From the pre-dawn hours to after the sun dipped below the horizon, the Army’s finest warriors were pushed to their limits both physically and mentally during the first day of the Army’s 2013 Best Warrior Competition.The 24 soldiers, who began the day with an early morning physical fitness test, said they expected the unexpected on the first day of competition, but were still surprised."It was challenging, to say the least," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Manella, with the Army Reserve’s B Company, 445th Civil Affairs Battalion.Soldiers were on their feet all day, trekking for miles over gravel, in...
The pending Army Knowledge Online (AKO) Transition will affect over 350,000 retirees and annuitants’ myPay accounts.These Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) accounts include AKO email addresses that will not function when the Army terminates retirees’ and family members’ AKO accounts on March 31, 2014.Unless they update their myPay accounts, these retirees and annuitants will no longer receive email communications from DFAS.These communications include notices for monthly retiree account statements, annual income tax forms, and that "Army Echoes," the Army’s official newsletter for...
In the last six months, Army civilians have faced two work stoppages: one in July with six weeks of four-day work weeks, and most recently, more than two weeks of a government shutdown.During an interview with Army Broadcasting at the 2013 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition, in Washington, D.C., Under Secretary of the Army Dr. Joseph W. Westphal said that is no way to treat a workforce that has served the Army honorably during more than a decade of war."Our Army civilians are public servants. They don’t just serve the Army, they serve the nation. And they are...
As a result of fiscal "belt tightening, the Ground Combat Vehicle and the Armed Aerial Scout could be delayed, continued or terminated," said the Army’s acquisition chief."We’re lurching" ahead with deciding which programs stay, are postponed, canceled or not started "because our budget is lurching," said Heidi Shyu, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.Shyu, along with Gen. Dennis Via, commander, Army Materiel Command, spoke at a modernization press conference at the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition.It’s especially hard...
The Army’s Noncommissioned Officers Corps must foster and utilize trust at all unit levels in order to combat problems with sexual assault and harassment, suicide and hazing, according to Sgt. Maj. Dave Stewart, the Center for the Army Profession and Ethic’s senior enlisted adviser."Leadership is an influencing process," Stewart said during a noncommissioned officers professional development forum at the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.Adding, "And you can’t influence without trust. You can’t be an effective leader without trust."Stewart, along with Sgt...
The alliance between the business community and the Army is stronger than ever.And the evidence was undeniable at the Association of the United States Army’s Sustaining Member Luncheon held during the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition, where James N. Miller, under secretary of defense for policy, cited the "largest drawdown since the end of the Cold War," as the primary challenge facing the two allies.Introduced by AUSA President Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., who noted this was the first time in the Association’s history that Miller’s office has addressed sustaining members, Miller...
The winners of the 2013 Sgt. Maj. Larry L. Strickland Educational Leadership Award and the Sgt. Maj. Dawn Kilpatrick Memorial AUSA Scholarship Award were honored at The Sergeant Major of the Army Noncommissioned Officer and Soldier Forum held during the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.Receiving the Strickland Award were Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Harris, 1st Battalion 310th Infantry, Fort McCoy, Wis., and Sgt. Maj. Ronald E. Johnson, United States Army Garrison, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.The Strickland Award is presented annually to noncommissioned...
For two exhibitors at the 2013 Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, the purpose of their presence extended beyond the obvious mission of trumpeting their companies’ expertise and products.Both Fluor Corporation and Bell Helicopter Inc. used the forum to draw attention to the needs of the military communities they serve, and to show support for various service agencies that help service members and their families when needed.At a reception held during the meeting, Bell chief executive officer John Garrison presented Mike Landers, the president and chief...
The "unprecedented fiscal constraints" facing the nation have put the Army at a crossroads, the commanding general of U.S. Army Forces Command told several hundred attendees at the Maj. Gen. Robert G. Moorhead Guard-Reserve Breakfast preceding the opening session of the Association of the United States Army’s 2013 Annual Meeting and Exposition.Gen. Daniel Allyn said, "Our Army will be smaller. Rest assured our Army and leadership are up to the challenge."Adding, "We can, we must … do better in the future in synchronizing and integrating training across the components."Allyn said, "We must...
AUSA testifies before retirement commission. The Defense Department’s claim that, if left unchecked, "personnel costs will consume the entire DoD budget" was among the topics discussed Nov. 5 at a hearing before the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.AUSA’s Vice President for Education Lt. Gen. Guy Swan, USA, Ret., represented the Association.The commission, established by the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, is charged with reviewing military compensation and retirement systems and to make recommendations to modernize such systems in order to ensure...
Lt. Col. Todd A. Schmidt, USA, selected as the winner of the 2013 writing contest co-sponsored by AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC), was awarded a prize of $1,000 during AUSA’s Annual Meeting and Exposition this past October.
Schmidt’s winning entry, "Design, Mission Command and the Network: Enabling Organizational Adaptation," 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...
The tailoring of units "will be increasingly the norm" as well as the mixing of forces from different components as the Army moves to regionally align itself to meet the requirements of combatant commanders, said the commander of Africa Command.Gen. David Rodriguez, speaking to chapter presidents of the Association of the United States Army at the AUSA Chapter Presidents Dinner, said the Army "has a solid plan to restructure the force" in a time of fiscal uncertainty, with cuts in end strength coming."Africa is a text for the regionally focused concept," he said.As a sign of what’s coming in...
Attendees at the 2013 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition’s Military Family Forum II received special health care, and it came with no deductible or copay.Small slips of white paper – prescriptions – were placed before the forum’s conference room in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.They read: Activity:30 minutes this afternoon.30 minutes in the morning. Nutrition:Eat your calories, don’t drink them.No more caffeine until tomorrow a.m. Sleep:Remove electronics from the bedroom.Get seven uninterrupted hours. The prescriptions were signed by Lt. Gen. Patricia D...
Greetings to all from the Association of the United States Army – our Army’s and our soldiers’ professional organization.Special thanks go out to Maj. Gen. Patrick Murphy, Command Sgt. Maj. Frank Wicks and the New York National Guard for giving me the opportunity to participate in their 2013 Senior NCO Leadership Seminar in historic Saratoga, N.Y.My visit was supported by AUSA’s Capitol District of New York Chapter, along with Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Van Pelt, USA, Ret., and other chapter leaders.The two days I spent with all the senior leadership representing all the major commands across...
In spite of the government shutdown and the debt ceiling crisis – neither of which was resolved until days before the Annual Meeting – AUSA held a rip-roaring event attended by more than 28,000.I have great news to report on congressional attendance at the meeting. Held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the meeting was the place to be in late October.On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Turner, R- Ohio, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Airland Subcommittee, visited the exhibit floor.Later Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., and Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, both former soldiers, visited the...