Sometimes, moments from a good movie can apply to our own experience, making them that much more unforgettable. One of my favorite movies is , a 1970 biographical film about General (GEN) George S. Patton during World War II. GEN Patton was best known for his larger-than-life, quirky personality and his history-making command of the Third Army in 1944.

News & Notes 2024 Issue 3

Colonel (Retired) (COL (Ret.)) Tom Strassburg, a distinguished member of our Regiment, kindly accepted my request to interview him for a Vietnam elective I took while attending the Naval War College. Then-Captain Strassburg served a year-long deployment in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971 in the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile).

In March 2024, the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA) for the 1st Infantry Division (1ID) participated in its Warfighter Exercise (WFX 24-3), a crucial training event that units complete to meet their demand readiness objectives. The Department of the Army merged 1ID’s WFX 24-3 with Austere Challenge 24 (AC 24) to create a multi-echelon exercise with U.S. Army Europe-Africa, V Corps, and 3d Infantry Division (3ID).

“The challenge we all face is how to maintain the benefits of breadth, diverse experience, interdisciplinary thinking, and delayed concentration in a world that increasingly incentivizes, even demands, hyperspecialization.”¹

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”¹

George Armstrong Custer is one of the most famous and controversial officers in the history of the U.S. Army. A Civil War hero, Custer is likely best remembered for his catastrophic defeat and death at the Little Bighorn on 25 June 1876. His widow and a sympathetic press did much to create a “Custer Myth” in the aftermath of his death, while later examinations of Custer highlighted both his impetuousness as a commander and his role in controversial incidents such as the Battle of the Washita in November 1868.

Government contracts typically contain a changes clause that permits the contracting officer to make unilateral changes to certain aspects of the contract, provided those changes are within the “general scope” of the contract.¹ When such changes decrease the cost or time to perform part of the work under the contract, the contracting officer must make an equitable adjustment to the contract price and/or performance period to reflect the reduction.²

U.S. military forces deserve clear guidance on their leaders’ tolerance for collateral damage. Unfortunately, there appear to be mixed messages about proportionality as the Department of Defense (DoD) simultaneously applies lessons learned in Afghanistan and contemplates armed conflict with a peer or near-peer adversary. On one hand, senior military officers are stressing the importance of increased offensive capabilities, “rings of fire,” and “unrepentant lethality.”¹

The Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act¹ (SCRA) “postpones or suspends certain civil obligations to enable Service members to devote their full attention to duty and relieve stress on their families.”² This includes various financial safeguards for active-duty Service members, including protections against default judgments in civil cases, provisions to prevent foreclosures, and mechanisms to reduce interest rates on pre-service loans.³