FORT STEWART, Ga. - Vice Chief of Staff of the Army General John F. Campbell spent Tuesday on Fort Stewart meeting with senior leaders to discuss the Army’s Ready and Resilient Campaign.
Fort Stewart is Campbell’s first of several planned visits to meet with senior leaders from various Army installations. The purpose is to find out what is working, what isn’t and how to effectively move our Army forward with the best-trained force possible.
Maj. Gen. John M. Murray, the Commanding General of 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart said he was honored to host Gen. Campbell and several other senior Army leaders for discussions about resiliency and programmed personnel losses.
He said he was proud of the great work 3rd ID and Fort Stewart leaders have done to develop innovative ways to support the Army’s Ready and Resilient Campaign and was excited to share them with Campbell and his team.
“Fort Stewart is doing some incredibly innovative programs and I want to take a hard look some of these and see if we can export them to other places,” Campbell said. “In the end it really is about taking care of our Soldiers and our Families and as our budgets decrease we need to look at ways we can become more efficient… change the culture of our Soldiers and our Family Members and Ready and Resilient is about trying to synchronize those programs across the board.”
The R2C programs not only support the active duty Soldier, but also Department of Defense Civilians, especially in locations such as Aberdeen Proving Grounds where there is a predominately civilian workforce. As the Army’s end strength draws down over the coming years the civilian side will also see a reduction.
“We know that we have the very best Army in the world – best manned, equipped, trained and led Army. We’re going to have to make some very tough decisions; sequestration will drive us to it,” Campbell continued.
Murray also believes the candid discussion and feedback his team provided to Campbell and his team will be very helpful as they determine the best way to ensure units have the flexibility needed to continue to provide the training and quality of life our Soldiers and Families deserve.
Campbell expressed, “Beginning input that we saw from Fort Stewart today will better enable us to make some of those decisions in a smarter way that impacts our Army.”
One fact that can’t be avoided is that the Army is shrinking. It simply cannot continue to function at its current state on a smaller budget. Something has to be reduced to meet those numbers and unfortunately it’s the active duty component and select programs absorbing some of that cut.
“As we move to the future and our budget continues to shrink we need to look at ways we can continue to get better,” he explained. “We talk about becoming more efficient, talk about reducing programs; we want to make sure when we do that we keep the ones that have the biggest impact for our family. We can’t have everything we had in the past. It’s about expectation management as we deal with our families in the future.”
“I think as long as there’s open dialog and we’re transparent about where the Army’s going to go I think the Family Members will appreciate that. Again, thanks to our great Family Members because as Soldiers we couldn’t do what we do without having that great family behind us.”
He said in closing, “We have the best manned, equipped, trained and led Army in the world today. We’ll make some tough decisions – we’re going to have to get smaller – but in the end we’ll continue to have the very best Army.”