Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-6

In 2001, President George W. Bush established August 16th as National Airborne Day to commemorate the U.S. Army’s Test Platoon’s first practice jumps, which were completed on August 16, 1940. These tests led to the creation of the Army’s elite paratroop units, known as the Airborne. The U.S. Armed Forces first combat jump was conducted by elements of the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment near Oran, Algeria, on November 8, 1942. Later, some of those same units made history parachuting into the darkness over Nazi-occupied France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. They seized key terrain and disrupted German communications ahead of the massive Allied amphibious landings that began hours later on the Normandy coast. The use of parachutes was an innovative method of warfare during World War II, giving Allied forces the ability to deploy troops behind enemy lines and quickly seize a piece of key terrain. Mechanized forces and light infantry could then advance to that location, establish a base of operations, and continue forward into a contested environment. Airborne forces must be exceptionally resourceful and self-reliant. They know where the drop zone is, but don’t know exactly where they are going to land. They must be able to quickly understand where they are on the battlefield, even in the dark, and get into fighting formation to complete the mission. "Equipment may have changed,” said retired Sgt. Maj. Robert K. Fortenberry, a veteran paratrooper and Infantry Soldier, “but the fundamentals are almost identical to the way we did it during our invasion during World War II." #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM #airborne

As part of its updated force structure, the Army has approved the creation of three Theater Information Advantage Detachments (TIADs). These units will synchronize information capabilities at the theater level. Each of the three TIADs will have a specific focus: one for the Pacific, one for Europe, and a trans-regional one for Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER). Since November 2023, ARCYBER has been conducting TIAD exercises tied to the Army’s Information Advantage campaign of learning, which will continue throughout 2024 and 2025. The ARCYBER commander, Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, said at a recent Association of the United States Army event, “The information dimension is a place [where] we are in a persistent conflict…. In the competition space (the period before a conflict breaks out), this is where it’s happening now. If you think you’re going to deliver options to a commander…about the information dimension and you are not looking at it in the competition phase, whatever you are delivering in crisis and conflict probably will fall short.” Barrett said that TIADs will be able to map the information environment with commercially or publicly available information before a possible conflict to get a sense of how adversaries use it. She said, “This is all for the purpose of enabling commanders to visualize and decide and again synchronize these effects that they could have in this dimension much better than they can today.” #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM

The 2024 theme for Antiterrorism Awareness Month is "sustaining community awareness and vigilance." There are some whose careers are devoted to fighting terrorism, but being ever-vigilant is the responsibility of us all. Our communities need to be vigilant in both the physical and digital world. In our physical communities, we need to look out of for suspicious behavior and report it to law enforcement. In the digital world, where radicalization and recruitment often occur, we need to recognize signs of online radicalization such as changes in behavior or social media activity promoting violence and extremist ideologies. We also need to protect sensitive information that could be exploited by terrorists. This includes being careful about what we talk about and share online. In the workplace, it includes being vigilant about potential insider threats -- people with access to sensitive information or critical systems who have become radicalized or act maliciously. #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM #antiterrorismawarenessmonth

The Purple Heart, which recognizes American service men and women killed or wounded in combat, is the oldest American military decoration for military merit. It is also the oldest U.S. military honor still bestowed upon service members today. Purple Heart Day is on August 7 because General George Washington created the Badge of Merit, the forerunner to the Purple Heart, on August 7, 1782. On that day, Washington ordered "that whenever any singularly meritorious action is performed, the author of it shall be permitted to wear on his facings, over his left breast, the figure of a heart in purple cloth, or silk, edged with narrow lace or binding." In 1932, to honor the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth, the Badge of Merit was revived and redesigned as the Purple Heart. Today the medal bears the image of a bust of General Washington and his coat of arms. Until 1944, the Purple Heart recognized service members' commendable actions as well. Since then, the award has been limited to those wounded or killed in combat. The first woman to receive the Purple Heart was Army 1st Lt. Annie G. Fox for her actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, more than 1.8 million Purple Heart medals have been presented to service members since the award was created in 1782. #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM #purpleheartday

Recently, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) completed a 21-day exercise at Fort Campbell, Kentucky called Operation Lethal Eagle. This exercise was the first comprehensive field assessment of the Army’s initiative “transforming in contact”, which is the process of ongoing development of solutions through the rapid prototyping of organizational and technological changes and integrating them into units. A big part of this exercise was testing new initiatives in electromagnetic warfare, especially the importance of reducing or masking a unit’s digital signature. “If you can be seen, you can be killed,” Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, commander of the 101st, said during a recent media round table. “And that’s not just visually seen. Can your electromagnetic signature be seen as well? We’re looking at capabilities that make us smaller, more mobile, more agile.” This exercise was a good example of how the Army builds more complexity iteratively and adaptively into each wargaming exercise. #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM #antiterrorismawarenessmonth

Happy birthday to the United States Coast Guard! The Coast Guard was born on August 4, 1790, when the first Congress, at the request of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, authorized the construction of 10 vessels for the Revenue Service Cutters to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of federal revenue. The service received its current name in 1915 when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the U.S. Life-Saving Service to form a single maritime service dedicated to the safety of life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws. Today, the Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security during peacetime and can be transferred to the Department of the Navy during wartime. The Coast Guard’s mission is to protect the public, the environment and U.S. economic interests in the nation's waterways, along the coast, or in any maritime region as required to support national security. Happy birthday, Coast Guard. #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM #coastguard

August is Antiterrorism Awareness Month. This month is a time to be reminded of the need to be ever vigilant. We should be ready to report suspicious behavior we witness to law enforcement. Some examples of suspicious behavior that should be reported are: people drawing or measuring important buildings; strangers asking questions about security forces or security procedures; an unattended briefcase, suitcase, backpack, or package; cars or trucks left in no parking zones in front of important buildings; intruders found in secure areas; a person wearing clothes that are too big and bulky and/or too hot for the weather; chemical smells or fumes that worry you; someone asking questions about sensitive information with no right to need to know; or purchasing supplies or equipment that can be used to make bombs. One tool for reporting suspicious activity is iWATCH, a reporting tool used by various organizations like Metropolitan Police Departments and the U.S. Army. For example, here is the link to the Fort Riley iWATCH website: https://lnkd.in/eErGbc_M #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM #antiterrorismawarenessmonth

July 20 was the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The U.S. Army Signal Corps has ties to this momentous mission. In 1946, twenty-three years before man set foot on the moon, it was the Army Signal Corps that first made “contact”, bouncing radio signals off the moon with Project Diana. After contributing components and systems to the U.S. satellite program during the 1950s and 1960s and tracking satellites, the Signal Corps -- specifically the Army Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Agency -- played a prominent role in communications for Apollo 11. The agency led the joint force support effort using Tactical Satellite Communications (TACSATCOM) terminals as the first line of communications during the Apollo 11 spacecraft re-entry, splashdown, and recovery operations. Full article: https://lnkd.in/e2nquU8j #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM

On July 18th at the Pentagon the Army honored Maj. Gen. Denise McPhail for her service as the Director of Network C4 Systems Integration by awarding her the Distinguished Service Medal. For the past two years, MG McPhail has led the Army’s most significant and comprehensive network modernization to date. During her tenure, she reduced the number of stove-piped networks within the Army from over 60 down to 9. Under MG McPhail’s oversight, the Army deployed its first large-scale cloud implementation – Army 365, now the third largest collaborative cloud environment in the world, with over 1.1 million users. McPhail established the Remote Capable Workforce Program that has allowed the Army to connect and operate securely all over the globe; directed oversight of all Army Unified Network modernization initiatives via the Army Unified Network Council; and was the driving force behind the development of a central delivery model for critical communications, collaborative capabilities, and security services delivered through Army Cyber Command. Maj. Gen. McPhail’s vision and leadership resulted in a dramatic acceleration of new capabilities to the field while implementing completely new business processes. As she transitions to her next assignment as commanding general of the Network Technology Command at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, she will lead the Army’s efforts to implement many of the initiatives she developed while with the G-6. #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM https://lnkd.in/djJnHB8 https://lnkd.in/g3Y4VqWt https://lnkd.in/eAxtYfwi https://lnkd.in/eGV83x28

The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953, bringing an end to combat in the Korean War. Seventy-one years later, the alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea remains as strong as ever. The Korean War, largely overshadowed by World War II and the Vietnam War, is often called the “Forgotten War.” However, today we remember and honor the more than 36,000 Americans who died during that war and the almost 1.8 million Americans who served in that theater, 7,000 of whom are still unaccounted for. The United States continues to work to bring home every one of its missing heroes. #USArmySignalCorps #Signalcorps #USARMY @US_CYBERCOM @ARCYBER @armyfutures @Signal_School @US_CYBERCOM #koreanwararmisticeday