Authors: John Bonin (retired Army Colonel) And Justin Magula (Major, Army Strategist serving in Strategic Landpower and Futures Group)
Affiliation: U.S. Army War College
Organization/Publisher: War On The rocks
Date/Place: February 16, 2021/USA
Type of Literature: Article
Word Count: 3076
Keywords: U.S. Army, Europe, Africa.
Brief:
In this article, the authors predict Europe as the next confrontation arena for the US army with Russia, as the army has made fundamental adjustments to its headquarters in Europe. The US Army in Europe and the US Army in Africa has merged into one four-star command called the US Army in Europe and Africa. According to the author, the army has not stated how these amendments improve its ability to support American interests in these areas. The writers suggest that the military make changes to its headquarters at the theatre level to enable it to win in unpredictable circumstances. The headquarters acts as a principal command center optimized for the performance of responsibilities at the theatre level and an operational command site for controlling multi-team operations with NATO. Also, this command’s army played a historical role on many occasions, such as the 2003 Iraq war. The author cites former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy who said that the merger of US Army Europe and Africa headquarters is “largely administrative.” At the end of the article, the authors confirm previous advice that was offered to the army in order to manage its theatre of operations in Europe and Africa—to deter a “great-power war” by cooperating with partners and playing a decisive role.
By: Taqwa Abu Kmeil, CIGA Research Assistant
