Associated Press: U.S. Getting Rid of Joint Forces Command

[The Bread Guy]

This from Stars and Stripes:

The Defense Department plans to shed one of its 10 major military commands as Defense Secretary Robert Gates tries to pare billions from the Pentagon budget, officials briefed on the plan said Monday.

Gates wants to eliminate the Joint Forces Command, long a presumed target for belt-tightening, and will also announce Monday that he wants to cut the Pentagon's use of outside contractors by 10 percent next year, The Associated Press has learned. The Virginia-based command trains troops from different services to fight together.

Military and other officials described the planned cuts on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Gates' plans ahead of a Pentagon news conference Monday.

Joint Forces Command, with nearly 4,900 employees and annual salaries of more than $200 million, is the largest single cut to be announced Monday.

Gates is not expected to say how much money will be saved by shutting down the command, which holds more than 1 million square feet of real estate in Suffolk, Va., and Norfolk, Va. Savings will be offset by the cost of shifting some jobs and roles elsewhere ....

More on JFC's roles here.

 

[tomahawk6]

Just one of a number of major commands that need to be shut down or realigned. In the 21st century you would think that if we utilized resources better that we wouldnt need this archaic command structure. Gates also plans on eliminating 50 general officer billets. We have more general officers now than we did during the Cold War when we had a larger force. One example in the Army, we used to have 1 BG as Assistant Division Commander now we have 2 per division hq's. This extra BG slot needs to be axed and or shifted to other areas. If it were up to me I would shutter TRADOC and move the 4 star billet to US Army Pacific. In the old days the Army areas had control over the training centers but the Army Staff namely G1 was responsible for the schools. Today you could break that up between G1 and G3 or leave it under Forces Command. Alot of ways to tweak the structure to be more responsive and streamlined.