Recommendations from the National Commission on the Future of the Army

The American people expect their Army to be trained and ready whenever called upon to achieve national objectives. In an increasingly complex world with an increasing array of diverse threats at home and abroad, America's Army must possess a wide range of capabilities to fulfill its myriad missions. However, even as the demand for Army forces expands and diversifies, the fiscal resources necessary to meet that demand have declined and will remain challenging for several years. This tension between growing requirements and fewer resources not only creates national-level risk, it also has resulted in some unhealthy competitive tension among the Army's components, especially between the Regular Army and the Army National Guard. The nation has one Army. For sound reasons-historical, cultural, legal, operational, and strategic-the Army has three distinct, interdependent, and essential components: the Regular Army, the Army National Guard, and the Army Reserve. America's Army is the strongest in the world. It is made so by the extraordinary women and men who answer the call to duty and voluntarily choose to serve the nation when, frankly, they have many other opportunities. Sustaining the quality of the All-Volunteer Force must remain a national priority; the alternatives-accepting a less well-educated, less fit (morally or physically), or less-motivated force, or returning to short-term compulsory service-will not yield the Army America needs now or in the future.