Soldiers Magazine highlights U.S. Army Africa Aug 2011

8/4/2019 Soldiers Magazine highlights U.S. Army Africa Aug 2011

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THE Army is a well-trained,well-equipped ghting force.And behind every weapon,

piece of armor and training that pre-pares and protects Soldiers in battle areteams of scientists and engineers whoare solving complex problems and driv-ing future capabilities.

As part of the U.S. Army Research,Development and Engineering Com-mand, the Army Research Labora-tory is a key component of the Armyscience, technology and engineeringenterprise that supports Soldiers, ac-cording to ARL Director John Miller.

Our diverse assortment of uniquefacilities and dedicated workforce ofgovernment and private sector partners

make up the largest source of state-of-the-art research and analysis in theArmy, said Miller.

Focusing on the future while sup-porting the current warghters, ARLsscientists are a diverse group who holdthe keys to technologies for Soldiersve, 10 and even 20 years down theroad.

Almost every non-medical scien-tic eld is touched by ARL, fromadvanced sensors to neuroscience to

exible electronics to weapons tech-nologies to complex analysis. Basicallyeverything a Soldier needs or may needin the future is investigated by ARL.

Although it has more than 2,000employees, the majority of whom arehighly-educated and skilled leaders intheir elds, the lab combines in-housetechnical expertise with the intellectualpowerhouse of academic and industrypartners.

e research discoveries ARL

produces either within its laboratoriesor through its partners are used as thefoundations for other Army research,development and engineering centersunder RDECOM, Miller explained.

We act as the corporate laboratory,providing the underpinning of science,technology and analysis for the rest ofthe Army, said Miller.

As basic and applied researchersworking in lab environments, ARL sci-entists and engineers sometimes needan up-close understanding of Soldiersrequirements. About 36 active-dutySoldiers are assigned to ARL, and workwith the scientists as subject matterexperts, helping guide technologies to

better suit Soldiers.ey act as the interface between

the eld and the lab, said recently re-tired combat engineer and former ARLsergeant major, Steve Hornbach, whonow works as an operations specialistfor the lab.

eyre extremely important andare able to provide the scientists andengineers the critical information onwhat Soldiers need, he added.

Soldiers from outside units, most

with recent combat experience, alsovisit the scientists in the lab as part ofan RDECOM program to bring freshperspectives and information in fromthe eld.

e scientists work is mostlybehind the scenes for Soldiers, said 1stSgt. Kevin Spooner of the 1st Squad-ron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Air-borne Division, during his units visit.

Joe on the line doesnt realizetheres a guy on a computer in an ocetrying to keep him alive and help killthe enemy, he added.

e average Soldier may also notknow that ARL Soldiers and scientistsvolunteer to deploy to military posts

in the United States, Iraq and Afghani-stan as part of their research, and withRDECOM eld assistance teams totrack down any technology gaps andrapidly help ll them for warghters.

ARLs Dr. Pam Savage-Knepshield,a human factors/ergonomics researchpsychologist, spends much of her timein the eld talking to Soldiers and get-ting their feedback about new and oldequipment. She recently returned froma six-month deployment as a FAST

StorybySarahMaxwell

ArmyResearchLab

Future force

Doug

LaFon

AresearchermonitorsaSoldierasheusesamulti-displaydrivingsimulator.Thesimulatorisusedinavarietyofresearchapplications,toincludemildtraumaticbraininjurytreatment.


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team member in Iraq, where the teamwas responsible for nding solutions toSoldiers problems.

She saw eld-expedient measuresmilitary members were employing toaddress multiple equipment issues,

from lighting to seatbelts. e FASTteam then coordinated with statesidescientists and logistics support, andimmediately took measures to remedythe situations.

e Soldiers were happy we werethere and looking out for their mission

needs and personal safety, said Savage-Knepshield. It felt really good to beable to get solutions to Soldiers quicklyand see them try them out while wewere there.

While some at ARL are helping

with the ght now, many more arefocused on the future. e high-risk,high-payoworld of basic and appliedscience is where ARL expects to makethe most signicant impact on theArmy and the world in general, saidMiller.

SarahMaxwellworksforArmyResearchLaboratoryPublicAffairs.

ARL has (been) and will continueto be a major force in developinggame-changing technologies that couldrevlutionize the way the Armyghts,he said.

Doug

LaFon

(Left)ScientistsattheArmyResearchLaboratoryconductresearchonavarietyoffronts.Here,amannequinispositionedinoneofthelabsauditoryresearchenvironments.ARLpersonnelconductanarrayofauditoryresearch,includingtheeffectsofvarioustypesofheadgearonsounddetectionand-tures.(PhotocourtesyoftheArmyResearchLab.)

Researchersusethedatagatheredtodevelopoperationalandmedicalbreakthroughs.

(Below)TheArmyResearchLabisdevelopingthisARLis alsoadvancing theflexibleelectroniccomponentsthataccompanythedisplay.(PhotocourtesyoftheArmyResearchLab)


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ResearchLaboratory)

Its called Tactical Digital Hologram technology, and more than 10,000unitswhich atrst glance look likeat plastic mapshave alreadybeenelded to Special Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.


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TRAINING is integral to thenations ghting force, and theArmy Research Laboratory

is reaching out to moviemakers andstorytellers to ensure that Soldiers getthe most realistic and relevant training

available.Marrying Hollywood indus-

tries, cross-disciplinary scientists andmilitary knowledge, the Institute forCreative Technologies at the Univer-sity of Southern California is takingtraining and simulation products to awhole new level, said John Hart, ICTprogram manager for ARLs Simulationand Training Technology Center.

e ICT brings together the bestof both worlds, said Hart, who man-

ages funding to the program as part ofa university-aliated research center, orUARC.

About 10 years ago, the Armyasked, What would happen if wecombine the leaders in immersion tech-nologies, graphics and storytelling?

e result has been multiple break-throughs in virtual reality and emo-tionally engaging training simulations,movies and games focused on helpingservicemembers, said ICT Executive

Director Dr. Randall Hill Jr., a com-puter scientist and former Army ocer.From treating post-traumatic stressdisorder, instilling battleeld ethics andteaching improvised explosive devicerecognition, to addressing myriad other

issues for the military, the ICT is mak-ing its mark in advancing the Armyscapabilities.

Graphics researchers from the insti-tute are the top in their elds and havecontributed to many acclaimed andgroundbreaking movies such as eCurious Case of Benjamin Button andAvatar.

Aside from the technical aspectsthat it brings to the table, the ICTsinvolvement with the movie industry

has brought a level of drama neverbefore introduced into Army simulationtraining, said Hart.

ey can reach out to the entirestorytelling community, and no one isbetter at that than Hollywood, he said.Stories are how information is passedalong, and theyve brought that intotraining.

Tapping into that talent is ICTscreative director Kim LeMasters, a40-year entertainment industry veteran

Institute for Creative TechnologiesStorybySarahMaxwellPhotoscourtesyoftheInstituteforCreativeTechnologies

JamesonMoore,acomputerscientistwiththeInstituteforCreativeTechnologies,converseswitha characterinthemixed-realityGun-slingerprogramaninteractive-entertainmentapplicationofvirtualhumans,whichtransformsaniconicwildwestmoviesceneintoavividsemblanceofreality.


Asubjects faceisdigitally clonedat theUniversityofSouthernCaliforniasInstituteforCreativeTechnologies.ThedigitalimagewillLeadershipTrainer.


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and former president of CBS entertain-ment.

What Hollywood is all about isengaging people, said LeMasters.

Among his contributions to theArmy, is realistic ethics training foryoung troops born from requests

of chaplains at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Working directlywith Soldiers and other subject matterexperts to capture emotional stressesand hard decisions they encounterin combat, LeMasters made FallenEagle, a series of realistic short moviestold from dierent Stryker brigadeteam members perspectives. Each ofthe mini-movies gave a sequence ofevents that drove the characters andstory in ambiguous directions. eypresented tough choices for the char-acters and no answers. Chaplains andleaders could then use the scenarios toengage Soldiers in discussions and helpbetter prepare them before they facecombat directly.

e arousal level has to be up.We make sure the story itself holdsyou. ats a lm technique, saidLeMasters. ese videos are dynamicand follow a story. I ask, Whats thehook? How am I bringing them in?

Another project the ICT is

working on takes the hook of thatstorytelling to the virtual world with,VOLT, or virtual ocer leadershiptraining.e program introducesthe most advanced virtual humangraphics and articial intelligencetechnologies to junior ocers to givethem evidence-based educationaltechniques.e virtual human to realhuman interaction gives young leaderspractice resolving authentic, complexproblems.

A lot of leadership is havinginterpersonal communication skills,said LeMasters, who is working withscientists and Army experts to makesure the programs scenarios arerelevant. We asked, How do you

make it where people can sit down andpractice them?

e ICT team designed the systemto rst help the Navy and now is work-ing to adapt it to the Armys specicrequirements, he said.

e VOLT and other training

tools were introduced after membersof the ICT saw a military need andthen developed technologies based onsound scientic principles using thetop notch technical team, said Hill.But, he said, he doesnt think many inthe Army know that they can come tothem and directly ask for solutions.

e unique thing about theICTs UARC is that we can be giventask orders by the Army, said Hill,who added that its simple to use theinstitutes abilities and he hopes moreleaders will.

Were sitting in an interestingplace in history, he said. We can giveSoldiers the ability to prepare in waysthat werent even possible before.

(Above)AndrewJones,aresearcherinthegraphicslaboftheInstituteforCreativeTech-nologies,demonstratesa live,3-Dproject,

developedasaholographicvideoconferencingsystem,justliketheonedepictedintheStar

(Topleft)TheInstituteforCreativeTechnolo-giesteamswithindustryexpertstodeveloptechnologyliketheLightStage,seenhere.TheLightStagedigitallyre-createsa subjectbyconvertingfacialmeasurementsintoanimation

(Left)TheUniversityofSouthernCaliforniasInstituteforCreativeTechnologies,withfundingfromtheArmy,developsvirtualrealitytechnol-ogy.Theresultsoftheinstitutesworkareusedbyservicemembersat65militarysitesacrossthecountry.


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StorybyTJaeGibson

OBOTS on the battleeld re-main among the most excitingadvancements of technologysmeet-up with warfare since the

machine gun. But, as with any otherhigh-tech luxury, the need for ex-panded capabilities for these fascinatingSoldier must-haves has been supersized.

Military, industry and academia arecombining resources to upgradeelded combat robots through

proofs of concept theyvedesigned under the Army

Research Laboratory-man-aged Robotics Collab-

orative Technology Al-liance, which formed

in 2010. is is sotele-operated sys-

tems likeTalonsandiRobotPack-

bot can

becomeautonomous,

meaning, aSoldier doesnt

have to use a joystickto direct a robot to a

location. He can treat it likeanother Soldier and tell the robot

to go down the road and peer into awindow, said Dr. Jonathan Bornstein,ARLs robotics collaborative alliance

manager in Aberdeen, Md.It wouldbe as good as a Soldier, but if therobot gets shot, at least we dont lose aSoldier.

Researchers have already combinedtheir technological ingenuity to morphthe Talon, a man-portable trackedvehicle, into a new autonomoussystem for small robots, equipped withcustomized sensors, an in-house INS/GPS unit, a 360-degree camera systemand a 360 LADAR (laser radar) scan-ner. Together, these allowed for greater

obstacle detection and 3-D mapping.e system also includes upgraded

power distribution boards, e-stop sys-tem, Ethernet radios, control comput-ers and the code for running the sys-tem. It was showcased at the MAGIC2010 competition in Australia, andplaced third across the globe. Work onthe autonomous Talon will continueunder the Robotics CTA, Bornsteinsaid, to enable further developmentof autonomous mobility technology

for small unmanned ground vehiclesystems.

Robot autonomy can be a touchysubject though, because many solu-tions, although unmanned, are actuallytele-operated from distances far awayfrom military operations. To arrive ata truly autonomous state, Bornsteinsaid, robots will need to be given basicbehaviors much like we do a traineddog; wed be doing good then.

at means robotswill need to be pro-grammed to perceive,understand and eas-ily adapt to dynamic,unknown and chang-ing environments andscenarios; indepen-dently plan and executemilitary missions; learnfrom prior experienceslike people and sharecommon understand-

ing with Soldiers,and eventually, otherrobots.

Researchers areinvestigating ways toget robots to essen-tially and seamlesslyintegrate into militaryand civilian societiesbeyond learning andreasoning, but also to react with near-human dexterity to do whats currently

impossible, like turn a doorknob, pickup a needle or maneuver through 3-Denvironments like dark caves that haverugged dry terrain, mud and water.

Modeling human behavior in roboticsystems isnt easy. Some experts say trans-lating the world into symbolic codingschemes is close to untenable. But ARLengineers specializing in human factorsintegration are leading military eortsin cognitive robotics research to take

Improving, increasingrobotic system capabilitiesArmycollaborateswithindustry,academiatodevelop

autonomouswarfare

R


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ground-based robotic systems beyondarchitectures that support a robotsworking memory, to architectures thatwill support perception and long-termmemory.

Heres the dierence: With workingmemory, robots could play a game ofchess or complete any other task-relatedfunction. But that, grouped with long-term memory and perceptual systems,

would allow robots to play chess andthinkabout the world around them.ey would consider memories aboutthings that are rarely ever forgotten, likeGeorge Washington was a president orcats are mammals, or even more dicultto program, that a particular doorbe-cause of its size, shape, color, thickness,xtures, etc.is one thats never beenseen before, explained Troy D. Kelley,

team leader of the cognitive robotics andmodeling research area.

We cant program robots foreverything; theyll have to learn fromexperience just like humans, so we haveto program them to have adaptive learn-ing, Bornstein said. A Soldier has to beadaptable through training and intuitionto fulll operations. Technology cansatisfy this in a robotic system.

AlgorithmsdesignedbyArmyResearchLaboratoryexpertstransformedthis2007FordEscapeHybridElectricvehicleslow-levelcontrolsintoanautonomouspedestriandetectionsystem,allowingittoindependentlydetect,classifyandavoidpeoplemovingaboutinatypicalurbanenvironment.(PhotocourtesyoftheArmyResearchLaboratory)


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is key to maintaining a good relation-ship through the deployment.

Weve decided to email andSkype, Juli said. When somethingdicult comes along, Ill try to get ahold of him as best I can and try to talkto him about whats going on.

Juli is apprehensive about the de-ployment, but hopes it will make thembetter as a couple. Its a new kind oflifestyle where we share responsibilitiesand a lot of other things. Hopefully,

we can use our communication skillsfor the best and get to be stronger asa communicating couple. But it willchallenge us, thats for sure.

Charles explained that one of histop priorities before leaving for Afghan-istan was to make sure that everythingwas in order for Juli. at preparationincludes lling out paperwork andensuring Juli is connected with themilitary community through resourceslike the Family Readiness Group, the

chaplain or Army Community Service.Juli has already been in contact

with the FRG on Joint Base Langley-Eustis, but has also discovered a largeonline mil-spouse blogging com-munity, which she recommends to

MOST couples get marriedwith the understandingthat there may be certain

disagreements with in-laws, and that ac-cepting your signicant others family ispart of the dealfor better or worse.

Military couples have somethinga little bit scarier than a cranky in-lawthrown in the mix, though. When youmarry a Soldier, youre also marrying theArmy.

Young couples often marry shortly

before deployment, Carol Janer,Mobilization, Deployment and FamilyReadiness program manager said, andpreparation for deployment so soonafter marriage can be dicult for amultitude of reasons. e Soldier has toensure he has all the proper documenta-tion in order, such as a will and powerof attorney, in addition to training for anew assignment and helping his spouseprepare for an extended absence.

If the spouse is suddenly faced with

marriage and then deployment, it canbe tough, Janer said. e spouse hasto take on all household and familialresponsibilities, from the obvious, likekeeping a balanced budget, to small,often-forgotten things like changing thefurnace lter.

Additionally, the Soldier and spousehave to learn to maintain the new rela-tionship as a married couple.

Major Charles Denike, an engi-neer with the 7th Sustainment Brigade

StorybyJacquelineM.Hames

Army

Marriedto the


out of Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.,

thinks that deployments are harder fornewlyweds because they miss the rstyear of marriage. e unique thing isthat the rst year of our marriage isntgoing to start until the second year.

Charles deployed to Afghanistanshortly after his marriage to longtimegirlfriend Juli, Jan. 1, 2011. He will begone for a year.

Its hard because you miss a lotof things, Juli said. For starters, hemisses the rst Valentines Day, my

birthday, misses our rst anniversary,our rst Christmas, all that kind ofstu.

ough this will be their rstdeployment experience as a marriedcouple, Charles and his new bride haveendured a long-distance relationshipbefore, rst when they were dating,and again once they were engaged andCharles was briey deployed to Haitiduring Operation Unied Response.ey understand that communication


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other spouses for more resources and

camaraderie.A spouses involvement with the

Army community is important, not onlyfor practical support, but for emotionalsupport as well. Janer, who is also incharge of the Family Readiness Program,Family Assistance Center and CasualtyResponse Teams at Fort Belvoir, Va.,explained that these programs can helpgive Families perspective on what theirSoldiers lives are like while deployed.

If the (Soldier) is scheduled to

call at a certain time on a certain dayand doesnt, the spouse at home has atendency to panic or over-worry andthink something is wrong, Janer said.e programs give spouses the tools tohelp them manage expectations.

Some couples wont need to worryabout the spouse not understandingmilitary life because the spouse is in themilitary as well, although being a dual-Army couple presents its own uniquechallenges.

National Guard Sgt. 1st Class

Nathaniel Hays married Reserve StaSgt. Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown (nowHays), Jan. 1, 2011, after a two-yearcourtship sparked by an online datingsite. ey had planned to marry inApril, but both received deploymentorders shortly before the New Year, sothey moved the wedding up.

We had literally three weeksto come up with a wedding that we(werent planning to have) for (another)ve months, Nathaniel said.

ankfully, those deployment or-ders were put on hold for both of themalmost immediately after they weremarried. e possibility of Nathanieland Alexandra deploying this year stillexists, however, and the couple contin-ues to plan for such a separation.

Part of that planning includes aFamily Care Plan, as Nathaniel has twochildren from a previous marriage.

Both dual-military and singleparents are required to have whats

called a Family Care Plan, Janer said.

It is a legal, written and authorizedplan documenting who will take careof the children during a deployment,or if something happens to one or bothSoldiers while deployed.

We advise everybody to have acare plan, but the dual military has to,and the single parent has to, to makesure the children are taken care of,Janer added.

ats the chain of commands wayof knowing they can count on you to

deploy, Nathaniel said. Both of themare prepared to deploy if ordered. Alex-andra was deployed once before to Iraq,and Nathaniel has gone to Kuwait onceand Iraq twice. However, at this pointin their marriage a deployment wouldbe dicult.

If I got deployed tomorrow, Idbe devastated, Alexandra said. Notbecause I dont love the Army and amproud of my service and love what Ido in the ArmyI feel like what I do


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in the Army is important and I doenjoy it. But at this point, to leavemy husband, Id probably be prettydevastated.

Despite the stress of moving wed-ding dates around and preparing forpossible deployment, Alexandra and

Nathaniel wouldnt change being adual-military couple. Alexandra fre-quently asks advice on military mattersfrom her husband, and they both thinkbeing in the Army helps them relateand strengthens their relationship.

Ive met the person that I know isgoing to be there at my side regardless,whether its here in country or overseas.I know that shell be there, Nathanielsaid.

StaSgt. Chris Payne and his wife,Spc. Krista Payne, stationed at JointBase Langley-Eustis, will both deployto Afghanistan with the 7th Sustain-ment Brigade and will be stationedon the same base. ey met throughmutual friends in their unit, and mar-ried in September 2010 on YorktownBeach, Va.

We had a little personal beach cer-emony, and then after our deploymentwere going to do the whole big prettyshow, Chris explained.

Being deployed together without

children or other obligations backhome alleviates most of the day-to-day worries that normal Army couplesmight have.

eres a lot of stressors fromhome life that we wont have to dealwith, just because its already taken careof, Chris said.

is is Kristas rst deploymentand Chriss third; while she is a littlenervous, she is glad Chris will be thereto support her. She also knows that if

they have any marital problems whileoverseas, there are still a great manyresources available to help.

We have the chaplain, who isthere if we have any issues on (thedeployment), plus theres the combatstress relief teamthey can help us ifwe have issues within our marriage orany issues within the deployment thatwe need to work through, Krista said.And our chain of command is there tohelp us with anything that we need and

(will) guide us in the right direction.Chris and Krista believe that

ordinary, daily stressors combined withthe stress of not being able to see ortalk to one another make deploymentsmuch harder, and they sympathizewith civilian-military couples, or dual-

military couples who are deployed todierent places.Its a stress were very grateful that

we dont have to deal with, Chris said.Krista advises other couples to

work on their relationships before de-ployment. Make sure everything is inorder, because problems dont go away.

Were very lucky that we have so

many programs that are support-ive of the Family life and of theSoldier. Take advantage of those,she added.

Even though the lifestyle isnot the easiest, its a lifestyle to beextremely proud of, Juli said of the

life of an Army spouse. Becausewhat they do isI dont know ifhonor is the right way to describeit, but its really important. To beable to support someone who wearsthe uniform is, I think, extremelyimportant. Supporting them inwhat they do helps them do theirjobs better.


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where the fuse box is located.We have these long checklists for

themso they dont have to rememberall this, Janer said. ey can just gothrough these checklists and say, Yes,that pertains to me.

e workshops also talk about com-munication between the Soldier andspouse during a deployment, with an em-phasis on how to exercise patience. Oncethe spouse and Soldier have worked outa communication schedule, the spousesometimes worries when the Soldier

doesnt keep to that arrangement.We talk to (the spouses) about how

if they havent heard anything, then theSoldier is OK, Janer explained.

If the spouse hasnt heard anythingfrom a Soldier, or the Soldier misses ascheduled call, it just means he is prob-ably on a mission, and mission doescome rst when they are over there, she

added.Janer also explained that it

is perfectly normal for a spouse

to be worried, sad or even angry.It helps to relieve some of thestress if they realize OK, Imexpected to feel this way, insteadof Why am I so weak? Why amI feeling this way? Why cant Iget it together?

Workshops also oer tips onreunion and reintegration for

THE Mobilization, Deployment

and Family Readiness Programat Fort Belvoir, Va., oerspre-deployment courses, workshopsand resources to help Soldiers andFamilies prepare for missions down-range. Like other Family ReadinessGroups throughout the Army, this onealso helps prepare Families for theirSoldiers return.

We keep in contact with (theFamilies) and provide activities andsupport during the deployment, andthen we do the same thing at the otherend, said Carol Janer, Mobilization,Deployment and Family Readinessprogram manager.

We work with the spouse beforethe Soldier comes backgetting themready (to put) themselves back togetheras a Family. And then, once the Soldieris home, we do reintegration, whichis working with them as a couple afterthey have come back together, sheadded.

e pre-deployment workshops

cover four main subjects: practicalissues, such as emergency phone lists,personal emergency contacts and localresources; legal issues, like updatingwills and powers of attorney; nancialissues, such as how to budget for aFamily with an active-duty paycheck;and personal matters, like how to shuto the main water supply at home and

when the Soldier returns home.We have the spouse come in and

we talk a lot about communication andexpectations, Janer said. Often thespouse and the Soldier are not expect-ing the same things upon return. espouse may want to go out and getaway from the kids, while the Soldierwants to stay in and have a home-cooked meal. Janer said it is importantto talk about these expectations andhave a compromise in place before theSoldier returns.

Reintegration is when the Soldierhas been home for a few weeks and re-ality settles in, Janer explained. Its alsowhen spouses or other Family membersshould be on the lookout for abnormalbehaviors in their Soldiers. If a Sol-dier is experiencing anger or adversefeelings from the deployment two tothree months after returning home, heshould probably seek help, Janer said.

Janer recommends that Soldiers andtheir Families use the resources pro-

vided by the Family Readiness Groupsand Army Community Services attheir home base. Many of the servicesprovided are free, and range from childcare and lawn maintenance to legalservices. For a complete list of servicesavailable and activity schedules, Soldiersand Spouses should contact their homeFRG or ACS.

Navigating deployment togetherByJacquelineM.Hames



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StorybyRobMcIlvaine

THE vast Great Plains region ofNorth America lies west of theMississippi River and east of

the Rocky Mountains, stretching fromMexico to Canada.

It was once home the Plains Indi-ans, including the Sioux, Cheyenne,Crow, Blackfeet, Comanche and Paw-nee, who hunted the prairies, steppesand grasslands for food and clothing asthey followed the large herds of bison.Between 1880 and 1920, however,farmers and ranchers settled the regionand altered the landscape, creatinggrazing lands, agricultural areas, wood-lots and wetlands.

After Pearl Harbor was attacked,the Army transformed the pastoral areanortheast of Denver into a chemicalweapons facility: the Rocky MountainArsenal.

Fromweaponstowildlife

When World War II ended, aportion of the area was leased to ShellChemical Co. for the production ofagricultural chemicals. As Cold Wartensions grew, the facility reverted tochemical weapon production.

Despite its storied past, the ever-changing landscape in this part of theGreat Plains would one day becomeone of the nest conservation successstories in history, a place where nativewildlife would once again thrive, andvisitors could reconnect with nature.

e Rocky Mountain Arsenalsstory is one of many in which theArmy returned industrialized, oftenpolluted land to pristine condition. Butthe happy endings are born from yearsof changing attitudes, thoughtful plan-ning and partnership forging.

Soldiers, civilians, reservists, retirees

and their Families, who live on or nearArmy installations, have trusted seniorleaders, health watchdogs and govern-ment ocials to keep the environmentclean and safe.

e Armys most signicant watch-dog, the Installation ManagementCommand, with six regional ocesworldwide, applies a uniform businessstructure to manage installations, sus-tain the environment and enhance thewell-being of the military community.

Within IMCOM, sustaining theenvironment falls under the leader-ship of the U.S. Army EnvironmentalCommand, whose mission is to leadand execute environmental programsand provide environmental expertise. Itenables Army training, operations andacquisition while maintaining sustain-able military communities.

ANationalGuardSoldiertrainsinHohenfels,Germany,beforedeployingtoKosovoasapeacekeeper.(PhotobyNealSnyder)


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ScottKranz,acontractor,workswithequipmentoriginallydesignedforgoldminingtoremovebulletsfrom (PhotobyKimLippert)

But cleanup can be tedious with184 installationsmany of which wereused for industrial processes such as ex-plosives and ammunition manufactur-ing, as well as chemical and biologicalweapons testing sites and repositoriessince World War I.

Over the past

ve decades, articlesalerting the public to the reappearanceof the militarys out-of-sight, out-of-mind waste have frequently appearedin newspapers, magazines and otherpublications.

e articles sited a multitude ofawed cleanup and disposal processes,and often focused on the militaryspractice of burying chemical warfarematerials in unlined trenches andlandlls at its installations all overthe country and in U.S. territories, apractice that was considered accept-able until about 1950. But the militarywasnt alone in its methods.

e same thing was happening outin the general public, said Jim Daniel,Army Environmental CommandsCleanup Division chief, adding thatwhen it comes to clean up and disposal,the Army deals with the same industrialwastes as cities.

Back in the 60s and early 70swith the environmental movement,

we started looking around guring outwe have to live here, and so the Army

started its cleanup program back in1975 when it established the Installa-tion Restoration Program, Daniel said.

is program examined all installa-tions and determined where the Armymight have dumped things.

We needed to do this because we

wanted to have an inventory of wherethose things were and what we neededto do to make them safe for the folkson the installations and for the folkso the installations that may have beenimpacted, he added.

e Army Environmental Com-mand actually traces its roots backto 1972 when it created the Depart-ment of the Army Project Managerfor Chemical Demilitarization andInstallation Restoration. e mission

of this organization at the time was thedestruction of toxic chemical agentsand munitions.

ere was never a good record ofwhere things were dumped, said Dan-iel who has worked with the CleanupDivision for 21 years, rst as projectand then branch manager before beingnamed chief in 2005.

When we start a new installationcleanup program, one of the rst thingswe do is go back to old records at the

installation and aerial photographs thatmay have been taken, because you cansee scarring on the photos. You cansee from year to year something mayhave been disturbed. ats the startingpoint, Daniel said. ey also inter-viewed some of the installations long

term and former employees.But we cant catch all of them,

he continued. Sometimes we tripover new sites in an area where no onefrequentsback in the wooded areaswhere we are no longer training oroperating. Something may have beenput back there in the 40s and its allovergrown now. It looks like a forest.We still nd those types of sites.

Even so, the Cleanup Division nowknows where 98 to 99 percent of the

sites are located.Two of the more infamous in the

D.C. area are the Spring Valley area atAmerican University and Fort Detrick,Md., where Agent Orange was tested.

e U.S. Army Corps of Engineersmanages the cleanup at AU, known asa formerly utilized defense site, becausethe property had been transferred be-fore the contamination issues came tolight. USACE personnel work with thecurrent owners for access to investigate

AmmocasingsawaitrecyclingatFortDix,N.J.(PhotocourtesyofFortDix)


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and perform cleanup.Even though IMCOM owns

most of the installations, Daniel said,Army Materiel Command still ownsthe ammo plants and depots, the ArmyMedical Command owns Fort Detrick,and the Army Space and MissileDefense Command owns Fort Greeley,Alaska. If you own the property, youown the problems that go with it.

USAEC, however, is responsible,not just for IMCOM installations,

but all Army environmental programsand cleanup, such as at Fort Detrick,where the Cleanup Division continuesto manage the Armys overall active sitecleanup program.

In terms of investigation at thissite, were looking at it from the stand-point of the chemical contamination,including the issues associated withAgent Orange and other herbicide test-ing, Daniel said.

As of now, Daniel said most of the

contamination has been addressed.e only issue we have left to

address up there is the groundwaterin Area B and were working withthe EPA (Environmental ProtectionAgency) to come up with the nalsolution for that, he said.

Groundwater comes from a wet,underground layer of water-bearingpermeable rock, gravel, sand or silt,known as an aquifer. Once ground-water is contaminated, the cleanup

can take decades, sometimes longer,depending on the type of contamina-tion and the type of aquifer. Becauseit took a long time for that contami-nation to leech into those aquifers,which often have small cracks andcrevices, it will take a long time toleech them back out.

e main thing we have done atDetrick is remove and contain sourcesof contamination, and to provide analternate water supply for neighbor-

ing homes from the town of Frederick,well away from the installation. eultimate solution could be creatingconditions where natural microbescome in and eat the contamination,Daniel said.

Nature will eventually clean thisplace up. We think we have downwardtrends at Fort Detrick, showing thatthe sources have been taken care of. Itsin recovery now but itll take a whilefor recovery to be completely restored.

Were talking decades, though, headded.

e water cyclethe continuousmovement of water on, above andbelow the surface of the earthhelpsthe system self clean. As long as yourenot dumping things into it that willtake away that attenuation capacity(soils ltering ability), it will take careof itself, Daniel said. ats why wefocus more on cleaning up the sourceof the contamination, and not trying


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to pump out the water and treat it,and then discharge it or inject it backinto the aquifer. e pumping out isjust not very eective. You can onlypump out as much contamination thatnaturally leeches out, Daniel said,noting that the Cleanup Division doesperform pump-and-treat at certainlocations.

Following cleanup, some installa-tions transitioned from active Armyuse to other uses, such as private indus-

try or national parks.A couple of examples of what

were trying to do at the end of all ofthis cleanup, is to nd another use forit, Daniel said. Such as the JolietArmy Ammunition Plant just southof Chicago thats been turned into theMidewin National Tallgrass Prairie.Transferred to the Forest Service, itsnow a national park where theyre try-ing to establish a bison population.

Or it has become useful as an

industrial site, such as the VolunteerArmy Ammunition Plant in Chat-tanooga, Tenn., that now has a bigVolkswagen plant located on it. ishas meant a lot of new jobs for peopleliving in the area, he said.

But one of the most successfulcleanup stories is that of the former17,000-acre Rocky Mountain Arsenalin Colorado. Restoration eorts by theArmy, EPA, other government agencies

and concerned citizens have returned a15,000-acre portion of the arsenal to itsnative prairie land glory.e area willbe used for public recreational activitiesand wildlife habitat.

is was one of the bigger clean-ups in the Army, although theres stillgoing to be some long-term cleanupwith groundwater pump-and-treat andmonitoring, Daniel said.

Forty years of munitions and


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isthequickestwaytoreachthem.

chemicals had produced one of thebiggest hazardous waste sites thecountry had ever seen, but by the early1980s, the Army and Shell began anextensive environmental cleanup underthe oversight of federal, state and localregulatory agencies.

In an e

ort to provide better focusto the Armys growing environmentalprogram during the mid-1980s, twoprograms were separated from theagencys mission. In 1986 the Army es-tablished a separate project manager tomanage the destruction of the nationstoxic chemical agents and weapons.One year earlier, it established a pro-gram manager to clean up the arsenal.

During the cleanup, a roost of baldeagles was discovered, so the U.S. Fishand Wildlife Service got involved. Inrecognition of the eagles discovery,Congress passed the RMA NationalWildlife Refuge Act in 1992, which al-lowed the arsenal to become a nationalwildlife refuge.

anks to this unique partnership,the area has come full circle. Where

large herds of bison once roamed, thecontaminated aquifers, soil and grasseshave become a lesson for the future.

e refuge now provides envi-ronmental education and interpretiveprograms, catch-and-release recreationalshing, nearly nine miles of trails, wild-life viewing opportunities and site toursfor the public. It is also a sanctuaryfor more than 330 species of animals,

including deer, coyotes, bald eagles,burrowing owls and bison.

Editors Note: For more informationabout the U.S. Army EnvironmentalCommand, visit. For more information about theNational Wildlife Refuge Rocky Moun-tain Arsenal, visit.


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24 www.army.mil/publications

TheArmyinAction

On Point


NorthCarolinaSpc.RobertWoodworthfeedsammunitiontoSpc.JohnThrashersM240-Bmachinegunasthetwoprovidecover-ingfirefortheirplatoonduringtheassaultonanenemypositionduringwargames,May4,onFortBragg.(PhotobySgt.MichaelJ.MacLeod)


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ensure it satises BRAC requirements,it faces the risk that several recommen-dations may not be completed by theSeptember deadline due to schedul-ing challenges. Army senior leaderscontinue to manage these recommen-dations and are developing mitigationprocedures to ensure the service meets

its obligations.As the clock winds down on BRAC2005, its important to note that it isthe fth in a series of BRAC rounds.e four previous rounds resulted inrecommendations to close 97 of 495major domestic installations: BRAC1988 closed 16 major installations,BRAC 1991 closed 26, BRAC 1993closed 28 and BRAC 1995 closed 27.

Previous BRAC rounds reducedthe DODs property holdings by 20percent and, through 2001, produceda net savings of approximately $16.7billion (after factoring in the cost of en-vironmental clean-up). Recurring sav-ings beyond 2001 were approximately$6.6 billion annually. In independentstudies conducted over previous years,both the General Accountability Oceand the Congressional Budget Ocehave consistently supported the depart-ments view that realigning and closingunneeded installations produce savingsthat far exceed costs.

Consolidating and closing facilitiesunder BRAC 2005 will potentially savebillions of dollars, allowing funds to befocused on maintaining and modern-izing facilities needed to better supportSoldiers and Families, recruit qualitypersonnel and modernize equipmentand infrastructure. Editors Note:For more informationabout BRAC 2005 visithqda.army.mil/acsim/brac/braco..

oftheAssistantSecretaryoftheArmyforInstallations,EnergyandEnvironment.

ArmyMaterielCommandsQuadCityCartridgepreviouslyperformedtheworkattheRiverbankbyDarrylHowlett)

-mandBaseRealignmentandClosure liaison -cian,FORSCOM/U.S.ArmyReserveCommanddoorlocksbeingchangedintheU.S.ArmyForcesCommand/U.S.ArmyReserveCommandCom-

occurred on repurposed property atFort Devens, Mass. With 68 dier-ent employers on site, redevelopmentranged from small business incubatorsto the Gillette Corp., which occupiesa large warehouse, distribution centerand manufacturing plant. Anotherexample is Cameron Station, near Alex-andria, Va. e area, used by the Armyuntil the early 1990s, is now lled withluxury townhomes.

While the Army worked hard to


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THE distinct sound of gunreroused the two generals fromtheir meeting. Spurred to inves-

tigate, the subordinate general calledfor his horse and aides, and hastily rodein the direction of Decatur, Ga.

It was July 22, 1864, and UnionMaj. Gen. James Birdseye McPhersonhad been holding counsel with Maj.

Gen. William T. Sherman on theirstrategy for securing Atlanta. McPher-

son was in command of the Army ofthe Tennessee and had been advancinghis troops from the east.

According to Shermans memoirs,ve days earlier, McPhersons child-hood friend and West Point classmate,Gen. John Bell Hood, had been placedin command of Confederate soldiersin the area opposite McPherson.at

day, Hood had launched an attackon Union troops near Atlanta, and asMcPherson rode toward his own men,he ran straight into a line of Confeder-ate skirmishers. Commanded to halt,McPherson refused and was shot downwhen he turned his horse to escape,becoming the highest-ranking Union

StorybyAlexandraHemmerly-Brown

End of an era at

Fort McPherson

FortMcPhersonsnamesakeisMaj.Gen.JamesBirdseyeMcPherson,whowas killedduringthebattleofAtlanta,July22,1864.(AllhistoricphotosinthisarticlecourtesyofFortMcPherson).



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soldier to be killed during the CivilWar.

In his ocial report of the McPher-

sons death, Sherman wrote:

ecountry generally will realize that wehave lost not only an able military lead-er, but a man who, had he survived,was qualied to heal the national strifewhich has been raised by designing andambitious men.

Hood also mourned his friend-turned-adversarys death.

I will record the death of my class-mate and boyhood friend, (Maj.) Gen.James B. McPherson, the announce-ment of which caused me sinceresorrow, Hood wrote. Neither theyears nor the dierence of sentimentthat had led us to range ourselves onopposite sides in the war had lessenedmy friendship; indeed the attachmentformed in early youth was strengthenedby my admiration and gratitude forhis conduct toward our people in thevicinity of Vicksburg, (Miss.)

A monument to McPherson standsnear where he fell in Atlanta, andMcPherson Barracks, a 10-company

post in that city from 1867-1881, wasnamed in his honor. Fort McPherson,about two miles away from the originalbarracks location, was established in1886 and became a permanent Armyinstallation in 1889.

Now, after 125 years as an activemilitary post, Fort McPherson will shutits gates next month as part of Base Re-alignment and Closure requirements.

When we have a big war, theArmy grows, and when the war is over,

the Army gets smaller. at many timesrequires giving up real estate, said LeeHarford, director of history at U.S.Army Reserve Command, who spent19 years working at Fort McPherson.

I guess its nothing newwevebeen closing installations since wevehad a U.S. Army, he added.

Although the base is closing, itsplace in American military historylives on. Harford pointed out that FortMcPherson has played a role in everymajor U.S. conict since the Civil War.It even housed foreign prisoners duringthe Spanish-American War and WorldWar Ia point of interest for manyAtlanta residentsat the time.

An 1898article from theAtlanta Journalexplained thatmany citizensvisited the postfor a chance tosee the 20 ru-mored Spanishspies kept there.

Severalof the prison-ers were sitting

on the porch,dressed incool-looking uniforms of blue, readsthe article. ere are eight ocersand eight privates in the party and themarked dierence of renement amongthe faces suggested which was which.ese men were not overwhelmed withagony; they were not weeping, such asit might delight the tender-hearted tosuppose; but they looked bored.

In August 1898, the prisoners

were transferred to New Hampshirewhere they were released. But Atlantas

Germansailors, heldas prisonersofwar atFortMcPhersonduringWorldWarI, eatwatermelonsontherearporchoftheprisoncanteen,circa1918.

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fascination with prisoners of war wasreignited 18 years later when McPher-son served as a detention camp forWorld War I captives.

German sailors from the shipsKronprinz Wilhelm and Prinz EitelFriedrich, which were docked at Ameri-can ports when America entered WorldWar I, were taken prisoner. As one ofthe posts designated as war prison bar-racks, Fort McPherson housed 1,346German prisoners until 1919.

I think they were treated pretty

well, Harford said, explaining thatmany of the German prisoners wereused to build new construction on FortMcPherson, and were paid 25 cents aday for their labor.

Photographs in a book titled FortMcPherson, the First Hundred Yearsdepict German prisoners exercising,taking a gymnastics team picture andeating watermelon on the steps of theprison canteen.

At the wars end, 1,253 of the pris-

oners were repatriated and sailed home

on U.S. transport, but 150 applied forAmerican naturalization.

During World War I, the post wasalso selected to house a large hospital,General Hospital No. 6, to care for sickand wounded troops returning fromoverseas, and renovations were made toaccommodate a 2,400-bed facility. Itis estimated that during the war morethan 10,000 patients were treated onFort McPherson.

Fort McPherson served as a recruit-ment and separation center for as

many as 200,000 troops during WorldWar II, and was also one of the mainrecruiting posts for the Womens ArmyAuxiliary Corps. In 1943, the rstclass of WAC photographers graduatedfrom the Fourth Service CommandPhotographic School there. However,it wasnt until after the war that WACpersonnel were allowed to permanentlyenlist.

e base played a lesser role in theKorean and Vietnam wars, although

it hosted trials in 1970 and 1971 thatgarnered national interest. Capts. Er-nest L. Medina and Eugene M. Kotoucwere brought up on charges and stoodtrial for their alleged involvement inthe My Lai Massacre, where morethan 300 unarmed women, children

Germanprisonersofwar,picturedherein1918,formedagymnasticsteamonFortMcPherson.

Quarters10onStaffRowinthemid-1890sandtoday.



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and elderly Vietnamese were said tohave been slaughtered. ey were bothacquitted.

Two major Army headquarterswere relocated to McPherson duringthis time: ird Army and U.S. ArmyForces Command.

In the 1990s, before and duringthe Persian Gulf War, ird Armycoordinated all ground troops involvedand oversaw the American presence inSouthwest Asia, and FORSCOM hascontinued to generate Soldiers for op-

erations in Iraq and Afghanistan. atmission continues, even though anestimated 5,800 military and civilianemployees assigned to Fort McPhersonhave been relocating to other militaryinstallations since last year.

Jack Sprott, the executive directorof McPhersons Planning Local Rede-velopment Authority, explained thatthe vision for the posts future is that itbecomes a live, work, playcommunity.

In place of a military base, ascience and technology center, tenta-tively named the Georgia Institute forGlobal Health, is planned as the cen-tral focus of a new comprehensive com-munity. Other portions of McPhersonsplanned repurposing include residential

Atthetimethisarticlewaswritten,Alexandra Hem-merly-BrownworkedfortheArmyNewsService.

areas, a historic districtwhich couldcontain both private homes and shop-ping boutiquesand thecurrent golf course, whichmay eventually be convertedinto an outdoor event space,Sprott said.

Sprott explained that un-der BRAC, a closing militarybase must poll surroundingresidents and ask them whatthey want to replace the post,and that as a result, manycommunity meetings have been heldwhere local residents were encouragedto share their ideas. e current plan isa culmination of those ideas.

Weve got a huge responsibilityon our hands, Sprott said, of creatinga comprehensive community that willthrive in the militarys absence.

Yet with the closing of FortMcPherson, Harford hopes those whostay behind wont forget the posts richmilitary past. I hope that they aregoing to do something to preserve thishistory. He suggested a museum beerected to educate future generationsabout the part Fort McPherson playedin the nations wars.

If the people that live there try tokeep the history alive, thenit wont be forgotten.

U.S.ArmyReserveCommandadvanceteammembersmovefromFortMcPherson,Ga.,toFortBragg,N.C.,Oct.25,2010.(PhotobyTimothyHale)

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StorybyU.S.ArmyAfricaPublicAffairs

SOLDIERS from the 399th Com-bat Support Hospital instructed

Malawi Defense Force medi-cal staand Soldiers from the 404thManeuver Enhancement Brigade, May5, at the Kamuzu Barracks, on a varietyof procedures to help them betterrespond to combat-related injuries.e four-day course was designed tobe an information-sharing exercisebetween the MDF and U.S. Soldierswho participated in MEDREACH 11,a humanitarian medical exercise thattook place in Malawi.

eir soldiers are very intel-ligent, said 1st Lt. Jason J. Proulx, a

Combat Life Saver instructor with the399th CSH in Massachusetts. eyare asking very appropriate questionsand answering appropriately. I have nodoubt that there will be a 100-percentpass rate.

Proulx, a Londonderry, N.H., na-tive, says the condence he has in themedical abilities of the Malawian sol-diers comes from the competence manyof them have displayed throughoutthe Combat Lifesaver course. Several

Malawian soldiers in Proulxs class haveeven attended and completed the same

U.S. Army medical schools required ofAmerican military combat medics.

While the Malawi forces have nothad to respond to combat injuries inrecent years, MDF soldiers like StaSgt. Crantor A. Mwase, a regimentalhealth orderly, believes there is still agreat need for trauma training and thatU.S. Soldiers have valuable medicalinstruction to share with their service-members.

is combat lifesaver has come at

MEDREACH 2011Malawi Defense Force receives vital training


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the right time, said Mwase. Itis giving us more knowledge thanwe had in the past. I think it willmake the Malawi Defense Forcestronger and more capable.

Mwase said the training isespecially important due to thepossibility of future militarycontingencies, including ongoingMDF mobilization to supportthe United Nations peacekeepingmission in Ivory Coast. He saidthe training is timely for the MDFand equips them with the knowl-edge to save lives.

e Malawian Defense Forceis more or less specialized in tropi-cal medicine, so trauma, in gen-eral, is not their specialty and thatis what we are here to help with,said Spc. Ian P. Powers, combatmedic with the 399th. is

would not only benet them on thebattleeld, but also with local motorvehicle accidents and any other kinds

of trauma that they would nd intheir own country.

e training included classroominstruction, followed by hands-on,practical exercises to validate of whatthe participants had learned. Soldiersfrom both forces learned things likethe application of a tourniquet andassessing a wounded soldier.eynished with practicing needle-chestdecompression using a special train-ing aida goat cadaver, which later

became the main course at the classbarbecue.

Focused on building relation-ships, participants and instructorsshared information and experiencesto ensure MDF soldiers have the ca-pability to teach the information toothers. Once the medical staof theMDF is able to become procienton combat lifesaver skills, they willthen be able to start training theirnon-medical Soldiers. e 399th is

donating books and instruction guidesto make this initiative a reality.

Our goal is to teach the MalawiDefense Force the essentials of theCombat Lifesavers course so they can,in turn, teach. ats the biggest mis-

sion here, said Proulx. Its importantbecause the more people that you havethat can provide any form of medicaltreatment, the more lives you can save.

I hope that this helps a little,said Spc. Angela T. Langley, a combatmedic with the 399th. I know thatthey were talking about some of thembeing deployed to the Ivory Coast,and I hope that they benet from thisand they take away from it. I hope weenhance their medical capabilities.

Both forces benet from the train-ing, as MDF soldiers will later donthe instructor role by teaching U.S.servicemembers about tropical diseaseslike malaria, and how to prevent them.e culminating event of the CombatLifesaver course includes testing to alltroops as combat lifesavers-certied.Given the number of personnelinvolved and the overall success rateof the practical exercises, participantsbelieve the entire class can walk awayhaving achieved their goals.

I am very excited that the U.S.armed forces are here, said Mwase.You have been helping us for a longtime and we ask your country, theUSA, to continue helping us.

MEDREACH, a key program in

the United States e

orts to partnerwith the government of Malawi, is thelatest in a series of exercises involv-ing U.S. military forces and Africanpartner militaries with the aim ofestablishing and developing militaryinteroperability, regional relationships,synchronization of eort and capacity-building.

e goal of MEDREACH 11 is toenhance U.S. and MDF capabilitiesand to work together to increase thecombined readiness of their medicalforces to respond to humanitarianemergencies.

Sgt.JeffreyS.Niemiofthe399thCombatSupportHospital,assistsSgt.McDonaldLinyamaoftheMalawiDefenseForceinassessingSgt.RobertE.Waightofthe404thManeuverEnhancementBrigadeduringtrainingtobecomea certifiedcombatlifesaver.

(Left)MalawiDefenseForcetroopsgetexposed trainingexercisetestingcombatlifesavingskillstaughtby399thCombatSupportHospitalSoldiersduringMEDREACH11 inLilongwe,Malawi,May12.(PhotobySgt.JesseHouk)


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training aids to help with the languagebarrier, said StaSgt. Gabriel Brooksof Douglasville, Ga., a section leaderwith Troop A, 3rd Sqdn., 108th Cav.Regt. During some of the breaks in thebusy training schedule, a few of theGeorgia Soldiers created a miniature

C-130 Hercules aircraft and a BlackHawk helicopter with rotors that actu-ally turned out of water bottles, ducttape and sticks. ey used the modelsto provide the UPDF soldiers withvisual means of grasping the technicalinformation they were presenting.

rough working together tomake the training as benecial andpertinent as possible for each soldieron the ground at DZ Red, the UPDFand U.S. forces not only became moreprocient at establishing drop zones,but also at how to seeing challengesas opportunities that, if overcome,can lead to greater understanding andperhaps even friendship.

(We are getting) an immense

sense of fulllment and enjoymentfrom working with a very professionalforce, getting to see a beautiful part ofour world and getting a tremendousamount of multicultural and multi-national experience and working withone of our strong allies, said Russell.

During a recent radio broadcastat an FM station in Soroti by theUgandan and U.S. leadership of AD11, Lt. Col. Jerey Dickerson, 3rdSqdn., 108th Cav. Regt. commanderand deputy director of the exercise,said that the enjoyment expressed byRussell will be the most valuable of alloutcomes for everyone involved withAD 11.

Years from now the most valuablething that will come out of this forboth the soldiers of the UPDF andthe Soldiers of the U.S. Armyis thememory of the interactions that wehad, when we were able to learn abouteach others cultures and gain a muchgreater appreciation for each other.

(Above)UgandaPeoplesDefenseForcesoldiersfromthe27thInfantryBattalionset-upadropzonewithSoldiersfrom3rdSquadron,108thCavalryRegiment,GeorgiaNationalGuard,atDZRednearKapelebyong,Uganda,duringAtlasDrop11,April14.(Below)AUgandaPeoplesDefenseForcesoldiersmilesduringalightmomentintrainingatDZRednearKapelebyongduringAtlasDrop11,April14.

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The nations strength starts here.

www.army.mil/facesofstrength

Charles Romani

Chief Criminal Circuit Judge of Madison County in Illinois,

Charles Romani understands the toll the stress of war

takes on a Soldier. As a Vietnam veteran, Romani saw

deployment and the return to civilian life. After returning

home from war, Romani received his law degree. These

days, Romani serves as a circuit judge and presides over

the newly-founded Madison County Veterans Court.

He ensures the right services are provided to best help

rehabilitate these veterans. Once they complete their sentence,

they appear for review at the end of their treatment or program,

and the charges are dropped. Through his veterans court,

Romani can direct at-risk Soldiers to the help they need to keep

their lives on the right track to make them better warrior citizens.


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ARMY ED SPACE

Strong Students.

Strong Futures.Strong Nation.

The U.S. Army has long understood the importance of education,

training and leadership development and continues to work

with communities to position future generations for life-long

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Documents

Soldiers Magazine highlights U.S. Army Africa Aug 2011