Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Fill ’em full of lead

The Massachusetts National Guard wants to end a nine-year federal ban on firing lead bullets in training at Camp Edwards, saying it believes it can do that and still avoid contaminating the Cape Cod water supply.

Guard officials are proposing several methods to keep the lead bullets from degrading and leaching into an underground reservoir.

About 6,000 New England guardsmen train at Camp Edwards every year, and have been using tungsten ammunition that was believed to be better for the environment. But the Guard has been looking for alternatives since small amounts of tungsten were found in the local groundwater last February.

www.army.mil looks new

Calling it “an extreme makeover,” the Army announced a new and very different-looking official Web site Nov. 9 that has a wider format and more user-friendly categories.

On www.army.mil, the color scheme of the Army Combat Uniform has replaced the traditional gold and black palette that the Army started using online four years ago.

The site’s new groupings are also designed to make it easier for the general public to understand the Army.

The site has 6 million to 12 million visitors in any given month.

Searching for bone marrow

A chief warrant officer 3 serving in Iraq is trying to find a bone marrow match for his ailing father and has turned to fellow soldiers for help.

Retired Reserve Staff Sgt. Charles Miller has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of pre-leukemia.

Miller’s son, Ty, arranged with an Army surgeon for a bone marrow registry drive among soldiers in Iraq. So far, 150 soldiers there have registered.

Details about the military’s marrow donor program is online at www .dodmarrow.org.

Armor for your tents

It has worked on soldiers, Humvees and trucks — now Army scientists want to perfect armor protection for something older than the Army itself: the tent.

Workers at Natick Soldier Center in Massachusetts recently partnered with the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center at the University of Maine to develop an armor panel system that can be integrated easily into standard soft-walled shelter frames, according to a recent press release.

The idea is to design something to protect soldiers against blast and fragmentation damage from mortar attacks and other indirect fire weapons.

Natick is currently working on a prototype to send into the combat zone.

The prototype — dubbed the Modular Ballistic Protection System — consists of an outer layer of E-glass, a ballistic armor material that surrounds a wooden core.

Parents visit Iraq

A group of parents whose sons were killed in combat traveled to Iraq to meet with U.S. soldiers and visit the northern part of the country.

Twelve people left Nov. 1 and spent time in Amman, Jordan, before arriving in the Kurdish city of Irbil. The nonprofit Move America Forward organized the trip.

Although they were not given clearance by military officials to visit Baghdad or other parts of the country, the families wanted to see where their sons died in combat.

Family members talked with U.S. troops and they hopeed to meet with government leaders and Iraqi citizens.

A Little help from a friend

Bryan Lentz left the Army two years ago, but he’s still serving — now as a state representative in Pennsylvania. And he had some campaign help from a friend he met in Iraq.

Safa, a native of Mosul, worked with Lentz as a translator during Lentz’s rotation in Iraq in 2004. Safa was the first of 50 Iraqi translators who were given asylum in the U.S., Lentz said.

He ended up in Lentz’s district and as a volunteer at the polls.

Lentz, 42, was elected Nov. 7 to the state’s 161st district.

“I was at my best in the Army,” Lentz said. “The organizational and leadership skills serve well in politics.”

Several Iraq war vets won election on the national level. See stories, Page 9, 14.

807 officers to move up

There will be 807 active-component officer promotions in December, about 200 fewer than in November.

December promotions will draw down the career field lists of Army Competitive Category colonels to fewer than 60 names.

New lists generated by the Army Category board that met in late summer will be released Nov. 15. The lists must be confirmed by the Senate before they can be used for promotions.

Advancements to captain are on hold for most competitive categories until the release of several new lists. Included is a new ACC captain list, estimated to have more than 4,000 names. The fiscal 2006 list, which contained 4,243 names, was exhausted Oct. 1. The 2007 list was compiled by a selection board that met Oct. 24-Nov. 10.

Also pending release are new captains lists for the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Medical Service Corps, Medical Specialist Corps and Nurse Corps.

For an analysis of officer promotions, See Page 47.

Spc. becomes ‘Military Idol’

Nearly 12,000 ballots were cast in voting for this year’s Military Idol, which named an Aussie with a lifetime of musical training as the best performer.

Spc. Vicki Golding, 35, won $2,000 along with the title of 2007 Military Idol. She serves with the District of Columbia National Guard.

Golding met and fell in love with a U.S. soldier-musician while he was on tour in Australia. She moved to the U.S. after they married.

Golding continued her military service here with the 257th Army Band as a percussionist and keyboardist. She had played tuba in one of Australia’s military bands.

$25,000 for Army museum

Retired Gen. Edward C. “Shy” Meyer, Army chief of staff from 1979 to 1983, has pledged $25,000 to the Army Historical Foundation’s Capitol Campaign for the National Museum of the U.S. Army.

Operating under a charter from Congress, the foundation is working to raise $200 million, enough to cover two-thirds of the museum’s projected $300 million cost.

“General Meyer saw the need for a national Army museum, and he was the first to realize the importance of building it in the national capitol region,” said retired Brig. Gen. Creighton W. Abrams Jr., the foundation’s executive director.

Correction

The map (Pages 38-39) in the Military Installations Worldwide 2007 Guide, included in the Nov. 13 issue, incorrectly labeled the state of Iowa as Idaho.