To preface this, I’m on the Active Duty side of the house. Therefore, this concept means two things to me:

First, he’s reinforcing the Chief of Staff’s number one priority: Readiness. The question every commander at every echelon should ask every day is, are we ready to fight tonight. Obviously, no unit can sustain a “ready to fight tonight” level for an extended period of time. Personnel turnovers, available resources, training cycles, etc are realities that all play a factor and effect every unit. The point is that if you’re not ready to fight tonight, you’re purposely and systematically moving in that direction.

Secondly, quality training enhances Soldiers/Unit’s skills in combat. But a Soldier’s or unit’s training proficiency is always in a constant state of flux. As soon as a unit completes a training event, the proficiency gained begins to decline. Great leaders mitigate this flux between major training exercises to ensure Soldiers sustain the skills they have learned and to bring new Soldiers up to par.

v/r,
Tim