Active Duty - Army Strong Stories

Interview with my friend and colleague, Sergeant First Class Sam Kaestner

Kristen Mather — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:57:00 GMT

By: Kristen Mather
New York area clarinetist Sam Kaestner has been a member of the West Point Band since 2002. Since joining the band, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, at the Dallas Symphony’s Meyerson Symphony Hall, as well as at other venues throughout the country. Sam has appeared as a soloist with the West Point Band on numerous occasions. He has participated in recitals at the Juilliard...read more

New PT uniform survey

Hannah Guarendi He — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:19:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
The Army recently launched a survey asking for Soldiers' opinions about the current PT uniform. The Army homepage has some more info and a link to the survey itself. Here's my opinion on the current uniform: It doesn't fit females very well, the fabrics are uncomfortable and stinky, and we could do better. I understand the "constraints" placed on the uniform by having to be made in the US, but that shouldn't constrain the way it is fitted. There's also really...read more

Active Duty to Reserve Duty Part Deux... Tips

Levi Peffer — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:47:00 GMT

By: Levi Peffer
It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged and life has changed quite a bit since then. Late last spring I left Active Duty (for the second time) and transitioned into an Army Reserve position near my hometown. My time at Fort Benning will definitely be looked back upon as one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences of my life. I made a lot of great friends, accomplished many goals, and hope that I trained a Soldier or two to standard while I was...read more

Let the best soldiers fight!

Amy Young — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:56:00 GMT

By: Amy Young
There is no doubt that the Army is entering a massive paradigm shift, with severe troop cuts, budget crises, and a strategic shift toward decisive operations. We are all used to doing more with less but this sets historic precedence. Now more than ever, it is urgent that we recruit and retain the most talented and agile of soldiers. Failure to do so equates to mission failure. In the repeal of the DADT act, we have moved in the right direction. We put actions...read more

Defense is from Mars, State is from Venus

Robert McVey — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:41:00 GMT

By: Robert McVey
I am currently attending the Army's Intermediate Level Education (ILE) at Fort Lee, VA. One of the objectives of the course is to improve our understanding of and ability to effectively operate within the interagency. Visiting the State Department gave our class the opportunity to meet not only with several State Department representatives, but also with members of USAID, the Department of Energy, and the Treasury Department. Even having served on an embassy's...read more

When Fish Fly

Fred Johnson — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:48:00 GMT

By: Fred Johnson
“It’s not bad. There are a couple grammatical errors I highlighted. You see Fred, ‘to’ in this instance should be ‘too,’ but overall it’s okay.” I took notes as General Karimi provided feedback on a speech I wrote for him recently. The irony, of course, is that English is his third language and he speaks and writes my native tongue better than me. Never failing, he concludes with, “Thank you very much. It’s...read more

Don't Mess with Your Attorney

Benjamin Grimes — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:58:00 GMT

By: Benjamin Grimes
Last week the Fort Lewis (JBLM) Trial Defense Service office took another trip to the indoor marksmanship range. Though the light wasn't the best for shooting pictures with my phone, it was sufficient for all of us to qualify on both the 9mm pistol and the M-4 assault rifle. I managed to shoot 30 for 30 with the pistol and 38 for 40 on the rifle -- not bad for a lawyer! Here are a few pics of the team in action. These are the folks you want defending you - in court...read more

Message Matters - Soldiers and Crime?

Benjamin Grimes — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:13:00 GMT

By: Benjamin Grimes
This week saw a pair of headlines -- one on Sunday and one this morning -- that had me thinking about more than just what the news is, but also how it's reported. Our local paper, the Tacoma News Tribune, led with these front page headlines headlines: "With more soldiers comes more crime" (29 Jan 12) and "'Kill team' saga ends as charges dropped" (4 Feb 12) -- attention-grabbing to say the least. The first story was about how the rate of crime has...read more

Wow...Way to go Navy

Kendall Mower — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:35:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week was the MHS Conference I'll talk more about that in another post. I wanted to post some video of the Navy drill team. They performed at the very end of our last session and they were pretty amazing. Those are wood guns that they are spinning and throwing, and yes they do have bayonets on the end of them....read more

Another week on night shift

Hannah Guarendi He — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:05:00 GMT

By: Hannah Guarendi He
Last week I spent another week on the night shift in the TOC for 67th, as our Brigade did another FTX, Operation Vanguard Lion II. The twelves hours every night spent in the battalion TOC area, this time only two tents plus one for the ALOC, left me rather tired during the day, rather hungry during the night, and able to finish several of the books I've started over the past month. One new book that I started and finish during the week was 'All In: The Education of General David...read more

ARMY STRONG!!!!

James Dent — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT

By: James Dent
Hello my name is Staff Sergeant James Dent, my MOS is a 91L (Construction Equipment Repairer), I am currently on recruiting duty and im starting to get the hang of it but its not too much of an easy task but of course I have to suck it up and drive on and complete the mission because that's what great NCO's do. I have been in the Army for 10 years now and loving every minute of it, I went to basic training in Ft. Jackson after completing basic I attended AIT at Ft....read more

"Should I Stay, or Should I Go?"

Alex Martinez — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:15:00 GMT

By: Alex Martinez
Though the title is an obvious line by The Clash, it's also an important decision every soldier, whether enlisted or officer, faces towards the end of their required term of service. In my 13 years of service I’ve seen a lot of junior officers and enlisted soldiers make a hasty, uninformed decision to leave the Army, most of them either because they don’t like their MOS/assignment, and would rather take their chances in the civilian sector. In my time in the military...read more

Combat Dietitian

James Pulliam — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:53:00 GMT

By: James Pulliam
Although technically accurate (I deployed to Mosul, Iraq from 2005-2006), the whimsical title of this blog is actually intended to capture the essence behind my decision to become an Army dietitian as well as draw attention to a little known specialty that has existed within the military for almost 100 years. In my eyes life is all about adventure and to that end I can absolutely say that the Army has provided me more opportunities to pursue this philosophy than I could ever have...read more

It's that time in the career again...Time to move

Kendall Mower — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:51:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I hadn't mentioned anything about it because in the military I have learned it's not official until you have orders. I have heard some people say even then it's not official until you are getting on the plane :) Orders came through this week and I beleive it's as official as it gets. Today is my last day at Fort Belvoir. I will be going back to the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) to work as a staff officer in a new office that was created. This...read more

ILE Post - Life at USCENTCOM

William Powers — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:02:00 GMT

By: William Powers
I am currently attending ILE at Fort Gordon, GA and they have requested that all students post on a Blog. I found this website and think that it would be a great place to discuss my duties at the United States Central Command in Tampa, FL as the National Guard State Partnership Program Coordinator as well as a Central Asian Country Director. Two very interesting jobs that fell into my lap. A little about me. I served Active Duty as an...read more

Views on the JLTV

Veronica Hansen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:46:00 GMT

By: Veronica Hansen
One of the many things I have learned as an Intermediate Level Education (ILE) student here at Fort Gordon are the principles of Force Management. Specifically, how a new weapon or system or vehicle needs to be assessed using DOTMLPF (Doctrine, Organization, Training, Material, Leadership, Personnel, and Facilities) and how the Army needs to equip to meet ARFORGEN requirements. In this context, my blog contribution is focused on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). Before...read more

Training Trial Counsel

Carlos Ramirez-Vazquez — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:07:00 GMT

By: Carlos Ramirez-Vazquez
Well, I can't believe it's been a year since I've posted. A lot has happened since the thick of the 2010 tax season. I finished up at the Tax Center in May of last year and transitioned over to Criminal Law. I'm currently serving as the trial counsel (prosecutor) for the Army Logistics University, US Army Garrison Fort Lee, Kenner Army Health Clinic, Bull Dental Clinic and HHC, CASCOM. This is a challenging job where I advise 4 Special Court Martial Convening...read more

A Safe Place

Fred Johnson — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:06:00 GMT

By: Fred Johnson
A Command Sergeant Major had the audacity to give me an on-the-spot correction for a uniform violation recently. It was the best thing that has happened to me in a long while. General Karimi and I were accompanying the commander of the warfighting Corps, Lieutenant General Scaparrotti, to Torkum Gate, a beautiful place of historical and strategic significance on the Afghanistan and Pakistan border. We recently experienced an incident where our Soldiers received fire from...read more

National Museum of the Marine Corps

Kendall Mower — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We received notice a few days ago that the power to our dental clinic would be cut for some work that was going on outside our building. In response to that our Commander lined up an Officer Professional Development (OPD) activity for us. We went down to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Although this in an Army website...I've got to admit the museum was pretty cool. I look forward to the Army Museum that will be built by 2015 at Ft. Belvoir. I hope...read more

Assistant Station Commander, U.S. Army Career Center Jamaica

Eric Ramos — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:07:00 GMT

By: Eric Ramos
Hi, my name is SFC Ramos, and I am a proud Hispanic-American Soldier, proud to serve the U.S. Army. I am very excited to be a blogger on armystrongstories.com, and I am looking forward to blogging from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation event in May right here in New York City at St. John's University (ROTC) campus. See you then! If you'd like to talk to me in the meantime, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ArmyRecruiting11432...read more