ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

One of the many great things about AUSA is the innovative and independent nature of our chapters.

Whether it’s the Captain Meriwether Lewis Chapter in Tacoma, Wash., or the First Militia Chapter in Northeast Florida, you can bet they are working hard to educate, inform and connect soldiers and civilians through a wide array of professional development and educational programs.

Too often a chapter’s great ideas and best practices never make it outside the originating chapter’s footprint.

That is why this month, AUSA national headquarters created a Facebook group for chapter presidents and other...

A halt to the drawdown of soldiers was only one of the items AUSA cheered as the details of a negotiated annual defense policy bill were revealed.

The topline for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2017 is $618.7 billion, including $67.8 billion for the overseas contingency operations account and the president’s supplemental $5.8 billion request.

Force levels. AUSA waged an aggressive campaign to urge members of Congress to back legislation that would limit reductions in the Army and Marine Corps, a pause that would allow the next president to assess land force capabilities and...

Soldiers love to reminisce about the glory days they spent in great units, and lament the times they were stuck in bad ones. What determines the difference? Command climate—the perceptions we form about the level of unit cohesion and performance, which reflect a unit’s collective attitude and identity.

Yet the Army is not providing commanders with sufficient information to manage command climate. The official survey instrument falls short of achieving a comprehensive climate assessment, and the Army has barely scratched the surface in explaining how to actually manage command climate. To...

Soldiers love to reminisce about the glory days they spent in great units, and lament the times they were stuck in bad ones. What determines the difference? Command climate—the perceptions we form about the level of unit cohesion and performance, which reflect a unit’s collective attitude and identity.

Yet the Army is not providing commanders with sufficient information to manage command climate. The official survey instrument falls short of achieving a comprehensive climate assessment, and the Army has barely scratched the surface in explaining how to actually manage command climate. To...

The 39th Army chief of staff is plainspoken as he describes the Army’s dilemma when the service looks to the future.

“Every assumption we hold, every claim, every assertion, every single one of them must be challenged,” said Gen. Mark A. Milley, a graduate of Princeton University, Columbia University and the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—only the second Army chief of staff to have an Ivy League education.

He is not talking about tinkering around the edges, as “change” often means for a 241-year-old institution that is older than the nation it...

Not long ago, the Army had a blog problem.  Gen. Peter Schoomaker, then-Army chief of staff, castigated military bloggers in a 2005 memorandum, citing security risks.

In the wake of the Vietnam War, Army leaders realized they had to change the way the Army developed the future force.

In the wake of the Vietnam War, Army leaders realized they had to change the way the Army developed the future force.

As an educator for 35 years, I have found that the one thing all teachers need to know is their students. If we don’t understand this audience of learners, we will never reach them.

I have taught three generations. The two youngest are known as the millennials, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as those born in the years 1982 to 2000; and the iGens, or Generation Z, who were born in the late 1990s to early 2000s. A 2015 census study indicates there are more than 83 million millennials in America, representing more than a quarter of the population.

This trend is magnified in the armed forces...

Given the rising number of military cyber activities between the U.S. and its adversaries over the last several years, it is increasingly clear that cyberspace is now an intrinsic part of the current operating environment. As the fifth warfighting domain, it is a space in which we fight and win battles, and its criticality to mission success is becoming more and more apparent with time. As Adm. Michael S. Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, recently noted, military leaders should expect cyber units to be able to assume the main role as well as the supporting role when facing U.S...

Given the rising number of military cyber activities between the U.S. and its adversaries over the last several years, it is increasingly clear that cyberspace is now an intrinsic part of the current operating environment. As the fifth warfighting domain, it is a space in which we fight and win battles, and its criticality to mission success is becoming more and more apparent with time. As Adm. Michael S. Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, recently noted, military leaders should expect cyber units to be able to assume the main role as well as the supporting role when facing U.S...

Seven kids, two parents, two hotel rooms … in two different hotels. It sounds like the beginning of a comedy, but it’s real life for big Army families such as that of Capt. John Silvey and his wife, Candace. Coordinating a family move is a challenge in and of itself, one Army families face every day. But as some Army couples know, coordinating a move for a large family changes things dramatically.

A Typical Family

There are approximately 250,000 children of active-duty Army soldiers, according to the 2014 Military OneSource Demographic Survey. The average Army family has two children, but there...

‘Exceptionally Ordinary’ NCO’s Story of Battle

Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor. Clinton Romesha. Dutton. 400 pages. $28

By Maj. Joe Byerly

On Oct. 3, 2009, over 300 Taliban fighters launched a complex attack on Combat Outpost Keating near the town of Kamdesh in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan. For over 12 hours, the American soldiers living at the outpost fought for their lives against overwhelming odds. In the end, eight soldiers paid the ultimate price, with another 27 wounded.

The soldiers at Keating killed over 150 Taliban, and the battle gave birth to two modern-day heroes...

The Association of the U.S. Army has signed a statement of support for employment rights of National Guard and Reserve soldiers and in doing so challenged its chapters as well as corporate and sustaining members to also sign statements supporting reserve components.

Retired Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, AUSA president and CEO, signed the document on behalf of the association in a brief ceremony with Paul E. Mock, who heads the Defense Department’s Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) program.

The ceremony held was held at AUSA’s Conference and Event Center in Arlington, Va.

Mock, who has...

Aslow-growing economy continues to be good for veterans, who experienced an overall unemployment rate of 4.3 percent in September. The rate was slightly higher – 4.4 percent – for post-9/11 veterans, who include those of the Iraq and Afghanistan generations.

Veterans are doing better than shown by the overall 5 percent national unemployment rate, and doing very well considering that most of the 156,000 jobs created in September were in the professional, businesses services and health service areas that can be tough for recently separated soldiers to enter.

In fact, the trend lines on veterans’...