Gen. Mark A. Milley talks with 4th Infantry Division staff Feb. 12, 2016, during the after-action review for the 4th Inf. Div. Warfighter Exercise. The two-week corps-level command post exercise validated the division’s capability to execute distributed Mission Command under a multicomponent division concept. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Steve J. Cortez)
By Staff Sgt. Craig Cantrell
Garrison Public Affairs Office
The 39th Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley visited Fort Carson following the conclusion of the 4th Infantry Division Warfighter Exercise Feb. 12, 2016, to discuss ongoing and possible future missions of the division.
Milley spent time in the Warfighter after-action review talking with division staff about the importance of the exercise and the cohesion it brings to the staff.
“The Warfighter Exercise provided the division staff an opportunity to train on mission-essential tasks, receive data, synthesize information to enhance the commander’s understanding and support his decision-making process,” said Lt. Col. Michael Mineni, chief of plans, 4th Inf. Div. “As a staff, we did very well, we were able to achieve our training objectives, support the commander and enhance relationships across the staff.”
The exercise helped the division staff learn from each other but also provided lessons learned for future exercises.
“I think when we watched the 4th Infantry Division fight, it really reinforced to us how to incorporate the entire combined arms team,” said Col. Edward T. Bohnemann, commander, Mission Command Training Program, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Milley used the opportunity during the after-action review to confer with 4th Inf. Div. staff and lay out future plans for the division.
“I have oriented the 4th Infantry Division to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility for the foreseeable future; this does not mean that if something happened in another region — a contingency — that the 4th Infantry Division is not going to be used for that,” said Milley.
Milley explained why he wanted to visit Fort Carson and speak with leaders.
“It is important that we train the 4th Infantry Division to a level of readiness that is capable of deterring further aggression in Europe, and if deterrence fails, to fight and win,” said Milley.
He also emphasized the importance of training with Army Reserve and Army National Guard components to maintain readiness across the Army.
“We want to increase the readiness levels of selected elements within the National Guard and Reserve because of our contingency plans and what those requirements are,” said Milley. “I want to make sure that we are operationally using the Guard and Reserve on a regular basis for things like rotations into Europe, Korea, Kosovo, Sinai, Iraq and Jordan, so on and so forth.”
Milley said he wants to reinstate an old idea called “round out,” a multicomponent unit structure to establish a high level of readiness across the Army and implement the Total Army Concept.
“At the collective level, we are looking at the round-out concept where we round out regular
Army active-duty units with National Guard units, but I am also thinking of doing it in the opposite direction, where we take active duty units and they round out National Guard units,” said Milley.
“I think of the Army as a single entity — at the end of the day it’s all the same,” said Milley.