ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The Army chief of staff had a blunt answer to a tough question at a Senate hearing focused on the challenges of long-term budgeting.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, wanted to know Gen. Mark A. Milley’s opinion about the impact of budget caps on national security. He asked the Army’s top general if the military could adequately defend the nation if defense spending is cut by $33 billion in 2018 when Budget Control Act limits are due to return.

A broad strategic review of about 780 Army weapon and equipment programs is about to get underway in an effort to set priorities for the future, a top Army official said.

The goal of the Strategic Portfolio Analysis and Review, or SPAR, is “very simple,” Lt. Gen. John M. Murray, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for programs, said Sept. 15 at a breakfast hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.

Ground was broken Sept. 14 at Fort Belvoir, Va., for the long-awaited National Museum of the United States Army, with a goal to have the high-profile showcase open its doors to the public in three years.

“In 2019, the Army will finally have its long-overdue national museum, which will tell the comprehensive story of the Army as it deserves to be told,” retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, chairman of the Army Historical Foundation’s board of directors and former president and CEO of the Association of the U.S. Army, said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Getting more cyber and electronic warfare capabilities into the hands of combat commanders on the battlefield is a top priority for the chief of the Army’s new cyber directorate.

They need a “fighting edge,” Brig. Gen. (P) Patricia Frost, the Army’s director of cyber, said Sept. 13 during the opening session of a two-day symposium called “Mad Scientist 2016: The 2050 Cyber Army.” The event is being held at the U.S. Military Academy.

With tensions around the world showing no signs of abating, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley said he’s taking “very concrete steps” to upgrade the readiness of the Army National Guard.

Milley cited three ways in which that effort is unfolding. First, he wants to double the number of Army National Guard brigade combat teams that go through decisive-action rotations at major training centers, he said Sept. 10 in delivering the keynote address to the annual conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Baltimore.

The Army’s oldest active-duty infantry unit, the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, has received a Distinguished Service Medal from the nation’s largest veterans organization. Traditionally known as “The Old Guard,” the unit was honored by the American Legion at the organization’s 98th National Convention in Cincinnati.

Soldier-athletes made a small contribution to a record medals haul for the United States in the recent 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Spc. Paul Chelimo, a water-treatment specialist with a little over two years in uniform, had the best performance among the soldiers who competed in the games, winning a silver medal in the 5,000-meter track race—but not without a bit of controversy.