Army releases updated FM-1

By Rey Guzman
June 14, 2005





WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 14, 2005) – The Army released a new Field Manual-1 today, providing an updated overview of the Army, its organization and employment.

The previous FM-1 had been released in June 2001, just four months before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“Sept. 11, 2001 changed forever the world in which we live,” said Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Army chief of staff. “The change in the strategic environment has forced us to review how we do business – to better counter those evolving threats.”

The new FM-1 reflects the “depth and urgency” of the Army’s involvement in the War on Terrorism, according to Schoomaker.

“FM-1 emphasizes transformation, the warrior ethos, a culture of innovation, and joint interdependence, rather than just joint interoperability,” Schoomaker said. “In short, it contains a true operational concept about how the Army will operate across a spectrum of conflict both at home and abroad.”

FM-1 establishes the fundamental principles of employing landpower and the Army’s operational concept, including Army forces in unified action. The field manual begins with a history of the Army, explains how it is changing and where it is headed.

Schoomaker added that the new FM-1 will become a foundation for all future Army doctrine, and that Soldiers should understand and internalize its concepts.

“It provides a discussion about of how the Army’s vision and strategies are nested in the national security, national defense and national military strategies,” he said.

“It gives me great pride to be able to send this FM to the field during the week of our Army’s 230th birthday,” Schoomaker said. “We are reminded that warfare remains a human endeavor and it is Soldiers, not equipment or weapons systems, who allow us to fulfill our solemn obligation to this great and free nation.”

To view the new field manual online, along with an FM-1 video and slide briefing, see the special FM-1 Web page.