What Senior Military Leaders are Saying

On the Global Force Posture

“The concept of adapting to confront a wider range of threats also informed recent changes to U.S. global posture. We surveyed where U.S. forces were stationed abroad and noted that they were more or less where they had been at the height of the Cold War. So we resolved to re-position them to diffuse global threats.”

Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
FY 2007 Posture Statement Before The Senate Armed Services Committee

Global Force Posture

What is it? The Army is adjusting its global posture to meet the needs of Combatant Commanders. The objective is to increase strategic responsiveness while decreasing its overseas footprint and exposure. As part of a larger Department of Defense program, these adjustments will have a fundamental impact on our facilities and our ability to surge forces when needed. In place of traditional overseas bases with extensive infrastructure, we intend to use smaller forward operating bases with prepositioned equipment and rotational presence of personnel. These adjustments will also support the stabilization initiative by requiring less moves to overseas bases for our Soldiers and their families.

Parallel with the Base Realignment and Closure process, the Army is identifying critical joint power projection installations to support the mobilization, demobilization and rapid deployment of Army forces. We are also enhancing force reception and deployed logistics capabilities to quickly respond to unforeseen contingencies.

To complete the transition to an expeditionary force, we will reposition ground forces to meet emerging challenges and adjust our permanent overseas presence to a unit-rotation model that is synchronized with force generation initiatives. In Europe, both heavy divisions will return to the United States. They are being replaced by expanding the airborne brigade in Italy, enhancing the Army’s training center in Germany and establishing a possible rotational presence in Eastern Europe. We will maintain a rotational presence in the Middle East while eliminating many of our permanent bases. In the Pacific, we will maintain smaller forward-presence forces, but will station more agile and expeditionary forces capable of rapid response at power projection bases. Finally, we will leverage our improved readiness to increase our rotational training presence among our security partners.

For more information on topics related to this effort, visit http://www.army.mil/aps/06/maindocument/infopapers/49.html

2 Comments

1. Carnival of Blue Stars - #4

   Welcome to the Fourth Carnival of Blue Stars. Our military men and women are our best and brightest!

   Trackback by Blue Star Chronicles — March 4, 2006 @ 9:51 pm | Edit This

2. […] spective. Retired Sgt Major Echo9er posted about the adjustments the Army is making in its global force posture to meet the challenges the American Army faces today. You Betcha I’m a Proud Army M […]

   Pingback by Blue Star Chronicles » Carnival of Blue Stars - # 4 — March 8, 2006 @ 9:26 pm | Edit This

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