Web site to open sign-ups for post-9/11 GI Bill transfers

Six amputee combat veterans put their uniforms back on and returned to Iraq Sunday for the first time since sustaining their injuries in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Second Lt. Wendel S. Walters, assigned to the brigade’s 1st Battalion, 353rd Infantry Regiment, has the distinction of being the first Soldier assigned to the brigade to deploy in 44 years.
Walters is currently assigned to the Mine Action Center at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, where he will work for six months before returning to Fort Polk.
 

Nineteen Soldiers assigned to the 162nd Infantry Brigade recently had a foreign experience with weapons when they undertook a training mission at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Two Air Force Joint Terminal Attack Controllers serving with the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division in the Maywand district, Afghanistan, were awarded Bronze Star Medals June 15.
Staff Sgt. John Rusch, a JTAC assigned to forward operating base Ramrod, whose home station is Fort Polk, and Staff Sgt. Brian Lindquist, a JTAC Enlisted Battalion Liaison Officer, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., are battlefield Airmen who have saved countless military and civilian lives.
 

First Lt. Michael Benedosso and Spc. Adrian Ghisoiu finished fourth in their respective weight classes in the 2009 U.S. National Boxing Championships June 8-13 at Denver Coliseum in Colorado.

The U.S. Army announced June 15 that it will transfer the first 10 installations under the Army’s Privatization of Army Lodging program Aug. 15.

The Army's new paternity leave policy gives fathers additional time to be with their Families when a child is born.

BJACH ceremony
Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital and the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity, Fort Polk, undergo a change of command June 30. The ceremony is set for 8:30 a.m. at Fort Polk’s Warrior Field.

The season of change continued at Fort Polk June 11 as Soldiers and Family members of the 83rd Chemical Battalion, 48th Chemical Brigade wished outgoing commander Lt. Col. Scott Estes a fond farewell while welcoming Lt. Col. Blaine Hedges as their new commander during a 10 a.m. change of command ceremony at 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade Field.

Col. George Giacoppe, commander, Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital, knew there was a scheduling problem at the hospital, but couldn’t put his finger on — or as he put it, “quantify” — it.

More than 100 senior Army commanders and command sergeants major met June 9-10 at the U.S. Army Forces Command Commanders' Conference at Fort McPherson, Ga. They discussed the training and readiness of the U.S. Army's Operating Force and addressed the future challenges identified by the Army leadership to sustain Soldiers and their Families.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates stepped down inside a missile silo at Fort Greely, Ala., June 1 to get an up-close look at the system he says will protect the United States from an intercontinental ballistic missile threat.

Torrential rains gave a realistic backdrop to National Guard training at Camp Blanding, Joint Training Center, Fla., May 27. Soldiers and airmen prepared their emergency response efforts for the hurricane season, which begins Monday.

Every Memorial Day since 1948, Soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) have made their way through Fort Myer's Selfridge Gate, rucksacks filled with American flags.

The new strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan treats the area as an integrated theater of operations, the Defense Department's policy chief said May 20.

Task Force Warrior Security Forces joined with Afghan National Police for joint patrols in Shebar,Kahmard, Sayghan and other districts in Bamyan last month to increase security in the province during the transfer of operations between New Zealand Defense Force Task Group Crib 13 and TG Crib 14.

While the vast majority of new Soldiers arrive to Basic Combat Training in a bus from the airport, the Army's newest private arrived in a style befitting his cult-like status. Pvt. Stephen Colbert, of The Colbert Report, showed up in front of the 120th Adjutant General Battalion (Reception), Fort Jackson, S.C., May 8, in a stretch limousine ready to begin his in-processing.

46th Engineer Battalion Soldiers unearth an Iraqi tank from the first Gulf War.

Daily equipment maintenance -- the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle -- allowed Soldiers from Fort Polk's 46th Engineer Battalion to live through an insurgent attack.

Sgt. 1st Class Patrick King is experimenting with a bionic foot created by Cadets Ian Jones, Sarah Goss, Joe Marshall and Jonathan Kralick as a capstone project in the West Point Academy's Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department.