PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY www.ausa.org May 30, 2024 | AUSA Extra 1 AUSA awards Marshall Medal to NCOs T he Association of the U.S. Ar- my’s highest honor for distin- guished and selfless service is being awarded this year to the Unit- ed States Army Noncommissioned Officer. This is not the first time the George Catlett Marshall Medal has gone to a group instead of a person. In 2020, the Marshall Medal was awarded to The Army Family. It was awarded to The American Soldier in 2004. “From the American Revolution to today, the United States Army Non- commissioned Officer has been the backbone of the force, training, lead- ing, coaching and taking care of sol- diers,” said retired Gen. Bob Brown, AUSA president and CEO. “They are the standard-bearers, expert profes- sionals who are the essential connec- tive tissue of the Army’s formations and the envy of all other militaries in the world.” Brown added, “This is why I think it’s most appropriate to present the George Catlett Marshall Medal, AUSA’s highest award, to the United States Army Noncommissioned Of- ficer.” The award will be presented at the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposi- tion Oct. 14–16 in Washington, D.C. “While we can never do enough to recognize all that they do to en- sure America’s Army remains the premier land force on the planet, the Marshall Medal is one way to pub- licly honor these NCOs for their hard work, dedication and passion every Staff Sgt. Robelto Rose, with the 18th Military Police Brigade, gives orders and directions at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center near Hohenfels, Germany. (U.S. ARMY/SGT. CHRISTIAN AQUINO) Army Must Maintain ‘Dominance’ on Land 3 Drones are ‘Complex, Ubiquitous’ Threat 4 Book Program History of US Military Tanks 6 Chapter Highlights Eagle Chapters 7 IN THIS ISSUE VOLUME 6 NUMBER 5 MAY 30, 2024 day, whether at home or in combat,” Brown said. The Marshall Medal, awarded an- nually by AUSA since 1960, is named for General of the Army George Catlett Marshall Jr., a former Army chief of staff who also served as sec- retary of state, secretary of defense and U.S. special envoy to China in a public service career that spanned the Spanish-American War through the Truman administration. “Since 1775, the United States Army Noncommissioned Officer has selflessly served our soldiers, our Army and the American people. In doing so, they have come to be known as the backbone of our Army,” said retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Dan- See Marshall Medal, Page 3LEARN MORE & REGISTER ONLINE AT WWW.AUSA.ORG/EVENTS Join us to hear a presentation by James Lechner, author of With My Shield: An Army Ranger in Somalia. As a lieutenant in 1993, and a member of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, Lechner was selected for a top- secret special operations task force being sent to Mogadishu, Somalia, to capture the insurgent leader Mohamed Farah Aideed. The events that ensued would later be adapted into the movie Black Hawk Down . 6 JUNE 2024 1200–1300 EDT JOIN THE DISCUSSION! This webinar will include a Q&A session in which questions submitted by the audience will be selected and asked by the moderator. A recording of the webinar will be available on our You- Tube page the following day. WITH MY SHIELD An Army Ranger in Somalia with author James Lechner Moderated by The Honorable Patrick Murphy AUSA Senior Fellowwww.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY May 30, 2024 | AUSA Extra 3 Rainey: Army must ‘work now’ to transform, prepare A s the character of war rap- idly evolves, the Army must maintain its dominance in close quarters combat and its ability to harness new and emerging tech- nology, the commanding general of Army Futures Command said. “It would be an understatement to say that we’re not in … the most dis- ruptive period … ever,” Gen. James Rainey said. “We’ve got to figure … out [how to adapt to the needs of the future fight] every month, every six months. We’re in this perpetual state of disruption in the character of war that is really phenomenal.” During a keynote presentation during the recent 2024 Fires Sympo- sium in Lawton, Oklahoma, Rainey identified close combat dominance as “the single most important compe- tency that we need as a land force.” Marshall Medal From Page 1 iel Dailey, AUSA’s vice president for NCO and Soldier Programs. “Award- ing the Army NCO the George Catlett Marshall Medal is a fitting testament to the selfless efforts of all NCOs past, present and future.” Past recipients of the Marshall Medal include Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush; General of the Army Omar Bradley; and retired Army Gens. Gordon Sullivan, Lyman Lem- nitzer, Colin Powell, Bernard Rog- ers, Maxwell Taylor, John Vessey Jr. and Martin Dempsey. Other recipients include two for- mer defense secretaries who also served as directors of the Central In- telligence Agency, Leon Panetta and Robert Gates; Duke University head basketball coach and U.S. Military Academy graduate Michael Krzyze- wski; comedian Bob Hope; and actor Gary Sinise. Last year’s recipient was retired Gen. Eric Shinseki, the 34th Army chief of staff and former Veterans Af- fairs secretary. “We owe combatant commanders and this country … dominance of the land domain,” Rainey said. “That’s what deters people. That’s what peo- ple are scared of. Nobody wants to fight the United States Army at an intimate range.” Rainey underscored the impor- tance of fires during future wars, saying, “the ability to blow up objec- tives with fires, set people on fire, set things on fire with tanks and shoot or stab people with rifle squads, that is not going away.” In his presentation during the symposium, hosted by the Air De- fense Artillery Association and the United States Field Artillery Asso- ciation, Rainey emphasized proactive leadership and training. “Train for the known, educate peo- ple for the unknown,” he said. “Make sure whatever size Army we’ve got, and whatever kit it’s got, that we’re well trained. … If you’re in a forma- tion now or on your way to a forma- tion, focus on going to war with the people you’ve got and the stuff you’ve got.” During future conflict, leaders’ ability to utilize and train with tech- nology will determine their lethality, Rainey said. “Unskilled commanders and un- trained units are going to pay a cost that they have not paid in the past. A bad day is not going to be 10% ca- sualties; a bad day is going to be your firing brigade being gone,” he said. “But if you become data fluent and understand what’s happening, … then you’re going to be able to bring the pain train at an unprecedented level of lethality.” As the Army prepares to meet the demands of the future fight, time is of the essence, Rainey warned. “We’re all in it together,” he said. “The way we are training, the way we work with our allies, the way we maintain moral responsibility when we fight, we’re going to do OK. But we need to put the … work in now, because, if not, we’re going to trade blood for these lessons.” On June 3, Rainey will talk more about the Army’s transformation during the Strategic Landpower Dia- logue, a quarterly speaker series co- hosted by AUSA and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. For more information and to regis- ter, click here. Soldiers with the Illinois Army National Guard conduct an artillery fire mission May 11 dur- ing Exercise Immediate Response 24 in Ustka, Poland. (U.S. ARMY/SGT. 1ST CLASS CHAD MENEGAY)www.ausa.org4 AUSA Extra | May 30, 2024 Gen. Bob Brown, USA Ret. President and CEO, AUSA Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, USA Ret. Vice President, Leadership and Education, AUSA Luc Dunn Editor Desiree Hurlocker Advertising Manager Advertising Information Contact: Fox Associates Inc. 116 W. Kinzie St. • Chicago, IL 60654 Phone: 800-440-0231 Email: adinfo.rmy@foxrep.com ARTICLES. Articles appearing in AUSA Extra do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the officers or members of the Council of Trustees of AUSA, or its editors. Articles are expres- sions of personal opinion and should not be interpreted as reflecting the official opinion of the Department of Defense nor of any branch, command, installation or agency of the Depart- ment of Defense. The publication assumes no responsibility for any unsolicited material. Email: extra@ausa.org ADVERTISING. Neither AUSA Extra, nor its publisher, the Association of the United States Army, makes any representations, warranties or endorsements as to the truth and accuracy of the advertisements appearing herein, and no such representations, warranties or en- dorsements should be implied or inferred from the appearance of the advertisements in the publication. The advertisers are solely respon- sible for the contents of such advertisements. MEMBERSHIP RATES. Premium membership rates are $40 for two years or $75 for five years. Lifetime membership is $400 and can be paid in full or in four monthly installments. A special Premium rate of $10 for two years is open to E1–E4 and cadets only. New two-year Basic membership with select benefits is free. Learn more at www.ausa.org/join . Voice for the Army – Support For the Soldier PERK OF THE WEEK ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Army undersecretary warns drone threat is ‘transforming’ battlefield AUSA members have access to a program that provides legal documents for individuals and small businesses. Visit www.ausa.org/legal and create an account to choose from documents like wills, powers of attorney, bills of sale and much more. AUSA pays for the service for members. T he prevalence of unmanned aerial systems presents a ubiquitous threat that is fun- damentally transforming the battle- field, Undersecretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo said. “What we’re seeing, and not just in Ukraine, but really around the world, is that the availability and the impact of small, unmanned aerial systems and the threats that they present on the battlefield is here to stay,” Ca- marillo said May 17 during a discus- sion on drone warfare hosted by the Center for a New American Security. “We see that the threat is complex, it’s ubiquitous and is really trans- forming what the battle space looks like,” Camarillo said. He pointed out that the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities brought about by the unmanned systems “pre- vents any forces from being largely concealed or massed together.” “It’s changing the way that, at least in Ukraine, both sides are fight- ing, and we anticipate it will change the character of how warfare is con- ducted in the future,” he said. Soldiers will have to operate, move and maneuver within an environ- ment where everything they do can be seen. This means they will have to be vigilant about the reach of their electromagnetic signatures, the size of their command posts and how they communicate. Camarillo said the days of “large antenna farms” that were so easily discoverable over de- cades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan won’t be feasible in future conflict. “We can safely assume, looking ahead to the future, that really low cost, mass, attritable sources of [in- telligence, surveillance and recon- naissance] are going to be available in any battle space,” Camarillo said. With the pace of change rapidly ac- celerating, counter-unmanned aerial systems have been “a major focus area for the Army,” Camarillo said. Between fiscal years 2017 and 2024, he said, the Army invested about $1.8 billion on a “range of dif- ferent approaches” to countering the threat. These include kinetic solu- tions, investment in the maturation of directed energy solutions and up- grades to the components of counter- UAS defeat systems. “Because the threat is so current and real and currently affecting or presenting threats to forces even to- day, we have had to accelerate and put a lot of emphasis on what’s avail- able now,” Camarillo said. Paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division train with Dronebuster counter unmanned aircraft system weapons at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. (U.S. ARMY/PVT. JAYRELIZ BATISTA-PRADO)www.ausa.org6 AUSA Extra | May 30, 2024 ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Author details US tank evolution from 1917 through WWII An M5A1 crew from the 761st Tank Battalion waits to clean out scattered German ma- chine gun nests in Coburg, Germany, in 1945. (U.S. ARMY PHOTO) I t would be hard to imagine the U.S. Army without tanks. Ameri- can tank production exploded dur- ing World War II, going from about 300 tanks in 1940 to almost 30,000 three years later. Armor has been a mainstay of the force ever since—and will continue to be so, despite periodic declarations of its demise. The latest entry in the Association of the U.S. Army’s Book Program details the development and perfor- mance of Army and Marine Corps tanks from their invention through the end of World War II. US Battle Tanks 1917-1945 is filled with photos, technical illustra- tions and battlefield artwork to show how American armor fared in combat across the globe. Author Steven Zaloga is a defense consultant who has written numerous works on military technology and his- tory. AUSA’s Book Program recently sat down with him to talk about this new book. ****** AUSA: You have written extensive- ly about armored warfare. What led to your initial interest in tanks? Zaloga: My dad and grandfather served in the U.S. Army in World War II, and most of the men in my neigh- borhood were veterans. I was equally fascinated by aircraft and tanks as a kid. Once I started writing, I found that there were hundreds of other writers covering military aircraft but hardly anyone writing about tanks. AUSA: Why weren’t tanks a prior- ity for the Army following the First World War? Zaloga: After the “War to End All Wars,” most American leaders thought that the U.S. would not be dragged into another European con- flict. The Army’s role in the 1920s and 1930s saw little use for tanks, and there were several hundred tanks left over from World War I. Until war clouds started brewing in the late Book Program 1930s, there was very little reason for the Army to spend a lot of money on tanks. AUSA: How did American tank pol- icy differ from that of the other allied powers in World War II? Zaloga: One of the main differ- ences was a stronger American em- phasis on reliability. U.S. equipment was usually deployed thousands of miles away from America’s industrial heartland, so the Army had a strong incentive to test vehicles exhaustively to ensure that they were reliable, as well as easy to repair if they did break down. AUSA: When most people think of armored warfare in World War II, they think of North Africa and Eu- rope. How important were tanks in the Pacific theater? Zaloga: Tanks were less important in the southwest Pacific in 1942–43, such as in the Solomons, since the mountainous jungle terrain made their use almost impossible. But tanks were extensively used in the Central Pacific in 1944, and in the later campaigns such as the Philip- pines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Alto- gether, the Army deployed about a third of its separate tank battalions to the Pacific theater, though none of its armored divisions. AUSA: What was the most impor- tant lesson the Army learned about armored warfare during these years? Zaloga: The Army realized that tanks were an essential element of combined-arms warfare against any near-peer adversary. That lesson was immediately lost after the war, as was painfully evident in Korea in 1950. But that’s a subject for the next book in this series that covers 1946–2025. ****** Visit www.ausa.org/books to order a copy of US Battle Tanks 1917-1945. Use the promo code “AUSA” to get a discount from Osprey Publishing on this book and all their other titles. Joseph Craig is AUSA’s Book Program director.www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY May 30, 2024 | AUSA Extra 7 Eagle Chapters The following chapters attained Eagle status for April by showing positive membership growth. The number of consecutive months of growth since July 1 is shown in parentheses. Arizona Territorial (10) Florida Gulf Stream (10) Fort Sheridan-Chicago (10) GEN Creighton W. Abrams (10) George Washington (10) Greater New York-Statue of Liberty (10) Greater Philadelphia (Penn & Franklin) (10) Massachusetts Bay (10) National Training Center-High Desert (10) Newton D. Baker (10) North Texas-Audie Murphy (10) PFC William Kenzo Nakamura (10) San Diego (10) Suncoast (10) Texas Capital Area (10) Thunderbird (10) Virginia Colonial (10) Allegheny-Blue Ridge (9) Arkansas (9) Arsenal of Democracy (9) Benelux (9) Chattahoochee Valley-Fort Moore (9) CPL Bill McMillan-Bluegrass (9) Delaware (9) Dix (9) Fort Campbell (9) Fort Leonard Wood-Mid Missouri (9) Fort Liberty (9) Francis Scott Key (9) Gem State (9) Greater Atlanta (9) Greater Los Angeles (9) Houston Metroplex (9) Indiana (9) Magnolia (9) Marne (9) MG William F. Dean (9) Milwaukee (9) Minutemen (9) Picatinny Arsenal-Middle Forge (9) Silicon Valley (9) Space Coast (9) St. Louis Gateway (9) Tri-State (9) Alamo (8) Capital District of New York (8) Central Ohio (8) Central Virginia (8) Columbia River (8) CSM James M. McDonald-Keystone (8) Denver Centennial (8) First Militia (8) Fort Riley-Central Kansas (8) Korea (8) Major Samuel Woodfill (8) MG Harry Greene, Aberdeen (8) New Orleans (8) Potomac-Liberty (8) Puerto Rico (8) Redstone Huntsville (8) Rhode Island (8) San Francisco (8) SGM Jon Cavaiani (8) Sunshine (8) Utah (8) Captain Meriwether Lewis (7) Catoctin (7) COL Edward Cross (7) Des Moines Freedom (7) First In Battle (7) Fort Huachuca-Sierra Vista (7) Fort Jackson-Palmetto State (7) Fort Pitt (7) Henry Leavenworth (7) Joshua Chamberlain (7) Las Vegas-John C. Fremont (7) MG John S. Lekson (7) Southern Virginia (7) Stuttgart (7) West Point Area (7) Western New York (7) Connecticut (6) Fort Knox (6) GA Omar N. Bradley (6) GEN Joseph W. Stilwell (6) GEN William C. Westmoreland (6) Greater Augusta-Fort Eisenhower (6) Greater Kansas City (6) Hellenic (6) Big Bend (5) Coastal South Carolina (5) MSG Leroy Arthur Petry (5) Northern New York-Fort Drum (5) Pikes Peak (5) Tucson-Goyette (5) Guam (4) MG Robert B. McCoy (4) Monmouth (4) Central California (3)SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE POWERED BY: 35,000 ATTENDEES 650+ EXHIBITORS 150+ SESSIONS 80 COUNTRIES Housing Opens 12JUNE eventhousing@ausa.org | sponsorships@ausa.orgNext >