AUSA speaks with 'one voice'

Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Preston, vice president of AUSA’s noncommissioned officer and soldier program, spoke about the history and work of the Association of the United States Army during the AUSA General Membership Luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 17.

Preston stated that World War I influenced the creation and the mission of the association.

“When you look at World War I, we had 4 million soldiers who served in uniform,” he said. “Two-and-a-half million of those actually served in combat overseas.”

He said the junior leaders from WWI became the senior leaders in WWII.

“(WWI) ended,” he said. “WWI was not the ‘War to End All Wars.’ In 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, we could see the writing on the wall. At that point, we had shrunk the Army to less than 200,000 (soldiers). We went from 4 million in uniform back to 200,000 as a conscript Army, just as we had always done because armies are expensive.”

Then, for World War II, the Army had to grow again. Preston referenced the “Big Red One” division, which he said was one of the first infantry divisions sent into combat during World War II.

“In the aftermath of WWII, we went from 8 million soldiers and immediately started downsizing,” he said. “By 1950, (the Army) was down to less than 900,000. It was getting smaller.”

He said the senior officers left in the Army by 1950 saw the importance of a larger, stronger Army, which was represented by a number of organizations for different components of the Army.

“In the Army, we have lots of associations,” he said, stating the various associations would go to Capitol Hill to argue for support. “The Vice Chief Staff of the Army (in 1950) was Gen. Wade Haislip.”

Preston said Haislip stated that the different associations were sending “mixed signals” while calling for support of different areas of the Army. He said Haislip called for the Army to speak with “one voice.”

“(Haislip) said, ‘We’re going to create an association, an association of all the organizations, and we’re going to call it the Association of the United States Army,’” he said. “Of course, the mission (of AUSA) was to be a voice for the Army and support for the soldier.”

He the organization continues to serve as that “one voice” for the Army today and supports the nation’s soldiers.

“Here in the last couple of years, we’ve kind of gone back to our roots,” he said, stating that more and more organizations are coming together to work through AUSA. “As of December 2018, this association is now 138,543 total. I would tell you that there’s strength in numbers.”

He stated that there are also 123 chapters of AUSA found around the United States and the world.

“I’m very proud of the Wiregrass chapter of the Association of the United States Army,” he said. “By bringing the American public and local leadership together, you get the opportunity to really know and understand the needs of the Army, where the Army is going, and it’s an opportunity out there for America to support our force going forward.”

He said that AUSA also provides needed information through various publications available to AUSA members.

Preston also said that the Chief of Staff of the Army’s six priorities will continue to be the focus of AUSA’s conversations with Congress. These priorities are long-range precision fires, future vertical lift, next-generation combat vehicles, the network of command control intelligence, air missile defense and soldier lethality.

“Your association is out there, and it’s doing great things,” he said. “Your association is strong, and we’re going to continue to get stronger.”