Mark Esper is the 23rd secretary of the Army, responsible for manning, training, equipping, and leading the 1.1 million soldiers of the Army, Army Reserve, and National Guard. A West Point graduate, Esper served 10 years on active duty and then another 11 years in the Guard. He was an infantry officer during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, a captain assigned to the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. He sat down in his Pentagon office recently with the Washington Examiner.

Examiner: How is the Army of today different from the Army that you fought with in 1991?
Esper: What jumps out at me immediately is far more combat experience. I mean, today’s Army is an Army that’s been at war for 17 and 18 years, so it’s remarkably proficient in combat. Second, I think today’s Army are experts in low-intensity conflict. In my day, we had mastered high-intensity conflict, which is why I think we were so successful in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and then eventually the 2003 invasion of Iraq.