Senate panel advances defense bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the $604.5 billion fiscal 2013 defense spending bill before heading out for the August recess.The bill provides $511.2 billion in base funding and $93.3 in overseas contingency operation funding.The bill:Funds an active duty end strength of 1,401,697, and reserve component end strength of 846,163.Funds a 1.7 percent authorized pay raise for military personnelAdds $392 million above the budget request to cover shortfalls in military personnel accounts which were identified by the services after the budget was...
The U.S. Senate recently confirmed then Lt. Gen. Frank Grass as the next chief of the National Guard Bureau and then Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Lengyel to be vice chief.Grass, who also will be a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be promoted to four-star general and Lengyel will add a third star with his promotion to lieutenant general.The Senate action July 26 followed Grass’ July 19 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.Grass told that committee the National Guard is an operational force at a historic peak of readiness, its ranks filled with seasoned citizen-soldiers and...
As I write this article, we face an all-too-familiar situation in the defense legislative arena.The regular defense authorization and appropriation legislation is moving forward in both houses of Congress in fits and starts.However, because this is an election year, it appears that the Congress, in what increasingly appears to be the norm, plans to pass a six-month continuing resolution in September that would fund the government until March 2013 at 2012 appropriations levels.That would push the passage of the actual funding legislation into the next Congress.This year the process is...
Jamie Gray, wife of U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit shooter Staff Sgt. Hank Gray, won an Olympic Gold Medal in the women’s 50-meter three-positions rifle event Aug. 4 at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London.U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program rifle coach Maj. Dave Johnson, who leads Team USA’s rifle shooters in London, coached Gray to the victory.Gray established Olympic records in the qualification (592) and final (691.9) portions of the event, which includes shooting from prone, standing and kneeling positions.On the next to last shot of the final round, Gray recorded her worst score (8.9)...
"America’s Army: Service to the Nation, Strength for the Future," ™ the theme of the Association of the United States Army’s 2012 Annual Meeting and Exposition – A Professional Development Forum – will set the tone for speeches, industry and military exhibits and special presentations from senior Defense Department and Army leaders on subjects relating to the Army of the present and the Army of 2020.The AUSA meeting – highlighting the "Profession of Arms" – will focus on panel discussions; educational, professional development forums; and special multimedia presentations and workshops that...
The Network is the Army’s top modernization priority, and the Army is changing the way it supplies network systems and capabilities to operational units by incrementally aligning the delivery of new technology with the Army force generation (ARFORGEN) process. This effort will drive networked capabilities down to the small unit and soldier level—those at the tactical edge who need these critical capabilities the most. Through a process known as Capability Set Management, the Army has adopted acquisition practices and is aligning programs so that operational units receive better...
Since its stand up in October 2011, the Army’s System of Systems Integration Directorate has lead the Army’s integration efforts and served as a key acquisition team manager supporting the service’s new acquisition model known as the Agile Process.Leading this effort from its headquarters at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., System of Systems Integration Directorate, or SoSI, spearheads the material and configuration management of the Army’s Network Integration Evaluations, known as NIEs, synchronizes the fielding of Capability Set Management, leads vehicle integration efforts and serves as the...
The Association of the United States Army – "Voice of the Soldier – Support for the Army" – is the Army’s professional organization.AUSA offers specialized programs and exhibitions for soldiers of all ranks – active, National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, Department of the Army civilians, retirees, veterans, civilians, military academy and ROTC cadets, family members and the men and women who work in the defense industry.The Association’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, held each October in Washington, is the Association’s premier event that focuses on and highlights strengthening the Army’s...
While thousands of soldiers maneuver across the New Mexico desert to assess the Army’s future tactical communications network, a smaller group, more than a thousand miles away, is playing a quieter but essential role in the Network Integration Evaluation 12.2.For the first time, Army planners have incorporated the role of higher headquarters into the Network Integration Evaluation, known as the NIE, with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky., acting as the higher headquarters for the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD).Just as it would in combat operations, the...
Building partnerships with the armies of Asian and Pacific nations is the focus of Gen. Ray Odierno’s trip through Australia and Thailand in mid-July.Odierno, the Army chief of staff, visited first with Lt. Gen. David Morrison, his counterpart in the Australian Army.The two leaders talked about declining defense budgets in both Australia and the United States, a continued partnership between the Australian and American armies and areas of mutual concern to both nations in the Asian and Pacific regions.Odierno also addressed the Australian Center for Defense and Strategic Studies, which is...
PAMS, the U.S. Army, Pacific’s largest theater security and cooperation event, is co-hosted by U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) and a different partner nation annually.
This is the third time Australia has hosted the event since it began in Hawaii in 1978.
"I feel honored to welcome so many of my colleagues from across the Pacific here in our nation’s capital for this collaborative...
AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare recently released a new National Security Watch publication, "Linking Latin America and the Pacific: A Strategy for the Long Term" (National Security Watch 12-3, July 2012), that presents a case for tying Latin America and the Pacific together in a strategic context to address some of the United States’ long-term security goals.As the United States conducts a rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region and engages its rival, China, it must develop a global strategy to manage global power.Strategically connecting Latin America with the Pacific will force the United...
In double record-setting fashion, Sgt. Vincent Hancock became the first shotgun shooter to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in men’s skeet July 31 at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London.Hancock, 23, a soldier in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit from Eatonton, Ga., eclipsed his own records set at the 2008 Beijing Games for a new qualification record of 123, and total score of 148.He struck gold in China with a qualification score of 121 and total of 145.Hancock prevailed by two shots over silver medalist Anders Golding (146) of Denmark and by four shots over Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiya (144)...
Today, both male and female soldiers wear body armor that has been designed for men.But, the Army plans to field to women next summer a new type of body armor, designed for them, that will be shorter in the torso with more customized adjustments specific to the female form.Until that happens, the 14 percent of the Army who are women will continue to wear one of the 11 sizes of the Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV) that are worn by their male counterparts.Following anthropomorphic sizing and fitting studies overseas, and also at Fort Bragg, N.C.; West Point, N.Y.; and Fort Campbell, Ky...