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TESTIMONY OF
VICE ADMIRAL KEVIN P. GREEN
DEPUTY CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS FOR
PLANS, POLICY AND OPERATIONS

BEFORE THE
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TOTAL FORCE

REGARDING
ADEQUACY OF THE TOTAL FORCE

 March 10, 2004
 

Introduction   

Chairman McHugh and distinguished members of this Subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to be with you today.  It is an honor to report to you on our current force structure and how it is being used to continue our operations worldwide in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).  Your generous support has been instrumental in our efforts to transform our war fighting as well as improve the combat readiness and capability of our Navy.  The results of your assistance are evident in the strong forward deployed posture and readiness for combat of our Sailors and their units.

I'll begin my statement today by briefly reviewing the past year, where we stand today and how the newly instituted Fleet Response Plan (FRP) enhances our readiness posture to surge combat ready forces for crises and contingencies, providing our leadership with increased options in the execution of the national security strategy.  Secondly, I will address end strength considerations and Active/Reserve component impacts and how they support our Navy's improved readiness and increased capabilities to provide decisive combat power to the joint commander. 

This Time Last Year . . .

At this time last year, 168 Navy ships and over 77,000 Sailors were deployed around the world supporting the Global War on Terrorism and in position to execute Operation Iraqi Freedom.  In total, 221 of our 306 ships-representing 73% of our force-were underway; including 7 of 12 carrier strike groups, 9 of 12 expeditionary strike groups, and 33 of 54 attack submarines.  The Navy and Marine Corps alone had nearly 600 aircraft forward deployed in support of these operations.  SEALs, construction battalions, explosive ordnance disposal teams, port operations support units, maritime patrol squadrons, medical teams, and naval coastal warfare units were also deployed overseas, all well-trained and ready for real world combat operations.  Twenty-one combat logistics and 76 sealift ships provided for the movement and sustainment of this fighting force.

These forces were seamlessly integrated into joint and coalition operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).  In the case of OIF, our forces provided the joint force commander a capability to project force deep inland from the sovereign operational sea bases provided by our aircraft carriers and other naval combatants.  Navy flew nearly 9,000 sorties, fired over 800 Tomahawk missiles and delivered 15,000 Marines to the fight.  In fact, OEF and OIF were the most joint operations in our history, providing valuable lessons that we continue to apply today to further enhance our power projection, our defensive protection and the operational independence afforded by the freedom to maneuver on the sea.  The lessons learned thus far reaffirm that the capabilities-based investment strategy, new war fighting concepts and enabling technologies we are now pursuing in the Sea Power 21 vision are right on course.

To accomplish this level of deployed forces, shipyard and intermediate maintenance facility maintenance schedules were accelerated, training timelines compressed and many of our Sailors found themselves deploying much earlier than expected.  Our experience in OIF and our analysis of future campaign scenarios make it obvious that the readiness of both our forward deployed forces and the forces that must surge forward will continue to be critically important to our success in future campaigns.

To meet this readiness challenge, we launched the Fleet Response Plan (FRP) in May of this past year.  The FRP resets the force in a way that will allow us to surge about 50 percent more combat power on short notice and at the same time potentially reduce some of the personnel strain of forward rotations.

Sustaining Readiness - The Fleet Response Plan

The Fleet Response Plan (FRP) is among the most important in the Navy's transformation plans and is the real reason we can provide immediate surge capability close on the heels of major combat operations. The FRP fundamentally changes the way we operate our Fleet, institutionalizing a higher level of overall sustained readiness, and therefore employability, providing a surge capability necessary in the global security environment.

Our defense strategy requires joint forces to be prepared to rapidly transition from a posture of forward deterrence into joint campaigns to swiftly defeat the efforts of adversaries, placing a premium on rapidly surging ready forces from bases at home and abroad to augment forward-deployed forces.  In the past, the capability to have routinely available, rapidly deployable forces was hampered by our maintenance schedules and a rigid training schedule that targeted peak readiness for the next regularly scheduled deployment.  For example, in the pre-FRP deployment and maintenance cycle, a ship was surge ready or deployed 9.5 months of a 24-month cycle.  Under FRP, that ship is now surge ready or deployable 15.8 months of a 27-month cycle.

To achieve this added employability, we transformed the inter-deployment cycle by expanding the time between maintenance by three months (from 24 to 27 months), by commencing the training process as soon as possible following the completion of maintenance, and by completing both as soon after deployment as possible.  Further we aligned FRP training processes to progressively enhance crew proficiency as ships achieve readiness milestones through basic, intermediate and advanced phases of training.  The missions for which they can be surged are determined by the level of training they have completed at the point when they are ordered to deploy.   We use the terms "emergency surge capable" and "surge capable" to differentiate the training progress of our surge forces.

The result of the new process is a significantly higher sustained operational competency and improved readiness.   Simply put, rather than having only two or three Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) forward deployed at any one time - and an ability to surge only a maximum of two more - the FRP enables us to now consistently deliver six forward deployed or ready to surge Carrier Strike Groups almost immediately - within 30 days, plus two additional CSGs that are in the basic training phase in 90 days or less.  This FRP capability is commonly known as "six plus two.

"The improved readiness afforded by the FRP process makes more forces "available" and affords more flexibility to provide forces when needed by the Combatant Commanders.   Though the time that platforms are available for employment will increase, the total time Sailors are deployed will not. The framework of FRP will allow enough structure for Sailors and their families to plan their lives, while also keeping our adversaries off balance by the unpredictable potential of operations.

While flexibility has advantages, FRP must also provide Combatant Commanders and allies the level of predictability needed to plan U.S. Navy participation in exercises, engagement with overseas partners and provide assurances of our nation's commitment to the security of friends and allies.  Equally important, during the additional months of readiness to surge, FRP will not increase the burden on our Sailors by keeping them in a constant alert status, uncertain when, if, and for how long they will be summoned to respond.  Of course, for any major national crisis, the Navy will surge all the ships and aircraft it can put to sea.  Our Sailors understand that when the nation is threatened, their duty is to answer the call.  However, for those increasingly frequent situations that warrant a response, but do not imminently threaten the U.S. or its interests, a new employment concept was required.

The Navy developed the Flexible Deployment Concept (FDC) as a complement to FRP to ensure a proper balance between readiness to surge versus the practical need to place responsible limits on the OPTEMPO of our Sailors.  To provide safeguards for our people, FDC proposes the establishment of two windows when ready ships could be available for employment, either on routine deployments in support of Combatant Commander objectives, or on shorter "pulse" employment periods in response to emerging requirements.  These windows provide predictability.  Sailors will know when they might be expected to deploy, and Combatant Commanders will know which forces are ready to respond to emergent needs.

FRP and FDC, when applied with the Joint Chiefs of Staff deployment processes, provide ready forces able to defend the homeland, respond quickly to deter crises, defeat the intentions of an adversary, or win decisively against a major enemy.  "Presence with a Purpose"  - - employing forces for specific capability requirements - - is our employment goal and is a sea change from heel-to-toe presence deployments of the past.  Together they implement the type of force employment transformation envisioned by national and military leaders and are the most significant change in the Navy's operational construct in decades.  FRP/FDC implementation will be accomplished with the resources already planned and do not require increases in force structure.  Since we will gain resource efficiencies in maintenance and training, FRP/FDC is budget neutral and costs are not disproportionately larger than costs to support our current presence policy.  In fact, when considering the increased force availability gained through this transformational change, the taxpayer gets a larger return on investment with our current force structure.    

I have focused the discussion on carrier strike groups (CSGs) because they are the most complex components to prepare for deployment.  Certainly my FRP discussion could be extended over portions of our entire fleet.  With the implementation of FRP, half of Navy forces could be ready to provide homeland defense and be either forward deployed or ready to surge forward, ready to provide the joint commander with the necessary combat power to respond to any contingency.

Sustaining Readiness and Transforming the Workforce

Three years ago, the Navy reported to Congress significant concerns with the material aspect of our current readiness.  As one of the CNO's top five priorities, Navy current readiness received significant attention, and with focused effort, careful planning and congressional resource support, we have made tremendous gains in ship and aviation material readiness.  Training readiness is another success story.

To meet the demands of our new readiness process, we continue to place great emphasis on use of simulation and other means of finding efficiencies that can be captured and diverted into other readiness accounts.  Inherent in our employment shift to a rotational force that is surge-capable, we have found innovative ways to achieve an acceptable level of surge readiness earlier in a battle group's deployment cycle.  Adjustments to key training and scheduling events during the inter-deployment training cycle are resulting in ships and squadrons being capable of accelerating to a deployable status sooner.

The efficiencies gained through improved training readiness and greater material readiness, when coupled with the highest retention in history and reduced attrition rates, resulted in the best trained and led Navy in our history.  Matching these highly skilled Sailors with newer, more technically advanced equipment has given our Navy more capability while requiring fewer personnel.  This trend will continue as older, manpower intensive platforms are retired and more advanced platforms requiring fewer overall personnel continue to join the fleet.

To preserve the specialties, skill sets and expertise of our Sailors and to shape this professional and technologically proficient force, the following programs and initiatives have proven fruitful:

• Pay raises and enhancements to special pays (especially career sea pay) enacted over the past three years are yielding impressive results. 

• The use of Selective Reenlistment Bonus to increase the number of enlistments in critical, highly technical or hard to retain ratings and Navy Enlisted Classifications. 

• Efforts to reduce out-of-pocket housing expenses, authorization for our Sailors to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan, improvements in medical care, and retirement reforms approved by Congress are among the significant factors that have helped us retain the Sailors we need today. 

• The Perform to Serve (PTS) program has been successful in reshaping the force, preserving specialties, skill sets and expertise needed to continue properly balancing the force.  This program's success in moving sailors from where we have excess inventory to undermanned ratings where vacancies have been hurting us has been essential to properly shaping the force.  The pilot program was so successful it has been expanded and will continue in 2005. 

• Innovative personnel employment practices are being implemented throughout the fleet.  Optimal manning experiments in USS BOXER (LHD 4), USS MILIUS (DDG 69) and USS MOBILE BAY (CG 53) produced revolutionary shipboard watch standing practices while reducing overall manning requirements and allowing Sailors to focus on their core responsibilities. 

• The Navy's Sea Swap initiative, is experimenting with exchanging forward deployed crews. The first "sea swap" occurred aboard USS FLETCHER in the Western Australian port of Fremantle, and today FLETCHER is on her fourth crew.  We will continue to assess their condition and deep maintenance needs to develop and apply lessons learned to future Sea Swap initiatives.    

As we continue to balance the Fleet, the stresses placed on our Reserve Components as a result of the GWOT, OEF and OIF demonstrated the need for additional capability in the Active Component.  As a result, we are actively pursuing changes in the Active and Reserve Component mix to bring some of these critical skills to the Active forces, giving us more capability to respond in a crisis without having to immediately mobilize the Reserves. 

Total Force:  AC/RC mix

The Navy's goal is to properly balance Active and Reserve resources to ensure operational readiness for forward presence and surge capabilities.  The global war on terrorism tested our surge capability to meet rapid response contingencies.  As a result, Navy proactively addressed imbalances in three particular areas: enhancement of early responsiveness, resolving stressed career fields, and employment of innovative management practices. I will summarize some of the actions the Navy has taken:

• Added over 7,200 new Active and over 1,800 Reserve antiterrorism / force protection billets.  This effort started after the attack on USS COLE.  As a result the Active Component can now man Force Protection Condition (FPCON) Bravo continually and FPCON Charlie for more than a month without involuntarily activating Naval Reservists.  
   

• Rescinded an earlier decision to decommission an active Seabee battalion, and instead decommissioned several Reserve Seabee units as a neutral cost action.  As a result the Navy retained the ability to meet construction engineering requirements in the first 60 days of surge operations using Active Seabee forces.  
   

• Reducing stress on medical support to Marine Reserve units, Navy restructured 525 Reserve Corpsman billets so that when mobilized our Marine reserve units will be supported by active duty rather than all Reserve Corpsmen. 
   

• Converting one Naval Coastal Warfare squadron on each coast, approximately 600 total billets, from the Reserve Component to the Active Component over the next year.  Prior to this action Naval Coastal Warfare was a capability that resided 100 % in the Navy Reserve.  This will also allow us to meet the first 15 days of potential contingency requirements without mobilization of our reserve forces. The Navy is also in the process of activating and certifying 4 active duty Mobile Security Force Squadrons no later than the end of 2006, approximately 1,200 billets, in order to improve our force protection posture and responsiveness to surge requirements.

Navy efforts to integrate the force and verify balance have eliminated the need to involuntarily activate Reservists in the first 15 days of surge operations and have reduced stress on our Reserve Component.  These rebalancing actions are in keeping with Secretary Rumsfeld's guidance and allow us to more efficiently use the Navy's Reserve while capitalizing on Navy Reserve strengths.

To further enhance the integration of the Reserve into the Navy mission, the Navy's Reserve is undergoing a "redesign" based on a comprehensive study co-sponsored by the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and the Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.  This study focuses on three main areas: Personnel Management, Readiness and Training, and Organizational Alignment.  The study identified 14 key actions that are being addressed by the Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Plans, Policy and Operations).

The Navy is committed to extending our culture of readiness into the future.  We must continue to attract, develop and retain a more highly skilled and educated workforce of warriors that will lead the 21^st century Navy.  Continued Congressional support for the resources and tools to support our strategy in training and maintaining these highly skilled professionals is essential to our success.  

Conclusion 

The U.S. Navy is fulfilling its requirements of the National Security Strategy and we are successfully transforming . I offer as evidence the ability to surge deploy the force in OIF - - and the ability to offer the President enhanced employment options from the FRP.   Your Navy is built to take credible combat power to the far corners of the globe, and every day our volunteer Sailors are dedicated to providing flexible, forward deployed, combat ready power on a moment's notice to ensure the safety and vital interests of United States.  We are this way because of the tremendous support we have received from the American people and from the Congress-your continued support is vital to our readiness today and to the preparedness of the Navy of tomorrow.  Again, I would like to thank the members of this Committee for this opportunity to discuss the Fleet Response Plan and our plans for the future readiness of the Force.