ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

One chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army wants to double its business members over the next three months, and if it can exceed its goal by even just a few members, the Fort Rucker-Wiregrass chapter of AUSA—already boasting thousands of individual members—would become the largest in Alabama.

“Membership equals capability and a greater opportunity to get funding,” said retired Col. Mark Jones, president of the AUSA Wiregrass chapter.

Funding for the military is always in flux, Jones said, and strong community support can’t be underestimated.

The chapter’s partnerships with local businesses...

The Military Basketball Association held its annual basketball tournament April 12-14 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado with support from the Association of the U.S. Army’s Pikes Peak chapter.

“What better venue for these games than one of our nation’s most military supportive regions,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey said in a statement.

“To all of those leaders, the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines on the military varsity basketball individual men’s and women’s teams across our country, and in all military services—thank you for representing our armed forces so well, and...

The Stars and Strikes Bowling Tournament really put the “fun” into fundraising—in fact, the benefits of the tournament turned out to be far more than just the dollars it raised for the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army.

Stars and Strikes became an event that brought together the constituents of the chapter—groups that know of each other but don’t really know each other.

“Our ‘Battle of the Battalions,’ which pitted the four ROTC battalions in our area was great fun,” said retired Lt. Col. Pete Seitz, GLAC chapter president. “Seeing the cadets interacting, throwing...

Civilians have worked alongside our Army’s soldiers since the Revolutionary War. Initially, Army civilians were employed as clerks, skilled tradesman, physicians and unskilled laborers. Over time, as the Army’s missions have grown more complex and varied, so too have the positions that civilians occupy.

The Army Civilian Corps is one of the largest and most effective elements within the Department of Defense. Today, more than 250,000 men and women work in Army Civilian Service and perform myriad professional, technical and administrative occupations at various operational levels and in 28...

On Capitol Hill, the committees on armed services and the defense appropriations subcommittees are making considerable progress holding hearings and reviewing the Defense Department and military services’ budget requests for fiscal year 2020.

Army Secretary Mark T. Esper and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley have now appeared before all four defense committees/subcommittees for the Army’s budget posture hearings.

The hearings for the most part have been cordial and positive. The most contentious issue has been over funding for the border wall, which is a White House and DoD issue more than...

The true stories of military life are important to Maria Reed, the 2019 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year for the Army.

As the creator, producer and host of her own home improvement show, “Moving With the Military,” Reed believes telling those stories makes a difference in both the military and civilian worlds.

The seeds for “Moving With the Military” were planted a few years ago, when Reed was watching home improvement shows. From her perspective as professional filmmaker and military spouse, she didn’t believe the shows featuring military families accurately portrayed the life...

AUSA members get a free digital subscription to Battle Digest, an executive summary of history’s important battles, including lessons on strategy, tactics and leadership.

You’re welcome to download the current issue and receive a 15% discount on previous issues and print subscriptions.

The March/April issue focuses on Gettysburg. Although Antietam holds the dubious honor of the deadliest single day of fighting, more men fell on the fields of Gettysburg in three days than on any other North American battlefield before or since.

More importantly, this battle represented a strategic turning point in...

War is like a chess game. One player strategically maneuvers his pieces seeking windows of opportunity to destroy his opponent’s critical vulnerability—the king. Ideally, he uses one or more pieces to fix the king in place and give no option to his opponent but surrender—a play dubbed “checkmate.” For the American military, which exalts the teachings of Carl von Clausewitz in its professional education system, these tenets of chess are also the recognized precepts of warfare. Despite the continuous evolution of the battlefield and technology, the fundamentals still apply.

It would be naive...

In October 2017, the U.S. Army announced the establishment of eight cross-functional teams. The teams were created to accelerate capability development amid growing strategic competition with potential near-peer adversaries such as Russia and China, but how likely is it they will deliver their expected capabilities?

The Army has successfully employed cross-functional teams to develop superior combat capabilities in the past, and the lessons learned and insights gained increase the likelihood that today’s teams will succeed.

Take the case of the 1972 Main Battle Tank Task Force—a cross-functional...

The 2018 National Defense Strategy acknowledges that professional military education “has stagnated, focused more on the accomplishment of mandatory credit at the expense of lethality and ingenuity.” As a remedy, the strategy emphasizes a commitment to intellectual leadership and military professionalism in the art and science of warfighting.

To understand the polarities of today’s security environment, leaders must “[deepen] our knowledge of history while embracing new technology and techniques to counter competitors,” the strategy says. As the nation’s primary ground force, the Army has a...

The 2018 National Defense Strategy acknowledges that professional military education “has stagnated, focused more on the accomplishment of mandatory credit at the expense of lethality and ingenuity.” As a remedy, the strategy emphasizes a commitment to intellectual leadership and military professionalism in the art and science of warfighting.

To understand the polarities of today’s security environment, leaders must “[deepen] our knowledge of history while embracing new technology and techniques to counter competitors,” the strategy says. As the nation’s primary ground force, the Army has a...

At the height of World War II, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall addressed the difficulty of selecting competent combat leaders before their employment in active operations. “The most important factor of all,” Marshall said, “is character, which involves integrity, unselfish and devoted purpose, a sturdiness of bearing when everything goes wrong and all are critical, and a willingness to sacrifice self in the interest of the common good.”

Three unorthodox commanders in World War II personified Marshall’s selection criteria. Despite their caustic personalities and rather strong...

Special Operations Soldiers Lead the Way

Run to the Sound of the Guns: The True Story of an American Ranger at War in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nicholas Moore and Mir Bahmanyar. Osprey Publishing. 303 pages. $30

By Charles W. Sasser

In the tradition of soldier classics like All Quiet on the Western Front, Nicholas Moore and his co-author Mir Bahmanyar unfold Moore’s raw war story of a decade of over 1,000 special operations missions and a dozen deployments into the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. Run to the Sound of the Guns is the engrossing drama of Army Rangers—the training, the fighting...

Like it or not, millennials—sometimes stereotypically considered entitled, lazy and overly emotional—are the future of our military, and that may be a good thing.

It is time to understand them. Considering the average age of enlisted members was 27 and the average age of officers was 34½ as of  2015, millennials are moving into junior leadership positions where they are shaping the Army’s values, ethics and organizational functions.

Research into millennial generation expectations reveals traits, desires, work ethic and beliefs that are desirable in military organizations—and some that aren’t.

La...

Like it or not, millennials—sometimes stereotypically considered entitled, lazy and overly emotional—are the future of our military, and that may be a good thing.

It is time to understand them. Considering the average age of enlisted members was 27 and the average age of officers was 34½ as of  2015, millennials are moving into junior leadership positions where they are shaping the Army’s values, ethics and organizational functions.

Research into millennial generation expectations reveals traits, desires, work ethic and beliefs that are desirable in military organizations—and some that aren’t.

La...