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MBA-armed officers change Army

Feb- 6-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

Learn more about a new group of soldiers transforming the Army. The SBCT concept was one of its projects.

[Link to Full Article]

by Sgt. Chuck Wagner
Pentagram staff writer

There is a new breed of officer walking Pentagon corridors. He understands financial markets, diminishing rates of return and capital investment. His civilian counterpart might sit on a board of directors at Coca-Cola or IBM: He wears service stripes instead of pinstripes.

Six Army majors recently earned Masters in Business Administration degrees through an innovative program intended to put savvy private-sector principles at work for the military. These select few -- part of a young Army career field named Functional Area 50 -- are the first batch of graduates to return to the Pentagon from George Mason University. A second class of five Functional Area 50 officers, commonly called FA50s, will graduate in December. More are on the way...

According to Kirk, one of FA50s notable successes is fielding the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.

FA50s worked on the force design, refined the organizational construct, got it funded, and assisted in the fielding, he says. Strykers are now in Iraq.


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