Message from the national president.

The start of a new calendar year is a great checkpoint to take stock of our individual and collective progress, feel justifiable pride for achievements, and commit to new aspirations and goals. Each of you, as AMSC members and as members of your respective service teams, has much to reflect on and be proud of. For instance, 2004 saw you successfully "financing the fight" against terrorism while moving the ball further downfield in our collective journey to reform and transform financial management. ASMC has been right there with you, providing the networking and educational insights and opportunities to help you succeed in these tasks.

The new year will demand more of us. It will take its cue from the last and ask that you continue to finance the war and other key priorities, help decision makers find innovative ways to reduce expenses and apply the savings for other priorities, and make even more progress in transforming financial management so that we can deliver services that are every bit as sophisticated as the warfighting concepts and systems we support. Meanwhile, the great people at ASMC will continue to support you with even more services, as Jim McCall outlines below.

To tackle the collective demands before us, I recommend that we each commit to doing everything possible this year to deliver on-demand decision support to our commanders and supervisors. That means improving and increasing its quality and quantity--decreasing the time we spend on transactional activity (processing, data calls, etc.) through process and systems improvements so that there is time to develop solid options based on rigorous analysis. This is not easy and will require everyone doing his of her part to make it so.

I look forward to continuing this journey with you and to hearing about your achievements and your ideas. Along the way, I wish each of you a blessed and successful New Year!