Army ROTC Cadet Sarah Herrero, looking sharp in her Army combat uniform, stands outside one of five tourist buses lined up against a curb in downtown San Antonio ready to form a gaggle of students into something worthy of representing the Army colors.Herrero, who stands maybe a little over five feet tall, seems to magically sprout several inches as she calls out names of high school students lined up outside the bus.The high school students, some still waking up from a long night, quickly board the bus. They know who is in charge.Herrero, who makes up for her size by the take-charge attitude...
Selection as a player for the 2014 U.S. Army All-American Bowl is a prestigious honor for athletes.While only the strongest are chosen to wear the Army colors, the players have their own reasons to don the jersey representing the Army.Some players choose to participate in the All-American Bowl over other bowl games because it is the top high school football game, pitting the best players from the East against the best from the West, while others see it as an opportunity to honor those who have served in the nation's largest fighting force – the Army.One West team player made his decision based...
The American Family Insurance Dream Challenge pits the East vs. West and six soldier mentors against each other in multiple events including quarterback throws, a sled push and an obstacle course.
A variety of skills are tested as players go through the challenges as a team, and only East or West will prevail, said Doug Berman, chairman of the All-American Games.
Players were joined by some of the top soldiers in the Army, who...
The Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) has recently released a new publication.Titled "The Army’s Organic Industrial Base: Providing Readiness Today, Preparing for Challenges Tomorrow" (Torchbearer Issue Paper, December 2013), the paper explores the path to sustaining a healthy Army Organic Industrial Base (AOIB) with the depth, breadth and diversity needed to support the joint warfighter – today and in the future – in an uncertain, complex national security environment.The AOIB consists of 23 geographically dispersed government ammunition plants...
One of the 26 miles covered by the giant Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., is very different than the rest.For many who take part in or watch the event, nothing is as moving as the Wear Blue Mile. This is mile 13, where the 30,000 or so runners pass posters showing the names and faces of hundreds of men and women who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.Mile 13 is also lined with hundreds of family members, friends, service members, and others silently displaying large American flags bearing black streamers with the names of the fallen. Some runners are left in tears.The mile is...
The Army Logistics University and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have partnered to create a new degree program to support soldiers.The Master of Supply Chain Management is slated to begin in fall 2014 and will emphasize innovation, critical thinking and logistics management.In a recent ceremony at the Richmond campus, Dr. Michael Rao, VCU president, and Maj. Gen. Larry D. Wyche, Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee commanding general, signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement to develop the program.Combined Arms Support Command, known as CASCOM, a major subordinate command...
The PenFed Foundation is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization striving to meet the unmet financial needs of servicemen and their families
The 23-year-old graduate from the University of North Dakota knew the Army would fulfill her goal of helping build strong leaders for the U.S. Army and America while providing her with a solid career.
"I want to lead by example and show that being strong can help you in all aspects of life," Estep said.
Adding, "I knew I could come right into the Army and have that stable career."
Like many college graduates, Estep joined the Army and pursued a spot at Officer Candidate...
Since Dec. 13, 1637, some early American settlers who formed militias became minutemen – a highly mobile, elite force of the military. These settlers would come together as volunteers to form the U.S. National Guard to protect their land and homes.Once again guardsmen came together with teamwork and esprit-de-corps during the U.S. National Guard Five-Kilometer Race and Minuteman Challenge on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.This event concluded the guard’s three-day, 377th birthday celebration that consisted of a leadership dinner, a breakfast with soldiers and airmen, a cake cutting, a re...
Greetings from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), our Army’s and our soldiers’ professional organization.Special thanks to the Alamo Chapter in San Antonio for hosting my visit to their wonderful city and the historic Fort Sam Houston in December.The chapter and Housing 1 Source of San Antonio hosted an evening social for all corporate sponsors.The event gave me the opportunity to meet and speak to all the organizations that support the chapter and all our soldiers and their families.Maj. Gen. Russell J. Czerw, USA, Ret. and the Housing 1 Source leadership gave me a tour of...
AUSA has been leading the fight to end the draconian cuts in defense spending caused by sequestration and to mitigate the devastating effect it has had on national security, military readiness, modernization and procurement.Late last month, Republicans and Democrats finally worked together and produced a bill designed to break the stranglehold that sequestration has had on the Department of Defense.The legislation restores budget certainty for the Army for the next two years and paves the way for appropriations legislation that will provide much more financial flexibility within Army accounts...
Dear Son,
Today, you signed into your first duty station as an Infantry private in the U.S. Army. You’re following in some heavy footsteps—not only mine, but your grandfather’s and your brother’s. Your story doesn’t begin with us. A long time ago, your great-great-great grandfather fought at Gettysburg as an enlisted infantryman. We’re all proud of you. I wasn’t the best private in the Army, but I think I was a good one, so I hope you won’t mind if I pass on some of what I learned along the way.
It might surprise you to know that you’re joining a select group. There are more...
As a soldier in Afghanistan, Ron Capps regularly saw the dead.For many soldiers it’s an unavoidable consequence of combat.But for Capps, in 2002 as the director of human intelligence operations, Coalition Joint Task Force 180, XVIII Airborne Corps, it wasn’t the dead of Afghanistan that confronted him. It was the dead from previous wars – in Central Africa and the Balkans – that haunted his dreams and eventually his waking hours.In his third war, Capps was suffering from PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – from those earlier combat tours.As a senior leader in a unit filled with...
Three Land Warfare Papers published by AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) were selected for presentation by their authors during the Association’s 2013 Annual Meeting and Exposition this past October."Design, Mission Command and the Network: Enabling Organizational Adaption" (Land Warfare Paper 97, August 2013), written by Lt. Col. Todd A. Schmidt, explains why a cooperative union of Army resources and well-executed principal military theories is an essential element of success for the Army’s future operational environment.Schmidt addresses the unknown nature of the challenges that the...
As former Army Capt. William D. Swenson was inducted into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, Secretary of the Army John McHugh announced a directive to improve the Medal of Honor nomination and review process.Swenson’s nomination packet had been lost following the Battle of Ganjgal in Afghanistan four years ago and McHugh said the new process would provide greater oversight to "ensure that no future award packet is lost along the way or paperwork misplaced or somehow forgotten in the fog of war."Opening the ceremony in the Pentagon auditorium, the day following Swenson’s Medal of Honor presentation...