ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Market Garden Was an Operation Too Far

The Battle of Arnhem: The Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II.
Antony Beevor. Viking Press. 480 pages. $35

By Col. Cole C. Kingseed, U.S. Army retired

Operation Market Garden, British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery’s ill-fated attempt to end the European war in the fall of 1944, was the largest Allied airborne operation of World War II. The audacious plan called for the capture of a series of bridges leading to the Lower Rhine. Cornelius Ryan’s A Bridge Too Far has long since been the standard examination of this campaign, but on the eve of...

The Association of the United States Army was honored to collaborate with the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University (MFRI) on an all-day event titled “Building Your Battle Plan to Support Military and Veteran Families.”

The event, held on Nov. 13 at AUSA’s Gordon R. Sullivan Conference and Events Center in Arlington, Va., featured experts and authors from MFRI’s initiative, “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.”

This publication, the fourth in MFRI’s “Risk and Resilience in Military Families” series, was a result of a 2015 convening of high-level experts and thought...

Acentury ago on Nov. 11, an armistice was signed to end World War I – the war to end all wars.

History has shown, though, that conflict did not stop with that agreement. Through the decades, America has fought many other times in support of its ideals.

Some of those wars are memorialized in the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

At a nearby location, the long-awaited World War I monument is expected to join those memorials in 2021.

Whatever your opinion on war is, those who volunteered or were drafted to defend this nation should not be forgotten.

Visiting the war memorials that dot the nation’s...

To one unfamiliar with it, it is just a wall – panels filled with names – but for the men and women who served in Vietnam, and the loved ones left behind, it represents loss, sacrifice, memories and healing.

The Tennessee Valley community recently had an opportunity to pay their respect to the nation’s Vietnam veterans without ever boarding an airplane for Washington, D.C., when The Wall That Heals made a stop in Huntsville, Ala.

The three-quarter scale replica arrived in Huntsville Oct. 30 from Paducah, Ky., and was open 24 hours a day until 3 p.m. Nov. 4.

The Wall’s presence in the Rocket City...

Community members and guests from the local area gathered for the annual Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War and POW/MIA National Recognition Day Luncheon at the Lee Club.

The Robert E. Lee Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army sponsored the observance in conjunction with the U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Lee.

Sgt. Maj. Darrick A. Brown, Joint Mortuary Affairs Center sergeant major, was the guest speaker.

He shared his thoughts about the long-practiced military occupation that he now oversees, and how those experience have affected his life.

The annual POW-MIA observance, he...

Over the next year, 26 installations are scheduled to receive the new Squad Advanced Marksmanship Trainer – with the first potential location slated for Fort Drum, N.Y., officials said.

The Army has been working on a squad-immersive environment since 2009, but limitations on virtual reality and other related technologies have hindered the development process, according to Maj. Gen. Maria Gervais, director of the Synthetic Training Environment (STE) Cross-Functional Team.

Recent advancements in the $5.2 billion virtual reality and gaming industry, though, have enabled the Army to field the...

During Muhammad Ali’s boxing career, he was quoted as saying he could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” meaning he had the ability to move so quickly that his opponent “can’t hit what the eyes can’t see.” How does this apply to preparing and training soldiers for America’s next war?

Whether facing an anti-access/area denial campaign, a megacity battle or a multitheater war, the one constant is the soldier remains the most prized weapon system in the U.S. Army. As the Army prepares for more austere and expeditionary missions, decisions and actions made by soldiers and leaders will...

The Vice President for Veteran Affairs at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Charleston South Carolina Chapter, Larry Dandridge, presented the chapter’s Outstanding Service Award to Lydia Batista a Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center registered nurse, in early October.

Batista was nominated for the award by retired Staff Sgt. and VA patient Eugene Williams, his family and Dandridge for the care she gives to her patients at the RHJ VA Medical Center in Charleston, S.C. The award was presented in front of her peers and supervisor at medical center’s Intensive Care Unit.

The medical center is a Five...

During Muhammad Ali’s boxing career, he was quoted as saying he could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” meaning he had the ability to move so quickly that his opponent “can’t hit what the eyes can’t see.” How does this apply to preparing and training soldiers for America’s next war?

Whether facing an anti-access/area denial campaign, a megacity battle or a multitheater war, the one constant is the soldier remains the most prized weapon system in the U.S. Army. As the Army prepares for more austere and expeditionary missions, decisions and actions made by soldiers and leaders will...

Three of the Army’s top NCOs received accolades for their leadership during a recognition breakfast presented by the Redstone-Huntsville Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army.

“I am an American Soldier, and I am [very] proud of it. But the most important NCO is not the sergeant major; it’s the first sergeant,” Command Sgt. Maj. Rodger Mansker, said Army Materiel Command’s command sergeant major, who was the guest speaker at the event held at the Jackson Center.

Adding, “Our first sergeants are responsible for the good order and discipline of our formations and are looked to as the standard...

Future Vertical Lift (FVL) projects are primed to expand on recent progress this fiscal year as the Army searches to replace its aging fleets of helicopters.

In less than six months, the new cross-functional team for FVL has already published two requests for proposals on a future attack reconnaissance aircraft and future tactical unmanned aerial systems.

“We were able to push those two efforts pretty quickly,” Brig. Gen. Walter Rugen, the team’s director, said during a panel discussion at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.

But “we’re not resting on our laurels. We...

The 116th Congress will seat a record number of veterans with more than 90 serving in the House and Senate. Here are the new members of the 116th Congress who served in the Army.

• Rep.-elect Jim Baird (R) was an Army first lieutenant in Vietnam in 1971, part of the 523rd Transportation Company, when his gun truck, “The Proud American,” was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Baird lost his left arm. Elected to represent Indiana’s 4th District, Baird is a strong supporter of boosting defense spending.
• Rep.-elect Jason Crow (D) will represent Colorado’s 6th District in the 116th Congress. Crow...

Greetings from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), our Army’s and our soldier’s professional organization.

The feedback from all the noncommissioned officers and soldiers who attended this year’s Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition was overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic.

This feedback covered the full spectrum of events from the Army Ten-Miler, to participating in the Warrior Challenge with Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey, to the professional development forums and recognition events centered on noncommissioned officers and soldiers, and to...

The Army is slated to release the newest Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular (ENVG-B) to a select number of combat units sometime in fiscal year 2019, according to the Soldier Lethality Cross-Functional Team (CFT) officials.

The new ENVG-B has both night vision and thermal-sensing capabilities and “stereoscopic binocular depth perception,” providing soldiers with an illusion of depth on a flat image, officials said.

According to 82nd Airborne Division soldiers who field-tested the new technology, the new ENVG-B is a “game changer” providing soldiers with a unique advantage against an...

On the front lines in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine—an area known as the Joint Forces Operation, formerly the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone—ground combat operations are evolving and incorporating new features.

Previous installments of this column have examined information operations and electronic warfare in this context. But increasingly, cyber is also playing an impactful role, presenting a potential vision of future cyber-enabled conflict.

The use of cyber by Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) and their proxies in the Donbas may not be sexy. Bits and bytes still cannot take and hold...