Field artillery has traditionally been a male-dominated discipline in the military. However, one female officer is blazing a trail for other women to follow.
Army 2nd Lt. Taylor Cardosi recently became the first women to serve as a fire direction officer in a M777A1 howitzer cannon unit, according to the Department of Defense. She is currently a member of the 1st Battalion, 37th Artillery Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Fort Lewis, Wash.
Cardosi entered active-duty service Dec. 27, 2012, around the same time that the Defense Department opened up a large number of new positions for women, including field artillery.
"I like to think that I want this as a career," Cardosi said. "I'm patient enough to wait and, when that time arrives, prove that I should have been there all along. For now, that's the plan — make it a career and become a battalion commander, a brigade commander, a general."
According to data compiled by the departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs, more than 214,000 women currently serve in the military. The Army has nearly 77,000 female soldiers on active-duty status, which comprises 13 percent of the branch. Overall, more than 1.8 female military veterans reside in the U.S.
The Department of Defense has discontinued the use of the advanced brain imaging machines sent to Afghanistan in 2011 for treating servicemembers in combat zones. Military Times reported that the MRI machines were recalled from the front lines in February 2013, and recently dismantled.
The MRI machines were sent to combat zones to provide doctors with the ability to respond more quickly to the traumatic brain injuries that affect troops due to roadside bombs and other blasts, the news source noted. However, a senior medical officer for the U.S. Central Command said it was unclear whether the machines were helping doctors treat these injuries in combat.
"The device itself doesn't necessarily help you treat that patient, it just helps you understand the nature of the injury in a little bit more meaningful way," Air Force Col. Mark Mavity, a Central Command surgeon, told the news outlet. "[It] was deemed not worth the cost and investment to keep those devices in theater."
Nearly 290,000 servicemembers have sustained a traumatic brain injury in either training or combat since 2000, according to the Defense Department. Mild brain injuries are the most common for military personnel.
As budget cuts due to the sequester begin to pile up, the Army is feeling more pressure to decrease its number of soldiers in combat roles. One way the Army may shrink its ranks is by adding more unmanned devices.
According to Military Times, Gen. Robert Cone, the head of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, revealed at a recent symposium in Arlington, Va., that the branch is considering decreasing its brigade combat team from about 4,000 soldiers to 3,000 and replacing the soldiers with robots and unmanned ground vehicles.
"I've got clear guidance to think about what if you could robotically perform some of the tasks in terms of maneuverability, in terms of the future of the force," Cone said, as quoted by the news source.
Using robotic technology is not a new development for the military. While no unmanned vehicles or robots were used when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, the military currently has more than 7,000 unmanned platforms in its inventory, according to Popular Mechanics. These products range from aerial systems to ground devices that can diffuse bombs and inspect other suspicious items.
The Army may be helped by unmanned technology over the coming years, as the branch is forced to reduce its size. USA Today recently reported that the latest defense budget plan will reduce the Army to 420,000 troops by 2019.
In an address to students and faculty at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey encouraged young leaders to go out and make a difference in the world. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff emphasized compassionate leadership and promoting American values.
"Our nation, and really our world, needs our leadership," Dempsey said in his speech, as quoted by the Defense Department. "It needs every good idea you have and a thousand more because the challenges we face are legion."
Dempsey also stated that he would like young military leaders to show America that the military's role goes beyond fighting wars. According to Dempsey, the military has a responsibility to protect the nation and serve the American people during peacetime. He added that more citizens need to be aware of the military's work and goals.
Dempsey, who is one of the military's top officials, has been quite vocal this week, reaching out to a variety of audiences to facilitate dialogue. The World Tribune reported that Dempsey talked to Middle Eastern leaders this week to gain some insight on potential terrorist groups. Meanwhile, NPR recently reported that Dempsey has stepped in to debunk claims that President Barack Obama is suspicious of senior military officials.
A new medical fellowship program established by the Department of Defense seeks to improve the survival chances of wounded warriors in combat zones. Created by Army Lt. Col. Robert Mabry, a doctor who served as an Army Special Forces combat medic, the Military Emergency Medical Services and Disaster Medicine Fellowship Program will train physicians in pre-hospital care, which is the time between a traumatic event and when treatment is received at a military medical center.
According to the DOD, the program was created after Mabry and his team of researchers looked at combat causalities. The study found that 87.3 percent of the 4,596 battlefield fatalities analyzed occurred before the wounded soldiers reached a hospital. While more than 75 percent of those deaths were deemed non-survivable, 24.3 percent would have survived if they received critical care in time.
The program's first two fellows are set to graduate this summer. Once they complete the fellowship, they'll be moving on to medical positions where they can use their training, such as division surgeons, brigade surgeons, Special Forces group surgeons or directors of trauma systems.
More than 18, 300 combat medics currently serve in the Army – the second-largest military special occupational specialty, according to Army Times.
A new study found that adolescents who have a history of delinquent behavior are more attracted to the military than their rule-following peers. However, the report claimed that this is not necessarily a negative result.
According to Popular Science, the study's authors stated that the military can help delinquent teens transition into adulthood.
"Even though other markers of the transition to adulthood are available, such as marriage or employment in the civilian labor force, military service may be more attractive to delinquents," the study's authors said, as quoted by the news source. "The military is an environment in which aggression and violence often associated with delinquency can be channeled into legitimate forms."
The researchers also found that the military attracted both male and female delinquents. While males were 40 percent more likely to enlist than men who never engaged in delinquent behavior, female delinquents were 80 percent more likely to join. To measure delinquency, the researchers used an index that took into account stealing property, running away from home, selling drugs and getting arrested.
The military receives more than 180,000 new recruits every year, according to Military.com.
The controversial cuts to pensions for military retirees will most likely not affect veterans with disabilities, Capitol Hill aides told The Associated Press.
In late December, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, a $1 trillion-plus spending bill that authorizes appropriations for defense activities and military benefits. The measure cuts annual cost-of-living increases for military retirees under the age of 62 by 1 percent, saving the Department of Defense an estimated $6 billion over the next 10 years.
Initially, the cuts to COLA applied to the more than 63,000 military retirees with disabilities, the news source reported. However, lawmakers say that it will most likely be reversed, and veterans with disabilities will no longer be affected by the COLA decrease.
After 20 years in the military, servicemembers are eligible to retire at half pay, and can begin claiming their pensions as early as age 38. According to FOX News, the cuts to COLA could result in a lifetime loss of $72,000 in benefits for a sergeant first class. Daniel Dellinger, national commander of the American Legion, stated in an Op-Ed for USA Today that nearly 2 million military retirees will be hit by these losses in military benefits.
"Military retirees and their families depend on those benefits, and they do not deserve to be singled out for penalization," Dellinger wrote.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is hitting the road this week to visit active-duty troops, wounded warriors and defense workers at various military installations and facilities in Texas, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Hagel's first stop is Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where he will speak to wounded soldiers and the hospital staff, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said in a statement. After San Antonio, Hagel will be heading west to Albuquerque, N.M., for a tour at Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base, which is home to the Air Force Materiel Command's Nuclear Weapons Center. Hagel will not only meet with servicemembers at the Air Force base, but will also receive security and safety briefings.
The last stop of Hagel's tour is F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo., which houses intercontinental ballistic missile training and operation facilities. There, his speech to the active-duty troops will be broadcast live on the Pentagon Channel.
Hagel returned recently from a trip to the Middle East, where he made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to meet with active-duty troops stationed in Kabul, Bloomberg News reported. He told reporters that his two-day visit there "was planned for the sole purpose of working with our troops, thanking our troops."
Frustrated by the recent cuts to military benefits for retirees, many veterans groups and lawmakers are working to restore the entitlements.
According to FOX News, Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., introduced a bill this week that would rescind the cuts made by the National Defense Authorization Act to the cost-of-living adjustment for working-age military retirees. The newly passed legislation, which was signed last week by President Barack Obama, outlines defense spending for the 2014 fiscal year.
Reuters reported that the law grants the Defense Department a base budget of $526.8 billion. Although the act retains many military benefits, such as a 1 percent increase in pay, it reduced the COLA allowance for military retirees under the age of 62, including veterans with disabilities. FOX News stated that the cuts could result in a $72,000 lifetime loss in benefits for retired servicemembers.
"As a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I believe our service members, veterans, and their families must receive the benefits they have earned and deserve," Brownley said in a statement, as quoted by the news source. "These benefits are owed to them without equivocation.
Brownley, however, is not the only one stepping up to help military retirees. According to FOX News, veterans groups such as the Military Officers Association of America and the American Legion are currently lobbying Congress to increase the benefits.
A bonus program for Ohio veterans coping with life after service is nearing its deadline, NBC 4i reported.
Established in 2009 following a statewide election, the Veterans Bonus Program provides additional monetary support to Ohio veterans who served in the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan. The $200-million program, which is funded entirely by the state, grants veterans $100 for each month spent on active-duty service, with the maximum benefit for domestic-only service capped at $1,000.
While Iraq veterans have until Dec. 31, 2014 to apply for the entitlements, those who served in the Gulf War between Aug. 2, 1990, and March 3, 1991, are only eligible to apply until midnight on Dec. 31, 2013. An application deadline for Afghanistan veterans has yet to be finalized.
According to the news source, many Ohio veterans, including former Ohio National Guard member Jonathan Field, use the military benefits to cover day-to-day living, health or education costs.
"I've actually applied for [the program] twice," Field told the news outlet. "I applied when I was going to Ohio State. And I used the money to pay for books, and I had some credit card debt that I used it for."
To be eligible for the bonus, veterans must be current Ohio residents who were also living in the state at the beginning of their active-duty service, according to the program's website. Veterans must have also received an honorable discharge from the service, or continued to serve in the reserves following their active-duty time.