Nine of the Army’s very best noncommissioned officers gathered recently at Fort Eustis, Va., to compete in this year’s AIT Platoon Sergeant of the Year Competition.This elite group underwent physical and mental challenges designed to test their knowledge of warrior tasks and battle drills and, most importantly, to test their ability to teach these tasks to new soldiers in initial entry training.This year’s top honor went to Sgt. 1st Class Delroy G. Barnett, 32d Medical Brigade, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.When informed that he had won the competition, his reaction was just what you would expect...
Featured on the cover of the 2012-2013 ARMY Magazine Green Book is Sgt. 1st Class Marc Westenbarger, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, as he participated in the first annual Best Tanker Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., in May.The competition among Abrams tank crews representing armor brigades throughout the Army determined the best tank crew and highlighted the completion of the U.S. Army Armor Center and School’s relocation to Fort Benning, joining the U.S. Army Infantry Center and School to form the Maneuver Center of Excellence.Members of the winning crew, from the 2nd Armored...
Nine scholarships to deserving Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets will be presented at the Association of the United States Army’s 2012 Annual Meeting and Exposition during the ROTC luncheon for cadets, cadre personnel and invited guests.The luncheon, hosted by Maj. Gen. Robert L. Nabors, USA, Ret., a member of the Association’s Council of Trustees, will take place at 12:30 p.m., Oct. 22, at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel, 999 9th Street, NW, one block from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center where the three-day AUSA professional development forum will be held.AUSA’s national...
Abrams Medal
More than 200 cadets from Indiana Public Schools’ Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps trained at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center July 9-14 in the annual JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge.The program, held at Camp Atterbury for over 12 years, allows high school students in JROTC programs across the state to participate in military-style training such as rappelling, land navigation, various obstacle courses and more."It provides these kids the opportunity to do a lot of things they aren’t normally able to do in their schools," Col. David Sholly, director of Army instruction for...
The Association of the United States Army Family Programs Directorate has selected Capt. William Mendelsohn and family, 224th Sustainment Brigade, California Army National Guard, to receive the 2012 AUSA Volunteer Family of the Year Award.The award will be presented at the opening session of the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition, Monday, Oct. 22, at 9:30 a.m., in the main ballroom of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.AUSA congratulates Mendelsohn, his wife, Debra, and their two children, Emelie and Douglas, "for their outstanding contributions to their military and civilian...
The 2012 recipient of the Sergeant Major of the Army William G. Bainbridge Medal for Exceptional Service to the Noncommissioned Officer Corps is Sgt. 1st Class Ron Taylor, USA, Ret.Ron, from Thomasville, Ga., retired from active duty with over two decades of selfless service to America’s Army.During his distinguished military career, he held positions of increasing responsibility culminating with his last assignment as the deputy chief of the Fort Hood Consumer Affairs Office.Ron currently serves as the senior vice president of the Fort Hood National Bank.This award is named in honor of...
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey W. Talley spent much of his first few weeks as commanding general of the Army Reserve Command outlining his guidance for the Army Reserve.Since taking command, Talley has shared his "Rally Point 32" guidance with Army Reserve leaders and civilians at the Senior Leader Conference, town hall sessions with military and civilian employees at the U.S. Army Reserve Command headquarters at Fort Bragg, N.C., and in many speeches to military and civilian leaders around the country.Rally Point 32 ties together the Army chief of staff’s "Marching Orders," the "Army Reserve Vision and...
While Congress knows in early January that the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, again no appropriations bills have been sent to the president nor has a defense authorization bill been sent to the president.That of course means that federal agencies will be funded at less than a percentage point higher than 2012 levels through a continuing resolution until Congress finally gets off the dime (so to speak) and shows us the money!The continuing resolution covers spending until March 27, 2013, – six months into the new fiscal year.Unless the "lame duck" session of Congress which will meet after the...
As the Army transitions away from wartime commitments, what should the strategic focus be for future challenges and what will the Army of tomorrow and beyond look like?These questions were discussed during the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command-led "Army Campaign of Learning" Senior Leader Seminar, or SLS, at the National Defense University on Fort McNair in Washington Sept. 14.The Army chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno, along with 75 senior Army and other DoD leaders and multinational representatives attended.To promote the candor necessary for open discussions, leaders’ names could not...
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey thinks one of the most important questions military leaders need to answer is how to best adapt changes to strategy to match changes in the world.Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke Sept. 20 at the inaugural Gen. Bernard W. Rogers Strategic Issues Forum in northern Virginia, sponsored by the Association of the United States Army.Dempsey said it seems change is happening more quickly now."Therefore, we’ve got to be quicker on our feet, and we’ve got to be more willing to make changes that provide what the nation needs in its military dimension...
James A. Baker III, a former secretary of state, secretary of the treasury and White House chief of staff, will receive the 2012 George Catlett Marshall Medal, the highest award presented by the Association of the United States Army.Awarded annually to an individual who has exhibited selfless service to the United States of America, the medal will be presented to Baker by the Association’s Council of Trustees to recognize his contributions to the United States as a cabinet member, presidential adviser and a strong supporter of national defense and the men and women of the armed forces."His...
More than 9,000 soldiers and civilians from numerous local, state and federal agencies participated in Vibrant Response 13, or VR 13, along with their equipment, mobile labs, helicopters, heavy equipment and so on, spread out over 5,000 square miles of southern Indiana and northern Kentucky.The major incident exercise was fast-paced and had many moving parts, making the preparations and planning all the more daunting, said leaders of U.S. Army North who helped coordinate more than 200 training events at 50 venues."We coordinate the venues independently and through the Indiana National Guard,"...
More than 9,000 soldiers and civilians from numerous local, state and federal agencies participated in Vibrant Response 13, or VR 13, along with their equipment, mobile labs, helicopters, heavy equipment and so on, spread out over 5,000 square miles of southern Indiana and northern Kentucky.The major incident exercise was fast-paced and had many moving parts, making the preparations and planning all the more daunting, said leaders of U.S. Army North who helped coordinate more than 200 training events at 50 venues."We coordinate the venues independently and through the Indiana National Guard,"...
U.S. Army North conducted the largest confirmation exercise to date for 9,000 members of the DoD’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) force.