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 w… 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. 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