IT to help shape Army

Information technology and agile logistics will help the Army's Future Force efforts, according to the first major report published by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker.

"Battle command capabilities must be leveraged to enable interdependent network-centric warfare, supported by sense-and-respond logistics capabilities within joint, interagency and multinational full-spectrum operations," states "The Way Ahead -- Our Army at War -- Relevant and Ready: Moving from the Current Force to the Future Force...Now."

Among other things, the report emphasizes development of the Future Force and Future Combat System while improving the Army's existing vehicles and systems. It highlighted the architecture for the Network, the communications system that will connect FCS' 18 air and ground platforms.

The Army in 2004 will start remaking two active-duty divisions into smaller, more mobile forces and develop a plan to make units more cohesive. Schoomaker's 15-page report discusses how the Army can better train and equip soldiers, develop leaders, and provide more ready and relevant forces.

"It explores how we will obtain a more relevant and ready campaign-quality Army with a joint and expeditionary mindset," he wrote in the report's foreword.

He also stressed a warrior ethos for soldiers. "No soldier can survive in the current battle space without constant training in weapons and fieldcraft and a continuous immersion in the Army's warrior culture," the report states.