We are taking the Army and completely transforming it
Cartwright Urges Improving Technological Advances
By Air Force Master Sgt. Adam M. Stump
Special to American Forces Press Service
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va., Oct. 10, 2008 – The U.S. military needs to continue working on technological advances to fight a pair of wars that are “winnable,” the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here yesterday.
Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, speaking to a group of Marine Corps University students during the Erskine lecture series, said the U.S. military’s priority is to win the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and be ready for future challenges and threats.
Addressing the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Cartwright said, “This fight is winnable.”
The service chiefs are doing a great job preserving, training and equipping the force, Cartwright said. The Army, in particular, has done an amazing transformation by turning from a garrison structure to a more expeditionary force, he said.
“We’re taking an Army and completely transforming it,” Cartwright said. The Army has switched from a division construct to a brigade construct, all while fighting two wars.
“Those are huge changes, larger than anything this Army has done since World War II,” he said.
The reserve forces also have undergone a notable transformation, turning from a strategic mobilization force into an operational force, all while growing larger than the active-duty side of the military.
All of this, the vice chairman said, has transformed the U.S. military into an experienced and more capable force. With the increased experience and capability, Cartwright said, the military will be more able to adapt to a future conflict.
“We might have to spend a couple of months to be ready to go to some different kind of conflict, but it’s going to be a couple of months, not a couple of years,” he said.
The vice chairman said another major advance during the past few years has been unmanned aerial vehicles. Cartwright said the United States has gone from a handful of UAVs at the start of the war in Iraq to hundreds currently. However, he said, UAVs need to develop a common ground station to communicate better.
In addition, the general said, UAVs need to be used more efficiently, and policies need to be examined so UAVs can use different tactics. The general added that the platform also needs to become an all-weather capability.
Another challenge the U.S. military is facing is cultural and language training. While the military has ramped up the training capability, Cartwright said, the United States still is behind allies because of a “speak my language or you’re dumb” mentality.
A great model of success is the international package-delivery company UPS, which runs an aggressive cultural and language training program, the general said. UPS puts employees into the program before stationing them overseas, he said.
“We’ve got to get in the same boat,” Cartwright said.
(Air Force Master Sgt. Adam M. Stump serves in the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Office.)
Biographies:Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright
James E. Cartwright Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
General Cartwright serves as the eighth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this capacity, he is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Nation’s second highest ranking military officer.
As Vice Chairman, General Cartwright chairs the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, Co-Chairs the Defense Acquisition Board, and serves as a member of the National Security Council Deputies Committee, the Nuclear Weapons Council and the Missile Defense Executive Board. In addition, he Co-Chairs the Deputies Advisory Working Group, which provides advice to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England on resourcing and other high level departmental business issues.
General Cartwright was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps in November 1971. He completed Naval Flight Officer training in April 1973 and graduated from Naval Aviator training in January 1977. He has operational assignments as an NFO in the F-4, and as a pilot in the F-4, OA-4, and F/A-18. He is a distinguished graduate of the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, received his Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island and completed a fellowship with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
General Cartwright's command assignments include: Commander, United States Strategic Command (2004-2007); Commanding General, First Marine Aircraft Wing (2000-2002); Deputy Commanding General, Marine Forces Atlantic (1999-2000).
General Cartwright's joint staff assignments include: Director for Force Structure, Resources and Assessment, J-8 the Joint Staff (2002-2004); Deputy Director for Force Structure, Requirements, J-8 the Joint Staff (1996-1999).
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