Introduction
Sustainability is a key concern of our current Army
(Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army,
2004). In the past, the Army judged its success main-
ly on mission accomplishment standards. Now the
Army is moving towards an accounting process that
includes a triple bottom line: mission, community,
and environment (Fig. 1). This evolutionary change
reflects growing recognition that terrorism, violence
and conflict have their roots in unstable environments
and that quick, decisive military action must be leav-
ened with long-standing nation building activities
(U.S. Department of Defense, 2005). It is no longer suf-
ficient to deploy lethal force and achieve a narrowly
defined military goal. Many of today’s conflicts stem
from degraded environments, environments that pro-
mote high incidents of infectious diseases and food
insecurity and provide few resources for economic
growth.
Figure 1. The Army embraces a triple bottom line equally
valuing the mission, the environment and the community.
Figure from the Army Strategy for the Environment
Source: http://www.asaie.army.mil/Public/ESOH/doc/ArmyEn-
vStrategy.pdf