Military

TRAINING

More than anything else, our standing as the greatest Army in the world is due to our Soldiers' skill - it is our training that makes the difference.  This state of readiness, however, does not just happen.  It requires realistic, multi-echelon training under battlefield-like conditions to meld soldiers and equipment into the best fighting force in the world.  The recent performance of our Soldiers reinforces the Army's position that assuming risk in Operating Tempo (OPTEMPO) is unacceptable.  Therefore, OPTEMPO is again a top priority that is reflected in the fiscal year 2004 budget.

OPTEMPO

The fiscal year 2004 budget fully supports a ground OPTEMPO program of 913 M1 Abrams tank miles (live and virtual).  The flying hour program provides 13.1 flight hours per aircrew per month, which represents our best historical rate of execution.  We have funded 25 brigade rotations through our Combat Training Centers to provide commanders with the resources they need to execute tough, demanding, combined-arms training that will keep their forces trained and ready.  The Battle Command Training Program will conduct three Corps Warfighter exercises and train seven division command and staff groups.

The Army's Strategic Readiness System was implemented in October 2002 as a comprehensive strategic management and readiness assessment tool.  It provides Army leadership with accurate, objective, predictive, and actionable readiness information to dramatically enhance strategic resource management.  For the first time we have an Army enterprise management system that integrates readiness information from both the Active and Reserve Components - enabling the Army to improve support to Combatant Commanders, invest in Soldiers and their families, identify and adopt sound business practices, and Transform the Army to the Objective Force.  This reporting system markedly improves how we measure readiness by gathering timely information with precision and expands the scope of the data considered.  We are further developing this system to leverage leading indicators and predict trends - avoiding issues that affect readiness before they become problems.

PEOPLE READINESS

Army readiness is directly linked to our ability to recruit and retain quality Soldiers.  Therefore, we are committed to those efforts that improve our Soldiers' quality of life and provide for a suitable standard of living.  The fiscal year 2004 budget funds an average pay raise of 4.1 percent and provides for targeted pay increases for specific grades and years of service.  The budget also provides $300 million to increase housing allowances and reduces Soldiers' out-of-pocket expenses to 3.5 percent.  This level of funding puts the Army on track for eliminating average out-of-pocket costs entirely by fiscal year 2005 for those Soldiers and families living on the economy.  With these increases in pay and benefits, the Army is renewing its commitment to our Soldiers and their families and providing a stimulus to retain the expertise that is fundamental to our readiness.

RECRUITING AND RETENTION

In 1999, the Army missed its recruiting goals by approximately 6,300 inductees in the Active Component and by some 10,000 in the Reserve Component.  In fiscal year 2002, all three components of the Army achieved their overall mission for the third consecutive year.  The Active Component exceeded its 79,500 enlisted accession target and is poised to make the fiscal year 2003 accession target of 73,800.  The Army also exceeded its aggregate fiscal year 2002 retention objective of 56,800 Soldiers in all three categories. 

The Army Reserve's recruiting force is well structured to meet fiscal year 2004 challenges and continues to maintain a strong Selected Reserve strength posture at 205,484 (as of January 17, 2003) - over 100 percent of the fiscal year 2003 end strength objective.  Overcoming many recruiting and retention challenges in fiscal year 2002, the Army National Guard exceeded its end strength mission and reenlistment objectives. 

MANNING

In fiscal year 2000, we implemented a strategy to man units at 100 percent of authorized strength.  Starting with divisional combat units, the program expanded in fiscal year 2001 and fiscal year 2002 to include early deploying units.  In fiscal year 2002, we maintained our manning goals and continued to fill our Divisions, Armored Cavalry Regiments, and selected Early Deploying Units to 100 percent in the aggregate, with a 93 to 95 percent skill and grade-band match.  We remain on a glide path to accomplish our long-term goal of filling all Army warfighting units to 100 percent of authorized strength.

QUALITY OF LIFE

The Army established the Barracks Upgrade Program in the late 1990's to improve single Soldiers' housing conditions.  Through 2002, we have upgraded, or funded-for-upgrade, 70 percent of our permanent party barracks to Soldier-Suites that consist of two single bedrooms with a shared bath and common area.  The Army will continue the upgrade program until all permanent party barracks achieve this standard - we remain firmly committed to completing the Barracks Upgrade Program by 2010.

For our families, the Army - with the strong support of Congress - established the Residential Communities Initiative.  This program leverages commercial expertise and private capital to perform a non-core function for the Army - family-housing management.  The program provides greater value to the Army by attracting more than $700 million in private capital to alleviate housing shortages and improve the condition of our existing housing more rapidly than government resources would otherwise allow.  The Army's privatization program began with four pilot projects and will expand to 18 active projects by the end of fiscal year 2003.  Pending Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and Congressional approval, 28 projects are planned for the end of fiscal year 2006.  By the end of 2007, we will have the programs and projects in place to meet the OSD goal of eliminating inadequate family housing.  We will accomplish this goal through RCI and increased Army investment in family housing Military Constructions at non-privatized installations

INSTALLATION READINESS

Army installations are our Nation's power projection platforms and they provide critical training support to the Army and other members of the Joint team.  Installations also provide our Soldiers, families, and civilians a place to live and work.  Therefore, the quality of our infrastructure directly affects the readiness of the Army. 

The Army has traditionally accepted substantial risk in infrastructure to maintain its current warfighting readiness.  However, a decade of chronic under funding has left over 50 percent of our facilities and infrastructure in such poor condition that commanders rated them as "adversely affecting mission requirements."  Over the past two years, with the help of the Administration and Congress, the Army began to rectify this situation with significant increases in funding and innovative business practices.  These efforts have been dramatically successful as we continue to correct a problem that was a decade in the making.  In a continuing effort to prevent future degradation of our facilities, the Army will fund facilities sustainment at 93 percent of the requirement in fiscal year 2004.

TRANSFORMATION OF INSTALLATION MANAGEMENT

In a significant paradigm shift from the way the Army historically managed its installations, the Secretary of the Army directed the reorganization of the Army's installation management structure.  On October 1, 2002, the Army began to place its installations under the Installation Management Agency (IMA).  IMA is a field-operating agency of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management.  The intent is to streamline headquarters and resources, create more agile and responsive staffs, reduce layers of review and approval, and allow mission commanders to focus on their core warfighting tasks.  IMA will provide equitable, efficient, and effective management of Army installations worldwide to support readiness, improve infrastructure, and preserve the environment.  This new management approach eliminates the migration of Base Operations funds to other operational accounts below the Headquarters Department of the Army level.  It also enables the development of multi-functional installations to support evolving force structure and Army Transformation needs. 

EQUIPMENT READINESS - RECAPITALIZATION & MODERNIZATION

Recapitalization is the cornerstone of the Army's strategy to sustain its warfighting capability throughout the fielding of the Objective Force.  Therefore, we are committed to the recapitalization of two divisions in the Counter Attack Corps and Army Aviation modernization and restructuring.  Our strategy is to selectively rebuild or upgrade systems that will remain in the inventory for the next 15 to 20 years and achieve an average fleet age of no more than half of a system's expected service life.  These systems include the M1 Abrams tank, M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, and CH-47 Chinook.  If sufficiently resourced, this investment in future readiness will sustain warfighting capabilities, reduce the cost of ownership, and extend the service life of systems until the Objective Force is fielded throughout the Army.

The Army's aviation modernization plan now in progress, will eliminate Vietnam-era aircraft from the force by 2004, lower operating and sustainment costs, and posture Army aviation for the arrival of the Objective Force.  By fiscal year 2007, we will achieve a 23 percent reduction in our helicopter inventory (from 4,533 aircraft in fiscal year 2001 to 3,491 aircraft in fiscal year 2007).

Apache modernization is an integral part of the Army Aviation Transformation Plan.  The AH-64D Longbow will enhance domination of the maneuver battlespace and provide the ground commander with a versatile, long-range weapon system against a range of fixed and moving targets.  The UH-60 Black Hawk continues to be the assault workhorse of Army Aviation, executing over 40 percent of the Army's annual flying hours.  We are extending the life of the UH-60 while providing it with capabilities required by the future battlespace.  Similarly, the Army is fully committed to the CH-47F Chinook program.  Its heavy-lift capability is invaluable to transforming the Army.  As we restructure and standardize attack and lift formations across the force, we will also adjust the stationing and alignment of Reserve Component aviation units to mitigate the near-term risk.

ARMY TRANSFORMATION IS OUR FUTURE READINESS

The strategic environment has changed and the Army must change with it.  We must Transform to a more strategically responsive force that is dominant across the full spectrum of military operations.  Fundamentally, we must change the way the Army fights and the way it deploys.  With changes to doctrine, training, leader development, organization, materiel acquisition strategies, and soldier systems, the Army is taking a holistic approach to its Transformation.  The result will be a different Army, not just a modernized version of the current Army.

Built around the FCS, the Army's Objective Force is the future Joint, Interagency, and Multi-national precision maneuver instrument for this Nation.  Comprised of modular, scalable, flexible organizations for prompt and sustained land operations, it will be more lethal, more agile, and more rapidly deployable.  In May of this year, we are confident that FCS Milestone B will transition the FCS program from Concept and Technology Development into Systems Development and Demonstration.  The Army will begin fielding the Objective Force in this decade with the first FCS combat maneuver force equipped in 2008 - Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for this unit is expected in 2010.

Stryker Brigade Combat Teams bridge a capabilities gap between our lethal, survivable, but slow-to-deploy heavy forces and our rapidly deployable light forces that lack the protection, lethality, and tactical mobility that we seek.  In the spring of 2003, we will achieve IOC with the first SBCT at Fort Lewis, Washington.  IOC for the remaining five SBCTs will occur each year thereafter through 2008.  The Army has resourced six SBCTs in concert with the 1-4-2-1 defense construct and national security requirements.  However, at this time, the Secretary of Defense has only authorized the procurement of the first four brigades pending the Army's plan for potential modifications to Stryker Brigades five and six.  We intend to work with the Secretary of Defense and this Congress to assure that all six Stryker Brigades are fielded with the force structure and capabilities they need to possess.

CONCLUSION

For nearly 228 years, the Army has kept its covenant with the American people to fight and win our Nation's wars.  In all that time, we have never failed them and we never will.  Building and maintaining an Army is a shared responsibility between the Congress, the Administration, those of us in uniform, and the American people.  With the help of Congress and the Administration, we will keep the Army ready to meet today's challenges and continue to make significant strides toward achieving the vision of a Transformed Army in this decade.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the committee for allowing me to appear before you today.  I look forward to discussing these issues with you.