ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Unlikely Duo Dispenses Leadership Advice

Radical Inclusion: What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership. Martin Dempsey and Ori Brafman. Missionday. 192 pages. $26.95

By Maj. Crispin J. Burke

Gen. Martin Dempsey, then commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, was amazed at the insights of a young company commander during a visit to a remote outpost on the Afghan border in 2009. The captain used an interesting analogy to explain that killing or capturing Taliban leaders had little effect on the organization as a whole. U.S. forces tended to treat the Taliban as...

Three soldiers, selected as the 2017 Army athletes and coach of the year, were honored at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Ala.

Sgt. 1st Class David L. Moore, a squadron maintenance management noncommissioned officer, with the Regimental Engineer Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Grafenwoehr, Germany, and a member of the All-Army Softball Team, was honored as the 2017 Male Army Athlete of the Year.

Sgt. Latoya N. Marshall, Wilmington Recruiting Company, Raleigh, N.C., and a member of the All-Army Volleyball Team, was recognized as the 2017...

In the face of a changing and dangerous world, the reserve components of the Army (Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve) are achieving higher levels of readiness than ever before, senior leaders said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Hot Topic forum on Army Installation Management.

“Today, some 30 percent of Army Reserve forces are charged with maintaining a higher level of peacetime readiness to offset the risk to the nation,” said Stephen Austin, assistant chief of Army Reserve.

This contingent, known as Ready Force X, is comprised of roughly 600 units of all types, and must be ready...

Army leaders painted a mostly upbeat picture as they testified at a recent hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The hearing focused on the $182 billion budget request for fiscal 2019.

“The Army’s readiness across its formations is improving and, if called upon today, I am confident we would prevail in any conflict,” said Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley shared Esper’s opinion that the Army is getting stronger. “In short, we have a better Army today than we had just a short time ago,” he said. The 2018 budget “was significant,” Milley said...

Retired Maj. Gen. Russ Fuhrman, chairman of the Army Historical Foundation’s (AHF) Construction Committee, recently reported that extensive progress has been made at the museum construction site since Clark Construction, the Shirley Contracting Company LLC, and the Army Corps of Engineers were given the notice to proceed with site preparation and construction 13 months ago.

“The corps’ work on the site prep has progressed smoothly and on schedule as expected. Construction-wise, the museum’s exterior walls and roof are up and waterproofed, and tradesmen have begun hanging the more than one...

In 2018, the AUSA membership team will travel on a World Tour.

The association’s national staff will visit one chapter in each of AUSA’s nine regions.

The chapter to be visited in each region will be selected by the region president, determined by having the most membership potential.

Once selected, national staff members will work with the selected chapter and plan a member recruitment event and travel to the chapter to assist the chapter in executing the event.

On March 29, the national team went on the first of these trips to Lawton, Okla., the home of Fort Sill, to visit AUSA’s Fires Chapter...

As the warrant officer cohort of our Army’s larger officer corps prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday in July, I thought it might be appropriate to discuss the strong partnership that has been built between AUSA and the United States Army Warrant Officers Association (USAWOA).

For decades, our two great organizations have partnered on issues of common interest, as active members of The Military Coalition (TMC).

In so doing, our representatives have worked together on various TMC committees, to ensure the Army’s voice is well represented, together with other great organizations.

Shortly after...

Greetings from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), our Army’s association for education and professional development, and a major supporter of the Army’s Soldier for Life efforts.

The 35th Annual David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition started in the dark of the morning on April 13, with 50 two-man buddy teams competing to be the best of the best at Fort Benning, Ga.

The multi-day event tests the mental and physical stamina, and the tactical and technical proficiency of the competing teams.

Team 23, consisting of Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Rolfes and Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Allen...

Lt. Gen. Paul Funk II, III Corps and Fort Hood commander, took time during his mid-deployment leave to address members of the the Association of the U.S. Army’s Central Texas-Fort Hood Chapter during the chapter’s general membership luncheon on Fort Hood.

Funk, who is currently the commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve – a 71-nation coalition to defeat the Islamic State (IS) – deployed with approximately 350 soldiers with the corps’ headquarters in August 2017 for a year-long deployment in the Middle East.

“We’re in a lot better shape [against IS] now. The physical...

Joining ROTC was a life changing moment for the Army’s senior logistician.

Gen. Gus Perna, commander of the Army Materiel Command, closed out the 2018 Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare Global Force Symposium and Exposition by sharing words of wisdom at a ROTC luncheon with cadets from two universities and JROTC cadets from more than 10 local high schools.

He told students that ROTC changed his life. The program at Valley Forge Military Academy gave him the discipline to focus, created a family and support system around him and allowed him to determine what he wanted to do...

The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is refining the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development System to prepare personnel for the multi-domain battlefield, and provide soldiers with the maximum amount of college credit for their professional military education.

After receiving extensive feedback from Army personnel at all levels, TRADOC learned that soldiers felt professional military education (PME) was irrelevant to them, redundant, lacked synchronization between courses and played little to no role in preparing them for the multi-domain battlefield, said Command Sgt...

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command showed attendees of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition March 26-28 why the command is the Army’s lead in high-energy laser technology and space operations.

At the symposium’s Innovator’s Corner, USASMDC/ARSTRAT leaders and team members demonstrated through various venues how the command enhances operations, supports the warfighter, explores new technologies, and anticipates the future of integrated air and missile defense and global space operations.

“The presence here in Innovator...

By 2028, the U.S. Army will be fully ready to deploy, fight and win decisively against any adversary, anytime and anywhere in a joint, multi-domain, high-intensity conflict, Army secretary said.

Moreover, while doing those things, the Army will also be able to simultaneously deter the aggression of adversaries and conduct irregular warfare.

Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper laid out his vision of U.S. Army capabilities during opening session of 2018 Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Global Force Symposium and Exhibition in Huntsville, Ala.

“The Army will do this through an employment of...

There is a childcare crisis in the United States.

Quality, affordable childcare can be hard to find and when your family income and well-being depend on it, it can be a frustrating and elusive search.

Luckily, Army families do have other options: the Army Fee Assistance Programs administered by Child Care Aware of America.

These programs were created to provide authorized Army personnel with assistance in locating, selecting and offsetting the cost of civilian childcare when on-post childcare is not available or is not a viable option for a soldier and his or her family.

But selecting civilian...

From terrorism to cyberwarfare to fighting “by, with and through” coalition partners, the past 16-plus years of armed conflict have forced the Army to change. Much of this evolution has involved new hardware such as Predator drones, precision guided munitions and Stryker combat vehicles, but the Army has also grown increasingly reliant on contracted service and support to move, house and sustain its formations.

By way of illustration, the Pentagon reported in January that more than 46,000 contractors support the U.S. military in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, with most of them...