PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY www.ausa.org November 30, 2023 | AUSA Extra 1 Leaders aim to integrate training, tech A s the Army continues its transformation, it must en- sure that training keeps pace with new systems and technologies, and the service must work with in- dustry partners to expedite the ac- quisition process, two senior Army leaders said. “It’s an exciting time—the Army is doing a lot, very quickly,” said Doug- las Bush, the Army’s assistant sec- retary for acquisition, logistics and technology. “We want to make things easier for our leaders, our command- ers and our soldiers.” Bush and Gen. Gary Brito, com- manding general of the Army Train- ing and Doctrine Command, spoke Tuesday during the 2023 Interser- vice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in Orlan- do, Florida. To accomplish the mission of having Gen. Gary Brito, commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command, tries on the Reconfigurable Virtual Collective Trainer–Ground for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle Tuesday at the 2023 Interservice/ Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in Orlando, Florida. (U.S. ARMY/ARIANA AUBUCHON) Longtime AUSA Board Member Dies 3 AUSA Urges Congress to Pass 2024 NDAA 4 Book Program An Army Ranger in Somalia 6 Chapter Highlight Redstone-Huntsville 7 IN THIS ISSUE VOLUME 5 NUMBER 31 NOVEMBER 30, 2023 “a warfighting-ready Army,” Train- ing and Doctrine Command must be “linked in early” in the acquisition process so that training, doctrine and leader development are integrated with new systems, Brito said. “When you do that, you enhance the lethal- ity of the individual soldiers, you improve the … collective training of the respective unit, you improve their performance when they go to a combat training center,” he said. Limited funding is a perpetual stumbling block for modernization, Bush said. “I think the challenge the Army has, as always, is just resourc- es,” he said. “How do we allocate re- sources to modernize quickly in this area of training … while trying to do everything else?” While the Army has made improve- ments in resourcing, it’s a constant challenge “to make sure that we are starting an acquisition program and thinking about the training part up front, especially when we’re doing it faster,” Bush said. “You can have a terrific piece of gear, but if it’s very difficult to train, it’s just not going to be as effective, or if it’s too expensive to train on, it’s not going to be as affordable for the Army to do at scale—and everything the Army does is at vast scale,” Bush said. Looking to 2030 and beyond, the Army is depending on industry to provide feedback on which practices are most effective, Bush said. “The innovation in this country, in the defense industry—we rely on it,” he said. “Every answer should not be the Army telling industry exactly how we’re going to do something. We need to leverage that private sector innova- tion into our training systems.”www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY November 30, 2023 | AUSA Extra 3 Longtime AUSA leader retired Lt. Gen. Julius Becton dies R etired Lt. Gen. Julius Becton Jr., a longtime member of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Board of Directors and a recipient of the George Catlett Marshall Medal, AUSA’s highest award, died Tuesday. He was 97. Becton joined AUSA’s Board of Di- rectors, then called the Council of Trustees, in 1994 and served for 13 years. In 2007, he was presented the Marshall Medal “for his numerous and consequential accomplishments over a lifetime of service as a soldier, leader, educator, administrator, men- tor and role model,” according to the award citation. Born June 29, 1926, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Becton volunteered for Army service in 1944 with a desire to become a pilot. When astigmatism knocked him out of contention for flight school, he applied and qualified for Officer Candidate School. Becton became a second lieuten- ant in 1945 with the all-Black 93rd Infantry Division and served in the Pacific at the end of World War II. In 1946, he transferred from active duty to the Army Reserve but re-entered active service in 1948. “I decided I re- ally liked soldiering,” Becton said in 2017 during a Black History Month commemoration at AUSA headquar- ters in Arlington, Virginia. Over the next 35 years, Becton “with great distinction … led Amer- Nicholas Chabraja, left, then-chairman of AUSA’s Council of Trustees, and retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, right, then-AUSA president and CEO, present the association’s 2007 George Catlett Marshall Medal to retired Lt. Gen. Julius Becton Jr. (AUSA PHOTO) ica’s soldiers in combat in Korea and Vietnam, and in Cold War op- erations,” according to the Marshall Medal citation. His key assignments include commanding the 1st Cavalry Division, the Army Operations Test and Evaluation Agency and VII Corps in Germany during the Cold War. Becton’s final assignment before retiring from the Army in 1983 was deputy commander of the Army Training and Doctrine Command. His awards and decorations in- clude the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Combat Infan- tryman Badge with star for service in Korea and Vietnam. “I enjoyed being a soldier; I enjoyed being around soldiers,” Becton said of his nearly 40 years of service. From 1984 to 1985, Becton was director of the Office of Foreign Di- saster Assistance in the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 1985, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to be director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency—the first Black person to hold that position. After leaving government service in 1989, Becton became president of his alma mater, Prairie View A&M University in Texas, “where he launched a new era of fiscal and academic accountability,” according to the Marshall Medal citation. During the 2017 event at AUSA, re- tired Gen. Carter Ham, former AUSA president and CEO, described Becton as “a man who has lived through ex- traordinary change and service.” “You’ve reminded us how far we have come as an Army and a nation,” Ham said. “You have made this great country stronger.” Retired Lt. Gen. Julius Becton Jr. addresses an event commemorating Black History Month in 2017 at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. (AUSA PHOTO)www.ausa.org4 AUSA Extra | November 30, 2023 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. 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AUSA calls for quick passage of 2024 National Defense Authorization Act T he Association of the U.S. Army is urging key lawmakers to authorize full funding for the Army and DoD, a pay increase of at least 5.2% for service members and civilian employees and the resources needed to continue the Army’s trans- formation and quality of life efforts. In a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, AUSA advocates for these critical is- sues and calls for passage “as quickly as possible” of the 2024 National De- fense Authorization Act. “The Army is vital to national se- curity with recent conflicts across the globe demonstrating that land power is essential, and the land domain is decisive,” retired Gen. Bob Brown, AUSA president and CEO, writes in the Nov. 17 letter. “Thus, we request that you autho- rize funding—at least at the levels included in the bills passed in your respective chambers—and add addi- tional resources commensurate with the threats facing our nation,” Brown writes. “Additional resources could support the Army’s unfunded priori- ties, enable continuous transforma- tion through modernization, support Army and DoD infrastructure, im- prove both the organic and defense industrial base, and help to mitigate inflation.” Brown also urges lawmakers to support a 5.2% pay increase for ser- vice members and DoD civilians. “The pay increase is particularly important given military pay has not kept up with the Economic Cost Index (ECI) by 2.6 percent over time,” he writes. Quality of life programs, including improvements to child care, housing and health care, remain a priority, along with programs to eliminate harmful behaviors such as sexual as- sault and sexual harassment, Brown writes. AUSA also supports the Army’s transformation efforts. “As threats to our nation grow, the need to modern- ize and improve readiness is appar- ent,” Brown writes. “AUSA requests your continued support for the Ar- my’s modernization priorities to en- able future capabilities and support for the Army’s training and sustain- ing priorities to assure near-term and future readiness—this includes a strong and expandable organic in- dustrial base.” The Army continues to answer the nation’s call at home and around the world, Brown writes. “Indeed, a ready and capable Army is indispensable to national security,” he writes. “Once again, we urge you to swiftly pass the NDAA and authorize additional re- sources that reflect the demonstrated need and urgency that our national security challenges require.” Read the full letter here. ‘The Army is vital to national security with recent conflicts across the globe demonstrat- ing that land power is essential, and the land domain is decisive,’ writes retired Gen. Bob Brown, AUSA president and CEO, in a letter to lawmakers. (ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL PHOTO)LEARN MORE & REGISTER ONLINE AT WWW.AUSA.ORG/EVENTS Join us to hear a presentation by L. Scott Lingamfelter, author of Yanks in Blue Berets: American UN Peacekeepers in the Middle East. While in his first book, Desert Redleg, Lingamfelter recounted his experiences as an artillery officer for the 1st Infantry Division during the Gulf War, in this book—and in this discussion—he will share what it was like for a Soldier who was trained in combat arms to serve instead as a frontline military observer for a peacekeeping mission. 5 DECEMBER 2023 1200–1300 EST 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 YouTube page the following day. YANKS IN BLUE BERETS American UN Peacekeepers in the Middle East with author L. Scott Lingamfelter Moderated by Jerry O’Keefe AUSA Senior Fellowwww.ausa.org6 AUSA Extra | November 30, 2023 ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Author shares firsthand account of Battle of Mogadishu D espite recent humanitarian pauses, the fight in Gaza against Hamas promises to be long and difficult. The challenges of urban operations are greatly ex- acerbated by an enemy that hides among civilians and civilian infra- structure. These complications led retired Gen. David Petraeus to pre- dict last month that the offensive “could be Mogadishu on steroids.” Retired Lt. Col. James Lechner, who is an Association of the U.S. Army author, has firsthand knowl- edge of the opera- tion referenced by Petraeus. Thirty years ago, Lechner was a young in- fantry officer in the October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, made famous by the book and subse- quent movie, Black Hawk Down. In With My Shield: An Army Rang- er in Somalia, he offers a ground- level perspective of fighting deep in insurgent territory, surrounded and outnumbered, to protect each other and complete the mission. Lechner recovered from the severe wounds he sustained that day, go- ing on to serve multiple deployments over the course of his 27-year Army career. He currently is a freelance war correspondent in Ukraine. The AUSA Book Program sat down with him to talk about Mogadishu and the new book. ****** AUSA: We recently passed the 30th anniversary of the battle in So- malia. What led you to finally share your experiences with this book? Lechner: Prior to writing the book, I had been deployed to vari- ous conflicts and served in Iraq and Afghanistan until 2018. I had been focused on those duties, but at the conclusion of my service, I felt I could dedicate the time to adequately ad- dress the story. With the approach of the anniver- sary, I sat down to the task of writ- ing and researching the story, which Book Program included contacting a number of my fellow veterans. AUSA: How did working on the book affect your understanding of the battle? Lechner: Taking the time to re- search the events, especially dis- cussing them with other veterans and getting their perspective along with confirming details, allowed me to fill in some gaps and put togeth- er some parts of the story that had previously not been widely known or understood. AUSA: What is your most vivid memory of that day? Lechner: When the battle reached its climax in our fire-swept portion of the street and the intensity of the fighting all around me. Also, when I was able to bring in the Little Bird attack helicopters, with the over- whelming firepower they brought to bear to break the massed Somali as- sault. AUSA: How did the fighting in Mogadishu compare to combat you faced in other deployments? Lechner: Nothing compared to Somalia for the amount of fighting and intensity during a short period of time. I learned that we as U.S. soldiers could not always rely on our technology, firepower or a numeric advantage. However, with leadership, proper training and discipline, we would al- ways prevail. AUSA: What lesson from With My Shield would you like to share with the soldiers of today’s Army? Lechner: Today’s sociopolitical environment creates a tough situa- tion for soldiers, especially for com- bat units. I would like soldiers and especially Army leaders to remem- ber that many of the old aspects— tough, often brutal training, select- ing the right men and maintaining high standards based upon combat requirements—are absolutely essen- tial for creating unit cohesion and developing the warrior spirit. Those bonds of brotherhood allow a combat unit to weather the shock of combat and keep on fighting. ****** Please visit www.ausa.org/books to order a copy of With My Shield. Joseph Craig is AUSA’s Book Program director. Army Rangers observe the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, in September 1993 from a Black Hawk with the call sign ‘Super 64’—one of two aircraft that would be shot down over hostile territory a month later during the Battle of Mogadishu. (COURTESY OF RETIRED LT. COL. JAMES LECHNER)S everal individuals and organi- zations were honored Nov. 10 for their service to the nation, soldiers and families during a din- ner presented by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Redstone-Huntsville chapter. The chapter partnered with the Madison County Military Heritage Commission and the North Alabama Veterans and Fraternal Organiza- tions Coalition to host the event at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Retired Col. John Kuenzli, the AUSA chapter chairman and vice president, was the emcee. Awards were presented to retired Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Bar- nett, the Hunts- ville-Madison County Veteran of the Year; retired Navy Capt. William “Bill” Marriott, who received the Lifetime Achieve- ment Award; and the Rocket City Ad- jutant General’s Corps Regimental Association, which was named the Veteran Organization of the Year. In receiving the Veteran of the Year Award, Barnett encouraged people to volunteer “any chance that you get. There are many opportuni- www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY November 30, 2023 | AUSA Extra 7 AUSA chapter honors service members, organizations Retired Navy Capt. William ‘Bill’ Marriott receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at a dinner hosted by AUSA’s Redstone-Huntsville chapter. (REDSTONE ROCKET/JONATHON STINSON) ties out there,” according to the Red- stone Rocket. K.C. Bertling, president of the coalition, said in announcing the awards that the Rocket City Adju- tant General’s Corps Regimental Association has prepared and deliv- ered Thanksgiving dinner to first responders at Redstone Arsenal, led the annual Heroes Fishing Trip to Destin, Florida, and organized a hunting trip for Vietnam veterans and Gold Star families. The associa- tion also has raised nearly $100,000 for northern Alabama nonprofit or- ganizations that help veterans and their families. Also at the dinner, four former service members were inducted into the Madison County Hall of Heroes. They included retired Col. Roy Ad- ams, a member of the AUSA chapter who served in Vietnam and Opera- tion Desert Storm; retired Col. Wil- liam Johnson, who deployed in sup- port of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom; Ronald Wright, an Army medic who served in Viet- nam; and James Andrews, a former Marine who served in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Free- dom. “I believe that if we recognize he- roes, remember them, educate every- one about them, their sacrifices and the sacrifices of their families, we will, by God’s grace, enjoy this pre- cious gift of liberty for generations to come,” said retired Navy Cmdr. Clay Davis, the commission’s president, as reported by the Redstone Rocket. Retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Eugene Roberts accepts an award on behalf of the Rocket City Adjutant General’s Corps Regimental Association, which was named the Veteran Organization of the Year. (REDSTONE ROCKET/JONATHON STINSON) Redstone- HuntsvilleTune-in at: WWW.AUSA.ORG/PODCAST Interested in advertising on Army Matters? Email podcast@ ausa.org for more information. AUSA’s Army Matters podcast amplifies the voices of the Total Army—one story at a time. Join hosts LTG (Ret.) Les Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey every other Wednesday as they interview the modern chroniclers of the Army experience to discuss inspiring leadership stories, current issues faced by Soldiers and our military families’ journeys.Next >