Department Of The Army Historical Summary Fiscal Year 1997 PDF Download

Entering scal year (FY) 2000 and still relying on the 1997 National Military Strategy, the United States Army planned, trained, and operated within the same fundamentally changed post-Cold War international environment that had characterized previous scal years. From the end of World War II to the collapse of Soviet power in 1989, the National Military Strategy had centered on the need for the United States and its allies to contain and deter Soviet expansionism through forward-based forces focused on global operations, potentially involving the wholesale use of nuclear weapons. After 1989, the nation faced a different and more complex strategic environment. Wars between ethnic factions, the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and the various means to deliver them, and an increase in the scope and frequency of international terrorism all characterized the new situation. As a result, the twentieth-century U.S. emphasis on ghting mid- and high-intensity wars gave way to near-continuous engagement in peacekeeping and nation-building work, among other low-intensity operations. At the same time, the requirement to address the Cold War spectrum of operations remained. The 1997 National Military Strategy had three main thrusts: shaping the international environment in ways favorable to the United States and its interests, responding effectively to threats and challenges to U.S. national interests, and anticipating and preparing to meet future threats to the United States. The U.S. Army had a vital role in each of them. The Army shaped the international environment largely through its various presence missions, such as peacekeeping operations, drug interdiction, and international training and military exchanges. The previous scal year had seen a daily average of approximately 109,000 personnel stationed abroad and 31,000 soldiers operationally deployed in over sixty countries. Overseas presence also helped the Army respond to threats and challenges to the United States. The National Military Strategy committed the Army, in common with the other U.S. armed services, to plan, train, and equip for two nearly simultaneous major theater wars. The reallocation of resources in post-Cold War budgets posed major challenges. Over the decade that preceded FY 1999, the Army's budget (in constant dollars) had declined by 38 percent and its active-duty strength by 36 percent. Nearly seven hundred installations had closed. Force structure had decreased from twenty-eight to eighteen divisions. Procurement, despite recent increases, still stood at 57 percent of the FY 1989 gure. At the same time, Army missions had increased by a factor of sixteen in the current international environment as soldiers were deployed to deal with crises in such distant lands as Kuwait, Albania, and Kosovo.