ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

An Eloquent Spokesman for the Tip of the Spear

Scales on War: The Future of America’s Military at Risk. Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, USA Ret. U.S. Naval Institute Press. 235 pages. $29.95

By Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger, U.S. Army retired

The story goes that a big advertising firm inherited a huge account to promote a new brand of dog chow. A crack creative team ponied up for a well-known pop song and converted it to a canine-friendly jingle. Clever commercials blanketed the TV channels. Colorful, catchy, full-page print ads touted the product. Social media brimmed with winsome snippets. Pet owners offered...

Expect to talk a lot more with your supervisor or, if you are a supervisor, with your employees, as communication is key and evaluations will happen more often during the myriad personnel changes coming to Army civilians.

Two panels at the Army’s Civilian Professional Development Seminar emphasized the new focus on professional development, particularly for higher GS-level employees to advance; and the Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program (DPMAP) which has, among other features, new ratings and performance evaluation metrics.

The seminar was convened during the 2016 Association...

Wearing a short-sleeve T-shirt in the frigid cold with his face painted black and gold, the cadet joined other West Point classmates in taunting their rival midshipmen Saturday before the Army-Navy game.

“We beat Temple! We beat Temple!” they belted, referring to the Army’s first win of the season to the Temple Owls, a team that managed to beat Navy in the American Athletic Conference championship game a week before.

The midshipmen waited until it was their turn and then quickly responded with a chant of their own: “14 years! 14 years!” – the number of years since the last time Army won against...

Whether Army leadership wants to embrace social media – and there are plenty of advocates for both perspectives – it is not going away.

A panel that included field grade officers and a nationally recognized author, firmly in the social media proponents’ camp, outlined a blueprint for both the Army as an institution and soldiers as individuals to move forward accordingly.

Speaking before a room of peers, mentors and interested parties at the 2016 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition, the four – Maj. Joe Byerly, Lt. Col. Drew Steadman, Maj. Nate Finney, and author...

Reminding an audience at the 2016 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition that the U.S. is a nation at war, the civilian chief of installations pointed out that the essential training warfighters receive takes place on the sites she and her charges manage.

“Army leadership occurs on Army installations,” said Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army (installations, energy and environment).

“That’s where soldiers work and train.”

Leading off a panel that included six other experts in the field of installation and community affairs, Hammack outlined a scenario...

For the people in charge with making sure soldiers are equipped with the newest and best gear available – including uniforms, body armor, weapons, ammunition and everything else that would prove essential – making that happens, involves managing a complex matrix in which one size very likely will not fit all.

Three officers who play key roles in coordinating the testing and timely acquisition of what soldiers need said as much as they described the goals and challenges they face.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the 2016 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition, Cols...

Russia remains a threat but over the next 15 years, the Asia-Pacific will be the most critical region for the U.S. military, a panel of defense policy experts said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“Asia is the most critical region going to 2030 and beyond, and China’s rise cannot be paused,” said Kathleen Hicks, a senior vice president and director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

U.S. goals and interests will be “greatly challenged” by China, she said during the panel discussion, titled “Threats...

Top Army leaders feel readiness is improving and on track to meet the goal of 66 percent level throughout the force, but at least one military expert at an AUSA panel discussion felt too little funding and too few soldiers are making the service miss that mark.

Gen. Robert Abrams, commander, U.S. Army Forces Command said during a panel discussion that it’s not true the Army doesn’t have clear-cut goals for training.

Abrams was among five panelists discussing “Readiness for Today’s Complex World,” an Institute of Land Warfare Contemporary Military Forum during the Association of the U.S. Army...

Retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, chairman of the board of the Army Historical Foundation and former president of the Association of the U.S. Army, recently gave the keynote address at the Army Scholarship Foundation’s annual Help Our Heroes benefit luncheon in Dallas.

The Army Scholarship Foundation was founded in 2001 to provide scholarships to deserving sons and daughters of U.S. Army soldiers and Army veterans, and to spouses of enlisted active duty soldiers.

Sullivan spoke to a group of over 200 local civic, government, military and business leaders to include: Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas...

In the decades that followed World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbor had faded somewhat in the American public’s memory.

The attacks of 9/11 changed all of that. “All those bad memories surged forward again,” said James C. McNaughton, who served as command historian for U.S. Army Pacific from 2001 to 2005. Today, he is the director of Histories Division at the Army Center of Military History.

Just weeks after the 9/11 attacks, McNaughton attended a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. At the ceremony, he found himself among a large number of...

The general membership of the Central Texas-Fort Hood Chapter, Association of the U.S. Army, had the opportunity to learn about the current state and the future of Fort Hood from Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, III Corps and Fort Hood commander, during a dinner meeting at the Killeen Civic and Conference Center.

One main topic of note was that while sequestration has shrunk the number of personnel on post by 10 percent in the last year, Fort Hood still represents about 10 percent of the active-duty Army strength, MacFarland said.

“(III Corps) still has over 20,000 soldiers deployed in Europe, Korea...

Retired Col. John Miller is on a mission to see that every local man and woman who served in the armed forces during the Vietnam War era receives a commemorative pin.

Miller is president of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Stonewall Jackson Chapter and chairman of the Roanoke-area Vietnam Commemoration Committee.

He recently presented the lapel pins to several veterans during a town hall meeting at the Salem VA Medical Center.

“Our government instituted an effort to do what I believe should have been done 50 years ago, and that is to thank and honor the Vietnam veteran and his or her family.”...

Cameron Cruse was a frustrated military spouse when she and her Army husband found themselves deployed to rural Georgia.

Armed with a freshly minted master’s degree in architecture that took her five years to earn, Cruse saw little option for her to use it.

It was a similar feeling for Lisa Bradley, Cruse’s business partner, and together they founded R. Riveter, a line of handbags that are made entirely by military spouses, providing them a job – and income – they can take anywhere they go.

“If you don’t like where you are, take a hard look at it and change it,” she told the audience gathered at...

As we approach 2017, there is a slight sense of vertigo in Washington, D.C. – that odd feeling of being a little off-balance.

The executive branch is transitioning, with not just the White House changing over, but thousands of political appointees leaving and thousands of new hopefuls applying for their jobs.

On Capitol Hill, the lame duck session gave members of Congress who are retiring one last chance to give a speech, and to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running through April 28, 2017.

The retiring members of Congress were moved out of their offices and into temporary...

Greetings from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), our Army’s and our soldiers’ professional organization.

Looking back over the past several years, we can all be proud of the combined efforts of the Army and our nation to focus on the successful integration of veterans back into the civilian sector and contributing to the good of the nation.

Embraced by the Army’s Soldier for Life program, one of these successful efforts to support veterans, transitioning service members and military spouses finding meaningful employment opportunities is the Hiring Our Heroes program.

Launched in...