Reserve Organization of America

The trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, known as AUKUS, has emerged as a pivotal alliance to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

This initiative represents the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)'s unwavering commitment to strengthening alliances. Madeline Mortelmans, the acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategies, Plans, and Capabilities, highlighted the integral role of alliances and partnerships in implementing the 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS).

Mortelmans emphasized that AUKUS will significantly influence the DoD's approach to strategic competition. She stated, "When I talk about the NDS, the 2022 NDS, and what's different about it, I always highlight and observe that almost every U.S. strategy, for years, has emphasized the importance of our allies and partners."

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

📖 https://bit.ly/3W71xXe

The Guam National Guard and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, partners in the State Partnership Program, conducted a mass-casualty field training exercise.

After four days of classroom learning, about 100 troops from the Philippine Army, U.S. Navy, United States Air Force, and U.S. Marine Corps participated in the exercise. “Victims” dressed in moulage, sirens blaring over loudspeakers, and smoke machines added realism to the exercise.

Sgt. 1st Class Fred Esteves of Guam Guard’s Medical Readiness Detachment was a medical first responder exchange member.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

📖 https://bit.ly/4d1bv33

Inspired by the flexibility of gig work in the private sector, the Pentagon is in the midst of the prototype phase of an initiative, dubbed 'GigEagle', designed to tap into talent across the Pentagon workforce, in what officials told Breaking Defense could be a “transformational” approach to staffing up short-term defense projects.

“We had these very rapidly evolving mission needs and requirements. We would follow the standard process, maybe looking for resumes, and calling people we knew. It just wasn't working, and so what you started to see was that the mission need would just go unmet,” Air Force Reserve Brig. Gen. Michael McGinley, the director of Gig Eagle.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

For the full story: https://bit.ly/3RJXGhn

Prolonged deployment to military bases with open burn pits was associated with increased risks for certain respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, according to a retrospective cohort study using Veterans Health Administration (VHA) records.

In adjusted analyses, every 100 days of deployment to bases with burn pit exposure was associated with small increases in the odds of having asthma (adjusted OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.02), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; aOR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02-1.06), and hypertension (aOR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03), reported David A. Savitz, PhD, of Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island, and co-authors.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

For the full story: https://bit.ly/4bCTk2R

The Texas Department of Public Safety is seeking a retrial after being ordered by a jury to pay $2.5 million in lost wages to a former DPS trooper who became sick from toxic burn pit exposure during his U.S. Army Reserve unit deployment to Iraq in 2007 and 2008.

The former trooper, Le Roy Torres, an Army Reserve captain from the Coastal Bend community of Robstown, won the judgment in a unanimous decision by a Nueces County jury on Sept. 30 after a protracted court battle over whether the DPS was obligated to re-employ him in a role that accommodated his service-related illness.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

For the full story: https://bit.ly/3XGJGJ6

On this day in 1798, President John Adams signed the “Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen,” creating the U.S. Marine Hospital Service to protect against the spread of disease from sailors returning from overseas ports and thus began the story of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.

🌐 https://www.usphs.gov/history

Family readiness is mission readiness and military families deserve a quality of life that supports their journey rather than hinders it.

The Five & Thrive initiative began in 2021, headed by Sharene Brown, spouse of the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to tackle the top five quality-of-life issues - childcare, education, healthcare, housing, and spouse employment – faced by military families.

One of the biggest challenges many Reservists encounter is access to childcare during Unit Training Assembly weekends.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

For the full story: https://bit.ly/3VLzNXZ

Urgent warning from TRICARE: Scam targeting TRICARE For Life users via text message, could affect other TRICARE customers. Learn what to look for and how to report: https://bit.ly/4bDYnzS.

Space is becoming increasingly congested with both commercial and military systems, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking greater collaboration with partners in industry and internationally to prevent disasters in orbit.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman during a keynote speech at the recent Space Symposium used a unique example to highlight the need for better orbital cooperation: the sinking of the Titanic.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

For the full story: https://bit.ly/45HkkfU

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, was promoted to colonel in the Air Force Reserve at a private ceremony.

“After 20 years of service, I am honored to earn the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force,” said Nunn. His previous rank was lieutenant colonel, and he is now four ranks from general.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

For the full story: https://bit.ly/3L7tmt6

Senators blasted the head of the U.S. Coast Guard at a contentious hearing, saying she has fostered a “culture of concealment,” withheld critical information from congressional investigators and failed to hold leaders and perpetrators accountable for serious misconduct.

“Our investigation has shown a deep moral rot within the Coast Guard now,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, chair of the Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has been looking into the Coast Guard’s past mishandling of sexual assault cases.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

For the full story: https://cnn.it/45KIAhx

House and Senate lawmakers on Friday offered a preview of this summer’s fight over defense policy changes for next year, with overall military spending and troop pay raises hanging in the balance.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled their draft of the massive defense authorization bill, just as House lawmakers narrowly adopted their version of the measure, mostly along party lines in a 217-199 vote.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.

📖 https://bit.ly/45KAOn

On June 28, the Reserve Organization of America’s executive director retired Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey E. Phillips wrote to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough urging further accountability regarding the wrongful awarding of more than 10 million dollars in critical skill incentive payments to “nearly all” Veterans Health Administration and Veterans Benefits Administration central office senior executives.

For the full story: https://bit.ly/3zBbqVo.


Veterans Health Administration (VHA) - U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Patriotism is in the air. Proud to wave the red, white, and blue today and every day.

Happy Fourth!

The Sikh-American U.S. Army Reserve officer, who in 2009 was one of the first Soldiers the Army allowed to serve in uniform with his turban and beard, was a featured speaker at the May 11 “Turban Day” held at Times Square here with members of the Sikh community performing folk dances and songs and offering free turbans to passersby.

"Today, we gather to celebrate the profound significance of our turbans, which not only symbolize our faith but also embody the enduring spirit of Sikhism that unites us,” said Lt. Col. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, who is assigned to the Sacramento, California, based 7305th Military Training Support Battalion, 2nd Military Training Brigade, Medical Readiness, and Training Command, to the crowd from the stage.

📖 https://bit.ly/3xdRtmG

House lawmakers are urging the Air Force to seriously consider making its electric "flying car" concept a reality. A subcommittee's portion of the House Armed Services Committee's proposed fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act mandates the Air Force and the Pentagon to establish a working group to transition the Agility Prime concept into operational programs.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.
📖 https://bit.ly/3z1qEmw

U.S. Army Reserve Capt. Matthew Wisniewski and Master Sgt. Brad Tomasheski, 85th U.S. Army Reserve Support Command, along with the 85th USARSC color guard team, participated in Chicago’s 133rd Polish Constitution Day Parade.

In the heart of the city, the parade traveled along Columbus Drive amidst a sea of Polish and American flags and patriotic banners. The annual event, steeped in tradition and history, involved more than one hundred floats and marching units. The parade represented various civic organizations, schools, businesses, and cultural groups that were united by their shared Polish heritage.

📖 https://bit.ly/3KGLNF8

As U.S. launch rates surge at the Defense Department’s two coastal ranges, House lawmakers are pushing the military to consider alternative sites for sending space payloads to orbit.

In the House Armed Services Committee’s draft fiscal 2025 defense policy bill, lawmakers raised concerns about the ability of DOD’s most in-demand spaceports at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to meet military and commercial capacity needs in the coming years.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.
📖 https://bit.ly/45n5GdV

Today is PTSD Awareness Day - Seeking therapy means giving yourself the assistance of a behavioral health professional.

If you or someone you know is in a crisis or considering su***de -- free, confidential support is available now.

VA - National Center for PTSD: https://bit.ly/4bSIHJq
Veteran's Crisis Line: (800) 273-8255 and press 1
Visit: https://bit.ly/3wLj7Yf
National Su***de Prevention Lifeline '1-800-273-TALK (8255)'.

Students, teachers, and community members gathered at the Antilles High School library to celebrate the successful completion of the 2024 career practicum class on May 9.

"The career practicum class offers opportunities for students to acquire school-to-career experience and jobs through a work practicum and related classroom instruction," said Dr. José M. Cotto Hernández, the program's teacher in charge.

Ulises Marrero Diaz, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Buchanan's Deputy to the Garrison Commander, was present during the ceremony.

📖 https://bit.ly/4ekkXQt

Today, ROA built on the momentum gained from its June 13 Advocacy Day with meetings with the offices of Reps. Don Davis (NC-01) and Chris Deluzio (PA-17). ROA’s Adovacy Day, and the meetings today, were focused on supporting the USPHS Ready Reserve Corps.

Inbetween meetings, ROA’s legislation and military policy director Matthew Schwartzman and defense fellow Peter Donlon stopped by Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s (WI-03) office for some cheese courtesy of Wisconsin’s third congressional district.

If you haven’t read Rep. Van Orden’s column in our Reserve Voice magazine released this week, you can do so by visitinghttps://cdn.ymaws.com/www.roa.org/resource/resmgr/rv_magazine/rv_2024-june.pdf

Stay tuned for more updates on ROA’s advocacy for the USPHS RRC.

The House Armed Services Committee’s $883.7 billion annual defense policy bill sticks to the military spending caps Congress imposed for fiscal 2025 as part of last year’s debt ceiling deal, according to a text of the measure released.

The spending caps authorize a 1% increase over the FY24 defense policy bill, which came in at $874.2 billion. Despite the spending caps, House lawmakers seek to partially fund a second Virginia-class submarine – overruling the Pentagon request for just one attack submarine – even as they try to procure 10 fewer F-35 fighter jets than the Defense Department sought amid mounting frustrations with the program.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.
📖 https://bit.ly/4bVNjPt

Today, we mark the 74th anniversary of the start of the Korean War and honor those who answered the call to preserve freedom and democracy.

Grego and a mixed crew of U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from across the United States responded to a call when the 173rd Airborne Brigade, along with multiple NATO allies, participated in a Joint Forcible Entry parachute jump into Hagshult Air Base, Sweden, on May 7. The airborne portion kicked off Swift Response, the first NATO exercise in Sweden since its accession in March.

📖 https://bit.ly/4ckYUHT

Regardless of what the Defense Department concludes in its Nunn-McCurdy cost breach review of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, the U.S. must still have a land-based leg of the nuclear triad, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William A. LaPlante told lawmakers.

The fate of the Sentinel, the successor to the Minuteman III, has been up in the air since January when the Air Force announced the program had suffered “critical” cost and schedule overruns as defined by the Nunn-McCurdy Act. By law, the Secretary of Defense must certify that the program is essential and that no alternatives exist, or it must be terminated.

📰 From our ROA SmartBrief.
📖 https://bit.ly/3Xr9tEK