United States Army

Military Strategy
commentary
An Army Caught in the Middle Between Luddites, Luminaries, and the Occasional Looney
David E. Johnson @DaveJohnsonDC
Dec 20, 2018
War on the Rocks
The creation of the Army Futures Command is an important and necessary move for the U.S. Army. For the first time since the 1970s, the Army has a major command focused on preparing it for future war with a peer competitor.
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China
blog
China's 70th Anniversary, Wargaming, Fentanyl: RAND Weekly Recap
Oct 4, 2019
This weekly recap focuses on what the future holds for China, the importance of gender diversity in wargaming, how Army families address life's challenges, and more.
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Health Care Costs
blog
ISIS, Women's Day, Army Privates: RAND Weekly Recap
Mar 8, 2019
This weekly recap focuses on what to do about ISIS detainees, stories from the Army's junior ranks, International Women's Day, and more.
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Enlisted Personnel
essay
An Inside Look at Life in the Army's Junior Ranks
Oct 31, 2018
History records the names of generals, not of the privates filling out supply forms, cleaning out trucks, or huffing through another training exercise. But those privates keep the U.S. Army running. RAND research provides their unfiltered take on life in the ranks.
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Emergency Services and Response
blog
RAND Researchers Visit Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria
Dec 19, 2017
A small team of RAND researchers went to Puerto Rico two weeks after the island was struck by Hurricane Maria. They are compiling their observations into a series of studies for the Army, with recommendations to smooth its response to future disasters.
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Security Cooperation
q&a
General Robert Brown on the U.S. Army's Role in Asia
Derek Grossman @DerekJGrossman
Oct 25, 2017
Pacific Council on International Policy
Gen. Robert B. Brown, Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), offers his perspective of key defense and security issues facing USARPAC in the Indo-Pacific region today. He discusses what the Army's role would be in any potential application of U.S. military power, as well as its peacetime role in strengthening U.S. alliances.
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Asymmetric Warfare
commentary
Five Lessons from Israel's Wars in Gaza
Raphael S. Cohen
Aug 3, 2017
War on the Rocks
After a decade of operating against Hamas in Gaza, the Israel Defense Force has learned many lessons about urban warfare against hybrid adversaries. The last confrontation teaches five basic lessons that apply well beyond Gaza.
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Firearms
commentary
A Brief History of the Assault Rifle
Michael Shurkin @MichaelShurkin
Jun 30, 2016
The Atlantic
The assault rifle is a class of weapon that emerged in the middle of the last century to meet the needs of combat soldiers on the modern battlefield, where the level of violence had reached such heights that an entirely new way of fighting had emerged.
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Military Force Planning
commentary
Reimagining and Modernizing U.S. Airborne Forces for the 21st Century
David E. Johnson @DaveJohnsonDC, John Gordon IV
Apr 20, 2016
War on the Rocks
Many of the challenges the U.S. will face in the coming years across the range of military operations could be deep inland and require rapid response. Airborne forcible entry — with reimagined and modernized airborne forces — would offer decisionmakers options in crises that they do not possess today.
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Operational Readiness
commentary
The Tension Between What the Army Is and What It Does
Gian Gentile
Mar 3, 2016
The National Interest
Cooperation and integration of the Army's three components is important, but what's most important is effectiveness in war and the key to that is trained, properly organized, and ready forces.
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United States Army
commentary
Planning for the 'Army of the Future'
David E. Johnson @DaveJohnsonDC
Feb 17, 2016
The Hill
What must the Army be ready to do as part of a joint force, now and in the future? What capacities and capabilities should the Army have in order to be ready? The NCFA comes up short in its answers to both of these questions.
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Operational Readiness
commentary
Ground Combat
David E. Johnson @DaveJohnsonDC
Dec 23, 2015
The Cipher Brief
The U.S. Army needs to pay attention to state-sponsored irregular forces, whose numbers are growing. Such groups represent the type of adversary U.S. ground forces are likely to face.
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Military Force Planning
commentary
Understanding the Abrams Doctrine: Myth Versus Reality
Conrad C. Crane, Gian Gentile
Dec 9, 2015
War on the Rocks
As the NCFA finishes up its work on the future of the Army it is worthwhile to note that the strategic context in which the Army operates and is organized has changed over time, resulting in different calculations of costs and risks.
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Military Force Planning
commentary
U.S. Needs Larger Army, Not a Smaller One
Timothy M. Bonds, Michael Johnson
Sep 9, 2015
Army Times
To meet potential challenges in the Baltics and Korea while at the same time countering the existing terror threat posed by the Islamic State group and dealing with other problems that will doubtless emerge, the United States would need more troops, not less.
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Military Personnel
commentary
Understanding the U.S. Military's Morale 'Crisis'
Raphael S. Cohen
Jun 29, 2015
Lawfare
The military's discontent may stem from dissonance between the commitment to, and pride in, the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan and the knowledge that these sacrifices have not yielded the desired results. Those wars arguably have prompted a crisis of confidence within the military itself.
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Military Strategy
commentary
Land Power and a Third Offset Through a Wide-Angle Lens
Michael J. Mazarr @MMazarr
May 21, 2015
War on the Rocks
The so-called 'third offset' is intended to guide U.S. defense strategy. The right way to view it is as part of a comprehensive vision for competitive advantage, one in which land power, often minimized in offset analyses, can play a central role.
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Military Strategy
blog
7 Lessons from 13 Years of War
Oct 16, 2014
RAND senior international policy analyst Linda Robinson addressed the annual Army USA Conference in Washington to present new research that distills lessons learned from the U.S. experience in the last 13 years of war.
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Military Strategy
blog
A U.S. Strategy for Dealing with China
Sep 3, 2014
Developing a next generation strategy for dealing with China will require the United States to sculpt a balanced and flexible approach that protects U.S. interest in East Asia while at the same time fosters cooperation with China on issues of common concern.
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Terrorist Organizations
blog
The Bergdahl-Taliban Prisoner Exchange Isn't New, but Presents Unique Questions
Jun 4, 2014
While it's been many years since the United States secured the release of a POW via prisoner exchange, RAND's Jonah Blank, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff member, says that such deals are nothing new.
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Military Force Planning
commentary
Rethinking U.S. Force Planning
Jonathan P. Wong @jonpwong, Christopher G. Pernin
May 16, 2014
The RAND Blog
While the renewed interest in crisis response forces by the military services is welcome in these times of uncertainty, forces that are permanently assigned to a geographic combatant command and based in a region continue to offer distinct benefits. RAND research has shown that an overseas presence enhances contingency responsiveness in most cases.
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Operational Readiness
commentary
The U.S. Army Must Remain Prepared for Battle
Gian Gentile
Apr 18, 2014
The Washington Post
Converting the Army into a force suited only for homeland defense or humanitarian missions abroad, without the ability to fight sophisticated foes as part of a joint force, would result in an unprepared Army.
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United States Army
commentary
Failure to Learn: Reflections on a Career in the Post-Vietnam Army
David E. Johnson @DaveJohnsonDC
Jan 27, 2014
War on the Rocks
In the aftermath of a decade of war, the Army must have an objective, serious debate — one that it never engaged in after Vietnam — to understand its experiences, both good and bad.
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Military Information Technology Systems
commentary
Calling for a Time-Out in the Army Intelligence Software Debate
Christopher G. Pernin, Isaac R. Porche III
Aug 21, 2013
The RAND Blog
The Army's Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) program has been getting much attention from Congress, and its future was the subject of a heated exchange between the Army's Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno and Representative Duncan Hunter in May.
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United States Army
commentary
Book Review: 'The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor' by Jake Tapper
Seth G. Jones
Jan 14, 2013
The Washington Post
Tapper spends too much time providing tactical details of battles and too little offering a nuanced, thoughtful explanation of why the U.S. Army struggled so much in Nuristan, writes Seth G. Jones.
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