Category: U.S. Army

The Army Times has a great article by a certified fitness trainer who points out everything that is wrong about Army fitness with ideas to fix it.  I have copy and pasted the whole article below since it is behind the Army Times pay wall.  Unfortunately I do not see much changing until the Army does away with maximum Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) scores.  As long as leaders are partly judged by APFT scores they will continue to have their troops conduct exercises that promote injury.  If troops reach the minimum score on a APFT and pass height and weight why should they be pushed further to do exercises that cause long term injuries?  They instead should be taught better all-around fitness which prevents long-term injuries and a healthy lifestyle which is what the author of this article promotes:

Never have I seen so many young adults with musculoskeletal injuries until I joined the United States Army.  And I’m not referring to basic training where some injuries are expected; I’m speaking of the active Army. Specifically, the airborne infantry is my point of reference, the part of the Army most of my experience is in. Many of these injuries are preventable.

Some of the blame can be placed on the individual solider from this new “inside” generation; however, much of the blame must be placed on the Army. I was even more surprised at the amount of injuries I saw in basic training considering the moderate (dare I say low) intensity of the training regimen, but that was not so much the fault of the Army.

I enlisted in the Army with a bachelor of science degree, having been a certified personal trainer and martial arts instructor prior to joining. In basic training, I was taught PRT (Physical Readiness Training), the Army’s exercise program. It had many great exercises that are usually only seen from exercise professionals (surprise, it was designed by them).  Most soldiers do not think very highly of PRT because it will not take one to a high level of fitness. What it is designed to do is to create proper movement and muscle balance in a soldier’s body.   [Army Times]

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It looks commanders will have another vehicle to choose from to meet mission requirements:

Now after 25 years in service it is apparent the Humvee can’t do it all. It won’t exactly be the end of the road for the Humvee, but the military may be putting drivers behind the wheel of other, more versatile alternative vehicles.

“Many of these units will start to be phased out by the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) made by Oshkosh,” added Frost & Sullivan’s Curran. “In addition, special operations command operates various small engine and electrical vehicles made by recreational off road makers like Polaris and others.”

The JLTV isn’t the first vehicle to offer an alternative option to the Humvee – as the military already has the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected or MRAP, the special armored vehicles that were designed to counter land mines. From 2007 until 2012 some 12,000 MRAPs were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just as the MRAP didn’t replace the Humvee the JLTV won’t replace it either.

“This isn’t a complete replacement for the Humvee,” Dan Wasserbly, editor at Jane’s, told FoxNews.com. “The Army is simply looking for a vehicle that has greater tactical mobility. Something that is lighter and faster than a modern Humvee.”

It is instead about finding the right vehicle for the job. What the MRAP provided in armor and protection was offset by a lack of mobility.  [Fox News]

You can read much more at the link to include some interesting history about the HMMWV.   What I find interesting is that I went to Oshkosh’s website and the JLTV looks like a re-booted MATV which means it would be bigger than a HMMWV not lighter.

I just hope the Army doesn’t buy more JLTVs than what is needed.  I would hate to see a bunch of these vehicles collecting dust sitting around on a FOB in Afghanistan like what happened with the MRAP program.  There were so many MRAPs sitting around collecting dust that the Army had them recycled into scrap metal.

The Washington Post has an interesting article that looks into an Inspector General investigation on why a US Army Special Forces sergeant was denied the Medal of Honor.  In the article it explains the bureaucracy a Medal of Honor packet goes through, but the reason the sergeant was denied the award was quite interesting:

Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter, said that the comments of members on the decorations board show “enormous amounts of personal prejudice” in how valor awards are approved.

“In essence what he’s saying is, ‘If this was a private, it would rate the Medal of Honor, but because we expect our NCOs to do valorous things, it doesn’t,’” Kasper said. “That person should be looking at the actions alone.”  [Washington Post]

You can read the rest at the link.

This is a horrible tragedy for the unit involved in this accident at Ft. Hood.  With that said there had to be some serious lack of risk assessment and leadership to allow something like this to happen:

Five soldiers were killed and four were missing after an Army troop carrier was washed from a low-water crossing and overturned Thursday in a rain-swollen creek at Fort Hood, the Texas Army post said.

Three soldiers were found dead shortly after the 2½-ton truck was toppled by the swift current of Owl Creek during a morning training exercise. Two more bodies were found late Thursday night, according to a Fort Hood statement. Three soldiers were rescued and were hospitalized in stable condition.

No further details were provided in the statement, but spokesman Chris Haug said the search continued for the four soldiers who remain missing. Army officials planned a briefing early Friday to provide an update.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but hopefully they can find the four missing soldiers.  It is just amazing the amount of bad things that seem to happen at Ft. Hood.

Does anyone think two weeks is enough training to make either a male or a female an infantryman?:

A sergeant in the Wyoming National Guard has become the Army’s first female enlisted infantry soldier.

Sgt. Shelby Atkins on Thursday graduated alongside 32 male soldiers from a two-week infantry qualification and transition course at Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center in Wyoming. The course was designed to train soldiers for the Wyoming Guard’s first infantry unit in more than 100 years.

“She’s the first female Army [noncommissioned officer] in the total Army to be granted the infantry [military occupational specialty],” said Jack Harrison, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau.  [Army Times]

You can read more at the link.

This accusation bothers me because the accuser waited until the Plumley was dead before accusing him of stolen valor.  This prevented Plumley from defending himself:

The late Command Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley, a legend in the U.S. Army and famously depicted by the actor Sam Elliott in the Vietnam War movie “We Were Soldiers,” is under review by Army officials for having worn unauthorized combat and valor awards, according to a report on Military.com.

Plumley died of cancer in 2012, but Brian Siddall, an independent researcher who has devoted years of his life researching Plumley’s service records and the exploits of other service members in World War II, uncovered discrepancies between Plumley’s official documents and widely reported accounts of his service.

In the 1992 book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young,” co-written by Joe Galloway and retired Lt. Gen Hal Moore and on which the movie is based, Plumley is a central character and is introduced as a soldier who had made four combat jumps in World War II as well as a combat jump in the Korean War. According to Siddall, service records indicate that Plumely served as a scout in a glider unit and participated in two glider assaults during World War II and never deployed to Korea.  [Stars & Stripes]

Here is the part of the accusation that really bothers me:

“I just want the correct information out there because there are so many people that are really heroes, and it is so frustrating when they give the hero status to someone who was anything but,” Siddall told Military.com.

Even if Plumley exaggerated his combat awards he is without a doubt an American military hero based on his actions during the battle of the Ia Drang in Vietnam.

With that said it does appear true that Plumley did not serve during the Korean War which makes me wonder why he would claim something like that?  As far as the other accusations it appears instead of parachuting into Normandy during World War II he landed in a glider which was just as dangerous.  As far as awards earned during World War II I can definitely see discrepancies happening from that time frame so I put little weight in that.

Millennials may need drill sgts beyond basic, Army says https://t.co/8e1N4iXGxH via @MichelleTan32 @ArmyTimes

— Oriana Pawlyk (@Oriana0214) April 25, 2016

This story from Ft. Bragg is well worth spending a few minutes to read because it is hilarious:

The civilian found living in the barracks of Fort Bragg’s 3rd Special Forces Group was a “con-artist” who had never served in the armed forces, but had enough knowledge of the military to dupe others into believing he was a soldier, according to an investigation obtained by The Fayetteville Observer.

The report does not name the civilian, citing personal privacy, but according to public arrest records that match the circumstances described by the military, the civilian in the barracks was Triston Marquell Chase, 20.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command public affairs officers declined to say what name the civilian was known by to 3rd Group soldiers.

According to the investigative report, the civilian posed as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist for A Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group. He was discovered after a drunken driving arrest on Fort Bragg in December. The civilian — and Chase, according to state court records — has six felony charges from 2014, including identity theft and larceny of a firearm, pending in Harnett County.

In the days following Chase’s arrest, military officials unraveled the story of how he exploited the lack of oversight in the barracks to obtain a room key, access the barracks and live there for months.  [Fayetteville Observer]

This guy must have been quiet the personality considering he had people loaning him their cars, and women regularly stopping by:

The person said he felt sorry for the man and provided him a key to his barracks room on the third floor, according to the investigation.

Investigators learned multiple women had visited the civilian in his barracks room and brought him food. One person told investigators that the man said he never had any money because he used his funds to take care of his family.

Heck this guy was even holding room inspections and holding his own formations!:

The fact-finding soldiers went to the barracks where they saw the man outside with six soldiers standing in formation with no Army combat uniform tops, just brown T-shirts, according to the investigation.

The officer told the man he needed to speak with him. The man said he was busy because “my supervisor told me to get these guys straight.”  (……..)

The man had become such a staple around the barracks that several soldiers said they had seen him conducting room inspections and assigning rooms to new soldiers, according to the investigation.

Sounds like the Army should get this guy to enlist and serve as the barracks manager.

You would think the Army would have waited to promote a story like this until after she had completed the basic infantry course.  You would think the PAO types would have learned this lesson after the embarrassment of the first female combat engineer enlistee who went AWOL:

A Louisiana woman is seeking to make history, enlisting to be the first female infantryman in the United States Army.

25-year-old Tammy Barnett raised her right hand in Shreveport, Louisiana, opting to join the US Army Infantry, a deviation from her original plans when she found out she could be first.

“I was going to go military police, but infantry is similar, and they are more on the front lines, like law enforcement here and I said that’s what I want to do,” said Barnett, a former police officer.

Barnett hopes to make history and lead the way for more women who want to go into the infantry.

“They told me that I would be the first female in history to go infantry in the military,” said Barnett.

“I hope that I give them the courage, because I’m a small female, if I can do it, they can do it too, this could give them the courage to step out of their comfort zone,” explained Barnett.  [Popular Military]

You can read more at the link, but she is going to be in for a rude awakening when she finds out that the infantry is nothing like being a policeman other than they are both proficient with shooting weapons.  Just for the record I continue to support women in combat arms roles as long as they meet the same standards as men.  For example I wonder if Ms. Barnett will have to pass the same physical fitness test and other physical requirements as her male infantry recruits?

According to a court, the threshold for religious accommodation is that the accommodation cannot affect unit cohesion and morale, good order and discipline, healthy and safety:

A decorated army officer is now officially permitted to wear a religious beard and turban in uniform thanks in part to a ruling late Thursday.

Capt. Simratpal Singh — a lifelong practicing Sikh, who was a West Point graduate, Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient —was previously given a temporary accommodation in December. When it was set to expire in February, Singh sued after he was told by the Army he had to report for days of gas mask and helmet testing, citing religious discrimination.

He eventually won, with a court document saying that the temporary order would only be revoked if his beard and turban affected “unit cohesion and morale, good order and discipline, healthy and safety.”

According to The Sikh Coalition, which is currently representing Singh, he is the first Sikh American to receive a religious accommodation while serving.  [Mashable]

You can read more at the link, but there have been other Sikhs who have had religious accommodations made for them by the military so I am not sure why Singh is being claimed as the first.  In fact there is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to sikhs who have served in the US military.