On Headquarters
This chapter discusses how the US Army since 11 September 2001 has had to face the harsh reality that the complexities of the employment of landpower in modern warfare, especially with allies, require large staffs in its headquarters. However, the leaders of the Department of Defense and the Army are often at odds with that reality, as the United States frequently seeks to focus on combat units at the expense of "unnecessary overhead," especially in its theater army headquarters. In addition, the Army found itself wholly unpreparedforthese headquarters to provide contractors for the unprecedented level and complexity of support utilized in recent military operations. As the Army continues adapting to the current environment, it must heed insights from the past sixteen years of conflict. The Army must ensure that it is not exacerbating the problem of employing landpower by eliminating the brains of an army, its essential land component command headquarters capabilities.