ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

On June 16, the Fairfax-Lee Chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) held its annual Scholarship Awards Luncheon at the Hilton Springfield.

Twenty-one deserving applicants received $20,000 in cash scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,000.

A total of 29 applications were received from students with a wide range of interests and scholastic achievement.

Areas of intended study include ROTC, veterinary medicine, nursing, speech and language pathology, physical education, engineering, business, law, and theater.

The recipients are:

William Akridge

Jonathan Albus

Kelsey Anderson

Caroline...

Thousands of Quad-Citians dressed in red, white and blue packed themselves along 15th Avenue for the 59th annual AMVETS Fourth of July Parade.

The parade, which was put on by the Rock Island Arsenal Chapter of Association of the United States Army and the City of East Moline, included just shy of 50 entrants from local organizations and businesses, and it took about an hour from start to finish.

“There are a lot of people involved; we’ve got a lot of really solid groups,” said Julie Johnson, president of the Rock Island Arsenal Chapter. “It’s a pretty big deal for East Moline.”

The regulars...

Volunteers are usually the unseen heroes, but for one Team Redstone family, the community made sure their contributions were known.

The Redstone-Huntsville Chapter, Association of the U.S. Army, honored Phillis and Robert Reid as their AUSA Chapter Army Volunteer Family of the Year for 2017 at the Redstone-Huntsville Army Birthday Dinner.

“We are truly humbled and honored to receive this award in a community that supports so many causes,” Phillis said. “I am very proud to represent the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT), and my husband was...

The Association of the U.S. Army held a four-day training session at its national headquarters’ Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan Conference and Events Center for 25 AUSA chapter leaders in late June.

“AUSA hosts chapter leader development training to inform our chapter volunteer leaders on the many aspects of membership, and programs and projects of interest to their diverse membership,” said Col. John Davies, USA, Ret., senior director of AUSA membership.

Adding, “We also introduce or update them on AUSA developments at our national headquarters that will assist in their leadership roles at the local...

Renowned motion picture and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer was presented the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Award at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Greater Los Angeles Chapter’s Army Ball celebrating the service’s 242 birthday at the Long Beach Westin Hotel.

Bruckheimer was cited for his “unmatched” work in telling the “Army Story” through films such as “Black Hawk Down,” “Pearl Harbor,” and the soon to be released “Horse Soldiers.”

This award, one of the highest awards given to a civilian by the Department of the Army, was presented at the AUSA ball by Brig. Gen. Jeffrey...

You’ve likely called a dozen different places home. For as long as you’ve been in the military (or part of a military family), home has always been wherever the Army sent you.

Civilians have no doubt marveled at your ability to pick up and go, to change your geography as easily as some folks change out their seasonal clothing.

They don’t know your secret. That the house may be assigned by the military, but “home” is wherever your loved ones are.

If you’re the parent of a college-bound child, this time it’s one of your loved ones that’s packing up and starting over anew.

It’s one thing to be the...

As the sun began to set on the Lithuanian countryside, the final touches were placed on the camouflage netting designed to conceal the position of the Tactical Action Center, or TAC, of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division.

As part of the multinational exercise Saber Strike 17, the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, provided support to the Air Assault Task Force commander, Col. Charles Kemper.

As the first-ever combined air and ground assault in the annual Saber Strike exercise, this particular training has set a milestone in testing the compatibility...

In the wee hours of the night, soldiers from different NATO countries executed an integrated, synchronized, deterrence-oriented training exercise designed to improve interoperability and the combat readiness of the participating nations’ armed forces.

Task Force War Eagle, which is comprised of German, Romanian, Slovakian and U.S. 2nd Cavalry Regiment soldiers, continued Exercise Dragoon Guardian as they utilized three temporary bridging capabilities to conduct a night river crossing over the Olt River in Valcea, Romania in support of Saber Guardian 17.

This multinational training exercise that...

Soldiers from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), 4th Infantry Division, hosted multinational medical evacuation training at Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, in preparation for a two-week combat training center rotation that’s part of Combined Resolve VIII.

Soldiers from Romania, Ukraine, Albania and Hungary joined in learning how to load casualties onto each country’s tactical vehicles, including hot and cold loads onto helicopters.

“We are familiarizing ourselves and soldiers from other countries on our medevac capabilities,” said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Howard, the senior combat...

Exercise Saber Strike 17, the annual training event led by U.S. Army Europe, kicked off with sustainment operations that laid the vital groundwork for the training exercises that would further strengthen the resolve and operational capabilities of the 20 participating nations.

Before the exercise was underway, the 1st Infantry Division’s Sustainment Brigade began preparing for the 3,500 U.S. troops who would be training alongside 8,000 soldiers from partner nations that spread across four countries.

Providing for soldiers in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was no small task, but the 1st...

Retired Lt. Gen. Andrew P. Chambers, who joined the Association of the U.S. Army’s national headquarters staff in 1989 as director of industry affairs following his retirement from the Army, died June 3, 2017. He was 85.

Chambers, a graduate of Howard University, entered the Army in August 1954 and served on active duty for over 35 years culminating in his role as the Third U.S. Army commanding general and U.S. Army Forces Command deputy commanding general at Fort McPherson, Ga.

Earlier in his career, he commanded VII Corps and was the director of the Army’s Equal Opportunity Program.

After...

The motivation for large-scale military exercises in Europe has changed in the last year from assurance to deterrence in response to Russian posturing, the commander of U.S. Army Europe said.

“That means you have to have more capability, and you have to demonstrate the will to use it,” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said in a teleconference connected with the General Gordon R. Sullivan Conference and Event Center at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Va.

“That’s what Exercise Saber Guardian is all about,” he said of the 23-nation show of force.

Saber Guardian is an umbrella for 18 smaller exercises in the...

A quiet revolution is underway in Army medicine that could have a lasting impact on patients and providers. The protagonist behind the transformation is an insider, the 44th surgeon general of the Army who is changing how, when and where health care is delivered.

Lt. Gen. Nadja Y. West, the highest-ranking woman to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy, is all about breaking barriers, sensing it’s time to reshape the future of health care delivery by creating a culture of innovation and helping to shift a mindset that treatment can only be provided in a clinic.

West, who also is commander of...

 “Vietnam is something I don’t like to talk about. Everything that happened … it was a tough time,” says Medal of Honor recipient retired Maj. James Taylor. His life has changed a great deal since he received the Medal of Honor on Nov. 19, 1968, for providing lifesaving first aid to three of his armored crews under heavy enemy fire and killing an enemy machine gun crew that had his company pinned down near Que Son a year earlier.

“My bride passed away recently, after a lifetime of being together. That has been an incredible challenge. But I have a lovely daughter who keeps me in line, four...

American soldiers routinely deploy overseas to advise and assist other countries’ security forces that do not share the U.S. military’s high ethical standards. These divergent standards can create tension between the two partnered forces as well as within U.S. soldiers’ consciences.

Advise-and-assist missions require our soldiers to work alongside foreign counterparts who often exhibit levels of corruption, depravity and brutality that would never be tolerated within the U.S. Army. Some of the leaders and soldiers we support don’t share our ethical standards, doing things such as taking a...