ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

For military families, resilience means admitting when you can’t do it alone, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy Rosemary Williams said.

"We need to send the message that the military families show their resourcefulness and their strength when they seek help – not the opposite," Williams noted at the third of five AUSA Military Family Forums held at the 2015 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington.

According to Williams, the second a military family member says, "I want help," they have "empowered every single...

With all the external security threats facing the United States, the importance of Mexico to U.S. national security often is overlooked.

But the trafficking of drugs and people across the southern border can include people who pose a security threat to the nation, and the Mexican Army increasingly is cooperating with U.S. authorities to address those threats, a panel of Army and civilian experts said.

"We must recognize the absolute necessity of Mexico to U.S. security," Brig. Gen. James Taylor, deputy director for plans at U.S. Northern Command, told a forum at the Association of the U.S. Army...

AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare (ILW) has recently released a new publication, "Enabling Reserve Component Readiness to Ensure National Security" (Torchbearer Issue Paper, September 2015).

The paper discusses how the Total Army – active, guard and reserve – and Department of the Army civilians integrate their capabilities in support of the National Military Strategy and achieve military objectives that can be translated into enduring political outcomes.

This Total Army is a global force, fully engaged world-wide in preventing conflict and shaping security environments.

Currently, soldiers serve...

For many vendors and government agencies the Homeland Security Pavilion is the best place to connect with potential customers at the 2015 AUSA Annual Meeting

The inaugural event in the Association of the U.S. Army’s Conference and Event Center was a lecture by a British author and Middle East scholar who warned the U.S. is overly concerned with battling Islamic militants and not concerned enough about stabilizing Iraq.

Emma Sky, a one-time adviser to U.S. Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno and Gen. David Petraeus, faults U.S. strategy in the Middle East for underestimating the importance of showing Iraqis there is a secure and stable future without the Islamic State group.

Iranian influence in Iraq and support for Islamic State militants is the result of a...

Leader development is important to ensure the Army’s success in a complex world, emphasized officials during the 2015 Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Lt. Gen. Robert Brown, commanding general, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., led a discussion on how the Army is developing agile and adaptive leaders for the future.

One major initiative that has just been approved to help with future leader development is the Army University, where the stovepipes of the 86 schools inside the Army will be broken down to increase the rate of innovation...

With approximately nine months remaining on the job as the top enlisted soldier in the Army National Guard, Command Sgt. Maj. Brunk Conley said he remains focused on his short list of priorities as he anticipates the end of his tour.

Conley spoke primarily to an audience of state-level guard command sergeants major during the Association of the United States Army 2015 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington.

At the top of Conley’s priorities is an important revision to how soldiers are educated and promoted.

He told the breakout session that after 2½ years of work and negotiation, senior...

In combat, the U.S. military aims to "find, fix and finish" the enemy, but in its increasingly organized role in securing the U.S. southwest border, the military must be more restrained.

"We can find and fix, but law enforcement must finish," said Marine Corps Col. Eric Judkins, deputy director of Joint Task Force North.

The active duty military cannot conduct law enforcement operations in the United States, Judkins explained during a discussion on the military’s part in border security at the Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Association of the United States Army.

The National Guard can take...

Talent management is essential for getting the right people in the right place, at the right time, for any Army job – but especially for cyber, an Army manpower leader said.

"Cyber poses an existential threat to our existence. They’ve got to get [talent management] right" since potential adversaries are really good at cyber warfare," said Michael J. Colarusso, senior research analyst for the U.S. Army Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis.

He and others spoke at the Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare Army Cyber Hot Topic panel discussion: "Cyber Talent...

If today’s – and tomorrow’s – Army is to retain its tactical edge, its installations must make the best possible use of all available resources.

That was the message of AUSA’s Contemporary Military Forum on resilient Army installations convened at the Association’s 2015 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

As lead speaker, Katherine Hammack noted, "Resilient installations empower the Army."

Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army (installations, energy and environment), introduced the Army’s energy security and sustainability strategy (ES2), a five-point plan designed to inform decisions, optimize use...

Russia’s illegal seizure of Crimea and its backing of Ukrainian separatists are deliberate attempts to tear NATO and the European Union apart, the commander of Army Europe told attendees at a special presentation during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said the "Snap Exercises" that Russia has been conducting on its borders with Ukraine and the Baltic states demonstrate the country’s "ability to move a lot of people quickly" from place to place and threaten members of the alliance.

"The key is to have the capability and...

The Army National Guard is considering increasing the minimum number of annual training days from the current 39, Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Kadavy said Nov. 18 at a breakfast sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.

Kadavy, the Army National Guard director since March, said a review of training days is underway as part of a larger effort to improve Army readiness. "Everything we do must be looked at through the lens of readiness," Kadavy said.

Minimum training days are set in law, with resources the primary limitation on any increases because guard soldiers performing...

The institutional and operational Army must continue to adapt in a rapidly evolving cyber warfare environment, senior Army leaders said Nov. 10 at an Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic forum on Army cyber.

The professional development forum was held at the new AUSA Conference and Events Center at the Association’s national headquarters in Arlington, Va.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commanding general, Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon, said, "DoDIN [Department of Defense Information Networks] operations are the most powerful and important operations that DoD conducts 24/7...

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

I had the opportunity to engage and speak with many noncommissioned officers and soldiers who attended this year’s AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition.

The feedback regarding the meeting’s setup, execution, variety of topics, focus on hot issues and, most importantly, professional development, was unanimously positive.

The attendance at the meeting topped 28,000 and our soldiers, the Department of Defense and Department of the Army civilians, family members and many friends of...

The Army and the nation are grappling with cyber defense and cyber warfare as the information exposition makes it difficult to define future needs and capabilities, retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander said during an Army cyber forum sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.

Alexander, the founder and CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity, is a former director of the National Security Agency and was the first commander of the U.S. Cyber Command.

Speaking at an AUSA Hot Topic professional development forum titled "Cyber: The Convergence of the Information and Operational...