Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Lieutenant Colonel Melinda F. Morgan, USAF, Chief for Public Affairs

Melinda F. Morgan received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing from the University of Kentucky at Lexington. She went on to earn a Master’s of Education in Counseling from Louisiana Technical University in Ruston.

She was commissioned as a graduate of the Air Force ROTC at Kentucky. Her Air Force career has spanned the additional career fields of Current Operation Officer, Section Commander and Manpower Management. Her experience has included the war fighting missions of AWACS, B-52, A-10, F-16 and Headquarters European Command. She has provided public affairs support for Operation Allied Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Hurricane Katrina Relief Operations.

Lieutenant Colonel Morgan is currently assigned as the Chief for Public Affairs , Information and Products, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs , Pentagon, Washington, D.C. She just completed a seven-month deployment to the Combined Air Operations Center as Deputy Director of Public Affairs.

IN THE NEWS: Lieutenant Colonel Melinda Morgan, speaking for the Pentagon, reported the successful test of a new bomb capable of exceeding the speed of sound. She said the test aimed to gather data on “aerodynamics, navigation, guidance and control, and thermal protection technologies.” The project is part of the Prompt Global Strike program which seeks to give the US military the means to deliver conventional weapons anywhere in the world within an hour.

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

General Norton A. Schwartz, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force

Norton Allan Schwartz was born in December 1951 at Toms River, New Jersey. General Schwartz graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, receiving his bachelor’s degree in political science and international affairs. He earned a Master’s degree in business administration from Central Michigan University. He is an alumnus of the National War College, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His assignments range from student undergraduate pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, in Texas, to service in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Virginia, Washington and other locations domestically, and in the Philippines and Germany. He has more than 4,000 flying hours in a variety of aircraft, and participated in the airlift evacuation of Saigon. He served as Chief of Staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq and in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He also led the Joint Task Force that prepared for the noncombatant evacuation of U.S. citizens in Cambodia.

Norton is the current Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C. As Chief, he serves as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipping of 680,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Norton and other service chiefs function as military advisers to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and the President.

Schwartz is the first Jewish Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

IN THE NEWS: General Norton Schwartz testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, fielding tough questions over the Dover mortuary. Schwartz was visibly unhappy with some of the questions, but he didn’t duck. “There should be no misunderstanding about who is responsible,” he said. “It’s Mike Donley [Secretary of the Air Force] and me. There’s no escaping it.” Schwartz added, “America deserves the highest standards of service of integrity and excellence. And we can accept nothing less.”

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Michele Angelique Flournoy was born in December 1960 in Los Angeles, California.

Ms. Flournoy earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University and a master’s degree in international relations from Balliol College, Oxford University.

She was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction and, at the same time, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy. In that capacity, she oversaw three policy offices in the office of the Secretary of Defense: Strategy; Requirements, Plans and Counterproliferation; and Russia, Ukraine and Eurasian Affairs.

She has served as a distinguished research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, where she founded and led the university’s Quadrennial Defense Review working group, which was chartered by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop intellectual capital in preparation for the Department of Defense’s quarterly review.

Ms. Flournoy was appointed President of the Center for a New American Security, prior to which she was a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she worked on a broad range of defense policy and international security issues.

She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in February 2009. She serves as the principal staff assistant and adviser to the Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Secretary of Defense for all matters on the formation of national security and defense policy and the integration and oversight of DoD policy and plans to achieve national security objectives.

Ms. Flournoy is married to Scott Gould, a retired Captain in the United States Navy Reserve, and now U.S. Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and they have three children.

IN THE NEWS: Recent violence in Afghanistan reminded Americans that bringing about a peaceful Afghanistan is far from complete, Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, said at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York. Such isolated attacks should not cause people to think that U.S. and NATO operations are “doomed,” Flournoy said. Events on the ground prove “momentum has shifted in Afghanistan and the strategy is working.”

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

General James Thurman, U.S. Army, Commander, U.S. Forces in Korea

James David Thurman was born in September 1953 in Marietta, Oklahoma. He received a B.A. in history from East Central University and a Master of arts in Management from Webster University. Thurman received a regular Army commission from the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1975.

Thurman began his career in the 4th Infantry Division serving as Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, and Motor Officer for 6th Battalion, 32nd Armor. He commanded all levels from Company to Division. After attending the Officer Rotary Wing Aviator Course, he commanded the Aero-Scout Platoon, and later became an officer with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North, Carolina.

He received additional education at the U.S. Army Armor School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, the Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and served as Executive Officer at Fort Hood, Texas. He saw active duty in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia, and was Chief of Operations with the Coalition Forces Land Component Command, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Camp Doha, Kuwait.

In October 2006, Thurman was nominated for promotion by President George W. Bush to the rank of Lieutenant General. His receipt of promotion and his third star was January 2007. Just the month prior to that, Thurman took over assignment in Heidelberg, Germany. His current command assignment began in July of this year. His title is United Nations Command, R.O.K.-U.S. Combined Forces Command, Korea.

IN THE NEWS: Both General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and James D. Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces, Korea, joined Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in the 43rd Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul, Korea, an annual gathering of U.S. and South Korean senior military leaders. Thurman said he couldn’t be more proud of the combat-seasoned force he commands with both the Republic of Korea and U.S. troops. He added that based on what he sees in Korea daily, troops’ concerns about budget cuts don’t seem to be affecting morale. “If you stick around long enough, the questions get to what it means to be a Soldier, a Sailor, an Airman, a Marine,” added General Dempsey.

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

General Keith B. Alexander, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command

Keith B. Alexander was born in December 1951 in Syracuse, New York. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also has an MSBA from the Boston University Graduate School of Management and dual Master of Science degrees in systems technology (electronic warfare) and physics from the Naval Postgraduate School. He holds a MS in national security from the National Defense University.

Previous assignments include the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Headquarters of the Department of the Army in Washington. He was Commanding General of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and Director of Intelligence for the U.S. Central Command, McDill Air Force Base, Florida. Prior to that he was Deputy Director for Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and served in a variety of command assignments in Germany and the U.S.

He served as an intelligence officer during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia.

General Alexander is a Roman Catholic.

IN THE NEWS: Last month, Russia, China, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan submitted a resolution to the UN General Assembly calling for giving individual states the right to control the internet. The resolution called for “an international code of conduct for information security.” It requests “international deliberations within the United Nations framework on such an international code, with the aim of achieving the earliest possible consensus on international norms and rules guiding the behavior of states in the information space.” When asked at security conference about the resolution, General Keith Alexander, the Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command said, “How do we do this without regulating it [the internet]?” He indicated his disfavor in giving the regulation power to the United Nations.

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

Major General Jeffrey S. Buchanan, Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Reserve Command

Jeffrey S. Buchanan was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry upon graduation from the University of Arizona with a BS degree in Wildlife Ecology. His first assignment was with the 82^nd Airborne Division, where he served as a Rifle Platoon Leader, a Reconnaissance Platoon Leader, and a Rifle Company Executive Officer.

For four years he served at the United States Military Academy at West Point as a Company and Battalion Tactical Officer. His next assignment was with the 101^st Airborne Division (Air Assault), shortly after which he served with a Task Force on Full accounting, an organization that still strives to account for Americans that remain missing from the Vietnam War.

IN THE NEWS: Defense officials are seeking to minimize reports that Iraqi leaders have asked that 5,000 U.S. troops remain in the country after the end of the year. Under a 2008 security pact, all remaining U.S. troops must leave Iraq by the end of this year. Iraqi and U.S. officials have been discussing whether to keep a small U.S. military presence in the country after December to train Iraqi security forces.President Obama is considering leaving 3,000 to 5,000 troops in the country. Major General Jeffrey Buchanan told Pentagon reporters that troop totals have been kept at about 40,000 in order to give commanders the most flexibility as they debate how large a force to leave in Iraq. He said there also are about 150 NATO troops in Iraq, from a number of different countries, helping to train Iraqi forces.

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

Major General Robert B. Abrams, Commanding General, 3^rd Infantry Division U.S. Army

Robert B. “Abe” Abrams calls Texas his home. He received his military commission from the United States Military Academy. His military schooling includes the Armor Basic and Advanced Courses, Airborne School, Ranger School, the Combined Arms and Services Staff School, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College.

Abrams’ service assignments include Commander, Delta Company, 1^st Battalion, 8^th Cavalry, 1^st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm,; and duties at Fort Bliss, Texas, Fort Carson, Colorado and the Pentagon.

Major General Abrams is married to Connie Clevenger and has two children. He has two brothers, Brigadier General Creighton Williams Abrams III and General John Nelson Abrams. Their late father was General Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr.

IN THE NEWS: Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behaviors that has no limitations and members of the U.S. armed services are not immune from it. The Army declared October to be their Domestic Violence Awareness month. Said Major General Robert “Abe” Abrams, “This is a topic that generally, in our country, we don’t really want to talk about. It’s highly personal and there is never generally a good outcome when it occurs. There are plenty of people who suffer from domestic violence that are embarrassed or otherwise choose to suffer with it, and if our signing the proclamation can encourage those who are abused to have the courage to raise their hand and seek help, then it’s absolutely worth our time.”

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

General Martin E. Dempsey, U.S. Army, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Martin Dempsey was born in 1952 in Goshen, New York. He graduated from John S. Burke Catholic High School. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant.

His other education includes receiving a Master of Arts in English from Duke University, and a Master of Military Art and Science from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He also received an M.S. in national security and strategic studies from the National War College.

During his 36 years of military service, General Dempsey has served in a variety of professionally rewarding and developmental positions across the Army in both the generating and operating forces. He served as the Executive Officer of the 4^th Battalion 67^th Armor (Bandits) in Germany, and went on to be the Executive Officer of another Brigade during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He then commanded the 3^rd Armored Cavalry Regiment as a Colonel.

Promoted to Brigadier General, Dempsey assumed command of the 1^st Armored Division in Iraq. While there, he added to his work the operational command over the 2^nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and a brigade of the 82^nd Airborne Division, in a command known as “Task Force Iron.”

When Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accepted his assignment, Dempsey took over command as acting commander at CENTCOM. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Commander of the Seventh U.S. Army in Europe. In February of 2011, he was appointed the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. In August 2011, he was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent to replace Admiral Mike Mullen as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was sworn in on September 30, 2011.

General Dempsey is married to his high school sweetheart, Deanie, and they have three children, with three grandchildren and another expected in the summer. Each of Dempsey’s three children has served in the U.S. Army.

IN THE NEWS: In a ceremony at Fort Myer, Virginia, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta welcomed General Martin Dempsey as the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Panetta said, “He knows about people, he knows about hard work; he knows about sacrifice.” Even before taking over as chairman, Dempsey made clear that he differs with his predecessor (Admiral Mike Mullen) on one of the most important issues of the day – the threat posed to national security by a growing national debt. He also said that his view, developed in the course of a 37-year career including two tours of command in Iraq and one in Saudi Arabia, was that American global power and influence are derived from three strengths: military, diplomatic and economic. “You can’t pick or choose,” he said, none of the three is paramount.

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

General Carter Ham, U.S. Army, Commander U.S. Africa Command

Carter F. Ham was born in February 1952 in Portland, Oregon. He enlisted as an infantryman in the 82^nd Airborne Division before attending John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant through the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He later received his master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, as well as graduating from several military schools.

His early assignments included service at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and tours of duty in Italy and Germany. He was a recruiting area commander in Lima, Ohio, and served with a joint service unit in support of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

He served a tour as an advisor with a Saudi Arabian National Brigade in Riyadh. He saw action in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Able Sentry (Macedonia), and Operation Iraqi Freedom. General Ham was also head of Operation Odyssey Dawn, conducting the no-fly operations over Libya in early 2011.

He is the current commander of the U.S. Africa Command. He is married to Christi.

IN THE NEWS: The U.S. Africa Command was established in 2008 and was long thought to be best shaped for training African nations and “building their capacity” to maintain stability. But the command’s first leader, Army General William “Kip” Wald, believed the United States would eventually need an AfriCom that could undertake more traditional military operations and he moved his command in that direction, current Commander General Carter Ham said. Ham has continued that shift, and has made it clear he intends to keep it going by, among other things, adding many more special-operations forces. The AfriCom chief also said he would welcome more special-ops forces to conduct a range of missions, including training of African forces. “The demand for special-operating forces of lots of different flavors is pretty significant in Africa,” Ham said.

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |

Featured Member of the Armed Forces for Prayer

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force

Michael Bruce Donley was born in October 1952 in Novato, California. He earned his B.A, and M.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California. He also attended the Program for Senior Executives in National Security at Harvard University.

Donley served in the United States Army from 1972-1978, and while with the Army he attended the Army Intelligence School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey, California, and the Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He also served with the Special Forces.

He was a legislative assistant in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1981, and then a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1981 to 1984. Thereafter he served as director of defense programs and Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Security Council from 1984 through 1989.

In 1998, Donley was appointed as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller. In May 2005, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld appointed Donley to be Director of Administration and Management. He was responsible for the $5.5 billion Pentagon Renovation and Construction Program (resulting from the events of 9/11/2001).

In October of 2008, Donley became Secretary of the Air Force. As such he is responsible for the Department of the Air Force, including the organizing, training, equipping and providing for the welfare of more than 300,000 men and women on active duty, 180,000 members of the Air Force National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 160,000 civilians and their families; while overseeing the Air Force’s annual budget of approximately $110 billion.

IN THE NEWS: All the military services can expect “more budget churn” as Washington fights the” war on debt,” said Michael Donley, Air Force Secretary. He added because defense spending accounts for about 19 percent of the federal budget, “defense cannot be exempted from efforts to get our financial house in order. While the August deficit reduction bill mandated $350 billion in national security spending cuts over a decade, Donley said, “we will need to accept greater risk in some areas, terminate some lower-priority programs, streamline others, continue driving efficiency in our operations, and make some tough choices about the core tenets of our national security strategy.” He promised the protection of “certain capabilities” and that he “must not break faith” with personnel.

Posted in armed forces prayer focus |