The Army’s Best Ranger Competition concluded Sunday as teams crossed the finish line after three days of grueling competition. More than 45 two-person teams competed for the sought after Best Ranger title. Competitors traveled more than 50 miles though the forest, rivers and ranges of Fort Benning. Team 21, Sgt. 1st Class Blake Simms and Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stackpole of the 4th Ranger Training Battalion, finished first.

For more information, check out the Best Ranger Web site at http://www.army.mil/ranger/2009/index.html

-Stephen Rochette, Office of the Chief of Public Affairs

Posted byadmin underArmy News, Year of the NCO Best Ranger Competition, Fort Benning | Comments (0)

Soldiers assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, pull security during a training exercise at the Selby Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) site, Fort Benning, Ga., May 5. Soldiers assigned to company C searched the site for insurgent role-players as part of the 3rd HBCT’s largest field exercise, Hammer Focus.

Soldiers assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, run from a UH-60 Blackhawk and seek cover during a mock air assault at the Selby MOUT site, Fort Benning, Ga., May 5. Soldiers assigned to Company C used scouts, humvees, Stryker medical vehicles and air support to defeat insurgent role-players as part of the 3rd HBCT’s largest field exercise, Hammer Focus.

Posted bylindykyzer underArmy Photos 3rd HBCT, Hammer Focus, training | Comments (0)

Mrs. Sheila Casey, wife of Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George Casey made a special appearance on Spouse BUZZ talk radio yesterday. Please take a moment to listen to this chat about being a military spouse and the amazing network of support among military families. This is Mrs. Casey’s second appearance on Spouse BUZZ talk radio, and she’s always a big hit thanks to her easy ability to relate to and discuss the experiences many military spouses face.

Secretary of the Army Pete Geren also passed along a special message to military spouses on the Army Wife Network blog. The Secretary of the Army frequently travels across the country and globe to our various Army installations, and meeting with Soldiers and families is always a priority on the agenda.

Posted bylindykyzer underArmy News, Uncategorized Military spouse appreciation | Comments (0)

090430-A-0559K-052 - Afghan National Army Commandos of the 201st Corps, assisted by members of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan, conduct a security patrol through Achin District, Nangarhar Province, April 30. (CJSOTF-A photo by Army Staff Sgt.

Kabul, Afghanistan - Elite soldiers of the Afghan National Army’s 1st Commando Kandak, 201st Corps, recently spent 48 hours conducting operations alongside their Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan brothers-in-arms in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province.

The combined elements often spend days at a time patrolling villages and bazaars and disrupting insurgent hideouts throughout Nangarhar, a volatile province running along the Pakistan border.

“The objective of these operations is to prove that the ANA commandos will not be denied access to any area in which insurgents may live, hide or facilitate … they have access to all areas in Afghanistan,” said a special forces team leader.

The truth behind the team leader’s words was evident as the ANA commandos kicked off their operations with an early morning visit to the residence of an improvised explosive device facilitator in the Shinwar District on April 29. The house was believed to be an IED-staging area, and the ANA commandos intended to throw a wrench into the insurgents’ ability to wreak havoc upon friendly forces and the Afghan people.

“There ended up not being any males at the house, let alone fighting-age males, but we did discover limited bomb-making materials, including wires and four of the five ingredients needed to make explosives,” the team leader said.

Although no insurgents were detained, a handful of men in the vicinity of the house were stopped and questioned by the ANA commandos.
A commando company commander took the opportunity to conduct a key leader engagement with a village elder, explaining the purpose behind the ANA commandos’ presence in the community that morning. Other ANA commandos also spoke with young men who emerged from nearby houses to see what was going on, providing them with information about the elite Afghan soldiers and handing out posters.

“It’s important for us to talk to the people, to keep them informed of our operations and help them understand who the ANA commandos are and what they stand for,” the ANA commando company commander said.

After wrapping things up in the village, the ANA commandos swiftly moved on to the next item on the day’s agenda: establishing a series of vehicle checkpoints on the Jalalabad highway near the Torkham border crossing.

“Our checkpoints are normally held in high-visibility areas, one of these in particular on the outskirts of a bazaar known for heavy insurgent activity. We first brought the convoy all the way down through the bazaar and back to let the people know the ANA commandos were in town,” the team leader said.

The ANA commandos spent the evening stopping motorists along the highway, looking for anything suspicious in nature: for example, improper vehicle registrations. Several individuals were detained by the commandos for further questioning.

After a long day protecting the security and stability of Nangarhar, the ANA commandos and their SF partners bedded down for the night at a nearby firebase. Before dawn the next morning, the troops were at it again, this time heading to the Achin District to conduct a security patrol with other Afghan National Security Force elements. The ANA commandos’ reputation preceded them to Achin.

“This patrol was held in the lower part of the province, which has a history of being denied to ANSF. The Afghan police felt more confident about the mission having the ANA commandos in the area … they figured they must be alright if the commandos were there,” the team leader said.

Working with the ANA commandos also gave the police officers the opportunity to check out the weaponry and techniques of their brothers-in-arms.

“This was the first time many of the Afghan police had worked with the ANA commandos. They were openly impressed with what they saw and repeatedly approached the commandos to ask questions,” the team leader added.

Keeping up the momentum of the past day and a half, the combined elements finished up the security patrol stopping by the Achin District center in search of a wanted insurgent thought to be in the bazaar area. The individual was not discovered, but the soldiers took the opportunity to search the bazaar and meet with the villagers and shopkeepers.

One villager came up to a commando soldier and, crying openly, thanked him for the presence of the combined elements.

“This was significant particularly because it was in Achin, which is a hot area known for rampant insurgent activity … it just goes to show that there are always good people out there. Not everybody in this country is an insurgent … these are the people we are here for,” the team leader said.

After 48 hours of seeking out insurgent sanctuaries and spreading the ANA commando message to the Afghan people, the combined elements returned to their base to momentarily refit before heading out to do it all over again.

“We’ll keep going until we’ve gotten rid of every insurgent in this country … our dedication to Afghanistan is endless,” the ANA company commander declared.

Posted bylindykyzer underArmy Photos Afghan National Army, Army Photos, Photo Friday | Comments (0)

Expect a full wrap-up on the 2009 Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium tomorrow, but in the meantime, I’d like to get your thoughts on how the conference went. If you were there, what were your favorite panelists, speakers, or break-out sessions? If you weren’t, what did you think of the coverage, including the live Twitter updates and blog summaries we posted here - we’d like to hear your thoughts!

Posted bylindykyzer underArmy News WPAS | Comments (5)

The Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George Casey joined us yesterday at the 2009 Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium. Gen. Casey is always a dynamic and engaging speaker, and particularly when he speaks at the Worldwide. Gen. Casey started with a theme he frequently speaks on - the stress on the force and what we as an Army are doing to try to change that for our Soldiers - from moving towards a more balanced deployment length to increasing support to our Soldiers.

He ended his remarks with his ten rules for Army public affairs - he presented these at last year’s symposium and I was glad to see them resurrected this year. It sends a powerful message to see your Army Chief of Staff encouraging you to take risks and get out there with speed and agility.

 Please check out the 10 rules, copied below, and let me know what you think in the comments section:

1. Leaders must lead the effort.
2. Message - audience - frequency: it takes all 3.
3. A picture is worth 1000 words.
4. Timing is everything.
5. Don’t over-centralize!
6. Candor in all things.
7. Get to know the media.
8. Assessment is hard, but essential.
9. Don’t forget internal audiences.
10. You won’t always get it right - keep swinging!

Posted bylindykyzer underUncategorized | Comments (2)

 Because stability operations have been a hot topic in the blogosphere and something we’ve addressed in many of our blogger’s roundtables, here’s a special guest post from our friends at Army Training and Doctrine Command:

This week we published Army Field Manual 3-07.1 “Security Force Assistance.”  In it, we seek to capture in doctrine our many years of experience in building partner security forces.  Security Force Assistance is derivative of the broader mission of Stability Operations which we have documented in doctrine in FM 3-07.

It’s important to note that Security Force Assistance occurs under a variety of conditions, and it is the conditions that will determine how and with what organizations we use to accomplish the mission.

We have military cooperation agreements with more than 125 nations around the world and often provide security force assistance in response to host nation requests.  This assistance is generally delivered by Offices of Security Cooperation, always under the control of the US Embassy Country Team, and is accomplished by a mixture of assigned military and civilian personnel, contractors, and mobile training teams.  These mobile training teams come from either the General Purpose Forces -perhaps more appropriately described as Multi-Purpose Forces -or from the Special Forces depending on the type of training requested.

Under conditions of active conflict where we have direct responsibility for security-as in Iraq and Afghanistan-tactical commanders will have a security force assistance mission to train, advise, and assist tactical host nation forces.  This mission is accomplished using the resources of the modular brigade augmented as necessary based, again, on conditions.  The conditions include the “state” of security-described in doctrine as Initial Stage, Transforming Stage, and Sustaining Phase-as well as the capacity and capability of the host nation security forces.   Security Force Assistance at the Institutional Level will be accomplished by a Security Transition Headquarters organized under the Joint Task Force.  This Security Transition Headquarters partners with the US Embassy Country Team and evolves over time into an Office of Security Cooperation as described above.

Finally, we have security relationships with some nations facing significant internal security challenges but which, for many reasons, may not accept a large, visible US military presence within their borders.   If they request Security Force Assistance under these conditions, the mission is generally assigned to US Special Operations Forces, potentially augmented by regionally-oriented General-Purpose Forces. 

Clearly, the future operational environment will require us to demonstrate as much versatility in Stability Operations as we have in Offense and Defense Operations.  Understanding the variety of conditions under which Security Force Assistance occurs is an important first step. 

- Gen. Martin Dempsey, Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command:

Posted bylindykyzer underUncategorized | Comments (1)

Two of the most popular panels at the Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium each year are those which bring media professionals to the stage for remarks and discussion about the relationship between the U.S. Army and the media. It’s always a candid discussion, with both sides bringing challenges and issues to the table.

At the end of the day, there are fewer tension points than one might imagine - it’s a symbiotic relationship, with both sides depending on the other in order to accomplish their mission. One of the panelists acknowledged that commanders set the tone, but also stated that public affairs officers can influence that opinion.

There were clear points of concern between public affairs officers and the media, on minor details like media monitoring, and the speed of access to information, but the overwhelming theme was how each group both needs and respects the other. In the end, it is all about those relationships. Once again our Media Relations Division did a great job in putting this panel together, bringing together a great line-up of media professionals who weren’t pulling punches when it came to their thoughts on how Army Public Affairs can improve.

The social media panel brought together many of the themes which came up throughout the conference, about the need to communicate in a digital age and reach out through social networking channels. The panelists came from a diverse background but each were experts in their field. They included Dr. Mark Drapeau, National Defense University; Colin Clark, DoD BUZZ and military.com; Mike Allen, Politico.com; and Adam Conner, www.facebook.com. Topics included maintaining identity in a world of multiple profiles and pages; maintaining relevance; penetrating through the influx of information; and determining what the “next big thing” will be. Each of the panelists are known in the field so I encourage you to check them out online, be it through their Twitter pages, Facebook accounts or by simply googling their name and checking out their research.

The Army as a brand was a theme, and several of the organizations agreed that the Army faces similar challenges to major corporations. One interesting comment from Adam Conner with Facebook had me thinking. He said that the people who elect to be your spokespersons are important. Think about that. It’s no longer who we choose to be our spokespersons (althought the media panelists will tell you that’s important, too), but it’s also about the individuals who go out there and communicate using our brand. As Dr. Drapeau from NDU stated, anyone can log onto a social networking site such as Facebook or Twitter and become the U.S. Army - you can already see that evidenced on many social networking sites. Sure, you can be our fan at http://www.facebook.com/usarmy, but you can also friend/fan dozens of other networks all trading on the name of the Army. That has its benefits - our story gets told to that many more people. But it also presents risks, as we’re no longer the ones telling it.

This is a topic we could extend into several more posts, but we’re gearing up for tonight’s Hall of Fame Induction Dinner and my time in the ballroom is heading toward a close. Thanks for reading, and please drop me a line in the comments section and let me know what you think about your relationships with the media and the move to connect more via digital communication channels.

Posted bylindykyzer underArmy News social networking, Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium | Comments (5)

It’s no secret that there is a regular tug of war between public affairs officers and their counterparts in the Chief of Information Office/G-6. The battle between open access and maintaining security is a regular one, and that’s why it was such an honor to have Mike Krieger, Deputy Chief Information Officer/G-6 step out of the flames and into the fire to address the over 500 attendees at this year’s Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium. Krieger has spent over 25 years working with Army networks and is no stranger to the tension between network access and open information.

Krieger opened his remarks by acknowleding the relationship, but stated that he viewed it as not a problem to solve but a polarity to manage. As social media and the Web world have increased in importance in the public affairs community, the issue of access has grown as a tension between network administrators and public affairs officers. Krieger acknowledged the tention as something to work out and balance. Within the Army, there are exceptions to policy to allow public affairs officers to gain access to social networking sites. At the local level, this policy isn’t necessarily always supported, and in recognition of that Mr. Krieger announced the development of a new AKO forum for public affairs officers and the G-6 community to exchange their struggles, ideas and pave a path for managing the polarity.

“The net is a new conduit that the Army needs to levereage,” said Krieger.

If you’re an Army Public Affairs professional or G-6 representative looking to engage in the discussion, please visit https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/505262.

Posted bylindykyzer underUncategorized | Comments (4)

Interested in getting the inside scoop on what the Chief of Staff of the Army is up to on his global travels and daily conversations with Soldiers? Check out Chief Cam, a new initiative to bring you video snapshots of the Chief of Staff of the Army as he visits locations from Fort Polk, La. to Camp Lemonier, Djibouti. Please check out Episode 3, below, where the Chief of Staff received a first-hand assessment on the MRAP MaxxPro. We’ll be bringing you updates on Chief Cam regularly here at Army LIVE, but please visit the Chief of Staff’s Web site to see the full series.

YouTube Direkt

Posted bylindykyzer underArmy News Chief Cam, Chief of Staff of the Army | Comments (0)