"Summertime and the living is easy."This might be so for millions of Americans in the United States, but for military families, finding time to enjoy a vacation together can be challenging.With our troops home from the war in Iraq and the drawdown continuing in Afghanistan, military families are, for the first time in 10 years, finding time to plan vacations that do not revolve around R and R or homecomings.Soldiers are home and not looking at a quick turnaround back downrange.Family routines have been reestablished, relationships have begun to strengthen and the thought of spending quality...
AUSA on the HillAUSA President Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., attended the Senate Army Caucus breakfast on May 17.Among the guests were Caucus co-chairs, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii and James Inhofe, R-Okla; and Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.; Scott Brown, R-Mass.; Kay Hagan, D-N.C.; and John Cornyn, R-Texas.The breakfast gave Sullivan the opportunity to discuss AUSA and Army priorities with the senators and their senior staff.He was also able to reiterate the message delivered by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the featured speaker. (See related story, Page 2)Odierno’s message to...
The Association of the Unites States Army’s Council of Trustees elected one new member and re-elected four members to serve three-year terms beginning July 1 to the Association’s council – AUSA’s governing body.The council met May 7 at the Association’s national headquarters in Arlington, Va.Lawrence B. Prior III, executive vice president of service sectors, BAE Systems, Inc., was elected to serve his first term as an Association trustee.Elected to serve as trustees for additional three-year terms were Gen. Carl E. Vuono, USA, Ret.; Maj. Gen. Patricia P. Hickerson, USA, Ret.; Dennis A...
Army wounded warriors faced off in the third day of competition at the 2012 Warrior Games, May 3, winning three medals in the shooting competition.
Army athletes took six gold, five silver and seven bronze medals during the track and field events May 4 at the 2012 Warrior Games in Colorado Springs."One of the biggest things coming from something like this both on the mental side and physical side are improvements," retired Staff Sgt. Michael Kacer said.Adding, "Emotionally, mentally, physically, you just better yourself as a whole once you get into sports."Kacer joined the Pennsylvania National Guard right out of high school and remained in the military for 10 years and five months until his retirement in May 2010.During his deployment to...
He checks his recurve bow and slips the string taunt on the lower tip, loops the strung end on the outside of his foot, then slides the other end through the top.With steely nerves and the finesse of a master weaver, you’d never know he was shot multiple times at a point blank range.Staff Sgt. Ammala Louangketh, C Company, Warrior Transition Battalion-Europe in Schweinfurt, Germany, is one of 50 athletes representing the Army in the third annual 2012 Warrior Games.Louangketh has served the U.S. Army for 19 years. This will be the second time he’s competed in the games.More than 200 competitors...
Reduced oxygen simulated higher elevations to help Staff Sgt. Spencer Anderson as he trained for the cycling competition in Colorado at the 2012 Warrior Games.Anderson, an Army medic, is among 30 soldiers and 20 veterans representing the Army at the Third Annual Warrior Games, a week-long event for wounded troops in Colorado Springs, Colo.Events include cycling, archery, wheelchair basketball, shooting, swimming, track and field and sitting volleyball.Cycling keeps Anderson, a soldier wounded in combat, on a positive track.He started cycling 16 months ago. Now, it’s part of a routine...
The network of people, government and private organizations that tends to America’s wounded, injured and ill service members has achieved results over the last decade that are "absolutely remarkable," the nation’s top military officer told an audience in Washington recently.Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke at a "Heroes of Military Medicine" event hosted by the Center for Public-Private Partnerships at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine."I do find heroes and military medicine to be a little redundant. Actually, every time...
First Lady Michelle Obama and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among those who paid tribute to wounded warrior athletes at the opening of The 2012 Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo., April 30.Dempsey, accompanied by his wife Deanie, called the six-day event a powerful demonstration of the resilience of service members.Athletes taking part in the third-annual competition are a reminder of what service members have endured during 10 years of war, and an important reminder of the ability of wounded warriors to lead successful lives after returning home, he...
For the 2012 winners of the Best Sapper Competition, laying claim to the trophy was well worth the 53 hours of ticks, mosquitoes and misery they endured trudging through the woods and trails of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., in mid-April.Capt. Mike Kendall and Staff Sgt. Frank Batts, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, claimed the winner’s trophy for their unit.The two agree the biggest challenge was motivating one another during the journey."It’s challenging to have the humility to say ‘I’m not good at this, I need you to carry me on this one,’" Kendall said.Adding, "We also let the...
In the heat of the day on March 25 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., thousands of military personnel and civilians took part in the grueling, annual 26.2 mile Bataan Memorial Death March.This challenging team race runs along the high desert terrain of White Sands, and is conducted in memory of those who suffered and died during the Bataan Death march in the Philippines early in World War II.Teams compete in full military uniform and boots, in the heat of the day.Army ROTC teams – supported by the Association of the United States Army’s Gen. John W Vessey Jr. Chapter – from Saint John’s...
AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) has released a new publication: "U.S. Army Space Capabilities: Enabling the Force of Decisive Action" (Torchbearer National Security Report, May 2012), which explores how space assets and force structure support Army unified land operations.The U.S. Army conducts unified land operations in a variety of challenging environments.To mitigate the effects of terrain, distance and time, the Army relies on a technological backbone built on space-based capabilities that reduce operational risk and assure landpower dominance.Space enablers support each of the Army...
The Army recently announced that it will begin a six-month assessment on May 14 of an exception to the Direct Ground Combat Assignment Rule for female soldiers.Under Direct Ground Combat Assignment Rule, or DGCAR, six military occupational specialties, or MOSs, were previously closed to women because they were normally co-located with direct combat units.The Army’s removal of "co-location" from its policy opens to women the six specialties in 80 units, down to the battalion level, Brig. Gen. Barrye L. Price, director of Human Resources Policy, Army G-1, said."With the removal of co-location, a...
Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Wash., will soon be home to the headquarters of the 7th Infantry Division, Secretary of the Army John McHugh said recently.The two-star headquarters, which will oversee the training and readiness of five of the installation’s 10 brigades, will fill an administrative layer between those units and I Corps.The division headquarters will not be deployable, McHugh said."The I Corps headquarters has been very, very busy. It’s only reasonable, it seems to me, to provide that layer of close-on command support just as we have at virtually every other similar-sized base...
It’s possible the Army could be cut to 400,000 if the sequestration option spelled out in the Budget Control Act of 2011 goes into effect, the Army’s chief of staff said May 17.The Army is already planning to cut 80,000 active duty soldiers from the force over the next five years, which will bring the active end strength down to 490,000 soldiers.Were sequestration to kick in, Army leaders expect the cuts it brings could mean the loss of an additional 100,000 soldiers.Those soldiers would come from both the active and reserve components."If we have sequestration, it will affect both the active...