Enduring Priorities Drive First Army by U.S. Army Warren Marlow
March 10, 2020
During the first World War, General of the Armies John J.
Pershing noted that the United States Army no longer differentiated
between its Active and Reserve Component forces. He famously said,
“Our purpose is to think only of the American citizen and to prepare
him for the duties of war.”
Pershing served as the commander
of First Army during the Great War, and the current First Army
Commanding General, Lt. Gen. Thomas S. James Jr., emphasized that
Pershing’s words are just as relevant 101 years later.
James
oversees a unit whose mission is to prepare Reserve Component units
and Soldiers for the rigors of sustained multi-domain combat. To
accomplish this, there are five enduring priorities on which First
Army focuses: Total Force Readiness through partnerships; Large
Scale Ground Combat Operations (LSGCO); leadership development;
taking care of First Army team members; and risk management.
In order to enable Total Force Readiness, First Army brigades and
battalions forge and build partnerships with their Reserve Component
counterparts. Constant communication and teamwork helps ensure that
Army Reserve and Army National Guard personnel have the tools and
resources necessary to succeed in their missions. By emphasizing
Total Force Readiness, units and leaders in all components are
prepared to mobilize and deploy on short notice and win on a
multi-domain battlefield.
January 27, 2020 - A First Army
Observer Coach/Trainer works with a Reserve Component
(National Guard and Army Reserve) soldiers, helping them to
master fundamentals of shooting. Reserve soldiers are also
instructed on maneuvering, communicating, medicating,
decontaminating and sustaining. (U.S. Army photo by Warren Marlow)
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This is crucial to winning the nation’s wars since there would be
substantial mobilization of Reserve Component forces during an
LSGCO, which is a protracted conflict with a near peer adversary in
an austere, ever-changing environment. The Total Force needs to be
able to respond when the enemy gets its proverbial “vote.” The
training Reserve Component forces receive from subject matter
experts will make the difference during these times.
They
receive this training from First Army Observer, Coach/Trainers
(OC/Ts), who exemplify leadership by mastering doctrine and drilling
into the fundamentals of shooting, maneuvering, communicating,
medicating, decontaminating and sustaining. First Army leaders also
conduct rigorous planning and continually evaluate a unit’s needs.
This development and honing of crucial traits guarantees that First
Army has fit professionals that connect with subordinates using
transformational leadership. This is an ongoing, cyclical approach
that includes continually working to recruit and retain the best
officers and NCOs.
Additionally, First Army leaders take
care of team members by employing a holistic approach that
emphasizes respect and professionalism. By taking care of Soldiers,
leaders make the mission more likely to succeed.
January 27, 2020 - A First Army Observer Coach/Trainer works
with members of the Reserve Component (National Guard and
Army Reserve) soldiers to master fundamentals of providing
medical care to wounded soldiers ... ensuring that they are
ready to deploy and win on a multi-domain battlefield.
Reserve soldiers are also instructed on maneuvering,
communicating, decontaminating and sustaining. (U.S. Army photo by Warren Marlow)
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Leaders ensure Soldiers are taken care of through such
initiatives as Family Readiness Groups, robust Equal Opportunity
programs and Sexual Harassment Assault Response and Prevention.
These initiatives assist with another of First Army’s enduring
priorities: Managing risk by exercising the principles of mission
command. Risk management is also accomplished by empowering
subordinates to do their jobs, giving them guidance and resources
and then letting them execute. When deployed, a unit may find itself
in austere conditions with communications cut or lacking. In these
circumstances, commanders will feel emboldened to take charge of the
situation since they have been given the directive to do so. Mission
command operates on the principle of trusting subordinates to plan,
coordinate, and execute decision-making in complex operating
environments, and this principle helps drive First Army.
Concentrating on all five priorities simultaneously helps First
Army to enable its Reserve Component partners achieve readiness.
First Army is a team of Army professionals, fit for the rigors of
sustained multi-domain combat and forged by productive relationships
with Reserve Component partners, whom it provides tough, realistic,
multi-echelon training. The team remains bonded by a common purpose
that continues the mission Pershing envisioned more than a century
ago.
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