Page 16 - FCA Diamond Point Dec 2023-1

FROM THE FIELD
US Army Financial Management Command

(USAFMCOM) Corner (Cont’d)

Century. So, the Army launched a restructuring of the Regular Army Finance units, which is
currently underway.

The goal of this restructuring is to address the challenges of Army finance units and ensure
freedom of action, operational reach and prolonged endurance to operate during the continuum of
competition, crisis, and armed conflict, according to the Force Design Update Jr. documents
directing the restructure.
“We know the Army's going more to a division-led structure, so as a finance and comptroller
community, we have to think about what organization or what unit is going to be the center of
gravity when we go into LSCO…and then how we support that effort with as much as we can,” said
SMG Terry L. Anderson, Jr., Office of the ASA (FM&C) senior enlisted advisor. “We’re also going to
have to get back to the basics, our finance basics, at different echelons.”
And, it’s been a while since the finance and comptroller community took a comprehensive look at
themselves in such a manner.
“This was the first time we actually sat down to talk as a community since 9/11 about how we
actually open a theater,” said BG Paige M. Jennings, U.S. Army Financial Management Command
commanding general. “At the end of this, looking across the [doctrine, organization, training,
materiel, leadership, education, personnel, facilities and policy] spectrum, we will find a few gaps
that we are going to be able to turn over to the [U.S. Army Finance and Comptroller School] and to
the [U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command] that we can start to work on.”

As part of the ongoing restructuring, the Army’s three active component finance support centers
inactivated, and their mission of preparing a theater transitioned to the newly activated 45th
Finance Center under USAFMCOM’s umbrella.
“Not only do we have to talk about the 45th FC and how prepare a theater, but we have to talk about
how the battalions are going to go in with early entry teams, how the Guard and Reserve come in
and backfill us, and how we tie in with the resource managers and core-level G8s,” said Jennings.

“Things are changing in the Army…we're transforming our organizations, but many things are
enduring, and our reliance upon the Finance Corps to do your core functions will continue,”
explained MG Mark T. Simerly, CASCOM and U.S. Army Sustainment Center of Excellence
commanding general. “They are necessary, and they are relevant, so you all should understand
that you have a vital role to play.

“And, as we think about tough challenges of sustaining the fight in the [United States Indo-Pacific
Command] area of responsibility, you can just imagine how relevant it is to think about setting up a
theater,” Simerly added.

And, those core functions, or core competencies, have changed significantly over the last two
decades.

“Back then, we weren't a merged branch where you talked financial operations and resource
management, but those two core competencies are now intricately tied together,” explained
Jennings.
“So, you'll hear a lot from the [FCS] about how we're going to integrate and synchronize both
finance operations and resource management moving forward,” added COL Michelle Williams, FCS
commandant and Chief of the Finance Corps. “So, this is a really important step, but it’s just step
one.”

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