A True Sense of the Force – What We Really Need

By Miguel Alejandro Laborde

Miguel Alejandro Laborde is a former NCO in the 160th SOAR (A), and a subject matter expert on defense aviation programs, capabilities and platforms, with decades’ worth of experience in the aerospace industry supporting the joint force. 

With the recent withdrawal of all U.S. forces from America’s 20 year war in Afghanistan, occurring on the cusp of the 20^th anniversary of the September 11^th 2001 attacks, now seems to be an appropriate time for reflection about the state of our military. Considering everything going on in the world currently – from flaring instability in Africa, to renewed concerns across the greater Middle East, to the enduring strategic challenges with China and Russia – we need to get clear-eyed about the future of our nation’s defense. In other words, what we really need is to establish a true sense of our force.

Readiness and Capability

The unfortunate truth is that we have myriad challenges that are going to have to be addressed. And this isn’t just in one or two services – there are readiness and capability concerns across the joint force. 

• The Navy seems perennially uncertain about the future of its surface fleet and has had some serious operational issues in the recent past. 

• The Marine Corps has had recent disciplinary issues within the ranks, and is going through some doctrine and structure pains as it moves to eliminate entire categories of combat arms. 

• And the Air Force continues to struggle with issues ranging from pilot shortages to reconciling between legacy and new aircraft. 

We can no longer shy away from these sticky and inconvenient problems which are affecting everything from spending and budgets, to readiness and capability, to recruiting, retention and morale.

Army & National Guard Force Structure

For the Army and the National Guard, one of the main areas where we need to get serious, and where we need to obtain clear answers, is on the issue of force structure – particularly what the Army has in mind regarding divisional end-strength and how it plans to organize under the Total Force concept. 

The reason for this is simple: the Army is our largest service, with the biggest budget, and the most troops. If America is once again engaged in a major ground war, it’s going to be the Army and the National Guard that shoulder the burden of effort on terra firma. Moreover, a good portion of that commitment will be undertaken by the ARNG.

But the Army has still not been clear, direct or transparent with policymakers and the public about how it intends to organize that Total Force concept into actual divisions, with real ranks of real troops, with real tables of organization, real capabilities and real equipment.