Responding to a simulated 10-kiloton nuclear detonation, soldiers from the 178th Engineer Company, Fort Polk, La., conducted a rescue mission during Vibrant Response 13, a major incident exercise conducted by U.S. Northern Command and led by U.S. Army North.The engineers worked with other Joint Task Force – Civil Support, or JTF-CS, units to demonstrate their ability to support local, state and federal authorities in the event of a natural or man-made disaster."The 178th Engineer Company is very proficient at what we do, and in the event something like this were to ever happen, I am confident...
The unthinkable happened: A (simulated) 3,000 lb. radiological dispersal devise exploded at a train station in a major Midwestern city.Within hours, reports indicated two additional radiological devises, as well as a possible nuclear device, also detonated within the city.Within minutes of the incident, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) began the process of responding to the crisis; and soon after, an Army North defense coordinating element, or DCE, kicked into high gear as it prepared to help coordinate for Department of Defense assistance."Once an incident has happened, FEMA...
Working with role playing civilians from as far away as Michigan and Texas, personnel from U.S. Army North are creating realistic training scenarios involving "sick" and "injured" civilians for the thousands of service members in Indiana for Vibrant Response 13, a major incident exercise conducted by U.S. Northern Command and led by U.S. Army North.At the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, Ind., and several other sites, civilians in moulage role play victims of a simulated 10-kiloton nuclear detonation in a major Midwestern city, and its after-effects.Service members perform search and...
The good news is that the 2012 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition is just around the corner.And, despite the fact that this year’s meeting is two weeks later than usual, Oct. 22 to 24, now is the time to start making plans to attend.The other good news is that we once again have a world-class professional development experience planned for soldiers and noncommissioned officers attending the meeting starting with the Army’s premier athletic event – the Army Ten-Miler and the GEICO Pre-Race Pasta Dinner.The dinner is held each year the evening before the Ten...
The National Football League now wants to put into the helmets of its players the same type of sensors used by the Army to evaluate concussive events that could lead to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).The Army is working with the National Football League, or NFL, to help the league develop ways to protect football players from Traumatic Brain Injury in much the same way the service hopes to protect its own soldiers from those same injuries, said Lt. Col. Frank Lozano, product manager of soldier protection with Program Executive Office Soldier.Lozano says there are similarities between the head...
U.S. Army North, U.S. Northern Command’s Joint Force Land Component command hosted exercise Vibrant Response designed to coordinate a rapid disaster response
Each year, thousands of members of the Joint Task Force – Civil Support converge on Camp Atterbury, Ind., participate in the Vibrant Response training exercise
The Weapons of Mass Destruction – Civil Support Teams (WMD-CST) conducted assessments as part of Vibrant Response 13.
Senate panel advances defense bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the $604.5 billion fiscal 2013 defense spending bill before heading out for the August recess.The bill provides $511.2 billion in base funding and $93.3 in overseas contingency operation funding.The bill:Funds an active duty end strength of 1,401,697, and reserve component end strength of 846,163.Funds a 1.7 percent authorized pay raise for military personnelAdds $392 million above the budget request to cover shortfalls in military personnel accounts which were identified by the services after the budget was...
The U.S. Senate recently confirmed then Lt. Gen. Frank Grass as the next chief of the National Guard Bureau and then Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Lengyel to be vice chief.Grass, who also will be a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be promoted to four-star general and Lengyel will add a third star with his promotion to lieutenant general.The Senate action July 26 followed Grass’ July 19 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.Grass told that committee the National Guard is an operational force at a historic peak of readiness, its ranks filled with seasoned citizen-soldiers and...
As I write this article, we face an all-too-familiar situation in the defense legislative arena.The regular defense authorization and appropriation legislation is moving forward in both houses of Congress in fits and starts.However, because this is an election year, it appears that the Congress, in what increasingly appears to be the norm, plans to pass a six-month continuing resolution in September that would fund the government until March 2013 at 2012 appropriations levels.That would push the passage of the actual funding legislation into the next Congress.This year the process is...
Jamie Gray, wife of U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit shooter Staff Sgt. Hank Gray, won an Olympic Gold Medal in the women’s 50-meter three-positions rifle event Aug. 4 at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London.U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program rifle coach Maj. Dave Johnson, who leads Team USA’s rifle shooters in London, coached Gray to the victory.Gray established Olympic records in the qualification (592) and final (691.9) portions of the event, which includes shooting from prone, standing and kneeling positions.On the next to last shot of the final round, Gray recorded her worst score (8.9)...
"America’s Army: Service to the Nation, Strength for the Future," ™ the theme of the Association of the United States Army’s 2012 Annual Meeting and Exposition – A Professional Development Forum – will set the tone for speeches, industry and military exhibits and special presentations from senior Defense Department and Army leaders on subjects relating to the Army of the present and the Army of 2020.The AUSA meeting – highlighting the "Profession of Arms" – will focus on panel discussions; educational, professional development forums; and special multimedia presentations and workshops that...
The Network is the Army’s top modernization priority, and the Army is changing the way it supplies network systems and capabilities to operational units by incrementally aligning the delivery of new technology with the Army force generation (ARFORGEN) process. This effort will drive networked capabilities down to the small unit and soldier level—those at the tactical edge who need these critical capabilities the most. Through a process known as Capability Set Management, the Army has adopted acquisition practices and is aligning programs so that operational units receive better...