https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated September 22, 2022
The Army’s Regionally Aligned Readiness and
Modernization Model
Why Is Army Readiness Important
to Congress?
The Army defines readiness as the capability of its forces to
conduct the full range of military operations and defeat all
enemies regardless of the threats they pose. Readiness is
generally considered a function of how well units are
manned, equipped, trained, and led. Congress, in its
lawmaking, oversight, and authorization and appropriations
roles, plays a vital role in ensuring the Army is capable of
conducting its full range of military operations.
The Army’s Regionally Aligned
Readiness and Modernization Model
(ReARMM)
In the past, the Army has claimed it has suffered from poor
readiness due to a number of factors, including personnel,
equipment, training, a high operational tempo (generally
defined as a soldier’s and/or unit’s time away from home
station for training or operations), and lack of funding. In
October 2020, the Army announced its new Regionally
Aligned Readiness and Modernization Model (ReARMM),
which it hoped to have in place by 2022. This model was
intended to better balance operational tempo (OPTEMPO)
with dedicated periods for conducting missions, training,
and modernization. The Army maintained that to correct its
readiness problems, it had invested significant resources
and leadership to improve readiness and equipment
modernization so units would have the most up-to-date
equipment.
The Army admitted its past “readiness focus resulted in an
unsustainable OPTEMPO and placed significant demands
on units, leaders, and soldiers and families and stress on the
force.” The Army expects ReARMM will not only improve
readiness and modernization but also ease the stress on both
soldiers and their families.
The Readiness and Modernization
Challenge
Lieutenant General Leopoldo Quintas, then-Deputy
Commander of Army Forces Command (FORSCOM),
described the Army’s current readiness and modernization
challenge:
Army units operate in an environment of
unpredictability, and arguably even instability.
Units are placed on rotational missions based on
their availability, and these missions vary in
location, length, manning, readiness requirements
and equipment just to name a few. Modernization
today occurs when we can find a window to fit it in,
or simultaneous with other activities. Every week,
month and year is filled with constant change and
high tempo for soldiers. Our soldiers and families
can deal with a lot of tempo, but unpredictability
results in an incredible amount of stress on the
force.
Past and Current Army
Readiness Models
The term “Readiness Models” refers to a process by which
the Army generates ready forces that are made available to
Combatant Commanders for operations. From the 1980s
until 2006, the Army employed a Tiered Readiness Model
with units manned, equipped, and trained at different levels
or tiers (often referred to as “C” ratings or levels) focused
on fighting potential overseas adversaries. Reserve
Components (RC) (Army National Guard [ARNG] and
U.S. Army Reserve [USAR]) were largely relegated to the
role of strategic reserve (i.e., to be employed in the event of
a crisis or emergency exceeding the Regular Army’s [RA’s]
capacity). In 2006 in the aftermath of September 11, 2001,
and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army adopted the
Army Force Generation Model (ARFORGEN), designed to
provide fully manned, equipped, and trained forces for
rotational deployment for those conflicts. ARFORGEN
consisted of three distinct annual cycles (a postdeployment
Reset cycle, a Train and Ready cycle; and a Deploy cycle)
through which all units progressed in order to achieve a
prescribed level of readiness. Under ARFORGEN, most
RA units operated on a three-year cycle and RC units were
on a five-year cycle (RA: two years preparation, one year
deployed; RC: four years preparation, one year deployed).
In 2014, as the United States began to decrease troop levels
in Iraq and Afghanistan and refocused on threats from
Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, the Army determined
ARFORGEN was no longer adequate for its needs. The
Army began implementing the Sustainable Readiness
Model (SRM) in FY2017. The Army’s goal under SRM was
to achieve two-thirds (66%) combat readiness of RA and
ARNG brigade combat teams (BCTs) by 2023. Unlike
ARFORGEN, under SRM, there were no fixed progressive
cycles for RA units, and the RC was to remain on a five-
year train up and deployment cycle.
How ReARMM Is Intended to Work
As originally envisioned, ReARMM was intended to
allocate Army units to different theaters for approximately
one year to assist units in developing expertise in the parts
of the world to which they might deploy during a conflict.
Units would also acquire new and theater-specific
equipment for potential operations. The model also
intended to provide soldiers more predictability so units
would have time to refine doctrine, and reorganize, if
necessary, based on theater-specific requirements.
