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How the U.S. is Helping Others! Pacific Partnership, DoD Blogger Roundtable
USNS Mercy off Indonesian Coast – Photo Credit BelowIt was a visual I clearly saw as Captain James Morgan reminded us of the 2004 massive earthquake and tsunami and the tragic events and impact on the Indian Ocean countries (has it really been almost eight years?). The destruction and human misery was beyond our understanding. The plight of the survivors with no water, no food, raw sewage everywhere, clothes sometimes stripped off them and trying to find family members who had been separated was just heart rendering. The fantastic international response also reminded me of the Haitian earthquake and how the US military supported the effort to save lives and…
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“A Passion and Desire to Get Things Done Right” DoD Blogger Roundtable
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been tough on the men and women of our armed services! We have suffered casualties, multiple long deployments and families have sacrificed too with impacts on spouse employment, child care help from a spouse, missed /holidays/birthdays/anniversaries, etc. But often we forget about the equipment that is used to fight and protect our combatants. AH-64 – See below for photo credit The desert environment has been particularly hard on all the services’ equipment and will need to be taken care in an austere budget time frame. From ground transportation vehicles, to helicopters, other aircraft, weapons and ground equipment like generators the toll has been…
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Captain Barry Crawford, another American Hero! DoD Blogger Roundtable
Today is a big day for an American hero. Captain Barry Crawford will be receiving the nation’s second highest award for combat valor – the Air Force Cross (each service has an equivalent). In front of friends, his special tactics team members, fellow military personnel and distinguished visitors, Captain Crawford will be recognized for his heroism on the battlefield in Afghanistan. His coolness under fire helped deliver ordnance from the skies to assist his special operations team and Afghan commandos and prevented them from being overrun! The Air Force special tactics officer is credited with saving many Afghan and US soldiers’ lives during that pitched 12 hour battle for control…
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The Army Profession, Drawdown, Army Families and more! DoD Bloggers Roundtable
Army children in youth program … see below for creditChandler said, Secretary of the Army – no cuts to Army programs for families without his specific approval. Did you know that the US Army end strength (total number of active duty soldiers) under the Defense Departments current plan and budget will be at 490,000 after the drawdown is complete? That is the loss of eight brigade combat teams and other resources (80,000 soldiers to be specific). The number of cuts seems to be a bit of a moving target as we talked just recently (December) with the DoD Blogger Roundtable and the number was 50,000! The Sergeant Major of the…
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Army to Drawdown by 50,000 – The head “Scout” of the Army’s Enlisted Force Talks with MilitaryAvenue
SMA Chandler with 170th IBCT (see below for photo credit)Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA), Raymond F. Chandler took some of his critical time to speak with the Bloggers Roundtable on Wednesday. He said felt like the lead Scout of the Army’s enlisted force and wanted to give us a feel of what the enlisted soldiers where concerned about and how the Army was dealing with their issues. The SMA was lively, interested in our questions and provided some great responses as he described an “amazing Army”. He told us we were at a crossroads in the Army with reduced budgets and a drawdown of forces that will impact everyone.…
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“Inspire Others to Seek Help” DoD Blogger Roundtable
Veterans Day is fast approaching and it is a day for our country to celebrate the lives and service of our veterans. They continue to impact our communities, our states and our nation as a whole. Some return from their tours of service ready to serve their local, state or national government in numerous ways, as business leaders, parents, students, role models and much more. But some return with injuries, both visible and invisible, and need assistance to reach their goals, become part of their communities, do those things most Americans take for granted, like driving a car. The DoD Bloggers Roundtable talked with one of those veterans, Maj. Ed…
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The Army in Europe – Why it is Important to be There
It was fun and we laughed while talking about serious national and international security issues! Military family issues too. Lt Gen Mark Hertling, commander, US Army EuropeIt started out as another DoD/Army Bloggers Roundtable on a bright sunny fall day. The subject matter was interesting and the speaker one of our nation’s military leaders with combat experience and information to share. The discussion was intended to be focused on why the forward presence of US forces in Europe was critical to meeting our defense requirements but we jumped around the interests of everyone in attendance. Lt General Mark Hertling, commander, U.S. Army Europe, was on top of the issues affecting…
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Its Friday – A Focus on the Military Family with Key Spouses and the Caring for People Forum in the Headlines!
Focusing on the military family! Yes, they deserve and earn it every day! Lt Gen Darrell D JonesIt is Friday! Yeah! Most of us look forward to it. For us it means a weekend is almost here! Time off, relaxation, family time, church and projects. Unless you are deployed, tdy, in basic training or other training when it means tomorrow is Saturday. I do like this > FFF, Family Focus Friday. Being a military person I am used to acronyms like FRSA, A&FRC, MWR, AGS, MXS, etc. and most of you are too. They almost replace what they stand for at times during conversation. I think the military must have…
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He “Refused to be a Burden” and Earned an Air Force Cross – DoD Blogger Roundtable
TSgt (Select) Robert (“Gute”) GutierrezHUMBLE HONORED BLESSING THANK YOU SERVICE BEFORE SELF FIT FOR DUTY TEAM FATHER FAMILY Words heard frequently during the interview… A motto… FIRST THERE … THAT OTHERS MAY LIVEImagine a night time assault on a bad guy stronghold with the best fighters in the world on your side. You are outnumbered and the bad guys have the high ground (never a good thing) but you have A-10s and F-16s overhead and the night is your friend. Plus you have eyes in the sky overlooking the battle situation with an ISR platform. But you are the guy calling in the airstrikes, you control them with your radio,…
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Rebuilding and Cleaning Up Iraq – “The Right Thing To Do” DoD Blogger Roundtable
American forces are preparing to leave Iraq on December 31st and in fact, some of our folks are “looking at their watches” but what have we accomplished after a war, the loss of too many American lives and huge expenditures of our national treasure? Brig. Gen. Rock DonahueThose thoughts ran through my mind as I talked with Brig. Gen. Rock Donahue , director of U.S. Forces Iraq J7, the senior engineer in Iraq during the DoD Bloggers Roundtable. Gen Donahue carefully went through the statistics, the huge effort, that, our men and women in the military community have made to clean up Iraq during and after the war. He was…
