HAMMER: Korea was the first war where the US Army rotated Soldiers in and out of theatre in significant numbers, a practice that has continued ever since. In doing practical and instructional knowledge is lost and lessons have to be re-learned, sometimes at great cost. How would you change the manner in which we now rotate Soldiers into different conflicts across the globe? Are the benefits worth the cost, when our enemies remain in place and continue to learn? What are the pros and cons of each system?

It is difficult to come to a complete conclusion on how I would change the manner in which we rotate Soldiers into different conflicts across the globe.  I do know that the ways of World War I and World War II were in large part due to the casualty rates of those wars.  For the Korean war and how the US Army rotated Soldiers in and out, it benefited the cohesion of the unit, however, the experience was lost.  The US was already at a disadvantage while showing up to the Korean war after many of the World War II vets had moved on.  When it comes to already being present in an area of potential conflict, such as Korea, I believe that we should have permanent units with three years of stability in that region.  If we have rotational units already in the CENTCOM theater, then adding rotations into PACOM severely stresses the Soldiers.  Bringing the percentage of rotational units to a minimum will greatly benefit the Soldiers.  Korea is definitely an area where permanent units can be stationed.  Families are accompanying Soldiers already, so it should not be an issue.  Once a conflict begins, then I would go towards the ARFORGEN cycle that the Army failed to adhere to due to the downsizing of the Army.  If the Army decides to invest in growing the force, then maybe the ARFORGEN cycle can be truly implemented.

I do not believe that the benefits are worth the cost due to the loss of readiness when units deploy to areas such as Korea and have to fall in to new equipment while also attempting to qualify on gunnery.  The rental car mentality for many units severely degrades the equipment readiness of the units who rotate through.