SUBJECT: Regionally Aligned Brigades/Forces

1. Purpose: To provide information on Regionally Aligned Brigades/Forces

2. Facts:

a. Brigades, divisions and corps are assigned to combatant commanders from different regions of the world -- U.S. Africa Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Central Command, and U.S. Southern Command. Those forces, including active and reserve components, could be U.S.-based with some forces deployed to the region to which they're assigned. The level of forces in the region could be an entire brigade, as was the case during an AFRICOM exercise in South Africa this year, and during a corps-level exercise this year in Australia. Or, it could be as small as a two-Soldier advise-and-assist mission. Units assigned to a region could also be deployed outside their area, should the need arise. Units are not permanently assigned to regions. They rotate in and out of the various regions. While component commanders can get pretty much the tailorable and scalable force they need, when they need it, they should try to anticipate those needs in as far in advance to mitigate risk and delays and help the Army better apportion those assets, Huggins said. The primary goal of RAF is to prevent war by partnering with nations within the region, according to Allyn. Partnering can be military-to-military training, providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, and sharing intelligence and interoperability. Partnering with other nations includes "engagements and interactions between us, our allies and partners -- and even potentially our adversaries," he said, adding that the players include not just the Army and its sister services, but also U.S. and foreign governments, agencies and non-governmental agencies. (http://www.army.mil/article/113660/Regionally_aligned_forces_continue_to_organize_despite_budget_uncertainties/)

b. Regionally Aligned Forces is the Secretary of the Army and Chief of Staff of the Army's vision for providing combatant commanders with versatile, responsive, and consistently available Army forces. Regionally Aligned Forces will meet combatant commanders' requirements for units and capabilities to support operational missions, bilateral and multilateral military exercises, and theater security cooperation activities.

c. Beginning in March 2013, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (2/1ID), stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., will support U.S. Africa Command's security cooperation and partnering requirements. 2/1ID will undergo training at the Combat Training Center before embarking on specialized Language, Regional Expertise and Cultural training. Once training is complete, over the course of the next year, teams of Soldiers from the brigade will deploy to multiple African countries to engage in partnering and training events, and to support bilateral and multinational military exercises. (http://www.army.mil/standto/archive/issue.php?issue=2012-12-20)

d. The Army is regionally engaged and globally responsive an indispensable partner and provider of a full range of capabilities to combatant commanders in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multi-national environment. Regional alignment synchronizes the Army's strategic framework of Prevent, Shape, and Win by addressing Army's enhanced regional and global presence in Prevent improving the global security environment by increasing partner capacity in Army's Shape role and underpinning the Army Total Force capability, capacity, and readiness to Win. As part of the joint force and as America's Army, in all that it offers, the Army provides the versatility, responsiveness, and consistency to Prevent, Shape, and Win. (http://www.army.mil/standto/archive/issue.php?issue=2012-12-20)

e. Army forces with regions allows the integration of planning and training for Combatant Command contingencies, focuses language and cultural training, and provides predictable and dependable capabilities to GCC and Army Service Component Command (ASCC) commanders. In addition, the Army will consider how to manage, train and develop Soldiers to support regional alignment and ensure appropriate investments are made in Soldiers and leveraged by the Army. (2012 Army Strategic Planning Guidance)

f. Regionally Aligned Brigades have a number of potential benefits including:
• Combatant Commands have access to capabilities drawn from the Army Total Force to support a full range of military operations, military exercises and partnering activities.
• U.S. Army soldiers will gain greater awareness of regional and cultural history and current events, and will gain an appreciation of the primary languages within their region of alignment.
• U.S. Army soldiers will have more opportunities to work with and exchange experiences and lessons learned with their partner nation counterparts.
• U.S. Army soldiers can draw from over ten years of operational experience in areas such as logistics, equipment maintenance, finance, administration, military rule of law, and other institutional skills that are critical for improving the capacity of partner military forces to provide greater security at home, and to more effectively participate in multinational operations.
• Regional alignment will help improve the U.S. Army’s ability to work with U.S. Government organizations, intergovernmental and international organizations.
• Regional alignment will help improve U.S. Army contributions to partner capacity building in support of Department of State policies and priorities.
• Regional alignment will help improve the U.S. Army’s contribution to building trust and understanding with U.S. partners and allies, that can help lead to greater coalition effectiveness. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regionally_Aligned_Forces)

g. Army Chief of Staff Raymond Odierno stated, “We must approach operational tasks by organizing our missions around highly trained squads and platoons that are the foundation for our company, battalion and brigade combat teams, organized for specific mission sets and regional conditions” (http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=118316) h. As forces draw down from Afghanistan, more are available for regional alignment, said the Army's top forces generation leader. But unfortunately, total forces are also drawing down, limiting that manpower, added Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, commander, U.S. Army Forces Command, known as FORSCOM. Allyn and seven other panel members spoke Oct. 22, at a forum on regionally aligned forces, or RAF, at the 2013 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Washington Convention Center. The Army "intends that all forces not committed to assigned missions" -- like those in Korea, Afghanistan and in the Global Response Force -- "will be in a regionally aligned force construct, available to the geographical combatant commander," he said. Besides the issue of availability of forces for RAFs, the other is sequestration and budgetary challenges facing all the services, he said, noting that training is also taking a heavy hit. For a RAF unit to be at a full readiness level, it goes through a thorough training cycle at a combat training center, which includes decisive action engagements and wide-area security, as well as follow-on, region-specific training. But the dollars are not there, he said, to rotate units through that cycle, except for those assigned to ongoing operations. (http://www.army.mil/article/113660/Regionally_aligned_forces_continue_to_organize_despite_budget_uncertainties/)