Women inside the U.S Army

Hello people, welcome to JBerrios Career post. I selected this week to talk about a group inside the U.S. Army that sometimes people see it rare. This group has been part of the U.S. Army in numerous wars, conflicts and moments and sometimes we don’t recognize their work. Sometimes people think that they are the weaker sex and they can’t do the same work of the men. Other people think that the Army is not for them and underestimate or doubt theirs skills. This post is dedicated to all women inside the U.S. Army and the important contribution that they do every year in the Armed Forces.

The participation of the women inside the U.S. Army began in 1775 with the creation of this U.S. Armed Forces branch. In the beginning they aren’t part of the Army, but they worked as nurse, seamstresses and cooks for the soldiers on the field. During years they had orders of help in important activities to the Army, but outside of it. In 1941 was created the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp (WAAC) where the women receive the basic training and the specialization was limited to company administration, supply and mess management. Also in 1942 was created the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and participated 25 ladies in this program. She must also pass physical exams and complete navigation, meteorology, radio and Morse code, use of firearms, military courtesy and discipline, military law and instrument training. The mission of these women was deliver planes from the factory to military bases inside U.S.  In one year increase the number of women pilots to approximately 1,074. In the World War II 160 members of the WAAC died in non-combat causes and more than 639 medals awarded including Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Soldier’s Medal, Bronze Stars, Air Medal, Purple heard and received three Presidential Citations. The enlistment of women increase years to years and now is very different of the segregation that existed in those years. Today the women in the Army train with men together in some Army bases. Until last year the army didn’t accept women in infantry, artillery or other combat specialization or MOS, but now is a reality. President Obama signed an order to approve the participation of ladies inside combat MOS and now we have some women qualified for Rangers school. Also we have ladies in airborne school and other that are airborne already. Yesterday I saw news where talk about the Marines Captain Katie Higgins that is the new Blue Angels pilot. I know that she isn’t part of the U.S. Army, but She is part of the U.S. Armed Forces and she is a good example of the things that females can do inside the Army. The Blue Angels is a team that make airshows across the world with the best pilots of the U.S. Navy and the point of this lady is part of this team is very significant to all female that want do a military career. If Captain Higgins did, you can do it in your area of interest.  

As you can see in this post, the females have been important part in the Armed Forces during the creation of it. They passed for discrimination and segregation of the people, because think that they can’t do the job. Now we can see the opposite of this belief with the act of strong women that joint to the Army and do an excellent work as enlisted, warrant officer and officers. The only thing that they needed was the opportunity of show us their skills. To all ladies that read this post, thanks for your service inside the U.S. Army, for leave your friends, family and your children behind for your mission and your country.  

WAAC/WAC (2015) Women in the U.S. Army. April 15, 2015, complied from: http://www.army.mil/women/history/wac.html

The Blue Angels’ First Female Pilot is Showing Girls the Skies are the Limit in Striking Fashion (2015) Lawrence Bonk, IJReview. April 13, 2015, complied from: http://www.ijreview.com/2015/04/294024-blue-angels-pilot-took-flight-first-time-made-history/

Blue Angels’ first female pilot takes flight (April 10, 2015) Youtube. April 13,2015, complied from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FYJFZOXWiM

The Borinqueneers, Puerto Rico Warriors

     Hello everybody, welcome to this week post. Well as you know I’m from Puerto Rico and today I want to talk about one of the highest contribution that Puerto Rico gave to the U.S. Army. First, lot of people don’t understand the political situation of this island, sometime people think that we aren’t part of the United States, other say that we are part of U.S. and here begin the debate. The true is that we are a rare political situation, but in short words we are an island that works under the laws and the supervision of U.S. Yes, we are U.S. citizens and we are part of the U.S. Army too. So today I want show you a good example of the “puertorrican” soldiers and the best form of show that are with the 65^th Infantry Regiment, the “Borinqueneers”.

     The Borinqueneers was a U.S. Army Infantry Regiment that has its beginning in 1899 in the American Colonial Army with the name of Porto Rico Regiment, U.S. Volunteer. The name changed constantly, but in 1908 the Regiment became be part of the U.S. Army. In 1917 with the Jones-Shafroth law the U.S. gave citizenship to Puerto Rico and with the declaration of war on Germany, Porto Rico Regiment was sent to Panama Canal until 1919. In 1920 was re-designated as 65^th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army. In 1944 (WWII) the Borinqueneers was deployed to North Africa, Italy, Corsica, France, and the Maritime Alps of Peira Cava, they had 47 casualties. In 1950 the Regiment was assigned to serve with the 3^rd Infantry Division in Korea war. In this war, the Borinqueneers converted in the last battalion- sized bayonet charge in the U.S. Army History. Also they fought in the bloody fighting for Hill 167, outpost Kelly and outpost Jackson Heights.  This is the most recognized war participation of the Borinqueneers where they had 750 killed and 2,400 wounded in action, making this war the bloodiest war in Puerto Rico history. The Regiment was inactivated in 1956 at Camp Losey, Puerto Rico.  In 1959 the 65^th Infantry was transferred to the Puerto Rico National Guard as the only unit from active-duty transferred to the National Guard or Reserve and still serves. Last year the 65^th Infantry received the Congressional Gold Medal with the signs of President Obama.

 

 

This great unit had good soldiers too, that fought in different fields and battles. The most decorated Puerto Rico soldier, Sergeant First Class (SFC) Modesto Cartagena served in the World War II (WWII) and Korea with this unit.  Some of the awards are: Distinguish Service Cross, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with leaf cluster and “V” device, and Purple Heart. This fact shows us that Puerto Rico soldiers are good elements on the field and garrison. The cadets of the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey ROTC program are very proud and we recognize the SFC Cartagena glorious military life and his awards. He is a role model of soldier that we should be and develop in the U.S. Army. Thank you to all veterans of this great battalion, you made the difference!

 

65^th Infantry History (2014). Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal Alliance. April 8, 2015, complied from: http://www.borinqueneers.org/census.html#sthash.lcyW9N4o.dpbs

The Borinqueneers: 65^th Infantry Regiment(2013).  Daniel Ramos, Military History Online. April 7, 2015, complied from: http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/general/articles/Borinqueneers.aspx

    

ISIS and U.S. Army Actions

Hello and welcome to the fifth post of JBerrios Career. Last year we began hearing about a terrorist group that is the responsible of a lot of cruel and hard activities in the Middle East, specifically in Iraq and Syria. If you are a soldier, maybe you has a lot knowledge about that, if you aren’t a soldier or don’t know about this group, this information can help you. In this blog I will try give you a simple summary about how this organization maintains their activities.

     

 What is ISIS? The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a terrorist group with high notoriety in this moment in Middle East that has more of the 60% of the territory of these two nations. Their ideal began in 1999 when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi founded a terrorist group called Tawhid wal-Jihad that was linked with Al Qaeda, but they disagreed with the tactic of fight with “far enemy” and preferred fight against rulers in the Islamic world. In 2006 al-Zarqawi was killed in an airstrike, but his idea, violent acts and tactics are following by ISIS.    

   

In March 2011, protests began in Syria against the government of Bashar al-Assad. In the following months, violence between demonstrators and security forces led to a gradual militarization of the conflict. In August Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS leader, began sending Syrian and Iraqi ISI members experienced in guerilla warfare across the border into Syria in order to establish an organization inside the country. Led by a Syrian Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani, this group began to recruit fighters and establish cells throughout the country. Now they have a strong organization with a chain of command that they divide by councils that are responsible for sale of oil, internal communications, decisions to execute and etc. Also they have two deputies to oversee in Iraq and Syria and seven man cabinet where each member report directly to him and advise him on operational policy across the territory. 

In recent months some terrorist groups have joined ISIS for example: The New York Time reported that last month, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, one of the most violent militant groups in Egypt, pledged allegiance to ISIS. Al-Mujahidin in the Arabian Peninsula, Libya and Yemen also joined this November. Six Pakistani Taliban leaders reportedly swore allegiance to Isis in an audio message and Nusra Front make a deal and stop the fighting between them and now fight for the same ideal. This brings together the two most effective Sunni militant groups fighting in Syria.

What is the purpose of ISIS? Unlike other organizations such as Al Qaeda, ISIS has other purpose and goals. They want delete all the existing government inside Iraq and Syria and create their own government in the land already acquired. The problem of their acts is the violent form that they use. Besides invade different areas of Syria and Iraq, ISIS killed women, children and innocent people some to spread fear and others because they do not share the same religion or idea. Also they beheaded two journalists, Steven Sotloff and James Foley.   

 How they receive money? In the beginning, the ISIS militant economy depended on wealthy Persian Gulf donors to get money, people that believe and support their idea with money. During the fighting they acquired important areas and now ISIS has taken and controls up to 11 oil fields in both countries. The organization sells oil through smuggling networks in Jordan, Turkey and northern Iraq controlled by Kurds.  They have become a self-supplied financial giant, where winning more than $ 3 million per day from oil smuggling, human trafficking, theft and extortion.

Some month ago, President Barack Obama announced that the US will lead a "broad coalition" to "downgrade" and "destroy" the ISIS terrorist group operating in the border between Iraq and Syria. They only use an airstrikes over ISIS point of interest, but don’t put troops in ground. Today for the strong situation against ISIS, the U.S. Army will send 1,250 troops to Iraq for help with training the Iraqi Army. These troops are from the 10^th Mountain Division and they will replace soldiers from 3^rd BCT, 82^nd Airborne Division. The mission is, training, advising and assisting the Iraqi troops who are engaged in the fight against the Islamic State.

The participation of the U.S. soldiers in Iraq is very important. Last week CNN report that ISIS destroyed museums that contained hundreds of figures from ancient Mesopotamia, which represented the beginning of civilization. They come with all, they don’t matter anything existing and we need eliminate this actions with the U.S troops there. I hope that this summary help you to understand much better the ISIS history and their cruel goals and why is necessary the U.S. Army. For these troops that will go and the troops that will come back, thank you and good luck warriors!!!!

 

1,250 Fort Drum-based soldiers to deploy to Iraq. (March 30, 2015). By Andrew Tilghman and Michelle Tan, Army Times. April 1, 2015, complied from: http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/03/30/fort-drum-soldiers-iraq-deployment/70694944/   

Iraq P.M.: ISIS ‘barbarians’ will not destroy our history. (February 28, 2015). By Joshua Berlinger, CNN. March 31, 2015, complied from: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/28/middleeast/isis-museum-antiquities-vandalism/index.html

Obama ISIS Speech on 9/10/14: The Strategy Against ISIS| The New York Times. (Sep. 10, 2015) Youtube. April 1,2015, complied from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk5Sps0z27A

     

We Don’t Forget Disabled Soldiers

     “I will never leave a fallen comrade” the most important ethos when we talk about the United States disabled soldiers. Sometime people remember the soldiers that come back well or passed away on the field, but most of the time people forget the soldiers, still live, that lose his/her arm, leg or other part of the body on duty. These people have normal live, most of the time out of the U.S Army, but are humans that need survive and sometimes when they go to look a job, they find the doors closed. Owners of different company think that people without some part of the body can’t do a great job. I think that these people need a time for show us if he/she is capable for do the job. If he/she can do it, why the owner can choose him/ her for the job? This close doors and comments of people that forget the service of these soldiers sometimes create a personal depression; because these factors are in addition of the first step that is change the normal life that they live as an active duty soldier. For these forgotten people I dedicate this blog.

     In 2014 the federal government opens the American Veterans Disabled for Live Memorial and is located in the C Street, close to the U.S. Capitol. President Obama went to the opening and talked to more than 3,000 veterans that participated of this activity. "You had your whole lives ahead of you, but you were willing to risk all of this land that we love" (President Obama). In the memorial we can see some transparent panels with quotes of wounded soldiers, historical images of veterans and fountains in form of star. It is a good place where you can see the reality that disabled soldiers lived and live every day and show respect for these warriors.

           

            We need have an open mind and understand that the society can’t put in a trash can good people that give everything for the United States, because they are disabled soldier. The comeback for these over 4,000 heroes are very difficult and the minimums thing that we can do is respect their and if we have a job opportunity and this person can do the job, give the job to this person. They have needs like you and me, so let go to start with some initiative of help. Not everybody put away the disabled veterans, some people had the initiative and began different projects for help, for these people, thanks for your input and in short time we will have more helpers! We can help in their new style of live and “never leave a fallen comrade”.

The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. March 24, 2015, complied from:  http://www.avdlm.org/

Support memorial for disabled vets, Nov.15,2010. Gary Sinise, Lois Pope, CNN. March 24, 2015, complied from: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/11/11/sinise.pope.wilson.veterans/

Preview: American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. Oct. 3, 2014, YouTube, March 24, 2015, complied from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6WYIM0cdpY 

U.S. Army Leader, Lt. Gen Moore

One of many objective in the U.S. Army is create leader, no matter if is an officer or NCO the Army develop the skills of the soldiers for they can do excellent jobs. The Army definition of a leader is a person that provides purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization. An example of this definition of a leader is the Lt. Gen. Moore and his glorious career.

Lt. Gen. Moore born in Bardstown, Kentucky in February 13, 1922, son of Harold Moore, that was an insurance agent and Mary Moore a homemaker. Some people know him by “Hal” or “Yellow Hair” that was his nicknames in battlefield. He was married in 1949 with Julia Compton Moore and has six children: Greg Moore, Steve Moore, Julie Moore Orlowski, Cecile Moore Rainey, and David Moore. Two of them are retired of the Army as Lt. Coronel and Coronel. He studied in West Point (U.S. Army University) where he was the first in his class to be promoted to Brigadier General, Major General, and Lieutenant General. He read too much and this activity increased the knowledge of him. For example when he went to Vietnam, he knew about the enemy strategies, territory, weather and other relevant things that helped him to keep his troop secure. Also he was a team worker and accepts opinions of his soldiers.

Lt. Gen. Moore was 32 service years in the U.S. Army in different areas as: 1^st Battalion, 7^th Cavalry Regiment, 7^th Infantry Division, Fort Ord Army Training Center, and Military Personnel Records Center. He participates in two different wars: Korea War (1952) and Vietnam War (1965). The most recognize battle of him was the battle of Ia Drang where he fought encircled by enemy soldiers with no clear landing zone. After this battle, Lt. Gen. Moore was promoted to coronel and took over command of the Garry Owen 3^rd Brigade for his meritorious actions in battle.

As a leader Lt. Gen. Moore always expressed some characteristics of leaders as: determination and vision, loyalty, integrity and respect. He demonstrated the motivation of join to the Army with determination and always had the vision of his future. In the entire career he won the respect of his soldiers and the Army gives him the opportunity of work in different areas inside the Army because they knew the high responsibility and respect of him. As important contribution at 1970 Lt. Gen. Moore moved to Camp Casey, South Korea as Commanding General of the 7th Infantry Division. He was responsible of resolve the drugs problem and racial strife that was prevalent at in this division. His plan established was: Officer’s Leadership Schools, NCO Leadership School and “Equal Opportunity Policy”. He promised to punish those leaders who discriminated base on race, ethnicity or creed.  Also he influenced and developed some soldier. An example was when in 1952 he educated Norman Schwarzkopf, general in the U.S. Army and who led the U.N. coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War against Iraq. General Schwarzkopf called Moore one of his "heroes," and cites Moore as the reason he chose the infantry branch upon graduation.

I selected the Lt. Gen. Moore because is one of the leaders inside the Army that I respect for his actions. I began read about him after the premier of the movie “We Were Soldier” and I follow his live since that moment.  As you can see, the career of is a perfect example of good leader characteristics. He followed the Army definition of leader step by step and protects his soldier and the Army Values. He is a perfect example for every soldier for develops their skill of leader.   

Lt.Gen. Harold G. Moore. (n.d.) Command Posts, a Focus on Military History, Policy, and Fiction. March 16, 2015. Compiled from: http://www.commandposts.com/author/lt-gen-harold-g-moore/

Hal Moore: A Soldier Once… and Always (2013) Mike Guardia. Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors. March 16, 2015. Printed. 

U.S. Soldiers Against Ebola

     Welcome to the second post of JBerrios Carrier. Today I want talk about something that affected very hard the population of the world in the last year. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention inform that Ebola affected the West Africa with 14,379 Laboratory-Confirmed Cases and is the cause of death of 9,840 people. The Ebola is an old disease that affects Africa since 1976 when it appeared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Every year the Ebola affects the population of Africa, but last year the percent of cases in Liberia and other parts of the West Africa increase and affected different countries around the world. The easily form to acquire the virus was the most problem to resolve, because the people traveled to different cities and moved the virus for different areas. For example in the United States we had 8 cases of Ebola where survived 6 of them, but these cases alerted the government of the danger that exists with this disease. 

     President Obama sent around 3,000 soldiers to Africa for fight against this terrible disease. The mission wasn’t simple, because the main objective was eliminate the Ebola in the West Africa. Also they attended the people disease in the area.  This mission was part of the Operation Onward Liberty where the Department of Defenses (DoD) trained 1,539 heath care workers and support staff and 30 member medical support team. Also they created 10 DoD Ebola treatment units, 25 Monrovian medical unit, 7 mobile labs and contracted for the procurement of 1.4 million set of personal protective equipment, with the total cost of 384.9 million dollars. The soldiers here were used for the construction of the centers, training personnel, doctors and security. This month the soldiers that participated in the mission came back to U.S.

     The equipment of this mission wasn't rifles or bombs, this mission was science and health development for cure that people that need the help and avoid more cases around the world. This is a great example of the missions that the soldiers do every year and something anybody remember because they don’t use a rifle, but they use vaccines. Soldiers that put in other side their families and traveled to West Africa where the most of people don’t want go, because the risk was very high, and did their job. To every soldier who was part of this great work, thank you and welcome home warriors!

Ebola, (n.d), The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. March 9 2015, complied from: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/

DoD Helps Fight Ebola in Liberia. (2014) U.S. Department of Defense. March 9 2015, complied from: http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2014/1014_ebola/

U.S. Troops Joint Ebola Fight (October 10, 2014). YouTube. March 9 2015, complied from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agyyXsJmv9w

History and Simple Ranks Explication

     Hello everyone, welcome to the first post about the U.S. Army. Obviously if we go to  talk about military careers and their missions or activities, we need know some information of the history and the organization of this branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. The U.S. army was created in 1775 and their primary responsibility has been the fighting of land battles and military occupation. Exist a lot of good units, but some of the most recognize units by civilians are: Rangers Regiment, Special Forces (Green Beret), Delta Forces,  1st Cavalry Division, 82nd Division and 101st Division. These and others units participated in some important wars, for example: War of 1812, American Civil War, Spanish- American War, World War 1, World War 2, Korean War and more recently Gulf War, War in Iraq and War in Afghanistan.  Also we need include other missions where the U.S. Army is used as peacekeeping for example: mission in Somalia in 1993, missions in the former Yugoslavia and the soldiers that remain in Kosovo. Now the U.S. Army has bases with troops around the world ready for deployment and does an excellent job no matter what country or weather.

     The organization of the U.S. Army is very complicated, but let me try explaining something very simple that the people commonly confuse. The first thing that people confuse is the situation with the ranks. Exist 3 types of ranks, the Officers, Warrant Officers, and the enlisted. The symbols of the officer’s ranks are:  bar, leaves, eagle and star for example. Their purpose in the Army is creates the plan that their elements need for do a mission, keep the troop motivated and ready. The Warrant officers ranks are symbols too, in this case is a silver bar with black squares inside that told you what level is this soldier. The Warrant Officers are experts in their jobs, for example if we have a pilot Warrant Officer the only work that he will does is as a pilot. The other type of the 3 different ranks is the enlisted. People offend enlisted soldiers when say that are people without studies and other things, but let me explain something. It’s true that the enlisted soldiers don’t need a bachelor degree, but they have something that everyone need in the Army. Officers and Warrant Officers need the experiences of these guys. So when somebody will try to offend an enlisted for their studies, explain that they have the studies of life. These ranks are represented by stripes and here we can find the “sergeants”. The work of these guys in the Army is doing the plan that the officer create for the mission, obviously using their experiences.  General and President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower said “The sergeant is the Army”.


     The U.S. Army for me is a historical organization that does its job every day, not only in wars or missions around the world, also inside the United States. Sometime we could forget that, but they need our respect and support, because they will here when we need of them.  Now that you know something about the history and the ranks organization in the U.S. Army maybe you can show more respect, support and also you can understand in the future other posts when we talk about some particular war or some particular information about who make the order or who execute the mission and the sacrifice of our soldiers.