Reports from AUSA Annual Meeting 2007 

The Army is undertaking a variety of initiatives to improve the quality of life for soldiers and their families, officers involved in the programs said.

Mrs. Patty Shinseki, the wife of the former chief of staff, opened the second AUSA Family Forum by introducing Living in the New Normal, ™  a multi-partner initiative borne out of the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), a family program that also seeks to support the goals of the Army Family Covenant.

“We’re committed to providing a strong supportive environment where families thrive,” said Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, speaking to more than 400 attendees at a Family Forum of the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting in Washington. During the session Casey unveiled a new initiative called the Army Family Covenant. Its goal is to provide more meaningful support to Army families.

“Learning how to think” not “what to think,” is a change sweeping through intermediate officer education with implications in educating junior officers, warrant officers, noncommissioned officers and civilians, said Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, commanding general of the Combined Arms Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in opening a Contemporary Military Forum on leader development.

The Army’s Noncommissioned Officer training and education programs are getting a thorough update to make them more relevant to soldiers who are deployed more frequently and have less time for training, and who also want to get civilian college credit for their military education.

Mrs. Patty Shinseki, the wife of the former chief of staff, opened the second AUSA Family Forum by introducing Living in the New Normal, ™  a multi-partner initiative borne out of the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), a family program that also seeks to support the goals of the Army Family Covenant.

The  Army is on track to implement its Army Medical Action Plan (AMAP) and will have a full brigade devoted to healing wounded soldiers stood up by January, officers involved in the plan said.

Addressing the Association of the United States Army’s Corporate Member luncheon Monday, Gen. David McKiernan identified five “stressors” that the Army faces as it moves towards a future, reset, transformed state.

Army leaders promised Oct. 8 that the force is not facing irrecoverable harm despite the stresses caused by the ongoing missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.