The stories are too frequent: A service member, many times a single mom, is called to serve her country and is given a short time to wind down her personal business and deploy. She makes temporary custody arrangements for her children usually with her former spouse, sometimes in the form of a non-binding family care plan. The mom is then deployed. Upon return from deployment, she goes to pick up her child, and finds out that her ex-spouse won’t relinquish custody without a court order. Sometimes the story is even worse. For example, a service member in fighting for custody in court has...
Hundreds of visitors to Arlington National Cemetery filed through the Memorial Amphitheater Chapel March 15 to pay respects to America’s last "Doughboy," as an honor guard from the 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) stood watch over the flag-draped casket of Cpl. Frank Buckles.Buckles, who died Feb. 27 at 110 years old, was America’s last World War I veteran.Buckles had enlisted at the age of 16 by reportedly convincing an Army captain that he was older.He was the last living American doughboy to have served in France during World War I, and the last of 4.7 million U.S. troops who fought...
The Department of Defense released a nationwide survey recently to gain insight into the benefits and challenges of employing members of the guard and reserve.The Department of Defense National Survey of Employers is the department’s largest study of its kind since the United States entered sustained military operations nearly 10 years ago in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001."For the past nine years, our nation has been at war and we have asked a tremendous sacrifice of the civilian employers of our National Guard and reserve members. Your response has been inspiring. We could not do it without...
AUSA meets with top House lawmakers. AUSA Director of Government Affairs Bill Loper, joined other military and veterans organizations at the Capitol to meet with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and 17 other key members of Congress to discuss each of the association’s top legislative goals.Association representatives urged support for a number of legislative initiatives such as expansion of economic opportunities for veterans. One Congressman noted that he would like to see trade unions hire more veterans for apprenticeships. He also believes that veterans should get hiring preference...
Picatinny Arsenal – Middle Forge: Chapter President Louise Bonnett and the vice president for publicity, Missy Nulk, along with chapter volunteers, participated in the packaging event at Operation Jersey Cares in Raritan, N.J.The event was the culmination of three months of collecting donations for deployed troops, then packaging the donations for shipment.The chapter has organized collections and donated several hundred pounds of goods for these events, including personal hygiene items, food, magazines, books and DVDs.This event resulted in approximately 1,000 pounds of goods for overseas...
It is hearing season on the Hill and when you walk the halls you must be alert because at this time of year a lot of "first timers" are wandering the halls often looking anywhere but where they are walking.Your government affairs team experienced that firsthand recently as we walked through all six House and Senate office buildings delivering information folders about AUSA to the offices of all new members of Congress.The folders include a copy of the 2011 Resolutions, the "Where We Stand" pocket card, a copy of AUSA NEWS and ARMY Magazine, the AUSA publication "Profile of the Army," as well...
For the first time since 1980, the Army’s physical fitness test is being overhauled. It will be replaced by both the Army Physical Readiness Test (APRT) and the Army Combat Readiness Test (ACRT).Over the next several months, the two tests will be conducted at eight installations as part of a pilot program, where standards will be also developed.The new tests could go Army-wide in October, Lt. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Initial Military Training, at Fort Monroe, Va., said."Today’s PT test does not adequately measure...
"We’re going to transform the command into something different over the next few years … to keep our combat edge razor sharp," the commanding general of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), said.Maj. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco, commenting on what he termed "a period of austerity," told an audience of military and industry leaders at the Association of the United States Army’s March Institute of Land Warfare Breakfast that "we must participate in our future, otherwise it will be dictated to us."Due to the Base Realignment and Closure process, Dellarocco underscored that the imminent...
Gen. Martin E. Dempsey was confirmed by the Senate March 16, for assignment as the next Army chief of staff.He succeeds Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who retired in April after serving as the Army’s chief of staff since April 10, 2007.Dempsey is scheduled to be sworn in as chief of staff on April 11, at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va.A Change of Responsibility Ceremony is scheduled for Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s Summerall Field at 3 p.m. that day.Dempsey last served as commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va. He headed TRADOC since December...
U.S. Army Cadet Command will celebrate its silver anniversary on June 3 at Fort Knox, Ky., with a celebration, dedication and memoriam, thereby completing the command’s recent move from Fort Monroe, Va., to this Kentucky post.All Army ROTC graduates and their families are invited by the command to join in the celebration.The day’s events will include the opening and a reception for the new Cadet Command headquarters, and the dedication of Cadet Park on historic Brooks Field, directly across from the new headquarters.June 3 also marks 95 years since the U.S. Congress established the U.S. Army...
It’s up to Iraq now to be successful in their own future, said Secretary of the Army John McHugh."The longer-term key for success is the success of the Iraqi government," McHugh said.Adding, "We’ve brought them as far as we reasonably can be expected to bring them. We’ve given them every opportunity and every basis upon which to succeed and now it’s up to them."McHugh and Gen. George W. Casey Jr., Army chief of staff, spoke March 16, before the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee regarding the Army budget and its posture.McHugh said the Army is having success in its...
Afghan and coalition forces killed several insurgents recently in a shootout in the Darah-ye Pech District of Afghanistan’s Kunar Province.Troops opened fire on the insurgents after watching them maneuver nearby with heavy automatic machine guns, military officials reported.During three days in mid-March, operations throughout Afghanistan included:
- An airstrike that killed five insurgents after coalition troops monitored several armed individuals at a known fighting position for several hours in Kunar Province’s Ghazi District. After the attack, troops investigated the scene and found several...
On March 23, an Afghan citizen informed Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) that a tractor and trailer passing through Sayad Abad District in Wardak Province was filled with bomb-making materials. Afghan National Police responded to the threat.Though the driver fled, police searched the trailer and found 10 suicide vests, 17 spools of detonation cord, 30 cell phones and over 272 kilograms of explosive chemicals.The find, that may have saved many innocent lives and ensures freedom of movement, is the result of a local citizen informing ANSF about insurgent activity. It’s important that...
Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced recently the first seven areas of his country that will transition to full Afghan security control.The announcement marks the beginning of the process that will see Afghan forces responsible for security across the whole country by the end of 2014.In a speech in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Karzai announced that the area around Kabul, except the Sarobi District, will transition. Afghan forces already are in charge of security for most of the area.Officials in Afghanistan and the United States stressed this was an Afghan decision."This heralds the...
Pathfinders from Troop E, 7th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment (Task Force Palehorse), along with air crews from Task Force Lift’s Black Widows, provided the critical link between humanitarians in the U.S. and Afghans in need when they joined forces with the Afghan National Police to distribute supplies to the people of Deh Gholaman in Kandahar Province.This wasn’t the first time coalition forces have tried to help the farming community, but it is the first time they actually made it into the village."We tried to get out here about a month ago," Patrick Pendergest, a member of the Air Force...