The Future Engineer Force: Projecting the Capabilities of the Regiment

Abstract

Our Army is at war. Since Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom began, more than 444 soldiers have been killed in action and more than 2,252 severely wounded. The largest rotation of Army forces in history is taking place, and nine of its ten active divisions all but the 2d Infantry Division, which is already committed to Korea will have seen action in Afghanistan or Iraq. We have activated the largest number of U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) and Army National Guard (ARNG) soldiers since the Korean War. Some may say this operational state, that of war, is the exception rather than the norm. As stated by some of our nation's most experienced leaders, peace will be the exception in the future. Americans face a new reality one that is significantly different from that of the Cold War. A conflict of irreconcilable ideas exists. Adaptive adversaries seek our demise by any means. Our own forces can't focus solely on future overseas contingencies but also must defend bases and facilities at home and abroad. Above all, because at least some current adversaries consider peaceful coexistence with the United States unacceptable, we have a foreseeable future of extensive conflict in which real peace will be the anomaly. Today's Army is not designed for such a strategy; consequently, swift change is essential to survival in our new reality. As the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Peter J. Schoomaker, pointedly states, "We're going to have to [change] some of the things that made us the best Army in the world. Our values are sacrosanct. But everything else is on the table." Accordingly, the Engineer Regiment must change NOW. The fact that we provide a unique set of core competencies that critically enable the combatant commander and the joint team with the mobility they need to provide a position of advantage at the tactical through strategic levels will not change.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA596657

Entities

People

  • Brian Slack
  • Bryan Watson
  • David Holbrook
  • Mike Fowler
  • Mollie Pearson
  • Stephen Bales

Organizations

  • United States Army Engineer School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Command And Control
  • Contracts
  • Deployment
  • Employment
  • Engineers
  • Homeland Security
  • Logistics
  • Personnel Management
  • Reconnaissance
  • Stability Operations
  • Standards
  • Sustainment
  • Tactical Reconnaissance
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies