AUSA Conference

Chris, Kate, myself finally HOME!

I was invited to attend the AUSA (Association of the United States Army) conference in Washington D.C this week. It was a great opportunity to represent Fort Jackson and all the issues we want brought to the attention of the commanders. What a great week!

woah. is all I have to say. It was a great opportunity for me as well as the other 3 ladies who came. Needless to say it was a HUGE eye opener. This was the first year that TRADOC was invited so that was HOOAH!

after our first day of sessions we realized that all the info and training we were getting was geared towards FORSCOM (the posts and unit that deploy)..... not really helping us out. So we brought that to the attention of the "higher ups" putting on the conference. They were very excited ot hear from us. So they tried to shift as much as they could. I was surprised at how LITTLE FRG leaders did NOT know?? A couple ladies never heard for EMFP??? excuse me? Or Respite care???? And I was excited to learn that we have our sh!t together at Fort Jackson compared to other BCT posts!!! I did learn that other BCT posts get cycle breaks where as Ft Jackson is working on almost a year with zero cycle breaks for majority of the units. I brought his issue up to the Deputy Tradoc commander and he was surprised and concerned with that news... so i"m hoping something will be done. Also I learned that respite care for Drill Sgts families is on the way (hooray) AND most important we met with Congresswoman Gilford from AZ and she told us the bill for the 3.9% raise was pushed through!!! SAWEET! Then on the way home we shared the bus and plane with Congressman Wilson (woohoo) and he also assured us that the raise was going to come! So that was great news!