General Bell was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on 9 April 1947 and was commissioned upon graduation from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration. His military education includes the Armor Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Command and General Staff College, and the National War College. He received a Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. From 1969 to 1972 General Bell spent his initial assignment in the Army with the 3d Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Bad Hersfeld, Germany.
General Bell's command positions include the 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 24th Infantry Division (Mech) from 1985 to 1987 at Ft. Stewart, Georgia; and the 24th ID's 2nd Brigade from 1991 through 1993, also at Ft. Stewart. From June 1995 through August 1996, he served as the Assistant Division Commander, 1st Infantry Division (Mech) in Bamberg, Germany. He commanded the US Army Armor Center and Ft. Knox from July 1999 thru August 2001. Most recently, General Bell commanded the Army's III Corps headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas.
General Bell's staff positions include service as an ROTC Instructor at Texas Tech University; Force Plans Analyst for the Army DCSOPS; and Joint Staff Officer responsible for the Unified Command Plan in the J5, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Additionally, he was a tank battalion S3 in Korea and the Chief of Staff of 3rd Infantry Division in Würzburg, Germany. From August 1996 to July 1999 he served as Chief of Staff of V Corps, and as DCSOPS and subsequently Chief of Staff, United States Army, Europe and 7th Army.
In 1994 General Bell served as a Senior Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, and has since been selected as a serving member on the Council. General Bell deployed as USCINCCENT's Executive Officer in Desert Shield and Desert Storm; and later served as Chief of Staff, USAREUR Forward Headquarters, Taszar, Hungary during Operation Joint Endeavor in the Balkans.
His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Army Commendation Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters.
2. USAREUR soldiers and units are among the most highly respected warriors and organizations in the world. You help set and maintain the standards of excellence in the Profession of Arms. You can and should be justifiably proud of your successes in maintaining peace, supporting combatant commanders, and preparing our war-fighting units for combat. We will continue this achievement. USAREUR is and will remain the Army's largest forward deployed and strategically positioned power-projection force. Every US Army Mission Essential Task—Shape the Security Environment, Respond Promptly to Crisis, Mobilize the Army, Conduct Forcible Entry Operations, Dominate Land Operations and Provide Support to Civil Authorities—is found somewhere in our mission and our mission tasks. I know that you are trained and ready, deployable, correctly focused, dedicated and serving selflessly, caring of one another, and competently and confidently looking ahead to whatever challenges we face. Together we will stay that way. Finally, we serve here in Europe at an exciting time in the history of this region and its peoples. USAREUR is fortunate to have our soldiers live and work in countries that share our values, welcome our presence, and reinforce and support our efforts.
3. We are all about creating and sustaining good military units and organizations. It is the cornerstone of everything we do. One fact is clear to me. Units are good because the people in them believe they are in a good outfit, and that their outfit cares about them as well as the mission. This pride is fueled by accomplishment and achievement. My sense is that people also believe they are in a good outfit when they share in a positive command climate. This climate is mostly achieved because of a shared belief in the importance of treating one another well. This perception is almost always based on the subordinates' beliefs concerning the following:
5. The reality of our current environment is that we will be forced to execute multiple complex tasks simultaneously—and do them all to standard. We are all well aware of the importance of prioritization, especially in the face of constrained resources. I will set and enforce clear priorities. The USAREUR Theater Plan with its inherent review and analysis systems will help us along the way. In meeting the challenging times ahead to effectively and efficiently execute our responsibilities, we will focus much of our energies on the following key areas:
7. TRAINING EXCELLENCE. No one need remind USAREUR leaders and soldiers that we live in difficult and perilous times where the likelihood of the commitment of US Forces to battle may come at any time. Indeed, our soldiers have already been part of the ongoing military campaign outside the Central Region and long engaged in difficult and demanding operations within the Theater. Everyone in this Command knows the requirement for well-planned and organized, tough and realistic training—always conducted to standard. USAREUR Regulation 350-1 on training has long been one of the Army's best guides to effective training. That is our policy, and we will continue to train in accordance with its provisions.
We have a proven, effective Army methodology found in FM 7.0 and FM 7.1 that helps leaders focus their resources on the right tasks. Our quarterly and semi-annual training briefings will continue to be the method used to achieve a training contract between echelons of command. We want to ensure that units have as much predictability as possible in their lives and confidence in their training schedules—even during this period of the war on terrorism. I expect all leaders to continue to use the eight-step training model in the planning, preparation, execution, and assessment of training.
Finally, we have to train and operate as a joint force at all appropriate echelons. While we will maintain our traditional competency to fight as Army formations and as Army Component Commands, we will set a joint tone and course and ensure we are organized and equipped to operate as Joint Task Forces fighting under the command and control of a Unified Combatant Command.
8. FORCE WELL-BEING. The well-being of our force encompasses ensuring that soldiers, civilians and their families have a safe, high quality, productive, wholesome and predictable environment in which to live and work. First among these responsibilities is taking the appropriate force protection measures and sustaining these levels so all the members of this Command can go about their daily lives confident that we have done everything possible to safeguard and protect them. We will embrace the single soldier and the entire family unit—all our soldiers. Married soldiers remain with our Army based on a family decision and our retention programs should reflect that. Soldier retention in USAREUR is higher than anywhere else in the Army. We clearly want that to continue.
We will seek only the highest standards for facilities and base operations quality, and pursue continued improvements to our installation facilities and services across a broad front. We will lead the effort to solve quality of life challenges. Leaders are charged to do the same and to ensure force well-being remains a crucial element in our commitment to readiness. We expect soldiers and leaders to regularly take leave. We are busy and heavily committed, but we are not so busy that our leaders and soldiers cannot take time with their families to have quality leave. I will set the example.
Sexual harassment or discrimination of any type is incompatible with our values, our mission, and our efforts to build confident teams; they will not be tolerated. Every soldier and military civilian will have an equal opportunity to pursue their life's goals in a climate of dignity and respect.
Safety is taking care of soldiers. Effective risk management and mitigation prevents injuries, saves lives and increases confidence in our equipment and our living and working environment. First-line supervisors are the decisive point in this effort; we must empower them and hold them accountable for the safety of their squads, crews and teams.
9. LEADER DEVELOPMENT. Our soldiers are the best in the world. They are innovative, resourceful, courageous, compassionate, and when necessary, vicious warriors. They give us their all, day in and day out, and they deserve the very best leadership we can muster. In order to develop decisive, adaptive, and confident leaders, we must give our young troops the opportunity to make decisions and conduct training in an atmosphere that is open, full of opportunities and appropriately managed.
We must have the opportunity to learn in training in order to lead in battle. Our leaders must always know that their systematic and progressive growth and development is our first concern and the environment in which they serve here will consistently reinforce this.
We will all conduct formal counseling, as well as informal coaching and mentoring. It will continue to be a hallmark of this organization. Repeatedly, junior leaders tell us that they thirst for a climate of positive and frequent coaching and mentoring. Ensure you have a formal OER, NCOER and civilian performance rating scheme, and meet all our formal counseling requirements. It will help us build a positive climate of mentoring and feedback.
Finally, our Army values are not a glib motto printed on a dog tag. With the future of our Nation potentially in the balance, we cannot afford unethical, immoral, or valueless leaders. I charge every member of this command to embrace Army values as a way of life, and a path to the future.
10. ARMY TRANSFORMATION. The contemporary strategic environment is replete with challenges for us. Forces and ideologies hostile to the United States have studied our past successes and are prepared to strike us at times, places and in ways we can scarcely yet imagine. While we are achieving tactical and operational success today in the war on terrorism, our enemies do not intend to lose. So current and future battlefields will likely present formidable opponents who are tough, well trained, vicious and committed.
To meet this threat and ensure our future war-fighting effectiveness, the Army has committed to a course of change. Army transformation is visionary, and this vision is essential and will help us win future battles and campaigns. Transformation will also give us a rapidly deployable force capable of enormous lethality and dominance, while ensuring its survivability. We will embrace all Army transformation efforts and lead them when possible. Every member of USAREUR has a responsibility to help ensure our Army of today sets and travels the proper course for the Army of tomorrow.
11. While we do not know all that the future holds for us, we know with certainty that there will be exciting days ahead for this Command. USAREUR has always welcomed these challenges and etched a record of unsurpassed excellence for our Army, this Theater and our country. Together we will ensure this continues, and I am proud to be part of this with you.
"We would have killed to have some Strykers!" He was very forceful on that point.