Army organization.

The Army is the primary land-power arm of the nation's armed forces. It exists to serve the American people, protect enduring national interests and fulfill the nation's military responsibilities. Soldiers form the centerpiece of Army organizations. Professional Soldiers--warriors well trained, well equipped and well led--are the ultimate expression of what the Army provides to the nation and the joint force. The Soldier is the engine behind Army capabilities. But the Army is more than a collection of individuals. It is a complex institution comprising many diverse types of organizations.

The Institutional and Operational Army

The institutional Army provides the foundation necessary to design, raise, train, equip, deploy, sustain and ensure the readiness of all Army forces. It includes the schools and training centers that develop and maintain individual and collective skills and preserve the doctrine, research and learning activities of the Army's professional knowledge base.

It also provides the infrastructure and capabilities needed to rapidly expand the Army and deploy its forces, and it synchronizes Army acquisition and force development efforts needed to equip, supply and support the operational Army.

The operational Army provides essential land-power capabilities to combatant commanders. For most of the 20th century, the operational Army was organized around the division. Today the Army is transforming from a division-based to a brigade-based force.

This more agile "modular force" is organized and trained to fight as part of the joint force. Modular organizations can be quickly assembled into strategically responsive force packages able to rapidly move wherever needed. In addition to conventional modular forces, the Army will continue to provide the major special operations force capabilities in support of Special Operations Command's global mission.

Army civilians and contractors support the Army's ability to mobilize, deploy, employ and sustain Army forces at home and abroad. In recent years an increasing number of Army civilians and contractors have been supporting Soldiers on the battlefield, employing their technical expertise under hazardous conditions.

Army civilians are full-time federal employees with skills and competencies that encompass many functional areas and occupational series. They perform technical and administrative tasks that free Soldiers for training and for operational and institutional missions.

Civilian contractors support Army forces in garrison locations and on the battlefield. Contractors are hired for specific tasks and for a specific duration. They provide professional skills and perform technical and administrative tasks that allow Soldiers to focus on their primary missions.

Components

The Regular Army is a federal force consisting of full-time Soldiers and Army civilians assigned to the operational and institutional organizations engaged in the Army's day-to-day missions.

The Army National Guard has a dual mission that includes federal and state roles. In its federal role the National Guard provides trained units able to mobilize quickly for war, national emergencies and other missions. In its state role it prepares for domestic emergencies and other missions as required by state law. National Guard units are commanded by a state executive (usually the governor), unless they are mobilized for a federal mission.

The Army Reserve is the Army's primary federal-reserve force. It is a complementary force consisting of trained Soldiers and units able to perform a vast range of missions worldwide. Their primary role is to provide the specialized units, capabilities and resources needed to deploy and sustain Army forces at home and overseas. The Army Reserve force is also the Army's major source of trained individual Soldiers for augmenting headquarters staffs and filling vacancies in Regular Army units.

Welfare and Readiness

The challenge of serving a nation at war highlights the importance of providing for the physical, material and spiritual wellbeing of Soldiers, Army civilians and their family members. Their welfare is linked to readiness and the Army's sustained viability as an all-volunteer force.

Ultimately, the Army is a team comprising many people: Soldiers and civilians of the regular and reserve-component force, and the citizens who support them, including retirees, veterans and family members.

To meet today's challenges the Army is engaged in a continuous, adaptive cycle of innovation and experimentation informed by experience. This effort is improving the forces and capabilities the Army is providing today and ensuring that it is well postured for tomorrow.