Recently, the assistant director of Government Affairs, Julie Rudowski, joined AUSA’s partners in The Military Coalition to meet with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top Democratic members of Congress to discuss legislative goals.The overall theme of the meeting was veteran’s issues such as unemployment and access to health care.Military Coalition representatives also wanted to discuss the deliberations of the Joint Select Committee on the Deficit (aka the Supercommittee), what they may be planning and how it will affect the military community as they try to cut $1.2 trillion...
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said, at a Family Forum during the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, that while the Army has made progress in helping families cope with the death of service members, there is a way to go.Odierno observed that every situation involving sudden death is different. "No one knows what a family wants except that family," he said. "What we can do is offer them choices."Speaking of Survivor Outreach Services, Odierno said, it is vital that family members have access to the services and feel comfortable with those they...
The Army has recognized that its acquisition process was too bureaucratic, slow and economically inefficient to meet the needs of the warfighters and the challenges of declining budgets, a high-ranking panel of officials said Tuesday, Oct. 11.To change that, Army leadership has turned to "early and continuing" coordination and collaboration among the requirements, budget, acquisition, science and technology, logistics and sustainment officials," Heidi Shyu, acting assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology told a forum at the Association of the United States Army’s Annual...
Sgt. 1st Class Leroy A. Petry received the Medal of Honor July 12, 2011, for heroism above and beyond the call of duty while losing his right hand due to a grenade explosion in Pakyta, Afghanistan, May 26, 2008. He was serving with Company D, 75th Ranger Regiment. Petry attended the AUSA Annual Meeting and discussed the ‘Profession of Arms’ for noncommissioned officers at two Sergeant Major of the Army Conferences, one on Oct. 10 for sergeants first class and above, and on Oct. 11 for staff sergeants and below.
The commander of U.S. Army Europe called it "a dangerous strategy to revert to isolationism" as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wind down. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, speaking Oct. 9 at the Association of the United States Army’s Chapter Presidents’ Dinner, said that there are 41,000 American soldiers still assigned to Europe, compared to 213,000 during the Cold War.Europe remains important to the United States’ continuing fight against al Qaeda, comparing the continent to a hallway the fanatical group uses to carry out terrorist activities in the West.In addition, Army Europe is providing 20...
Three of the Army’s senior-most warrant officers urged their comrades to step forward and make their presence better known throughout the service, during a professional development seminar for their ranks held at the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition Oct. 11 in Washington, D.C.Senior leadership needs to be kept abreast of issues that affect the small but tight-knit warrant officer community, they said. Up-and-coming noncommissioned officers need encouragement to pursue career paths as a possible alternative to the top enlisted ranks."We as a cohort are 2...
Col. Kevin M. Felix, selected as the winner of the 2011 writing contest co-sponsored by AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) was awarded a prize of $1,000 Oct. 10 during AUSA’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.The check was presented by AUSA’s president, Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., and Lt. Gen. Keith C. Walker, TRADOC’s deputy commanding general, and futures director, Army Capabilities Integration Center.The contest theme was "Capabilities Needed for the Army Future Force, 2025 and Beyond."Felix’s...
1st Lt. Charles "Chad" Ware of the 807th Medical Deployment Support Command's 452nd Combat Support Hospital won this year’s Marine Corps Marathon Oct. 30 with a time of 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 16 seconds.Ware’s time was the best finish in the Marine Corps Marathon in 15 years, and just missed the cutoff for qualifying for the Olympic trials in January by 16 seconds."I knew I had a good chance to win bout half way through," said Ware, who broke away with the lead runners early.The lead group of five or six runners started to dwindle at about mile 12. At mile 18, it was only Ware and one other...
With over 30,000 registered runners and over 540 teams from around the world, the 27th Army Ten-Miler took place Oct. 9 at the Pentagon, the day before the 2011 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition.
The first male runner crossing the finish line, Tesfaye Sendeku Alemayehu, from Antioch, Calif., completed the run in 47:51.
Second place went to Spc. Robert Cheseret, from the Army World Class Athlete Program, Fort Carson, Colo., and a member of the All Army Team, with a time of 48:21.
Third place runner, who tied with Cheseret, was Spc. Augustus Maiyo...
Tesfaye Sendeku Alemayehu ran away with the men’s division, Tezata Dengera led the women, and runners from the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) and All Army Sports successfully defended the International Cup in the 27th running of the Army Ten-Miler Oct. 9 at the Pentagon.Alemayehu bolted to the front during the first mile, stretched his lead to 80 meters in the second, and ran uncontested to victory in 47 minutes, 51 seconds on the new course that started and ended on the north side of the Pentagon.Dengera led the women with a time of 56:35.WCAP runners Spc. Robert Cheseret and...
Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffery T. Stitzel, regimental sergeant major for the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), was the Army’s first NCO of the year in 2002 while serving as a sergeant first class.Since that inaugural competition – now known as The Best Warrior Competition and held at Fort Lee, Va. – Stitzel has seen the status of the noncommissioned officer evolve into having a more crucial role in the Army."We’re asking noncommissioned officers to do things now at the staff level that we entrusted career course-graduate captains to do," Stitzel said.Adding, "You’ve got noncommissioned...
Last month I reported that neither the Defense Authorization Bill nor the Defense Appropriations Bill were completed and that it began to look like another continuing resolution would be necessary to continue to fund the government at last year’s levels.At this writing, it appears that the continuing resolution that expires on Nov. 18 will have to be extended into December to keep the government "running on fiscal fumes."As I have said in this column so many times, it is not as if the Congress didn’t know back in January that the deadline was Sept. 30.Of course, election politics plays an...
The Army must come to terms with an increasing number of ill, combat-wounded or injured soldiers who are not fit for deployment, the service’s chief medical officer said at an Oct. 10 symposium during the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington.After more than 10 years of conflict, and in anticipation of potentially lower strength levels, "Every soldier added to the pool of non-ready soldiers taps into the pool of soldiers who are," said Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general and commanding general of U.S. Army Medical Command."...
On the opening day of the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, several hundred Army ROTC cadets received a preview of the Army they will be leading as platoon leaders from the officer responsible for forging how they will operate.Gen. Robert Cone, commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, spoke on "Shaping the Army of 2020" at the annual ROTC luncheon.Cone said how this generation of incoming Army leaders, combined with 10 years of constant fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is shaping how the Army is looking toward the future."Our world has...
The best ways to view the Army’s Force Generation model is to see it as "a process," "a verb, instead of a noun," "a rheostat" or even a gear box, senior Army officials from all components told attendees at an Institute of Land Warfare Contemporary Military Forum.Speaking Monday Oct. 10 at the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, deputy commanding general of Forces Command, said, "It is a way of building readiness over time" and it is a model that can change.Current Army plans would have active component soldiers be in a reset phase...