The Question at the Center of Army Readiness: Ready for What?
Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn | October 13, 2020
As the lead Army officer for operations, I often get asked a range of questions about readiness. How should we measure readiness? Which units does the Army most need to be ready? How ready do they need to be? Or simply, what is Army readiness?
To answer any these questions effectively, we must first answer a more fundamental question: Ready for what?
The National Defense Strategy is specific about what the joint force needs to be ready for: “defeating aggression by a major power; deterring opportunistic aggression elsewhere; and disrupting imminent terrorist and WMD threatsâ€â€”while also defending the homeland. The Army has used these missions, collectively known as the Four D’s, as a measuring stick for readiness. While the Four D’s provide the Army its North Star for conflict, they do not encompass the totality of Army demand nor do they include all the missions outlined in the National Defense Strategy and National Military Strategy. For these, we need a new framework. The Army’s demands include day-to-day competition across the globe, responding to crises both at home and abroad, preparing for conflict (including the Four D’s), and implementing transformational change to ensure readiness now and into the future.
https://mwi.usma.edu/the-question-at-the-center-of-army-readiness-ready-for-what/
