Paying it Forward From Heaven and Beyond

An incredible lesson from "A Gold Star Kid"

Meet Myles, an 8-year-old boy who found $20 in a parking lot and was thinking of spending it on a new video game. That changed when he saw the man in uniform.

Wounded Warriors - No Effort Is Too Great For Those Who Have Fallen

The U.S. Army Wounded Warrior program (AW2), is a major component of the Army's Warrior Care and Transition Program. It is a dedicated program to provide personalized support to severely wounded, injured, and ill Soldiers and their families wherever they are located.

Recognizing the changing face of warfare and advances in Army Medicine, the Army took an historic step in creating the AW2, in 2004, making this tenth anniversary of the program.

AW2 has established a network of more than 200 Advocates at military treatment facilities and Veterans Affairs facilities across the country to support severely wounded, ill and injured Soldiers of all Army components. These advocates are backed by a team of transition professionals with expertise in employment, finance, human resources and navigating the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Army expanded its support to wounded, ill and injured Soldiers in 2007 when it established the Warrior Care and Transition Program, encompassing AW2 and new Warrior Transition Units. At these WTUs, AW2 Advocates collaborate closely with the Soldiers' interdisciplinary team and ensure continuity of care when the Soldier returns to the force or transitions to veteran status.

These combined efforts provide personalized support to more than 24,000 Soldiers and veterans throughout the recovery and transition process. AW2's expertise has impacted almost every aspect of the recovering Soldier's experience, from the Comprehensive Transition Plan to career and employment readiness to adaptive reconditioning to community support resources.

The success of the programs is due in large part to transition professionals who share the breadth of their experience to write policies and guidance affecting all wounded, ill and injured Soldiers. These policies will continue to shape the future of Wounded Warrior program and all transitioning Soldiers and veterans.

Warrior care is a sacred obligation for the Army. Regardless of what the future holds with the Army drawing down, this mission will remain strong. The Wounded Warrior program will continue to find smarter, more effective ways to provide the best possible support and continuity of care to each Soldier, veteran and family served.

Resources:

• U.S. Army Wounded Warrior program (AW2)
• AW2 Tenth Anniversary
• AW2 Fact Sheet
• AW2 Eligibility and Enrollment
• AW2 Advocate Support
• Ready and Resilient

What is the World's Largest Humanitarian Organization? The Answer Will Shock You

Question: What is the World's Largest Humanitarian Organization?

Answer: The United States Military.

Seriously.

As just one example, each of the six US Army Service Component Commands (ASCCs) has created a Contingency Response Force to react quickly to incidents within its area of responsibility and provide support for humanitarian assistance.

Most ASCCs devote company-sized elements that can be augmented as needed to the mission, tasking them to provide responsive, scalable, tailor-made packages ready to deploy in as little as 18 hours to conduct full-spectrum operations for contingencies as varied as humanitarian assistance, site security, noncombatant evacuation, diplomatic facility security and combat operations if necessary.

Here is something you did not hear in the news: In February, Italy-based paratroopers from U.S. Army Europe's Contingency Response Force - the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) - responded within hours to deliver generators to Slovenia, and in partnership with the Slovenian 1st Brigade restored electricity to thousands of citizens left without power after a severe ice storm.

Many of the Contingency Response Forces can draw on other forces as well, including joint service capabilities, to augment their response capacity. Army Central forces can be scaled up to brigade level and call upon a combat aviation brigade for support.

For instance: Africa Command has the East Africa Response Force, a battalion-sized task force that includes Navy and Air Force personnel; an approximately battalion-sized Marine air-ground task force; and other forces at its disposal. Contingencies in Africa are also supported by U.S. Army Europe's Contingency Response Force.

Army contingency response forces and other emerging efforts, such as the building of regionally aligned forces and continually increasing multi-service, multinational cooperation, are helping to define the future of global security efforts by building U.S. and multinational formations that can be called on to quickly join forces to counter a wide array of humanitarian needs.

Building contingency force "packages" helps keep the Army ready to efficiently and effectively fulfill the myriad missions it performs. Meeting those challenges takes agile, responsive, tailored forces prepared to operate in diverse, complex environments to engage effectively with colleague services and multinational partners, and provide support to a wide range of agencies and civil authorities to promote and protect the security of people in need.

Resources:

·        U.S. Army Europe

·        173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team

·        U.S. European Command

·        U.S. Army Europe's Contingency Response Force