What's In A Name?

A name change is about to make its way through the Army bureaucracy, by way of a two-star general's memo to a four-star reporting on an approved recommendation by the service's chief of staff.

At issue is the term for the Army's Heavy Brigade Combat Team, which will henceforth be known as the Armored Brigade Combat Team. The change would "align the name to its operational mission and the inherent capabilities in that formation," Maj. Gen. Robert Brown, the chief of the Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence, wrote to Gen. Robert Cone, who heads Training and Doctrine Command. In his Feb. 16 memo, Brown made reference to a Feb. 8 briefing about the "Army 2020" to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, at which Odierno agreed with the recommendation for the change.

The new name comes as Army leaders are rethinking the composition of the service's fighting units, so there is a good chance that some more substantial changes are also in the offing.