USARPAC: FOUNDATION OF THE JOINT FORCE IN THE PACIFIC

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii - The Indo-Pacific is home to more than half the world's population, nearly two-thirds of the global economy, and seven of the world's ten largest militaries, the overwhelming majority of which are led by Army officers. Access to key terrain in this theater is defined by the consent of sovereign nations; it is granted by regional leaders, anchored to physical geography, and safeguarded by terrestrial security forces. The Joint Force in the Indo-Pacific projects power, disperses across distributed nodes and sustains combat operations across seventeen time zones, by relying on essential land-based access, basing, and overflight. Landpower anchors this theater; it is the bulwark that allows the Joint Force to gain, sustain, and defend its freedom of maneuver.

The Historical Reality of Joint Interdependence

History delivers an unvarnished truth about warfare in the Pacific: land forces provide access and endurance in the theater that is essential to success in conflict. During World War II, the legendary island campaigns of General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz proved that naval supremacy and air superiority were highly effective operational enablers as land forces seized, held, and defended key island terrain, deep-water ports, and forward airfields necessary to project combat power across the theater. Similarly, the tragedy of Task Force Smith in Korea in 1950 stands as a stark institutional reminder of the necessity of forward postured, combat ready forces, long before a crisis erupts. A decade later in Vietnam, the airmobile operations of the 1st Cavalry Division in the Ia Drang Valley demonstrated that while cutting-edge technology and tactical mobility are revolutionary, their success relies on disciplined ground forces capable of fighting and holding complex, unforgiving terrain. Throughout history, a timeless operational imperative remains unchanged: the Joint Force succeeds only through deep interdependence. Fleets and air wings secure corridors of approach, while ground forces seize and hold the points of departure, open and secure logistics hubs, protect critical nodes, and hold key terrain to achieve strategic victory.

How Landpower Strengthens Deterrence Today

In competition, crisis, and conflict, deterrence is our highest duty. U.S. Army Pacific provides the Joint Force with an unsinkable, distributed operational architecture that alters an adversary's decision calculus every day. We provide combat credible, ready and lethal land forces that project power on and from the land, standing together with our regional allies and partners. We "Set the Theater" by providing the sustainment architecture the entire Joint Force relies upon. Accordingly, the Army provides over 50 percent of all theater logistics, from bulk fuel and munitions to port-opening capabilities, because our fifth-generation aircraft and modern naval vessels require sustainment from land to fly, sail, fight and win. We provide a 24/7 protective umbrella through integrated air and missile defense, shielding critical air and sea locations across the First and Second island chains. We ensure resilient command and control through a mobile, low-signature architecture that provides decision superiority even when our networks are contested and degraded. Through our forces forward, USARPAC transforms isolated island terrain into an interconnected network of capabilities that hold adversary assets at risk from the land at the invitation of our allies and partners. The unique value of landpower in the Pacific is that the Army possesses the capability and will to hold critical terrain, set the theater, protect joint resupply hubs, and provide the endurance necessary to sustain the fight. Simply put, the Army secures the very ground that allows the Joint Force to prevail.

Partnerships - Our Asymmetric Advantage

While advanced technology and weapon systems provide critical capabilities, our network of alliances and partnerships is our true asymmetric advantage in the Indo-Pacific. Trust is the result of long-term investments, forged daily through mutual respect, tough, realistic training, and persistent presence on the ground, shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and partners across the region.

The strategic reality of the theater is that over 80 percent of regional defense chiefs are Army officers, and our human connections, built on a bedrock of trust, are a decisive element of deterrence. Consequently, when our partners assess their national security, they view it through a land-centric lens. This makes USARPAC an essential diplomatic and military bridge for the Joint Force, due to our deep, personal, institutional bonds that deliver a level of human interoperability that uniquely complements our air and maritime partners.

Through our premier campaign framework, Operation Pathways, we posture combat-credible forces forward at the direct invitation of our allies and partners on their sovereign soil. We gain positional advantage by conducting over 50 multi-lateral exercises annually inside the First and Second Island Chains, such as Talisman Sabre, Balikatan, Yama Sakura, and Orient Shield. These exercises serve as highly sophisticated rehearsals on key terrain that build human, procedural, and technical interoperability. By operating within the sovereign terrain of our host nations, enduring the same unforgiving conditions, and synchronizing tactical procedures, we generate positional advantage, tactical build warfighting readiness, and establish the operational depth necessary to deter.

Ready Forces Provide Credible Deterrence

Readiness in the Indo-Pacific is a multi-dimensional imperative, built upon a foundation that is physical, technical, organizational, and relational. This is a highly practical concept; it is the demonstrated ability to project power and sustain the Joint Force across vast distances, from the dense jungles and tropical archipelagos of the First Island Chain to the frozen tundra of the Arctic.

Our physical and technical readiness is embodied by the phrase, "Fit-Forward-Fight." This requires our Soldiers to be physically conditioned, mentally resilient, and master tacticians, forged by tough and realistic training to thrive in the complex and contested environments they will face. We build expertise and demonstrate lethality through realistic, combat focused training at our Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC), which prepares our formations to be successful in every environment across the depth and breadth of the region.

We build warfighting and operational readiness through shared hardship and continuous rehearsals. By exporting our training capability via JPMRC-X, we train bi-laterally and multi-laterally with our allies and partners on their sovereign, key terrain at their invitation. This builds the human, procedural, and technical interoperability required to seamlessly shoot, move, communicate, medicate and sustain as a unified team, so we are always prepared to prevent conflict and respond to crisis.

Ultimately, credible deterrence depends on our demonstrated, unmistakable ability to reinforce doubt in the mind of our adversaries. They watch us closely. They evaluate our operational reach, resilience, endurance and collective will. Preserving peace through strength is our highest duty. If deterrence fails, USARPAC is in position forward, rooted firmly on key terrain, enabling every element of the Joint Force, fully integrated with our allies and partners, and prepared to fight and win

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