Transovrabia’s Path to Military Reform: Aspects of Defense Transformation

Abstract

The Soviet Union collapsed on December 25, 1991, and fifteen former Soviet Republics gained their independence. The megalithic
Soviet military disintegrated from being a unified organization into a series of national militaries belonging to former USSR member
countries. However, many of these countries lacked the proper framework, systems, and processes necessary to effectively operate
newly independent, national armies.
Transovrabia is a surrogate name for a former Soviet country with her own culture, history, institutions, and ambitions. With the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, she suddenly found herself the master of her own destiny.
The West committed to aiding in her transformation. My objective was to identify a better approach to transforming Transovrabia. In
order to do this, I identified challenges faced by Transovrabia. I also reviewed the transformation methodology used by the U.S. Army
in the 1970s and analyzed what might cross-walk to Transovrabia’s efforts in transformation today. Finally, I identified the weak or
missing North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), framework parameters
and the impact of not having these parameters correctly applied to Transovrabia’s transformation.
After nearly two decades in Transovrabia, U.S., NATO and Transovrabian leadership correctly ask why military transformation is
taking so long. This paper addresses the “why”.
By implementing the framework additions identified in this paper, both NATO and DSCA will provide a stronger foundation for
Transovrabian countries in transformation. Based on experience, this framework will result in compressing transformation time by at
least one decade.
Keywords: Security Cooperation, Military Transformation, NATO Clearing House, Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA),
Curriculum Development (ADDIE), Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), National Training Center (NTC), Former Soviet
Union, Soviet Army, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)