Administration: Who Needs It?

'The well trained army took to the field, sweeping its enemies before it. The navy stood offshore, protecting the seaward flank and engaging all enemy vessels within its considerable range. The victorious forces.........' OK. Let's put things back on hold again.

Victorious armies and navies consist of far more than just well trained troops and sailors; and good fighting equipment. These things are all necessary; but without adequate behind the lines support, they can't win for long. My January article addressed supply and transportation issues; this month I'll focus on a variety of administrative issues; because as much as we all seem to hate 'administrative details', we can't seem to get along without them.

The second officer to be commissioned by the Continental Congress, after George Washington, was Horatio Gates; the first Adjutant General of the Army. His early commissioning underlines the importance of the administrative side of military forces. The Adjutant General Corps became the central coordinating bureau of the Army, responsible for virtually every aspect of military life other than supply and the actual fighting.

Since the Adjutant General's Corps was primarily focused around records; they received the responsibility to develop Army personnel and administrative policies and programs. As the military, along with society, has grown more complex, the AG corps has developed new functions to meet these challenges. Many of these new functions became completely separate staff agencies or even separate branches. The Inspector General, Military Intelligence, the Provost Marshal and the Chief of Military History all have their origins in the AG corps.

Currently, areas of responsibility for the AG corps include:

1) Personnel strength management; which deals with reenlistments, reassignments, promotion, elimination and awards;

2) Automation; specifically computer systems for tracking unit and individual status;

3) Recruiting and retention; selling people on joining in the first place, and assisting commanders to keep good people after their first enlistment;

4) Army bands; which currently number 123 bands within the Active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve. Bands are useful for maintaining military pomp and ceremony; and they are also used to 'show the flag' out in the civilian world by conducting concert tours around the country, and;

5) Postal operations; Army postal units handle all mail going overseas to military units; regardless of the actual service involved. Receiving their mail is crucial to the morale of most servicemen and carefully administered by each service.

The AG corps isn't the only branch that performs administrative functions. Since repeated lack or lateness of pay can cause HUGE problems; the Finance Corps is extremely important. Finance isn't limited to pay, of course; they handle all financial transactions within the service; including centralized budgeting, auditing and disbursing.

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