Ensuring That Land Forces Remain Decisive for NATO
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An Interview with LTG Frederick (Ben) Hodges, Commanding General, Allied Land Command, NATO Ensuring That Land Forces Remain Decisive for NATO ith its activation in Novem - ber 2012 in Izmir, Turkey, U.S. Navy ADM James G. Stavridis (left), Supreme W Allied Land Command Allied Commander Europe and combatant com - mander for European Command, passes the new became the single land command Allied Land Command colors to LTG Frederick headquarters for NATO. It replaced two (Ben) Hodges (right) during the command activa - tion ceremony in Izmir, Turkey, in November. Cana - force commands—in Madrid, Spain, dian Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Mark Saulnier looks on. and Heidelberg, Germany—as part of NATO’s transformation in the post- Cold War era. U.S. Army LTG Freder - ick (Ben) Hodges, a veteran of many joint assignments, was tapped to lead the new headquarters as its command - ing general. A combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Hodges says land forces and land power are as relevant to - day as they have ever been for the 28- member alliance, which dates to 1949. LTG Hodges says the new com - mand will reach initial operational ca - pability (IOC) this August, with full operational capability of about 350 people by December 2014. LTG Hodges recently spoke with r i m LTC Angela Funaro, a public affairs z I s r i a f officer for the past 10 years. This inter - f A c i l view took place the same day that Sec - b u P d n retary of State John F. Kerry was in a m m Turkey meeting Prime Minister Recep o C d n a Tayyip Erd og˘ an to discuss the civil L d e i l l war embroiling neighboring Syria. A May 2013 I ARMY 51 TG Frederick (Ben) Hodges currently serves as the commanding general of NATO’s Allied Land LCommand, based in Izmir, Turkey. The command was established in November 2012 and assumed the re - sponsibilities of two geographically separated, previous NATO land component commands under a reorganiza - tion. Allied Land Command is responsible for the readi - ness of NATO land forces, planning, and command and control synchronization. LTG Hodges took over the com - mand after heading its stand-up committee and serving as the chief, Land Command, under the forerunning command structure. Before that, he was the chief, Leg - islative Liaison, Office of the Secretary of the Army. r e t LTG Hodges previously served as director, Pakistan/ h g u a Afghanistan Coordination Cell, the Joint Staff, after serv - L n h ing as deputy commander (stability), Regional Com - o J C mand South, International Security Assistance Force, F S NATO. LTG Hodges speaks during the activation He commanded the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Divi - of Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey. sion (Air Assault), during the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom and, in August 2004, returned to Iraq as emy, West Point, N.Y., and was commissioned in the In - Assistant Chief of Staff (G-3), XVIII Airborne Corps/ fantry. He also has three master’s degrees: from Columbus Multinational Corps-Iraq. (Ga.) State University, the U.S. Army Command and Gen - LTG Hodges is a 1980 graduate of the U.S. Military Acad - eral Staff College, and the National Defense Univer sity. Question: Would you explain why we need land forces quired to hastily rebuild land forces to meet the threats the and land power? nation consistently fails to accurately anticipate. Answer: Our tradition after every war has been repeating This wishful thinking about relying solely on air and sea the mistake of reducing land forces to save money, believ - power coincides with public speculation that our strategic ing that we can avoid casualties in future wars by relying focus is going to shift to the Pacific. My good friends in the more on air and sea power ... and each time, we are re - [U.S.] Navy point to the map of the Pacific and highlight Soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard and Germany take a defensive posture as a crowd be - comes violent dur - ing NATO-led ma - neuvers in Rudare, Kosovo, in 2012. The Kosovo Force soldiers were trying to remove a road - block for local resi - dents when two German troops r e n were injured. The g a W roadblock was suc - m i J cessfully removed. C F S / y m r A . S . U 52 ARMY I May 2013 A member of the NATO-led Interna - tional Security As - sistance Force, U.S. Army 1LT Patrick Ryan (right), talks with Afghan border po - licemen in Kabul in June 2012 during Operation South - ern Strike II near Afghanistan’s P’sha Pass. NATO has pledged to help transfer secu - rity operations in e i k c the country entirely a M to Afghan security n a d forces by the end n e r B of 2014. T G S / y m r A . S . U the vast amounts of blue, saying that the Pacific is clearly a tions and challenges that are inherent in any alliance or maritime domain. I then quickly point out that nobody coalition. Today, it’s even more important. Twenty-six lives where it’s blue on the map. The people live where it’s NATO nations, including the United States, are reducing brown and green. You’re always going to need land forces the size of their defense spending and capability. Only and land power. If you want to protect installations, protect Poland and Turkey are either maintaining or increasing the populations, protect infrastructure, or control or dominate amount of their defense spending. That means involvement land mass, you must have land forces. in coalitions and the alliance becomes even more important for shared resources, shared capacity and cooperation. As Q: What do you see as the role of the United States in the size of the U.S. footprint in Europe continues to shrink, NATO? putting U.S. personnel in [essential] positions in the various A: I want to encourage leaders and those who think seri - headquarters of the NCS [NATO Command Structure] and ously about national security to understand why it matters NFS [NATO Force Structure] becomes an important means for the United States to continue to play a leadership role in to ensure U.S. relevance and influence within the alliance. I NATO—why it matters to be an active participant in the believe that land force development, training, employment most successful alliance in the history of the world. The and concepts are greatly enhanced by our contribution to NATO transformation, agreed to by the 28 NATO-member Allied Land Command. There will be 48 U.S. officers and nations at Lisbon [Portugal] and Chicago [in 2010 and 2012, NCOs (44 of whom are Army) here by the time we reach respectively], realized that we still need effective, interoper - IOC this summer. Of the 23 nations contributing to this able land forces in the future, post-ISAF [International Se - command, the largest contributors after the United States curity Assistance Force] security environment. That’s why are Germany (40), France (35), the U.K. (31), Turkey (29), they created Allied Land Command. It was the SACEUR Spain (26) and Italy (23). [Supreme Allied Commander Europe], a Navy admiral, who told me that this was our primary task. He also told Q: In June 2011, then-Secretary of Defense Robert M. me it was our responsibility to ensure that NATO retains Gates cautioned NATO that current trends in defense the interoperability and experience that NATO soldiers spending cuts would endanger the alliance’s military ca - have achieved over the last 10 years in Afghanistan and pacity and capability to live up to its charter. Some foreign other places. So what I would hope to convey is the value policy analysts, as well as a growing number of Ameri - of land forces and how this headquarters is going to work cans, conclude that NATO has really been an alliance to ensure land forces remain decisive for NATO. without a clear purpose since the end of the Cold War and I’ve always been a believer in NATO, despite the frustra - complain that the United States is carrying a dispropor - May 2013 I ARMY 53 Multinational troops stand in formation for the commencement ceremony of NATO-led multina - tional exercises Cooperative Long - bow and Lancer 2012 in Pepel - ishte, formerly the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. More than 2,200 d i r soldiers from vari - d a M ous NATO coun - d n tries participated a m in the exercises, m o C as did a dozen e c r o Partnership for F d e Peace countries. i l l A s r e t r a u q d a e H tionate share of the burden when it comes to keeping the [memorandum of understanding] to be prepared to do the world safe. Why should the United States continue to as - missions that NATO asks them to do. There’s a capability out sume so much responsibility for the collective defense? there that I think the United States can’t provide by itself. A: What’s most important is that, within their capability, [Vital] to my mission is to enable and certify these head - the member nations of NATO continue to provide modern quarters to conduct operations in accordance with the military capabilities that are able to be part of either coali - NATO level of ambition that all 28 nations agreed to: two tion or allied operations. This was evident in Kosovo, major joint operations, six small joint operations—all simul - Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.