ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Confronted with the task of filling its ranks again after a period of downsizing, the Army National Guard is poised to make gains by next summer. It will be bolstered by a new recruiting plan and the confidence of knowing that through the “crucible of combat,” the Guard is more integrated than ever with the Total Army.

Describing his soldiers as “full participants” in the Total Army, Army National Guard Director Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Kadavy says the Guard is “integrated in a way that we have not been, not just for mobilizations and deployments, but in all aspects of the United States Army.”

For...

Two years into his plan to shape the U.S. Army Reserve into a more lethal and combat-ready force, Lt. Gen. Charles D. Luckey says changes in training, shifts in command relationships and a sharp focus on basic soldiering skills are bolstering readiness and the capacity for high-intensity combat.

Tackling the culture of a close to 200,000-strong federal force whose expertise is to provide support to the warfighter, the Reserve chief has crisscrossed the country with a message: The wars ahead are about to get tougher and the Reserve must be able to fight.

Reservists provide 78 percent of the Total...

Martha Raddatz, ABC News chief global affairs correspondent and This Week co-anchor, was selected by the Council of Trustees of the Association of the U.S. Army as the 2018 recipient of the George Catlett Marshall Medal for sustained commitment to the men and women of America’s armed forces.

This award, AUSA’s highest honor for distinguished public service, will be presented at the George Catlett Marshall Memorial Dinner, the final event of the 2018 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.

Raddatz is a seasoned national security and foreign policy expert who...

Most service members can comprehend the most complex details of football from a pass interference to defensive holding, but cannot make heads or tails of how American national security is assembled. Too many officers and NCOs do not understand how their service in the field fits within the broader national security policy framework. The interplay of the president, defense secretary, Congress and the Pentagon in defense policymaking is not obvious to many. How the National Security Strategy nests with the National Defense Strategy and then fits with the National Defense Authorization Act and...

On a warm spring evening, Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. and his wife Shelly sit on their home’s whitewashed porch and reflect on a long career. The scene is bucolic; wicker chairs speckle the porch, and a small flower garden and manicured lawn frame the front of their picturesque house.

The placid setting of the building is juxtaposed to the function it serves. The address is Quarters 100—the home of the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., an institution responsible for commissioning roughly 1,000 officers per year to lead America’s soldiers in war.

Caslen, 64, had...

Among the many revolutions facing the Army as it prepares for bleak and lethal battles of the future is that of logistics. The Rolling Stones warned in their 1969 classic that You Can’t Always Get What You Want. That song title is something ground combat forces might want to keep in mind as they look over the horizon.

Strategic planners engaged in forecasting logistics see contested supply lines, sparse battlefields and highly lethal adversaries. Their crystal ball of combat action is reason for rethinking movement, maneuver, supply and resupply doctrine, eroding the belief since World War II...

The name of this column, “View from the Hill,” is meant to indicate that the essay is a viewpoint, or editorial regarding activities on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The goal has been to help those outside the Capital Beltway to understand what is supposed to happen, what is actually happening, or what might happen in Congress in the coming weeks and months.

Back in the early eighties, your author was an enlisted soldier.

As a cavalry scout, one of our tasks was to establish a dismounted observation post. The goal was to find a location that allowed you to see without being seen so that you...

For the first time since 1978, the defense policy bill cleared Congress and was signed into law before September.

The $716 billion John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 includes $616.9 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget, another $69 billion for the overseas contingency operations and $21.9 billion for nuclear weapons programs under the Energy Department.

In addition to increasing Regular Army troop numbers by 4,000 to a new end strength of 487,500, the bill authorized a 2.6 percent pay raise for members of the Armed Forces.

The pay raise will be the largest...

The Patton Veterans Project and its I WAS THERE film workshop initiative were conceived and created by filmmaker and psychologist Benjamin Patton – grandson and son of the generals George S. Patton.

Having previously designed and led summer film camps in Mass. and Colo. enabling teens to explore adolescent identity issues through film, Ben began seeking opportunities to apply the same model to combat veterans coping with post-traumatic stress and transition home from deployment.

In 2011, he was invited by the hospital commander at Fort Carson, Colo. to hold a pilot film workshop for soldiers...

To effectively recruit and retain talented personnel, particularly in the competitive cyber arena, the Army needs to change its practices and culture, according to a top talent management officer.

Brig. Gen. Joseph P. McGee, who serves as director of the U.S. Army’s Talent Management Task Force and was formerly the deputy commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command, spoke at a recent Hot Topic forum on Army networks and cyber capabilities hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.

The way the Army looks at talent management is made up of four pillars: acquire, develop...

Career Programs are civilian position functional groupings, aligned by position Occupational Series that provide a “life-cycle” career management structure incorporating civilian development, training and mentorship.

Similar to the construct of the military MOS or Branch Code designations that identify position functional alignment, the Career Program designation is aligned to the position, based on the responsibilities of that position.

The Career Program functional community supports and facilitates Department of Defense initiatives to implement competency-based workforce assessments, define...

The Fort Belvoir Bowling Center was the center for fun recently as the Fairfax-Lee Chapter of the Association of the United States Army held its annual Celebrate the Army–Family Fun Night.

Close to 150 service and family members attended this free event hosted by the the AUSA chapter.

In addition to free cosmic bowling, there was a complimentary Virgin BBQ dinner with chicken quarters, pulled pork, cole slaw, and baked beans. The event kicked off at 6:30 p.m. and lasted three hours.

Those who braved the rain and thunder storms to be there were welcomed by Ken Britt, chapter president, Kathy...

Modernization efforts for the Army network are moving forward with plans to get after cloud-based technology and to equip a signal unit with an experimental set of network equipment this fall.

“We’re postured at a really unique and exciting time right now in network modernization,” said Maj. Gen. David G. Bassett, director of Program Executive Office Command Control Communications-Tactical.

Bandwidth on tactical networks still remains an issue to support upgraded cloud-based technology. That technology greatly improves how soldiers perform distributed mission command on the battlefield.

“If we’re...

On June 14, the Rhode Island Chapter held its final General Membership Meeting of the 2017–2018 Operational Year. The main purpose of the event was to award the Sgt. 1st Class Curtis Mancini and Command Sgt. Maj. Leonard Maglione Memorial Scholarships to very deserving students.

The evening began with a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a presentation of the Memorial Wreath by two Gold Star Parents, retired Command Sgt. Maj. John Mancini and retired Staff Sgt. Richard August, and a moment of silence. After an invocation by August, chapter president Bob Galvanin welcomed all the...

Greetings from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), our Army’s association for education and professional development, and a major supporter of the Army’s Soldier for Life efforts.

Everywhere I travel across the country and around the world, Army leaders, soldiers, Army civilians, retired soldiers, veterans, industry leaders and Army families are all excited about this year’s Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition in October here in our nation’s capital.

The Army will lead off this year’s Annual Meeting and Exposition with the 34th running of...