July 15, 2009 -- The operational tempo at which the Army is deploying, training and redeploying precludes it from adequately training for full-spectrum operations, said a senior service official today.
"There's just not sufficient time," Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, commander of the Combined Arms Center at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, said today in a conference call with reporters and bloggers.
"Between now and probably about 2011, our optempo within the Army is such that we're training just for the current fight that we're in," he said. "And I think most of us recognize and accept that that's what we have to do."
Caldwell said it will not be until dwell time returns to greater than 18 months that units, for the first time, will be able to train for the full spectrum of conflict, including major conventional operations and irregular warfare.
Currently, they can't do that, he said.
However, the forces that are deploying are gaining valuable experience that somewhat makes up for the lack of full spectrum training, said Caldwell.
"These young lieutenants today are calling in close-air support, they're working Medevac, they're having to integrate multitudes of different kinds of organizations and entities in the areas where they're operating in," he said, adding that this differs greatly from his own experience as a lieutenant.
"I never even called in a close-air support mission really until I was a senior first lieutenant, young captain. And yet, our brand-new second lieutenants are out there today doing that as a routine habit," he said.
In many respects, this makes them far more agile and adaptive than his generation, he added. -- Kate Brannen