Category: U.S. Army

This is not the type of attention that US Army Recruiting Command was looking for with this ad campaign:

Two weeks ago, the Army’s official recruiting website released a series of animated advertisementsshowcasing the stories of several soldiers on their journey to join the nation’s oldest branch.

One in particular features Cpl. Emma Malonelord, a soldier raised in California by two moms.

Since its upload to YouTube, however, this video’s comment section has been disabled. It currently has nearly a million views, 36,000 dislikes and only 775 likes.

“Beginning May 12 we started noticing a significant uptick in negative commentary,” Laura DeFrancisco, public affairs chief for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, told Army Times. “The comments violated our social media policy and were not aligned with Army values. Out of respect for the safety and wellbeing of our soldiers and their families, we have disabled the comments.”

Hers is one of five stories selected by the branch for recruiting advertisements under the series, titled “The Calling.”

Army Times

You can read more at the link, but Ted Cruz had to comment about all this using a Russian propaganda video:

The recruiting Youtube video is not at only 1k likes and 46 dislikes. You would think they would have turned off this feature by now. Plenty of bot accounts from foreign adversaries are sure to go and troll a US military video like this.

Captain Kristen Griest became the Army’s first female infantry officer in 2016 after becoming one of the first females to finish Ranger School. Now she is getting heat for demanding that females meet the same standards as men:

“I’m here saying, ‘Women can do more than we think.’ I have learned this,” she said in an interview, explaining her thinking. “Your gender is not as much of a limitation as you think it is.”

Griest, 32, has received a frosty response from some female service members and veterans, and was accused of “internalized misogyny.” Others have taken her side, or said that they understand her motivation. (……)

“To not require women to meet equal standards in combat arms will not only undermine their credibility, but also place those women, their teammates, and the mission at risk,” she wrote.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but she believes that women should meet the same standards as men on the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). The problem with the test was that over 50% of women were failing it largely because of one event, the leg tuck. Because of this Congress forced the Army to relook the test and the leg tuck was changed to allow anyone to take an alternate plank test. The plank is easier for people struggling to do the leg tuck to pass.

Another change was in the scoring; before there was three scoring tiers based off of one’s duty description. For example if you were combat arms you had to score in the highest tier of the test; now everyone just has to pass the minimum scores to pass the ACFT. CPT Griest is unhappy about all of this and wants to go back to a test that over 50% of females fail in order to motivate them to get fit.

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.

Here is the latest update on the highly controversial Army Combat Fitness Test:

The Army could adjust how it scores its new Combat Fitness Test to account for the “biological differences” between men and women, a service spokeswoman said Friday.

The reevaluation of the ACFT comes weeks after Congress delayed its implementation over concerns the new test created an unfair disadvantage to female soldiers.

Army leaders are now looking at ways to apply scoring based on gender for the six-event, CrossFit-inspired fitness test, said Lt. Col. Peggy Kageleiry, a spokeswoman for the Army’s Center for Initial Military Training, which has led the ACFT’s development. The test was designed as a gender- and age-neutral fitness evaluation meant to simulate strength and conditioning challenges faced by soldiers in combat.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It is amazing that Army leadership did not foresee how controversial a fitness test that puts females at a great disadvantage would be with Congress:

The defense bill halts the implementation of the Army Combat Fitness Test until a study is complete to assess the test’s impact on recruitment and retention. The study, which has to be conducted by an entity independent of the Pentagon, also has to investigate whether troops in different environments where outdoor activity is hindered are at a disadvantage.

The test has already been on hold. Army leaders have said units can conduct the test now, but will not count on a soldier’s record until 2022. This is to give troops more time to train for the test and as a reaction to the pandemic, which has restricted gym access across the country.

The ACFT replaces the decades-old fitness test with more events aimed to gauge a soldier’s physical fitness for combat. This includes CrossFit-style exercise events, hand release pushups, and leg tucks. The test retains the timed two-mile run.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

You would think of all places that the CSM for Fort Hood would be extremely careful of what he says:

The senior enlisted soldier at Fort Hood was suspended Friday while the Army investigates allegations of unprofessional behavior inconsistent with the values of the service, according to base officials.

Lt. Gen. Pat White, commander of III Corps and Fort Hood, issued the temporary suspension of Command Sgt. Maj. Arthur “Cliff” Burgoyne, the senior noncommissioned officer of III Corps and Fort Hood, according to a news release from Army Forces Command, known as FORSCOM.

FORSCOM will conduct an investigation into the allegations.

“We will wait for a full accounting of the facts and will not presuppose any findings or outcomes,” said Col. Myles B. Caggins III, spokesman for III Corps.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I have seen in the past a First Sergeant relieved for cussing and swearing repeatedly at troops. He was counseled multiple times to use more professional language when addressing troops and was eventually removed. I would not be surprised if this is a similar situation.

Here is what the Army Secretary had to say about the SHARP program:

“My preliminary review of the report, recent cases and recent media coverage, have hardened my belief that the Army’s SHARP program hasn’t achieved its mandate to eliminate sexual assaults and sexual harassment by creating a climate that respects the dignity of every member of the Army family,” McCarthy said in a video statement Wednesday afternoon.

Army leadership intends to also release an action plan to address the review’s recommendations when it’s released next month.

The Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program, or SHARP, has been under scrutiny in recent months following the death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier who prosecutors say was murdered in an armory on post by a fellow 3rd Cavalry Regiment trooper.

Guillen’s family said she had been sexually harassed by a fellow soldier prior to her death, but she didn’t report the incident for fear of retribution. Following those allegations, Army Forces Command sent a small team in June to specifically look at the SHARP program on Fort Hood.

Army Times

You can read more at the link, but the problem I see here is setting an unattainable goal. The Army will never eliminate SHARP incidents, just like it will never end theft, murder, assault, and other crimes in the ranks. Everyone who has ever served in the Army has experienced barracks thieves. What makes SHARP different is the politics involved with the issue. When have you ever heard a politician claim theft between soldiers needs to be ended?

What needs to be determined is if the system is allowing soldiers to report and seek investigations and ultimately punishment of those responsible. It is pretty clear that a large number of soldiers are reporting based on the numbers from the Pentagon, what is tricky is the punishment portion when you get into the he said, she said cases particularly when many of them involve alcohol.

This is the same problem that civilian courts have and no one is trying to blow up the civilian court system like politicians want to do with the military justice system.

Here is how the U.S. Army is trying to remain relevant in a near peer conflict with China:

About a year from now, the Army plans to practice rapidly deploying 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers from the mainland through Western Pacific islands and into nations around the East and South China Seas for training that will send a message to China.

The first “Defender Pacific” — the Pentagon’s most significant exercise for the region in 2020 — is expected to be followed by an even bigger version involving more than 10,000 mainland soldiers.

Gen. Robert Brown, who stepped down Friday as commander of U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, likes to point out that the United States is in a state of strategic “hyper-competition” with China and Russia.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.