MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE

LOCATIONS

22 Aug 07. Elgin Operations, a 150,000 square-foot facility. The BAE Systems – Elgin Operations facility will be built by the city of Elgin in the Ft. Sill Industrial Park, and is scheduled to open in early 2009. Work at the new facility will initially focus on production integration and assembly of the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.

PERSONNEL

MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT

20 Aug 07. Sapped by nearly six years of war, the Army has nearly exhausted its fighting force and its options if the Bush administration decides to extend the Iraq build-up beyond next spring. The Army’s 38 available combat units are deployed, just returning home or already tapped to go to Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, leaving no fresh troops to replace five extra brigades that President Bush sent to Baghdad this year, according to interviews and military documents reviewed by The Associated Press. That presents the Pentagon with several painful choices if the U.S. wants to maintain higher troop levels beyond the spring of 2008:
-Using National Guard units on an accelerated schedule.
-Breaking the military’s pledge to keep Soldiers in Iraq for no longer than 15 months.
-Breaching a commitment to give Soldiers a full year at home before sending them back to war.
For a war-fatigued nation and a Congress bent on bringing troops home, none of those is desirable. In Iraq, there are 18 Army brigades, each with about 3,500 Soldiers. At least 13 more brigades are scheduled to rotate in. Two others are in Afghanistan and two additional ones are set to rotate in there. Also, several other brigades either are set for a future deployment or are scattered around the globe. The few units that are not at war, in transformation or in their 12-months home time already are penciled in for deployments later in 2008 or into 2009. Shifting them would create problems in the long-term schedule. Most Army brigades have completed two or three tours in Iraq or Afghanistan; some assignments have lasted as long as 15 months. The 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, has done four tours. Two Marine regiments – each roughly the same size as an Army brigade – also in Iraq,- bringing the total number of brigades in the country to 20. (Source: Military.com)

28 Aug 07. PM rules out Iraq exit timetable. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ruled out setting a timetable for withdrawing UK troops from Iraq, saying it would undermine their “important job” there. Writing to Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell, he said the military still had “clear obligations to discharge”. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the UK forces’ training and mentoring role was what was needed on the ground. Sir Menzies said Mr Brown was “ignoring the reality” in Iraq and should accept that UK efforts there had failed. Speaking on BBC News 24, he said: “What are we achieving politically for Iraq and what are we achieving militarily for ourselves? (Source: BBC)

EUROPE APPOINTMENTS

24 Aug 07. Lieutenant General Sir David Richards KCB CBE DSO (Late Royal Regiment of Artillery), currently Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps to be Commander in Chief Land Command, in the rank of General, in succession to General Sir Redmond Watt KCVO CBE ADC Gen, in February 2008.

24 Aug 07. Major General G W Berragan (Late Royal Regiment of Artillery), currently Deputy Commanding General Multi National Corps – Iraq to be Director General Army Recruiting and Training, in succession to Major General A J N Graham CBE, in December 2007.

24 Aug 07. Major General P R Newton CBE (Late Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment), currently Director General (Engagements), Multi National Force – Iraq to be Director General Development Concepts and Doctrine, in succession to Rear Admiral C J Parry CBE, in January 2008.

24 Aug 07. Brigadier B Brealey (Late Royal Regiment of Artillery), currently Assistant Chief of Staff Plans, Hea