The Army’s oldest division headquarters is officially home after a year in Afghanistan.The 1st Infantry Division marked its return to American soil on March 19 with a colors uncasing ceremony at Victory Park, Fort Riley, Kan.Surrounded by stones etched with the names of fallen soldiers, Maj. Gen. William Mayville, Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Sasser, Brig. Gen. Donald MacWilie and Command Sgt. Maj. Miguel Rivera, unfurled the division’s colors before a crowd of family, friends and Kansas leaders.The ceremony marked the first time the 1st ID colors have flown at Fort Riley since March 8, 2012...
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), known as the "Screaming Eagles," assumed responsibility of the combined joint task force in eastern Afghanistan, March 14, in a ceremony on Bagram Airfield.Combined Joint Task Force-101, will operate in Regional Command-East, an area roughly the size of Virginia, which includes 14 provinces and 7.5 million Afghans.The 1st Infantry Division wrapped up its year-long deployment and will be heading back to Fort Riley, Kan."Success in Afghanistan is now measured by what our Afghan partners can do rather than what we, as a coalition do," Maj. Gen. William C...
It is hearing season on the hill and when you walk the halls of Congress you must be alert because at this time of year a lot of "first timers" are wandering the halls often looking anywhere but where they are walking.Your government affairs team experienced that firsthand recently as we walked through all six House and Senate office buildings delivering information folders about AUSA to the offices of all new members of Congress.The folders include a copy of the 2013 Resolutions, the "Where We Stand" pocket card, a copy of AUSA NEWS and ARMY Magazine, the AUSA publication "Profile of the Army...
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey signed a memo this Jan. 24, paving the way for more women to serve in direct combat roles and in more military occupational specialties that are now open only to males.The memo rescinds the 1994 DoD "Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule," which states in part: "Service members are eligible to be assigned to all positions for which they are qualified, except that women shall be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat...
Despite weeks of dire warnings and a classic case of Washington finger-pointing, sequestration formally arrived on March 1 and is probably here to stay.Here is what we know:For the remaining seven months of the fiscal year, the defense budget will shrink by $42.7 billion while non-defense programs will take a $28.7 billion hit;Most of the reductions will come from discretionary spending;If federal employees are furloughed, it would not begin until April at the earliest;Military personnel pay and allowances will not be impacted by the sequester nor will military personnel face furloughs;The...
"Seems to me I’ve Heard this Song Before," is the title of one of Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan’s favorite songs and is how he began his remarks to the students of the Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss, Texas.Much to everyone’s relief, he did not sing it for the class. And he’s right: America’s Army has been through this before, not the same, precise set of circumstances, but close.As our national leadership sorts out our latest financial problem du jour, America’s Army must and will adjust accordingly.We must learn (relearn) to do more with less.Our Army in 2013 is an "Army in Transition." And...
You hear a lot of talk about programs that support those who serve, but most of this attention is focused specifically on the needs of service members.The rising awareness and willingness to help members of the military community is amazing.But what about the families, namely the kids, who are serving in their own way right next to their parent or loved one?The mini men and women who gamely move from one adventure to the next: How do we acknowledge all that they do?This month, we celebrate them.April was designated as the Month of the Military Child by Secretary of Defense Weinberger in 1986...
The Association of the United States Army AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) has recently released a new publication."Strategy and Policy: Civilian and Military Leadership in the 21st Century" (National Security Watch, Jan. 18, 2013) reviews how the United States creates its security strategy and executes its security policy.Civil control of America’s military is ingrained in the Constitution (statutory), and in strategic policy guidance (regulatory); what is a significant issue in the current environment is the relationship between civilian masters and military subordinates and the...
The Army Historical Foundation (AHF) has launched The National Museum of the United States Army Brick Program to "pave the way to Army history."To be inlaid along the Path of Remembrance that will lead visitors from the parking area to the museum’s main entrance, the personalized bricks offer museum supporters and the general public an opportunity to ensure the special soldiers in their lives are honored through a lasting tribute on museum grounds."These commemorative bricks will also serve as ideal stage-setters for the Museum’s central theme – soldiers’ stories," Kerri Kline, AHF’s director...
As often seems the case when I write this column, defense funding is in flux.This year is particularly interesting as we are dealing with funding for the remainder of 2013 as well as funding for 2014.The continuing resolution that funds the Department of Defense at 2012 levels will expire on March 27.If a Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Appropriation Bill is not passed and DoD is required to continue to operate at 2012 funding levels for the rest of the year, the results for the Army could be devastating.This year, a "perfect storm" has arrived in Washington with the potential implementation of...
Former Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha loved the Army. He loved serving. He loved his men.He loved the pride and the honor and the sense of purpose. His grandfather served in World War II, his father in Vietnam, and they instilled in him a desire to serve his country. But a few years ago, his commitment to the military was ending, and like many service members, he had a big decision to make.He had done tours in both Kosovo and Korea, deployed to Iraq twice and had just survived an especially grueling and violent assignment in Afghanistan at Combat Outpost Keating, with Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st...
Former Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha loved the Army. He loved serving. He loved his men.He loved the pride and the honor and the sense of purpose. His grandfather served in World War II, his father in Vietnam, and they instilled in him a desire to serve his country. But a few years ago, his commitment to the military was ending, and like many service members, he had a big decision to make.He had done tours in both Kosovo and Korea, deployed to Iraq twice and had just survived an especially grueling and violent assignment in Afghanistan at Combat Outpost Keating, with Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st...
"Dude, you’re bleeding," Spc. Thomas Rasmussen, now a sergeant, told his acting platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Clinton L .Romesha. Did Romesha want Rasmussen to patch him up?Surprised, Romesha glanced at his arm. A rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG, had damaged the generator he was using for cover a short time before, peppering the right side of his body with shrapnel.He barely noticed as he unloaded the last of his ammo at some of the roughly 400 insurgents who were trying to overrun Combat Outpost, or COP, Keating.It was partly his fault. He had been so focused on picking off the enemy...
President Barack Obama placed the Medal of Honor around the neck of former Army Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha during a ceremony Feb. 11 in the East Room of the White House.Romesha is the fourth living service member to receive the medal for service in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.The former soldier earned the Medal of Honor for actions Oct. 3, 2009, at Combat Outpost Keating, Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan.On that morning, Combat Outpost, or COP, Keating, manned by only 53 soldiers and situated at the bottom of a steep valley, came under attack by as...
"Enemy in the wire! Enemy in the wire!"The news, the stuff of nightmares, spread through Red and Blue platoons in seconds: "Enemy in the wire."Many soldiers didn’t believe it at first. It was a phrase they never expected to hear; one they dreaded.It couldn't be true, they reasoned. The battle for Combat Outpost, or COP, Keating, and for their very existence, had started less than an hour earlier, as Oct. 3, 2009, dawned, when some 400 insurgents had surrounded the small outpost manned by about 50 Americans, an Afghan National Army unit and its two Latvian trainers.The fighting was intense. But...