Anticipating an end to a period of conflict that will have lasted more than a decade when the last soldiers return home, Army leadership is working to make necessary changes to accommodate them.Their goal: to ensure that these soldiers and their families have safe and productive places to live and work, in a time when budgets will contain less money to pay for them.During a symposium addressing what the Army of 2020 should look like, held at the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition on Wednesday, Oct. 12 in Washington, a panel of senior leaders and their...
The Army has committed 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, to evaluate new technologies and network capabilities that are shaping the Army's evolving tactical network.Since the adoption of this mission, the brigade has built an experience base to address the requirements of the testing community and the program managers, Col. Daniel Pinnell, commander, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, said.The 2nd BCT has more than 3,800 soldiers and is tasked, organized and equipped to replicate heavy, light and Stryker formations.These soldiers interface with systems or technologies...
Yet again I must report that defense authorization and appropriations legislation remains incomplete more than two months after the beginning of the new fiscal year.The defense appropriations legislation appears likely to be part of an enormous omnibus bill that will bundle nine of the twelve not-yet-passed appropriations bills together.Reports indicate Congress will attempt to pass that legislation before the Dec. 16 end of the current continuing resolution. Based on past performance – good luck with that!The National Defense Authorization Act legislation is at last on the floor of the Senate...
I have always believed that life is a series of phases: Our childhood phase, young adult phase, couples phase and parenting phase.We enter yet another phase when our children are finishing their high school years and preparing to leave home for college and become young adults themselves.During that phase of my life, I truly became devoted to working on behalf of military families and finding ways to assist them to be better prepared to handle the challenges and hardships inherent to our lifestyle.Now I feel the time has come for me to enter the next phase of my life, a time when I can again...
All his adult life he's been a soldier, and he doesn't care who knows it.That's why he makes it a point to educate Congress and the public on the merits of America's land force.His career started in 1959, and the Army has been his passion ever since.Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., president and chief operating officer of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) and the 32nd Army chief of staff, observed Kosovo Force training on Nov. 16 in Europe, after addressing noncommissioned officers and officers at leadership development discussions in Grafenwoehr and the Hohenfels Training...
President Barack Obama delivered a clear message Nov. 21 when he signed two new tax credits into law to increase the hiring of military veterans and wounded warriors."For businesses out there, if you are hiring, hire a veteran," he said. "It's the right thing to do for you, it's the right thing to do for them, and it's the right thing to do for our economy."In August, Obama called on Congress to enact tax credits, included in the American Jobs Act, that will help to get unemployed veterans back to work."While we've added more than 350,000 private-sector jobs over the last three months, we've...
The amount of explosives used in improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan is increasing, while at the same time, the number of attacks are at "historic highs."In June and July, there were 1,600 improvised explosive device-events in Afghanistan, said Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, program executive officer, Joint Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).The good news, he said, is the number of IEDs found and cleared has gone up by 100 percent, as has the number of finds of caches of IED-building material.During the monthly Association of the United States Army Institute of...
raq and its forces are prepared to cope with the security challenges they will face after U.S. troops withdraw, Defense Department leaders told Congress Nov. 15.Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described their views on those challenges in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee."Today, thanks to innumerable sacrifices from all involved, Iraq is governing itself," Panetta said.Adding, "It's a sovereign nation. It's an emerging source of stability in a vital part of the world. And as an emerging democracy, it is...
While the Army continues to ensure its nearly 60,000 soldiers in Afghanistan are trained and equipped for their combat mission, it also must prepare for a changing and uncertain future during a time of fiscal austerity, Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said Oct. 23.The focus on building that future force must be on developing adaptive and flexible leaders at all levels while equipping them with advanced technology that brings greater mobility, lethality and survivability, the he told the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Walter E...
Story and photo by Sgt. Keven Parry, CAB Public Affairs Soldiers from A Company, 601st Aviation Support Battalion, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, endured the falling temperatures and winds of Kansas to conduct a field training exercise (FTX) at the mock airfield on Fort Riley Dec. 6 - 9.The exercise was conducted in order to allow Soldiers and leaders to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the company, which is responsible for supply and logistics operations within the CAB, and to prepare them for larger training exercises coming next spring.During the FTX the Soldiers...
Story by Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Troth, Public AffairsSignal Soldiers from Fort Riley took to the highway for a field training exercise at Salina’s Great Plains Joint Training Center.Company C, 601st Aviation Support Battalion, took advantage of Salina’s large training area to get the influx of new Soldiers they have received since returning from Iraq in March up to speed.“We came back from the deployment and we got a huge turnover of personnel. We got a lot of new people coming in and we have a lot of good NCOs who are getting ready to (change duty stations),” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Gaines, the...
The chief of the Army Reserve and the acting director of the Army National Guard listed their priorities for the coming year, especially maintaining their forces as operational reserves, to several hundred attendees at the Guard/Reserve Breakfast on Oct. 10.The breakfast precedes the formal opening of the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition 2011.Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, said that "our Army and nation are dependent on the reserve component" to carry out the national security strategy.He said he is also advocating "a continuum of service" for soldiers leaving active duty."...
AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare has recently released two new publications.
The first is "The Squad: Foundation of the Decisive Force" (Torchbearer National Security Report, October 2011), that examines the Army’s efforts to build small-unit capability as a foundation for battlefield success.
The second publication is "U.S. Army Pacific Contingency Command Post: A Theater-Army Expeditionary Capability" (Torchbearer Issue Paper, October 2011). This paper discusses the U.S. Army Pacific’s contingency response headquarters and the capability therein.
The Army squad is a building block for all...
Recently, the assistant director of Government Affairs, Julie Rudowski, joined AUSA’s partners in The Military Coalition to meet with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top Democratic members of Congress to discuss legislative goals.The overall theme of the meeting was veteran’s issues such as unemployment and access to health care.Military Coalition representatives also wanted to discuss the deliberations of the Joint Select Committee on the Deficit (aka the Supercommittee), what they may be planning and how it will affect the military community as they try to cut $1.2 trillion...
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said, at a Family Forum during the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, that while the Army has made progress in helping families cope with the death of service members, there is a way to go.Odierno observed that every situation involving sudden death is different. "No one knows what a family wants except that family," he said. "What we can do is offer them choices."Speaking of Survivor Outreach Services, Odierno said, it is vital that family members have access to the services and feel comfortable with those they...