You Served® - Veteran and Military Blog and Military Podcast

GEN Dempsey talking about Force Design

2010-03-12T04:00:43Z

GEN Dempsey talking about Force Design from Nathan Long on Vimeo.

About the video: This video is from a private session that a few media reps had with TRADOC Commander, GEN Dempsey. This one focuses on a question to the General about a white paper that is being drafted on future Army Force Design.

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The Kindness of Strangers

2010-03-12T16:29:13Z

I am always amazed at the generous nature of people in America. We send billions to people in need across the globe, we have men like Team Rubicon who just up and decide that they’re gonna help and it blows up into this huge deal of charity medical work from a small kernel of kindness and empathy.

Here is a story of a man doing his tiny part to be a great American. To be a shining example of altruism.

If you are in the Houston, TX area, please use Mr. Dan Wallrath as a your home builder. Or even better, stop by his office and give him a HUGE hug from me and thank him for what he’s doing for injured veterans. He is obviously a man of character and distinction. He is someone that I am proud to call a fellow American.

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Gen Dempsey talking about the BRAC move from Monroe to Eustis

2010-03-12T03:12:26Z

In this video from the TRADOC Sr. Leader Conference held in Williamsburg, VA March 8-11th, TRADOC Commander Gen Dempsey is talking about the BRAC move from Ft. Monroe to Ft. Eustis VA

GEN Dempsey talking about BRAC move to Ft. Eustis from Nathan Long on Vimeo.

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What is the solution?

2010-03-11T19:35:04Z

We had GEN Chiarelli on You Served radio last year in the summer to talk about the suicide rate in the Army and the impact that had on the soldiers in the units, the command and the Army as a whole. The Army, under the direction of GEN Chiarelli, has been working hard to counter this and turn around the sad trend of suicide rates in the Army.

I am not sure what else they can do. I know the suicide rate is a huge concern and the Army is working everything they can, but I am not sure what the solution is. What else can they do? Any ideas from you, leave a comment.

Army Releases February Suicide Data

The Army released suicide data today for the month of February. Among active-duty soldiers, there were 14 potential suicides: one has been confirmed as suicide, and 13 remain under investigation. For January, the Army reported 12 potential suicides among active duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, two have been confirmed as suicides, and ten remain under investigation. During February, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were five potential suicides: all five remain under investigation. For January, among that same group, there were 15 potential suicides. Of those, seven were confirmed as suicides and eight are pending determination of the manner of death. “In our continuing efforts to sharpen our current focus on suicide prevention, we are conducting a comprehensive review of existing programs Army-wide, related to health promotion, risk reduction and suicide prevention,” said Col. Chris Philbrick, director, Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. “We will use the results of this review to increase the effectiveness of our efforts.” “Because suicide affects every member of our Army family and no one is immune to depression, anxiety and stress; we are also expanding our training resources and support programs to address these issues with our Department of the Army civilians and family members,” Philbrick said.

The Army’s comprehensive list of Suicide Prevention Program information is located at http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/default.asp .

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Got Military MOPS?

2010-03-11T14:18:30Z

I loved MOPS when Emma was a baby. I took her and she played with the other little ones while I had my own “play date” with other moms. We had a lot of fun and I looked forward to it each month. When Bryan joined the military, however, I did feel a tad displaced in a regular MOPS meeting.

I remember the first meeting after he joined we were talking about “home” and what we loved about our homes. I had just sold my home, I was living out of boxes. Two of my sons had already grown up and moved out and one was in Iraq at the time. Bryan was away in training at Ft. Benning, and I was at home without him, without roots (or so it felt) and without my personal belongings. It was a feeling that left me isolated as I heard the answers of the other women.

Military MOPS is different though. It is based on, for, and about Military families — and mothers of military preschool children. Read the information below and see if you qualify — or if you know someone who does, pass the information the along.

MOPS International is dedicated to meeting the needs of every mother of preschoolers. In order to attain this vision for moms who are either in the military themselves, or have a spouse in the military, MOPS International has developed the Military MOPS program. A Military MOPS group is much like a Classic MOPS group, except that it is chartered, or sponsored, by a base chapel, either domestic or international. Because of the unique situations that Military MOPS groups face by being on a military base, MOPS International has designed this program with a great deal of flexibility.

Military MOPS groups usually meet once or twice a month, and often provide childcare through the MOPPETS program. Much like our Classic MOPS groups, Military MOPS meetings vary in length, topics and meeting time, but typically include time for developing relationships through teaching, discussion groups, creative activities and fellowship time over a shared meal or snack.

Military MOPS groups often have a Steering Team of 8 leaders, but may combine leadership positions for smaller group sizes. For Military MOPS groups, Military MOPS groups often have a Steering Team of 8 leaders, but may combine leadership positions for smaller group sizes. For Military MOPS groups, the MOPS International Membership fee is optional, and can be substituted with a bi-annual love offering.

Interested in starting a Military MOPS group?
Find out how!

Download the Military MOPS Charter Agreement here:
as a .doc or as a .pdf

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Bar-room versus the Boardroom

2010-03-11T18:14:59Z

I think I have found the one thing that Public Affairs Officers (PAO) fear more than anything else. It isn’t liberal leaning mainstream media, it isn’t the Huffington Post. It is bloggers who are ex-military, hard-headed and know their way around the military culture.

Don’t get me wrong, TRADOC is treating my great, especially the PAO but I sense a look of suspicion and worry sometimes when I see or talk to the actual PAO of TRADOC. Once he found out I was a retired 1SG, and that I have a “don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness” attitude I think he started hanging a little bit closer to me every where I go. I am not sure why, as I would do nothing to discredit or embarrass the military. In fact it is quite the contrary, I will defend the military as an institution, and go after anyone that is disrespectful to the military. I think my record speaks for itself to show that I have done this several times. I know the PAOs are just doing their job and there is no doubt that PAOs army-wide have been burned and embarrassed by slimy media more times than they can count. So I guess I have to earn their trust and as I progress through day two of this conference it appears I have started to earn the trust.

I won’t be an extension of a PAO, as I won’t always tell the “good news” story. I will call BS when it warrants it. I will hold people accountable for their actions. I will be fair and honest and hopefully interject as little of my emotion as possible.

But they can’t be with me everywhere so I slip and dip and talk to different people whenever I can. This morning I have a interview scheduled with a gentlemen who oversees the non-commissioned officer education system for TRADOC. That came about from me talking to him in the coffee line yesterday.

Last night I was introduced to LTG Freakley, who is the commander of Accessions Command (they sponsored the milblog booth at last year’s Blog World Expo in Last Vegas). I had a great 20 minute talk with the LTG and this morning I followed up with him and he has committed to come on the You Served Radio show.

Last night I also had a chance to talk to some of the TRADOC Commander (GEN Dempsey) inner staff about him coming on the You Served Show also. So far they seem very open to it and it looks like it will happen. Since he he is a four-star General of a huge command like TRADOC, he is a pretty busy guy so I know it is not easy to get his time. However hopefully my convincing personality, shiny head, and winning smile will convince his people to get him on the show.

A lot of my progress last night was not done in a panel or a conference, it was done at dinner and then at the bar. Because as my wife has always said, “more business is done in the bar-room then it is in the boardroom”.

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Justices to hear case involving Fred Phelps’ protests at military funerals

2010-03-11T13:57:01Z

The mere mention of the Phelps Cult (it’s not a Church… call it what it is) gets my blood boiling. If they spewed their disgusting, vile, poison in private I could ignore it, but they choose to torture families who are in a deep state of grief. It exposes the cult-followers for the cowardly liars they are, but it also exposes our military families to the cult’s disgusting display of idiocy when our military parents, spouses and children are at their lowest point — as they are saying their final good-bye to their beloved soldier.

Government should not stop the exercise of the freedom of speech this wretched cult practices — because we all know it would not stop there. That’s a slippery slope covered in banana peels I would never want to go down.

HOWEVER…

I absolutely believe that families who are caused emotional turmoil and grief over these idiots exercising their rights should be allowed to sue them in civil court for damages. Yes free speech is a right and with any right you have responsibilities. If you want to behave like a raging a–hole then you deserve to be sued like one.

Show them the same mercy in court that they have shown to our grieving families — none.

I think that’s all I had better say. This is a public blog and I am a lady. I am glad I have Aikido class tonight so I can punch the crap out of a punching bag.

Justices to hear case involving Fred Phelps’ protests at military funerals

EXCERPT
By DAVID KLEPPER
The Star’s Topeka correspondent

TOPEKA | The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case involving Fred Phelps and his Topeka congregation, whose protests at military funerals have angered families across the country.

The court said it would consider an appeal from the father of a slain Marine who hopes to reinstate a $5 million verdict against the Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church.

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., successfully sued the church in a Maryland federal court in 2007 arguing its funeral protest was an invasion of privacy that caused his family emotional distress.

But last fall an appeals court reversed the $5 million verdict, ruling the church’s protests were protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court will hear Snyder’s appeal this fall.

“It’s freedom of speech to some,” said Snyder, whose son Matthew was killed in Iraq. “To me it’s not what my son fought for. They’re kicking people in the face when they’re already down on the ground. All I was trying to do was bury my son.”

LINK TO ENTIRE ARTICLE

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Great insight into the mind of The Rendon Group

2010-03-10T19:21:48Z

The TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference really kicked off with a great speaker this morning. It was Mr. John Rendon from The Rendon Group. The Rendon Group is a consulting firm that works with government and military clients to provide Strategic Communications. Last year they were in the news when it came out they were profiling bloggers and embedded journalists to rate them and see if they were considered favorable or not to the military.

The Rendon Group has been around for a long time and John Rendon is a very smart guy who knows what he is talking about and can and did provide very thoughtful comments to military leaders in order to make them think. Last night at the icebreaker social, GEN Dempsey explained how much he values John’s input an perspective.

On of the first things that John did was show the video titles Do You Know 4.0. I have seen this video in the past and it does a great job at highlighting what a technology-connected society we have become. Some may question the relevance at this conference, but I can see that as these leaders in the Training and Doctrine Command meet and talk about the future’s training. The video also shows not only how much technology has changed the world, but more so how much the new media and Web 2.0 has developed and matured.

John then went around the world talking about different counties and how their actions and culture effect what we do in our country both in the areas of technology but also in military practice. He talked about some of the obvious like Russia, India and China but also others like Brazil. In fact he emphasized Brazil and how much we need to pay attention to Brazil and what they are learning from us, compared to what we are not learning from them.

John Rendon had some great quotes that I want to highlight in this blog. Some of them were:

1. “nobody in this room is going to win this war” By that he meant that this war we are fighting today against Terrorism will outlast the careers of many of the leaders in the room. He was demonstrating that it will be the replacements of these leaders or even later replacements that will be in the job when this war ends.

2. “we should reward risk and not punish failure” The point of this quote was to highlight the downfall of the risk adverse culture that has been over-emphasized in the Army today. He was trying to point out that taking risks is a good thing and that those leaders whom do should be recognized and rewarded for doing that.

3. “the adversary is defining our intentions, goals, and outcomes and we are not” When I heard John say this, it reminded me of the old military saying of “the enemy always has a vote”. In other words, too many times we are reactive and respond to the enemy versus being proactive and having us shape the battlefield and what happens on it.

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Follow You Served on Twitter

2010-03-10T16:58:30Z

This week Troy is at the TRADOC Sr. Leaders Conference and is producing several blog posts as a result and conducting interviews also. You Served is one of only three blogs that was invited to the Conference. In addition to the blogs that will be written, live tweeting is happening from the Conference via the www.twitter.com/youserved twitter account.
Below are a few samples of the tweets that are being produced.

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Things EVERY Vet Should Know

2010-03-08T21:55:05Z

ALL VETS SHOULD COPY THIS

Print this out and save it in your VA files. There may be a time for use in the future .

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