As we publish this 80th issue of Joint Force Quarterly, we mark the transition of two of our biggest supporters and best commentators, the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin E. Dempsey, and the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Sergeant Major Bryan B. Battaglia, USMC. Each provided us with important insights about the joint force and should take great credit for and pride in stewarding two important and popular NDU Press books, Lessons Encountered: Learning from the Long War (2015) and The Noncommissioned Officer and Petty Officer: Backbone of the Armed Forces (2013). We wish them well in their future lives as we welcome the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., and the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman, Sergeant Major John W. Troxell, USA, to the front of the joint force and JFQ team.
General John R. Galvin, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, takes part in farewell ceremony in honor of troops of 1st Infantry Division, 1991 (DOD/Edward Pillars)
When the present is in such a state of flux that even a dim light of understanding seems improbable, I find myself turning to nonfiction accounts of lives lived and the events the people found themselves navigating. One such account, Fighting the Cold War: A Soldier’s Memoir by former Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General John “Jack” Galvin, USA (Ret.), is reviewed in this issue’s Book Reviews section. General Galvin was SACEUR and commander of U.S. European Command from 1987 until his retirement in 1992. I was lucky enough to know him while an aide to his chief of staff, and he offered this junior officer a brief glimpse of the power and grace of a military officer whose service was remarkable. Few senior officers in the Nation’s history have had to lead in such a period as that during the end of the Cold War. Without question, General Galvin was the right leader in the right place at the right time. You do not have to take my word for it, but this is a life every serving officer should learn from.
For two reasons alone—leadership by example and thinking about the future of the military—I recommend his book to the joint force. In keeping with General Galvin’s example of thinking about the way ahead, I believe this issue of JFQ offers articles that provide a number of interesting ideas about how efforts before, during, and after warfighting can advance the joint force toward learning and applying those lessons he describes.
As we continue in a postcombat phase for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, our Forum section provides two articles with firsthand insights on where we are headed and two articles that suggest how the United States can more effectively help our partners who are in similar circumstances as the Afghans. First, there is an assessment of U.S. performance in Afghanistan by Richard Outzen, a senior military fellow in the Center for Strategic Research, Institute for National Strategic Studies, at the National Defense University, who was asked by the theater commander to evaluate the current situation and progress there. Aaron Tucker and Aimal Pacha Sayedi describe how the U.S. advisor effort to help the Afghans build an air force is one success story from the conflict with applicability to other partner nations. Discussing an important mission that can bolster the local forces’ ability to meet their mission, Thomas Ross outlines how to plan for fielding capability packages that allow effective security cooperation.
More than a year ago, I was approached by two of our authors, Aizen Marrogi and his colleague Edwin Burkett, both military doctors with extensive backgrounds in providing medical support around the world, and asked to consider global health engagement as a JFQ theme. Our Special Feature section provides the first set of discussions from their efforts to broaden joint force awareness of the role health care plays not only in military operations but also as a part of our national contribution to international peace and stability operations.
Our JPME Today section offers a mix of ideas from students and practitioners, two on jointness and one on warfare. Considering the traditional three levels of war most commonly discussed in school (strategic to operational to tactical), Michael Matheny makes the case for adding another level between operational and strategic. Brent French tackles the issue of how to help the Reserve Component achieve jointness.
Continuing our efforts to give you access to the most senior joint leaders in our military, our Commentary section has my interview with Admiral Michael Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency, and chief of the Central Security Service. Accompanying the interview is a summary article that helps explain how U.S. Cyber Command is developing and working to meet its mission of defending our networks and beyond. Aundre Piggee and his co-authors—leaders from the joint team responsible for the retrograde operations that ended Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan—discuss their observations from a successful and complex effort.
In the Features section, four articles provide updates on how to deal with a range of uncertainty facing the joint force. U.S. Special Forces Commander General Joseph Votel, USA, and his co-authors discuss how unconventional warfare can effectively be used to work conflicts within the “gray zone,” or places between peace and war. Returning JFQ author John Morton focuses on the evolving joint integration capabilities of Aegis-equipped warships in pursuit of integrated air and missile defense. Thinking on the offense side of this missile defense problem, Mark Vinson and John Caldwell help us understand the state of play on violent nonstate groups seeking to acquire and field missile technologies. Sarah Mussoni, Gert-Jan de Vreede, and Alfred Buckles suggest ways and techniques associated with better collaborative planning as a means to help those in that business develop more effective plans for all our joint operations.
In the Recall section, F.G. Hoffman, one of our nation’s leading thinkers on warfare, writes about World War II submarine warfare and shows how successful adaptation to the threat environment is something the United States has done successfully for a long time. Three outstanding book reviews follow.
Our Joint Doctrine section has two important articles to consider. Following our global health engagement discussion, a Joint Staff–interagency team brings us the second in their series of pieces on Interorganizational Cooperation. James McArthur and his co-authors take a look at the humanitarian aspect of getting to a whole-of-government approach. Next, speaking to what he sees as a gap in existing joint doctrine, Marc Tranchemontagne describes our current state of affairs in countering improvised explosive devices and offers suggestions on how to solve the problem. As always, we round out this issue with the Joint Staff J7 joint doctrine update.
If you find our articles about warfare, global health engagement, joint planning, joint doctrine, or emerging threats interesting and would like to write a few words of your own, or if you have important thoughts to share with the joint force, please let us hear from you. When a leader like Jack Galvin saw or thought of something important, he passed it on. JFQ is dedicated to helping you do just that. JFQ
William T. Eliason
Editor in Chief