Q & A GEN. JOSEPH F. DUNFORD JR., USMC
We can’t lose sight that the most important thing is retaining high- quality people.
to say the foundation of the force is people. Recruiting and retaining not just right numbers but right qual- ity is key. Though I’m satisfi ed with where we are today, there are signs of challenges. One thing we watch is delayed entry pools of recruits. When young men and women sign up to come in, it takes eight, nine, or 10 months to get to the recruit train- ing when we’re in good shape. When we’re signing people up 30 days be- fore they ship, we’re starting to have challenges. We’ve seen in some areas a little more diffi culty recruiting than a couple years ago. It isn’t a crisis yet; we’re still meeting goals. But it’s an area, as a leader, you pay attention to.
Dunford, center, speaks with U.S. servicemembers at a joint train- ing center near Amman, Jordan, in October 2015.
to-dwell, we’re focused singularly on preparing for deployment. But we have other responsibilities. We need to be able to fi ght in every climate, every place, across the full range of operations. So another cost of high operational tempo has been full- spectrum readiness. We’re trying to rebuild that.
That was a priority of your predecessor, too. Are you able to rebuild full-spectrum readiness? We are. The progress is slow. Most
58 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2016
of the services project for readiness to recover over years, not weeks or months. Some services feel they’ll be where they want to be in 2019 or 2020. Others have identifi ed areas where, even after three or four years on current trajectory of resources and operational tempo, they won’t be where they want to be.
Are you recruiting and keeping the people you need? We are, although I’m never compla- cent. It’s not just a bumper sticker
U.S. force strength has fallen steadily since 2012, after withdrawal of most ground troops from Iraq, the drawdown in Afghanistan, and tightening defense budgets. Army end strength of 490,000 in FY 2015 is to fall to between 420,000 and 450,000 by FY 2017. Do you even have force structure to relieve pressure on the most stressed occupational skills? Both as a service chief and now as chairman, I only want as much force structure as we can ensure high-level capability. We’ve got to have balance across compensation, infrastructure, equipment, and training. So I don’t see the force growing in the near fu- ture. Our focus is on making sure we meet day-to-day demands at a level that is sustainable. We work hard on that. Each service identifi es an inventory of forces available for de- ployment, informed by a sustainable level of deployment-to-dwell. To get after the operational tempo issue, we have to make hard calls, prioritize, and allocate in a way that meets re- quirements but allows sustainability. PHOTO: DOD
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