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)
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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 \