By John Milburn
Associated Press
FORT RILEY, Kan. — Joseph Powers was a typical Army brat. Born at Fort Knox, Ky., he moved as his father transferred from post to post in Georgia and the Carolinas until, he says, he covered most of the South.
Such constant address changes are well-known for taking a toll on soldiers and their families.
Now 37, Powers is a first sergeant, a medic with the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry and a potential symbol of a new Army policy aimed at allowing Powers and soldiers with families to focus on moving troops and equipment for air assaults instead of loading furniture into the back of a rental truck.
Pvt. Domingo Tomas (front) and other soldiers from A Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, A load their machine guns with blanks during a training exercise at Fort Riley, Kan., on April 19. Soldiers in the unit will stay together longer and move less often as they incorporate a new policy designed to make units more stable. — Charlie Riedel / AP Photo
“It’s kind of tough on kids being moved around at young ages. That’s when they are imprinting, when they are young,” Powers said, recalling his mobile youth. “Typically, you kind of move to a new place and you are apprehensive who you will talk with until someone in the community comes out.”
Called “unit force stability,” the new policy creates three-year life cycles for units — forming, training, deploying and returning them to the same post. The change also increases the likelihood that even if a soldier left a particular unit, he or she could transfer within the same post — bringing some stability to what had been the traditional, mobile military family. The change already has taken place in some units but not all.
The first unit to see the change was the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, in October 2003. That unit is completing a year in Iraq and will begin a new life cycle in December.
It’s part of larger changes for the Army, which must cope with conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan while juggling staff as a result of base closings and division moves from Europe back to the U.S.
And although the policy may help individual soldiers and their families, it is intended to make the Army stronger.
“We face the challenge of changing the Army’s personnel culture from an individual-centric Army to a unit-centric Army and balancing this with soldier leader development needs,” said Lt. Col. Cheryl Morman, deputy chief of staff for operations with the Army Human Resources Command.
“It has not gone perfectly, but we are making progress and continue to refine it and obtain lessons learned as we transform more units.”
A report last fall by the Rand Corp., a Washington, D.C. think tank, said the policy could negatively affect the Army’s ability to deploy for combat. For example, it said, units in the early stages of their life cycle may not have enough personnel or equipment to be called to duty, because personnel from the previous would have moved on. Pushing the burden to other units that may have recently come out of the fight could prove difficult.
“Generally, to sustain the life cycle program, it would be desirable to keep units at home for 18 months or longer,” the report concluded, though it added that after a first deployment, the time a unit rests before deploying again could be shortened, if necessary.
But at Fort Riley, Lt. Col. Patrick Frank, who commands the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry, said allowing soldiers and officers to stay put for at least three years is a welcome change. He previously was on the staff of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., and did a stint at Fort Drum, N.Y.
“From a military perspective, it is a great thing, with stability and leadership, from the platoon all the way to the top,” Frank said. “As we develop proficiency, we will maintain that better than we did under the legacy system.”
Under that system, soldiers and officers moved constantly through a unit, with replacements coming in as officers changed command and soldiers moved up in leadership or left the Army.
With the life-cycle policy, soldiers are with a unit for three years, with the goal of no more than one year deployed. Soldiers feel more prepared for missions because they are familiar with unit leaders, their operations and their working environment, Morman said.
The Black Lions are among the newest tenants at Fort Riley, part of the 4th Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division. The division’s headquarters arrives this summer after 11 years in Germany, part of the Pentagon’s repositioning of forces.
The effect on families could be big. Children’s education and socialization will be more stable. Spouses will have better job opportunities and more chances at promotions if employers know they are more likely to stick around.
“There are huge opportunities for families in that they could spend six to seven years in a community,” Frank said.
Command Sgt. Maj. Clifford Dockter likes the change, having joined the Army in 1981 and been stationed at posts in Colorado, Germany, Kansas, Alaska and elsewhere.
“The Army really didn’t want (noncommissioned officers) and officers to be at one installation too long,” said Dockter. “It’s changed into now where the Army has realized that a large, very important part of the Army is its married soldiers.”
Army Times