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Schoomaker predicts bigger, busier Army in '06

By Jennifer Downing
January 17, 2006

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 17, 2006) – The chief of staff of the Army said he expects to see developments with base realignment and closures, an increase in modular brigades and operational force strength, and 20,000 jobs converted from the military to civilian workforce in 2006.

Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker gave an overview of the direction the Army is going for the next year at the annual Institute for Land Warfare Forum Breakfast in Arlington, Va., Jan. 12.

“This year is going to be the busiest year we’ve ever had,” said Schoomaker about the Army as a whole, but he said NATO is expected to take on more responsibility in Afghanistan in the coming year.

Schoomaker said he is confident that forming a more fully resourced Army across the board will improve the Army’s mission achievement. A piece of that puzzle is converting jobs at Army installations in the United States to the civilian workforce. By converting those jobs, he said Soldiers would then be able to fill operational spaces overseas.

“The War on Terror is about ideas and changing things that are fundamental,” Schoomaker said.

BRAC will also prove to make headlines this year, he said, as officials work with the installations set for realignment or closure and work out the best way to execute the congressional mandate.

While hard issues drive how the Army will evolve in 2006, Schoomaker said the Soldiers he met have made an impact on how he sees the War on Terrorism evolving.

Visiting the troops in theater and traveling to Landstuhl, Germany, confirmed to the chief of staff that troops want to continue the fight. He talked to Soldiers who have been wounded in battle and are anxious to get back in theater.

He also talked about the humanitarian efforts he saw in Pakistan and how the Army is shaping the world and changing perceptions. An example he cited was a toy that became a favorite of the children in Pakistan – a little, plastic Army Chinook – which was “of course made in China,” he said.

Schoomaker said he is confident the Army will be able to step up and deliver in the coming year.

“We are moving up the mountain and over the hump,” he said.