4 • February 1, 2013 • The Signal
INFORMATION, OPINIONS AND COMMENTARY
Signal Spectrum:
Location, location, location – Fort Gordon has it
When most people talk about how Fort Gordon
is “ideally located,” they’re referring to a place on a
map, and they’re right. Fort Gordon is conveniently
situated between a one- and five-hour drive from several major air and sea ports. It’s a mere 15 minutes
from Augusta’s own Bush Field, which can handle
military aircraft up to the C-17 and C-5. What’s more,
Bush Field handily facilitated the recent deployment
of the 67th Expeditionary Signal Battalion – one of
the largest deployments ever from Fort Gordon.
Yes, Fort Gordon’s location adds to its effectiveness
as a projector of America’s combat power and as a hub
for training Signaleers around the world. But if you
try to gauge the value of Fort Gordon’s location by
looking at a map, you’ll miss another, equally important facet of what it means to be “ideally located.”
Saturday night at Christenberry Fieldhouse, attendees rose to their feet and roared their approval for a
group of young men and women who took the oath
of enlistment during halftime of the Augusta State
Jaguar’s men’s basketball game. Our own Maj. Gen.
LaWarren V. Patterson administered the oath as part
of Georgia Regents University – Augusta’s “Military
Appreciation Night.” After the oath was complete,
Signal Center Command Sgt. Maj. Ronald Pflieger led
200-300 Soldiers attending the game in a thundering
recitation of the Soldiers’ Creed.
The crowd’s admiration for the Soldiers, new and
old, was genuine and enthusiastic. It was not, how-
ever, unusual.
Almost every week, somewhere near Fort Gordon,
people and organizations are demonstrating their gratitude to Soldiers. From the dozens of invitations for
Soldiers to enjoy a holiday meal with local families, to
the annual “military appreciation events” conducted
by dozens of local organizations and businesses, to the
military discounts offered by storefronts throughout
the CSRA, our civilian neighbors clearly support us.
We shouldn’t take that support for granted. Particularly since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World
Trade Center and the beginning of the war on terror,
anti-military sentiment tends to target the war and the
faceless “military machine” rather than individual
Soldiers. But make no mistake – there are many places left in America where Soldiers are tolerated rather
than welcomed.
The CSRA isn’t one of them. The expressions of
support Soldiers hear again and again in our area are
clearly heartfelt, and one moment at Saturday’s game
showed that in clear relief. After the new recruits took
the oath of enlistment, Patterson said, “Welcome to
the Army!” and the crowd roared its approval. It was
clear that the crowd admired the recruits for the choice
they had made - the honorable profession of arms in
service to the nation.
Location, location, location – Fort Gordon has it.
But it’s more than just a place on the map.
It’s a place in the heart.
Augusta Warrior Project serves community
of the benefits provided by the GI
Bill. In 2012, with the assistance of
Special to the Signal
Georgia Regents University, Paine
A program to help wounded College, the University of South
warriors that was started by Jim Carolina-Aiken, Augusta Tech and
Hull and Laurie Ott
Aiken Tech, the AWP has placed
just five years ago has blos- 152 veterans into college or trainsomed into something very spe- ing programs.
cial indeed, and I want to update
•Entertainment Initiatives. The
you on some of the important AWP arranged for Gary Sinise and
actions that have been undertaken the Lieutenant Dan Band to perrecently. After that, I’ll tell you form at Fort Gordon last summer.
how you can help support and In addition, the AWP works closely
extend the mission of the Augusta with Donnie Thompson to insure
Warrior Project.
that the annual “Thunder over
Formerly called the CSRA Augusta” extravaganza is a sucWounded Warrior Care Project, cess. This year, the event is schedthe AWP has broadened its mis- uled for May 18, and it will again
sion in order to assist both wound- take place at the Evans Towne Cened warriors and other veterans ter Pavilion.
needing assistance.
You can join AWP in supporting
Here are some of the impor- wounded warriors by support “Reid
tant programs that the AWP has on the Run” which takes place
recently undertaken.
Saturday morning starting at Reid
•Finding jobs. In just the last 90 Memorial Presbyterian Church
days, the AWP, with the assistance at 2261 Walton Way. The run will
of many businesses in the local provide 75 percent of the proceeds
area, has placed 83 veterans into to the AWP and 25 percent to the
full time, well paying jobs.
church for the children’s ministries.
•Educational
opportunities. Registration begins at 8am race day
Many veterans need help in deal- or you may register in advance by
ing with various bureaucracies downloading a registration form
in order to take full advantage from http://www.reidchurchaugusPerry Smith
Jeffrey Williams
DDEAMC Postal employee
“I want the Ravens to win the
Super Bowl because they are a good
team.”
Spc. Nakia Simpson
442nd Signal Battalion
Staff Sgt. Phil Bleinberger
434th U.S. Army Signal Corps Band
ta.org.
After the runs, join fellow runners for a light breakfast on the
lawn at the church. This is a grand
opportunity to meet some fine people. The 1 Mile Fun Run starts at 9
a.m. and the 5K Run/Walk at 9:30
a.m.
I will be there and will participate in the 1 mile event. I would
love to have company.
Major General Perry Smith
USAF (ret.) is the secretary of the
Congressional Medal of Honor
Foundation. His email address is
[email protected].
Claudette Roulo
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2013
– Planning for sequestration is the
practical thing to do and doesn’t
indicate a lack of confidence in
Congress, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said yesterday in an interview on “This
Week in Defense News with Vago
Muradian.”
Though Congress voted earlier
this month to delay until March
2 the implementation of about
$500 billion in across-the-board
defense spending cuts over 10
years, Carter explained, the threat
still looms and the Pentagon must
be ready.
Complicating matters is that
the Defense Department -- as is
all of the federal government -- is
still operating under a continuing
resolution, “which means we are
stuck with the budget of last year,
category by category,” he added.
The continuing resolution is set to
expire March 27, unless Congress
approves a new appropriations act
for fiscal 2013.
Preparing for this confluence
of events requires a delicate balance between acting too early and
planning too late, Carter said.
“The reason not to make adjustments too early is these are not
desirable things to do,” he said.
“They're not good for defense, so
you don't want to do them until
you have to.”
For example, Carter said, the
Defense Department normally
“I want the Ravens to win because
I am a Washington Redskins fan,
and I consider Baltimore part of the
Washington, D.C. metro area. It’s
also Ray Lewis’ last game before he
retires. I plan on watching the game
with some dear friends at home.”
“I want the Ravens to win because
I am from Baltimore. I plan to watch
the game with my dad.”
Carter: Sequestration Planning Requires Balance
American Forces Press Service
Who do you want to win
the Super Bowl, and
where are you going to
watch the game?
“I want the Ravens to win because
it will be Ray Lewis’s last Super
Bowl game before he retires from
professional football. I won’t be
watching the game nor celebrating
my birthday, which is that day,
because I’m in class that night.”
Pvt. Mark Cothran
Company D,
551st Signal Battalion
“I don’t watch football. It’s a great
American game and it’s a morale
booster … [but] I follow baseball
because I grew up watching it with
my father.”
Pfc. Tom Haynes
Company D,
551st Signal Battalion
“What we're trying to do is take steps that are
reversible. They're harmful if they last the
whole year. But if I take them now, I'll be better
off later in the year.”
~Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter
hires about 1,000 people each week
to maintain a stable number of personnel. “However,” he continued,
“if I worry that I'm going to run
short of money later in the fiscal
year, I’d better stop hiring.”
On Jan. 10, Carter issued a memo
authorizing defense components to
implement measures that will mitigate the effects of fiscal uncertainty,
including hiring freezes, termination of temporary employees and
cancelling certain equipment maintenance contracts.
“Now that's not a good thing,”
Carter said. “That's jobs -- 44 percent of the people we hire are
veterans. And we care about hiring veterans. And of course, most
importantly, we care about getting
the work done.”
When he talks about DOD civilians, Carter said, he’s not talking
about bureaucrats in Washington. “These are shipyard workers
-- these are people who are doing
important things,” he added.
The memo requires defense
components to submit their plans
to Carter’s office, he said, to ensure
their efforts are balanced and to
provide components with an opportunity to learn from each other’s
approaches. Meanwhile, he said,
the department is taking prudent
steps now in case the continuing
resolution is extended for the whole
year or the sequestration cuts take
effect.
“What we're trying to do is
take steps that are reversible,” he
explained. “They're harmful if they
last the whole year. But if I take
them now, I'll be better off later in
the year.”
For now, he said, these are steps
that can be quickly undone.
“Later in the year, I'm going to
have to do things that are irreversible -- that do irreversible harm,”
Carter said, including furloughing
federal employees and reducing
military training.
“Obviously, I don't want to do
that. … If it goes on long enough,
we will do damage to readiness that
will be difficult and take years to
reverse,” he said.
Preparations have been ongoing
for some time, Carter said.
“We've been doing that quietly,”
he said, “because we haven't wanted to act as though sequestration or
any of these things was either inevitable or, certainly, something that
we could manage with ease. These
are damaging, destructive things to
do.”
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35th Signal Brigade
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