The Army that went to war in March 2003 included modernized forces well on the way toward transformation and forces still organized and designed for the Cold War. Finally, the Army had not completed transformation by Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF). In some cases, change came because the Army anticipated requirements, while in other cases the Army adapted to conditions it had not anticipated. The Army's odyssey through the 11 years from the close of DESERT STORM in 1991 to the close of decisive combat operations in ENDURING FREEDOM in 2002 is remarkable and a testament to a traditional institution's commitment to deliberate, introspective change. It is a chronology of how the Army would conceive of and conduct itself in future wars. The history of the US Army experience during the 1990s is the history of adaptation to new threats and challenges within an ambiguous, changing global security environment. Some of the old continued, and some of the new emerged. It was a JANUS war - it was the trailing edge of industrial-age warfare and the leading edge of knowledge-based, information-age warfare.
The 1990s: Describing the World and Redefining the Future Army.
