Army Heritage and Education Center

A History of the Army's Future: 1990-2018 v 2.0 Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Shane P. Reilly Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "The establishment of Army Futures Command (AFC) in August 2018 was the most significant change to the Institutional Army in a generation, and it signaled the value the Army placed on studying the future. While the establishment of a new four star headquarters might be seen as a bold move, it was in reality the culmination of 30 years of future development in the Army. Those three decades saw the development of numerous structures designed to examine the potential for future concepts and technology, with uneven success. The processes were good, but technological overreach, and over 20 years of war in the Middle East, doomed most efforts to put useful concepts into practice..."

Learning the Lessons of Lethality: The Army's Cycle of Basic Combat Training, 1918-2019 Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Shane P. Reilly, Jessica J. Sheets Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "This study analyzes the initial entry training programs for Army inductees for the last 100 years, to identify the patterns that have shaped that training. Technology has changed over the years, and training has adapted, but technological change has been a less important factor than the oscillation between wartime and peacetime methodologies. Changes in technology have not changed the core functions in which the Army trains its new Soldiers: lethality and survivability. The unvarying trend for the last century shows an increase in lethality and survivability skills after the nation enters combat, often learning harsh lessons. As soon as the conflict ends, however, the training emphasis reflexively moves back toward garrison-type activities..."

Riding the Hydra: How the Army Enterprise Went to War 2001-2007 Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Shane P. Reilly Historical Research Review by US Army War College, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center "The history of the U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom is replete with tactical and operational studies, and the shifts in strategy are well documented. The Chief of Staff of the Army’s (CSA) official study, The U.S. Army in the Iraq War, provides an excellent analysis of the operational level of war. “Riding the Hydra,” however, examines the institutional Army, specifically the Army staff, and its efforts to prepare the Army for war."

“Come As You Are” War: U.S. Readiness for the Korean Conflict Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Shane P. Reilly, Jessica J. Sheets Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "Task Force Smith at the beginning of the Korean War has often been used as a metaphor for military unreadiness. While the story of that first US action of the war provides a timeless cautionary tale for commanders, the story of unreadiness for war in June 1950 went much further than the tactical failures of one infantry battalion. The lack of readiness was caused by a very disruptive interwar period that saw drastic and often chaotic changes to Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities and Policy (DOTMLPF-P)."

Declassified Documents: Iraq War Study Volumes 1 & 2 Declassified documents presented by the US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center

Military Unpreparedness and the Complexities of Landpower 1917-2010 Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Dr James D. Scudieri, Shane P. Reilly, Anna S. Page Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "When Gen. Gordon Sullivan was Chief of Staff of the Army, he kept two books on his desk, The Seeds of Disaster: The Development of French Army Doctrine, 1919- 1939 by Col. Robert Doughty, and America’s First Battles, 1776-1965 by Lt. Col. Charles E. Heller and Brig. Gen. William A. Stofft. Sullivan was determined that his Army would be fully prepared for the next war. Other chiefs have echoed Sullivan’s concern, and the lessons learned from studying past battles are not always lost to history, yet they are sometimes forgotten."

The Changing Character of War 1775-2016 Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Dr James D. Scudieri Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "The potential changes in the operating environment (OE) and the character of war in the next 15-20 years are unknowable and history cannot provide a predictive model or “cookbook” to anticipate future events. The last 250 years, however, have provided many examples of shifts in the character of war caused by emerging technology, political shifts, economic changes and diplomatic crises. This context may prove very useful for senior leaders. There will doubtless be technological advances in the future, and some may be “game changers.” Intellectual development is just as important as technological development..."

Battling the Bug: The Army's Response to Epidemics and Pandemics Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Dr James D. Scudieri Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "Numerous Ebola outbreaks have devastated West African communities. Beginning in March 2014, 7,470 people contracted the virus and 3,431 died in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal, and Nigeria. The disease has since spread to the United States and Europe. In the U.S., the disease has claimed one life and two more have become infected. Previous Ebola epidemics occurred in West and Central Africa in 1976, 1995, 2000, and 2007. The 2014 outbreak is by far the deadliest, already approaching ten times the number of cases of the 1976 outbreak, the previous worst in history and the year of the virus’ discovery."

The Myths of Army Expansibility Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Dr James D. Scudieri Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "This study analyzes the US Army's experiences from the twentieth century to the present, given the demands of modem war and associated structures, including political, industrial, and military. These examples generally mirrored those from earlier wars. Broadly speaking, United States defense policy has relied upon a small regular army (RA), expandable upon the outbreak of war. That expanded army then largely demobilized upon war's end. Reliance upon state militias to augment the regular army in the American Revolution of 1775-83 and the War of 1812 to 1814 changed to volunteer troops vice militia in the Mexican War of 1846-48 and the American Civil War of 1861-65..."