National Guard and Reserve members and families encouraged to nominate supportive employers
The Department of Defense has opened the nomination season for the 2008 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. National Guard and Reserve members and their families are eligible and encouraged to nominate employers who have gone above and beyond in their support of military employees. Nominations will be accepted at www.esgr.mil from November 1, 2007 to January 21, 2008. The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award is the U.S. Government’s highest recognition given to outstanding employers.
The 2008 recipients will be announced in the spring and honored in Washington, D.C. at the 13th annual Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award ceremony on September 18, 2008. Recipients of the 2007 Freedom Award met with President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Vice Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright presented the awards at a ceremony attended by members of Congress and senior government and military officials.
Almost one-half of the U.S. military is comprised of the National Guard and Reserve. The Department of Defense shares these citizen warriors with their civilian employers, many of whom provide significant support to their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. Past recipients of the Freedom Award have provided full salary, continuation of benefits, care packages and even home and lawn care to families of employees fulfilling their military obligation.
The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) to recognize exceptional support from the employer community.
ESGR is a Department of Defense agency established in 1972. Its mission is to gain and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve service by recognizing outstanding support, increasing awareness of the law, and resolving conflicts through informal mediation.
Previous Freedom Award recipients have included such large businesses as General Motors, Starbucks, Home Depot, American Express, Sears, General Electric, DuPont, and United Parcel Service; state and local governments, including the State of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and small businesses including the family owned Augustine & Sons farm in Rose Hill, IA and Turbocam International.
For questions regarding the nomination process, please contact Commander Craig Kujawa at 703.696.1386 x514.
Showing posts with label u.s. military. Show all posts
Showing posts with label u.s. military. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Iraqi Criminal Justice System, Police Institute Rule of Law, Officials Say
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 13, 2007 - Establishing the necessary components to enable the rule of law to function across Iraq's society is vital to creating stable institutions and lasting security in that country, a U.S. military lawyer said in Baghdad today. The Iraqi government is making measurable progress toward that goal by providing fair and impartial courts, professional lawyers, judges and police, and modern and humane detention facilities, Army Col. Mark Martins, Multinational Force Iraq's senior legal official, told reporters at a news conference.
"The rule of law is a principle of governance which holds that your fate depends not on who you are, what religious sect, what region, what tribe, but on what you did," Martins explained.
The rule of law stipulates "that all citizens, institutions, entities, public and private, including the state itself, are accountable to laws, laws that have been publicly passed by a body representative of the people," Martins said.
Laws are to be enforced equally by the police, who are themselves trained to follow the law, Martins said. An impartial, independent and evenhanded judiciary system interprets the law, he said.
A new judicial facility recently opened in Baghdad illustrates progress the Iraqi government is making to establish the rule of law, Martins said.
"This Rule of Law complex now provides a secure place in the heart of Baghdad for all participants in the criminal justice system," Martins explained, including police, investigators, witnesses, judges, court personnel and detainee guards.
Members of Baghdad's criminal justice system now "can work free from attack or intimidation," Martins pointed out. About 30 judges are expected to preside over court cases at the complex, which also features nearly 5,000 modern detention cells, he said.
The rule of law stipulates that citizens are not to take the law into their own hands, Martins pointed out. So, for the rule of law to succeed in Iraq, he said, its citizens need to accept it and put aside ages-old tribal and sectarian animosities.
Much progress is being made each day to establish the rule of law across Iraq, but more work needs to be done, Martins conceded.
"It will require the government, and eventually the people, to reject revenge and terror, which is the use of spectacularly violent attacks on civilians, to achieve a political end," Martins observed. "It will require acceptance of the rule of law."
Martins saluted Iraqi judicial officials' efforts in promoting the rule of law across Iraq, like Higher Judicial Council spokesman Judge Abdul Satar Bayrkdar, who accompanied the colonel at the news conference.
Hundreds of new Iraqi investigators and judges have been hired in recent months, Bayrkdar said, noting there are now about 1,000 judges presiding at courts located across the country. The new judges, he said, are lawyers with 10 or more years of courtroom experience who are vetted for loyalty and integrity by the government. The Iraqi legal system also provides oversight to ensure that all prisoners receive fair and humane treatment, he added.
Iraq's new legal system is obviously fairer and more efficient than the despotic, haphazard courts operated by late dictator Saddam Hussein's regime, Bayrkdar said. For example, 96 percent of all court cases heard in Iraqi courtrooms in 2006 were resolved, he said.
"This is the highest percentage in the history of the Iraqi courts," Bayrkdar said.
Iraq's judiciary system plays "a key part in the rule of law in ensuring that justice is delivered in a fair, expeditious and evenhanded manner" during civil and criminal trials, Jim Santelle, justice attache at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said at the news conference.
Without an independent, fair and efficient criminal justice system, "the rule of law cannot stand and cannot survive," Santelle pointed out.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 13, 2007 - Establishing the necessary components to enable the rule of law to function across Iraq's society is vital to creating stable institutions and lasting security in that country, a U.S. military lawyer said in Baghdad today. The Iraqi government is making measurable progress toward that goal by providing fair and impartial courts, professional lawyers, judges and police, and modern and humane detention facilities, Army Col. Mark Martins, Multinational Force Iraq's senior legal official, told reporters at a news conference.
"The rule of law is a principle of governance which holds that your fate depends not on who you are, what religious sect, what region, what tribe, but on what you did," Martins explained.
The rule of law stipulates "that all citizens, institutions, entities, public and private, including the state itself, are accountable to laws, laws that have been publicly passed by a body representative of the people," Martins said.
Laws are to be enforced equally by the police, who are themselves trained to follow the law, Martins said. An impartial, independent and evenhanded judiciary system interprets the law, he said.
A new judicial facility recently opened in Baghdad illustrates progress the Iraqi government is making to establish the rule of law, Martins said.
"This Rule of Law complex now provides a secure place in the heart of Baghdad for all participants in the criminal justice system," Martins explained, including police, investigators, witnesses, judges, court personnel and detainee guards.
Members of Baghdad's criminal justice system now "can work free from attack or intimidation," Martins pointed out. About 30 judges are expected to preside over court cases at the complex, which also features nearly 5,000 modern detention cells, he said.
The rule of law stipulates that citizens are not to take the law into their own hands, Martins pointed out. So, for the rule of law to succeed in Iraq, he said, its citizens need to accept it and put aside ages-old tribal and sectarian animosities.
Much progress is being made each day to establish the rule of law across Iraq, but more work needs to be done, Martins conceded.
"It will require the government, and eventually the people, to reject revenge and terror, which is the use of spectacularly violent attacks on civilians, to achieve a political end," Martins observed. "It will require acceptance of the rule of law."
Martins saluted Iraqi judicial officials' efforts in promoting the rule of law across Iraq, like Higher Judicial Council spokesman Judge Abdul Satar Bayrkdar, who accompanied the colonel at the news conference.
Hundreds of new Iraqi investigators and judges have been hired in recent months, Bayrkdar said, noting there are now about 1,000 judges presiding at courts located across the country. The new judges, he said, are lawyers with 10 or more years of courtroom experience who are vetted for loyalty and integrity by the government. The Iraqi legal system also provides oversight to ensure that all prisoners receive fair and humane treatment, he added.
Iraq's new legal system is obviously fairer and more efficient than the despotic, haphazard courts operated by late dictator Saddam Hussein's regime, Bayrkdar said. For example, 96 percent of all court cases heard in Iraqi courtrooms in 2006 were resolved, he said.
"This is the highest percentage in the history of the Iraqi courts," Bayrkdar said.
Iraq's judiciary system plays "a key part in the rule of law in ensuring that justice is delivered in a fair, expeditious and evenhanded manner" during civil and criminal trials, Jim Santelle, justice attache at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said at the news conference.
Without an independent, fair and efficient criminal justice system, "the rule of law cannot stand and cannot survive," Santelle pointed out.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Service Academies Retain Principles, Embrace Change to Train Future Leaders
Editors Note: Some excellent advice in here for domestic law enforcement.
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
May 24, 2007 – As "ruffles and flourishes" rings through the three U.S. military academies over the next few days, several thousand new graduates will accept their commissions and join the military ranks. These young second lieutenants and ensigns all enrolled in their respective schools -- the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.; and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. -- recognizing they'd graduate into a wartime force.
Most were sophomores in high school when they watched televised images of the Twin Towers falling and the Pentagon burning, then the U.S. going to war in Afghanistan. Most hadn't yet been to their senior proms when the country entered Iraq. This week they'll leave their schoolhouses behind to join their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving around the world in the war on terror.
To get a better picture of how their schools have prepared them for this calling, American Forces Press Service spoke with their academic deans and alumni who have risen to the senior military ranks.
Here's what they had to say about what has changed at their institutions and what remains fundamental, and how they're helping ensure their graduates are ready for the challenges they'll confront as military officers.
The Basics
Although they're four-year schools like thousands of others that dot the United States, the U.S. service academies stand uniquely apart. All were founded with the specific goal of educating military leaders -- people who understand not just the art and science of war, but also the fundamentals of leadership.
That's a principle the academies have held at their core as they strive to develop what Army Col. Dan Ragsdale, vice dean at West Point and a 1981 graduate, calls "critical thinkers" armed with the education and training they need to think on their feet.
"Our expectations are that these future leaders are going to have to draw on a relatively broad set of skills, backgrounds and experiences to help solve the problems that they are going to confront in ... a greatly ambiguous world in which they are going to have to operate," he said.
To develop those skills, the academies offer curricula that recently retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, a 1973 West Point graduate who went on to lead U.S. Central Command, described as "some of the most challenging in the nation today."
The coursework is steeped in science, math and engineering so graduates are prepared to enter a highly technical military, whether they'll be flying aircraft, serving on nuclear-powered submarines or calling in air strikes as they lead ground forces in combat, explained William Miller, academic dean and provost at the Naval Academy and a 1962 graduate.
"We want to ensure all our graduates have a good, solid technical foundation for serving as an officer in a very, very technically demanding environment," he said.
Equally important, officials agree, is an understanding of the world in which they'll operate. All three academies have expanded their curricula to increasingly focus on regional studies and language skills.
"The kinds of problems that our ... graduates will face are across a broad spectrum, so we have to give them a technological foundation," Ragsdale said. "But we also have to give them a social and cultural perspective around which to address and solve problems. We have to help them understand and appreciate the political aspects of any problem they are trying to address."
More Than Academics
There may be no pat formula for preparing new officers to serve in wartime, but officials agreed it requires more than mastery of academics.
"Our graduates are not going to be historians and mechanical engineers," Miller said. "They are going to be leaders and problem solvers in a very demanding environment."
There's no possible way to train students for every possible situation they'll encounter when they enter military service, the officials agreed.
"That's a given," Ragsdale said. "But because we know that, we have worked to create an environment where they can develop as the adaptable, agile, critical thinkers they need to be to lead the soldiers who will be entrusted to their care."
The academies strive to prepare cadets and midshipmen to look at problems from multiple dimensions and to juggle priorities.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that's one of the biggest lessons he took away from his Naval Academy experience.
"At school, there was always too much to do, and in the Marine Corps, there has always been too much to do," Pace said. "Therefore, you really have to take the important and set it aside to do the critical."
Pace said being bombarded with myriad demands as a midshipman reinforced the importance of teamwork, another principle he said he's carried throughout his career. "In combat, there is nothing you do as an individual," he said. "It's all based on teamwork."
Developing Leaders
While developing their cadets and midshipmen intellectually, the academies also focus on developing them as leaders.
Abizaid said the most important lesson the academies need to instill is "the ability to lead people in a positive, inspirational way."
From their first days at their respective schools, cadets and midshipmen get exposed to valuable lessons in leadership. Initially they observe upperclassmen serving in various leadership positions -- some successfully, some less so. Later, students try their own hand at leadership posts. Through this process, they begin to understand what leadership style works for them, what doesn't, and how they can improve their leadership skills.
Gen. John Corley, Air Force vice chief of staff and a 1973 graduate of the Air Force Academy, described his alma mater as a "leadership laboratory" where cadets exposed him and his fellow cadets to "a set of experiences that you just don't find in other places."
"They also provided challenges," Corley said. "It was a test ... in terms of your development (and) ... your ability to grow and become a leader of character."
"I learned a lot from observing good leadership, and from observing bad leadership, and through experimentation on my own part, trying things that worked or didn't work for me," Pace said of his time at the Naval Academy.
That's the single biggest difference between the military academies and traditional civilian colleges and universities, the deans and alumni agreed.
"Our first and foremost overarching outcome is to commission ... leaders of character who embody our ... core values of integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do," said Brig. Gen. Dana Born, dean of faculty for the Air Force Academy and a 1983 graduate. "It stands at the very foundation of what we do."
Miller said leadership lessons learned at the academies have a long-lasting impact on how graduates confront problems.
"No matter what (military) community our graduates enter, ... they are going to be leaders, and we want to ensure they have a good ethical foundation for the decisions they are going to make," he said.
Educating for the Future
While preparing their cadets and midshipmen for the immediate requirements they'll face as graduates, academy officials say they recognize the need to keep their eyes focused on the horizon.
"We try to stay balanced and not hyper-reactive," Ragsdale said. "We recognize that we're providing a foundation upon which they can develop as successful officers."
"We can't just focus on the fact that we are currently engaged in a shooting war ... and think only about what (midshipmen) are going to need right after graduation," agreed Miller. "We need to look at what (future officers) are going to need for the longer term and recognize that we're preparing them for a career of service."
By approaching education as a "strategic investment," Miller said, the academies are helping students recognize that their education will be just beginning as they accept their commissions.
"We are trying to lay a foundation on which they can build over their career and continue to learn," he said. "That's important, because being in the armed services demands lifetime learning."
Change
The biggest misconception about the academies is that they're so embedded in tradition that they can't or won't change with the times, officials said.
"That is about as far from the truth as you can get," Ragsdale said. "On the contrary, we understand ... that our graduates have to be prepared for a changing world. So while we hold on to our firm foundations upon which the institution was built, we have embraced change to ensure we are providing the kinds of experiences our cadets need to be successful in the world they are going to face when they graduate."
Born described sweeping changes in the Air Force Academy's core curriculum so courses build on previous lessons and broaden students' exposure to new concepts and approaches. The other academies have instituted similar changes.
These changes are helping ensure students have a foundation from which to draw when they graduate into a wartime environment. "We need students to learn and be able to build upon prior learning, as opposed to just teaching and hoping that they remember it when they need it when they are in downtown Baghdad making decisions," Born said.
Intraservice Cooperation
An intensive system of sharing and cooperation is helping the academies evolve to better serve their students' and services' needs. Staffs meet in person and share e-mails regularly to keep each other informed about new initiatives they're trying and what they've learned along the way.
"We are trying to learn from each other in a leap-frog fashion rather than all of us learning linearly and stumbling over the same obstacles," Miller said.
"We have very common goals and a common set of outcomes that we would like all our graduates to achieve," Ragsdale agreed. "So we share those things that have worked, and on the flip side, those initiatives that have not been successful so they can learn from our mistakes."
Born said the academies recognize their similarities and build on each others' strengths. "We ... team together to share lessons learned and best practices. We learn from each other and are able to progress more quickly by sharing our lessons learned," she said.
So despite infamous interservice rivalry in the sports arena, Born said, there's a healthy respect and common understanding among academy students, graduates and staffs.
"When it comes to the football field, there is all kinds of talk and all kinds of competition," she said. "But when it comes right down to it, we are all working toward commissioning officers and leaders of character for our nation."
Article sponsored by criminal justice online leadership; and, police and military personnel who have authored books.
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
May 24, 2007 – As "ruffles and flourishes" rings through the three U.S. military academies over the next few days, several thousand new graduates will accept their commissions and join the military ranks. These young second lieutenants and ensigns all enrolled in their respective schools -- the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.; and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. -- recognizing they'd graduate into a wartime force.
Most were sophomores in high school when they watched televised images of the Twin Towers falling and the Pentagon burning, then the U.S. going to war in Afghanistan. Most hadn't yet been to their senior proms when the country entered Iraq. This week they'll leave their schoolhouses behind to join their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving around the world in the war on terror.
To get a better picture of how their schools have prepared them for this calling, American Forces Press Service spoke with their academic deans and alumni who have risen to the senior military ranks.
Here's what they had to say about what has changed at their institutions and what remains fundamental, and how they're helping ensure their graduates are ready for the challenges they'll confront as military officers.
The Basics
Although they're four-year schools like thousands of others that dot the United States, the U.S. service academies stand uniquely apart. All were founded with the specific goal of educating military leaders -- people who understand not just the art and science of war, but also the fundamentals of leadership.
That's a principle the academies have held at their core as they strive to develop what Army Col. Dan Ragsdale, vice dean at West Point and a 1981 graduate, calls "critical thinkers" armed with the education and training they need to think on their feet.
"Our expectations are that these future leaders are going to have to draw on a relatively broad set of skills, backgrounds and experiences to help solve the problems that they are going to confront in ... a greatly ambiguous world in which they are going to have to operate," he said.
To develop those skills, the academies offer curricula that recently retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, a 1973 West Point graduate who went on to lead U.S. Central Command, described as "some of the most challenging in the nation today."
The coursework is steeped in science, math and engineering so graduates are prepared to enter a highly technical military, whether they'll be flying aircraft, serving on nuclear-powered submarines or calling in air strikes as they lead ground forces in combat, explained William Miller, academic dean and provost at the Naval Academy and a 1962 graduate.
"We want to ensure all our graduates have a good, solid technical foundation for serving as an officer in a very, very technically demanding environment," he said.
Equally important, officials agree, is an understanding of the world in which they'll operate. All three academies have expanded their curricula to increasingly focus on regional studies and language skills.
"The kinds of problems that our ... graduates will face are across a broad spectrum, so we have to give them a technological foundation," Ragsdale said. "But we also have to give them a social and cultural perspective around which to address and solve problems. We have to help them understand and appreciate the political aspects of any problem they are trying to address."
More Than Academics
There may be no pat formula for preparing new officers to serve in wartime, but officials agreed it requires more than mastery of academics.
"Our graduates are not going to be historians and mechanical engineers," Miller said. "They are going to be leaders and problem solvers in a very demanding environment."
There's no possible way to train students for every possible situation they'll encounter when they enter military service, the officials agreed.
"That's a given," Ragsdale said. "But because we know that, we have worked to create an environment where they can develop as the adaptable, agile, critical thinkers they need to be to lead the soldiers who will be entrusted to their care."
The academies strive to prepare cadets and midshipmen to look at problems from multiple dimensions and to juggle priorities.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that's one of the biggest lessons he took away from his Naval Academy experience.
"At school, there was always too much to do, and in the Marine Corps, there has always been too much to do," Pace said. "Therefore, you really have to take the important and set it aside to do the critical."
Pace said being bombarded with myriad demands as a midshipman reinforced the importance of teamwork, another principle he said he's carried throughout his career. "In combat, there is nothing you do as an individual," he said. "It's all based on teamwork."
Developing Leaders
While developing their cadets and midshipmen intellectually, the academies also focus on developing them as leaders.
Abizaid said the most important lesson the academies need to instill is "the ability to lead people in a positive, inspirational way."
From their first days at their respective schools, cadets and midshipmen get exposed to valuable lessons in leadership. Initially they observe upperclassmen serving in various leadership positions -- some successfully, some less so. Later, students try their own hand at leadership posts. Through this process, they begin to understand what leadership style works for them, what doesn't, and how they can improve their leadership skills.
Gen. John Corley, Air Force vice chief of staff and a 1973 graduate of the Air Force Academy, described his alma mater as a "leadership laboratory" where cadets exposed him and his fellow cadets to "a set of experiences that you just don't find in other places."
"They also provided challenges," Corley said. "It was a test ... in terms of your development (and) ... your ability to grow and become a leader of character."
"I learned a lot from observing good leadership, and from observing bad leadership, and through experimentation on my own part, trying things that worked or didn't work for me," Pace said of his time at the Naval Academy.
That's the single biggest difference between the military academies and traditional civilian colleges and universities, the deans and alumni agreed.
"Our first and foremost overarching outcome is to commission ... leaders of character who embody our ... core values of integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do," said Brig. Gen. Dana Born, dean of faculty for the Air Force Academy and a 1983 graduate. "It stands at the very foundation of what we do."
Miller said leadership lessons learned at the academies have a long-lasting impact on how graduates confront problems.
"No matter what (military) community our graduates enter, ... they are going to be leaders, and we want to ensure they have a good ethical foundation for the decisions they are going to make," he said.
Educating for the Future
While preparing their cadets and midshipmen for the immediate requirements they'll face as graduates, academy officials say they recognize the need to keep their eyes focused on the horizon.
"We try to stay balanced and not hyper-reactive," Ragsdale said. "We recognize that we're providing a foundation upon which they can develop as successful officers."
"We can't just focus on the fact that we are currently engaged in a shooting war ... and think only about what (midshipmen) are going to need right after graduation," agreed Miller. "We need to look at what (future officers) are going to need for the longer term and recognize that we're preparing them for a career of service."
By approaching education as a "strategic investment," Miller said, the academies are helping students recognize that their education will be just beginning as they accept their commissions.
"We are trying to lay a foundation on which they can build over their career and continue to learn," he said. "That's important, because being in the armed services demands lifetime learning."
Change
The biggest misconception about the academies is that they're so embedded in tradition that they can't or won't change with the times, officials said.
"That is about as far from the truth as you can get," Ragsdale said. "On the contrary, we understand ... that our graduates have to be prepared for a changing world. So while we hold on to our firm foundations upon which the institution was built, we have embraced change to ensure we are providing the kinds of experiences our cadets need to be successful in the world they are going to face when they graduate."
Born described sweeping changes in the Air Force Academy's core curriculum so courses build on previous lessons and broaden students' exposure to new concepts and approaches. The other academies have instituted similar changes.
These changes are helping ensure students have a foundation from which to draw when they graduate into a wartime environment. "We need students to learn and be able to build upon prior learning, as opposed to just teaching and hoping that they remember it when they need it when they are in downtown Baghdad making decisions," Born said.
Intraservice Cooperation
An intensive system of sharing and cooperation is helping the academies evolve to better serve their students' and services' needs. Staffs meet in person and share e-mails regularly to keep each other informed about new initiatives they're trying and what they've learned along the way.
"We are trying to learn from each other in a leap-frog fashion rather than all of us learning linearly and stumbling over the same obstacles," Miller said.
"We have very common goals and a common set of outcomes that we would like all our graduates to achieve," Ragsdale agreed. "So we share those things that have worked, and on the flip side, those initiatives that have not been successful so they can learn from our mistakes."
Born said the academies recognize their similarities and build on each others' strengths. "We ... team together to share lessons learned and best practices. We learn from each other and are able to progress more quickly by sharing our lessons learned," she said.
So despite infamous interservice rivalry in the sports arena, Born said, there's a healthy respect and common understanding among academy students, graduates and staffs.
"When it comes to the football field, there is all kinds of talk and all kinds of competition," she said. "But when it comes right down to it, we are all working toward commissioning officers and leaders of character for our nation."
Article sponsored by criminal justice online leadership; and, police and military personnel who have authored books.
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