Military Review English Edition July-August 2014 | Page 36

A U.S. Army soldier assigned to 2nd Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Tennessee Army National Guard, participates in a convoy operations exercise 1 January 2010 at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Hattiesburg, Miss., in preparation for a scheduled deployment to Iraq. (U.S.Army Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika) 34 cycle. The desire, commitment, and personal sacrifice of soldiers and visionary senior leaders together with vast supplemental appropriations enabled unit readiness. The ARNG has demonstrated its capabilities not only in the wars of the past decade but also during domestic crises such as Hurricane Katrina and Super Storm Sandy. The Nation expects the ARNG to maintain its readiness as an operational force. The ongoing readiness of the ARNG is a strategic objective of the Department of Defense.1 However, in an era where dollars are in short supply, fulfilling this objective will be tough—but not impossible. The ARNG can meet the Nation’s expectations by implementing the right imperatives. Because of the accelerating decline of fiscal resources, Army leaders are adjusting how they apply the ARFORGEN model—to avoid paying for surplus readiness.2 Using a “flattened” rotational cycle, National Guard units can be funded to maintain a platoon-level training proficiency rating of T3 (the unit can accomplish 55 to 69 p \