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From the Top

At the Maneuver Center of Excellence, we are focused on our mission to train the best Soldiers in the world. Operating in a climate of teamwork, discipline, standards and safety, we constantly review and enhance training doctrine and requirements to ensure our Soldiers continue to see success in complex operating environments.

The Maneuver Center of Excellence is working with all of the Armed Forces to share best practices and lessons learned. We are developing opportunities for enhanced, across-the-board dialogue, and using forums and seminars, as well as websites, blogs and emerging technology to encourage everyone to participate in meaningful conversation to help prepare all of our forces for the future.

As we collaborate and focus on the future, we are mindful of the sacrifices of those serving on the front line, as well as remember the Warriors we have lost. We remember that our efforts are for the greater good and that service to others is more important than service to self. We can never lose sight of the fact that together we accomplish more. Together, we win.   

One Force, One Fight!

Maj. Gen. Robert Brown 

Memorial Day  

Remembering our fallen comrades

This year, Fort Benning will commemorate Memorial Day tomorrow at the National Infantry Museum's parade field.  

There will be no ceremony at the Fort Benning Cemetery May 30. The Memorial Day commemoration will be observed in conjunction with a basic training graduation, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, and the 20th anniversary of Desert Storm.  

The graduation begins at 9 a.m. and there will be a paver ceremony for each service member who died during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

News:      

Toby Keith to rock crowds Memorial Day weekend

Coming off his ninth USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour to the Middle East, Toby Keith is still performing for troops, this time at the home of Infantry and Armor.  

The country music star will be at Wetherby Field Sunday to perform fan favorites as well as tunes from his new album

"Bullets in the Gun."

The show is courtesy of the Army Concert Tour, which brings high-profile artists to a handful of installations each year. Fort Benning is one of seven selected for the 2011 concert series and one of two that garnered Keith, according to tour officials.  

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Building Strong Bonds: 3rd HBCT couples work on marriages, emotional resiliency at retreat

Thirty couples from 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team gathered May 12-14 in Panama City Beach, Fla., for Strong Bonds, a program that encourages Soldiers and spouses to reflect on and strengthen their marriage before returning to the rigors of daily life.

"As a chaplain and as a family member, I'm very thankful the Army is taking seriously its goal of helping Army families be resilient," said Chaplain (Capt.) Bruce Duty, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, who led the retreat. "The Strong Bonds program is about helping Army families be strong and steady."

"It's important to have a strong foundation because a couple never knows what they're going to face later on," said Duty, who has been married for 27 years.

"If they build a strong foundation early, it teaches them to rely on each other, trust each other and (be) able to withstand life's challenges."

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Resilience App set for release

An online program aimed at strengthening Soldiers' resolve and behavioral health skill sets in pursuit of their objectives will debut Wednesday.

The Resilience App features a multitude of resources to help service members, Army civilians and family members optimize performance, build strong minds and bodies, and develop better coping mechanisms for traumatic events. The voluntary tool emphasizes setting and reaching personal goals within Comprehensive Soldier Fitness.

Videos, Web links and practical exercises are included in the training and education package, said Sam Rhodes, a training specialist with the Directorate of Training and Doctrine and action officer for developing the Resilience App. This latest initiative is the app version of the Maneuver Center of Excellence Resiliency Goals Book released in December.

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We Got Him! author returns to Fort Benning

FORT BENNING, Ga. " Long before the fall of Osama bin Laden, another polarizing Middle East figure fell to U.S. forces " Saddam Hussein.

Oklahoma Sen. and retired Lt. Col. Steve Russell will be at the Donovan Research Library from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday to sign his book titled We Got Him! A memoir of the hunt and capture of Saddam Hussein.

The memoir, released in April, follows the six-month manhunt for Saddam, exposing the blow-by-blow plays of the actual raid that netted him and the stories behind the Soldiers involved.

In 2003, Russell served as a ground commander with the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team. The brigade, commanded by Col. Jim Hickey, teamed with covert joint special operations teams in December 2003 to launch Operation Red Dawn to capture Saddam and end rumors of his death.

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Zeroing in: Soldier competes in Warrior Games

FORT JACKSON, S.C., May 19, 2011 -- What worried Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Trescott most was breathing. With an altitude of more than 6,000 feet above sea level, breathing in Colorado Spring, Colo., requires faster, deeper breaths than breathing in Columbia,S.C.

When you are shooting a high-powered rifle at a target roughly the size of the letter "i" in the middle of "this" word, that could be a problem.

Trescott, who is currently assigned to Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Jackson, S.C., is hoping to bring home the gold as part of the Army's shooting team at this year's Warrior Games. Already, he has made it to the finals in the air rifle open category, one of only two from the Army team who made the Top 8.

Senators: FY12 features squad analysis

WASHINGTON -- The Army will conduct an analysis of its "fundamental fighting unit," the squad, to ensure everything is being done to prepare those Soldiers for the fight.

Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey appeared May 17, 2011, before the Senate Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee to discuss the fiscal year 2012 budget submission and Army posture.

"We'll look at the squad as a collective whole, not nine individual Soldiers, and determine how to enable it from the bottom up to ensure that the squad has the training, leadership, doctrine, power and energy, protection, and lethality to win when we send them into harm's way," Dempsey told lawmakers.   

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1st Cavalry takes over in Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, May 20, 2011 -- During a pivotal time in the war on terror and in Afghanistan's history, Regional Command-East's command authority shifted from Combined Joint Task Force-101 to CJTF-1.

At a transfer of authority ceremony May 19, 2011, held on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) handed the reins of command over to the 1st Cavalry Division.

"Rest assured governors, generals, partners, Screamin' Eagles, past and present, that this campaign is just that, a campaign, and not a series of one-year fights and the First Team, in very capable hands, will pick up where the 101st left off," said Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of the International Joint Command. 

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More bases close in Iraq as 3ID heads home

AL ANBAR, Iraq, -- Soldiers of the 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, have begun their departure home to Fort Stewart, Ga. As their deployment comes to a close, so do the three U.S. military installations they occupied during their year-long tour.  

The base closures are part of the current plan to remove American forces from the country by the end of this year, officials said.  

Members of the 28th Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division signed for Camp Khalid, May 8, 2011, and former U.S. tenants with D Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th AAB, 3rd Inf. Div. departed and joined the rest of their team at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq.

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 Faces of BRAC

Working behind the scenes, making the MCoE One Force, One Fight!

Sam Whitt, installation facilities utilization officer

Many people work behind-the-scenes to shape the Maneuver Center of Excellence.  Sam Whitt, installation facilities utilization officer, serves as Fort Benning's surreptitiously appointed landlord responsible for identifying usable space as the installation prepares for housing the influx of Soldiers, families, and personnel expected to arrive as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission's decision to relocate the Armor School here. BRAC law will also bring the Army Reserve's 81st Regional Support Command's 43rd Equipment Concentration Site from Fort Gillem, Ga. to Fort Benning and consolidate seven local Reserve Units into an Armed Forces Reserve Center at the MCoE.

Since the decision, massive construction efforts and renovation projects have exploded across Fort Benning to make room for the growing training installation.  The post's more quiescent cantonment known as Harmony Church saw the most activity with more than 2.5 million square feet of new facilities rise from the ground.  As Soldiers and personnel vacated obsolete offices and barracks, Whitt moved the displaced Soldiers and workers into interim space known as swing space.

Employed with the Directorate of Public Works since 1991, the 21-year Army veteran and retired infantry company first sergeant said he was up for the task. Whitt also serves as the post's key master having developed the installation's key control system. Whitt said all the buildings on Fort Benning except family housing fall under his purview.

When Whitt is presented with a space request, he considers his customer's mission and then identifies a suitable building with the appropriate square footage that will accommodate the number of people planned to occupy the space. Before Whitt could identify available space, he said the Master Planning Office had to measure the square footage of every building on post to verify existing data.

Renovation plans for Building 4, formerly known as Infantry Hall, spurred an exodus of personnel from that building to swing space primarily located in Building 35, which was home to the Infantry command staff prior to 1964 and subsequently known as Ridgway Hall.  To make room for the temporary MCoE Headquarters in Building 35, Whitt said the existing tenant, Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, had to be relocated.  Whitt found a new home for the Latin American soldiers in Buildings 36, 37, and 38, which had formerly been used as guest houses.  

Whitt said all these domino affects had to be taken into account and moved into a sequence of order that wouldn't disrupt people's missions. In addition, Whitt said he also considered how to reuse underutilized space across the installation in an effort to locate office space for his transient customers.  He took a number of historic buildings and barracks that were not being properly utilized and converted them into pleasing work spaces for people. Whitt said he also considered how a converted space could be reused again when the temporary occupants vacated the building.

"Two words not in my vocabulary are "can't do and won't do," Whitt said. "I do not believe in either one of those phrases and that's what keeps me in trouble."

The challenges certainly continue for Whitt as more facilities undergo facelifts across Fort Benning and vacant and usable swing space on the post becomes scarce.  "Right now, nothing is available," Whitt said. "Everything we had available has been converted to swing space."   

As Fort Benning reaches full capacity, timing could not be better as personnel will begin moving into the tower building of the MCoE's new headquarters in late spring and the Armor School's new home on Harmony Church is nearly complete.  

Whitt reflects on his long and illustrious career at Fort Benning and said he looks forward to one more special project that will spell a befitting conclusion to his swing space days. He notes the World War II wood, which currently houses Soldiers Plaza on Dixie Road. The buildings had originally been scheduled to serve only a five-year duration, a kind of swing space during its era, yet 65 years later, they continue to survive on this contemporary Camp Benning.   

The complex is scheduled for relocation to Building 35 in 2013.

"Solders Plaza will be the last cluster of World War Two wood that I will tear down prior to my retirement," Whitt said. "That's my goal."

Story and photo by Cindy Andruss   

Memorial Day Activities at the NIM Begin Friday

Service members, killed during Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, will be honored at the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center on May 26th.

382 granite pavers, donated by corporate sponsors, will be unveiled during a 9:00 am ceremony. Each of the 4 by 6 inch markers bears the name, rank and branch of service of a soldier killed while serving 20 years ago during the Gulf conflicts.  The small monuments will join thousands of others that already flank the 20-foot wide, flag-lined Heritage Walk that runs alongside the museum. The new pavers, in alphabetical order, will be arranged in three sections. In the center a monument explains the tribute.

A new, special, dedicated flag for the Gulf War will also be raised during the National Infantry Museum's Gulf War Twentieth Anniversary National Tribute. Retired four-star General Barry R. McCaffrey, a division commander in the Gulf War, will emcee the event. Among those expected to participate are the top Air Force and Navy commanders in the Gulf War.

On Saturday May 27th, The National Infantry Foundation will launch its Memorial Tree Program with the dedication of a tree on the museum's Memorial Walk of Honor. The ceremony, which begins at 11 a.m. just beyond the parade field, is in honor of LTC (R) Robert J. McKenna.

The Foundation will hold a paver dedication ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday, May 30 for those who have purchased Heritage Walk commemorative pavers since February.

In the IMAX Theatre, there will be free screenings of a film produced by Fort Benning soldiers serving in Iraq called Hammer: Hardships, Hearts and Heroes. Shows at noon, 1:15, 2:30, 3:45 and 5 p.m.

Pavers can be purchased by individuals to honor not just soldiers but others who support the military. Groups and associations can also purchase multiple pavers at a reduced rate. Organizations purchasing a section will receive a distinguishing marker and can either sell the pavers to their members at cost or use as a fundraiser for their organization.

More information about the Heritage Walk Paver Program and the Memorial Day activities is available at www.nationalinfantrymuseum.com.

Story by Borden Black 

Taking care of the best military community in the Army!

Upcoming DFMWR events:

TGIF

The Benning Conference Center's Concord Lounge hosts "TGIF"  the second Friday of each month at 4:30 p.m.  Don't miss the fun.

Archery shoots

Uchee Creek hosts competitive archery shoots the second Saturday of each month at 9 a.m.  This event is open to the public. For more info, call 706-685-3060.

Family Fishing Night is back!   

Outdoor Recreation will host Family Fishing at Russ Pond from 5-7 p.m.  June 21, weather permitting. Reserve your free pole and bait now by calling 706-545-7978. Fishing at Russ Pond is restricted for to those 15 and younger, but parents and older siblings are encouraged to help.

Paintball

Spend your next training holiday playing paintball in the Woodlands off Dixie Road, between 1st Division and Soldiers Plaza. Rent paintball equipment at Outdoor Recreation while supplies last. Form a team and challenge another unit or group. Paintball tournaments are scheduled Friday and Sept. 2. To register, call 706-545-9636.

Check out MWR on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BenningFMWRfans.