The ALx Bulletin - September 2025 - A Sense of Urgency & Opportunity: Optimize for Lethality, Readiness, and Mobility
Optimization is the result of adapting, learning, and innovating with purpose. For Army leaders, it’s how we sharpen effectiveness and drive efficiency—ensuring every action, resource, and decision contributes to mission success.
(Written with the assistance of AI)
“The sense of urgency by which we are holding ourselves accountable is unprecedented. The next time we go to war we absolutely have to change things or young men and women are going to pay the price for our inability to get to Soldier what we KNOW we need to get to those Soldiers before we go to war again.”
– Gen. James E. Rainey
Commanding General
Army Futures Command
Source: The General & the Journalist Podcast
Execute Today [Content You Can Use Immediately]
“Learn from others’ successes and mistakes and build on their progress. Our Soldiers remain one of the U.S. Army’s asymmetric advantages because of our collective ability to adapt, learn, and innovate.” – Brig. Gen. Cain Baker, Director, Future Vertical Lift CFT
This handbook leverages expertise from across the Army to successfully integrate emerging UAS capabilities.
Army Vantage is leveling up! New features boost secure, smart data use across commands. Claude adds AI flexibility, and the Commanders Readiness Security Dashboard delivers real-time unit and Soldier security readiness insights. [Watch the Vantage overview]
Sound decisions begin with solid information. The Protected Internet Exchange (Pix) improves the common operating picture with up to date & accurate information to include maps, conflict tracking, user collaboration, exercise support, a strategic competition dataset & dashboard, and much more. Don’t have an account yet? Register for one here.
Prepare For Tomorrow [Content to Improve Your Organization]
“There is no time for professional hubris. The decisions the Army makes today to drive its transformation will determine its success in the opening engagements of the next conflict.” – Lt. Col. Joshua Suthoff, Deputy Executive Officer, Office of the Deputy Commander, US Northern Command
Find five principles for Army Transformation outlined in this article.
Insights from the Skynet Platoon. Two NCOs share practical strategies to stay combat-effective and survivable in the face of evolving UAS threats. Find the 3 critical areas to employ UAS and C-UAS TTPs here.
💡 “The solutions are here. The need is urgent. The time to act is now.”-Scott Henderson, Military Strategy &Systems Analyst Too much tech can be overwhelming, even slowing down operational tempo when speed matters most. Read a proposed solution here.
“Changes don’t have to be huge to make an impact. They can come from any level, any echelon….” – Sgt. Maj. Vincent Behan, Ops Sgt. Maj. For the 3rd Squadron, 16th Cavalry Regiment
Get inspired. Learn how the Maneuver Innovation Lab enhances operational readiness and ensures the Army remains adaptable for future challenges here.
⚡“This is epic. I will be fine.”- Maj. Kyle McCarter, Senior Intelligence Officer at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Ctr In 2005, a lightning strike threw a Soldier into a moment that would shape his approach to mission readiness and leadership. Read about it here.
Learn Always [Content to Help You Think]
“The Sustainment community leads the way in integrating advanced technologies, enhancing agility and responsiveness, improving resiliency and survivability, and developing the skills needed to win the fight in a contested battlespace.” – Lt. Gen. Heidi J. Hoyle, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, HQDA
Read about it here & access more articles in their recent bulletin Redesigning Sustainment Organizations through Transformation in Contact 2.0
“Modernizing cognition isn’t about throwing technology at the problem. It’s about teaching humans how to think in a world that’s changing faster than ever before.” – retired Lt. Gen (R) Milford H. Beagle. Jr., Former Commanding General, Combined Arms Center
Read more on how the Combined Arms Center and its centers of excellence are modernizing how learning happens here.
“Your actions can make the situation more survivable, especially if you get those first few minutes right.” – Col. Andrew Steadman, Director, Army University Press
In crisis, leadership isn’t improvised-it’s prepared and the first 10 minutes can shape the outcome. This talk delivers a battle-tested blueprint for leaders, including three actions to take immediately.
Get Involved [Opportunities for YOU to Drive Change]
ALx Mentor Minutes has launched, and we need YOUR help! ALx is looking for collaborators to conduct short interviews of leaders at your installation so we can create video reels for social media. 🎯The goal is to capture a variety of authentic advice and wisdom from senior leaders to share with the force and preserve for future generations.
Why would your leader want to be interviewed for this project?
- Model Mentorship
- Reinforce Army Values
- Share Army Priorities
- Share their leadership journey and provide lessons learned to developing leaders
- Positively shape public perception of the Army
Send us your footage and our team will edit for publication on ALx social media. We will give you full credit and tag your installation and unit. Email ALx for a list of suggested questions to ask or for more information.
You will find Mentor Minutes reels most Mondays on ALx Instagram and Linked In accounts.
Give us 3 minutes. What are your thoughts on ALx? We want to know. Take the survey here.
ALx congratulates the winners of the 2024 Secretary of the Army awards for improving publications & publishing processes.
Editor of the Year Award (Departmental)
🥇Mr. Jason Drenzek, Electronic Publications Team Mission Lead/Technical Writer-Editor in the Integrated Logistics Support Center for the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command
Army Editor of the Year Award (Command)
🥇The Army Acquisition Logistics & Technology Team:
- Mr. Nelson McCouch III, Director & Chief of Knowledge Management
- Mr. Keith Butler, Writer/Editor for the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center
- Ms. Jacqueline Hames, Writer/Editor for the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center
- Ms. Rebecca Wright, Writer/Editor for the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center
Secretary of the Army Award for Publications Improvements (Departmental)
🥇Lt. Col. David Ford, Branch Chief of the Administrative Law Division of the general Law Branch for the Office of the Judge Advocate General
DISCLAIMER: This is an authorized publication for members of the DoD. Contents of are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, the U.S. Army, the Combined Arms Center, or Army University.