Story by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Schutzmann and Staff Sgt. John Kinsey, 2nd AAB, 1st Inf. Div., USD–C. BAGHDAD–The 212th Military Police Company, Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, United States Division – Center, graduated 101 Iraqi Police officers from the Criminal Justice Center at Camp Liberty, Iraq. The training program curriculum, which spanned about four weeks, focused on human rights, police officer development, counter-insurgency, code of conduct, security, traffic police training, K-9 sustainment training and train-the-trainer courses designed...
We at AUSA Family Programs believe that the more knowledge our soldiers and their families have, the better able they are to make good choices and to address the challenges they may experience.We strive to assist them in gaining that knowledge by providing information about various programs.Unless you know about something you cannot take advantage of it and, therefore, you may be missing out on opportunities to request or access programs which best suit your needs.The following information is about a demonstration project for veterans requiring a specific health care service that is currently...
Lt. Col. Doug Adams, USA, Ret., president of the Association of the United States Army’s PFC William K. Nakamura Chapter, has been riding a bicycle since October in an effort to honor and raise awareness of the nation’s soldiers and veterans and their service to the county.The Nakamura Chapter, formerly the Seattle Chapter, is named for a World War I recipient of the Medal of Honor.Adams’ goal is to cycle through all 50 states, punctuating his journey with the Kona Ironman Competition in Hawaii on Oct. 8.Calling it the "Duty, Honor, America Tour," Adams began his trek at Fort Drum, N.Y., with...
The 2011 Army Ten-Miler T-shirt Design Contest, presented by Adobe Systems, opened March 1 and will run until June 3.There will be over $5,000 in prizes for this year’s competition.The winning graphic designer will receive an Adobe® Creative Suite® CS5 Design Premium software package and a new iPad 2 – totaling approximately $3,000.The second place winner will receive an Adobe Photoshop® CS5 software package, worth approximately $750, and the third place winner will receive a digital camera worth approximately $500.The contest is open to all U.S. residents, age 18 and older. Contest rules and...
A survey was released in late March to thousands in the Army community asking them to take an introspective look at the service as a profession.Two-hundred thousand soldiers, officers, warrant officers and civilians are receiving an e-mail message from the Army chief of staff to participate in the Profession of Arms survey.The survey is part of the yearlong Professional of Arms campaign, which U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command launched in January with the then-TRADOC commander, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, leading the effort on behalf of the Army.The campaign was mandated by the secretary of...
Mark Your Calendar – MAY 1In the last issue of our monthly newspaper, AUSA NEWS, and in a story that recently appeared on the AUSA Web site under "Headline News," was a very important article from the Army Ten-Miler staff at the U.S. Army Military District of Washington that I hope you didn’t miss.But, in case you did, it’s worth repeating here.This year, because of the rush to register for this great annual Army athletic event that reached its cap of 30,000 runners in 2010 and was closed in a record-breaking 35 hours, race officials have a new registration procedure that will allow all U.S...
Panel hears testimony on TRICARE fees. Representatives of The Military Coalition of which AUSA is a member, were invited to testify March 16 before the House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee on the military health system and the Defense Department’s proposed cost saving initiatives.DoD wants to raise TRICARE Prime enrollment fees by $5 per month for a family and raise retail pharmacy co-pays by $2 or $3. No changes are proposed for TRICARE Standard or TRICARE for Life, and military disability (Chapter 61) retirees and survivors would be exempt from the Prime fee increase. Co-pays would be...
The stories are too frequent: A service member, many times a single mom, is called to serve her country and is given a short time to wind down her personal business and deploy. She makes temporary custody arrangements for her children usually with her former spouse, sometimes in the form of a non-binding family care plan. The mom is then deployed. Upon return from deployment, she goes to pick up her child, and finds out that her ex-spouse won’t relinquish custody without a court order. Sometimes the story is even worse. For example, a service member in fighting for custody in court has...
Hundreds of visitors to Arlington National Cemetery filed through the Memorial Amphitheater Chapel March 15 to pay respects to America’s last "Doughboy," as an honor guard from the 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) stood watch over the flag-draped casket of Cpl. Frank Buckles.Buckles, who died Feb. 27 at 110 years old, was America’s last World War I veteran.Buckles had enlisted at the age of 16 by reportedly convincing an Army captain that he was older.He was the last living American doughboy to have served in France during World War I, and the last of 4.7 million U.S. troops who fought...
The Department of Defense released a nationwide survey recently to gain insight into the benefits and challenges of employing members of the guard and reserve.The Department of Defense National Survey of Employers is the department’s largest study of its kind since the United States entered sustained military operations nearly 10 years ago in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001."For the past nine years, our nation has been at war and we have asked a tremendous sacrifice of the civilian employers of our National Guard and reserve members. Your response has been inspiring. We could not do it without...
AUSA meets with top House lawmakers. AUSA Director of Government Affairs Bill Loper, joined other military and veterans organizations at the Capitol to meet with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and 17 other key members of Congress to discuss each of the association’s top legislative goals.Association representatives urged support for a number of legislative initiatives such as expansion of economic opportunities for veterans. One Congressman noted that he would like to see trade unions hire more veterans for apprenticeships. He also believes that veterans should get hiring preference...
Picatinny Arsenal – Middle Forge: Chapter President Louise Bonnett and the vice president for publicity, Missy Nulk, along with chapter volunteers, participated in the packaging event at Operation Jersey Cares in Raritan, N.J.The event was the culmination of three months of collecting donations for deployed troops, then packaging the donations for shipment.The chapter has organized collections and donated several hundred pounds of goods for these events, including personal hygiene items, food, magazines, books and DVDs.This event resulted in approximately 1,000 pounds of goods for overseas...
It is hearing season on the Hill and when you walk the halls you must be alert because at this time of year a lot of "first timers" are wandering the halls often looking anywhere but where they are walking.Your government affairs team experienced that firsthand recently as we walked through all six House and Senate office buildings delivering information folders about AUSA to the offices of all new members of Congress.The folders include a copy of the 2011 Resolutions, the "Where We Stand" pocket card, a copy of AUSA NEWS and ARMY Magazine, the AUSA publication "Profile of the Army," as well...
For the first time since 1980, the Army’s physical fitness test is being overhauled. It will be replaced by both the Army Physical Readiness Test (APRT) and the Army Combat Readiness Test (ACRT).Over the next several months, the two tests will be conducted at eight installations as part of a pilot program, where standards will be also developed.The new tests could go Army-wide in October, Lt. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Initial Military Training, at Fort Monroe, Va., said."Today’s PT test does not adequately measure...
"We’re going to transform the command into something different over the next few years … to keep our combat edge razor sharp," the commanding general of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), said.Maj. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco, commenting on what he termed "a period of austerity," told an audience of military and industry leaders at the Association of the United States Army’s March Institute of Land Warfare Breakfast that "we must participate in our future, otherwise it will be dictated to us."Due to the Base Realignment and Closure process, Dellarocco underscored that the imminent...