Society of National Association Publications

Transcription

Society of National Association Publications —
Award Winning Newspaper
VOLUME 37 NUMBER 4
www.ausa.org
FIFTY CENTS
February 2014
Pay, Benefits are Incentives
to Join Army
–2–
AUSA Opposes
1-Percent COLA Cut
–3–
Veterans Hiring Event at
AUSA Winter Symposium
–6–
Honors to the Nation: U.S. Army All-American Bowl East Team athletes, right to left, linebacker Shaun Hamilton,
Carver High School, Montgomery, Ala.; wide-receiver Shaq Davidson, Gaffney High School, Gaffney, S.C.; and
defensive back Nick Ruffin, St. Pius X Catholic High School, Atlanta, Ga., face the colors prior to the playing of
the National Anthem at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas. See Special Report – 2014 Army All-American Bowl,
Page 11. (Photo by: Pfc. Brian N. Lang, USAR, 205th Press Camp, Headquarters, 2014 Army All-American Bowl)
2 AUSA NEWS q February 2014
ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY
‘Outlaw’ and ‘Palehorse’ troops patrol with Afghan Uniformed Police
Sgt. Joshua Edwards
Public Affairs
Combined Task Force Dragoon
T
roopers with Combined Task
Force Dragoon continue their
mission of advising Afghan National Security Forces in preparation for
the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.
Soldiers with O “Outlaw” Troop and P
“Palehorse” Troop, 4th Squadron, Combined Task Force Dragoon, teamed up
with Afghan Uniformed Police, known
as the AUP, for a series of foot patrols
at various checkpoints throughout Kandahar Province during the month of December during Operation Alamo Scout.
The AUP has been conducting these
missions to address security concerns
they might face as they train and prepare
for the 2014 elections and also to engage
with local community elders near various
checkpoints throughout the province.
With prayers being recited over loudspeakers throughout the night and smiling children playing and running up to
the service members on patrol in excitement during the day, the AUP patrols are
allowing the police to reach out to local
village elders and inquire about how
each area will participate in the upcoming elections.
The assessment allowed them to gain
a firm grasp on how much security, if
any, would be necessary for a safe and
successful outcome.
“It’s an assessment of the strengths
Staff Sgt. Jason Peacock with Troop O, 4th Squadron, Combined Task Force Dragoon, drinks chai tea with the local Afghanistan
Uniformed Police in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. The troopers conducted a series of patrol missions with the Afghanistan Uniformed Police at various security checkpoints throughout the province. (Photo Credit: Sgt. Joshua Edwards, Combined Task Force
Dragoon Public Affairs)
and weaknesses of the various checkpoints and an indication of the support
they would require to have successful
Pay, benefits are incentives to join
(Editor’s note: The following is a Letter to the Editor published in the Washington Post by Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan,
USA, Ret., president of the Association
of the United States Army, which challenges the erroneous assumptions made
in a Post article regarding military pay
and benefits.)
I
read with dismay the December 26
article, “For Military, Benefits and
Reform are Challenge,” which demonizes our troops as unworthy of the
benefits they receive while ignoring the
challenges, sacrifices and hardships military personnel and their families face
while providing the nation’s defense as
volunteers.
Military personnel costs, described
as “burgeoning” and making up nearly
half the Pentagon’s budget, are in fact
approximately 30 percent of the budget
as they have been for the past 30 years.
The growth in those costs that “must
be tamed” is in fact a ten-year catch up
effort enacted by Congress to close a pay
gap that had grown to 14 percent.
Parity has been achieved and that
growth will level off.
Pay and benefits must be competitive because almost three of four recruitment-age Americans cannot qualify
for military service, and those left have
other career options.
If military pay and benefits are the
same as those of civilians, there is little
incentive to join an organization with the
inherent risks of military life.
One of the world’s richest nations can
afford a military compensation and benefits package that matches the dangers
and hardships its defense personnel must
endure.
Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret.
President
Association of the United States Army
elections and provide enduring security
to the villages,” 1st Lt. Joseph Brockbank, platoon leader, 1st Platoon, Palehorse Troop, said.
The elections have become an opportunity for the AUP to estimate just how
willing and involved the local population
will be in the democratic system of government.
In preparation they are assessing
where there is a concern for security and
conducting reconnaissance missions at
each polling site to ensure its safety.
“Elections are important for unifying the nation of Afghanistan, and getting more people involved means more
[building] faith in the government we are
trying to support over here,” said Brockbank.
Adding, “The more people feel safe
about voting, and the more people that
come out to vote, are clear indications of
the stability of the government and the
confidence people have in the government.”
Afghan police at each checkpoint
welcomed the troopers, prepared fresh
chai tea and sat down with them to discuss local operations.
After each sit-down, the troopers and
AUP set out on a foot-patrol from the
designated security checkpoint to the
next one.
The AUP and the National Directorate
of Security, or NDS, of Afghanistan, are
in the lead for information gathering during military operations in the country as
well as for security operations.
“The Alamo Scout series is really our
partnering with the Dand District AUP
and NDS,” Capt. Ryan Yaun, commander, Outlaw Troop, said.
“They really lead and drive all the
intelligence with everything we do out
here. We just assist them with any security needs. We go out to all the checkpoints
and partner and do dismounted patrols in
and around the village population centers based off what the AUP and NDS
see where they want that partnership in
the villages,” he added.
The Alamo Scout mission went as
planned and the AUP look forward to
working with the troops again in the future.
“We spoke to them about doing this
again and they told us we can come anytime we want and really continue to partner,” Yaun said.
Adding, “Their policemen really enjoy working with our soldiers, so I kind
of think it starts at the smaller level. The
more we continue to work with them,
that’s going to continue to develop.”
February 2014 q AUSA NEWS 3
Cyberspace warriors graduate, awarded Army’s newest MOS
Wilson A. Rivera
Public Affairs Office
Fort Gordon, Ga.
T
he network is under attack!
Cyber attacks are a daily reality
and are growing in sophistication
and complexity.
How does the Army keep pace with this
evolving threat and defend its network?
Fifteen soldiers made history when
they were awarded the newest Army military occupational specialty (MOS), – 25D
– cyber network defender, during a graduation ceremony held in Alexander Hall,
Fort Gordon, Ga.
Soldiers completed a 14-week course,
considered rigorous for its curriculum,
to learn the skills needed to meet the demand for cyber warfare.
“Cyberspace is composed of hundreds
of thousands interconnecting computers, servers, routers, switches, fiber optic
cables which allow our critical infrastructure to work,” said Command Sgt. Maj.
Ronald S. Pflieger, regimental sergeant
major for the U.S. Army Signal Center of
Excellence and Fort Gordon.
Pflieger was the guest speaker for the
first-ever graduating class for the Cyber
Network Defender course.
He added, “A functional and healthy
cyberspace is essential to our economy
and national security.”
He also noted, “With the need for educated individuals to defend our network,
so does the need to engage cyberspace.”
Through the establishment of the new cyber network defender, 25D MOS, there were
changes made to the classification and structure among the 25 career management field
series for communications and information
systems operation with other MOS revisions
Graduates of the Cyber Network Defender course wait to receive their certificates and be awarded the newest Army military occupational
speciality, 25D, during a ceremony at Alexander Hall, Fort Gordon, Ga. (Photo Credit: Bill Bengston, Fort Gordon Public Affairs Office)
– information technology specialist, 25B; radio operator-maintainer, 25C; and telecommunications operator chief, 25W.
Significant changes to the 25 career
management field identify the positions
and personnel to perform duties with cyber
network defense, and selected functions
for cyber network defender MOS positions
transferred from previous MOS positions
associated with cyber network defense.
Major duties a cyber network defender
will perform include protecting, monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding
to unauthorized cyberspace domain actions;
deployment and administration of computer
network defense infrastructures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems and more.
Soldiers are also tasked to take action
to modify information systems, computer
network configurations in regard to computer network threats and collect data to
analyze events and warn of attacks.
Cyber network defenders will be
trained to perform assessments of threats
and vulnerabilities within the network environment, conduct network damage assessments, and develop response actions.
Increases in cyberspace operations
training continue in key Army leader education programs.
“A gap was identified within the noncommissioned officers’ career field,”
Pflieger said. “The next step was to identify the right soldiers.”
Staff sergeants interested in becoming
a cyber network defender must meet the
requirements, such as having a minimum
of four years information technology experience, and an Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery of 105 in both General
Technical and Skilled Technical scores.
They also must be a U.S. citizen, complete an in-service screening, and have a
recommendation from their battalion or
higher.
AUSA opposes 1-percent COLA reduction for military retirees
No gain
without pain
Gen.GordonR.Sullivan,USA,Ret.
President
Association of the U.S. Army
A
USA, with your help, has fought
since the beginning of sequestration to end the arbitrary, cookiecutter approach to deficit reduction.
Now, along with you, we will fight
with equal vigor to undo the provision
of the new law that creates an enormous
penalty for current and future military retirees who protect and defend this nation.
We will work with the many members of Congress who agree with us to
eliminate the working-age COLA reduction before its implementation in 2015.
There is an old saying that there is no
gain without pain.
That saying certainly applies to the
budget deal which was passed by the Senate Dec. 13.
With the passage
of the budget deal, we
have made inroads into
the nightmare that is
sequestration.
We have restored
budget certainty for
the Army for the next
two years and allowed for appropriations legislation that will provide much
more financial flexibility within Army
accounts.
Message from
the President
The Army will gain some significant
budgetary advantage and certainty from
the legislation but at a significant cost –
the 1 percent COLA reduction for working-age military retirees.
AUSA opposes that reduction and will
work beginning now to get that provision
of the budget deal repealed.
The administration and Congress have
always vowed that any changes to the military compensation and benefits package
would be grandfathered for the current force.
The budget deal breaks that vow and targets a group within a group, creating some
retirees who are paying the price for the
deal and others who are not – to say nothing of currently serving soldiers who,
when they retire will be penalized as well.
This change in the retirement system is a breach of faith and a devastating financial blow to an earned deferred compensation component.
Those currently serving will look at
how current retirees are treated and, as
the economy improves, will vote with
their feet and retention of battle-tested
soldiers will diminish and national security will suffer.
Please go to our website, www.ausa.
org, click on the “Contact Congress”
link, enter your zip code, and send the
AUSA-suggested letter titled Repeal
the Military Retiree COLA Cut.
Help AUSA continue to be
the Voice for America’s Army
T
he Institute of Land Warfare
(ILW), the educational arm of
AUSA, publishes papers and
Torchbearers that educate the
Administration, Congress and the
general public on issues directly affecting
America’s Army and our Soldiers.
AUSA Online
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[email protected]
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[email protected]
The printing of these papers costs money
and ILW, as a non-profit, must depend
on contributions. Help ILW continue to
ensure that America has the strongest
Army possible and that our Soldiers
are taken care of.
For more information, please contact
Millie Hurlbut at 703-907-2679 or
[email protected].
Web site
AUSA is on
facebook
Visit the AUSA Web site on the Internet and find the latest happenings
in ARMY Magazine, AUSA NEWS, Association membership and chapter activities, the Institute of Land Warfare, symposia and meetings and
on Capitol Hill – tracking legislation that affects national defense, the
Total Army and the men and women who serve – and their families.
www.ausa.org
Published by Association of the United States
Army, a non-profit educational association.
Publication, Editorial and Executive offices:
Post Office Box 1560,
Arlington, VA 22201-0860
Telephone: (703) 841-4300
Reprinting of material appearing in the AUSA
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Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret.
President
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and no such representations, warranties or endorsements should be implied or inferred from the appearance of the advertisements in this publication. The advertisers are soley responsible for the contents of such
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□□ AUSA NEWS, (ISSN 1075-458X) published monthly. Volume 37, Number 4. Subscription: $5.00 a
year ($4.00 a year for AUSA members). Publication offices: Association of the United States Army, 2425
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changed by orders, it is to be forwarded without payment of additional postage. See Section F020.2.6,
9.75X11.75.indd 1
12/17/13 12:29 PM
1-pecent COLA cut for military retirees is ill-advised provision
Capital
Focus
Julie Rudowski
Assistant Director
Government Affairs
AUSA needs you!! A last minute budget agreement passed by Congress included a provision that would
negatively affect the calculation of the
Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for
under-age-62 military retirees.
The bill would require a 1-percent
reduction in COLA for military retirees
until they reach age 62.
As you can imagine, this ill-advised
provision has created a firestorm.
In addition to meetings on Capitol
Hill with lawmakers determined to repeal the provision, AUSA President Gen.
Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., has also
sent letters to all members of Congress
outlining his strong opposition to the
provision and urging them to repeal it.
Sullivan’s letter said, “Both the Administration and the Congress have stated
repeatedly that any changes to the military
compensation and benefits package would
be grandfathered for the currently-serving
force and for current retirees.
“The Budget Act provision flies in the
face of that pledge and breaks faith with
those who have served their nation for 20
years and with those who will retire in the
future, who until now had the expectation
of a full COLA adjustment each year to
match calculated inflation.
“As the economy rights itself, this devastating blow to an earned deferred compensation benefit will be an enormous
disincentive for retention of battle-tested
military personnel. Those currently serving will look at how today’s retirees are
treated and will leave active duty, diminishing leadership in our defense forces
and weakening our national security.”
It is critical that you add your voice to his.
Visit our website, www.ausa.org, click
on the Contact Congress link, enter your zip
code, and send the AUSA-suggested letter titled “Repeal the Military Retiree COLA Cut.”
Defense Authorization Bill
clears Congress. President signs. The
regular order for passage of the defense
authorization bill is for each chamber to
pass a bill, appoint negotiators to work
out the differences and then agree on a final bill that the president will sign.
Once again, regular order failed.
Yes, Congress did manage to hammer
out a final agreement and, yes, the president did sign it into law. But again this
year, it was far from the normal process.
The House passed their version of the
bill way back in June.
The Senate Armed Services Committee
worked together and passed their version at
the same time; however, the full Senate could
not get its act together and pass a final version.
Accordingly, defense leaders from the
House and Senate combined parts of the
House bill and the one approved by the
Senate Armed Services Committee.
Instead of a formal conference committee process, the compromise bill was
passed by each chamber without any consideration of amendments.
As a result, many of AUSA’s top priorities
were never brought to the floor for debate.
This means that we will continue to
fight for issues such as full concurrent receipt and an end to the Survivor Benefit
Plan (SBP)/Dependency and Indemnity
Compensation (DIC) offset.
The bottom line is that we did get an
authorization bill for fiscal 2014, and,
along with our partners in The Military
Coalition, were successful in our fight
against administration proposals to increase or establish new TRICARE fees.
The bill authorizes $526.8 billion for
the Defense Department’s base budget;
$80.7 billion for overseas contingency operations – mainly the war in Afghanistan
– and $17.6 billion for national security
programs within the Energy Department.
The bill also:
Provides a 1-percent pay raise for
service members.
Includes over 30 provisions or reforms to the Uniform Code of Military
Justice related to combatting sexual assault in the military.
Directs that the operational reserves receive a minimum 180 day
notification before the cancellation of
a deployment and a minimum 120 day
notification before a deployment.
Authorizes the commander of U.S.
Special Forces Command to provide additional family support services to U.S. Special Operations Forces and their families.
Facilitates the development of
more functional, lighter, and more protective body armor.
Recognizes that the formula for
calculating allowable private sector
compensation on DoD contracts has
become dysfunctional and does little to
protect the taxpayer or provide transparency in government contracting.
The NDAA rationalizes the cap
to $625,000 and does away with the
flawed formula.
Prohibits DoD from initiating another round of BRAC.
Provides additional funding for
Abrams tank upgrades and heavy equipment improved recovery vehicles.
Allows military retirees and family members to return to TRICARE
Prime if they choose.
AUSAWinter Symposium in Huntsville features veterans’hiring event
T
he Association of the United States
Army (AUSA) has partnered with
the American Freedom Foundation to host the second Warriors To The
Workforce Hiring Event for veterans, in
conjunction with Still Serving Veterans,
to be held at the 2014 AUSA Winter Symposium and Exposition.
This one-of-a-kind event, to be held
Feb. 19 – 21, 2014, at the Von Braun
Center in Huntsville, Ala., is part of the
American Freedom Foundation’s nationwide initiative to help veterans find jobs.
The first event was held at the AUSA
2013 Annual Meeting and Exposition at
the Walter E. Washington Convention
Center was a great success according to
the hundreds of veterans who participated
in this new program.
The hiring event in Huntsville will
also bring together major companies from
throughout the country to profile their services and provide employment opportunities for veterans.
Veterans attending the Winter Symposium and Exposition have the opportunity
to talk with employers, submit qualifications and even participate in job interviews on the spot.
from combat operations in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility.
To learn more, visit www.warriorstotheworkforce.net and www.ausameetings.org/winter
To download a PDF of the Warriors To The
Workforce brochure, visit http://bit.ly/IAENaX
To Register for Warriors To The Workforce, visit http://bit.ly/1bOX38j
Event Partners
Veterans and those about to retire take part in the very successful Warriors to the Workforce Hiring Event at the 2013 AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington.
A second event will take place Feb. 19 – 21 at the Association’s Winter Symposium at
the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Warriors To The Workforce is unique terviewing techniques, job searching, career
in that the American Freedom Founda- planning through goal setting, translating
tion will vet out resumes and match those military skills and training into civilian life
qualified veterans, transitioning military and corporate experience, among others.
Attendance at the Warriors To The Workservice members and spouses with emforce Hiring Event is free and open to veterployers with specific job descriptions.
In addition to the hiring event, Warriors ans, military service members and spouses.
The 2014 AUSA Winter Symposium
To The Workforce will include workshops
for veterans each day providing resources and Exposition will focus on preparing
and information on subjects such as mental the Army for an unpredictable global sereadiness, confidence building, networking curity environment to the year 2020 and
and presentation skills, resume writing, in- beyond – while continuing the transition
American Freedom Foundation –
www.americanfreedomfoundation.org
AUSA – www.ausa.org
SourceAmerica™ – www.sourceamerica.org
GES – www.ges.com
Still Serving Veterans – www.
stillservingveterans.org
Media Contacts
Ted Hacker
American Freedom Foundation, Inc.
[email protected]
(615) 330-9394
David Liddle
AUSA
[email protected]
(703) 907-2613
9.75X11.75.indd 1
12/23/13 8:17 AM
Housing 1 Source program helps newly assigned soldiers and families
Sgt. Maj. of the Army
Kenneth O. Preston, USA, Ret.
Director, Noncommissioned officer
and Soldier Programs
G
reetings from the Association
of the United States Army
(AUSA), our Army’s and our
soldiers’ professional organization.
Special thanks to the Alamo Chapter in San Antonio for hosting my visit
to their wonderful city and the historic
Fort Sam Houston in December.
The chapter and Housing 1 Source
of San Antonio hosted an evening social for all corporate sponsors.
The event gave me the opportunity
to meet and speak to all the organizations that support the chapter and all
our soldiers and their families.
Maj. Gen. Russell J. Czerw, USA,
Ret. and the Housing 1 Source leadership gave me a tour of their facilities
and their mission.
Housing 1 Source is the best soldier
and family sponsorship program for
newly assigned personnel I have ever
seen.
They are a one-stop shop for housing, utilities, schools and everything
new families need to integrate into the
local communities.
My remarks to the corporate sponsors centered on the current drawdown of the Army and the fiscal impacts of sequestration and the recent
government shutdown.
Historically, our Army has gone
through draw-down events after every
major conflict in the last 150 years, but
this transition is different.
Globally, the world is still very unstable and we face an uncertain future.
For the Army, this challenge is multiplied with the fiscal absence of a defense budget and sequestration.
Quality-of-life programs for soldiers, retired soldiers, Army civilians
and their families will face significant
impacts.
For all of the members of AUSA
and those corporate sponsors who seek
opportunities to help our warriors, this
is a window of opportunity.
A long time ago in an Army prior
to 9/11, budgets were tight, especially
for quality of life programs, and commanders at all levels embraced their
volunteers.
All of you are volunteers and you
want nothing more than to help.
Now is the time to reach out to all
commanders and senior leaders to help
them understand the untapped assets in
their community and seek out opportunities to do more with less.
Sgt. Maj. of the Army Ken Preston, USA, Ret, left, rides newly named horse ‘Preston,’ while U.S. Army North and Fort Sam
Houston command sergeant major, Hu Rhodes, rides ‘Van Autreve,’ named for the fourth sergeant major of the Army, Leon
Van Autreve.
Thanks to Command Sgt. Maj. Hu
Rhodes, the Army North CSM, and Parry
Delozier for hosting my visit to Fort Sam
Houston.
One of the great highlights of the trip
was spending about 90 minutes with all
the officer and noncommissioned officer
leaders of Army North in a leadership
professional development forum.
The audience included young team
leaders who have responsibility for their
piece of the Army, two or three soldiers;
to platoon leaders and sergeants; to senior leaders in command and staff positions.
Leaders want to know what they can
do to be competitive for promotions and
key assignments as the Army gets smaller.
The older group of leaders wanted to
know how to prepare for transition into
the civilian workforce.
Others just wanted to know more
about sequestration and the subsequent
impacts on the Army.
All of these questions were expected
and it is important for all of us to reassure our troops that we will get through
this period of angst just as we have done
many times in the past.
We have the greatest Army in the
world right now and when the dust settles, we will still have the greatest Army
in the world because we have the greatest soldiers.
I referenced a point made by the Vice
Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. John F.
Campbell, when he told the soldiers and
noncommissioned officers at the Best
Warrior Competition Awards Ceremony
to let him and the Army leadership worry
about money and budgets and for young
leaders to focus on training their soldiers.
It is the young adaptive leaders who
seek out and focus on opportunities to
train their soldiers during these lulls in
garrison who will demonstrate the potential to serve in positions of increased
responsibility in the future.
I attended the change of responsibility ceremony for the Installation Management Command (IMCOM) where Lt.
Gen. Michael Ferriter hosted the transition between Command Sgt. Maj. Earl
L. Rice and Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey
S. Hartless.
For all of us here at AUSA, we wish
Rice and his family the greatest success
as he begins his transition for retirement
and the next chapter in their lives.
We wish Hartless the greatest success as he assumes one of the most demanding positions in the Army as the
IMCOM CSM.
Before departing Fort Sam Houston
I visited the Caisson Platoon where one
of the horses was named in my honor.
I was very honored and humbled by
this recognition.
The ceremony gave me the opportunity to say thanks to this small group of
soldiers who perform one of the most
important and dignified missions for
our fallen warriors.
Last year this group of soldiers participated in more than 1,200 funerals.
With many of the soldiers supporting these funerals coming from detailed
units across the installation, this small
unit is instrumental in helping with the
training and preparation to ensure each
funeral is a success and a treasured
memory for family and friends.
Now more than ever America’s
Army needs AUSA and AUSA needs
your membership support.
Still Serving, Still Saluting!
9.75X11.75.indd 1
12/17/13 12:25 PM
Cost of LivingAllowance 1-percent reduction hurts retired military personnel
View from
the Hill
Bill Loper
Director
Government Affairs
A
USA has been leading the fight to
end the draconian cuts in defense
spending caused by sequestration
and to mitigate the devastating effect it has
had on national security, military readiness, modernization and procurement.
Late last month, Republicans and
Democrats finally worked together and
produced a bill designed to break the
stranglehold that sequestration has had on
the Department of Defense.
The legislation restores budget certainty for the Army for the next two years and
paves the way for appropriations legislation that will provide much more financial
flexibility within Army accounts.
The Army will gain some significant
budgetary advantage and certainty from
the legislation.
However, there is a provision in the bill
that will negatively affect the calculation
of the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)
for under-age-62 military retirees!
It requires a 1-percent reduction in
COLA for military retirees until they
reach age 62.
It effectively targets a group within
a group, creating some retirees who are
paying the price for the deal and others
who are not – to say nothing of currently
serving soldiers who – when they retire –
will be penalized as well.
Both the administration and Congress
have said repeatedly that any changes to
the military compensation and benefits
package would be grandfathered for the
current force, so we and our Military Coalition partners are fighting hard to remove this outrageous provision.
Here are some of the things we are doing to fight it:
AUSA President Gen. Gordon R.
Sullivan, USA, Ret., and I met with Sen.
Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., in her office.
She is one of several senators leading
the fight to identify alternative funding
to replace the provision. In addition to
meeting with her, we visited with Sens.
Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Lindsey Graham,
R-S.C.; Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; and Jeff
Sessions, R-Ala.
We also conferred with professional
staff from the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
Sullivan and I joined other members
of The Military Coalition at a press conference held by Senators Graham, Wicker
and Ayotte.
All attending agreed to work together
to ensure this provision is repealed before
it takes effect in December 2015.
In fact, the members would like to see
it repealed before the budget law takes effect in mid-January.
AUSA completely supports this.
Sullivan and I also dropped by the
offices of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich.,
and Ranking Member James Inhofe, ROkla., to deliver letters from to both leaders that clearly outlines our position.
Sullivan is sending 538 similar letters to all other members of Congress urging a bipartisan solution to this breach of
faith with military personnel.
AUSA, with your help, has fought
since the beginning of sequestration to
end the arbitrary, cookie cutter approach
to deficit reduction.
Now, along with you, we will fight
with equal vigor to undo the provision
of the new law that creates an enormous
penalty for current and future military retirees who protect and defend this nation.
Please click here, enter your zip code,
and send the AUSA-suggested letter titled
“Repeal the Military Retiree COLA Cut.”
The good news is that we have time
to fix this and we will not stop until it is
fixed! Do your part to help and send a letter to your members of Congress.
There is some other news on the legislative front.
At last the FY 2014 Defense Authorization Bill has been voted and has been
signed by the president.
The bill includes a one percent basic pay
raise for military service members – less
than AUSA and its Military Coalition partners advocated, but at least a pay raise.
As AUSA urged, the Congress maintained the TRICARE fee increases at no
more than the cost of living increases
rather than the higher fee increases proposed by the administration.
Also by the time you read this, the second session of the 113th Congress will
have begun and the president’s State of
the Union address will be about to occur.
The Congress will be preparing to receive the budget request for FY 2015 in
early February.
One can only guess if Congress will
be able to complete the appropriations
process by the end of the fiscal year on
Sept. 30 since this fiscal year still is being funded by a continuing resolution four
months into the year.
If the past few years are any indication,
it is not likely that the new congress will
do any better.
Apparently nine months is just not
long enough to birth money, especially
when you factor in the President’s Day recess, the Spring recess, the Memorial Day
recess, the July Fourth recess, and the August recess which, in essence, reduce the
nine months to six months.
Regardless of the speed with which
Congress marches, AUSA will be offering testimony, making visits to members
of Congress, and joining with the many
other organizations in The Military Coalition – all to make our voice for the soldier
heard in the halls of the Capitol.
We will be working to promote enactment of legislation that will benefit our
membership.
There are many issues that remain:
Maintaining pay parity between the
military and civilian sectors.
Full concurrent receipt for all disabled retirees.
Ending the Survivor Benefit Plan/
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset for survivors.
Limiting increases in TRICARE
fees/deductibles to COLA increases.
Prohibiting TRICARE for Life enrollment fees.
Retaining the current retirement system.
Maintaining funded Army operational end strength sufficient to support
our national defense strategy, Joint Force
and Army mission requirements.
Maintaining assured access to the
reserve component.
Increasing funding for spare parts,
maintenance and training.
Full funding for resetting the Current Force.
Maintaining defense spending of at
least 4 percent of GDP/Army share of at
least 28 percent.
Providing pay and benefits for reserve component personnel and their
see page 17
Path to a healthy Army Organic Industrial Base is examined
Torchbearer
Issue Paper
Lt. Col. Frank Turner
AUSA Army Fellow
T
he Association of the United
States Army’s Institute of Land
Warfare (ILW) has recently released a new publication.
Titled “The Army’s Organic Industrial Base: Providing Readiness Today,
Preparing for Challenges Tomorrow”
(Torchbearer Issue Paper, December
2013), the paper explores the path to
sustaining a healthy Army Organic Industrial Base (AOIB) with the depth,
breadth and diversity needed to support
the joint warfighter – today and in the future – in an uncertain, complex national
security environment.
The AOIB consists of 23 geographically dispersed government ammunition
plants, manufacturing arsenals and maintenance depots that provide materiel and
equipment readiness to U.S. soldiers,
sailors, airmen and marines.
Many of these installations provide
one-of-a-kind capabilities that are difficult to rapidly replicate elsewhere.
Over the past decade, the AOIB has
reset the service life of millions of pieces
of equipment and manufactured billions of
rounds of ammunition and repair parts, delivering combat materiel readiness to men
and women in uniform and enabling them
to respond rapidly to national emergencies.
Additionally, many of the AOIB installations have deployed forward repair
activities (FRAs) overseas to support
U.S. maintenance requirements around
the world.
The health of the Army Organic Industrial Base is a key aspect for the United
States Army to retain the capacity and capability to conduct future contingencies.
As the Army shifts focus from wartime production to sustainment operations, it must ensure that critical capabilities are preserved in a way that will
allow rapid expansion when needed.
The Army developed the Army Organic Industrial Base Strategic Plan (AOIBSP) to chart a path for the future of its organic industrial base that considers risks
while providing cost-effective solutions.
The AOIBSP focuses on four key ar-
eas: capacity, capital investment, modernization and workload.
The Army needs timely and predictable funding to fully implement the AOIBSP. This will allow the AOIB to leverage best business practices; maintain
an experienced, skilled and specialized
workforce; make prudent investments in
modern, safe and capable infrastructure
and equipment; and ultimately provide
the capability for the joint force.
This Torchbearer Issue Paper may be
read in its entirety at http://www.ausa.
org/publications/ilw/DigitalPublications/Documents/tbip-aoib/index.html.
Other ILW publications are available
online at http://www.ausa.org/ilw, and
may also be obtained by calling (800)
336-4570, Ext. 4630, or by e-mailing a
request to [email protected].
Society of National Association Publications —
Award Winning Newspaper
SPECIAL REPORT: U.S. Army All-American Bowl 2014
February 2014
Athletes, soldiers, ROTC cadets meet at 2014Army bowl
The 2014 U.S. Army All-American Bowl East, left, and West teams gathering for group photos in their game day uniforms at the Alamodome in San Antonio. (Photo Credit:
Staff Sgt. Peter J. Beradi, 205th Press Camp Headquarters)
Staff Sgt. Peter Berardi
E
ast and West 2014 U.S. Army AllAmerican Bowl Teams met each
other on the field for the first time
at the Alamodome in San Antonio in early
January.
The American Family Insurance Dream
Challenge pits the East vs. West and six soldier mentors against each other in multiple
events including quarterback throws, a sled
push and an obstacle course.
A variety of skills are tested as players go
through the challenges as a team, and only
East or West will prevail, said Doug Berman, chairman of the All-American Games.
Players were joined by some of the top
soldiers in the Army, who were there to
mentor them on the Army values and inform
them of the many paths the Army offers.
“It integrates some of our Army soldiers too, which is one of the things we
like doing here at the All-American
Bowl,” Berman said.
Maj. Gen. Jeff Smith, commander, U.S. Army Cadet Command and Fort Knox, Ky.,
presents an Army ROTC scholarship worth $150,000 to Colin Campbell. The scholarship will pay Colin’s four years of college at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Upon graduation, he will commission as an Army second lieutenant.
Adding, “It’s what makes it a very
unique event.”
“The players all have a very strong set
of values that parallel us in the military,
to get to where they have in their football
careers to this point,” Sgt. 1st Class David Stover, the 2013 Army drill sergeant
of the year, said.
“They’ve got the team work, the loyalty,
the duty, the selfless service, the same core
values that the Army builds off of and it’s an
amazing opportunity to see that,” he added.
After some group photos and talking
time, soldiers and players were ready to
get on the field together.
“It’s pretty cool getting to see [soldiers] out here running around with [students],” said Brian Allen, from Hinsdale
Central High School, Hinsdale, Ill., and
offensive lineman for the East Team.
He added, “It’s pretty special. I’m just
thankful for everything they do for us and
it’s good to get to hang out with them.”
Brig. Gen. Maria Gervais, deputy commander, U.S. Army Cadet Command and Fort
Knox, Ky., presents an award to Deionte Thompson for receiving the top evaluation
in the Army National Combine. Thompson, a high school junior who plays defensive
back, has committed to the University of Alabama.
High school athletes play to honor the Army, soldiers and veterans
Staff Sgt. Peter Berardi
S
election as a player for the 2014
U.S. Army All-American Bowl
is a prestigious honor for ath-
letes.
While only the strongest are chosen
to wear the Army colors, the players
have their own reasons to don the jersey
representing the Army.
Some players choose to participate
in the All-American Bowl over other
bowl games because it is the top high
school football game, pitting the best
players from the East against the best
from the West, while others see it as an
opportunity to honor those who have
served in the nation's largest fighting
force – the Army.
One West team player made his decision based on how well the event is
put together and the length of time the
players get to spend with each other.
“It’s an original bowl, I felt it was the
most well put together of all of them,”
said Bijhon Jackson, from El Dorado
High School in El Dorado, Ariz., and
defensive lineman for the West Team.
Adding, “We get more practice time
here than the other bowls, getting that
extra time to get in sync with guys that
you’ve known for a couple of days and
got more time to bond as friends. I felt
like this bowl was a better decision.”
A teammate based his decision on entirely different factors.
“I chose to play in the Army Bowl because it’s [about] a lot more. It’s not just
for you and your family and the honor of
being an All-American, it’s for the Army,”
said Dwight Williams, from Juniperro
Serra High School in Gardena, Calif., and
linebacker for the West Team.
He added, “They shed their blood and
give me the opportunity to out here and
do this and they put their lives on the line
and I just want to honor them.”
Regardless of why players chose to
participate in the 14th Annual U.S. AllAmerican Bowl, the climactic game of
East vs. West at the Alamodome in San
Antonio was enjoyed by the players and
family members, the armed forces and the
nation’s football fans.
Dwight Williams, from Juniperro Serra High School in Gardena, Calif., linebacker
for the 2014 U.S. Army All-American West Team, renders a salute in honor of all
members of the armed forces during a team pratice at Blossom Athletic Center in
San Antonio. (Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Peter Beradi)
Army ROTC cadets mentor and train high school band members
A
rmy ROTC Cadet Sarah Herrero, looking sharp in her Army
combat uniform, stands outside
one of five tourist buses lined up against
a curb in downtown San Antonio ready to
form a gaggle of students into something
worthy of representing the Army colors.
Herrero, who stands maybe a little over
five feet tall, seems to magically sprout several inches as she calls out names of high
school students lined up outside the bus.
The high school students, some still waking up from a long night, quickly board the
bus. They know who is in charge.
Herrero, who makes up for her size by
the take-charge attitude of her command
voice, later jokes that she can fit inside a
standard Army-issue duffle bag.
But, her job right now is no joking
matter as she takes this mission seriously.
She places great importance on taking
care of, and mentoring, this bus full of
color guard members.
The members, representing the nation’s
best, will perform during halftime at the
2014 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Held annually in San Antonio’s Alamodome, the bowl brings in 90 of the
nation’s football players in a classic East
vs. West match-up every January.
If the AAB represents top football talent, the Army All-American Marching
Band represents the nation’s best high
school marching bands. This band is the
equivalent of football players being selected by the NFL for “band kids.”
Army ROTC Cadet Sarah Herrero, a senior at Texas Tech, talks with color guard members
of the Army All-American Band. (Photo Credit: Vickey Mouze, U.S. Army Cadet Command)
Participating in the color guard and
rifle sections are an integral part of the
halftime show.
The U.S. Army All-American Marching Band has been a fixture at the bowl
since 2008.
During bowl week, 125 band members
receive instruction from top collegiate,
high school drum and bugle corps instructors from across the country as well
as educational sessions with members of
the U.S. Army Field Band.
Herrero, along with other cadets who are
band alumni, also act as mentors. Each cadet
draws on their skills and experience when
working with the current band members.
Herrero has extensive performance experience. Hailing from San Antonio, she
attended John Jay Science and Engineering
Academy in San Antonio where she was a
member of the marching band and served as
color guard captain during her senior year.
Later, in 2009, Herrero was a member
of the U.S. Army All-American Marching
Band Color Guard. She has served as an
ROTC mentor for the Army All-American Marching Band since 2010.
She has been a member of the 2007 Revolution Drum and Bugle Corps Color guard.
Also, she was in San Antonio’s Cross-
men Drum and Bugle Corps Color Guard
in 2008, 2009 and 2011, and aged out as
its color guard captain in 2012.
Herrero is currently working toward a
Bachelor of Science degree in university
studies with concentrations in mathematics, chemistry and general business at
Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
She will graduate in May and commission
as an Army second lieutenant in the summer.
While at Texas Tech, she has worked
as a research assistant for the department
of chemistry on a project involving biodiesel fuels and has also been active in
community service projects.
She was selected to be the Texas Tech
University Corps of Cadets Ranger Challenge commander in 2011 and 2012,
bringing home first place trophies from
5th Army ROTC Brigade both years in
the female and coed divisions.
Another band alumnus, Cadet Justin
Ahn brings similar experience to the band.
A student at New York University, Ahn is
enrolled as a junior in ROTC at Fordham
University. He is majoring in politics and
would like to work in the Army’s civil affairs field as a commissioned officer.
Ahn is a relative newcomer to the band
and played clarinet in 2011.
ROTC experience includes competing in ROTC’s annual Ranger Challenge,
belonging to his battalion’s color guard
and the Pershing Rifles. His hometown is
Hamden, Conn.
see next page
Top-ranking linebacker Shaun Hamilton plays ‘extra hard’forArmy dad
Yalonda Wright
U.S. Army Recruiting Command
A
labama golden boy Shaun
Hamilton will joined the ranks
of great All-American linebackers at the 14th Annual U.S. Army
All-American Bowl.
Hamilton, a linebacker at Carver High
School in Montgomery, Ala., recently
committed to the University of Alabama.
He is ranked the number six linebacker in the ESPN300, 56th in the region and seventh in the state.
Not only is he a top-ranking athlete, but
is also carrying a 4.0 grade point average.
For more than a decade, the colors of
the U.S. Army have heralded the premier
high school football game in the nation,
showcasing athletes like Hamilton who
represent the Army values not just on the
field, but in all aspects of life.
“I remember back in the ninth grade,
me and my brother were working out and
watching the Army All-American game
and he said that if I worked hard and
stayed ‘prayed up,’ it would be me playing in that game one day,” Hamilton said.
Adding, “Now, I am here and a lot of
hard work has gone into this.”
Hamilton has an even closer connection to the Army.
His father, Lt. Col. Shelton D. Hamilton,
has served more than 20 years in the Army
Reserve, with two tours in Afghanistan.
“It is an awesome honor, with me being in the Army,” said Shelton Hamilton.
He added, “Shaun has a work habit that
makes him special. When he first started
working toward this goal, he would get up
at five o’clock in the morning and go work
out in the park four days a week from the
end of football season until February. That
is just the kind of kid that he is.”
By recruiting the nation’s best qualified
men and women, the Army is committed
to selecting and developing youth who will
become Army Strong, exhibit Army Strong
values and will remain Army Strong members of their communities.
Hamilton and the more than 200 players represent that strength, matching the
All-American Bowl messaging campaign,
“Only the strongest wear our colors.”
“I am going to play extra hard and with
a chip on my shoulders knowing that he
[Shaun’s dad] is a lieutenant colonel in
the Army and he is serving our country,”
Hamilton said.
Shaun Hamilton, a linebacker for the U.S. Army All-American East Team is pictured here during his jersey presentation ceremony at Carver High School, Montgomery, Ala. (Photo Credit: Courtesy photo)
ROTC Cadet Travis Watson ‘marshalls’athletes atArmy bowl combine
Vickey Mouze
U.S. Army Cadet Command
L
ike a seasoned leader, Travis
Watson is barking out orders,
moving back and forth and gesturing all at once as he directs a group
of high school football players on the
field in the Alamodome in San Antonio.
“Put your toe ON the white line, not
OVER the white line or BEHIND the
white line,” he said.
Satisfied, he jots down the players’
names and corresponding jersey numbers as he moves down the line.
Right now, Watson is making sure
that the football players are in the right
place at the right time.
He is one of 20 ROTC cadets out on
the field who, as marshals, are each in
charge of a group.
Watson draws on his college football
experience as he mentors these under-
Band
from previous page
Cadet Andre Racanelli, who is majoring in anthropology at James Madison
University, is in ROTC’s Simultaneous
Membership Program (SMP).
He is a private first class in the Virginia
National Guard. He said he entered the
classmen who are participating in the U.S.
Army National Combine.
“I understand them and can coach
them up,” Watson said during a break.
He played five years as a center at Sam
Houston State University.
The combine focuses on measuring
speed, strength, quickness, and football skill,
while also providing educational seminars
touching on the recruiting process, speed
and strength improvement, and leadership.
Held annually in association with the
U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the combine
gives the nation’s top 500 underclassmen a
chance to demonstrate their physical talent
and compete against one another before top
scouting organizations, as well as the AllAmerican Bowl Selection Committee.
If Watson looks like a natural when
leading people, it is because he is already
an experienced leader off the field.
He is an Army ROTC cadet in ROTC’s
Simultaneous Membership Program at
Sam Houston State University.
He is also an infantryman in Company
B, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment,
72nd Brigade Combat Team, 36th Infantry
Division, Texas Army National Guard.
Watson said football and the Army are
a lot alike.
“The biggest thing that carries over
from football to the Army is the leadership aspect, discipline, structure and
making decisions in adverse situations,” he said.
His long-term goal is to join Special
Forces so he can embed with local nationals.
To reach that goal, he has completed
a bachelor’s degree in political science
with a minor in history and Middle
Eastern studies. Soon, he will begin a
master’s in homeland security.
He also studied abroad in Jordan as
an undergrad and plans to improve his
Arabic.
While those goals are still a ways
off, he is excited right now to lead as an
infantry officer.
“I’ve always known I wanted to be a
foot soldier, to be in the infantry.”
As for today, Watson is able to share
his passion for football and the Army
with up and coming scholar athletes.
SMP so he could get some enlisted experience before commissioning through ROTC
as an officer. He is currently a sophomore.
Racanelli played tenor drums in 2012
in the band and is now serving as a band
mentor for the second time.
He, along with the other cadet mentors, said the most important thing they
had learned from their band experience
is that a person gets out of life based on
what they put into it.
“I played my heart out on that [football] field in front of 40,000 people at the
2012 game,” Racanelli said. “That that
was one of the proudest and most fulfilling moments of my life.”
Each cadet spoke about how they have
drawn from their ROTC experience to
be the best they can be, either in ROTC,
band or color guard.
They all said that ROTC has made them
become better leaders and look forward to
mentoring soldiers one day, just as they are
mentoring high school students now.
“We’re responsible for the best of the
best high school musicians and performers,”
Herrero said. “We owe our best to them.”
ROTC Cadet Travis Watson jots down notes
at the Army National Combine. (Photo Credit:
Vickey Mouze, U.S. Army Cadet Command)
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Wear Blue – Run to Remember honors fallen heroes of Iraq,Afghanistan
AUSA
Family Programs
Peter Slavin
O
ne of the 26 miles covered by
the giant Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., is
very different than the rest.
For many who take part in or watch
the event, nothing is as moving as the
Wear Blue Mile. This is mile 13, where
the 30,000 or so runners pass posters
showing the names and faces of hundreds of men and women who lost their
lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mile 13 is also lined with hundreds
of family members, friends, service
members, and others silently displaying large American flags bearing black
streamers with the names of the fallen.
Some runners are left in tears.
The mile is organized by Wear Blue–
Run to Remember, an all-volunteer outfit started four years ago by two Army
wives, Lisa Hallett and Erin O’Connor,
at Fort Lewis, Wash., to honor the fallen
in the nation’s two recent wars. Hallett
had just lost her husband, Capt. John
Hallett, in Afghanistan.
Wear Blue’s estimated 5,000 members wear shirts with a wide footprint
on the back inscribed “For the Fallen,
for the Fighting, for the Family.”
Many members also imprint the
names of particular deceased service
members.
Since its founding, Wear Blue has
continued to spread in both the military
and civilian communities, with chapters at Fort Bragg, Redstone Arsenal,
and Joint Base Lewis McChord, and
informal “meet-ups” have begun at 20
to 30 other Army installations.
Part of what Wear Blue does, explains Hallett, is “challenge people to
run distances and speeds further and
faster than they thought possible.
For some people, that challenge starts
at three miles, and for others that means
tackling their first double marathon!”
When AUSA’s Family Readiness
director, Patty Barron, traveled to the
Fort Lewis area in 2012, she was taken
to a Wear Blue run and met Hallett.
Barron was impressed and could relate
to Hallett’s story, because she had lost
her father suddenly at age five in an automobile accident.
Barron invited Hallett to speak at
AUSA’s Annual Meeting that fall.
AUSA also sponsored Wear Blue’s
participation at the Army Ten-Miler,
Army wives Lisa Hallett, who lost her husband John in Afghanistan, and Erin
O’Connor founded Wear Blue four years ago at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.,
and ran this year’s Army Ten-Miler and the Marine Corps Marathon.
enabling it to have a Hooah Tent and
thereby increase its presence and people’s
awareness of Wear Blue.
Barron calls Wear Blue “a celebration
of life as well as a reminder of the fallen.”
Wear Blue members flock each year to
the Army Ten-Miler, the Marine Corps Marathon and the Seattle Rock ‘n Roll Marathon
and Half-Marathon and thousands turn out
for local Memorial Day runs.
But the heart of Wear Blue are the less
glamorous training runs on Saturdays,
always preceded by a circle of remembrance.
Runners gather and call out the names
of every service member who died on that
weekend since the wars began in Iraq and
Afghanistan. By the end of the year, every
soldier, marine, sailor, or airman who died
in either war will have been remembered.
Runners can also call out and honor
the name of friends or family from any
era who died in a conflict.
For civilians looking beyond words
like “Thank you for your service” to do
something tangible for military families,
Wear Blue offers an opportunity.
“There’s nothing quite as easy,” says
Hallett, “as joining a circle of remembrance,
whether or not one wishes to run. “There is
a message spoken, without words, when we
stand in solidarity in the circle.”
Every week, Wear Blue demonstrates
it can draw different communities and different generations together.
On her Saturday mornings, Hallett
says she and her three young children
“stand side by side with active duty,
with other Gold Star Families, with
civilian members who support us …
and then we run.” Halfway through the
three mile route near Fort Lewis everyone passes through Patriot’s Landing, a
military retirement community, where
every week people stand by small flags
bearing the names of the fallen, cheer
the runners, and hand out water.
Hallett recalls Wear Blue’s first dinner of remembrance a few years ago.
A Vietnam Navy veteran came at the
urging of his daughter. There, she told
Hallett, he had encountered a Gold Star
mother, someone who has lived with
this loss. He didn’t know what to say.
Until then, coming back from Vietnam to an unfriendly reception had
haunted him, but now he realized the
worst thing was for someone not to
come home at all. The next week he
called his Vietnam buddies and arranged
their first reunion in 20 or 30 years.
Once together, they set up a recording studio and each of them told his
story of Vietnam. “It was” says Hallet
“a safe place to let it all out. “
Anyone can join Wear Blue by joining a meet-up or a chapter and going
on a run. At a simpler level, she says,
“someone can get involved with Wear
Blue by putting on a blue shirt and
making their steps purposeful.
“Our service members have given
all… it is powerful to take a moment,
to pause, and to be grateful and then to
live purposefully.”
To learn more, visit www.wearblueruntoremember.org.
Over 5,000 military and civilian runners now wear blue shirts that are inscribed on
the back: ‘For the Fallen, For the Fighting, For the Family.’
CAPITOL HILL UPDATE
Bills AUSA is currently tracking
ACTIVE DUTY/GUARD & RESERVE ISSUES
House Action
H.R. 55 (Prioritize Military Pay)
Cosponsors: 13
• Prioritizes pay and allowances to members of the Armed
Forces in the event the debt ceiling is reached or there is a
funding gap.
• Introduced by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.
• Referred to Committees: Armed Services; Judiciary;
Transportation and Infrastructure; Ways and Means
H.R. 690 (Reserve Retirement Deployment Credit
Correction Act)
Cosponsors: 35
• Modifiesthecalculationofdaysofactiveserviceused
to reduce the minimum age at which a member of the
National Guard or reserve may retire.
• Introduced by Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa
• Referred to Committee: Armed Services
Senate Action
S. 240 (Reserve Retirement Deployment Credit
Correction Act)
Cosponsors: 15
• Modifiesthecalculationofdaysofactiveserviceused
to reduce the minimum age at which a member of the
National Guard or reserve may retire.
• Introduced by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
VETERANS’ ISSUES
House Action
H.R. 241 (Veterans Timely Access to Health Care Act)
Cosponsors: 24
• Directs the secretary of Veterans’ Affairs to establish
standards of access to care for veterans seeking health
care from VA medical facilities.
• Introduced by Rep. Dennis A. Ross, R-Fla.
• Referred to Committees: Veterans’ Affairs
H.R. 357 (GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 50
• Requires courses of education provided by public institutions of higher education that are approved for purposes of
the educational assistance programs administered by the
secretary of Veterans’ Affairs to charge tuition and fees at
the in-state rate.
• Introduced by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla.
• Referred to Committee: Veterans’ Affairs
• Voted out of committee on June 3, 2013. Sent to
House floor for vote.
Senate Action
S. 6 (Putting Our Veterans Back to Work Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 25
• Reauthorizes the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to
provide assistance to small businesses owned by veterans
and improve enforcement of employment and reemployment rights of members of the uniformed services.
• Introduced by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
RETIREE ISSUES
House Action
H.R. 303 (Retired Pay Restoration Act)
Cosponsors: 81
• Permits additional retired members of the Armed Forces
who have a service-connected disability to receive both
disability compensation from the VA for their disability and
either retired pay by reason of their years of military service
or Combat-Related Special Compensation.
• Eliminates the phase-in period under current law with
respect to such concurrent receipt.
• Introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.
• Referred to Committees: Armed Services; Veterans’
Affairs
H.R. 333 (Disabled Veterans’ Tax Termination Act)
Cosponsors: 113
• Permits retired mmbers of the Armed Forces who have
a service-connected disability rated less than 50 percent
to receive concurrent payment of both retired pay and
veterans’ disability compensation
• Eliminates the phase-in period for concurrent receipt
• Extends eligibility for concurrent receipt to chapter 61
disability retirees with less than 20 years of service.
• Introduced by Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga.
• Referred to Committees: Armed Services;
Veterans’ Affairs
H.R. 738 (Healthcare for Early Retirement Eligible
Reservists Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 6
• Eliminates the requirement that certain former members
of the reserve components of the armed forces be at least
60 years of age in order to be eligible to receive health
carebenefits.
• Introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.
Senate Action
S. 234 (Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 20
• Permits certain retired members of the uniformed services
who have a service-connected disability to receive both
disability compensation from the VA and either retired pay
by reason of their years of military service or CombatRelated Special Compensation.
• Introduced by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
SURVIVOR ISSUES
House Action
H.R. 32 (SBP/DIC Offset)
Cosponsors: 186
• Repeals the requirement for reduction of survivor annuitiesundertheSurvivorBenefitPlantooffsetthereceiptof
veteran’s dependency and indemnity compensation.
• Introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.
H.R. 1770 (Equal Benefits under Survivor Benefit Plan
for Reserve Component Members)
Cosponsors: 9
• Amends Title 10, United States Code, to eliminate the
differenttreatmentundertheSurvivorBenefitPlanaccorded
members of the reserve components who die from an injury
or illness incurred or aggravated in the line of duty during
inactive-duty training compared to members of the armed
forces who die in the line of duty while on active duty.
• Introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah
Senate Action
S. 735 (Survivor Benefits Improvement Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 0
• Allows surviving spouses to remarry at age 55, consistent with other federal programs, without losing their VA
survivorbenefitstoincludeDependencyandIndemnity
Compensation (DIC) and health care.
• Introduced by Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.
HEALTH CARE ISSUES
House Action
H.R. 288 (CHAMPVA Children’s Protection Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 15
• Increases the maximum age for children eligible for medical care under the CHAMPVA program.
• Introduced by Rep. Michael H. Michaud, D-Maine
H.R. 574 (Medicare Physician Payment Innovation
Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 38
• Amends the Social Security Act to reform Medicare payments for physicians’ services by eliminating
the sustainable growth rate system and providing incentives for the adoption of innovative payment and delivery
modelstoimprovequalityandefficiency.
• Introduced by Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, D-Pa.
• Referred to Committees: Energy and Commerce;
House Ways and Means
H.R. 1971 (Keep Faith with TRICARE Prime Act)
Cosponsors: 38
• DirectsDoDtoprovidecertainTRICAREbeneficiarieswith
the opportunity to retain access to TRICARE Prime
• Introduced by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn.
SPOUSE/FAMILY ISSUES
House Action
H.R. 1620 (The Military Spouse Job Continuity Act)
Cosponsors: 100
• Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a credit
against income tax for amounts paid by a spouse of a
member of the armed forces for a new state license or
certificationrequiredbyreasonofapermanentchangein
the duty station of such member to another state.
• Introduced by Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
• Referred to Committee: Ways and Means
H.R. 1333 (Military Family Leave Act of 2013)
Cosponsors: 34
• Amends Title 38, United States Code, to grant family of
members of the uniformed services temporary annual
leave during a deployment.
• Introduced by Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
Senate Action
S. 759 (The Military Spouse Job Continuity Act)
Cosponsors: 19
• Allows a credit against income tax for amounts paid by
a spouse of a member of the armed forces for a new state
licenseorcertificationrequiredbyreasonofapermanent
change in the duty station of such member to
another state.
• Introduced by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
• Referred to Committee: Finance
OTHER
House Action
H.R. 293 (Army Combat Action Badge Eligibility)
Cosponsors: 2
• Expands retroactive eligibility of the Army
Combat Action Badge to include members of the Army
who participated in combat during which they personally
engaged, or were personally engaged by, the enemy at
any time on or after Dec. 7, 1941.
• Introduced by Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla.
PenFed Foundation Dream Makers program provides grants for soldiers
T
he Pentagon Federal Credit
Union Foundation (PenFed
Foundation), a nationally recognized nonprofit organization working to meet the unmet financial needs
of military members and their families,
announced Jan. 6 it helped more than
200 military families across 40 states
last year alone attain the dream of owning their first home through its Dream
Makers program by providing a recordbreaking $1 million in grants to cover
down payments and closing costs.
PenFed Foundation was the 2013
recipient of the newly established Association of the United States Army
National Service Award for “exemplary
service and demonstrated enduring support to the American soldier and the
United States Army community.”
The award was presented at the open-
COLA
from page 10
families that are commensurate with their
active duty counterparts.
These are just some of the legislative
issues that will be part of the AUSA agen-
ing session of the AUSA Annual Meeting
and Exposition in late October.
“Many families struggle to buy their
first home, but for military families it can
be even harder,” said Christopher Flynn,
president and CEO of the PenFed Foundation.
Adding, “From frequent moves around
the country and overseas to trouble saving
money for a down payment, members of
our armed services often have to postpone
this important milestone. Our Dream
Makers program helps bridge that gap.”
The program helps military families
who are first-time homebuyers purchase
their first home by offering grants for
down payments and closing costs.
Service members and veterans of all
branches of the military are eligible to apply
including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. Wid-
ows of service members are also eligible.
Other requirements include having a
gross annual income of $55,000 or less,
or 80 percent of area median income, adjusted for family size.
In order to receive a grant, the borrower
must also attend an approved first-time
homebuyer’s course by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“The Dream Makers program provides
an incredible opportunity for many military families who have sacrificed so much
to protect our nation to buy their very own
home,” Flynn noted.
Adding, “There are so many ways we
can thank the military community for
their service and sacrifice and this program is one of the best.”
To learn more about the PenFed Foundation’s Dream Makers program and apply online visit: http://www.penfedfoun-
dation.org/dream_index.
The PenFed Foundation is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization
working to meet the unmet financial
needs of military members and their
families through supporting wounded
warriors and providing the military
community with financial management
assistance and home ownership aid.
Through a unique public-private partnership, the PenFed Foundation joined
with the Department of Veterans Affairs
to fund the new Lee and Penny Anderson
Defenders Lodge, a $17 million project.
PenFed (Pentagon Federal Credit
Union) covers all labor expenses for the
foundation so nearly every dollar donated
goes directly to supporting its programs.
To make a donation or learn more
about the foundation visit: http://www.
penfedfoundation.org.
da for 2014.
In the next few months, as the legislative
session revs up, we will urge you to use the
prepared letters in the “Legislative Action
Center” of the AUSA website – www.ausa.
org – to speak out on issues of importance.
We will keep you informed through
AUSA NEWS and ARMY Magazine, as
well as through our electronic legislative
newsletter -which will arrive via e-mail
each week.
If you are not yet receiving the newsletter, just send an e-mail to jrudowski@
ausa.org.
The Directorate of Government Affairs hopes that you had a joyous holiday
season and are well on the way to a glorious New Year.
AUSA’s holiday gift to you is our promise to continue to be the Voice for the Army
providing Support for the Soldier.
nce
A Tradition of Excelle
TO BENEFIT SOLDIER FAMILY MWR PROGRAMS
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMY’S RACE
12-OCT-14
UPDATES
AT ARMYTENMILER.COM OR LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
Distribution of this announcement does not constitute endorsement by the Federal Government, the DoD or the Army.
Officer Candidate School (OCS) offers path to become an Army officer
I
owa native Kathryn Estep joined the
Army with the mindset of serving her
country and inspiring others.
The 23-year-old graduate from the University of North Dakota knew the Army
would fulfill her goal of helping build strong
leaders for the U.S. Army and America
while providing her with a solid career.
“I want to lead by example and show
that being strong can help you in all aspects of life,” Estep said.
Adding, “I knew I could come right
into the Army and have that stable career.”
Like many college graduates, Estep
joined the Army and pursued a spot at Officer Candidate School (OCS).
OCS is one of three paths to becoming an officer along with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and the
United States Military Academy at West
Point, N.Y.
College Option soldiers on the road
to becoming officers attend basic training and then go on to Officer Candidate
School at Fort Benning, Ga.
Here they undergo two phases to complete training that test and push their mental, physical and emotional limits during
the 12-week course.
Aspiring officers look to Officer Candidate School as a path that will challenge
them on a daily basis and provide a stable
career after they graduate the program
as second lieutenants and transition into
various positions within the Army.
“The challenges coming out of college
were I didn’t want to have any uncertainty,” said officer candidate Estep.
Adding, “I didn’t want to have a parttime job that didn’t actually benefit me.”
Joining the Army right out of college,
Estep was surprised and grateful for the
leadership opportunities she was provided.
“I’m twenty-three years old and the leadership we’ve taken on is very surprising because I’ve been a platoon sergeant in charge
of approximately 30 people,” she said.
To take the path and enter OCS as a
non-active duty solider requires certain
characteristics.
The OCS program recruits candidates
who understand team dynamics and have
management experience in different areas.
People from all backgrounds and skill
sets are appreciated as long as they have
shown leadership abilities and growth potential.
Capt. Richard Smothers, D Company
commander at Fort Benning, sees officer
candidates as future leaders who need to
be shaped and molded.
“They came here because they wanted
something more,” said Smothers.
“They wanted to lead and they wanted to do it in an environment that really
fosters growth. We are a very selective
group. We are the profession of arms, and
Delta Company soldiers at Officer Candidate School march to the field to begin their
missions at Fort Benning, Ga. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army Photo)
we’re not open to all,” he added.
The Army provides an active career
that is maintained through professional
development, training and routine physical fitness tests.
This type of career appeals to college
graduates seeking a journey in life that is
more than a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. routine.
“You’re challenged physically and
mentally,” said officer candidate Alexandra Bruer.
Adding, “That’s something you’re never
going to get working in Washington, D.C.,
at a desk job. You really learn to work under
pressure, work with deadlines and work with
a variety of different people.”
Bruer, a Cornell University graduate,
studied government in college and has an
interest in Middle Eastern politics.
Before joining the Army, she considered going the civilian route and was looking for positions related to the military.
With more research, Bruer realized
that the best way to work with the military was to join the Army and become a
soldier.
The first phase of Officer Candidate
School teaches leadership skills that build
onto what soldiers learned in basic training.
The knowledge taught in the classroom
during Phase 1 is taken to the field in Phase
2 with mental and physical exercises.
With a majority of Phase 1 spent in
a classroom environment, soldiers are
taught subjects ranging from history to
land navigation. They spend time studying and taking exams to familiarize themselves with the information.
Applying classroom knowledge in a
field exercise environment, OCS instructors teach soldiers combat tactics like
warrior tasks and battle drills.
These exercises give soldiers the opportunity to perform as squad leaders during field training to give them the operational experience and knowledge that will
assist them as future platoon leaders.
“Walking out of here, I want to be an
officer,” said Bruer.
Adding, “I’m hoping to go forth and
lead others and help them see how they
can capitalize on their potential.”
OCS instructors say Officer Candidate
School is about refining leadership and
giving officer candidates an avenue to put
that leadership to the test to learn more
about themselves and what they are going
to be called upon to do as strong leaders in
the Army or in future careers in the civilian world.
(U.S. Army Marketing and Research
Group)
Officer candidate Paulette Prince leads her squad during a field exercise at Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga.
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army Photo)
National Guard celebrates 377 years of service to the nation
Sgt. Quentin Jones
S
ince Dec. 13, 1637, some early
American settlers who formed militias became minutemen – a highly
mobile, elite force of the military. These
settlers would come together as volunteers to form the U.S. National Guard to
protect their land and homes.
Once again guardsmen came together
with teamwork and esprit-de-corps during
the U.S. National Guard Five-Kilometer
Race and Minuteman Challenge on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
This event concluded the guard’s threeday, 377th birthday celebration that consisted of a leadership dinner, a breakfast
with soldiers and airmen, a cake cutting, a
re-enlistment ceremony, a race and the Minuteman Challenge, said Maj. Eric Luca.
Luca is from Cleveland and is an information officer for the 437th Military Police
Battalion, Ohio Army National Guard.
U.S. National Guard Affairs-Afghanistan hosted the event, and the 437th Military Police Battalion sponsored it.
The five-man team challenge was open
to all U.S. service members and civilians
on Bagram Airfield, Master Sgt. Edward
LeDoux, senior career counselor/enlisted
adviser for National Guard Affairs-Afghanistan, said.
It consisted of six team events including: a 5k race, sit-ups, pull-ups, ammo can
squats, tire flips and burpees – a leg and
chest endurance exercise.
Twenty teams competed, scoring
points for final placing in the race and
complete team repetitions at each of the
five other events, added Luca.
Teams, some mixed with different service members from different units, relied
on each other for support and energy to
complete each challenge, which was the
basis for the challenge itself, said LeDoux.
“It was more than celebrating the guard’s
birthday, but a chance to give back to the
[Bagram Airfield] community,” Luca said.
“[The guard] opened the challenge
to everyone. We are one team with one
fight,” explained LeDoux.
Adding, “It’s an opportunity to bring
together service members who are spread
across the U.S. to celebrate with healthy
competition, building esprit-de-corps and
teamwork while having fun.”
For the 2nd “Black Jack” Brigade
Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division,
Fort Hood, Texas, it did just that, as three
see next page
Institute of Land Warfare
Winter Symposium
and Exposition
A Professional Development Forum
19–21 FEBRUARY 2014
The Von Braun Center
Huntsville, Alabama
AMERICA’S ARMY:
Sustaining, Training, and
Equipping for the Future
A U.S. Army Ohio National Guardsman
with the 838th Military Police Company
and on Team Rogue performs ammo can
squats during the U.S. National Guard 5k
Race and Minuteman Challenge on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The race and
challenge concluded a three-day National
Guard 377th Birthday celebration hosted
by the Ohio National Guard 437th Military Police Battalion and National Guard
Affairs-Afghanistan. (Photo Credit: Sgt.
Quentin Johnson)
NEW RATES AND LOCATION FOR 2014 - HUNTSVILLE, AL
EXCLUSIVE MID-DAY EXHIBIT HALL HOURS
Nowhere will you find a more impressive display of innovations and
advanced technologies. Tap into the latest information and insights,
and network within the Army community.
For information, contact Alex Brody 703.907.2665
ausameetings.org/winter
VCU and Army join to establish Supply Chain Management degree
Combined Arms Support
Command
Va. Commonwealth University
T
he Army Logistics University
and Virginia Commonwealth
University (VCU) have partnered to create a new degree program to
support soldiers.
The Master of Supply Chain Management is slated to begin in fall 2014
and will emphasize innovation, critical
thinking and logistics management.
In a recent ceremony at the Richmond
campus, Dr. Michael Rao, VCU president,
and Maj. Gen. Larry D. Wyche, Combined
Arms Support Command and Fort Lee
commanding general, signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement to develop the program.
Combined Arms Support Command,
known as CASCOM, a major subordinate
command of the U.S. Army Training and
Doctrine Command, is responsible for
training over 185,000 students annually
through more than 540 courses taught by
the ordnance, quartermaster and transportation schools, the Soldier Support Institute
and the Army Logistics University (ALU).
The mission for the command is to
train, educate and grow the sustainment
community as well as develop and integrate innovative Army and joint sustainment capabilities, concepts and doctrine
to enable unified land operations.
“I am proud to inaugurate an academic program that will be critically important for Central Virginia,” Rao said.
Adding, “Central Virginia – led by
VCU and Fort Lee – needs to be a national model for innovative logistics and
supply chain management. At VCU, we
National Guard
from previous page
teams from the brigade were represented
at the challenge, bringing their competitive spirits with them, said Lt. Col. Mark
Huhtanen, Black Jack deputy commander.
“It was fun and challenging, with the
different events playing to different peoples strengths,” added Huhtanen.
Huhtanen remarked on what he felt was the
most important part of the challenge, which
was remembering our military heritage.
“It was great to celebrate the National
Guard’s birthday, after all the guard is an important part of our heritage,” said Huhtanen.
Adding, “The challenge brought service members together, which brought out
the Warrior Ethos and Army values.”
In a ceremony at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Michael Rao, VCU president, and
Maj. Gen. Larry D. Wyche, Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee commanding
general, signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement to develop the new Master
of Supply Chain Management degree program. (Photo Credit: VCU University Relations)
VCU is a major urban public research
university with national and international rankings in sponsored research.
Located in downtown Richmond,
VCU enrolls nearly 31,000 students in
223 degree and certificate programs in
the arts, sciences and humanities.
Sixty-eight of the programs are
unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU’s 13 schools
and one college.
This program provides the Army a
great opportunity, said Dr. Billy J. Davis,
College of Professional and Continuing
Education, Army Logistics University.
“The comprehensive curriculum
will help prepare students for the rigorous demands of being a supply chain
and logistics professional.”
He noted that ALU students will also
be able to combine their studies in the
Theater Logistics Planners Program with
additional coursework taken at VCU.
“This collaboration will educate and
help prepare military and civilian sustainment professionals to become innovative logisticians who are competent,
committed and adaptive to their field of
professional practice,” Davis said.
Adding, “Collaborations, such as
this, are instrumental in bridging and
connecting the military sustainment
professional to the intricacies of the
global industrial base. The program will
create an optimal learning environment
where knowledge about supply chain
and logistics throughout industries and
applications can be shared.”
The program still requires approval from
the VCU Board of Visitors and the State
Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
This new degree program represents
the great teamwork between the defense
and academic communities, Wyche said.
He added, “We are looking forward to
a lasting and meaningful relationship.”
understand this, and I’m so proud that my
colleagues in the School of Business have
become national leaders in this area.”
The signing of the memorandum represents the culmination of a journey in
partnership that began with a VCU leadership visit to Fort Lee in 2012.
That visit established the foundation
that has developed into this new cooperative graduate degree program.
“We were so excited that VCU was not
only interested in developing a joint graduate program in supply chain management but also in standing up a new teaching department to do so,” Wyche said.
Adding, “The program we have co-designed reflects our shared vision of the logistician who will master both the defense logistics system and the business of logistics.”
He also said, “Together, we have designed
a course of instruction that will, perhaps, be
the best such program available to Depart-
ment of Defense officers and civilians.”
The 12-month enhanced graduate degree
program in the VCU School of Business will
place special emphasis on innovation and
creative thinking as well as the use and application of SAP enterprise software.
Students will learn how to manage the
complexities of global supply chains by
using applied research programs, analyzing real-world problems and working with
local firms and government agencies.
The program will draw students from
the corporate sector as well as from the
military, and provide both the unique opportunity to learn from each other.
“The course reflects what the Army
and defense department have wanted for
years – a careful blending of government and business theories and practices
involving the art and science of supply
chain management and logistical support
to our armed forces,” Wyche said.
LeDoux said he was pleased overall with the challenge that took almost
40 U.S. service members and months
of planning to incorporate it on Bagram
Airfield. His hopes are high another challenge will take place in the states for next
year's birthday celebration of the Guard.
Five committees contributed to the overall setup of the challenge: National Guard
Affairs-Afghanistan; the 210th Military
Police Company, North Carolina; the 198th
Signal Group, Delaware; the 437th Military
Police Battalion and the 181st Field Artillery Battalion, Tennessee; and the National
Guard Military History Detachment.
The winner of the challenge was team
“Sappers In,” five members from the 130th
Engineer Brigade, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, with a score of more than 1,500 points.
U.S. service members and civilians start a five-kilomter race during the U.S. National
Guard 5k Race and Minuteman Challenge on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The race
and challenge concluded a three-day National Guard 377th Birthday celebration hosted
by the Ohio National Guard 437th Military Police Battalion and National Guard Affairs-Afghanistan. (Photo Credit: Sgt. Quentin Johnson)
Army World ClassAthletes are on their way to Winter Olympics in Sochi
Tim Hipps
Army Installation
Management Command
T
hree soldiers from the U.S. Army
World Class Athlete Program
earned nominations for the U.S.
Olympic Luge Team for the 2014 Winter
Games in Sochi, Russia.
Team USA luge coach Staff Sgt. Bill
Tavares will lead Sgt. Matt Mortensen
and Sgt. Preston Griffall, who secured
their spot with a ninth-place finish in
doubles at the Luge World Cup stop,
Dec. 13, at Utah Olympic Park.
The U.S. Army World Class Athlete
Program, or WCAP, duo completed its
first run down the 1,335-meter track that
features 15 curves in 43.948 seconds,
followed by a shakier slide down the
mountain in 44.132 seconds – for a cumulative time of 1:28.080.
Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Bvias
Arlt won the race with a 1:27.326 clocking.
“There’s always a little bit of pressure
when you’re sliding, but for Preston and
I, the main thing was just get down to the
finish without walls – do something that
you’ve done hundreds of times, and just
do it OK,” said Mortensen, 28, of Hun-
see next page
Sgt. Matt Mortensen and Sgt. Preston Griffall of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program earn a berth in the 2014 Olympic
Winter Games by virtue of their World Cup performances, including this run to a ninth-place finish in luge doubles, at Utah Olympic
Park in Park City, Utah. (Photo Credit: Tim Hipps, IMCOM Public Affairs)
Pave the Way for Army History
Celebrate your Army service or honor the Army service of a loved one
with this timeless tribute of an attractive Mesabi black granite brick
prominently displayed on the grounds of the
National Museum of the U.S. Army.
Available in 4” x 8” and 8” x 8” sizes priced at $250 and $500
respectively, orders are being taken now, with early purchasers being given
prime placement along the Path of Remembrance. The bricks will be
installed in time for the Museum’s grand opening celebration.
U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program lugers Sgt. Preston Griffall, 29, of Salt Lake
City, Utah, and Sgt. Matt Mortensen, 28, of Huntington Station, N.Y., flank WCAP
and U.S. Olympic luge coach Staff Sgt. Bill Tavares after receiving their Team
USA jackets at Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah. They will represent the U.S.
Army at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, scheduled for Feb. 6-24 in Sochi, Russia.
Mortensen and Griffall secured their spot with a ninth-place finish in the World Cup
Luge doubles event Dec. 13 at Utah Olympic Park. On Dec. 14, they anchored Team
USA’s silver medal winning relay team. (Photo Credit: Tim HIpps, IMCOM Public
Affairs)
Act Now! Visit www.armyhistory.org/bricks
or call 855-ARMY-BRX
Soldiers to Sochi
from previous page
tington Station, N.Y.
Adding, “Second run, I tried not to do
it OK, but we still managed to get down
without any walls.”
Griffall, a 2006 Olympian who just
missed making the team in 2010, had
even more reason to be concerned.
As the bottom guy on a doubles team,
it’s often difficult to see what is happening.
“Our second run, like Matt said, we
had some problems on the run,” said
Griffall, 29, of Salt Lake City, Utah.
“There’s a big scoreboard, actually,
behind curve 14 – because I can’t see directly in front of me because Matt’s sitting there – so I was turned around and
trying to look at the scoreboard to see
what place we were in. And we’re still
traveling at 60 or 70 miles per hour, and
I couldn’t see where the place was on the
board,” he added.
Another four years instantaneously
flashed through the mind of Griffall.
“I had no idea what place we were in,
and Matt wasn’t doing anything, so there
was no reaction at first. I was like, ‘Oh,
my God, maybe we didn’t get the place
that we needed,’” he recalled.
Adding, “I finally was able to see
around him once we got further up the
outrun and I saw that we were in second
place [at that point in the competition]
and at that point I knew that we had met
the place we needed to in order to qualify
for the Olympics.
“I was just extremely excited,”
Griffall said. “That was what we needed
to do. I was happy for both Matt and I
that we were finally able to do this after
seven years. This is the goal that we had,
and we finally met that goal.”
Adding “I’m just trying to enjoy it
right now and we’re going to look forward toward Sochi, get there and try and
go for it – give ourselves the possibility
of going for a medal.”
Mortensen was “paralyzed by emotion” the moment he realized the WCAP
duo’s second run was good enough to
earn an Olympic berth.
“All that matters is that we qualified
for the Olympics and we’re going to Sochi,” he said.
“We ended up in ninth place today,
which is same as last week, so that’s really, really good for us,” he noted.
The next day, Mortensen and Griffall
enjoyed a “victory lap,” of sorts, by anchoring Team USA to a silver medal in
the World Cup team relay, an event that
will make its Olympic debut in Sochi.
Kate Hansen slid the women’s singles
leg and Chris Mazdzer filled the men’s
singles spot on the relay team.
USA Luge officially announced nomination of the 2014 Olympic Luge Team,
pending U.S. Olympic Committee approval, during a gala at the Utah Olympic Park Museum.
Joining the WCAP lugers on Team
USA: Mazdzer of Saranac Lake, N.Y.,
Tucker West of Ridgefield, Conn., and
Aidan Kelly of West Islip, N.Y., in men’s
singles; Erin Hamlin of Remsen, N.Y.,
Hansen of La Canada, Calif., and Summer Britcher of Glen Rock, Pa., in women's singles, along with Christian Niccum of Woodinville, Wash., and Jayson
Terdiman of Berwick, Pa., in doubles.
“It’s unbelievable,” Mortensen said.
“I get emotional thinking about it. It’s
been almost 17 years that I’ve been working toward this point, and for it to finally
happen is like a dream come true.”
Griffall hopes his third go-round
might indeed produce the charm.
“Emotionally, it’s a pretty powerful
thing,” he said.
Adding, “This is the biggest event
for our sport. It only happens every four
years. We have World Cups and World
Championships in between, but this is
the big one, you know? Yeah, after Matt
and I missed it narrowly in 2010, this has
been a long time coming.”
Land Forces: Assuring Security and Stability
in the Indo-Asia-Pacific
AUSA Institute of Land Warfare
A world-class international event
highlighting the role of land power
in the Indo-Asia Pacific region.
Be part of the discussion as Joint, Interagency
and Multinational key leaders along with
academia, industry and NGO’s examine:
• Information warfare and cyber activities
• Leveraging training with technology
• Humanitarian assistance and
disaster response
LANPAC
Symposium & Exposition
A Professional Development Forum
8–10 April 2014
Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, HI
FREE REGISTRATION
for active duty military
and government personnel
ausameetings.org/lanpac
AUSA, Industry Affairs: 703.907.2665
South Sudan Evacuation
 Star Chart 
E
ach month, in which a chapter achieves and retains a growth equal to or greater than its assigned
membership goal, it will be classified as a Star Chapter. The chapter name will be listed on this
monthly Star Chart with the number of consecutive months as a Star Chapter listed to the right.
Sunshine193
Gen. John Vessey Jr., MN
169
Greater Kansas City
164
Tobyhanna Army Depot
163
Major Samuel Woodfill
150
Arsenal of Democracy
130
Rhode Island
123
Rock Island Arsenal
129
North Texas 131
Redstone - Huntsville
123
Columbia River
114
Connecticut107
Space Coast
90
Tri State
89
Fort Leonard Wood – Mid-Missouri
83
St. Louis Gateway
77
Arizona Territorial
76
Tucson-Goyette70
Capital District of New York
66
Aberdeen66
Gen. W. C. Westmoreland
66
Texas Capital Area
62
First Militia
61
Carlisle Barracks – Cumberland Valley
54
Mission Trails
53
Central Ohio
52
Kuwait47
CPL Bill McMillan – Bluegrass
33
Fires22
GA Omar N. Bradley
22
Northern New Jersey
19
Western New York
18
CPT Meriwether Lewis
13
Polar Bear
11
Stuttgart
4
Corporate Member Growth
C
orporate members provide the leadership, as well as goods, services and
the financial means that assist chapters with their programs and projects
designed to support our soldiers, civilians, retirees and their families.
The following chapters have increased their corporate member
companies by 10 or more since July 1, 2013.
As of December 31, 2013
ChapterIncrease
Captain Meriwether Lewis
21
A U.S. Army soldier with Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa’s East Response Force travels on an Air Force jet from Djibouti to support the departure and
evacuation of the U.S. Embassy from South Sudan in December. (Photo by Tech. Sgt.
Micah Theurich, USAF.)
• U.S. Army South: Fostering Peace and Security
in South America, Central America and the
Caribbean (October 2013)
• The Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex:
Winning the Future Fight (August 2013)
Land Warfare Papers
• LWP 98 – Army Adaptation from 1898 to the
Present: How Army Leaders Balanced Strategic
and Institutional Imperatives to Best Serve the
Nation by Robert H. Simpson and Mark C. Smith
(September 2013)
• LWP 97 – Design, Mission Command and the
Network: Enabling Organizational Adaptation
by Todd A. Schmidt (August 2013)3
• LWP 96 – Institutionalizing Stability Operations: A
Policy Analysis by Michael Kelly McCoy (June 2013)
• Déjà Vu: Servicemembers’ earnings are under
attack—again (June 2013)
Torchbearer Alerts
• A Crisis in Military Housing: Basic Allowance
for Housing Under Attack (October 2013)
• Recreation Centers Offer Value to Troops,
Families2 (4th Quarter 2013)
Special Reports
• Remembering a Sine Wave: A History of Feast
and Famine for the U.S. Army by Frederick J.
• LWP 95 – Cyberspace Operations in Support of
Kroesen (October 2013)
Counterinsurgency Operations by David W. Pendall,
Ronald Wilkes and Timothy J. Robinson (April 2013)
• AUSA + Second Session, 112th Congress =
Some Very Good News (January 2013)
• LWP 94 – Misinterpretation and Confusion: What
is Mission Command and Can the U.S. Army Make • Profile of the U.S. Army 2012: a reference
it Work? by Donald E. Vandergriff (February 2013)
handbook (June 2012)
• LWP 93 – Strategists Break All the Rules by
Adelaido Godinez (January 2013)
• LWP 92 – Leader Development, Learning
Agility and the Army Profession by Brian J. Reed
(October 2012)
National Security Watch
• NSW 13-1 – Strategy and Policy: Civilian and
Military Leadership in the 21st Century by
Nicholas R. Krueger (January 2013)
• NSW 12-4 – Earned Deferred Compensation by
Nicholas R. Krueger (August 2012)
NCO Update
• Odierno: Sequestration Would Make Even One
Major Operation Difficult2 (1st Quarter 2014)
To order books, visit the AUSA website at www.
ausa.org or contact Dr. Roger Cirillo at 800-3364570 ext. 6653 or via e-mail at [email protected].
• Your Soldier, Your Army: A Parents’ Guide
by Vicki Cody (also available in Spanish)
• Breaking the Faith (February 2012)
Defense Reports
• DR 13-1 – The U.S. Army Capstone Concept:
Defining the Army of 2020 (January 2013)
Landpower Essays
• LPE 13-4 – Strategizing Forward in the Western
Pacific and Elsewhere by Huba Wass de Czege
(October 2013)
• LPE 13-3 – Cavalry in the Movement and
Maneuver Warfighting Function by Frederic J.
Brown (May 2013)
• LPE 13-2 – The Hard Truth about “Easy
Fighting” Theories: The Army is Needed Most
Torchbearer National Security Reports
When Specific Outcomes Matter by Huba Wass
• Strategic Mobility: Enabling Global Responsiveness
de Czege (April 2013)
for America’s Force of Decisive Action (July 2013)
• LPE 13-1 – Military Ethic and the Judge
• The U.S. Army in the Pacific: Assuring Security
Advocate General’s Corps: Legal Guardians of
and Stability (April 2013)
the Profession of Arms by Mari K. Eder
(April 2013)
Torchbearer Issue Papers
• The Army’s Organic Industrial Base: Providing
Readiness Today, Preparing for Challenges
Tomorrow (December 2013)
• Addition Through Subtraction: Empowering the
Soldier by Lightening the Load (October 2013)
To order these and other ILW publications, visit the Institute of Land
Warfare at the AUSA website (www.ausa.org); send an e-mail to
[email protected]; call (800) 336-4570, ext. 4630; or write to
AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare, ATTN: Publication Requests, 2425 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3326.
• LPE 12-1 – Just Don’t Take Away My
Smartphone by Jeremy Rasmussen
(October 2012)
All publications are available free of charge at:
www.ausa.org/publications/ilw.
1
2
3
Available ONLY on the AUSA website at www.ausa.org/ilw.
Lead story.
Winner of the 2013 AUSA/Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC)
writing contest.
• An Unsung Soldier: The Life of Gen. Andrew
J. Goodpaster by Robert S. Jordan (Naval
Institute Press, September 2013)
• Team 19 in Vietnam: An Australian Soldier
at War by Lt Col. David Millie, MBE Ret. (The
University Press of Kentucky, October 2013)
• Losing Vietnam: How America Abandoned
Southeast Asia by MG Ira A. Hunt Jr., USA Ret.
(The University Press of Kentucky, June 2013)
• Generals of the Army: Marshall, MacArthur,
Eisenhower, Arnold, Bradley by James H.
Willbanks, Editor (The University Press of
Kentucky, April 2013)
• My Life Before the World War, 1860–1917:
A Memoir, General of the Armies John J.
Pershing by John T. Greenwood, Editor
(The University Press of Kentucky, July 2013)
• Exposing the Third Reich: Colonel Truman
Smith in Hitler’s Germany by Henry G. Gole
(The University Press of Kentucky, August 2013)
9.75X11.75.indd 1
12/17/13 12:32 PM

Society of National Association Publications

Transcription

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