Barber Iii

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Active Duty
  • Air Force
  • Cold War
  • Combat Forces
  • Deployment
  • Deterrence
  • Force Structure
  • International Relations
  • Military Capabilities
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Navy
  • Security
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Economics
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.