Association of the U.S. Army, Delaware Chapter
Voice for the Army and support for all Soldiers in the state of Delaware.
Please plan to attend a special dedication ceremony of Delaware’s World War II memorial on November 9th, twelve o’clock noon at Legislative Hall, Dover DE.
If you are a WWII veteran and would like to attend, please RSVP at (302) 739-2792 for special seating.
If you know someone who is a WWII veteran, please pass this information on to them.
The Association of the U.S. Army Director of Family Programs recently distributed an update on their family activities.
Here are a few items that you might find helpful:
1. Blue Star Families 2013 Lifestyle Survey on what military families say is most important to them: http://bluestarfam.s3.amazonaws.com/42/6b/b/1583/OnePager2013.pdf
2. Upcoming locations of Hiring our Heroes Job Fairs: http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes/events Note: there are three pages that run all the way through March of 2014 so don’t forget to scroll through all of them
3. Military Family Research Institute provided the newest information on what research is showing us about military children: See http://blog.militaryfamily.org/2013/06/26/how-are-military-families-doing-what-researchers-are-discovering/
4. AUSA is launching a Spouse membership initiative. It is scheduled for a soft launch in late September/ early October! How will it work?
a. Spouses will click on to a spouse membership link that will take them to a page explaining the new membership category
b. Spouses will be asked if their spouse is currently an AUSA member
i. If “yes”, spouse will type in their spouses email for verification and then will be taken to a page that allows them to join at the $14.oo rate (sans magazine)
ii. If “no” spouses will be able to join at the rate equivalent to their husbands rank or DA civilian position
c. FIRST 100 spouses to receive FREE Ann Hand AUSA membership pin (see photo)
5. The AUSA Family Programs Directorate represented the association in the following meetings since the last Update (Links to the events have been included:
a. OSD-Military Family Research Institute Launch of “How to Help Military & Veteran Families” materials: (FREE for download: https://www.mfri.purdue.edu/publications/how-to-help.aspx )
b. “Celebration of Our Military Kids’ Star Power” http://www.ourmilitarykids.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Star-Power-Press-Release-2013.pdf
c. Military Family Readiness Council (NMFA is a sitting council member- their report here: http://www.militaryfamily.org/feature-articles/military-family-readiness.html )
d. Presented at AWAG in Germany: http://www.awagonline.org/Seminar-Speakers.html
e. Blue Star Families Lifestyle Survey launch
f. Exhibited at TAPS National Military Survivor Seminarhttp://www.taps.org/
g. United through Reading Senior Spouse Roundtable: http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/
h. Military Families Research Institute Symposium: https://www.mfri.purdue.edu/newsroom/view-news.aspx?newsitemid=95
i. National Child Traumatic Stress Network Advisory Council Meeting (I represent not only AUSA but I am the military family rep) http://www.nctsn.org/
Save the date! September 16th is the Delaware National Guard Golf Tournament. This event will be held at the Deerfield Golf Club and has a shotgun start at 9:00 AM. The event is open to all current and retired Delaware Army and Air National Guard members, their families or friends of the Delaware National Guard. For more details check out the attached flyer.
In July, the Senate Armed Services Committee rejected a Pentagon proposal to increase Tricare fees and perscription co-payments. The Committee did not include the Pentagon proposal in its version of the 2014 Defense Authorization bill (Senate 1197). Therefore, increases to Tricare Prime enrollment fees and pharmacy co-pays are restricted to no more than 1.7%, the 2013 federal cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). According to Military Times, since the 2013 COLA increase would not boost pharmacy co-pays by more than a dollar, the co-pays would most likely remain at their same amount.
Let me summarize the recent Legislative Update from AUSA. The ongoing budget uncertainty and sequestration is wreaking havoc on the Defense Department at a time when the world is not getting any safer. The news this weekend was stark: Officials ordered the temporary closure of over two dozen U.S. diplomatic posts, issued a global travel warning to Americans because of a terrorist threat, and are evacuating the U.S. Embassy in Yemen
As sequestration continues the Strategic Choices and Management Review presented Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel with two approaches to reduce force structure and force modernization. The first approach would trade away size for high-end capability. This would further shrink the active Army to between 380,000 to 450,000 troops, reduce the number of carrier strike groups from 11 to 8, draw down the Marine Corps from 182,000 to between 150,000 and 175,000, and retire older Air Force bombers. This choice would result in a force that would be technologically superior, but would be much smaller and less robust, especially if threats occurred in different regions of the world.
The second approach would trade away high-end capability for size. Limited cuts would be made to ground forces, ships, and aircraft, but modernization programs would be curtailed, cyber enhancements would be slowed, and special operations forces would be reduced. Either approach would stifle our ability to provide and sustain modern equipment to troops all over the world and damage the viability of America’s private-sector industrial base.
AUSA President Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., is shocked that Congress continues to leave sequestration in place. In a letter to House and Senate leadership last week he said that, “The effects of continuing to impose the costs of sequestration on the Department of Defense will cause the Army to loose effectiveness at all levels. The sad legacy of the sequestration cuts will be a, “hollow Army” with furloughed civilians, tiered levels of unit readiness, reduced flying hours, deferred battle loss replacement, and cancelled Soldier training; all that lower professional leader development and unit readiness.”
Worse, President Obama told congressional Democrats that the Pentagon should get no more attention than many other areas of the budget with respect to sequestration. Even the Washington Post was alarmed by his message; stating in an editorial that the President “cannot act as though the Defense Department’s sequester cuts are equivalent in consequence to every other item in the budget. The country’s defense is a core responsibility of the federal government, and its armed forces are critical to the nation’s ability to exert leadership, maintain alliances, and preserve the nation’s safety.”
Please join us and contact your members of Congress to urge them to pass legislation that will end sequestration. Visit the Legislative Agenda page on AUSA’s website http://www.ausa.org. Click on the “Contact Congress” link and then on the prepared letter “Stop Sequestration Now” to let your Representative and Senators know that it is time to act.
We are now on Twitter and you can follow us @AUSADelaware there or join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AUSADelawareChapter Let’s get social!
After the Army announced that it is reducing end-strength and reorganizing brigade combat teams, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., said, “As damaging as they are, these cuts don’t begin to reflect the crippling damage sequestration will do to our Armed Forces and National Security. The Committee will carefully examine the implications of this initial restructuring, but we all must understand that this is only the tip of the iceberg, much deeper cuts are still to come. America learned the hard way that our pre- 9/11 military was too small. Now, even before sequestration, we are reducing the force to that same size and foolishly expecting history to teach us a different lesson. What lessons will we learn when sequester doubles these cuts in just a few months’ time?”
The Army plans to reduce the authorized end-strength of the Active Army from 570,000 to 490,000 and the Army National Guard from 358,000 to 350,000 and will inactivate a total of 12 BCTs. In a press conference last week, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said, “The reduction of 80,000 Soldiers or 14% from the Active Component will be completed by the end of fiscal year 2017. Let me be clear, we are taking these actions as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011. This end-strength and force structure reduction predates sequestration. If sequestration continues into Fiscal Year 2014, Army reductions to end-strength, force structure and basing announced today will be only the first step.” Later in the press conference, Odierno reiterated, “I want to emphasize that these reductions do not reflect reductions due to sequestration. Full sequestration could require another significant reduction in Active, Guard, and Reserve force structure as much as 100,000 combined.”
AUSA President Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan said that “Congress must quickly find an alternative to sequestration. Everyone needs to be reminded of history’s lessons, of the dangers of a hollow Army that is called to fight the first battle of the next war – but without enough manpower, training or weaponry to do the job – of an Army which then pays the price in the blood of too many Soldiers killed or wounded while they train the hard way – during war, not before it.”
Registration is now open for the 2013 AUSA Annual Meeting, October 21-23, along with the Military Family Forums. The AUSA Annual Meeting is the largest land power exposition and professional development forum in North America. The Annual Meeting consists of informative presentations, panel discussions on pertinent military and national security subjects, workshops and important AUSA business meetings.
The Family forums within the Annual Meeting are designed to engage and inform both the military community and the greater civilian community around them. AUSA Family Programs staff are excited to connect with military families, share resources, and gain insight from their scheduled speakers and panelists. The forums this year will feature the Army’s top leaders and in-depth discussions about holistic approaches to self-care and the growing variety of community resources. Register today!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! We will be having General Membership Social in honor of the US Army’s 238th Birthday as well as Flag Day on June 14th at the V.F.W. Post in Port Penn from 4:30 until 6:00 PM. Please come out and join us! The V.F.W. has graciously given us a reduced price for food and beverages. Hope to see you there!
PRESS RELEASE
“Our Community Salutes” (OCS)
Second annual ceremony recognizes and honors military-bound high school seniors in Delaware – May1, 2013 – New Castle, DE
Delaware Chapter, Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) and Wilmington University (WU) conducted the second annual ‘Our Community Salutes’ event at Wilmington University’s New Castle, DE campus on May 1st from 6-8pm, to recognize and honor the Delaware high school seniors (and their parents) who have chosen to enlist into the military after graduation this spring.
Over 140 people attended the event, including local celebrities, area college officials, representatives from ESGR, Red Cross, Military OneSource, the Blue Star Mothers, and the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation. Sponsors included Navy Federal Credit Union, Summit Aviation, AAA MidAtlantic, and Delaware City Refining Co. Several high ranking military officers attended, and the Delaware Military Academy provided a color guard and an exhibition drill team. 29 high school seniors from all over Delaware attended with friends and family.
The event was headlined by Tim Furlong, NBC News Philadelphia, as the emcee. Featured speakers included Brigadier General Carol Timmons (Assistant Adjutant General – Air, Delaware National Guard), Brigadier General (Retired) Terry L. Wiley, and Command Chief Master Sergeant James M. Smith (436th Airlift Wing, Dover Air Force Base). Student enlistees received Letters of Appreciation from U.S. Senator Tom Carper, U.S. Representative John Carney, and from the State of Delaware House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees.
Association of the U.S. Army, Delaware Chapter 