Ways to change FA material and personnel.

There are many emerging insights and lessons learned from Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Some clearly suggest that changes may be in order for materiel and personnel in our tables of organization and equipment (TOEs). These insights are surfacing in a number of different forums, such as unit after-action reports (AARs), Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) and Field Artillery articles, letters/emails to senior leaders at the Field Artillery Center, etc. While these are great forums for exchanging ideas, they normally are not enough to initiate changes.

Anyone can propose organization, manning or equipment changes to meet observed shortfalls in warfighting capabilities. The complete process is described in AR 71-32 Force Development and Documentation-Consolidated Policies.

Proposals for Minor Adjustments. These manning and equipment proposals normally are submitted on DA Form 2028 Recommended Changes to Publications and Blank Forms. The form is sent through command channels to the FA Center as the proponent for FA units. Email is also acceptable as long as it contains all the required information: modified TOE (MTOE) or TOE number and paragraph; details of the proposed change; bill payer, if required; and a detailed statement of justification.

DA policy is that proposals to increase personnel normally are not approved without offsets (reductions from another part of the organization). It is advantageous for a unit to get consensus from other affected or like units before submitting the proposal.

Combat Developers at the FA Center review the proposed change for compliance with doctrine, regulations and Army policy and coordinate with other proponents, when necessary. Sometimes DA already has looked at the issue from a larger perspective, such as funding across the Army for like type units, and decided not to make the change.

If the FA combat developers nonconcur, they provide a memorandum to the command explaining the reasons. If the proposal is approved at the FA Center, it is forwarded through the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to the Department of the Army (DA) G3 for final review and an approval decision. A copy of the TRADOC package is returned through command channels to whoever submitted the proposal. This process usually takes about six months.

Proposals for Significant Changes. These changes to an organization's design, manning or equipment must go through the force design update (FDU) process. FDU issues are organizational solutions to accommodate capability shortfalls in which current doctrine, training, leader development, organization, materiel or soldier (DTLOMS) solutions are insufficient.

The first step is for the commander to begin an informal dialog (telephone, email, discussion at a conference) with FA Center combat developers to determine the operational merit of the proposal. This information is forwarded to Headquarters, TRADOC, where action officers staff the proposal worldwide to gain Army-wide consensus. From there the issue is forwarded to DA for approval by the Chief or Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.

Approved FDU issues that do not carry a personnel or major equipment bill (increase in quantity) normally are implemented immediately. Issues that do have a bill may be approved as a requirement in the TOE but must compete for MTOE resources in the total Army analysis (TAA) process. From the time the FDU is announced until final approval by the Vice Chief is about 10 months.

Major Redesign and Restructuring Initiatives. These follow a process similar to the FDU but are larger in scale, affecting all organizations within a specific proponency or echelon (e.g., Force XXI Division design). Such proposals usually are initiated by a proponent or by the Army leadership.

If you have questions, contact the authors at emails [e-mail] or [e-mail].

Christian C. Klein and David R. Carlson Combat Developers, FDIC, Fort Sill, OK