Every year, thousands of soliders travel overseas to engage in their first deployment. For many, they are unsure what travel items they will need for this new and different terrain. Here are a few key items any soldier needs when traveling overseas:

Things to carry with you 

A Leatherman or equivalent can sometimes come in handy at the strangest times so always keep one on your belt. You’ll find if you keep it with your gear that you never use it, but you’ll reach for it a few times a week if you have it on your belt.

Make sure you have a set of goggles with you. They should issue you some if you will be traveling by helicopter at some point but they’ll come in very handy if you’re ever caught in a sandstorm.

Speaking of dust storms, a neck gator is a great thing for when that sand-wall scene from The Mummy creeps up on you. You can also shield the back of your neck from the sun if your sunscreen keeps wiping off or runs out. For colder temperatures, a thicker neck gator, about the thickness of a pair of sweatpants is awesome.

Chap Stick, sunscreen and eye drops are important to always carry. You can keep sunscreen clipped onto your belt with a small carabiner if you find one with a loop hole. The eye drops are important for dry climates and for when you get sweat dripping into your eyes.

As any good NCO knows, you should always carry a pen and some paper. Space pens are your best bet because they can write anywhere-even in harsh climates and conditions. They’re a little more than a regular pen but they don’t get lost as easily and they fit in whatever you’re wearing. A waterproof note pad is great too because the paper will hold together better than others in addition to its waterproof properties.

If you’re going to be anywhere near a base, you’ll need to carry your ID somewhere that can be seen. A good solution is an ID Holder that hangs from your neck. It’s large enough to hold several ID’s and keeps your passports and cash/credit cards with you at all times. You can also keep a spare key to your padlocks in there. Don’t forget to make copies of your passport and IDs but keep them in a separate location.

Source

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Article taken from the June 22, 2010 edition of USA Today

The Army wants to reduce combat zone deployments to nine months and increase the time in between to three years, Gen. George Casey, Army chief of staff, told Army Times.”We’re actively studying right now the timing and the possibilities of going to nine-month deployments as a standard,” Casey said in an exclusive interview.

The Army started the war in Afghanistan with 12-month deployments and continued into Iraq with 12-month deployments. But in early 2007, the Army extended deployments to 15 months when it sent an additional 20,000 troops there. In August 2008, about 17 months later, deployments were shortened again to 12 months.

“Fifteen months is too long,” Casey said. “Twelve months is too long to sustain indefinitely. Six months is too short.”

The Marines do seven-month deployments, but Casey said that doesn’t work for the Army, which is much larger.

“It’s a volume question right now,” he said. “We’ve got 20-some brigades deployed. They have two or three regiments. And for us to make just — you know, changing out 20, if you have — if you go to nine-month deployments over a three-year period, you need one more unit to fill. So … the volume of the folks that we have to send over there has made it impossible for us to do that.” 

Acknowledging the impact of longer deployments on soldiers and their families, Casey said the Army believes nine months is about right.

“We’ve done these mental health assessment team studies for six years now — between nine and 12 (months) is where a lot of the stress problems really manifest themselves, where the family problems really manifest themselves,” he said.

At the same time, he said, the Army is hoping to stretch dwell time between active duty deployments out to 36 months.

“The human mind and body wasn’t made to do repeated combat deployments without substantial time to recover. In fact, our most recent mental health assessment team study has shown us it takes 24 to 36 months to fully recover from a one-year combat deployment,” he said.

Right now the Army is struggling to fulfill the promise of two years of dwell time for active-duty soldiers. But given the ongoing withdrawal of forces in Iraq, and a planned drawdown in Afghanistan next year, the Army is on track to reach an average dwell time ratio of one year deployed and two years at home for about 70% of the active force by late 2011.

If the Iraq and Afghanistan withdrawals happen on schedule, the Army should have about 50,000 troops deployed to the war zone, most of them in Afghanistan. However, the Army also has soldiers deployed around the world, in places such as the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and Kosovo.

The plan requires an active force of at least 547,000 soldiers and ready access to the reserves, according to Casey.

It is unlikely the Army can fully cut deployments and implement such a rotational scheme before 2014, Casey said.

Achieving dwell-time goals for all soldiers is difficult because of high demands for certain specialties, such as signal, aviation, intelligence and military police, according to Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, Army personnel chief.

Casey said that during the next 12 to 18 months, the Army will transition to a new rotational formula that better supports the needs of a force in protracted conflict.

“There’s going to be friction (internationally) in the years ahead, and that’s what we’re preparing ourselves to do,” he said.

During the transition to a system of rotational force packages of corps, division and brigade headquarters, Casey said the Army must retain a force of 547,400 active-component soldiers, and have ready access to the National Guard and Army Reserve through at least 2014.

“If you look at what we have to do over the next four years or so, we have got to rest this force, constantly reset it, have the right mix of active and reserve (soldiers), and reconstitute it,” he said.

Noting that the total Army is a force of 1.1 million soldiers, about evenly divided between the active and reserve components, Casey said that “in an era of persistent conflict, we’re going to have to rely more on the Guard and Reserve, or we’re going to need a bigger force.” 

To assist in the ongoing transition of the Guard and Reserve to operational forces, Casey has chartered a study by three former senior leaders to determine how the reserves should be structured in the future.

Those retired leaders are Gen. Dennis Reimer, former chief of staff, and Lt. Gens. Roger Schultz, former chief of the Army National Guard, and Ron Helmly, former chief of the Army Reserve.

Two of the major issues to be evaluated by the study are how much of the National Guard and Army Reserve need to be trained and maintained as an operational force, and what are the costs of keeping the reserves in a high state of readiness.

Casey said once these issues are resolved, and the service has transitioned to the new rotational model, “I believe that an active force of 547,000 soldiers, and an (Army) with access to the Guard and Reserve, can meet the needs of the nation at a sustainable deployment tempo for soldiers and families.”

Casey’s commitment to maintain personnel strength at currently authorized levels comes at a time when the Defense Department is being pressed by the Obama administration to cut $100 billion from operating costs over the next five years.

While defense officials have indicated that about one-third of those cuts will come from structure and weapons programs, service manning levels always come under heavy scrutiny during a budget retrenchment.

Article taken from the June 18, 2010 edition of National Defense Magazine

The U.S. military’s special operations units will take on the role of high-tech crime solvers this fall when they deploy to war with CSI-like kits.

The forensic kits will have tools designed to help special operators track down insurgents in Afghanistan by the clues they leave behind, officials say. The planned acquisition of these kits highlight the growing law-enforcement duties that U.S. troops now carry out in war zones.

“The kit is like CSI for special operations forces,” says Douglas Richardson, program executive officer for special reconnaissance, surveillance and exploitation at U.S. Special Operations Command. The gear is similar to that used by forensic scientists at a crime scene. But because special operators often work alone or in small teams in remote locations, the kit was customized with tools that are portable and can be operated in areas with little or no infrastructure, he says.

In a briefing to the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference here, Richardson says that the equipment will help operators collect DNA and fingerprints, find evidence hidden behind walls, identify traces of chemicals and extract data from cell phones and computers.

The collected material will be sent to U.S. databases where analysts can help identify targets and match up suspects to individuals previously identified as members of terrorist or insurgent groups.

In an interview, Richardson says the original goals was to build a kit that would make it easier for SOF troops to figure out who the potential enemies are, how to find them and collect critical evidence. In recent years, troops have complained that their jobs have become more difficult because they lack the evidence that is required to be able to prove that the individuals they captured have committed a crime, such as planting a roadside bomb. With the forensic kit, they will be able to produce the needed proof to detain and prosecute suspects, says Richardson.

During their recent tour in Iraq, troops from the 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) say that one of the challenges they faced in assisting Iraqi forces was meeting the burden-of-proof requirements to obtain warrants to detain suspected insurgents.

“Every piece of kit that we employed, whether it was a sensitive site exploitation kit, or a helmet camera that allowed us to not only capture what had happened on the objective, but what we found on the objective, was crucial in ultimately getting that individual detained,” says Maj. Steve Hayden, a company commander for the battalion at the time.

Every operation required a warrant from an Iraqi judge, says Lt. Col. Dean Franks, commander of 1st battalion. The units that were working with Iraqi military “found themselves in a role that felt much more like serving high-risk warrants than it did a military raid.”

Operators helped to select the tools that will go into the forensic kit. SOCOM’s program executive office is in the final stages of evaluating the hardware. Once they receive the final stamp of approval, the kits will begin deploying with units by the end of the year.

After the Bradley’s Sponsored Operation Pine Plains IV Military-Simulation Event at Ft. Drum in May of 2010, Bradley’s received this amazing email from a satisfied customer:

“Bradleys Surplus Management and Staff,

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After registering for the event, we ordered OPP shirts from your store. After the event, we asked the staff about the shirts, and they told us that we had to go back to Bradleys to pick them up. Obviously there was a mix-up, because when we got to the store, the gentleman confirmed that we were supposed to pick the up at the event (which was specified once we bought them). He made a quick call, and instead of having to turn back around and go back to Ft. Drum, the shirts were brought back to the store. This was relieving because we were dog-tired after the event, and still had an 8-hour drive ahead of us back to MD.

I wanted to extend my thanks, and the thanks from the rest of our team members, for your professional and friendly staff, fast service, and understanding. You guys really have it together! Top-notch customer service, and hard-to-beat prices. Everything you could ever want in a business and more!

From a VERY satisfied customer,

-Jonathan Maines
Corporal, USMC”

We here at Bradley’s want to extend a very warm thank you to Corporal Maines for his kind words. We appreciate the opportunity to earn his business and will truly strive to give each and every customer a similar shopping experience!

Article taken from the June 16, 2010 issue of USA Today

WASHINGTON — The Army is ripping space-age Velcro from its uniforms and replacing it with the humble button, which turns out to be tailor-made for the rigors of Afghanistan.Hook-and-pile tape — the generic term for Velcro— strains to keep jam-packed cargo pants pockets closed. And when the Taliban attacks, the last thing soldiers need to worry about is spilling their gear. 

Soldiers told superiors that Velcro didn’t suit their needs, and the Army began testing alternatives last year, said Debi Dawson, an Army spokeswoman. In August, the Army will begin issuing new pants to soldiers heading to Afghanistan.

“When concerns surfaced in surveys that the hook-and-pile tape was not holding under the weight of full pocket loads, the Army evaluated several solutions,” Dawson said. Velcro has been part of the latest Army combat uniform since it was introduced in 2004.

Dirt and rocks also clog the pile portion of the fastener. That requires soldiers to clean it regularly. An Army website offersthis helpful hint: a soldier’s small weapons cleaning brush has been “working very well” in removing dirt and sand.

 ”This is the latest proof that dust and debris are the biggest enemy for the U.S. military,” said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute and a consultant to defense contractors. “Taliban attacks come and go, but dust is constant in Afghanistan. Dust will impede the function of anything.”

Sgt. Kenny Hatten cut to the heart of the matter in this posting on an Army website, urging the military to go back to the future:

“Get rid of the pocket flap Velcro and give us back our buttons,” Hatten wrote. “Buttons are silent, easy to replace in the field, work just fine in the mud, do not clog up with dirt and do not fray and disintegrate with repeated laundering.” 

Somebody, apparently, was listening.

Snaps and buttons were identified as possible fixes for failing Velcro. The Army surveyed 2,700 soldiers who tested prototypes, and 60% said they preferred buttons and 29% liked snaps. Just 11% wanted to keep Velcro, according to the Army. In the end, the Army decided to substitute three buttons for Velcro on the cargo pockets of its pants.

It’s cheaper, too. The Army will save 96 cents per uniform when it swaps buttons for Velcro, Dawson said.

The new-and-improved uniforms will still have plenty of Velcro, the sticky fabric popularized during spaceflights. (Astronauts used it to keep pens and other items from floating in the weightless environment.) Velcro remains on the cuffs of sleeves. It’s also used for nameplates and patches.

Hatten’s ideal uniform might save the Army a few more pennies.

“I don’t mind the insignia Velcro on the sleeve pockets, but why would I need Velcro for my name tape and U.S. Army tapes?” he asked. “Am I going to change my name and join a different army? Why not let us sew these items on the uniform, along with the patrol cap? That’s cheaper, more durable and reduces the possibility of having your uniform items stolen or tampered with.”

The Army, Dawson said, hears soldiers like Hatten. It’s aware of continuing complaints about Velcro and will take them into account when redesigning uniforms in the future.