Pentagon reform stalls at brigade level: 1/82 experience shows procurement speed gap

A War on the Rocks piece by a 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division soldier argues that Pentagon drone and AI acquisition reforms, including the 2025 drone reforms and 2026 AI Strategy, have not translated to brigade-level speed. The author claims that despite top-level policy, integration barriers and slow processes persist, undermining the goal of rapid kill chains. This is a first-person account, not official data, so the extent of the gap is unverified but signals a potential implementation failure.