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The Army wants to build a brand new exoskeleton to help soldiers ruck faster and harder
The Army is formally moving ahead with the development and fielding of a powered exoskeleton to help soldiers move faster and carry more while reducing overall fatigue after years of experimentation and testing.
Officials with Army Futures Command are currently in the process of drafting formal requirements for an infantry exoskeleton ahead of a defense industry day sometime in November, said Ted Maciuba, deputy director of the robotic requirements division for Army Futures Command.
Breaking Defense first reported news of the fresh exoskeleton effort.
“For me, it started 50 years ago when I first read Starship Troopers and said, ‘hey wait, we need a powered suit,’” Maciuba told Task & Purpose in a phone interview. “Then, three years ago, [then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark] Milley called out exoskeletons as a modernization priority for soldier lethality, and he was really focused on reducing soldier load.”
Limiting Arlington burials affects veterans and their families
The Army would like to keep Arlington functioning for the next 150 years, but prospects for adding new property is slim, as the cemetery is hemmed in by highways and other developments.
Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of Army National Military Cemeteries stated, “Arlington National Cemetery will not be a burial option for those service members who served in the Gulf War and any conflict afterwards.”
The new regulations currently under consideration place drastic restrictions on eligibility. It will only include service people who were killed in action, recipients of awards such as Purple Hearts, Silver Stars or higher, presidents, vice presidents, people killed in combat-related deaths while operating on a unique military activity or veterans who served in combat that went on to serve in the highest levels of government in a significant role that made contributions to the nation’s security.
Bill Would Clear the Way for Army Legend Alwyn Cashe to Receive Medal of Honor
On Oct. 17, 2005, Cashe, a 35-year-old Army sergeant first class deployed to Iraq, was in a Humvee that ran over an improvised explosive device and burst into flames. The explosion left Cashe drenched in fuel and burning. But he paid little attention to his own pain and risk. He entered the burning vehicle again and again to drag out his teammates still inside, ultimately pulling all six soldiers out of the Humvee.
Graphic novel series highlights first and only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor
The seventh installment in an illustrated series dedicated to soldiers whose actions earned them the nation’s highest award for military valor is now available online.
The newest issue of “Medal of Honor,” a graphic series produced by the Association of the U.S. Army, spotlights the Civil War heroics of Mary Walker, the first woman in the U.S. to earn a medical degree and the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.
Born in Oswego, New York, to abolitionist parents, Walker attended Syracuse Medical College prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, when she saw an opportunity to serve as a surgeon in the U.S. Army.
But the arrangement wasn’t a seamless one. In 1861, Walker attempted to join the ranks of U.S. Army surgeons but was denied for being a woman. Like many obstacles she encountered prior to 1861, Walker refused to allow the hiccup to derail her.
Years as an unpaid surgeon’s assistant finally paid off when, at the height of the war, Walker was issued a contract as a credentialed War Department surgeon at the recommendation of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas.