ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

In May 1975, the Warrant Officer Division (WOD) was created in the Army’s Military Personnel Center (MILPERCEN).

This was largely due to the efforts of early leaders of the United States Army Warrant Officers Association, led by its visionary founder CW4 Donald Hess. They worked hard, convincing senior Army leaders of the benefits to the Army in consolidating management of all warrant officers at that time.

The creation of WOD heralded in an incredible four-decade period of evolution, transforming a largely fractured separate corps of un-commissioned warrant officers into today’s cohort of...

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Richard Shmel was presented the Association of U.S. Army’s AUSA Stilwell Chapter Award for Top Army Student during the quarterly Student Awards Ceremony in Herrmann Hall at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).

Shmel was recognized with the award, in part, for research into his degree thesis titled “The Implementation of a Photonic Nyquist Folding Analog-to-Information Receiver.”

“Above all, it’s extremely humbling and surprising for me, as I’m only a second lieutenant, to be selected for this award ... I’m honored,” said Shmel.

Part of the requirement for the AUSA Stilwell...

Service members from Camp Arifjan and Camp Buehring, Kuwait, enjoyed a Thanksgiving luncheon sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Kuwait Chapter at the Hilton Kuwait Resort, Nov. 25.

“It was a pleasant experience. It was a beautiful dinner and nicely put together,” said Staff Sgt. David Pike, U.S. Army Regional Cyber Center Southwest Asia, a native of Salem, Mass.

Sergeant 1st Class Jason Whitaker, ASG-KU Garrison Squad noncommissioned officer in charge said, “I think it’s great that we can get all branches of the services together and build that camaraderie, brother- and sister-hood...

As predicted in last month’s View from the Hill, December has been a tumultuous month in Congress.

• Three members of Congress announced their retirement/resignation in one week for sexual harassment-related scandals.
• The tax reform bill went to conference, with significant differences between the House and the Senate to iron out.
• The continuing resolution that kept the government operating from October 1st through December 8th was extended to Dec. 22.
• The debt ceiling came back from suspension, and the Treasury Department began “extraordinary measures” to hold off default on America’s obligations...

As part of the Association of the U. S. Army’s commitment to support the National Guard, AUSA has announced an expanded relationship with the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS).

To recognize this affiliation, enlisted guardsmen who are AUSA members will receive a one-year National Associate membership in EANGUS beginning Dec. 31, 2017, unless they opt out.

AUSA Industry Partner members may opt in to a one-year EANGUS National Associate Membership at no cost.

This new program will provide AUSA’s enlisted National Guard and Industry Partner members with access...

“Inflection point” is one of the newest buzzwords in the Army, an organization that loves to embrace phrases like Mission Command, Multi-Domain Battle and interoperability.

Inflection point is a mathematical and business term describing a major course change. In math, this is when a curve shifts from being concave to convex. In business, it is when something big—positive or negative—affects a company’s progress, and maybe its bottom line. As used by Army leaders, it means there is an opportunity to seize the day, to alter the future, to improve readiness, to make formations and weapons more...

In Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, Eliot A. Cohen makes a strong and correct case that the dialogue between senior political and military leaders is “unequal.” The basis for this inequality is the unequivocal fact that in democracies, senior political leaders, the president, and, in the U.S., the secretary of defense, have final decision authority. After four case studies—Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War, Georges Clemenceau during World War I, Winston Churchill in World War II and David Ben-Gurion during the Arab-Israeli War—Cohen concludes “that the final...

The accelerating rate of technological advancement will drive a fundamental change in how the Army organizes, resources and conducts operations on its installations. For over two centuries, the Army has relied principally on geography to protect its bases from foreign powers. Unpredictable global politics and the diffused application of abundant technology are shrinking our natural defenses with unprecedented velocity. America’s military culture, forged from a history that confronts threats abroad, should recognize that distance no longer offers safety and that new concepts and doctrine are...

The advent of cyber conflict should push us to reassess and update the ethics of war. The ethical rules that have informed political and military leaders for generations do not provide adequate moral guidance on cyber operations in war because those rules are based on assumptions that no longer apply.

The existing ethics of war can be summarized as follows: A country is justified in waging war only in response to aggression that has violated its rights (primarily, its territory) or those of another country. War should be waged only after less lethal approaches have been tried and failed, and...

In May 2016, Task Force Strike, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), assumed the responsibility of advising and assisting Iraqi security forces in their fight to defeat Islamic State group militants.

At the time, the Iraqi security forces were at a critical point of transition. In the preceding 18 months, they and Kurdish forces stopped the advance of the Islamic State group and established a stable defensive line. In preparations to oust the militants from Mosul, the Iraqis required capable advisers spread across 14 divisions. To enable this, Task Force Strike...

In May 2016, Task Force Strike, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), assumed the responsibility of advising and assisting Iraqi security forces in their fight to defeat Islamic State group militants.

At the time, the Iraqi security forces were at a critical point of transition. In the preceding 18 months, they and Kurdish forces stopped the advance of the Islamic State group and established a stable defensive line. In preparations to oust the militants from Mosul, the Iraqis required capable advisers spread across 14 divisions. To enable this, Task Force Strike...

In May 2016, Task Force Strike, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), assumed the responsibility of advising and assisting Iraqi security forces in their fight to defeat Islamic State group militants.

At the time, the Iraqi security forces were at a critical point of transition. In the preceding 18 months, they and Kurdish forces stopped the advance of the Islamic State group and established a stable defensive line. In preparations to oust the militants from Mosul, the Iraqis required capable advisers spread across 14 divisions. To enable this, Task Force Strike...

Warrior Brothers Served Together in Vietnam

Our Year of War: Two Brothers, Vietnam, and a Nation Divided. Daniel P. Bolger. Da Capo Press. 336 pages. $28

By Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmie W. Spencer
U.S. Army retired

Our Year of War tells the story of two brothers fighting an implacable enemy in a faraway place that just a few years earlier most Americans couldn’t find on a map. Chuck Hagel was the oldest and the first to go. At 21 he was a prime candidate for the draft. Instead of waiting, he volunteered and his name moved to the top of the Platte County, Neb., Selective Service Board list. Chuck’s...

When the SEAL boat touched the beach, the place was lit up like the Hollywood Bowl. The Navy frogmen intended to complete a clandestine reconnaissance of the Somali shoreline. Instead, the SEALs and follow-on landing craft full of Marines became the stars of an overwhelming television spectacle, an amphibious rock show. On that brightly illuminated beach near Mogadishu on Dec. 9, 1992, not one angry shot went off. No enemy showed up. But clearly, the media circus was in town.

Two hundred miles inland, near the sprawling desert town of Bardera, another U.S. team worked. That foursome didn’t...

AUSA-ROTC Best Company Awards and $3,000 checks from Lockheed Martin Corp. are presented by retired Maj. Gen. Jim Rogers, Lockheed Martin, left, and retired Lt. Gen. Ray Mason, AUSA luncheon host, right. (All photos by AUSA News)