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McCarthy confirmed as Army under secretary

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to confirm former Army Ranger Ryan McCarthy as the next under secretary of the Army.

President Donald J. Trump nominated McCarthy in June for the position. He will succeed Karl Schneider, senior official performing the duties of the under secretary of the Army.

Responsibilities of the under secretary include the Army's budget, business transformation, acquisition modernization and energy-efficiency initiatives.

Simone Askew Selected First Captain

Cadet Simone Askew of Fairfax, Virginia, has been selected First Captain of the U.S. Military Academy's Corps of Cadets for the 2017-2018 academic year, achieving the highest position in the cadet chain of command. She will assume her duties on Aug. 14.

Askew, an International History major, currently leads 1,502 cadets as the Regimental Commander of Cadet Basic Training II.

As First Captain she is responsible for the overall performance of the approximately 4,400-member Corps of Cadets. Her duties also include implementing a class agenda and acting as a liaison between the Corps and the administration.

Askew is the first African-American woman to hold this esteemed position.

Some U.S. Military Academy Class of 2020 cadets got to experience the “sound of artillery” last week during Cadet Field Training. To clarify, that sound is (a very loud) BOOM!

During Field Artillery Day at Camp Buckner, cadets were given the opportunity to explore one of the 17 possible branches they could commission into upon graduating as second lieutenants in the United States Army.

Throughout the course of the day, cadets learned how to plan, called for and executed indirect fires using artillery and mortar fire with live rounds.

“The main thing that we are training out here is the common Soldier task of calling for fire, calling and adjusting indirect fire rounds from both 105mm howitzers and 81mm mortars,” Capt. Ryan Scott explained. “That’s the one event that’s graded and one event that’s common, no matter what your job is, you need to know how to call and adjust indirect fire rounds.”

Officials at an Army chemical and biological storage and testing facility did not follow protocols while tracking inventories of sarin, a dangerous nerve agent, according to a recent inspector general report.

The U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground also at times failed to provide disqualifying information about employees such as drug use and an incident involving alcohol, the report found.

Dugway Proving Ground was the same Utah location cited in 2015 for protocol failures that allowed live anthrax spores to be shipped to 194 laboratories in 50 states and nine foreign countries.

Some of the packages were shipped by commercial carriers such as FedEx.

A year ago, this newspaper declared that the time had come for the federal government to own up to its responsibility to aging military veterans who were deliberately exposed to horrific toxins during the World War II era. But Congress seems not to care. These veterans weren’t wounded by the enemy in war; it was their own government that maimed them in a heinous, coerced attempt to test the effects of mustard gas on humans.

The Pentagon and Veterans Administration have repeatedly, and in the most cowardly way possible, blocked veterans from receiving the benefits they’ve earned. It’s as if the government and Congress are stalling in hopes the veterans will die and take their pesky problems with them to the grave.

Most members of Congress wave the flag in support of veterans yet do nothing to right past wrongs. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is an outlier. She is doggedly pursuing a legislative response to this injustice.

The 2017 Department of Defense (DoD) Warrior Games will be held June 30 – July 8 in Chicago, Ill. Approximately 265 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans representing teams from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), as well as the United Kingdom Armed Forces and the Australian Defence Force will participate in the competition.

Teams include active-duty service members and veterans with upper-body, lower-body, and spinal cord injuries; traumatic brain injuries; visual impairment; serious illnesses; and post-traumatic stress. They will go head-to-head in archery, cycling, sitting volleyball, shooting, swimming, wheelchair basketball, track and field, engaging in friendly competition and experiencing the healing power of sports.

New commandant named at USMA

The Chief of Staff, Army announced that Brigadier Gen. Steve W. Gilland will be the next Commandant of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy. He is expected to assume his duties later this year.

“I am incredibly humbled to be selected as the 77th Commandant of Cadets. It is a true honor to hold the responsibility of developing and mentoring our Army’s future leaders and defenders of our great Nation,” said Gilland. “My family and I are extremely grateful for this opportunity to return to West Point. We look forward to joining the USMA team. Go Army!”

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