Dogs, used in war since ancient times, have never been more indispensable than they are in the counterinsurgencies of today. Their keen vision and hearing, along with their highly developed sense of smell, have enabled them to root out roadside bombs, warn of enemy ambushes and save countless lives.Among those dogs whose talent, intelligence, commitment and loyalty have been outstanding is a Belgian Malinois named Layka. On a May night in Afghanistan in 2012, she led her handler, Staff Sgt. Julian McDonald, and the rest of a 75th Ranger Regiment Special Forces squad through a building in...
When fighting a war, soldiers and their leaders are not mere instruments, automatons or programmed killing machines. Even in battle, they remain capable of making moral judgments and retain responsibility for their decisions and actions. Abiding by these principles is what separates legitimate killing from butchery, murder and massacre.Americans expect their soldiers and leaders to protest commands that would require them to violate the rules of war. Few doubt the validity of this, the tactical dimension of the morality of war. Some doubt, however, that senior military leaders who wage war...
Although the M1A2 Abrams remains one of the world’s premier main battle tanks, the Army has tried to develop a replacement that could provide the same or greater lethality and crew survivability with a much lower weight to make it easier to get to the fight and to be more mobile on the battlefield. Those efforts have failed either because existing technology was unable to produce the desired combat power and protection at a substantially lower weight, or because the cost of combining those historically countervailing features would have been too great.The need for a lighter armored vehicle has...
The association of mentoring with the profession of arms dates to the origin of the term itself. In Greek mythology, Mentor was the tutor and protector of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus; when Odysseus departed for the Trojan War, he left Telemachus in Mentor’s care. The connection is drawn out further by the fact that Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, often assumed Mentor’s form to impart specific insights or guidance to Telemachus.Since that time, mentoring has remained a vital part of military leader development. One of the best-known examples of the impact of mentoring in the U.S...
Serving to Heal on the Battlefield
Serving to Heal on the Battlefield
Serving to Heal on the Battlefield
Serving to Heal on the Battlefield
“Hostility between us has been exaggerated. After all, there must be a strong tie for two men to work so closely for seven years.”—Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1967In Dwight D. Eisenhower’s own words, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Douglas MacArthur was “a forceful—some thought an overpowering—individual, blessed with a fast and facile mind, interested in both the military and political side of our government.” Eisenhower served closely with MacArthur for seven years. Those years were extremely important in Eisenhower’s career, for during that period he obtained experience in the ways of the highest levels...
Our Army needs to rethink how it produces plans and orders during active combat and how it manages its officers.Our Army’s penchant for overdetailed, hyperscripted planning procedures—resulting in operations orders that are hundreds of pages long—is for dull, unimaginative people who are good at slavishly following a cookbook recipe. It is not for people who possess the spark of combat creativity. It is an American penchant that makes some allied armies laugh at us. It is a gem of military history that great German generals, with two or three key staff officers at their side, wrote operations...
A delegation of Ukrainian army veterans seeking U.S. support for their fight against Russian-backed separatists met with leaders of the Association of the U.S. Army at its national headquarters in Arlington, Va.A regimental commander and two battalion commanders who have been directly involved in fighting, and who are also recently elected members of the Ukrainian parliament, were part of the delegation.They painted the situation of their army as increasingly dire, as separatists – who they referred to as terrorists – have superior Russian equipment.The delegation came to Washington, D.C...
Empowerment is a two-way street between subordinates and supervisors, said Gen. David Perkins, U.S Army Training and Doctrine Command commanding general, during the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.Perkins was the keynote speaker for the AUSA Civilian Professional Development Seminar, and his address was followed by two civilian panel discussions.The first panel focused on improving the supervisor-employee relationship, and the second discussed professional development programs available to Army civilians.Most of the empowerment Perkins has received...
Following a direct hit from a mock category 2 hurricane, the Army demonstrated new solutions that for the first time enable the National Guard to communicate with civilian emergency managers over the military network.When the Army National Guard rolls in with its new Disaster Incident Response Emergency Communications Terminal, or DIRECT, system, they can immediately provide 4G/Wi-Fi, commercial phone and internet access, and the ability to connect all the disparate radios that various responders bring to the incident site."By tying into the Army’s network, our infrastructure establishes an...
Army children are at a slightly higher risk for mental disorders, but they’re also incredibly resilient, say mental health and education experts.As children and teens continue to cope with the fallout of frequent moves, uncertainty, and parents who have deployed multiple times and may face physical or invisible wounds themselves, it’s the people who see them most frequently – their educators and especially parents – who are most likely to recognize a problem, said Dr. Paula K. Rauch, the director of the Family Support and Outreach Program with the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General...
By the time AUSA NEWS goes to press, the 113th Congress will be history.Before they left town, however, they did manage to pass the defense authorization and appropriations bills.This is very good news for the Department of Defense.There were no big surprises for the Army in the 2015 versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2015 and Omnibus Appropriations Act, but also no relief from the defense spending caps enacted in 2013 or from the threat of sequestration in 2016 if Congress is unable to reach an agreement with the White House on budget priorities.The National Defense...