PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY www.ausa.org May 1, 2025 | AUSA Extra 1 US, partner leaders to speak at LANPAC C ommanders from U.S. Indo- Pacific Command, U.S. Army Pacific and the Japanese, Philippine and Australian armies are among the leaders scheduled to speak at the Association of the U.S. Army’s LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Hawaii. An international symposium dedi- cated to land forces in the Indo-Pacif- ic, the three-day event is May 13–15 at the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu. It is expected to draw military lead- ers from 26 countries, including at least 11 army chiefs. This year’s theme is “Prevailing Through Landpower.” Topics that will be discussed include creating po- sitional advantage, developing NCOs for the challenges of the region and organizing today to fight tonight. Soldiers assigned to the 25th Infantry Division and Philippine Army soldiers conduct helocast training April 27 during the Jungle Operations Training Course as part of Exercise Balikatan 25 at Fort Magsaysay in the Philippines. (U.S. ARMY/STAFF SGT. BRENDEN DELGADO) Army to Implement New Fitness Test in June 3 Installations are 'the Army's Home' 4 Member Benefits Special Website for Members 7 Chapter Highlights Redstone-Huntsville 8 IN THIS ISSUE VOLUME 6 NUMBER 51 MAY 1, 2025 See LANPAC, Page 3 There also will be more than 75 exhibits, Commander’s Corner pre- sentations during the event and a Leadership Forum for a select group of about 100 soldiers conducted by AUSA’s Center for Leadership. To register for LANPAC or for more information, click here. You can join the conversation with this year’s hashtag #LANPAC2025. LANPAC opens May 13 with a key- note from Navy Adm. Samuel Papa- ro, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, followed by a panel dis- cussion titled, “Sinews Across the Pa- cific” featuring speakers such as Lt. Gen. Jered Helwig, deputy command- ing general of U.S. Transportation Command; Maj. Gen. Gavin Gard- ner, commander of the 8th Theater Sustainment Command; and Maj. Gen Denise McPhail, commander of Army Network Enterprise Technol- ogy Command. In the afternoon, Gen. Ron Clark, commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, provides a keynote ad- dress. There will also be a panel titled “Ready, Lethal and Resilient.” Speakers include Lt. Gen. Joel Vow- ell, deputy commanding general of Army Pacific; Marine Lt. Gen. James Glynn, commander of Marine Corps Forces, Pacific; and Maj. Gen. Hope Rampy, commander of Army Human Resources Command. Day 2 of LANPAC opens with a keynote presentation by John Mc- Manus, author and Curators’ Distin- guished Professor of Military History at Missouri University of Science and www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY May 1, 2025 | AUSA Extra 3 New Army Fitness Test, MOS standards coming soon T he Army Combat Fitness Test will be replaced with the Army Fitness Test, a new five-event test that will be “sex-neutral and age-normed” for 21 combat MOSs, the Army announced in a news re- lease. Designed to “enhance soldier fit- ness, improve warfighting readiness and increase the lethality of the force,” according to the release, the new Army Fitness Test will carry over five of the six events of the Army Combat Fitness Test, which replaced the decades-old Army Physical Fit- ness Test in 2022. Informed by analysis from the Rand Corp. and Army data from close to 1 million test records, the Army Fitness Test will include the three-repetition maximum deadlift, hand-release pushup arm extension, sprint-drag-carry, plank and 2-mile run, according to the release. The standing power throw is not included in the new test. Phased implementation is sched- uled to begin June 1, with scoring LANPAC From Page 1 AUSA Basic Members can now view a selection of articles from the May issue of ARMY magazine. To read the articles, click here. ARMY magazine May issue Technology. There will be a panel on positional advantage featuring Clark; Gen. Yasunori Morishita, chief of staff of the Japan Ground Self- Defense Force; Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, commanding general of the Philip- pine Army; and Lt. Gen. Simon Stu- art, chief of the Australian Army. In the afternoon, Galido gives a keynote, followed by a panel on the development of NCOs to prevail in the land power domain. Panelists include Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Schmidt of Army Pacific, Command Sgt. Maj. Brian Hester of Army Fu- tures Command, Warrant Officer Kim Felmingham, regimental ser- geant major of the Australian Army, and Chief Warrant Officer Sanjee Singh, sergeant major of the army for the Singapore Armed Forces. The third and final day of LANPAC begins with a keynote by Stuart, the Australian Army chief, followed by a panel titled “Combat Ready Re- serves—Enabling Success in the Indo-Pacific.” Speakers include Brig. Gen. Katherine Trombley, command- er of the Army Reserve’s 9th Mission Support Command; Maj. Gen. Joseph Lestorti, of the Office of the Chief of the Army Reserve; and Maj. Gen. Ra- mon Zagala, commander of the Phil- ippine Army's Reserve Command. The symposium’s final keynote will be Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces-Korea. He will be fol- lowed by a panel on organizing to fight tonight featuring leaders such as Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, command- er of Army Cyber Command, and Col. Donald Brooks, deputy commanding general for operations at Army Space and Missile Defense Command. First Lt. Colton Schaal, assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, conducts the sprint- drag-carry event of the Army Combat Fit- ness Test April 26 during the Best Sapper Competition at Fort Leonard Wood, Mis- souri. (U.S. ARMY/PFC. MAKENNA TILTON) standards for male and female sol- diers in 21 combat MOSs to begin on Jan. 1 for the Regular Army and June 1, 2026, for soldiers in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, the release says. The combat specialties include in- fantry, artillery, armor, cavalry, mor- tarmen, combat engineers and Spe- cial Forces, according to the release. Men and women serving in combat specialties must achieve a minimum of 60 points per event and an over- all minimum score of 350. Soldiers in combat-enabling specialties must attain a score of at least 60 points per event and an overall minimum score of 300, according to the release. “The AFT combat standard is sex- neutral and age-normed,” according to the release, while the AFT “gener- al standard is performance-normed by sex and age groups.” Implementation guidance and as- sociated execution orders will be re- leased in May, the Army said. Poli- cies will be modified to accommodate implementation of the new test, in- cluding support to soldiers with med- ical profiles and monitoring mecha- nisms to gauge the impact of the new standard on the Army’s readiness, retention and end strength, accord- ing to the release.www.ausa.org 4 AUSA Extra | May 1, 2025 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. To celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday, from April 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2025, membership rates are reduced to a five-year Premium rate of $50 and a two- year Premium rate of $30. Lifetime member- ship is $250. A special Premium rate of $10 for two years is open to E1–E4 and cadets only. Two-year Basic membership with select ben- efits 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 Jones: Caring for the ‘Army’s home’ is critical to readiness, lethality R esiliency and efficiency are critical when it comes to managing the Army’s instal- lations, the commanding general of Army Installation Management Command said. Speaking April 17 during an As- sociation of the U.S. Army Hot Topic titled, “Transforming Army Installa- tions: Our Foundations of Warfighter Readiness and Lethality,” Lt. Gen. Omar Jones highlighted the impor- tance and complexity of managing and leading what amounts to 104 cities around the world. “We’re the Army’s home,” Jones said. “Every installation is differ- ent,” but each installation also deliv- ers the core services that soldiers and their families rely on, he said. This includes child care and other family programs, fitness centers and hous- ing, he said. Army installations also support the readiness and deploy- ability of their tenant units, Jones said. “Our installations are always go- ing to be platforms for readiness, they’re always going to be platforms where we project power anywhere in Lt. Gen. Omar Jones, commander of Army Installation Management Command, discusses the importance of installations during an AUSA Hot Topic forum. (AUSA PHOTO) Are you look- ing for a gift for Mother's Day? AUSA members receive 25% off a curated collection of gifts or 20% off sitewide at www.ausa.org/gifts with code FORAUSA, featuring brands like 1-800 Flowers, Cheryl's Cook- ies, Fruit Bouquets, Harry & David, Shari's Berries and many more. the world,” he said. An installation’s resilience is in- creasingly important, Jones said. “Resiliency from severe weather, resiliency from disruption to our utilities, resiliency from cyber dis- ruptions, resiliency from adversary attacks—those threats are higher today than arguably ever,” he said. “I would argue that installation resil- ience is essential to Army readiness.” Also essential are resources and partnerships, Jones said. “Running 104 cities is not cheap,” he said. “Our installations are al- ways going to compete for resources with everything else the Army does.” Installation Management Com- mand must make sure it is spending every dollar as efficiently as possible while ensuring Army senior lead- ers and decision-makers understand what installations need, where the service might be taking risks and how to mitigate them, Jones said. “Installation management is abso- lutely about Army readiness,” Jones said. “What we do each and every day supports quality of life for the Army’s people and readiness for the Army.”www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY May 1, 2025 | AUSA Extra 5 Pioneering WWII unit receives Congressional Gold Medal E ighty years after the 6888th Central Postal Directory Bat- talion deployed to Europe dur- ing World War II, its soldiers were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. Nicknamed the Six Triple Eight, the unit was the first and largest all- female, all-African American unit to deploy overseas during World War II. On Tuesday, with the two surviving members watching online, over 300 of the soldiers’ descendants and fam- ily members gathered on Capitol Hill for the presentation of the Congres- sional Gold Medal. “On behalf of the friends and fami- lies and all of those connected with the Six Triple Eight, I wish to give my most sincere thanks to the Con- gress of the United States for this great honor to the women of the bat- talion,” Stanley Earley III, son of Six Triple Eight commander Lt. Col. Charity Adams-Earley, said during the ceremony. “Please help us to en- sure that the story of the Six Triple Eight and the honors and the recog- nition that they receive are protected and remembered for future genera- tions.” With about 7 million service mem- bers and other personnel stationed across the European theater dur- ing World War II, the battalion pro- cessed 17 million pieces of mail in Birmingham, England, to correct a mail backlog and went on to contin- ue their mission in Rouen, France, according to a Defense Department news release. The Association of the U.S. Army supported the “Six Triple Eight” Congressional Gold Medal Act, which was signed into law in March 2022, and previous versions of the legislation. In 2019, AUSA and The ROCKS, Inc., partnered to send a letter to Congress supporting the award. “The Six Triple Eight operated under the challenges of ‘dual seg- regation’ by race and gender,” the letter states. “Through conducting 24/7 operations in England, they cleared more than 17 million pieces of mail and package backlog in three months; well under the Army’s six- month time estimate.” The Congressional Gold Medal is the “highest expression of national appreciation,” and it is given “for distinguished achievements and con- tributions by individuals or institu- tions,” according to a Senate website. The award for the Six Triple Eight honors the women of the battalion for their pioneering service, devotion to duty and contributions to increase the morale of service members serv- ing in the European theater during World War II. Ensuring mail got to the correct recipient was no easy task, Adams- Earley wrote in her memoir. “With over seven million persons in the files, there were thousands of name duplications,” she wrote. “At one point we knew we had more than 7,500 Robert Smiths. Had it not been for serial numbers, we would never have been able to distinguish one from the other. … This same problem applied to thousands of other given names.” The soldiers of the Six Triple Eight lived by their motto of “No mail, low morale.” “They supplied us with files, the names of men who were enlisted in the Army in the European Theater,” Pfc. Dorothy Turner said in an Army news article. “You could see the last time that this man got mail, and ... you had this pile of mail that he should have gotten over the years and packages. … You knew that he had not gotten any news from his family or friends … and you were de- termined to try to find him." Members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion sort packages and mail on Nov. 7, 1945, at the 17th Base Post Office in Paris, France. (U.S. ARMY PHOTO) House Speaker Mike Johnson, right, pres- ents the Congressional Gold Medal for the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion to Stanley Earley III, son of Six Triple Eight commander Lt. Col. Charity Adams-Earley, during a ceremony on Tuesday in Wash- ington, D.C. (U.S. ARMY/CHRISTOPHER KAUFMANN)www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY May 1, 2025 | AUSA Extra 7 A s a member of the Associa- tion of the U.S. Army, you get several benefits, includ- ing ARMY magazine, AUSA Extra, podcasts, access to events and profes- sional networking, chapter affiliation and much more. We want to make sure that you also are able utilize the variety of free programs and discounts offered by AUSA. Did you know that members can create legal documents for their fam- ilies or businesses for free with La- wAssure? Another free benefit is SAT/ ACT test prepa- ration materials, which you can pro- vide for anyone in your family, through eKnowledge, the system endorsed by the National Fed- eration of High Schools. And you receive discounts on prod- ucts and services, including those below. • Electronics from Apple, HP and Dell. • Appliances from GE, Monogram Café, Profile, Hot Point and Haier. • Car rentals at Alamo, Avis, Bud- get, Enterprise, Hertz and National. • Protection for your electronic de- vices and from identity theft. • Entertainment at theme parks, concert tickets, movie tickets, sport- ing events, ski and golf resorts, mu- seums, tours and more. • Shipping discounts, including 50% off FedEx and 65% off at UPS. • Gym memberships and wellness services. • Hotels including Radisson, Cam- bria, Comfort, Red Roof and many more. • Professional certification train- ing and online schools. • Senior living facilities. • Truck rentals at Budget and En- terprise. We receive many requests for mem- bership cards and membership num- bers to access the benefit programs— but you don’t need either one. Member Benefits Learn to access all AUSA benefit programs and discounts But please note that you can’t just walk into a retail outlet and show them your AUSA membership card for your discount. They will not be familiar with the program. Our agreements are with the corporate headquarters who assign numbers. We have tried to make it easy for you to access your savings by set- ting up a special landing page just for members, www.ausa.org/savings. You’ll see the logos of our affinity partners on this page, in alphabetical order. These logos are hyperlinks that will take you right to your savings. In some cases, your member dis- count will automatically apply. If a promo code is needed, it is shown in the brief description under the com- pany’s logo on the savings page. Some affinity partners may require you to create an account on their site. When you do this, use whatever email address and password meets their re- quirements. They are not looking to match your AUSA login credentials, as we do not share that information with our partners. Be sure to check out companies you may have not heard of, like Abenity. Create an account on Abenity, and you’ll find thousands of discounts to local restaurants and shops. As always, contact me with any questions at srubel@ausa.org. Susan Rubel is AUSA’s Association and Affinity Partnerships director. A military family poses with Minnie and Mickey Mouse during the Bring Your Child to Work Day event April 24 at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. (U.S. ARMY/JIM O'DONNELL) At AUSA's special landing page just for members, www.ausa.org/savings, you can view all of the association's affinity partners and discounts. (AUSA PHOTO)www.ausa.org 8 AUSA Extra | May 1, 2025 ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Longtime AUSA volunteer leader recognized for service R etired Lt. Col. Marc Jacobson, president of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Redstone- Huntsville chapter in Alabama, recently was honored as the 2025 Madison Visionary of the Year for his decades of volunteer service to veterans and the community. “It’s incredible, and it was a big surprise,” Jacobson said, as report- ed by 256 Today. “Just to be recog- nized for the years of volunteerism and service, I don’t look for that kind of honor and recognition, but this is truly special.” The Visionary awards are admin- istered by Madison Visionary Part- ners, a nonprofit that seeks to in- crease the quality of life for residents of Madison, a neighboring city to Huntsville. “We are so proud to hon- or these incredible individuals and organizations who make Madison such a special place,” said Christina Hearne, executive director for Madi- son Visionary Partners, as reported by 256 Today. “Their dedication to improving our community through volunteerism, advocacy and philan- Redstone- Huntsville Retired Lt. Col. Marc Jacobson, president of AUSA's Redstone-Huntsville chapter, displays his Madison Visionary of the Year award. (MADISON LIVING MAGAZINE/CRISTIE CLARK) thropy is inspiring, and we are grate- ful for all they do to enrich the lives of Madison residents.” Jacobson has served as chapter president for the past two years and been a member of the chapter’s board of directors for more than two de- cades. “I am very proud of the work he does for the Redstone-Huntsville chapter as he wraps up his presiden- cy this June and the work he does for our community,” said Rhonda Sutton, president of AUSA’s Third Region. In addition to his role with AUSA, Jacobson has served on more than 30 boards and committees in the Madison area. “It all comes down to one thing—helping build a stronger, more connected community,” he said. There are volunteer opportuni- ties out there for everyone, he said. “Whether it’s education, local govern- ment, veterans’ support or coaching a youth sports team … the key is to get involved in a way that’s meaningful to you,” Jacobson said, according to Madison Living Magazine. After graduating in 1977 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, Jacobson served on active duty for seven years as a communica- tions officer and C-47 Chinook pilot before transferring to the Army Re- serve. He retired from the military in 2002. Under Jacobson’s leadership, the Redstone-Huntsville chapter was named “Best Chapter” in its category in 2023 and 2024 and recognized at the AUSA Annual Meeting and Ex- position in Washington, D.C. In 2024, among other initiatives, the chapter was recognized for rais- ing significant support for soldiers and families through its Rocket City Bash and other efforts during AU- SA's Global Force Symposium and Exposition; sponsorship of sports events to raise awareness and funds for amputee soldiers; and awarding more than $15,000 in scholarships. “It has been an absolute honor to serve in this role for the past two years, and I couldn’t have asked for a better board, volunteers and com- munity of supporters,” Jacobson said. “Thank you all for your support, your commitment to AUSA and, most of all, your dedication to those who serve. It has truly been a privilege.” During the 2024 AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., retired Lt. Col. Marc Jacobson, left, president of AUSA's Redstone-Huntsville chapter, receives an award for outstanding accomplishments by the chapter. (AUSA PHOTO)Next >