Pentagon planners appear not to have caught on to the fact that
the term “joint,” which pervades every discussion about
military transformation, has become outdated.
“My personal view is that joint-ness is almost passé
now,” said Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, director of operations
on the Joint Staff. Joint-service operations are not a novelty,
but a “way of life,” Conway told reporters. “As
a classic example, in Ramadi [Iraq], we had a Marine battalion working
for an Army brigade commander who worked for a Marine division commander
who worked for me, and I work for an Army three-star … You’re
going to soon see Army soldiers wearing a 1st Marine Division or
a 2nd Marine Division patch that represents their battle patch,”
Conway said. “That’ll be very symbolic of this whole
idea of joint-ness.”
In another clear indication that the thinking on joint-ness has
changed, in November 2004, the Joint Staff mandated that the term
“joint tactics, techniques and procedures” be removed
from the Defense Department’s Dictionary of Military and Associated
Terms.