Brigadier General Stephen E. Farmen, the Army Chief of Transportation, is spearheading efforts to help transitioning Soldiers gain civilian transportation employment. His initial focus is on helping transitioning motor transport operators enter the civilian workforce
as Class A licensed truckdrivers.

The Chief of Transportation’s Army Driver Standardization Office (ADSO) has been working with partners from Congress, Federal agencies, State governments, industry, and trucking associations to develop a process in which military training and experience can be used to meet the professional and technical standards required for a commercial driver’s license (CDL).

To be licensed, drivers must meet not only national requirements but also additional state requirements for CDL certification. In an effort to help standardize criteria, the ADSO has been working with several State departments of motor vehicles to educate officials
on Army truckdriver training, vehicle classifications, documentation of driver experience, and military licensing processes.

The ADSO, in conjunction with its partners, has been successful in getting at least 27 states to recognize Army truckdriver training and experience as an acceptable standard for the driving skills test portion of the CDL exam. The driving skills test normally requires
student drivers to perform a set of actual driving maneuvers successfully. Prospective drivers still must pass a written test on highway safety and a test about different parts of a truck.

To ensure that servicemembers leave the military career-ready with a CDL, the ADSO has established a pilot project with the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles that allows the military to conduct third-party testing at select sites within the state. One of the proposed sites will be Fort Lee, Virginia where training will be offered prior to the written
examination. At least 26 other states are prepared to offer this same program to transitioning Soldiers. For a current list of states participating in the program, visit
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/reg-licensing/cdl/ Military-Skills-Test-Waiver-Map.pdf.

The Chief of Transportation’s Chief for Reserve Affairs also is working with industry; the Commercial Vehicle Training Association; members of the Training, Readiness, and Mobilization Office, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs); the Army’s Institutional Training Division; and the Army Reserve’s Employer Partnership Office on advancing employment opportunities for Soldiers who wish to become professional vehicle operators but do not meet minimum experience requirements. Most recently, the Commercial Vehicle Training Association announced that it has some truckdriver training schools willing to administer pretest exams, tailor training according to results, and expedite the process for getting Soldiers CDLs. These selected schools will also have trucking industry employers present to conduct interviews and hire graduates.

On 17 August 2012, General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Katherine Hammack, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment, broke ground on a $9.6 million solar-power renewable-energy project at Tooele Army Depot, Utah. The Sterling construction project, awarded to Infinia Corp., will consist of 430 solar-powered dishes on a 15-acre site at the depot and will be used to generate 30 percent of the depot’s electricity.

Army Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy and Environment Visits Reserve Troops to Discuss Energy Challenges. Read more...

Soldiers with the 515th Transportation Company change a palletized load system’s tire during
Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan’s first truck rodeo competition, held 17 August 2012. The 25th
Transportation Company hosted the event in which the 515th, 781st, 25th, and 1486th Transportation Companies, who support Joint Sustainment Command– Afghanistan Soldiers throughout southern Afghanistan, participated. The rodeo provided an opportunity for truckdrivers to sharpen their skills and provided the winning unit, the 25th Transportation
Company, with bragging rights as the best transportation company at Kandahar Airfield.
(Photo by SGT Gregory Williams)

A Fort Hood, Texas, unit is among the field-level winners of the 2012 Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards. The awards recognize depot- and field-level units achievements in weapon system and military equipment maintenance.

The 1st squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, from Fort Hood placed in the large category of the field-level maintenance awards alongside the 23d Maintenance Group, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

This year’s Robert T. Mason Depot Maintenance Excellence Award went to the Air Force’s C–130 Programmed Depot Maintenance Team at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Georgia

The Blue Force Tracking Aviation (BFT–AVN) Tactical Operations Center Kit AN/GYK–65 has finished its transition to organic support. As of 1 October 2012, units can order parts for their aviation tactical operations center kits through their respective supply support activities. These parts can now be requisitioned through military standard requisitioning and issue procedures from the Army Communications-Electronics Command Life Cycle Management Command (CECOM LCMC) and the Defense Logistics Agency. The Defense Advance GPS [Global Positioning System] Receiver, with the national stock number 5825–01–516–8038 or 5825–01–526–4783, fielded as an associated support item of equipment in the kit, is being issued and managed by CECOM LCMC.

A letter of instruction outlining the supply and maintenance details of the kit is being distributed to the Army Commands and combat aviation brigades. For more information or to ask questions concerning the kit, contact Jaime Astilla, BFT–AVN logistics lead, by email at jaime.astilla@us.army.mil or by telephone at (256) 895–3088.

A mobile training team from Fort Lee, Virginia, spent a month at Fort Hood, Texas, preparing artillery repairers for their new military occupational specialty of (MOS) 91F (small arms/towed artillery repairer). From 15 May to 15 June 2012, 47 Soldiers attended the reclassification training at the motor pools of the 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. During this training, instructors taught Soldiers the skills needed to repair and maintain small arms stored in units’ arms rooms and the M777 light towed howitzer.

In August, the Army Ordnance School instructors also taught reclassification classes for repairers at Fort Carson, Colorado, and Fort Riley, Kansas. The reclassification training is necessary as the Army phases out MOS 46B (small arms/artillery repairer) and replaces it
with MOS 91F (small arms/towed artillery repairer).

As the Army redesigns its doctrine to meet Doctrine 2015 standards, it is releasing a number of major publications. Most recently, the following items have been added to Army doctrine:
‰‰Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 4–0 and Army Doctrine Reference Publication (ADRP)

• 4–0, Sustainment, both published 31 July 2012.
• ADP 5–0 and ADRP 5–0, The Operations Process, both published 17 May 2012.
• ADP 6–0 and ADRP 6–0, Mission Command, both published 17 May 2012.
• ADP 6–22 and ADRP 6–22, Army Leadership, both published 1 August 2012.
• ADP 7–0 and ADRP 7–0, Training Units and Developing Leaders, both published 23 August 2012
• Field Manual 6–01.1, Knowledge Management Operations, published 16 July 2012.

The publications are available for download from http://www.apd.army.mil/ProductMap.asp under the “Doctrine and Training” menu. Users will have to log into the website using their common access card before they can view the publications.