U.S. Army General Mark Milley, the incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will continue creating a thoroughly modernized and better equipped the United States Armed Forces capable of winning on future battlefields.
Gen. Milley was nominated Chairman by president Donald Trump. He is the current Army Chief of Staff, the highest ranking officer in the service, and has been a member of the Joint Chiefs since August 2015. A "dog face" through and through, Gen. Milley has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also commanded conventional Army and Special Operations Forces units.
Gen. Milley will continue re-arming, re-equipping and re-training the U.S. Army to fight a rapid-pace, future conventional war. As Army commander, Gen. Milley has worked tirelessly to increase the readiness of its Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), the Army's primary fighting formations. He also has focused much of his energy on key modernization efforts to prepare the Army for the next war.
Earlier this year, Gen. Milley admitted China and Russia have improved their military capabilities while the U.S. was fighting Islamic terrorists in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere for the past 16 years.
He said the Army is in the midst of a change in the very character of war. Unfortunately, the Army set aside major modernization programs to fight ill-armed but agile insurgents in the Middle East.
He noted there was no one completely dedicated to looking into the deep future, and determining the implications of the changing character of war on the Army and the conduct of ground combat the Army is coming to grips with.
Gen. Milley was the guiding force behind the creation of the United States Army Futures Command (AFC), which is now operational.
AFC will lead the modernization of the Army and boost the Army's capability to win a future war. It will also assist the Army to adapt to future threats.
AFC will be the Army's fourth major command after the United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM); United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and United States Army Materiel Command.
AFC will be based in Austin, Texas. Its goals are to achieve clear superiority in six areas -- soldier lethality; long-range precision fires; air and missile defense capabilities; next-generation combat vehicles; future vertical lift platforms and a mobile expeditionary Army network.
