Ten Takeaways from the 2017 Annual CASA Conference

Recently I attended the annual conference of Civilian Aides to the Secretary of the Army (CASAs). CASAs are volunteers that help communicate the Army story, support the Army’s mission, and who commit to helping Army soldiers (and their families) in our respective regions. Once a year we meet to be briefed by senior Army leaders, exchange best practices, discuss challenges, and meet Army soldiers at their duty stations. This year we met at Fort Bragg and had a great opportunity to interact with our premier Airborne and Special Forces soldiers.

Here are a few of the takeaways from my attendance at this year’s conference. None of this is classified information and most of it has been discussed in open forums including public hearings on Capitol Hill. Some of it is based on my own personal observations and conversations with our soldiers:

1)      Your US Army remains ready to defend our country and fulfill the orders of the President of the United States and the National Command Authority as directed. It is a force to be reckoned with and any potential adversary would be wise to tread carefully when challenging US interests or the security of our country and her allies.

2)     Your Army is moving quickly to prepare for the possibility of fighting near-peer adversaries in the not too distant future. They are training to fight in an environment where they no longer are assured of air superiority or rapid casualty evacuations and where electronic warfare will disrupt the advantage that communications and GPS navigation have given our forces in recent decades. The Army is also preparing to fight across a multi-domain environment including information operations, cyber defense and offense, and space-based systems.

3)     The quality of the US soldier remains extremely high. Any fears of the millennial generation being unable to perform like previous generations should be discarded. Today’s young soldiers are as tough and motivated and willing to fight as any who have gone before them. The quality of our individual soldiers remains the single most powerful weapon in our military toolbox.

4)     Total gender equality is now the norm in the US Army. All positions, including combat arms, are now open to women and Army leaders expect them to meet the same standards as their male counterparts. The Army will benefit from an expanded pool of candidates willing and able to take on the challenges of infantry and Special Forces. Army pay and promotions remain focused on purely objective measures of performance.

5)     The Army is moving quickly to attract America’s best and brightest computer experts to join its new Cyber Command. The US Army’s Cyber Command recruiting commercial attracted a great response particularly as it included “bread crumbs” for hackers to follow. The bread crumbs led to a cryptographic puzzle that only several hundred people were able to solve. Those individuals were contacted by Army recruiters. Cyber Command recruiters are also establishing strong links with America’s top computer science universities as well as with Silicon Valley. The Command has strong funding and innovative career paths for those willing to put their knowledge in the defense of their country.

6)     The Army is also making great strides in incorporating artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles into the force. In the next few years we will see many of them playing an enhanced role on the battlefield.

7)     The Army has asked for funding to lay the groundwork for another round of BRAC hearings in the near future. The Army continues to pay for under-utilized facilities and properties that hamper both fiscal and operational efficiency. Army leaders are hoping to combine or re-purpose them in order to carry out its responsibilities more effectively.

8)     The Army is working towards greater integration with the Reserve and National Guard components as both remain essential to the Army’s ability to fulfill its current and future missions. A test project is in the works to examine the possibility of recruiting for all three components, Active, Reserve and National Guard, under one roof.

9)     Your active duty Army has been reduced from a height of 735 thousand active duty soldiers at the height of the wars to about 476 thousand today. They remain extremely busy throughout the world and have learned to do more with less. Recent budgetary supplements have allowed the Army to fill in some critical gaps in capabilities but more is needed to adequately meet the evolving global threats that dominate the headlines.

10)  The single biggest threat facing our Army on the home front is not just the quantity of budgeted dollars but the timing and predictability of it. Sequestration and the reliance on stopgap spending bills (in the form of continuing resolutions) is causing the US military, and especially the US Army, great difficulty. It is also costing US taxpayers more money as the Army is unable to garner the savings that come from long-term contracting. Having Congress actually pass a defense budget is the single most important thing that our elected officials can do to improve our state of military readiness. 

The last point is perhaps the most vital “takeaway” that we as CASAs can share with the general public. It is best illustrated by the testimony given by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley on April 5, 2017, before the House Armed Services Committee hearing. When responding to comments made by Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) that continuing resolutions might be the "new normal’, General Milley replied:

"Failure to pass the budget, in my view as an American citizen and the chief of staff of the United States Army, constitutes professional malpractice."

Your US Army remains the finest Army ever fielded in our country’s history. It is important that it be allowed to carry on its critical mission without the constant distraction (and damage) caused by political bickering and the inability to reach consensus on a budget. Other service branches are also suffering from the same budgetary unpredictability.

I hope you’ve found this article informative and useful. The comments and observations contained herein are strictly my own, as are any errors or omissions. Contact me via private messaging if you have any questions.