Army Strong

Army leaders have sent out a service-wide message urging soldiers and civilians to remain focused on their missions and preserve their “espirt de corps” despite the $18 billion fiscal crisis barreling toward them.

The message, which was signed by Secretary John McHugh, Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, and Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler, was distributed via email and the service's website yesterday evening.

“As you are aware, sequestration went into effect on Friday, March 1st,” the message begins. “This fiscal year alone, we face the potential of at least an $18 billion dollar shortfall in our Operations and Maintenance accounts, due to the combined impacts of sequestration, the continuing resolution and contingency funding. These are the funds that allow us to support operations, maintain readiness and pay our civilian workforce.”

The Army is referring to the current fiscal challenge as the “6-6-6” budget crisis. Those numbers stand for the $18 billion operation and maintenance funding shortfall the service faces in FY-13: a $6 billion gap brought on by sequestration, a $6 billion shortfall attributed to a congressional continuing resolution, and $6 billion in greater-than-expected warfighting expenses in Afghanistan. Another $6 billion would be cut from other accounts due to across-board sequestration, but the Army is not using that amount in its "6-6-6" messaging, as Inside the Army reports this week.

The service-wide message encourages soldiers and civilians to “remain focused on the fundamentals” as Army leaders handle the fiscal situation in Washington.

“Develop your soldiers, civilians and our future Army leaders; conduct tough, realistic mission-focused training; maintain and account for your equipment; be good stewards of your resources; and sustain the high level of esprit de corps in your organization,” the message states. “Our top priority is to ensure that our forces defending the homeland, those in Afghanistan and Korea, and those next to deploy and rotate into theater, have the resources required to execute their missions. We also recognize that along with risks to readiness, sequestration will also bring particular hardship to our civilian workforce.”

The Army leaders write that they will share information as it becomes available and that soldiers and civilians can expect to be updated at their various installations in the months ahead to “facilitate a dialogue and listen to your concerns and those of your family members.”

The authors close by urging soldiers and civilians to see the current challenge as “an opportunity to demonstrate, once again, our commitment to selfless service and our profession. . . . Army Strong!”