The Army has declared a 30-day period of mourning to honor those killed during the terrorist attacks Sept. 11.
Meanwhile, Army Secretary Thomas White says his service is now on “a wartime footing,” and soldiers should gird themselves for “an extended and broad-based campaign” against terrorism.
Army sources, speaking before Army Times went to press Sept. 14, said the service would declare the 30-day mourning period later that day.
In a draft statement announcing the mourning period, White and Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki say:
“For the next 30 days, the Army will observe a period of mourning in tribute to our dearest friends, colleagues, loved ones both military and civilian and others who lost their lives in these illegitimate and senseless acts of terrorism. They have become the casualties of a war against an enemy so cowardly that he won’t abide by any of the rules of land warfare and vainly masks his policies in a veil of religion.
“He receives no legitimacy from the serious practitioners of his faith and he will not succeed in his war of terrorism.”
In their statement, White and Shinseki urge commanders to review their calendars and to postpone or cancel events they feel should be canceled out of respect for the losses suffered by so many Americans. The two leaders note they already have taken these steps in Washington.
“Though social and celebratory events are important to the culture and traditions of the Army, we will honor our fallen and their families with a somber and solemn period during which we forego such events,” they say.
However, the leaders say, the period of mourning is not intended to interfere in any way with scheduled training or any other effort necessary to sustain combat readiness. “Subordinate commanders will make the calls on what is right for their units.”
In a Sept. 14 interview, White stressed that soldiers should now consider themselves at war.
“The president has made it quite clear that we are now on a wartime footing,” White said. “We have declared war against this terrorist threat.
“We are in for an extended and broad-based campaign that I think will ultimately affect everything that the Department [of Defense] does.”
White, a retired one-star general and Vietnam veteran, said it was not yet appropriate to discuss the operational implications of the campaign and too early to say how it might affect deployments and other troop movements, “because operational planning is in the early stages.”
But the campaign being planned would bring to bear the full military power and other capabilities of the government “against these people that have declared war on us,” he said.
In addition, the United States is actively seeking the support of its allies, White said.
One immediate consequence of the Sept. 11 attacks that soldiers would notice in the field is a heightened awareness of force protection and other security measures, he said. “We will look very closely at our plans for these type of things,” said White.
The attack on the Pentagon killed an estimated 65 Army soldiers, civilians and contractors. The office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Lt. Gen. Timothy Maude, who died in the attack, was particularly hard hit.
But White said that despite the tragic loss of personnel and the destruction of many offices and records, the attack would not affect Army programs in any way that would impact soldiers in the field.
“We are going to maintain the momentum of the Army,” he said. “We will grieve our losses, but we are in the business of continuous operations, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
“So we will reconstitute those areas where we’ve suffered losses, and we will get on with it, which we’ve done throughout the crisis.”
White said he did not foresee any change in the timelines for the Army’s submissions for the 2002 defense budget, or for the completion of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s Quadrennial Defense Review. The Defense Department is due to submit the QDR to Congress by Sept. 30.
In another joint statement to the field issued Sept. 14, White and Shinseki reminded soldiers of the Army’s “non-negotiable contract” to fight and win the nation’s wars.
“We will emerge from this attack stronger and with greater resolve to prevail against the forces of hatred and darkness,” they said.
“We are strong; we are ready; and we will keep faith with our fallen comrades and their loved ones. And we will fulfill our contract.”
