RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Landmines pose a serious threat in conflict areas, yet modern detection systems struggle to discriminate between explosives and clutter. A project funded by the Army developed a new method for landmine identification that will greatly reduce false alarm rates.

Fewer false alarms will significantly reduce the cost of humanitarian landmine clearance operations and provide greater road mobility by avoiding unnecessary route detours. With this new technology, landmines can be detected without digging.

Vadum, Inc., North Carolina State University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Army Research Office, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, collaborated to develop what’s known as the Vibration-ENhanced Underground Sensing system, or VENUS.

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DALLAS — The Navajo Nation has joined calls for an accounting of the deaths at Fort Hood after one of its members became the latest soldier from the U.S. Army post to die this year.

Pvt. Corlton L. Chee, a 25-year-old soldier from Pinehill, New Mexico, died Wednesday after he collapsed following a physical fitness training exercise five days earlier, according to officials at the central Texas post. He was the 28th soldier from Fort Hood to die this year, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.

The Navajo Nation Council praised Chee in a statement Friday and urged the Army to thoroughly investigate his and the other soldiers’ deaths.

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The superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point said this week that he has started to take action about allegations of racism at the historic institution.

Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams told an audience at a discussion on race hosted by the Association of the United States Army Wednesday that he takes it very seriously that former West Point graduates described personal experiences with racism. A number of West Point alums came to the school June 25 with a 40-page proposal to create an “Anti-Racist West Point.”

“I directed my inspector general to do a formal investigation; he has a report out to me, and we are going through the process of it,” Williams said. “It’s an investigation, so I have to be careful about commenting on it, but we took that and are taking it on and looking at it in a very deliberate way.”

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By West Point Public Affairs – August 4, 2020

RELEASE NO: 11-20

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cadet Reilly McGinnis of Macungie, Pa., has been selected First Captain of the U.S. Military Academy’s Corps of Cadets for the 2020-2021 academic year, achieving the highest position in the cadet chain of command. She will assume her duties on Aug. 10.

Most recently, McGinnis, an Operations Research major, led 1,300 cadets as the Regimental Commander of Cadet Leader Development.

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.

“I first heard about West Point in my sophomore year of high school when I started getting recruited by the Army Women’s Soccer team. After visiting the Academy, interacting with cadets and faculty, and speaking with my grandfather, who served in the Korean War, I knew West Point was where I belonged. The greatest lesson I have learned at West Point is that a person’s success is not solely based on self-achievement, but rather what that person can do to help and influence those around her.”

McGinnis’s cadetship includes various activities and accomplishments, such as being a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the Phi Mu Epsilon National Honorary Mathematics Society. She was also a member of the Army Women’s Soccer Team from 2017-2019 and currently serves as a Young Life leader for O’Neill High School.

See the entire list of Class of 2021 Leadership Positions at:
https://www.westpoint.edu/news/press-releases/usma-announces-class-2021-cadet-leadership-positions