We Just Lost the Initiative.....

This post is a continuation of the previous military transformation post. The ideas advocated in this post, are based in the new Service Component construct: Land, Air, Naval, and Special Operations. Force restructuring descriptions defined in one Component is applicable across all Components.    The U.S. Military is us. There is no truer representation of a country than the people that it sends into the field to fight for it. The people who wear our uniform and carry our rifles into combat are our kids, and our job is to support them, because they're protecting us. - Tom Clancy Since the military is an all-volunteer force, Americans have lost sight of the sacrifices these men and women make on a daily basis. And let's be frank - a majority of Americans view the military as a necessary evil to be kept in the background until, begrudgingly, it is needed. Unless the military is re-entrenched in American society, it will end up like the Roman legions  - isolated and mercur

“Unless you are prepared to give up something valuable you will never be able to truly change at all, because you'll be forever in the control of things you can't give up.” - Andy Law  Transformation:  a complete or major change in someone's or something's appearance, form, etc . Transformation may be a necessary occurrence when presented with external and/or internal stimuli. But stimuli, in and of itself will not push a complacent organization to adjust to new circumstances or to "whither on the vine." It also takes a charismatic and innovative leader, who has courage and political capital, to take on an entrenched bureaucracy and navigate through the "because that is how it always has been done" mindset.  In the context of national security, an evolving geopolitical environment necessitates a re-evaluation of the threat. Force on force direct action will always be a national security concern but is limited to a couple of nation-states, Ch