Category: U.S. Army

Army Says It Will Transition to Electric Vehicles by 2050

So who thinks this is actually going to happen?

A U.S. Army National Guardsman runs through floodwater from Hurricane Gustav on Sept. 1, 2008, in New Orleans, La. The levee along the Industrial Canal in the area was overtopped by floodwaters. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The U.S. Army plans to install a microgrid on all its installations by 2035, field fully electric tactical vehicles by 2050, and ensure all operational and strategic exercises and simulations consider climate change risks and threats by 2028.

These are just a few of the goals the service outlined in its new climate strategy, published Feb. 8.

“The climate strategy is important to address the changing climate and the threats that are coming from climate change — both how our forces operate in a climate-altered world, but what the Army can do to influence this and to mitigate our greenhouse gases and to reduce the effects of climate change,” Paul Farnan, the Army’s acting assistant secretary for installations, energy and environment, told Defense News in a Feb. 7 interview.

Army Times

You can read more at the link, but notice how these initiatives are always pushed out to some far off date like 2050.

Former Child Actor in Korean Cinema is Now an Officer in the U.S. Army

This is a pretty cool story that the young girl from the great Korean revenge movie, “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” is now an officer in the U.S. Army serving in Korea:

Then-Army 2nd Lt. Kirsten Kwon poses with her father, Tae Kwon, and her mother, Mi Kwon. (Kristen Kwon)

An American child actor who played an important role in a critically acclaimed South Korean film is now stationed in the country her grandparents emigrated from in the 1970s. 

“Because of them, I’m here now,” Army 1st Lt. Kirsten Kwon told Stars and Stripes earlier this month. “They’re the reason why I’m an American citizen.”

Kwon, 28, is the executive officer of the U.N. Command Honor Guard Company, roughly 50 service members who carry out the command’s ceremonies, such as dignified remains transfers, and provide security for high-ranking officers. (……..)

Kwon’s film career began at age 10 when a South Korean casting director heard her speaking English and asked her parents if they were interested in a role for her in an upcoming movie.

That film, “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,” featured a star-studded cast and was directed by Park Chan-wook, who is described as “the man who put Korean cinema on the map,” according to a New York Times Style magazine column from 2017.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Investigation Against Former 2ID Battalion Command Team Determines Racism Claims Were Unfounded

Last December a battalion command team in the 2nd Infantry Division were suspended for anonymous racism claims. Well now it has been found out that the racist claims were unfounded though the battalion commander was relieved any way for a poor command climate:

In December 2020, Army officials announced the command team of the 602nd Aviation Support Battalion, Lt. Col. Sean McBride and Command Sgt. Maj. Mario Salomone III, was “immediately” suspended when 8th Army “received allegations of racism, bigotry and discrimination in one of our formations via the Eighth Army Anonymous Assistance line.”

However, the ensuing Army Regulation 15-6 investigation found that McBride and Salomone did not violate the service’s Equal Opportunity policies.

“I am continuing to pursue options for appeal of this investigation and am humbled by and grateful for the outpouring of support I’ve received from those I’ve served with over the past 26 years,” McBride told Army Times when reached for comment. “More importantly, I’m proud of the soldiers of the Warhorse Battalion who continued to provide dedicated support to their fellow soldiers despite a global pandemic and challenging command climate on the Korean Peninsula. It was an honor to serve as their commander and I remain tremendously impressed by their accomplishments.”

But McBride’s rebuttal memo, which Army Times also obtained, expressed dismay at how senior leaders had announced the suspension following anonymous complaints that ultimately weren’t substantiated as EO violations.

“Commanders at echelon made public statements announcing my suspension from command and accusing me and CSM Mario Salomone of racism, bigotry, and discrimination on their official Twitter feeds,” McBride said in the memo. “Articles [about the suspension] define my online persona to this day. My professional and personal reputation has been destroyed [by unsubstantiated allegations].”

Army Times

I highly recommend reading the whole thing at the link, but what made his case so unusual was how the senior military leadership in USFK and 8th Army on social media the racism claims that were ultimately unfounded.

Remember 2020 was the year of racial justice protests and that is the only explanation I can think of, of why something like this was tweeted out before any investigation was done. The Army leadership wanted to get ahead of any criticism of racism regardless of what the investigation found. LTC McBride essentially was “cancelled” by the Army. Good luck to him trying to fight back because it is going to be hard to get the Army to admit they screwed this up, but hopefully other senior leaders can learn from and prevent something like this from happening in the future.

Army Base Begins Issuing GOMOR’s to Unvaccinated Personnel Not Following COVID Protocols

I guess we will see if this is something that comes to more Army installations:

Leaders at Fort Knox, Kentucky, will punish dozens of soldiers unvaccinated against COVID-19 who were caught entering on-post facilities without wearing a face mask last week, Army officials confirmed.

“The Fort Knox senior commander [Maj. Gen. John Evans] and other commanding generals across Fort Knox are preparing to issue approximately 40 General Officer Memoranda of Reprimand to individuals found to have violated General Order Number 1, dated 17 May 2021,” said Fort Knox spokesperson Kyle Hodges in a statement emailed to Army Times.

Army Times

You can read more at the link.

Army Study to Look at Effectiveness of the Tape Test

The days of the dreaded tape test might be numbered:

Soldiers demonstrate how to perform a tape test, June 3, 2020. 

The Army will formally study the body compositions of more than 2,000 soldiers beginning in October, and the service plans to use the data it gathers to determine the future of its body composition program, physical fitness manuals and the much-maligned “tape test.”

The Army’s Center for Initial Military Training will lead the study in conjunction with the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, according to an Army Headquarters execute order obtained by Army Times.

The study will take place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the order says.

The study’s goal is to provide senior leaders with “information with regards to…taping of soldiers, body fat, and body changes, and considerations of the relationship between body fat and fitness levels,” the order reads.

The study will also evaluate alternative methods of calculating body fat.

Army Times

You can read more at the link, but I have always believed that if a Soldier can reach an agreed upon high fitness score on the fitness test that they should not need to be tape tested. Hopefully something like this is considered in this study.

General Flynn Takes Over as Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific

Look who is taking over US Army Pacific:

Gen. Charles A. Flynn, incoming U.S. Army Pacific commanding general, receives the command’s colors and assumes command of USARPAC from U.S. Navy Adm. John Aquilino, the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, at a change of command ceremony June 4, 2021, at Ft. Shafter, Hawaii. (Jennifer Delaney/U.S. Army)

 Gen. Charles Flynn took command of U.S. Army Pacific on Friday, vowing to continue transforming the 90,000-soldier force into one that can meet the challenge of a rising China.

“Today, as China trends on an increasingly concerning path, presenting challenge to the free and open Pacific, the Army is charged to change once more,” Flynn said during a livestreamed ceremony at Fort Shafter. Media were not allowed to attend the event.

Flynn — the younger brother of Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser under former President Donald Trump — took the reins from Gen. Paul LaCamera, who will move on to command U.S. Forces Korea.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Sergeant Major of the Army Grilled By Congress on ACFT Gender Bias

Unfortunately the Army senior leadership brought this criticism on themselves. Everyone outside of the Pentagon could see this train wreck coming:

Spc. Lauresa Bruce, of 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., conducts the Army Combat Fitness Test’s maximum deadlift event during a training session on April 22, 2021. (Dustin Biven/U.S. Army)

The chairwoman of a House Appropriations Committee subpanel slammed Army officials at a hearing Monday over what she called insufficient answers to questions on how the service is combating gender bias, specifically with its new combat fitness test.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., grilled Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston on why so many women are unable to pass the service’s new combat fitness test.

“The test shouldn’t be structured in a way that is unfair and makes it so lopsided that it’s impossible for women to really be able to succeed and that definitely will reflect in your recruitment and retention efforts. So it looks like you have a problem and I hope you recognize that,” Wasserman Schultz said during a hearing of the subcommittee on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies about Army quality-of-life issues and installation updates.

The Army Combat Fitness Test has long been criticized by Congress for its design, which lawmakers say comes at a disadvantage for women who struggle to pass the test. Data revealed in April shows 44% of women failed the ACFT, compared to 7% of men, Wasserman Schultz said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the Pentagon’s efforts to create a gender neutral test caused them to become gender blind on what that would ultimately mean. You can’t implement a test that disadvantages females and think Congress is going to go along with it. The updated ACFT 3.0 eliminates the gender neutral elements of the ACFT which was one of the main reasons the test was created in the first place.

The way I look at this is that very few females want to join combat arms. Do I really care if for an example an Army nurse or a truck driver cannot do a leg tuck and instead does a plank? No I do not, so why kick this person out of the Army? The Army could not function if it kicked out the amount of females that the ACFT in its prior format would have removed from the force.