a. AUSA Five Things - “Why is Exercise Anakonda important?”
AUSA Five Things: A Weekly Tip Sheet for AUSA Members, dated June 20, 2016: “40 Minutes to a World Record Bridge.”
It took just 40 minutes for German, Polish, British and U.S. troops to set a new world record for building the longest amphibious bridge during Exercise Anakonda 2016. The feat was accomplished on the Vistula River near Chelmno, Poland, where 34 self-propelled amphibious bridging vehicles drove into the water, deployed pontoons and linked up. About 200 U.S. Army vehicles crossed the bridge before it was disassembled and the M3 amphibious rigs returned to dry land.
What to watch: The exercise is an important lesson in bridge-building to get military vehicles across rivers and also to strengthen bonds between the U.S. and European armies.
b. NCO and Soldier Programs – “Do you fear cyber warfare will personally affect you?’
During a recent interview with Lt. Gen. James K. McLaughlin, deputy commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, he told Rebecca Blumenstein from The Wall Street Journal cyberattacks are happening on the national scale as the internet becomes another arena for global conflict. McLaughlin said “the most dangerous thing we see is them trying to steal the personal information of our military members and then publishing that and trying to generate some potential threat against military people who might post things on social media or other places.”
Looking at Soldiers and their families, and all of the different Army organizations across the force who use social media every day to communicate; What does this cybersecurity threat mean and how is this threat going to impact our lives?
c. AUSA Moderator – “Army places stronger emphasis on writing skills for NCO Promotions.”
“U.S. Army sergeants are learning they may have to spend as much time honing their writing skills as they do practicing their marksmanship skills if they want to get promoted under the service's new Non-Commissioned Officer education system. Army Training and Doctrine Command officials are placing strong emphasis on writing at every level of NCO 2020, the Army's new Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development System.”
"NCO 2020 is our way of preparing the NCO corps for the challenges for that uncertain future," Command Sgt. Maj. David Davenport, of Army Training and Doctrine Command, said at a June 22 roundtable discussion at the Pentagon.
This Week's Poll Questions:
(1) Should the Pentagon disclose when U.S. troops are wounded in Syria?
o Yes
o No
o Not sure
(2) Should veterans always get hiring preference?
o Yes
o No
o Not sure