Army Set to Receive First Armored Vehicles to Replace Vietnam-Era M113

Production of the first new armored vehicle that will replace the Army Vietnam Era M113 armored personnel carrier is now complete, manufacturer BAE Systems announced today.

The first Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, or AMPV, rolled off BAE’s production line as part of a 2018 low-rate initial contract to deliver up to 450 of the vehicles to the Army, according to a BAE news release.

“This vehicle is going to replace a vehicle that has been in the Army since 1965,” Bryan McVeigh, the head of Army’s Project Manager for Mounted Armored Vehicles, said in a short video on BAE’s website.

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Army announces new Fort Hood investigation amid leadership change

Authorities also announced a new probe into the chain of command surrounding Spc. Vanessa Guillen’s death

The U.S. Army announced the replacement of Fort Hood’s senior commander Tuesday, following a series of deaths and disappearances connected to the installation.

Maj. Gen. John B. Richardson IV will become deputy commanding general of III Corps operations and acting senior commander of the Texas facility on Wednesday.

The change in leadership was scheduled previously, according to the Army’s public affairs office.

But Fort Hood’s current commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, will remain at the base rather than taking command of the 1st Armored Division as previously planned.

Gen. John Murray will lead a probe into Fort Hood’s chain of command surrounding the death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen. That investigation is in addition to an independent review that started last month. There are around 40,000 soldiers at Fort Hood.

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Fort Hood commander loses post, denied transfer after incidents at Army base

WASHINGTON — The commander of the U.S. Army’s Fort Hood is being removed from his position and will no longer assume command of a division at Fort Bliss, according to a U.S. Army statement released Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt was set to take over the 1st Armored Division soon. Now the Army will announce who will take over the division in the coming days. Division commander is a critical step in an Army general’s career and losing a division can be a career-ending move.

Fort Hood has been plagued by a series of incidents. Two soldiers, including Spc. Vanessa Guillen, have gone missing only to have their bodies discovered later. Soldiers assigned to the base were arrested in a prostitution sting. A number of soldiers have recently died by suicide.

The commanding general of U.S. Forces Command, Gen. Michael Garrett, has directed Maj. Gen. John Richardson IV to assume command at Fort Hood, effective Wednesday. Efflandt will stay on at Fort Hood for the time being, serving as deputy commanding general for support.

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Army removes officer at Fort Stewart from leadership roles after anti-Semitic TikTok post

WASHINGTON — Army officials are investigating an anti-Semitic social media post shared Friday by a second lieutenant based at Fort Stewart, Ga., who said he shared it as a joke.

Army officials said Monday that they had suspended 2nd Lt. Nathan Freihofer from his duties and launched an investigation into a post on the controversial TikTok platform by the 23-year-old field artillery officer. In the short video, Freihofer said he would never become a “verified” user because of the content that he shares before telling his so-called joke, which was about the Holocaust and Jewish people.

“If you get offended, get the f— out, because it’s a joke,” he then said in the video. In text alongside the video, he added: “For legal reasons this is a joke.”

Maj. Gen. Tony Aguto, the commander of Fort Stewart’s 3rd Infantry Division, called the remarks shared in the video “vile.”

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United States Army soldiers can no longer use TikTok on government-owned phones following a decision to ban the app. The move comes amidst ongoing worries that the video app owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance could compromise national security or be used to influence or surveil Americans.