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Wartime expedient will stick around in peace
http://blogs.gazette.com/highground/2014/02/06/wartime-expedient-will-stick-around-in-peace/
Wartime expedient will stick around in peace
Published: February 6, 2014, 3:32 pm, by Tom Roeder
Conceived as a wartime experiment, the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force will stick around in peace time, the Pentagon announced.
The unit was created in 2002 to bring cutting-edge commercial technologies to the battlefield quickly. New bomb-defusing robots and bomb-countering devices were shipped to units in Iraq and Afghanistan in months, profiding a shortcut to an Army acquisition process.
“In a Jan. 30 memo, signed by Under Secretary of the Army Dr. Joseph W. Westphal, the Army recognized the … capability was something the service needs for the long-term,” the Army said in a news release.
The unit is being moved to the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, which plots tactics and training for future battles.
The Rapid Equipping Force will also maintain its authority to determine what’s needed based on requests from commanders in the field, the Army said.