Readiness begins before the battlefield

OPINION:

As soldiers, senior military leaders, policymakers, and industry partners gather in Washington this month for the 2026 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition, this year’s theme, “America’s Army: The Foundation of the Joint Force,” is particularly appropriate for the current security environment our nation faces.

As a 31-year Army veteran, the father of four sons who have all served overseas in the military, and the most senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, I have seen national security from many perspectives. However, one lesson has remained constant: military readiness begins long before a Soldier reaches the battlefield.

The geography that once afforded the United States a measure of protection no longer provides sanctuary. The Army and the Joint Forces of the military must be prepared to defend the homeland and operate across environments ranging from the icy Arctic to the jungles of the Indo-Pacific and deserts of the Middle East and Central Asia.

America is engaged in multidomain competition across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Hypersonic missiles, unmanned systems, long-range precision weapons, electronic warfare, super intelligence and contested logistics are transforming the battlefield.

As General Christopher LaNeve recently explained in the strategic guidance document “The Army Azimuth,” a ready Army provides capabilities that underpin Joint Force operations while the service works to outpace adversaries and project power on and from the land.

Meeting those challenges requires more than purchasing the newest weapon system. A capability, no matter how exquisite and sophisticated, has limited value if industry cannot produce it at scale and breadth, if supply chains cannot sustain it, or if our military cannot move and replenish it in combat.

The Constitution entrusts Congress with building and supporting armies, and today that responsibility includes establishing defense policy and authorities, allocating resources, and conducting oversight. Decisions made on Capitol Hill provide the direction and resources that allow the Army’s generating force to build and sustain its operations.

The Soldier who ultimately employs American combat power is supported by a national enterprise shaped years earlier in congressional hearing rooms, think tanks, Pentagon offices, laboratories, arsenals, depots, installations and factories across America. Congress does not directly engage the battlefield, but it has a vital responsibility to ensure those who do are trained, equipped, sustained, and supported.

American military power is ultimately underwritten by American economic and industrial strength. That is why the defense industrial base is itself a readiness issue. Congress helps create the conditions for industry to expand production lines, replenish munitions, secure supply chains and access critical minerals, develop a skilled workforce, and deploy rapidly changing technologies.

Domestic production should remain at the center of that effort, while trusted allies and partners can bring capital and expertise into American capacity. South Korea’s Hanwha, for example, has announced a $5 billion infrastructure investment in its Philadelphia shipyard to expand American shipbuilding capacity.

In my home state of South Carolina, I see this national security ecosystem firsthand. Fort Jackson, for example, trains new soldiers; McEntire Joint National Guard Base is home to the 169th Fighter Wing and Army aviation; and Shaw Air Force Base hosts the 20th Fighter wing, U.S. Army Central, and U.S. Air Forces Central. At the Savannah River Site, construction of the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility supports the nation’s two-site strategy, along with New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, for modernizing and strengthening the nuclear deterrent.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s newly announced ’Fortress America’ initiative reinforces the importance of resilient installations, secure supply chains, and independent power. As the military develops the concept for the proposed ’Next Great American Base,’ South Carolina’s existing ecosystem, which includes the communities surrounding the Savannah River Site, offers a useful example of how military infrastructure, industry, academia, energy resilience, and a skilled workforce can come together to generate combat power.

However, readiness ultimately depends on people.

Military families are constantly called upon to sacrifice alongside our service members. Frequent moves, deployments, access to childcare, housing, and health care all affect the force’s ability to remain ready. That is why with my bipartisan colleagues, I advocated for the House-passed Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

Included within the bill is a provision reversing specified reductions at Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, restoring personnel and clinical services to March 2026 levels, particularly affecting those in South Carolina and Georgia.

From Capitol Hill to the Pentagon, from the factory floor to the training range, and ultimately to the battlefield, national defense is a shared undertaking. Congress has an integral role in combat power, industry provides the capacity to produce and sustain it, and our servicemembers and their families remain at its center.

The next crisis will not wait for America to rebuild inventories, reopen production lines, repair installations, or strengthen supply chains. Readiness, resilience and survivability must be built before a crisis begins.

A ready Army provides the foundation for a powerful Joint Force, and that readiness remains imperative to preserving Peace Through Strength.

• Joe Wilson is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives serving South Carolina’s 2nd District.