Assistant Chief of General Staff - Office of Strategy Management
Col Tim Keating

14 November 2006

Making a Good Army into a Great Army

Winston Churchill once said; “It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required”. Churchill’s reflection underpins the important attitudinal change that is needed to transform the New Zealand Army into a world-class, combat capable force.
 
Chief of Army has a responsibility to prepare the Army for combat operations. We all must make sure that our combined efforts and resources are being used in the best way to produce a world-class, operationally focused land force that is led, trained and equipped to win in combat. We are now examining the way we generate the Army, train the Army, and the way we intend to fight the Army. To move our Army from where we are now to where we need to be, we need to undergo a transformation.

The security environment in which we must operate has changed significantly and our Army must change to meet this new reality. Transformation will build on all that is good and relevant, but not leave us anchored to the past because “we have always done it that way”. Transformation is not a criticism that our people and units are not working their hardest. Transformation relies heavily on harnessing the established excellent qualities of our Army: a warrior culture, good junior leadership, disciplined and hardworking people, and units with world-class equipment.

History, even New Zealand history, provides us with many examples of forces that have failed to transform to meet a new environment, a new threat – or an old threat that just got smarter. Blind adherence to doctrine and process is the enemy of military success. The essence of our military profession is to strive to keep ourselves in the position of best advantage over potential threats. Failure to do so will consign the force to irrelevance or an even worse outcome in a future operational environment. A former United States Army Chief, General Shinseki, recognised some of the attitudinal barriers to transforming the US Army and stated to his people: “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less”.

Our profession demands that at all levels we prepare ourselves for combat; for leaders it is your highest priority. Transformation will only be judged a success when our normal processes act to rapidly adopt better ways of leading, training and equipping our Army to face the new world of military operations. This has to be generated from within all ranks, not just from the top.

YOU play an important role in making this transformation a success, as it is through YOU that it will be achieved. The adoption of the new strategic vision of our Army depends on you understanding this vision and being able to see the role you take in making this change.

I invite you to take up the challenge of participating in transforming our Army into an army that is not only prepared for the future but also a force that has world-class combat capabilities.

Making our good Army into a great Army needs your help

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