ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The recent House Armed Services Committee (HASC) mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2017 included a section (702) that will transfer administrative control of all Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) from the service surgeons general to the Defense Health Agency (DHA).  
AUSA thinks this is a solution looking for a problem – it’s a really bad idea. DHA is immature; its full operational capability was reached on Oct. 1, 2015. 
Also, it is not a unified command, and it is not prepared to take on this responsibility.  
Without service command and control of...

The Army’s commitment to providing robust behavioral health support to soldiers is strong, the service’s top leaders have told Congress, but the Army is short about 300 providers.
In a joint statement provided to lawmakers at a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing, acting Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley cited a decision made four years ago to transform behavioral health care by placing providers within combat brigades as an indication of the service’s commitment to improving access to behavioral health services.
“These embedded behavioral...

Months of training by the German Armed Forces in combined arms warfare, middle intensity conflict techniques and standard tasks focused on crowd riot control techniques culminated at Camp Prizren, Kosovo, during Operation Sharp Griffin. 
The multinational exercise was conducted over a 36-hour timeframe and centered on multiple complex situations, such as; air infiltration and evacuation operations, platoon level movements, live fire maneuvers, crowd riot control techniques, as well as synchronized coordination of operational forces between the German and U.S. forces. 
The German soldiers...

The Association of the U.S. Army’s Council of Trustees elected two new members and re-elected four current members to serve on the Association’s council – AUSA’s governing body.
The council met April 25 at the Association’s national headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Elected to serve as trustees for additional three-year terms were: Hon. Rudy deLeon; Command Sgt. Maj. Steven R. England, USA, Ret.; John D. Harris II; and Phebe N. Novakovic.  
In addition, Leanne Caret, Boeing’s executive vice president, Defense, Space & Security, was elected as a new member to complete the term of Christopher M...

Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey told a gathering of U.S. Army Reserve senior leaders they must execute the Army’s core mission of fighting and winning. 
In order to do that, Dailey said leaders must maintain readiness, look to the future of the Army, and take care of soldiers and their families.
He shared his initiatives that echo the priorities of the Army chief of staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, at the U.S. Army Reserve Senior Leader Conference at the Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Iron Mike Conference Center.
“At the end of the day, if we fail to do anything else, if we fight and win, we have...

Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell, the third Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently addressed students attending the Armor Basic Officer Leadership Course, Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course and Maneuver Captain’s Career Course at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Georgia. Troxell led by acknowledging the group of students as “the future of the U.S. Army and our joint force.” He then described part of his job saying, “I gain and maintain the pulse of the joint force.”

Troxell explained that gaining the “pulse” is done by meeting with...

When then-Capt. Roger H.C. Donlon and his Special Forces detachment were attacked by a Viet Cong battalion, “we proved ourselves a fighting unit,” he said. “We would not yield. We would never surrender. Our only goal was victory.” Donlon, now a retired colonel and the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War, was the keynote speaker May 5 at an Association of the U.S. Army dinner, “Soldiers of Valor: A Vietnam War Commemorative Event.” The AUSA dinner event was part of a nationwide, multiyear effort to pay tribute to the more than 3 million Americans who served in uniform during the...

What is it? The 2016 Army Posture Statement is the annual written testimonial of the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army submitted to Congress. The Army Posture Statement informs Congress on the state of the Army and outlines the Army’s accomplishments, initiatives, and priorities for Congress to consider when reviewing the President’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. What has the Army done? The 2016 Army Posture Statement describes the Army’s vision for providing ready forces for worldwide operations. 
To remain prepared for contingencies, the Army must make the most...

The Army Reserve is making great strides in expanding public and private industry partnerships to both enhance the quality of life in communities and directly support its own readiness, the chief of the Army Reserve said. Because of budget constraints and dwindling resources, generating readiness through a government-only approach is “probably not a good plan,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey W.

Talley said at an April 21 breakfast hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. “I need to recognize that my stakeholders are in the private sector,” Talley said. Adding, “Most of the Army...

In addition to including promised reforms to military health care, the defense policy bill, recently approved by the House Armed Services Committee, also included programs and personnel not requested by the Pentagon.  Specifically, the $610 billion measure added $18 billion in unrequested items.  Even more controversial is the committee’s plan to shift funds from the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account to pay for the unrequested items in the base budget.  The move essentially means that the OCO account, which is exempt from budget caps, would only have enough money to fund overseas...

The advocacy group Military Families for High Standards is joining the call for nationwide educational standards that are high, consistent and measurable to ensure military children are challenged and prepared for college no matter where they attend school. The group’s chairwoman is Christi Ham, an educator and the wife of the Association of the U.S. Army’s incoming president and CEO, retired Gen. Carter Ham. According to the group, military families move an average of six to nine times during a child’s K-12 school years.

Knowing what to expect when moving to a new school – and not having to...

One of the hardest aspects of a deployment is maintaining those all-important lines of communication with your absent soldier. Military families rely on Skype, Facebook, care packages, and phone calls to help stay connected across continents and oceans. Rising in popularity are family friendly apps that provide fun and innovative ways to engage with family members who are scattered across time zones. Family apps such as Keepy, Storytime by Kindoma, and WhatsApp have a specific focus that allows you to draw, read or chat with your geographically dispersed family members. But if you’re looking...

What is The Military Coalition – (TMC)? Formed in 1985, The Military Coalition (TMC) is a consortium of 31 military, veterans’ and uniformed services organizations working cooperatively to maintain a strong national defense. TMC represents more than 5.5 million current and former service members and their families and survivors.

What does TMC do? TMC educates Congress and the public on the need to maintain and improve pay, benefits, and quality-of-life programs for the uniformed service community and their families. TMC is often invited to testify before Congress, and coordinates the testimony...

The 33rd Annual David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition started on April 15, with 50 two-man buddy teams competing to be the best of the best at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Team 5, from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with team members Capt. Jason Bahmer and Sgt. 1st Class David Rizo, were victorious in Fort Leonard Wood’s 10th Best Sapper Competition.
Bahmer and Rizo, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, brought their A-game to defeat the other 47 two-person teams that covered more than 50 miles in 50 hours as a part of the competition’s events, testing the soldiers’ physical and mental prowess.
“This is my second time competing; last year was my first,” Bahmer said.