Defense Primer: Department of the Army and Army Command Structure

"Article I, Section 8, Clause 12 of the Constitution stipulates, “The Congress shall have power ... to raise and support Armies ... make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces ... for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.”

Constitutional Provision Article I, Section 8, Clause 12, known as the Army Clause. “The Congress shall have Power To ... raise and support Armies ... ” Relevant Statutes Title 10, U.S. Code, Subtitle B, Armed Forces: Army Title 32, U.S. Code, National Guard

The Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments reporting to the Department of Defense (DOD). The Army’s primary mission is to fight and win the nation’s ground wars. The Army’s mission is both operational and institutional, and it is composed of four distinct components: the regular Active component (AC), the reserve components of the United States Army Reserve (USAR), the Army National Guard (ARNG), and Department of the Army civilians (DAC)..."
Army command structure

Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces

"On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed this executive order establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, committing the government to integrating the segregated military..."
Armed Forces Desegregation

Leader's Information Assurance/Cybersecurity Handbook

 "Commanders, leaders, and managers are responsible for ensuring that Information Assurance/Cybersecurity is part of all Army operations, missions and functions..."
 Army's Cybersecurity Handbook

2013 Army Weapon Systems Handbook

"Thank you for your interest in this annual publication, which details the Army's major weapon system
programs and illustrates our ongoing efforts to empower, unburden and protect our Soldiers. The Army’s
Acquisition community is charged with the solemn responsibility of maintaining our Soldiers’ unprecedented
edge against current and future threats.

With program descriptions, status and specifications, projected activities, and names and locations of large
and small contractors, this book will provide you with a better understanding of our efforts to provide
Soldiers with the best, most advanced and sustainable equipment possible. To this end, we are mindful of
the public trust imposed by the use of taxpayer resources. We continuously seek to improve our business
practices to meet the needs of our Soldiers on an efficient and timely basis..."
2013 Army Weapon Systems Handbook

Army Drawdown and Restructuring: Background and Issues for Congress

"On January 26, 2012, senior DOD leadership unveiled a new defense strategy based on a review
of potential future security challenges, current defense strategy, and budgetary constraints. This
new strategy envisions a smaller, leaner Army that is agile, flexible, rapidly deployable, and
technologically advanced. This strategy will rebalance the Army’s global posture and presence,
emphasizing where potential problems are likely to arise, such as the Asia-Pacific region and the
Middle East...

Potential issues for Congress include the strategic risk posed by a smaller and restructured Army;
the “health” of the Army given the impending downsizing; where the force will be based; the role
of the National Guard and Reserves; and should the enrollment at the service academies (West
Point) be reduced to pre-9/11 levels.."

2011 Army Weapon Systems
"The Army Acquisition, Logistics and Technology community is charged to perform a vital mission to
provide our Soldiers a decisive advantage in any mission by developing, acquiring, fielding, and
sustaining the world’s best equipment and services and leveraging technologies and capabilities to
meet current and future Army needs. Soldiers are the decisive edge. We provide them with leading-edge technologies and advanced capabilities to dominate in our current operations across the battlespace while simultaneously preparing to respond decisively to future threats.

This annual publication describes how we are accomplishing our mission and highlights our major
acquisition programs. You will learn what each program is designed to achieve for our Soldiers and the program’s status. Furthermore, you will learn about the contractors involved, teaming arrangements, and critical interdependencies with other programs and fielded systems. In addition, this handbook augments several key publications that characterize the strategic context for our work, including the 2010 Army Posture Statement, the 2010 Army Modernization Strategy, and our Science and Technology Master Plan..."

Army Sustainability Report Highlights Energy and Environmental Achievements
"The Department of the Army announced today that it has released its second Annual Sustainability Report highlighting energy and environmental achievements and milestones supporting the Army’s sustainability concept and goals.

The annual sustainability report informs primary stakeholders, partners, the American people, and other interested parties on the Army’s progress to embody the principles of sustainability in its operations and installation management.

“Army leadership has come to understand the potential for sustainability to strengthen national security. What had previously yielded benefit through environmental initiatives is emerging as an important tool for countering the destabilizing effects of emerging challenges from competition over limited and diminishing resources, as well as population movements, pandemics and other climate change-related events,” said Under Secretary of the Army Joseph W. Westphal, who serves as both the Army’s senior sustainability official and chief management officer.

Throughout the Army, efforts are underway to further recognize sustainability as an organizing principle. Army sustainability results from aligning the Army’s mission with environmental stewardship and community well being, plus the economic benefit accrued from reduced waste and increased efficiency.

Twenty-eight Army installations have undergone integrated strategic and sustainability planning which requires long-term sustainability plans and goals to meet future mission and community needs. All new Army construction since fiscal 2008 has been required to be designed to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver minimum standard. Further, efforts are underway to ensure that all new Army acquisition programs include the fully burdened cost of energy in the selection process to maximize the productivity of energy needed to meet our operational capabilities..."

Army Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention Report
" (July 29, 2010) -- The Army today released the Health Promotion, Risk Reduction, and Suicide Prevention (HP/RR/SP) Report, the result of a focused 15-month effort to better understand the increasing rate of suicides in the force. This candid report is intended to inform and educate Army leaders on the importance of recognizing and reducing high risk behavior related to suicide and accidental death, and reducing the stigma associated with behavioral health and treatment. This report represents the next phase in the Army’s ongoing campaign to promote resiliency in a force that has been at war for nearly a decade.

“The dedicated effort behind this report sends a clear message to our force that we take the resiliency of our soldiers and families very seriously,” said Secretary of the Army John McHugh. “This effort is part of our culture to look closely at ourselves, and to make continuous improvements in our capability – but most importantly, to reduce the number of soldiers we lose to suicide.”

“This comprehensive review exposes gaps in how we identify, engage, and mitigate high-risk behavior among our soldiers. After nearly a decade of war we must keep pace with the expanding needs of our strained Army, and continuously identify and address the gaps that exist in our policies, programs and services,” said Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr...."

Criminals, Militias, and Insurgents: Organized Crime in Iraq
"Dr. Williams looks in detail at major criminal activities, including the theft, diversion, and smuggling of oil, the kidnapping of both Iraqis and foreigners, extortion, car theft, and the theft and smuggling of antiquities. He also considers the critical role played by corruption in facilitating and strengthening organized crime and shows how al-Qaeda in Iraq, Jaish-al-Mahdi, and the Sunni tribes used criminal activities to fund their campaigns of political violence. Dr. Williams identifies the roots of organized crime in post-Ba’athist Iraq in an authoritarian and corrupt state dominated by Saddam Hussein and subject to international sanctions. He also explains the rise of organized crime after the U.S. invasion in terms of two distinct waves: the first wave followed the collapse of the state and was accompanied by the breakdown of social control mechanisms and the development of anomie; the second wave was driven by anarchy, insecurity, political ambition, and the imperatives of resource generation for militias, insurgents, and other groups. He also identifies necessary responses to organized crime and corruption in Iraq, including efforts to reduce criminal opportunities, change incentive structures, and more directly target criminal organizations and activities. His analysis also emphasizes the vulnerability of conflict and post-conflict situations to organized crime and the requirement for a holistic or comprehensive strategy in which security, development, and the rule of law complement one another..."

U.S. Army Field Manuals, Training Circulars, Technical Manuals, War Department/Department of the Army Pamphlets
"The full text of selected U.S. Army Field Manuals (FMs), Training Circulars (TCs), and Technical Manuals (TMs), War Department Pamphlets (WD PAMs) and Department of the Army Pamphlets (DA PAMs), which particularly address some of the current research needs and interests of The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School Library, U.S. Army, Charlottesville, Virginia, will be added regularly to this site."

Army Corps and EPA Improve Wetland and Stream Mitigation
"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released a new rule to clarify how to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to the nation's wetlands and streams. The rule will enable the agencies to promote greater consistency, predictability and ecological success of mitigation projects under the Clean Water Act."