Tread-Heads or Technophiles? Army Officer Attitudes Toward Transformation

T he Army has committed itself to the most dramatic change of any of the US military services.In October 1999 General Eric K. Shinseki, then the Army Chief of Staff, announced a goal of reconfiguring the Army from a force mainly composed of heavy formations into a medium-weight force capable of deploying a 5,000-soldier brigade anywhere in the world within 96 hours.The Army is replacing some heavy armored and mechanized units with a force of six Stryker Brigade Combat Teams equipped with light wheeled armored vehicles.By 2010, it will field a networked Future Force equipped with the Future Combat System. 1 This shift away from heavy armor as the main combat element of the Army portends change not only to the Army's organization and systems, but also to its hierarchy, career paths, and organizational culture.The officer corps will play a key role in determining the success or failure of Army transformation.Enthusiastic officers will work hard to make new concepts and organizations a reality.Skeptical officers, by contrast, could undermine such efforts.Unfortunately, to date leaders have had little reliable data upon which to gauge the attitudes of Army officers toward the new combat methods.On the one hand, the Army leadership asserts that the service embraces innovation.As the Army Transformation Roadmap puts it:The Army recognizes the need to create a culture of innovation, and we are beginning to address this need through the officer professional development system.Initiatives to nurture innovation are emerging from the top down and the bottom up.These provide evidence not only of the Army's commitment to this endeavor, but also of the favorable climate within today's Army towards innovation. 2 58 Parameters