Odierno outlines Army’s post-war strategy

Citing a “period of dynamic uncertainty,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno has laid out his priorities for the service after fighting two wars.

“We are making changes to our institutions and processes to ensure that we are maximizing the limited resources available to the Army,” Odierno told service members in an Oct. 16 email.

The Army chief also listed five priorities he said would serve as “the basis for the objectives outlined in the upcoming 2014 Army Strategic Planning Guidance”:

• Adaptive Army leaders for a complex world
• A globally responsive, regionally engaged Army
• A ready, modern Army
• Soldiers committed to “our Army profession”
• A premier all-volunteer Army.

The Army strategic guidance is intended to define the Army’s future mission. While the Army did not release the document, Odierno said it’s a “definitive statement of our mission as we look ahead to build upon our hard-earned experiences of the previous decade of war and toward a future that poses distinct challenges of its own.”

Odierno, who is active on social media and writes a blog, has previously stressed the growing impact of technology on future Army strategy. “Technological advances have revolutionized the way people and governments interact,” the Army chief wrote in February 2013.

“Access to global communications and the rise of social media connect more people in more ways across greater distances than ever before. Events that once went largely unnoticed are now viewed internationally, empowering local actors with potentially strategic effect,” Odierno observed.