[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2433-E2435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E2433]]


                          AUSA LUNCHEON SPEECH

                                 ______


                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 21, 1995

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, on October 17, 1995, the new Army Chief of 
Staff addressed the annual AUSA luncheon here in Washington. Gen. 
Dennis Reimer stressed the need to have quality and sufficient numbers 
in the U.S. Army. This speech is set forth herein:

                          AUSA Luncheon Speech

                          (By General Reimer)

       Thank you very much, Mr. Paul, for that kind introduction. 
     I must say that I have been on the dais for this luncheon for 
     the last 5 years but not in this particular spot. I also want 
     to say that it's a great view from up here.
       This vantage point gives me the opportunity to recognize 
     America's Army--Active, United States Army Reserve, Army 
     National Guard, and DA Civilians--and what a great group they 
     are--what a wonderful group and I'm honored to be part of 
     such an organization.
       It also gives me the opportunity to tell our Allies who are 
     here today in great numbers that your presence is important 
     to us. Most of all, we appreciate your support and 
     willingness to carry your share of the load.
       To our supporters from Capitol Hill, the Members of 
     Congress, the Professional Staff Members, let me say how much 
     we appreciate all you've done. I know that your choices are 
     not easy but you need to know that all of us are inspired by 
     your willingness to stand up and be counted and your example 
     of dedicated service to our Nation.
       To corporate America, thanks for being here. You've been 
     here with us through the good times and the bad and I would 
     just simply say that we need you more now than ever.
       To AUSA, 45 years old this year, I must also say thanks for 
     being such a great friend. And thanks most of all for your 
     efforts to improve the quality of life for our soldiers. You 
     have helped us recruit and retain the best soldiers in the 
     world.
       And, finally, to all our friends--friends of the United 
     States Army, let me say that your friendship means everything 
     to us.
       This is my first opportunity as Chief to address such a 
     large and important audience and I want to share with you 
     some thoughts on Today's Army and where we are headed in the 
     future. As this audience certainly knows, the primary mission 
     of the Army is to be trained and ready to defend the Nation's 
     security and freedom. Clearly, the fundamental responsibility 
     of any Chief of Staff is to ensure that the Army is ready to 
     execute this mission.
       Recently I participated in two events which highlighted for 
     me the importance of maintaining a Trained and Ready Army. I 
     was in Hawaii in early September for ceremonies celebrating 
     the 50th Anniversary of the end of the War in the Pacific. I 
     was also fortunate to participate in a ceremony dedicating 
     the Korean War Memorial in late July. The contrast between 
     these two events, separated by less than 5 years in history, 
     was striking. I could not help but reflect on the differences 
     the 5 years between the end of World War II and the outbreak 
     of the Korean War had made on our Army. In August 1945, the 
     American Army was the largest and most powerful Army in the 
     world. Its 89 divisions had been instrumental in destroying 
     the military might of the Axis powers--a tribute to the 
     millions of brave men and women who served and the tremendous 
     capabilities of corporate America. However by June 1950, 
     America's Army had been reduced to a shell of its former 
     self. We had rapidly gone from 89 divisions and 12 million 
     soldiers to 10 divisions and less than 600,000 soldiers.
       As a consequence, at 0730 on 5 July 1950, a hastily 
     assembled, ill-trained, and poorly equipped group of brave 
     American soldiers waited in the cold rain--just north of 
     Osan, Korea--as 33 North Korean tanks advanced toward their 
     position. Behind these 33 tanks on the highway, in trucks and 
     on foot, was a long snaking column stretching for over 6 
     miles. Due to poor weather the American soldiers had no air 
     support. Due to the rapid drawdown they were poorly trained 
     and under-manned. They were called Task Force Smith because 
     we had to take soldiers from other battalions to make a 
     battalion-sized organization. Their equipment reflected the 
     lack of maintenance which is inevitable when readiness is not 
     the top priority.
       In the next few hours of fighting--these conditions were 
     starkly played out on the battlefield. Our weapons could not 
     stop their tanks--but they tried. One young lieutenant fired 
     22 rockets--from as close as 15 yards, scored direct hits on 
     the tanks--but could not destroy them. Courage alone could 
     not stop those tanks. Rifles and bayonets were no match for 
     tanks and the wave of infantry behind them. In this short 
     engagement, 185 courageous young Americans were killed, 
     wounded, and captured; and the history of Task Force Smith 
     was burned into the institutional memory of our Army forever.
       In the summer of 1950 we were not prepared. We sent poorly 
     equipped and untrained soldiers into battle to buy time for 
     the Army to get ready. it certainly wasn't the fault of these 
     soldiers or their leaders that they weren't ready--the system 
     had let them down. Once again we were surprised and once 
     again we paid a very steep price for our unpreparedness. As 
     General Abrams said to this same gathering in 1973, ``We paid 
     dearly for our unpreparedness during those early days in 
     Korea with our most precious currency--the lives of our young 
     men. The monuments we raise to their heroism and sacrifice 
     are really surrogates for the monuments we owe ourself for 
     our blindness to reality, for our indifference to real 
     threats to our security, and our determination to deal in 
     intentions and perceptions, for our unsubstantiated wishful 
     thinking about how war could not come.''
       In the harsh crucible of combat we relearned the lessons of 
     tough training, good organization, and proper equipment. We 
     must never again learn these lessons on the battlefield. As I 
     shook hands with those veterans--at the dedication of the 
     Korean War Memorial--I was reminded that the monument is not 
     the only tribute to their courage, selfless service, and 
     dedication. The real legacy can be seen in America's Army 
     today. Our quality soldiers--Active, Reserve, and Guard--have 
     the best equipment that the Nation can provide; and our 
     tough, realistic training program has resulted in our status 
     as the world's best Army--trained and ready for victory. No 
     one with a lick of common sense really disputes this. As a 
     footnote to this chapter, let me cite a personal experience. 
     In 1987 when I was serving in Korea, General Brad Smith, that 
     brave battalion commander whose courageous soldiers fought so 
     well in 1950, came over and conducted a battlefield tour of 
     where his task force fought. When he returned he sent me the 
     handwritten training guidance that he had given to the 
     battalion after the Korean War. That guidance talked about 
     tough, realistic training and lots of live-fire. Today, the 
     Gimlets--hisold battalion--have that guidance--and more 
     importantly they execute it. That's the real legacy of Task 
     Force Smith.
       However, there are similarities between 1950 and the 
     situation we face today. in 1950: We lived in an uncertain 
     world; the US was the world's greatest economic power; the US 
     was the world's greatest super power; the US had a virtual 
     nuclear monopoly; the US had the world's best Air Force and 
     the most powerful Navy; the next war was expected to be a 
     push button war with new weapons and machines taking over 
     from men; and because of that we felt we could greatly reduce 
     the size of our ground forces--and we did so very rapidly.
       Today: We continue to live in an uncertain world; again, 
     the US is the world's greatest economic power and the 
     greatest super power; the US has the largest Navy in the 
     world, capable of sweeping any conceivable adversary off the 
     seas in a matter of days, assuring us access to all the 
     world's oceans; the Nation also has the most powerful Air 
     Force in the world, capable of sweeping any adversary from 
     the sky in a matter of hours. It is right, and proper, and 
     necessary for the US as a world super power and leader to 
     have these naval and air capabilities. I wouldn't want it any 
     other way.
       However, today the active Army is the eighth largest in the 
     world. Size by itself is not the most important thing, and 
     America can still take pride in having the world's best Army 
     because what we lack in quantity we more than make up in 
     quality. Our world-class young men and women--who receive 
     tough, realistic training and are equipped with the best 
     equipment and weapons systems in the world--thanks in large 
     part to what many of you here have done and continue to do--
     are the envy of every nation. But no amount of training or 
     abundance of sophisticated equipment will suffice it we do 
     not have enough quality soldiers to carry out the Nation's 
     bidding. Numbers matter.
       To accomplish our missions many of our soldiers have had 
     back-to-back deployments and extended separations from their 
     family. The average American soldier assigned to a troop unit 
     now spends 138 days a year away from home--and many special 
     units such as MP's, air defense and transportation have been 
     carrying a heavier load. To accomplish the requirements of 
     our national security strategy, we must be a credible and 
     effective ground fighting force. Peace is the harvest of 
     preparedness. We must, however, temper our desire for peace 
     with the realities of history. In 1950 we learned that 
     deterrence is in the eye of the beholder. Stalin and Kim II 
     Soong looked at South Korea and were not deterred by the 10 
     under strengthen and ill equipped American divisions. We must 
     always have an 

[[Page E2434]]
     Army of sufficient quality and size to deter potential adversaries and 
     meet our international obligations. While the quality of 
     today's force is unquestioned, I must tell you in all candor 
     that I am concerned that we have reached the limit on how 
     small our Army can be and still credibly accomplish the tasks 
     currently assigned to us.
       Today we do not have the luxury of time--nor will we in the 
     future. We must be ready to deal with the world as it is now, 
     not as wish it to be. We have paid the price--in blood--too 
     often--to relearn that lesson. With your help--we will not 
     have to pay that price again.
       The best example that the lessons of history are sinking in 
     is that during the past 6 years--under the leadership of 
     Generals Vuono's and Sullivan--we have reshaped ourselves and 
     still remain trained and ready. It's been over 5 years since 
     Operation DESERT STORM and in many ways it is tempting to pat 
     ourselves on the back and rest on our laurels. But we cannot 
     afford to do that. We must build the Army of tomorrow, the 
     Army that will be required to meet the needs of a vastly 
     different world.
       Let me share with you our vision of that Army. A vision 
     that is a direct legacy of the bloody lessons learned on the 
     battlefield. A vision that is rooted in the tradition of 221 
     years of selfless service and mission accomplishment--it is a 
     vision which--will ensure our ability to meet the Nation's 
     needs of the 21st century.
       In our vision we see the world's best Army--trained and 
     ready for victory--a total force of quality soldiers and 
     civilians: A values based organization; an integral part of 
     the joint team; equipped with the most modern weapons and 
     equipment the country can provide; able to respond to our 
     Nation's needs.
       Changing to meet the challenges of today, tomorrow, and the 
     21st Century.
       It's not just the words but the meaning behind these words. 
     Let me explain. The world's best Army. A bumper sticker that 
     has been earned by our soldiers. Trained and ready for 
     victory. The most important job for any army, a job in which 
     we must not fail. A total force of quality soldiers and 
     civilians. We tend to take for granted, I think, the 
     dedication, selfless service and sacrifice of our great 
     citizens soldiers in the National Guard and Reserves. We are 
     also fortunate to have a quality civilian force that embodies 
     the best of this great Nation. This recognizes that as 
     General Abrams said, the Army is not made up of people, the 
     Army is people. A values based organization. Values are 
     important to us; selfless service, dedication, sacrifice, 
     duty, honor, country are not just words but a code by which 
     we live.
       An integral part of the joint team. We recognize the 
     tremendous contributions of our sister Services and are happy 
     to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as we keep this great 
     Nation free. Equipped with the most modern weapons and 
     equipment the country can provide reflects our realization 
     that we must invest in a modernization program for the 21st 
     Century. Able to respond to our Nation's needs. We must be 
     relevant to the needs of our country. And changing to meet 
     the challenges of today, tomorrow, and the 21st Century 
     simply reflects that the only constant in the world today 
     seems to be change. We are dealing with it, we are growing 
     more comfortable with it every day, and we will continue to 
     have to deal with it in the 21st Century.
       Our vision is set against the world as we see it. It 
     reflects an environment in which missions are expanding both 
     in terms of quantity and diversity. It reflects decreased 
     resources, a loss of 34 percent of our buying power since 
     '89. It recognizes, as President Clinton said, a world in 
     which the line between domestic and foreign policy has 
     becoming increasingly blurred. We live in a Global Village. 
     It recognizes a modernization program that is currently at 
     the irreducible minimum and badly in need of more resources. 
     Today the Army allocation of the DOD Modernization dollars is 
     only 13 percent. We have the smallest piece of a small pie.
       Our vision recognizes that we must not repeat the Task 
     Force Smith scenario. We must realistically face the 
     challenges of today. Sacrificing our youth is not the 
     solution. We will build no new monuments to our blindness to 
     reality. We are trained and ready today, but our ability to 
     dominate land warfare is eroding. And our modernization plan 
     does not forecast filling the gap fast enough.
       We have a plan to make this vision a reality--Force XXI. 
     Simply stated Force XXI projects our quality people into the 
     21st Century and provide them the right organization, the 
     most realistic training, an adequate and predictable 
     sustainment package during both peace and war, and the best 
     equipment and weapons systems our Nation can provide given 
     the resources available. We intend to leverage technology in 
     order to arm our soldiers with the finest most lethal weapons 
     systems in the world. The power of information will allow the 
     ultimate weapon--the individual soldier--to successfully meet 
     the challenges of the 21st century and achieve decisive 
     victory. Force XXI provides the framework for the decisions 
     we must make today so that tomorrow's force will remain as 
     trained and ready as we are right now.
       That vision is very clear in my mind--however, achieving 
     our vision is not preordained. We face a number of resource 
     challenges as I have alluded to already. The basic challenge 
     is to balance near term readiness, quality of life, and 
     future modernization. Internally we will do our share to 
     ensure the most effective use of our limited resources. We 
     will continue to improve our operational and institutional 
     efficiency in order to ensure we devote a many dollars as 
     possible to modernization. In this regard, we intend not to 
     be bound by traditional approaches. We are willing to make 
     profound changes in the way we do business as long as they 
     increase our efficiency and do not degrade our core 
     competencies. Efficiencies such as velocity management, total 
     asset visibility, integrated sustainment maintenance, and 
     improved force management are all keys to becoming more 
     effective.
       Most people talk about the four tenets of the revolution of 
     military affairs. I believe the Army, in order to be 
     successful in this revolution, must embrace a fifth tenet; 
     efficiencies. We must get the most bang out of every buck. We 
     owe that to the taxpayer--but, more importantly, we owe it to 
     our soldiers.
       The key to achieving this vision--as it has been since 
     1775--is high quality soldiers. We must never forget that 
     quality soldiers are the essence of our Army--always have 
     been and always will be. For the past two decades we have 
     demonstrated that an All Volunteer Army can be the world's 
     premier fighting force. Quality soldiers attracted by a 
     profession that allows them to be all they can be deserve 
     adequate pay and compensation. They deserve to have their 
     entitlements and benefits safeguarded from erosion. They 
     deserve a quality of life equal to that of the society they 
     have pledged their lives to defend. We must never allow our 
     commitment to quality soldiers to diminish.
       As I travel around the world I am continually impressed by 
     the sacrifice and dedication of our soldiers. The state of 
     readiness of the Army is more than its weapons, equipment, 
     and doctrine. A key but intangible part is the spirit of our 
     soldiers. General Patton said ``It is the cold glitter in the 
     attacker's eye not the point of the questing bayonet that 
     breaks the line. It is the fierce determination of the drive 
     to close with the enemy not the mechanical perfection of the 
     tank that conquers the trench.'' Today nothing has changed. 
     When I met the survivors of the Bataan Death March in Hawaii 
     they still had that glint in their eye and you could feel the 
     indomitable spirit that allowed them to fight on against 
     overwhelming odds. In Germany, Korea, Hawaii, at the NTC, 
     JRTC, and CMTC I see the same thing in our soldiers today.
       When I see those soldiers doing their job so magnificently 
     I'm reminded of a story from the 8th Division in World War 
     II. In September of 1944 on the Crozon Peninsula the German 
     General Herman Ramcke asked to discuss surrender terms with 
     the American Army. General Ramcke was in his bunker when his 
     staff brought in the 8th Infantry Division's Assistant 
     Division Commander, Brigadier General Charles Canham. Ramcke 
     addressed Canham through an interpreter and said ``I am to 
     surrender to you. Let me see your credentials.'' Pointing to 
     the American infantrymen crowding the dugout entrance, Canham 
     replied ``These are my credentials.''
       This is as true today as it was then. Soldiers are still 
     our credentials. Yesterday we honored some of these 
     magnificent soldiers and we are fortunate to have some of 
     them with us today. I would like for you to have a good look 
     at the heart and soul of America's Army.
       Sergeant First Class Anita Jordan, the Active Duty Drill 
     Sergeant of the Year from Fort Jackson, South Carolina. SFC 
     Jordan said that the reason she entered the Army was ``I knew 
     I wanted to do something and be somebody.'' As a drill 
     sergeant, she coaches, teaches, and develops soldiers--one at 
     a time--24-hours-a-day. She is somebody.
       Sergeant First Class Bruce Clark, the Reserve Drill 
     Sergeant of the year from the 100th Division, at Fort Knox, 
     Kentucky. He is a real estate developer and a law student. 
     Successful in two careers, he is indeed twice the citizen.
       Sergeant First Class Cory Olsen, the Active Duty Recruiter 
     of the Year from the Denver, Colorado Recruiting Battalion. 
     An infantryman, he was deployed to Panama, Honduras, 
     Scotland, and the Sinai. He understands selfless service.
       Sergeant First Class Alan Fritz, the Reserve Recruiter of 
     the Year from the Syracuse, New York Recruiting Battalion. An 
     MP, he served on active duty in both Germany and Korea before 
     he joined the Reserves. He illustrates the seamless blend we 
     seek for America's Army.
       Specialist Hellema Webb, the Soldier of the Year from 
     Eighth Army in Korea. A mortuary affairs specialist, she 
     deployed in 192 to Mogadishu and now serves with the 
     distinction across the world. She received a max score of 200 
     on the promotion board and is presently on the Sergeants 
     Promotion Standing list. A model NCO who will help lead 
     soldiers into the 21st century.
       Specialist Troy Duncan, the Soldier of the Year at USAREUR. 
     An MP, he has already served his 6-month tour of duty in 
     Macedonia, is married with a 3-month-old daughter, and 
     voluntarily teaches bicycle safety classes and assists young 
     children in learning the sport of bowling. He understands the 
     true meaning of commitment to the nation and service to the 
     community.
       Specialist Anthony Costides the FORSCOM Soldier of the 
     Year. Born in Greece, he is a graduate of the Combat Life 
     Saving Course, PLDC, and has 2 years of college. He is a 

[[Page E2435]]
     Tracked Vehicle Mechanic in the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, 
     Kansas. He found an environment where he could be all he 
     could be.
       Sergeant Christopher Uhrich, the Virginia National Guard 
     Soldier of the Year. A Fuel Handler who served in the United 
     States Air Force prior to transferring to the National Guard 
     in Virginia. He has over 7 years of service to his Nation. He 
     embodies the sacrifice, dedication and commitment to our 
     citizen soldiers.
       Ladies and Gentlemen, these soldiers represent the best of 
     America's Army. They are indeed special. They ask for so 
     little. We owe them a great deal and I couldn't be more proud 
     to say to you--these are our credentials.

                          ____________________