ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Transformation at the Army’s installations must prioritize the needs of the warfighter, according to Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer.

In remarks during a panel discussion April 17 at an Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic on transforming Army installations, Weimer emphasized the Army’s role, saying, “We exist to fight and win, … so we have to be ready to fight.”

“We are a people-centric platform,” Weimer said. “We are going to close with and destroy the enemy when the nation calls.”

Efforts to improve quality of life for soldiers and their families begin with training management, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said April 8 on Capitol Hill.

“The Army responds in times of crisis and is ready to fight and win when the nation calls,” Weimer testified before members of the House Appropriations subcommittee on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies. “We are reinforcing the importance of leaders’ obligation to provide stable and predictable training management to give soldiers and their families time to plan against life's events.”

Enlisted soldiers should be promoted based on how well they know their jobs, said Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer, who is driving an initiative to make that happen.

“The No. 1 thing we should be basing off whether or not you’re ready to be promoted is how good you are at your current job,” Weimer said March 26 during a fireside chat at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama. “Call me crazy, but that’s not where we're at right now.”

Faced with potential resourcing gaps in the race to include more units in its transformation efforts, the Army will need “bold and lofty goals” to maintain a sense of urgency, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said.

As the Army expands its transformation in contact initiative, “we’re going to make bold and lofty goals, … and then we’re going to force the system to figure out how much we can actually do,” Weimer said March 6 during a Coffee Series event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army.

Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer will speak March 6 as part of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Coffee Series.

The event will take place at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The event opens at 6:30 a.m. with registration, coffee and networking. The program is scheduled to begin at 7:15 a.m.

For more information or to register, click here.

Among a host of initiatives to strengthen the NCO corps, the Army is redesigning its physical training uniform, the service’s senior enlisted leader announced Oct. 15 during the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2024 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“It’s going to look a little different than what we’ve done in the past. We’re not going to get locked into the same T-shirt,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said, adding that the current uniform “doesn’t represent who we are as warfighters.”

Calling it a “teeny bit of news,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth announced a new monetary benefit for soldiers who go on operational deployments of 60 days or more.

The new benefit, called Operational Deployment Pay, is $240 a month and is effective immediately retroactive to Oct. 1, Wormuth said during a meeting with reporters at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2024 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.