Tag: U.S. Army

Here is who is reportedly replacing General Brooks as the next USFK commander:

The Donald Trump administration is expected to name Robert B. Abrams, a four-star Army general, as the new U.S. Forces Korea commander, according to a diplomatic source Wednesday.

Abrams will replace Gen. Vincent Brooks, who will leave his post as commander of United States Forces Korea (USFK) possibly as early as this summer. An official announcement naming Abrams, currently commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command, as the new head of the USFK is expected to come at a later date, and the replacement is expected to take place in July or August.

The White House is also expected to soon officially name four-star Adm. Harry Harris, the outgoing chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, as ambassador to Seoul, a long-vacant position. A diplomatic source well informed on the matter told the JoongAng Ilbo, “The duo of Harris, a four-star Navy admiral, and Abrams, a four-star Army general, stand at the front line in the case of any problems arising amid the rapidly changing situation on the Korean Peninsula.”

Their appointments would complete the Trump administration’s reshuffling of the diplomatic and security lineup over the Korean Peninsula. Abrams, 57, is the son of a 1950-53 Korean War veteran, Gen. Creighton W. Abrams Jr., a former Army chief of staff and commander in Vietnam who is known for legendary exploits in World War II. His two brothers are also in the military.

Abrams was born in 1960 in Germany and has spent more than 30 years in active service. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, Abrams received a master of science degree from Central Michigan University and a master of strategic studies degree from the United States Army War College. He has led units in countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Abrams also previously served as a senior military assistant to the secretary of defense and a strategic war planner for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He became the 22nd chief of United States Army Forces Command in 2015, commanding some 229,000 active duty soldiers. The Army Forces Command includes some 776,000 soldiers and 96,000 civilians.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Even if the two servicemembers involved poorly parked their vehicle it is no excuse for the horrible actions these two civilians took:

A 71-year-old woman was arrested after she lunged at and hit a pregnant servicemember at a Cheddar’s in Macon, Ga., police said. Videos of the Saturday incident, which police said was sparked by a disagreement over parking, have drawn millions of views as they spread across social media.

Judy Tucker was arrested on Saturday, charged with simple battery and released a few hours later on $650 bail. According to a Bibb County Sheriff’s Office report, Tucker told police that the incident with servicemembers Stephanie Mitchell and Treasure Sharpe, who are black, “all started because she was white and it was a race issue.” Tucker’s son approached the women when they were backing into a parking space and told them they “should learn how to park” and called them a profane name, the report quoted Mitchell as saying.

Mitchell said that, inside the restaurant, Tucker’s son again called them the profane name and said that they were black lesbians.   [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the Tucker’s should be ashamed and embarrassed by their inappropriate and racist comments if the alleged actions are all true.

It looks like US Army basic training will be modified to improve the discipline of the millennial generation:

The U.S. Army will soon launch a redesign of Basic Combat Training intended to build more discipline after many commanders complained that new soldiers often show up to their first units with a sloppy appearance and undisciplined attitudes.

By early summer, new recruits will go through Army BCT that’s designed to instill strict discipline and esprit de corps by placing a new emphasis in drill and ceremony, inspections, pride in military history while increasing the focus on critical training such as physical fitness, marksmanship, communications and battlefield first aid skills.

The program will also feature three new field training exercises that place a greater emphasis on forcing recruits to demonstrate Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills, the list of key skills all soldiers are taught to survive in combat.

The new program of instruction is the result of surveys taken from thousands of leaders who have observed a trend of new soldiers fresh out of training displaying a lack of obedience and poor work ethic as well as being careless with equipment, uniform and appearance, Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, commanding general of the U.S. Army Center of Initial Military Training, told defense reporters on Friday.

“What leaders have observed in general is they believe that there is too much of a sense of entitlement, questioning of lawful orders, not listening to instruction, too much of a buddy mentality with NCOs and officers and a lot of tardiness being late to formation and duties,” Frost said. “These are trends that they see as increasing that they think are part of the discipline aspect that is missing and that they would like to see in the trainees that become soldiers that come to them as their first unit of assignment.”  [Military.com]

You can read more at the link.

Congratulation to these soldiers at Ft. Bragg:

Women quietly broke through barriers last fall when they became the first in the Army to earn the prestigious Expert Infantryman Badge at Fort Bragg.

The badge, which was created in the 1940s, only recently opened to women when the Department of Defense struck down regulations that prevented them from serving in infantry jobs. The women earned the badge during testing with hundreds of male candidates in November — about two years after infantry jobs opened to women.

“This historic achievement is a reminder of the great things we can achieve when women are seen and treated as equals and given the same chance to contribute to their country,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a statement. The Democrat from Illinois was among the first Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but what is ironic about this is that female ROK soldiers have been able to earn the EIB before female US Army soldiers:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2016/06/female-rok-army-captain-awarded-us-army-expert-infantryman-badge/

I can only imagine what the Family Readiness Group (FRG) meetings would have looked like if this soldier’s gangster husband showed up to them:

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang denied bail Wednesday for the accused pimp who federal prosecutors describe as violent and intimidating.

Isaiah McCoy is charged with sex trafficking by force.

Wearing a white, inmate jumpsuit and a belly chain, McCoy did not speak in court, allowing his assistant federal public defender Max Mizono to argue that McCoy is not a danger to the community or a flight risk.

McCoy’s wife, Army Sgt. Tawana Roberts, also remains at the federal detention center. Her bond hearing is scheduled for Jan. 24.

The couple was arrested on Jan. 3 by police in an undercover prostitution sting at a Waikiki hotel.

One of the pieces of evidence being used against the couple, a Facebook Live video posted two months ago, in which Roberts and McCoy are in a hot tub.

McCoy jokingly asks as he grabs his wife, “How much is this going to cost me?”

Roberts responds: “You already know the going rate for me … five stacks.” That’s slang for $5,000.

But, according to HPD documents obtained by Hawaii News Now, Roberts agreed to take $500 from an undercover officer in exchange for sex acts.

The day after the two were arrested by HPD, a federal grand jury indicted them in the expansive human trafficking case.

McCoy has been in Hawaii less than a year after he was released from Delaware’s death row.

He married Roberts a few months ago. She is a food service specialist at Schofield Barracks.

McCoy is not allowed on post because of prior convictions for burglary, robbery and drug crimes.  [Hawaii News Now]

You can read more at the link, but this McCoy character is quite the walking crime spree.  His wife is not much better considering she was arrested working as a prostitute over in Waikiki.

It looks like the final decision on the “Pinks and Greens” will be coming soon:

The U.S. Army will make a final decision in a matter of months on whether to switch back to its classic World War II-era “pink and green” dress uniform as part of an effort to more closely link troops to the service’s history, the Army said.

The uniform would replace the current Army Service Uniform — introduced in 2008 — which would be used as a more formal dress uniform.

The proposed change has the support of the Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey, who donned a prototype at the Army-Navy game in December.

“That (World War II) was a point in history where soldiers were highly respected and there was a sense of nationalism in the country. When you looked at them you said that is an American soldier,” Dailey recently said.  (……)

A switch, however, appears inevitable. The Army has showcased the uniform at prominent events, such as the Association of the U.S. Army convention in October and the Army-Navy football game.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but just like replacing the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) with the current Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) was the right answer despite the ACU’s short life cycle, I think replacing the ASU with the “Pinks and Greens” is the right answer as well.

Here is what the US Army Secretary Dr. Mark Esper had to say to say recently during a visit to Camp Humphreys:

Soldiers won’t have to move as often, spouses will find it easier to get jobs and there will be access to cheaper produce if the new Army secretary has his way.

Secretary of the Army Mark Esper addressed these issues with soldiers, civilians and family members during a town hall meeting this week at the 8th Army’s new headquarters south of Seoul.

Esper — a Gulf War veteran and former Raytheon lobbyist who took the Army’s top job in November — said he hopes to give troops the choice of staying longer at duty stations.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but one of the ideas being looked in regards to lower produce costs on post is to have local Korean farmers open up their own food stalls on Camp Humphreys.

A US Army general is in trouble for disrespecting a Congressional staffer:

The U.S. Army says “appropriate administrative action” has been taken against a two-star general faulted for mistreating a congressional staffer, but the service refused to specify the steps it took against Maj. Gen. Ryan Gonsalves.

“The matter is now closed,” Army spokeswoman April Cunningham said in a statement.

Gonsalves, who served as commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Infantry Division until August, had been in line for a promotion. In July, he was nominated by the Army for a third star, but the White House rescinded the nomination on Nov. 27, after an inspector general’s probe.

The allegations against Gonsalves centered on complaints that he failed to treat a female congressional staffer with “dignity and respect” during an October 2016 meeting at his Fort Carson headquarters.  [Stars & Stripes]

So what was the horrible thing that MG Gonsalves did?  He called a Congressional staffer “sweetheart”:

The IG says it was able to substantiate an accusation that Gonsalves called the congressional staffer “sweetheart” during a meeting about the 4th Infantry Division’s mission, which amounted to a violation of Army command policy.

The IG complaint also said that Gonsalves took issue with the staffer’s youth and told her she should take detailed notes on why the military needed funding “since she was a Democrat and did not believe in funding the military,” the IG report said.

You can read more at the link.

The below video is from an interview that CNN’s Brooke Baldwin did with a US Army Lieutenant Colonel who get emotional talking about his family’s safety in South Korea:

I can understand why this officer got emotional talking about his family’s safety, but this is probably not the best image for the US Army to put forward.  It seems to me that if he is so fearful for his family’s safety he should of did an unaccompanied tour to Korea.

I am surprised Bergdahl received no jail time:

A military judge’s decision Friday to issue no jail time and a dishonorable discharge for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl unleashed a wide range of emotions.

Several expressed anger that Bergdahl, 31, didn’t get the punishment they thought he should have, while others expressed understanding that he didn’t deserve more jail time.

Leading the charge of angry reaction was President Donald Trump, who went after the decision by the judge, Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance.

He sentenced Bergdahl to forfeit $10,000 in pay, a reduction in rank to E-1 private and a dishonorable discharge, barring him from receiving any medical or other benefits entitled to most veterans.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I have always thought that Bergdahl should have at least received the Charles Robert Jenkins punishment.  What Jenkins did caused far less risk for US troops because nobody had to search to find him when he defected to North Korea unlike Bergdahl who initiated a massive search which put soldiers lives at risk.  Jenkins also spent far more time in captivity than Bergdahl, 39 years compared to Bergdahl’s 5, and yet Jenkins received a month of jail time and Bergdahl received none.

Finally Jenkins was not released in exchange for a group of terrorists like Bergdahl was.  Just these facts alone should warrant jail time for Bergdahl if Jenkins received jail time.  I wonder if the judge presiding over the case even considered Jenkins past sentence as a precedent before issuing his ruling?