Sustaining the Army's Continuous Transformation

By Lt. Gen. Heidi Hoyle

Article published on: September 1, 2024 in the Army Sustainment Fall 2024 Edition

Read Time: < 3 mins

I’ll begin this quarter by taking some time to honor and remember Lt. Gen. (Retired) Arthur J. Gregg. As you all likely know, Lt. Gen. Gregg passed away on August 22, 2024. Many of us were blessed to meet and interact with him over the last few years. I want to take a moment and reflect on his amazing career and life.

Lt. Gen. Gregg’s story was an important chapter in the history of the sustainment community, the Army, and American history at large. He enlisted in the Army as a private and rose through the ranks until he retired as a lieutenant general. Lt. Gen. Gregg was also a mentor to countless Soldiers in our Army. His service at home and abroad is the gold standard for which we all should strive. He served all over our Army and all over the world, including a tour in Vietnam, where he commanded one of the largest battalions in the Army. He went on to become the first African-American Soldier in U.S. history to reach the rank of lieutenant general, culminating his career as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Headquarters, Department of the Army.

His legacy and impact on our Army were exemplified last year when Fort Lee, the home of the Sustainment Center of Excellence, was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams, honoring both Lt. Gen. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams.

Lt. Gen. Gregg’s commitment to excellence lives on in the form of the annually awarded Lieutenant General (Retired) Arthur J. Gregg Sustainment Leadership Award. Awarded annually each March at the Association of the United States Army Global Force Symposium & Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, it honors the top sustainment leaders in our Army. I encourage leaders at all levels to look across their formations and submit nominations on behalf of their top performers. This year’s All Army Activities message has been released with instructions, and we will be accepting nomination packets through October 31, 2024. As with past years, the criteria are as follows:

1. Military - One Army logistics officer, warrant officer, or noncommissioned officer (all components included).
2. Civilian - One Department of the Army civilian (all components included).
3. Legacy - One retired civilian or veteran who met the criteria set forth in the first two categories during their service.

While it is important to remember and value the past, we are also constantly striving toward the future. As we near the fifth year of what President Biden has called the decisive decade, the Army continues the process of continuous transformation, which is a framework for thinking in time across three concurrently executed time horizons. The first time horizon, transformation in contact, captures the near-term efforts, within 18 to 24 months, to rapidly prototype organizational changes and integrate emerging technology. The second time horizon, deliberate transformation, uses existing Army processes (Total Army Analysis and Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution) to program and build formations in the two-to-seven-year time horizon. The final time horizon is concept-driven transformation, which looks at the period between 2030 and 2040 to identify potential new concepts, formations, talent, doctrine, technology, or other doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities, and policy changes required to compete in the future.

Continuous transformation is a top priority for the Chief of Staff of the Army; Army Materiel Command; Headquarters, Department of the Army, G-4; Combined Arms Support Command; and other senior Army organizations. However, this requires a collective effort from across the Army. I call on leaders at all levels to stay abreast of changes and updates to modernization efforts.The programs and policies are being shaped at the strategic level but the execution, implementation, and feedback on transformation in contact will happen at the tactical level.

Lt. Gen. Gregg’s story was an important chapter in the history of the sustainment community, the Army, and American history at large.

As always, it is an honor to serve alongside you. Thank you so much for all the work you do.

Be all you can be.

This we’ll defend.