Army Creates 'Strategic Landpower' Office With SOCOM, Marines; Odierno Defends Budget

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http://defense.aol.com/2012/11/01/army-creates-strategic-landpower-office-with-socom-marines/




Army Creates 'Strategic Landpower' Office With SOCOM, Marines; Odierno Defends Budget
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Published: November 1, 2012

WASHINGTON: Hey, you want Special Forces? The Army's got your back. Want air defense Missile defense? Communications? Intelligence? Logistical support? Joint Task Force headquarters? Go Army!

Just -- just please, don't cut our budget any more, okay?

That was the subtext when Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno spoke this morning at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. But Odierno wasn't playing defense: He also announced that the Army was standing up a new partnership with the Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps, tentatively named the Office of Strategic Landpower. Odierno didn't divulge details, but the initiative is almost certainly about arguing the strategic relevance as ground forces in a counter-offensive, albeit a belated one, against the budgetary momentum of Air Force and Navy-led AirSea Battle Office.

"We have to implement the new DoD (Department of Defense) strategic guidance, in which the Army in my mind plays a critical role," Odierno said, rebutting the idea that the "pivot to Asia" sidelines land-based forces. "I know there's a lot of water out there in the Pacific, but they're still land-centric (in most Asian countries); the most politically influential service tends to be the Army," Odierno went on. As for AirSea Battle's driving threat, China's construction of layered defenses to keep US forces out of the region -- what's known as "anti-access/area denial" -- "it requires a joint force," he said. "You can't achieve, in my opinion, A2AD with just air and sea."