Page 56 - The Cormorant Issue 14

A Master Class in Navigating the United States Military
By Wg Cdr Pete Thurston
Analyse key US issues and their impact on UK, Allied and European foreign, security and defence policy related military operations.
When out walking, I have occasionally found myself temporar- ily unaware of my location. Lest you think (as my wife does) that this means I’m lost, then you’d be wrong. My excuse is that all sorts of changes can happen in even the most familiar of locations. Indeed I often think I know where I am – I just need to check! Employing the navigational principle of ‘triangu- lation’ allows the temporarily misplaced walker to re-confirm their position by taking a series of reference points to re-confirm their understanding of their current position.
The ACSC Regional Security Exercise to the USA (to analyse key US issues and their impact on UK, Allied and European for- eign, security and defence policy related military operations) took this principle to a new level. We all thought we knew about the US. After all, we all occasionally have a McDonald’s burger; we watch CSI New York on television; and our media and entertain- ment is, frankly, saturated with all things American. In terms of our knowledge of the US military, a good majority of the Course had served with the highly-professional US forces. We had also already received some top-quality briefs during the International Security Studies phase of the year-long ACSC; what more could we possibly learn from embarking on a week long visit to the US?
But, just like the hill-walking analogy, we thought we knew about the US. However, there were very few on the Course that didn’t significantly benefit from re-evaluating their understanding and knowledge during, and, following the visit, by taking in additional, very significant, reference points to re-triangulate the US and its military. The visit provided a unique insight into the inner work- ings of the world’s sole remaining superpower through a series of top levels speakers. An exceptional series of briefings and visits were conducted in Washington DC; the Naval Dockyards and NATO HQ in Norfolk, Virginia; and at the home of the US Marine Corps at Quantico. The visit was broadly divided into 3 key areas: briefings, visits and ‘cultural’ activities.
Top quality briefings
For four days, we received briefings from senior personnel work- ing in the Pentagon; the Defence Attaché and Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy; from the F35 fighter aircraft National Director; the US State Department; the NATO Allied Transformation Command; and from representatives of the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
The Commandant JSCSC, Air Vice-Marshal Ray Lock, presenting a JSCSC certificate to General James Cartwright
The Strategic View
In a week of top quality speakers, several senior officers really made a mark on the members of the Course. One of these was our first speaker of the week, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General James Cartwright USMC. As the deputy to the most senior officer in the US military, General Cartwright addressed a very wide range of the key security issues facing the US and her allies. He also overlaid his speech with the challenges posed by the global economic crisis and he then outlined a series of key pathways to address these issues, many of which were applicable to all of the 54 countries represented on the course.
The Change Management View
Major General Layfield provided a most fascinating and unex- pectedly entertaining brief on changes to the US Joint Forces Command. This tour-de-force vividly illustrated how the US is subject to sadly familiar personnel reductions, with Joint Forces Command reducing staff numbers by 80 per cent. Aside from Major General Layfield’s irrepressible enthusiasm, the presenta- tion was all the more illuminating by the manner in which these cuts will focus the much smaller command on key individual and collective training tasks in the future.
The Family Oriented View
Lieutenant General William Troy is the US Army Director of Staff and his brief highlighted many similarities but also some key dif- ferences in the approach of the US Army to contemporary chal-
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