Petraeus Speaks at AUSA Webinar

jlieberher — Wed, 01 May 2024 12:23:08 +0000

Petraeus Speaks at AUSA Webinar jlieberher Wed, 05/01/2024 - 07:23

Retired Gen. David Petraeus, former CIA director and commander of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, will speak May 9 during an Association of the U.S. Army webinar.

During the online event, part of AUSA’s Noon Report series, Petraeus will discuss Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine, a book he co-authored with Andrew Roberts.

The event begins at noon Eastern. It is free, but registration is required here.

Petraeus served more than 37 years in the Army, culminating with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five in combat. He commanded U.S. troops during the surge in Iraq, led U.S. Central Command and was head of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

After retiring from the Army, Petraeus served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency until November 2012.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, Petraeus has a doctorate from Princeton University. He is a partner with the global investment firm KKR and chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in 2013.

In Conflict, Petraeus and Roberts explore how critical mistakes have been repeated time and again and the challenge, for statesmen and generals alike, of learning to adapt to new weapons systems, theories and strategies.

The book examines the Arab-Israeli wars, the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the two Gulf Wars, the Balkan wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Soviet and coalition wars in Afghanistan and the guerilla conflicts in Africa and South America.

Conflict culminates with a look at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an assessment of the nature of future warfare.

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Retired General, Former CIA Director Discusses New Book on Conflict

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Wed, 05/01/2024 - 08:00

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Army Works to Expand Recruiting Reach, Message

jlieberher — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 17:26:55 +0000

Army Works to Expand Recruiting Reach, Message jlieberher Tue, 04/30/2024 - 12:26

The Army is looking at the “totality” of the nation’s labor market for talented people who can become soldiers and help the service meet its recruiting goals, a senior Army officer said.

In testimony before the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel, Lt. Gen. Douglas Stitt, deputy Army chief of staff for personnel, G-1, said the Army’s overhaul of who it recruits, how it recruits and who is doing the recruiting is part of a “significant” transformation of the service’s recruiting enterprise.

“When we talk about who we recruit, we look at the totality of the United States’ labor market,” Stitt said at the April 17 hearing. He explained that 80% of high schoolers go on to college, university or a two-year school. “Let’s move beyond just having a conversation with a potential applicant who’s in high school,” he said.

To better reach potential recruits, Stitt said, the Army is “upskilling and re-skilling the recruiting workforce to not only engage high schoolers but engage those who are attending college but may not have completed, and then also engaging others that are in the workforce today but may be looking for other options.”

He pointed out that recruiters are engaging more broadly on platforms such as job boards, social media and employment market sites to include Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn. Additionally, the Army is collecting and analyzing data from homespun pilots and innovative initiatives at recruiting sites across the country, and applying any lessons learned or best practices, he said.

Stitt told panel members that the Army also is “moving away from a borrowed military manpower situation” in which unit cohesion and readiness are disrupted when an infantry NCO, for example, is tapped to temporarily serve as a recruiter.

Instead, the Army is “creating a professionalized workforce across the nation that can start to thin the lines and send those other noncommissioned officers back to do their jobs across the force and enhance our readiness,” he said.

The Army has missed its recruiting goals for the past two years. Stitt said he is “cautiously optimistic” that the service will meet this year’s goal of 55,000 new recruits and 5,000 people in the delayed entry pool.

His statement echoed that of Army Secretary Christine Wormuth who, in testimony before the full House Armed Service Committee on April 16, said the Army is on pace to meet this year’s goal.

“While I don’t want to be overconfident because we have six more months in the fiscal year, if we continue to perform as we have, there’s an excellent chance we’ll meet our recruiting goal this year,” Wormuth told the committee.

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U.S. Army Reserve/Sgt. Brandon Hernandez

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Service Continues to Transform Workforce, Engage Larger Population

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Tue, 04/30/2024 - 12:35

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Experts Urge Better Access to Mental Health Care

jlieberher — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:08:32 +0000

Experts Urge Better Access to Mental Health Care jlieberher Tue, 04/30/2024 - 07:08

Department of Veterans Affairs Vet Centers are essential to ensuring service members, veterans and military families can access counseling and other social and psychological services, but the centers need improvement, a panel of experts said at a recent hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

“Vet Centers are a central component of the Veterans Health Administration comprehensive service delivery system, serving a distinct role in facilitating easy access to readjustment counseling to eligible veterans, service members and their families,” Michael Fisher, chief officer of the VA’s readjustment counseling service, said during the hearing.

Initially created in June 1979 to support Vietnam-era veterans, the Vet Centers are counseling centers that provide social and psychological services for service members, veterans and their families, according to a VA webpage.

In fiscal year 2023, Vet Centers helped more than 115,000 veterans, service members and family members access counseling at more than 300 centers across the country, according to a Dec. 1 VA news release.

Some veterans, like Jennifer Brown, who served in the Army for six years as an aircraft repairer before struggling to adjust to civilian life in 2015, said Vet Centers provide a space for them to feel understood.

“I wanted to speak to someone who had lived experience very similar to mine that could understand what I was going through without me having to translate everything for them,” Brown, who deployed to Afghanistan, told Disabled American Veterans in a 2022 news release. “I experienced a lot of violence, and a lot was happening in the back of my mind that I wasn’t even fully aware of.”

Despite their critical role, Vet Centers still have more work to do, said Sharon Silas, director of the Government Accountability Office’s health care team.

“Successfully meeting the potential of Vet Centers requires ensuring they’re effectively meeting their clients’ needs, outreaching to potential populations who could benefit from its services and addressing barriers to care,” she said, citing findings from a May 2022 GAO report on the centers.

Already overburdened by nationwide mental health care needs, veterans in more rural areas may struggle to access care at Vet Centers, GAO found. Vet Centers could benefit from a more tailored approach to care. Currently, they view veterans’ needs as individuals, which may mean that they miss the unique collective needs of veterans, the report found.

“For example, Vietnam veterans may have different needs than those who’ve served in more recent conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan.” Silas said.

Though Vet Centers “have taken steps” to meet patients’ needs and address access issues, they could do more, Silas said. “Vet Centers can be a powerful tool for VA and play a pivotal role in successfully reaching and delivering quality mental health care to veterans, service members and their families as they adjust to civilian life,” Silas said. “Fully addressing our recommendations will help Readjustment Counseling Service and Vet Centers to increase the effectiveness of these efforts.”

To learn more about Vet Centers, click here.

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VA Vet Centers Can Do More for Troops, Veterans and Families

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Tue, 04/30/2024 - 07:15

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AUSA Hosts Event Honoring Army Civilians

jlieberher — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 12:32:55 +0000

AUSA Hosts Event Honoring Army Civilians jlieberher Mon, 04/29/2024 - 07:32

The Association of the U.S. Army is hosting a ceremony on May 8 to recognize Army civilian employees for exceptional performance.

Held in conjunction with Public Service Recognition Week, the “Honoring Army Civilians” ceremony at AUSA’s Arlington, Virginia, headquarters begins at 9 a.m. Eastern and will feature Yvette Bourcicot, principal deputy assistant Army secretary for manpower and reserve affairs.

Online registration to attend the event is available here until 5 p.m. Eastern May 6. On-site registration is available beginning at 8 a.m. May 8.

The ceremony also will be livestreamed. Register for the livestream here.

For more information about the event, click here.

More than 265,000 people serve as Army civilian employees, filling critical support roles in more than 500 career fields across the force.

This year, Public Service Recognition Week will be observed May 7-13. Celebrated during the first week of May since 1985, it honors all government civilian personnel.

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Ceremony Coincides with Public Service Recognition Week

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Mon, 04/29/2024 - 07:30

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Paper: Soldiers Must Prepare for Jungle Warfare

jlieberher — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 12:13:46 +0000

Paper: Soldiers Must Prepare for Jungle Warfare jlieberher Fri, 04/26/2024 - 07:13

Facing a future in the Indo-Pacific, the Army should ensure its soldiers can adapt to and overcome the “relentless challenges” of jungle warfare, according to the author of a new paper published by the Association of the U.S. Army.

“Only through active experimentation and trial by fire did … the U.S. and Australian armies during World War II make strides in recognizing the unique impacts the jungle environment had on the tactical and operational levels of war,” writes Maj. Karl Rauch. “These lessons must be considered as the contemporary U.S. Army trains and prepares for contingency operations across the Pacific in the coming century.”

In “Welcome (Back) to the Jungle,” Rauch, a student at the School of Advanced Military Studies and a recent graduate of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, analyzes historic lessons in jungle warfare and applies them to the future fight.

The paper is available here.

Though there are several types of jungles, sound, light and disease unite them all, Rauch writes.

“The tropical rainforest, specifically the jungle, is unlike anything else on earth,” Rauch writes. “Armies in conflict within the jungle must adapt to extreme weather, the high risk of disease, confined physical space and countless forms of flora and fauna.”

During the New Guinea Campaign of World War II, Lt. Gen. Robert Eichelberger led the 32nd Infantry Division as it worked to capture the village of Buna. Despite the challenges of jungle warfare, his approach enabled the first U.S. ground battle victory of the war.

“Beyond anything the Americans had experienced in their history, those jungles took advantage of their lack of regional knowledge and experience,” Rauch writes. “Eichelberger did the only thing he could without properly trained jungle Soldiers: He demonstrated visible leadership. He walked for hours in knee-deep water from one flank to the other, led small units against Japanese bunkers and openly wore glossed rank on his uniform on the front lines.”

When it comes to anticipating where the next major conflict will happen, “wars have the habit of taking place where they are unexpected,” and “militaries cannot afford to forego preparation in unique environments simply because planners and thinkers do not anticipate significant conflict to occur in those environments,” Rauch warns.

Lessons learned during the New Guinea Campaign could apply to future battles, Rauch writes.

“A study of New Guinea demonstrates that large-scale combat in this region inevitably boils down to land forces competing to control key terrain,” he writes. “Despite how drastically yesterday’s Pacific battlefields have changed over the past 80 years, the foundations of jungle fighting will become the link between yesterday’s lessons and tomorrow’s conflicts.”

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WWII Lessons Could Help Troops with Environment’s ‘Relentless Challenges’

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Fri, 04/26/2024 - 07:20

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Mingus: Army Redefining Future Fight

jlieberher — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 12:21:36 +0000

Mingus: Army Redefining Future Fight jlieberher Thu, 04/25/2024 - 07:21

Facing adversaries that are looking to sense, shoot and disrupt farther, the Army is developing and expanding its capabilities to counter them, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus said.

“Our adversaries … have come to the conclusion that they don’t want to get into a close fight with the United States of America,” Mingus said April 24 during a panel discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They’ve developed a series of preclusionary tactics … so they don’t ever have to experience that close fight component. We’ve got to be able to match the adversary when it comes to long-range precision fires, contested logistics and command and control.”

The Army also is expanding its definition of maneuver as it prepares for the future fight, Mingus said, citing DoD’s Joint Warfighting Concept 3.0. “The classic definition of maneuver … has expanded, and we’ve got to embrace that,” he said. In the future, maneuver will move beyond its “classic” “geographical” definition into one that incorporates capabilities in cyberspace, space and air.

In that future fight, unmanned aircraft systems present an “acute threat” that the Army is “putting a lot of time, energy and resources into,” Mingus said during the panel, where he spoke alongside his counterparts from the other services on efforts to prepare the force for competition and future warfare.

Counter-UAS “has to be viewed through the lens of the broader integrated air missile defense architecture,” he said. “We’ve got to change that approach [to counter-UAS] and look at it more like we would in a typical defensive posture where you establish engagement areas, then you have layered defense, you have things you can disrupt and break.”

In addition to counter-UAS capabilities, connecting data and utilizing artificial intelligence through the Joint All-Domain Command and Control strategy will be “one of the most critical components of how we fight as a combined joint force,” Mingus said.

“We need to move toward data mesh, then data convergence, then data replication and then data reconciliation,” he said. “Artificial intelligence tools … will help us stay above that fray and move much, much faster than our adversaries.”

As Army capabilities grow, the battlefield itself “is going to expand,” so “how we see, where we see, how far we see and how far we can kill is moving at ranges that we have not been able to do previously,” Mingus said.

Though the future fight presents uncertainties for Western nations and the global security environment, a competent, lethal land force is still the nation’s best defense, he said.

“From a land force perspective, if you still have … squads and platoons and battalions and brigades and divisions that can close with and destroy anybody in the world, in the most extreme lethal ways that we can determine, that is still your greatest deterrent force [against] adversaries,” Mingus said.

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Vice Chief Outlines Efforts to See, Sense and Shoot Farther

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Thu, 04/25/2024 - 07:30

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‘Best’ Partners Needed for Robotic Combat Vehicles

jlieberher — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:51:56 +0000

‘Best’ Partners Needed for Robotic Combat Vehicles jlieberher Wed, 04/24/2024 - 11:51

In its pursuit of robotic combat vehicles, the Army is prioritizing speed, ease of use and the best products and industry partners it can find, two senior leaders said recently.

“The winner is the soldier, at the end of the day,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, director of the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office. “The goal is I want the best that we can get. If I can have company A and company B bring their best thing, instead of company A trying to do what company B does, I’d rather have every company doing what they do best.”

Lt. Gen. Ross Coffman, deputy commanding general of Army Futures Command, agreed. “If you look at how many companies build helicopters for the military, how many build trucks, [the number] dwindles,” he said. “But we have an opportunity here to keep everyone involved so the best companies, the best technology can get implemented.”

Speed is another imperative, Rasch said. “Technology is not static. It’s going to evolve,” he said.

Rasch and Coffman spoke March 27 during a fireside chat at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, on the Army’s rapid innovation efforts, particularly in robotics.

The work the Army is undertaking isn’t just about trucks or drones, Coffman said. It also is looking at the user interface, communications systems and operating systems, he said. It also is studying how it can protect its robotic vehicles. “As you move around the battlefield, all of that has to happen securely so our adversaries can’t hack into it,” Coffman said.

Any additional vehicles also must reduce complexity for soldiers. “We’re at two humans operating one robot right now,” Coffman said. “What we’ve got to get to, is 12 robots to one human.”

One key to moving this effort forward is soldier feedback, Coffman and Rasch said. Soldier feedback is critical to informing requirements and helping the Army shape what troops need and want, they said. “We’ll know we got it right when that first sergeant, that company commander, says, ‘That equipment you gave me is worth the pain in the butt to make it work,’ ” Rasch said.

Looking ahead, the Army must balance constrained resources with urgency. When asked about the Army’s timeline, Rasch said, “Not fast enough is the timeline.”

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Army Seeks Latest and Greatest Technology Now, Leaders Say

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Wed, 04/24/2024 - 12:10

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General Membership Meeting April 2024

jjohn92094@yahoo.com — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:08:44 +0000

General Membership Meeting April 2024 jjohn92094@yahoo.com Wed, 04/24/2024 - 11:08

General Membership Meeting.pdf

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Fort Liberty Chapter

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Wed, 04/24/2024 - 12:02

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Army Christens M10 Booker Combat Vehicle

jlieberher — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:21:14 +0000

Army Christens M10 Booker Combat Vehicle jlieberher Wed, 04/24/2024 - 07:21

Family members of two fallen soldiers were honored April 18 during a christening and dedication ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, for the Army’s newest combat vehicle.

Announced June 10 at the National Museum of the United States Army during a celebration of the Army’s 248th birthday, the M10 Booker is named for Pvt. Robert Booker, an infantryman who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during World War II, and Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker, an armor soldier who was killed in Iraq in 2003 and posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

During the ceremony, Pvt. Booker’s sister, Rosella Booker-Hirsch, and multiple nieces and nephews met for the first time with Staff Sgt. Booker’s mother, Freddie Jackson, his sister, Kimberly Talley-Armstead, and several family members and friends. Together, the families christened the first production M10 Booker, named “Another Episode” after Staff. Sgt. Booker’s tank during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Selfless service

Pvt. Robert Booker, of Callaway, Nebraska, was assigned to the 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division. His unit was sent to Africa, where he served for almost a year during the Allied North African Campaign before being mortally wounded during an incursion with enemy forces.

During the battle on April 9, 1943, near Fondouk, Tunisia, the 22-year-old private braved heavy fire to cross an open field carrying a machine gun and a box of ammunition and began firing at enemy targets, according to his Medal of Honor citation.

Though he was wounded by gunfire, he continued firing his weapon and destroyed an enemy machine gun. Turning to a second enemy machine gun, he was shot again, this time fatally. Before he died, he continued to encourage his squad and help direct their fire, his citation reads.

Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker, a native of Apollo, Pennsylvania, was a tank commander with Company A, 1st Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, on April 5, 2003, when his platoon led a task force on a highway toward Baghdad International Airport in Iraq.

When his unit came under heavy small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire, the 34-year-old NCO alerted his command and encouraged his crew. He returned fire first with his tank-mounted machine gun, and then his personal weapon when the machine gun malfunctioned.

Protecting his platoon’s flank and delivering accurate information to his command during a critical and vulnerable point of the battle, Staff Sgt. Booker’s fearless attitude over the radio inspired his fellow soldiers to continue the attack, his award citation says.

Still exposed to enemy fire, Staff Sgt. Booker saw an enemy troop carrier trying to bypass his tank and destroyed it before enemy troops could dismount. He continued to engage the enemy until he was mortally wounded, the citation says.

Modernized capability

The M10 Booker is one of the Army’s first major combat vehicles produced since the 1980s. The design includes a 105 mm main gun, armor, smoke grenade launchers, blowoff panels and automatic fire suppression, intended to enhance survivability against direct and indirect fire, rocket-propelled grenades and underbody threats.

“The Army is undertaking its most significant transformation in several decades to dominate in large-scale combat operations in a multidomain environment, and the M10 Booker is a crucial part of that transformation,” said Douglas Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, in an Army news release.

To date, three production M10 Booker vehicles have been delivered to the Army. During the next several months, the M10 Booker will be involved in an operational test with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, formerly known as Fort Bragg. The first operational company of M10 Booker vehicles is set to be fielded to the division next summer.

“We will also put the vehicle through production qualification and testing in desert, arctic, temperate and tropical conditions, challenging it with obstacles like gaps and walls to scale, and engaging it with real word threats to ensure its survivability,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn Dean, program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems, according to the release.

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Families of Fallen Heroes Honored During Dedication Ceremony

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Wed, 04/24/2024 - 07:30

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Army Tackles Housing, Facilities Upgrades

jlieberher — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:24:18 +0000

Army Tackles Housing, Facilities Upgrades jlieberher Tue, 04/23/2024 - 07:24

The Army will “continuously refine” its planning and programming to tackle the service’s housing and facilities maintenance and upgrade needs, a senior Army leader told lawmakers.

“The readiness and resilience of our force starts with providing our soldiers and families with high quality places to work and live,” Rachel Jacobson, assistant Army secretary for installations, energy and environment, said during a hearing before the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness. “From nine new barracks buildings to four child and youth centers, the Army’s fiscal year 2025 budget request will improve our soldiers’ and families’ quality of life.”

The Army’s fiscal 2025 budget request includes $3.9 billion for military construction, which covers 45 projects, and $7 billion to sustain, restore and modernize facilities, according to Jacobson’s written statement to the committee.

In a 2022 report, the Congressional Budget Office studied 49,000 buildings that the Army maintains on 88 installations and found a deferred maintenance backlog that would cost approximately $19 billion to fix and return to the Army’s standards.

In response, Jacobson said, “The Army recognizes that we have a sizable backlog of deferred maintenance needs for hundreds of thousands of buildings.”

“Simply put, any increase in our inventory of poor and failing barracks, for any reason, is unacceptable and must be reversed. And barracks that are in good condition must stay that way,” she said. “That is why the Army is requesting 100% of the funding required for barracks sustainment.”

As it upgrades and develops its facilities, the Army is taking a proactive approach by designing its buildings with environmental and cost considerations in mind.

“To build ready installations of tomorrow, we must consider resiliency today,” she said. “Early consideration of a building’s location can mitigate environmental risks, such as flooding. Constructing with more durable materials will help the building last longer and reduce repairs and maintenance costs. These upfront considerations will make our buildings more resilient and ready to support the Army of the future.”

High quality facilities and installations ensure operational effectiveness, Jacobson said.

“The importance of building high quality facilities and developing resilient installations is more evident now than ever,” she said in her written statement to the subcommittee. “Ensuring we have resilient installations at these locations—and around the globe—helps ensure our operational advantage.”

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Service Plans to Invest Billions in Barracks, Maintenance

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Tue, 04/23/2024 - 07:30

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