{"id":988,"date":"2012-10-26T11:57:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T15:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/?p=988"},"modified":"2012-10-26T11:57:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-26T15:57:00","slug":"a-reduction-in-force-remembering-gen-ray-odierno-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2012\/a-reduction-in-force-remembering-gen-ray-odierno-86\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reduction in Force: Remembering Gen. Ray Odierno ’86"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Gen. Ray Odierno \u201986 MS tackles his latest mission \u2014 downsizing the Army he has served in for 36 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON\u2014Gen. Ray Odierno \u201986 ms has faced plenty of challenges during his 36 years in the U.S. Army since graduating from West Point in 1976. He has sat across the negotiating table from the Russians, using his master\u2019s in nuclear engineering from NC State to help hammer out agreements on intermediate-range nuclear weapons. As the general in charge of operations in northern Iraq, Odierno oversaw the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, famously describing the former dictator as hiding like a rat in a hole when he was found. He\u2019s even joined Comedy Central\u2019s Stephen Colbert for an on-camera a cappella duet of \u201cI\u2019ll Be Home for Christmas\u201d in tribute to troops returning home from Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Odierno may now be facing his greatest military challenge, one that could fundamentally alter the U.S. Army and how it operates. The number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq is on the decline as 10 years of combat and security efforts there wind down. Meanwhile, Congress is attempting to rein in the federal budget with cuts to entitlement programs, defense spending and other parts of government. As a result, the U.S. Army must get smaller. Congress has ordered that the Army be reduced by 80,000, more than any other service, over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would bring the total force to 490,000, closer to the numbers the Army had about a decade ago\u2014before the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those were the lowest numbers the Army has experienced in modern times, but some experts say the cuts could go even deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The responsibility for figuring out how to make those cuts falls to Odierno, a four-star general who is chief of staff of the Army. The hallway leading to Odierno\u2019s office in the Pentagon is filled with portraits of those who have held the position before him: generals like Eisenhower, Pershing and Westmoreland. They each faced their own challenges to ensure that the Army was prepared to do what was asked of it. Now it is Odierno\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to culturally understand where you’re operating. You have to be more disciplined in how you conduct your operations. You have to be able to think very quickly on your feet and you have to be able to adapt and adjust. We’re expecting more and more out of our young leaders as we move forward.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cuts we get are not easy,\u201d Odierno says during an interview in his Pentagon office, where he wears the same combat fatigues and boots that his soldiers wear. \u201cThey will be difficult. But, today, the United States Army is seen as the finest Army in the world, and when we get finished with these reductions, we will still be the finest Army in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do what\u2019s necessary. The one thing that I want our Army to be able to do in the future is operate across a spectrum of capabilities. And so if our nation needs to do peacekeeping, we\u2019ll do that. If our nation needs us to help other nations build, we\u2019ll do that. If they need us to fight and win in a very complex environment, we\u2019ll do that. If they need us to do a small counterinsurgency operation, we\u2019ll do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making the Army smarter while it gets smaller is no easy task. When the Army has drawn down its ranks in the past, it has done so during peacetime. But as Odierno is quick to point out, the U.S. still has almost 100,000 troops in precarious spots around the world. The Army also must learn from its experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it has fought what Odierno calls \u201chybrid warfare\u201d in which soldiers face quickly changing circumstances \u2014such as a civilian market suddenly becoming the scene of an attack\u2014and enemies who aren\u2019t always wearing the military uniforms of another country. At the same time, Odierno and other military experts say the Army may not find itself in a comparable situation again. Odierno cannot make the mistake, as other generals have been accused of in the past, of simply fighting the last war again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know what the Army was supposed to do over the last decade\u2014large-scale, protracted stability operations,\u201d says Todd Harrison, a senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C. \u201cWe\u2019re also pretty sure we\u2019re not going to be doing that again in the near future. The country just doesn\u2019t have the appetite for it. But that still leaves the question of what the Army is going to do. Peacekeeping operations? Smaller stabilization operations? Is it going to be a lighter Army, move faster, respond faster\u2014maybe work more with special operations? We just don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Odierno smiles while receiving instructions from Spc. Allison Ferrone, 24, from Camp Hill, Pa., on how to operate an OshKosh M-ATV (MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle) at a training site in White Sands Missile Range, NM. Nov. 17, 2011. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Odierno greets cadets outside FedEx field in Landover, MD, prior to the Army Black Knights vs Navy Midshipmen game Dec. 10, 2011. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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Odierno speaks to hundreds of soldiers during an award and re-enlistment ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 21, 2011. Odierno is in Afghanistan conducting a holiday troop visit. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Odierno testifies on the 2013 defense budget request before the Senate Appropriations Committee in Washington, D.C., March 21, 2012. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Those are the sorts of questions that Odierno\u2014who is known simply as \u201cThe Chief\u201d in the halls of the Pentagon\u2014is wrestling with. Sitting in his spacious Pentagon office, where an electronic message board gives him the time from spots around the globe (\u201cWe have soldiers all over the world,\u201d he says matter-of-factly.), Odierno says he is confident he can make the Army smaller and better at the same time. \u201cWith the cuts, as currently staged, we can meet the needs of our nation and continue to provide the right security for our nation,\u201d he says. \u201cI truly believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may require some base closings, which Odierno knows would be politically difficult. Most of the reductions will be handled through attrition, but Odierno has to make sure that he doesn\u2019t lose the best soldiers and officers, those who have learned valuable lessons from their time in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will require organizational changes, which may require shifts in personnel at all levels. While Odierno\u2019s plans are still being developed, he has offered some insight into his vision for the new Army. Noticeably absent is talk of new weapons systems that might give soldiers a greater technological edge, a tacit acknowledgment of the new budget realities. Instead, Odierno talks about making his soldiers more aware of the cultures of the countries and regions where they might be asked to fight. That emphasis is seen in his plans to assign units to specific regions of the world for extended periods, including a new effort to align with military forces in Africa and a new joint training initiative with the Australian military as the U.S. Army shifts some of its attention and resources to Asia and the Pacific region. But it can also be seen on the campus of NC State, where the Department of Defense has provided grant money to pay for intensive foreign language instruction in Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Russian and Urdu for ROTC students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to culturally understand where you\u2019re operating,\u201d Odierno says. \u201cYou have to be more disciplined in how you conduct your operations. You have to be able to think very quickly on your feet and you have to be able to adapt and adjust. We\u2019re expecting more and more out of our young leaders as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odierno also stresses the importance of the Army figuring out ways to use the information age\u2014and the ability it has given anyone with a cell phone to alter the nature of a military operation\u2014to its advantage. Officers have to be able to respond quickly to any new information they may receive, whether it moves through normal military channels or via Facebook or Twitter. Odierno also talks about strategically aligning more traditional Army units with Special Operations forces, giving them the ability to be more nimble in responding to changing conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have to learn from the lessons of the last ten years, and then try to apply them to what we think the future complex environments are,\u201d Odierno says. \u201cSo we need a force that is leaner, we need a force that is agile, we need a force that is flexible, we need a force that can be what I call discriminately lethal. Because as we move forward, we do not want to have collateral damage. We don\u2019t want to have civilian casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to learn from the lessons of the last ten years, and then try to apply them to what we think the future complex environments are. So we need a force that is leaner, we need a force that is agile, we need a force that is flexible, we need a force that can be what I call discriminately lethal. . . .<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Odierno is driven, naturally, by his own experiences during three tours in Iraq, including one as the commander of all the multinational forces there. Odierno, who went to high school in Rockaway, N.J., before enrolling in West Point, was initially drawn to the Army by its camaraderie and the moral and ethical values that he found there. The Army he joined was in a period of transition following Vietnam\u2014most notably going from an army that relied on the draft to one that relied on volunteers\u2014and he has relished the chance to help the Army change and rebuild itself throughout his career. \u201cI felt I was part of something that was bigger than myself, and I wanted to continue to do that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Odierno\u2019s military career that brought him to NC State in the 1980s. He was a captain in the Army, stationed at Fort Bragg in eastern North Carolina, when he was selected by the Army to go to graduate school. The Army picked what he would study\u2014nuclear engineering\u2014and Odierno picked the school. \u201cNorth Carolina State had one of the most highly ranked nuclear engineering programs in the country,\u201d he says. But Odierno had been out of school for eight years, and the transition from the military to academia was initially difficult. \u201cI had to readjust,\u201d he says, \u201cand the people at NC State helped me do that, and they helped me succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odierno has stayed connected to NC State, returning to the university in December 2010 to deliver the winter commencement address. He used that occasion to challenge today\u2019s students to look for opportunities to serve, either through the military or in their communities. \u201cOnly when we commit to a cause greater than ourselves can we reach our full potential,\u201d he told the new graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sentiment applies to Odierno\u2019s feelings about the young men and women in today\u2019s all-volunteer Army, who he says have far fewer discipline problems than the Army experienced during Vietnam. He says today\u2019s soldiers are generally more physically fit and more mentally prepared than soldiers of the past. He also says today\u2019s soldiers are more battle-tested than their predecessors after a decade of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of his concerns is figuring out how to reduce the Army\u2019s ranks without losing the knowledge and experience gained during that period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Odierno and his wife Linda present a Purple Heart medal to Pvt. Randall Donovan during a visit to Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Dec. 5, 2011. Donovan was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Odierno greets soldiers at the in Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, as part of a holiday troop visit Dec. 21, 2011. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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Odierno, left, observes street level engagement training at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La., May 1, 2012. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Odierno, center, and Brig Gen. Clarence K.K. Chinn, right, listen to a brief by Col. Bill Burleson during a visit the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, La., May 1, 2012. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade\/ Released)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

The same can be said, Odierno notes, of the National Guard, which has fought side-by-side with regular Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new head of the Army National Guard is Gen. William E. Ingram Jr. \u201970, a former adjutant general in North Carolina who studied textiles at NC State. Like Odierno, Ingram has been part of the military his entire adult life, joining the Army National Guard two weeks after he graduated from NC State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingram, in an interview at his office in the Pentagon, says that today\u2019s National Guard is a far cry from the \u201cweekend warriors\u201d that they were derisively referred to for years. The soldiers in today\u2019s Guard have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, often side-by-side with regular Army soldiers. Many of them, like their Army counterparts, have done multiple tours in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the most experienced that we\u2019ve been in our history,\u201d says Ingram, who grew up in Elizabeth City, N.C., and still maintains a home in eastern North Carolina. \u201cIn theater, you can\u2019t tell the difference in a guardsman and an active-duty soldier. They have performed quite well during the war period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingram knows cuts are also coming to the National Guard, but he hopes that he can maintain strong training for his citizen-soldiers so that they don\u2019t lose the knowledge they gained in Iraq and Afghanistan. \u201cWe\u2019re probably the best value for America because of the great experience and the upgrade of equipment that we have gotten during the last decade while we have been at war,\u201d Ingram says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odierno says the Guard\u2019s role will change, but exactly how is not yet clear. \u201cThe active component can\u2019t continue on the same page; the National Guard can\u2019t continue on the same page,\u201d he says. \u201cBut what we don\u2019t want is to lose this great experience that we\u2019ve gained in the National Guard. We\u2019ve got to find that right balance between exploiting their experience, but not doing so at the expense of long-term deployments and mobilization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he sorts through his plans for the Army, Odierno must wrestle with numerous constituencies\u2014from Congress to leaders of the other branches of the military. But one constituency\u2014the men and women now serving in the Army\u2014takes precedence for Odierno. As cuts are made, he is determined that the soldiers who have fought these past 10 years\u2014and their families\u2014are taken care of. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure that we take care of those who leave the service and those who have been injured, whether it be physical casualties or psychological casualties,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to make sure we take care of our soldiers and families who have served so valiantly over the last ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n