May 2009 - Retired Reservist

  • Armor Warfighter Conference

    Just returned last week from the Armor Warfighter Conference. This conference is hosted each year at Ft. Knox for the Armor community to foster communication and educate on developments within the Heavy Force. It is always very informative and provides an opportunity to get updated on what is happening in my basic branch. This year was a little quieter in terms of future plans with the FCS being recently de-tuned with regard to vehicle platforms. The future of the Armor force will include a varient...
  • FCS versus heavy force equipment

    The big news in some Army circles is the decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to submit a budget that kills Army plans for the FCS program combat vehicles. Reading the news it looks like the Army has spent about $14 billion in research and development costs for the FCS vehicle fleet and, yes there is little in the way of actual vehicles to show for the effort. What we have seen and should have inherently known was that these vehicles were thinned skinned due to light force proponents setting...
  • Memorial Day Activities

    I belong to an American Legion Post that has essentially abandoned its community role in participating in Memorial day activities in the local community…that is until this year. The post had not participated in services or marked the occasion of Memorial Day in at least 20 years that I’m aware of…leaving the void to be filled by other posts and veteran’s organizations in the area. Fortunately, that changed this year and our post fielded its Legion Riders to the communities Memorial Day services with...