Since the Soviet Unions fall in 1989, the specter of large-scale ground combat against a peer adversary was remote. During the years following, the U.S. Army found itself increasingly called upon to lead multinational operations in the lower to middle tiers of the range of military operations and conflict continuum. The events of 11 September 2001 led to more than fifteen years of intense focus on counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and stability operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. An entire generation of Army leaders and soldiers were culturally imprinted by this experience. We emerged as an Army more capable in limited contingency operations than at any time in our Nations history, but the geopolitical landscape continues to shift, and the risk of great power conflict is no longer a remote possibility.
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