Commissioners Chosen to Examine Army

NGAUS has confidence that the eight people chosen to serve on the National Commission on the Future of the Army will take a close and objective look at the service before making recommendations to Congress.

Retired Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett, the NGAUS president, served with the four retired generals appointed last week and calls them “among the finest leaders the Army has produced in years.”

“I trust that they and the other four appointees, all of whom have dedicated their lives to our nation’s defense, fundamentally grasp the opportunity ahead and will proceed with open minds,” Hargett said in a statement released following the appointment of the commission.

He did note, however, that only one member of the panel served in the Guard, and that no retired Guard generals were appointed.

The commissioners will spend most of the next 12 months examining the Army from all angles to determine the proper size of the force and its necessary resourcing, as well as the most appropriate mix of active and reserve forces.

Hargett encouraged them to engage all stakeholders, including governors, and “challenge current presumptions and perhaps even their own precepts on training, readiness, accessibility and deployability.”

The commissioners who must make their recommendations to Congress by Feb. 1, 2016, are:

– Retired Gen. Larry Ellis, appointed to the commission by President Barack Obama;

– Kathleen Hicks, served for more than 13 years in the office of the under secretary of defense for policy, appointed by the president;

– Thomas R. Lamont, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs from 2009 to 2013, appointed by the president;

– Retired Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, commander of U.S. Army Reserve from 2006 to 2012, appointed by the president;

– Retired Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Army, Europe, 2008 to 2011, commander of U.S. Africa Command, 2011 to 2013, appointed by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee;

– Robert F. Hale, comptroller and chief financial officer for the Defense Department from 2009 to 2014, appointed by Rep. Adam Smith, R-Wash., the House Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat;

– Retired Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of forces in South Korea from 2011 to 2013, appointed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee; and

– Retired Sgt. Major Raymond F. Chandler III, the sergeant major of the Army from 2011 to 2015, appointed by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat.