Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and Claire McCaskill (MO) have become the faces and voices of outrage and action over the crisis of sexual assault in the military. The reason why two civilian female senators who never wore a uniform have done so is because, as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, they had to. […]
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, upon the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s unanimous recommendation, last week signed the repeal of the combat exclusion policy of 1994, opening more than 200,000 military jobs to women. This was a military decision endorsed by politicians about military readiness, strategic decision-making, and national security. More than a year ago, the Army […]
This is the 24nd installment in the Honored Role Series.” Reared around the military, Abby Griffin, a native of Cody, Wyoming, moved to Germany at nine year’s old when her mother was assigned as a nurse with the Department of Defense. In elementary school she showed an early interest in following her mom’s footsteps that […]
At the base of the Green Mountains is an institution like no other in the United States. In the quaint town of Northfield, Vermont sits Norwich University, the country’s oldest private military college. Few American institutions of higher learning as old as it still adhere to the principles of its founders. In a very substantial […]
This is the 17th installment in the Honored Role Series. In Kindergarten Candice O’Brien started running the 1/8th of a mile loop around her elementary school in Muscatine, Iowa. Each time she finished ahead of all the other kids—girls and boys. Although she ran for fun, she did not want anyone to beat her. From […]
This is the 16th installment in the Honored Role Series. More than a word of welcome or parting, “Aloha”, in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. Often described as the coordination of mind and heart, it also means the extension of warmth in caring with no obligation in return. This would […]
This is the 13th installment in the Honored Role Series. Although Raven Bukowski’s late grandfather, Donald, never spoke about his experiences as a sergeant in the 3rd Infantry Division during World War II, his quiet patriotism and strength planted in her the seed to become a soldier. Raven knew only that her grandfather fought in […]
This is the 11th installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. One of the few constants in the Army is the importance of physical fitness: strength, power, and stamina. William Nash, a military historian, wrote “success and general efficiency of every military establishment is, in a very large degree, dependent upon the physical fitness, endurance, […]