Strategic Intent

By Christopher J. Castelli / February 5, 2013 at 3:45 PM

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno released his "strategic intent" today, calling on the service to refocus on its core warfighting skills while improving its ability to distribute and reassemble its forces rapidly, building the mass needed for the central mission of fighting and winning the nation's wars.

"The temptation is to attempt to be prepared for everything, but fiscal realities demand greater strategic clarity," Odierno writes. "All our initiatives must contribute to maintaining a force that is prepared to deploy, fight and win despite uncertainty about where, when, and against whom it may be deployed."

Army officials must continue to invest in the specific skills, equipment and forces needed to effectively fulfill the service's mission but also "must be good stewards of our resources in an era of increasing fiscal austerity," he writes.

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