General Purpose Force Capability; the Challenge of Versatility and Achieving Balance Along the Widest Possible Spectrum of Conflict

摘要

The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and DoD's current defense strategy calls for U.S. forces sized, shaped, and with the right mix of capabilities to meet future challenges across the widest possible spectrum of conflict. Throughout history, determining and anticipating the required capabilities needed to defeat future threats has proven to be a challenge. Over four years ago the U.S. military assessed the requirement to increase irregular warfare capability. Little has changed to date to increase proficiency and capability beyond what military members and organizations have done internal to adapt to conditions on the ground. This thesis finds that the U.S. military continues to experience great difficulty in defining and implementing the required changes needed to increase irregular warfare capability within our general purpose forces. Complex and laborious processes within the joint community, Service inertia and resistance to change, strategy that defers hard choices, and competing factors within the strategic environment increase the risk to achieving the envisioned balance of capabilities along the widest possible spectrum of conflict. This paper recommends that future capabilities be clearly defined based hard-strategy driven decisions. Additionally, force structure, procurement, and professional military education need reform that moves them in line with the joint capabilities we desire for the future joint force. Until this is done, General purpose forces (GPF) will be forced to rely on their proven ability to adapt to complex environment for which they did not adequately anticipate or for which they were not fully prepared.