Expediency is rarely associated with government bureaucracy. Yet expeditious action is exactly what Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel provided after meeting at the Pentagon with representatives from veterans and military service organizations, among them the Association of the United States Army’s Assistant Director of Retiree Affairs Sgt. Maj. Leroy Bussells, USA, Ret.During a roundtable for veterans and military service organizations – the first of its kind organized by a sitting secretary of defense – Bussells and others present asked the secretary of defense how the Joint Ethics Regulation...
Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace, Jr., USA, Ret., and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston, USA, Ret., the co-chairs of the Army Chief of Staff’s Retiree Council, met April 26 with Gen. Raymond T. Odierno and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III to discuss the concerns of the 1 million-strong retired community and to offer retirees’ continued support to the Army.
The session concluded the council’s 53rd meeting held in the Pentagon from April 22 to 26.
During the council’s annual meeting, the members received briefings from 20 senior Army, Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of...
This month’s AUSA Family Report highlights a program that showcases imaginative, cutting-edge therapies for our returning service members and their families.The family component is most crucial, as there are many reintegration and rehabilitation programs available, but not as many that are family inclusive.This is surprising because, if we acknowledge that the whole family serves, we should also acknowledge that when a service member returns from combat, the whole family is affected too.The National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) recognizes these challenges, and in addition to state-of...
Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., president of the Association of the United States Army, recently announced that Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston, USA, Ret., has joined the AUSA national staff as the director of noncommissioned officer and soldier programs.He succeeded Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmie Spencer, USA, Ret., who retired in May following 20 years of service in this position.Sullivan also announced that Spencer will continue serving AUSA as a senior fellow of the Association’s Institute of Land Warfare.Sullivan said, "AUSA welcomes Sergeant Major of the Army Ken Preston as our...
Early news is good for AUSA priorities. The long legislative process with getting the defense authorization bill passed and signed by the president has started. Subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee recently marked up their portions of the bill.The news from the Personnel Subcommittee’s markup is very promising with regards to several of AUSA’s top issues.The subcommittee agreed with AUSA and rejected DoD’s continued attempts to raise military health-care fees by increasing TRICARE Prime enrollment fees and pharmacy copays and establishing an enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life...
The annual slog to completion of the defense authorization and appropriation legislation has begun.The House Armed Services Committee begins its mark up and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs has marked up its bill.The MilCon-VA bill would provide $152.8 billion, $1.4 billion over the enacted FY 2013 level but almost $1.4 billion less than the president’s budget number. VA gets $63.1 billion, MilCon gets $9.9 billion, VA medical gets $43.6 billion and there will be an advance appropriation for FY 2015 of $55.6 billion.The appropriations chairman...
After weeks of review, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has concluded budget cuts will require most of the department’s civilian employees to be furloughed beginning in July, but that because of other efforts to deal with the shortfall, only half of the 22 days originally envisioned as temporary layoffs will now be necessary.During a town hall meeting May 14 at the Mark Center in Alexandria, Va., Hagel told Defense Department employees that most will be required to take 11 furlough days beginning July 8, one per pay period, through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, 2013.Hagel noted that when...
I send greetings to all of you from the Association of the United States Army.I am honored to introduce myself as the new Director of Noncommissioned Officer and Soldier Programs.As I write these words, all of us here at AUSA say farewell to a great soldier, a legend, a friend, and now my predecessor, Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmie Spencer, USA, Ret.Jimmie is part of our institutional fabric with his 20 years of experience and dedication to AUSA and another 30 years of service to the Army.No one loves being a soldier or loves soldiers more than Jimmie Spencer. I am humbled with the opportunity to...
Army Ten-Miler and GEICO officials announced that runners attending the Army Ten-Miler’s Pre-Race GEICO Pasta Dinner are in for a special event and experience.Highlighting the dinner, attendees will meet the senior enlisted leadership of the Army.Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond Chandler; Command Sgt. Maj. Brunk Conley, command sergeant major of the Army National Guard; and Command Sgt. Maj. Luther Thomas Jr., command sergeant major of the U.S. Army Reserve, will speak Oct. 19 at the race’s dinner.The Army Ten-Miler – with over 35,000 runners registered – will be held on Sunday, Oct. 20, the day...
Senior Defense Department civilian and military leaders are deeply committed to making the necessary changes to prevent sexual assault and to act quickly and appropriately when it does occur, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a blog entry issued May 8.Dempsey’s blog reads as follows:"Trust is the very foundation of our profession. I see it first-hand during my visits to Afghanistan and around the world. You trust in your nation, in your leaders, and in each other, and you willingly put yourself in harmʼs way because of those bonds of trust."Thatʼs one...
With sequestration firmly in place, the Army will be buying a lot less stuff, and leaders are concerned about ensuring the businesses they buy things from don’t wither.Lawmakers with the House Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, met recently with Lt. Gen. James O. Barclay III, Army deputy chief of staff, G-8, and Lt. Gen. William N. Phillips, the military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology.Phillips told lawmakers in his opening statement the Army is deeply concerned about sequestration-induced atrophy in...
The Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, visited Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., recently to meet with leaders to discuss the Army’s Ready and Resilient Campaign.Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg observed some of the measures that support this Army-wide program."This is about making us an even stronger Army," Bromberg said.Adding, "We want to carry that message forward so that even at basic training, basic officer training, people coming in understand that resiliency is part of who we are. It’s part of becoming a well-qualified soldier for the future."The Ready and Resilient Campaign, or R2C, incorporates...
The Association of the United States Army’s Council of Trustees elected two new members and re-elected three members to serve on the Association’s council – AUSA’s governing body.The council met April 29 at the Association’s national headquarters in Arlington, Va.Tom Arseneault, executive vice president, product sectors and chief technology officer, BAE Systems, Inc., was elected to fill the completed council term that opened when Larry Prior, formerly of BAE, resigned; and Command Sgt. Maj. Steven R. England, USA, Ret., was elected to serve his first council term.Elected to serve as trustees...
A smaller Army still needs to be ready, and sequester issues on top of previous budget cuts are impacting readiness accounts, said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno.Odierno told reporters at the Defense Writers Group, May 7, that the Army "has to be ready to do many missions, at many speeds, in many different environments."The Army is scheduled to cut a total of 80,000 soldiers from its ranks, he said, and this smaller force still needs to be ready."We have to be able to build [-up] quicker, in scalable packages, for unknown contingencies," Odierno said.Readiness problems are growing, he...
Extremely tough mental and physical training and experience give the Special Operations team’s wounded warriors a competitive edge, said their cycling coach.The athletes’ background in Special Ops prepared them well for the 2013 Warrior Games, said Coach Jeth Fogg, prior to the upright- and hand-cycling races at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 12.Special Ops won two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal in the cycling races.However, Fogg said even though the team has an advantage, a win is never guaranteed.He said, "We’re always the underdog because we’re...