"I would tell you absolutely that everything he has done as regards Family First is exactly what needs to be done," Cone said. "It's a moral obligation to the families."
Cone put soldiers and families as the No. 1 item on his agenda while sharing his vision for Fort Hood with reporters. He said they have been through a lot with eight years of war and he intended to take the holistic care started by Lynch to the next level.
"We will look at new programs we need and see what programs should be phased out," he said.
Second on Cone's list is leadership development. He said he never fails to be amazed when he looks at the young people who are serving in the Army today and what they have been through.
"They may be the next great generation," Cone said.
He said that on the battlefield platoon leaders or sergeants first class make really big decisions.
"Some of these folks are literally the mayor and are interacting with government," Cone said. "Then we bring them back to Fort Hood and put the training wheels back on them so to speak and tell them they don't make these types of decisions anymore."
He said one of his major objectives is to decentralize authority and make it, along with responsibility and accountability, commensurate with the kind of influence they wielded in theater.
Cone said his third agenda item is training. He holds the record as longest serving commander of the National Training Center in California at 33 months. He said he has every obligation to see that his troops are properly trained and ready to go.
"The best thing I can do for the family is to make sure the spouse returns home from combat," Cone said.
Cone said although III Corps has not formally announced its deployment to Iraq, it has been preparing with mission rehearsals. He said it is fundamentally a different situation in Iraq today.
"It is by, with and through the Iraq security forces and enabling the Iraq government," Cone said. "I think that causes a whole lot of different changes. During our time there our job basically is to draw down the force and set up the Iraqis for success in the future."
He said a III Corps acting commander had not been chosen yet to serve during his absence. There are a number of options that include the 1st Cavalry Division commander taking the job on his return from Iraq or a two star with the First Army Division West.
Cone spent 18 months in Afghanistan before coming to Fort Hood. Asked about the differences on the ground in Afghanistan as opposed to Iraq, Cone said some of the dangers are similar. The IED is the weapon of choice by insurgents.
"But you can't take things from Iraq and plug them into Afghanistan," he said. "There are cultural differences, and that will take cultural training. We are seeing a pattern of more direct conflict. The Afghan and Taliban are a warrior culture and will stand and fight. It's a higher intensity in the spectrum of combat."
He said this would mean changes in training at the National Training Center.
