Army releases new primer on organization, purpose for leaders
Field Manual 1, 'The Army: A Primer to Our Profession of Arms,' was released in mid-May and is available for download from the Army's website.
The slim volume — 10 chapters in 74 pages — was written in plain language and avoids jargon to better communicate the Army's message.
'Focus is on junior leaders — lieutenants and sergeants — with the intent of explaining in clear language what the Army expects of them and what they can expect of the Army,' Rich Creed Jr., director of the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate, recently told Army Times. 'It does so with historical vignettes pertaining to leadership during the types of operations junior leaders should be prepared to experience, and an uncomplicated explanation of what makes up the Army and how it is organized.'
Beyond those ranks, the book is expected to be a touchstone for leaders as they progress through the ranks. As individuals rise into leadership positions, they can refer to the book to see how it reflects their responsibilities at every level.
'At higher levels of professional military education, you may have a block of time to discuss the material from different perspectives. Rather than learning the material in the book, you might think through, 'How am I taking the material in FM 1 and making it real in my unit?' Or 'How is FM 1 serving as the foundation for how I coach, counsel and mentor?'' Creed said.
The primer is a companion piece to Army Doctrine Publication 1, 'The Army,' a denser description of the service written for more experienced individuals.
The directorate is shipping print copies of the primer to Cadet Command, Basic Officer Leader Courses and Officer Candidate Schools for the graduating classes of 2025 and 2026, Creed said.
But anyone can download an electronic copy from the Army Publication Directorate website.
The 10 chapters are divided into three main sections. The first section discusses the importance of a warrior mindset and preparing all soldiers for battle.
'We are all part of a team and need to have certain basic skills and attitudes, regardless of where we happen to serve,' Creed said. 'We do so as a member of the profession of arms, which is different than the ancient idea of warriors fighting as individuals for themselves and personal glory.'
The section ends with a discussion on leadership and understanding the responsibilities of being a leader and a good follower.
The second section lays out what the Army is for, what the Army does and what it's composed of in terms of organizations and people.
The final section discusses soldiers' obligations as members of the joint force and when they operate with allies and partners. It ends with what the Army owes its civilian leadership and fellow American citizens, Creed said.
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Some dog-paddled, held up by their life jacket. Others paddled on their back, hoping to conserve energy. One by one, the Rangers shuffled out of the water, soaked and shivering in the cool morning air. 'This sucks,' one of the paratroopers of Team 34 said as they scrambled up the concrete boat ramp and a subsequent hill. Without stopping, his partner answered with the universal infantry rejoinder, 'Embrace the suck.' That meant a day of marching with 50-pound rucksacks as the teams navigated from task to task, earning points for each. In the past, the competition had been linear: Each team followed the same sequence of events. This year's wrinkle—called 'Ranger Reckoning'—left it to the soldiers to complete the remaining objectives in any order. Each task presented a different problem. One was an urban-assault course where teams attacked a two-story building; after throwing a grenade into a makeshift bunker, they would rush forward to a yellow line and perform 20 burpees (an exercise in which a single rep includes a push-up followed by a squat jump). The exercise raised their heart rate, mimicking the stress of combat. Once the burpees were done, the team shot red balloons attached to two targets before moving inside a cinder-block house, where they then faced other targets meant to represent both enemy fighters (to shoot) and civilians (to avoid shooting). In past years, completing events faster meant more time to rest between events. But this new format turned the first day into an endurance competition, O'Brien told me. In all, the teams marched about 35 miles to complete the course. Every task was graded by instructors from the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, which runs Ranger School. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Blain Reeves, a two-time competitor who won the Best Ranger competition in 1993 and served with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq, told me that the first day was a 'smoker.' (Ranger School is meant to 'smoke'—exhaust—its students each day.) Team 38—White and her partner, Captain Seth Deltenre—had a 20-person cheering section that followed them from station to station. White did not agree to an interview; it seemed that she wanted her achievement to speak for itself. Among her supporters was Kris Fuhr, a 1985 West Point graduate who recalled coming of age in a very different military. West Point 'made it very clear that they did not want us there,' she told me. 'We didn't have the protections of equal opportunity' or resources around sexual harassment and assault. 'We had no advocates.' Fuhr has tried to take on that role for younger women in the military, and has run a mentorship program for women attending Ranger School since they were first allowed to do so, in 2015. Later that same year, then–Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that all military positions would be open to women. (Although women had served near the front lines for years, this decision removed the remaining formal barriers to direct-combat roles.) The Army reports that 367 women have attempted Ranger School since 2015; 160 have earned the Ranger tab. In recent years, upwards of 1,000 men have earned a Ranger tab each year. In my months of contact with the Army's event organizers leading up to the Best Ranger Competition, no one mentioned Team 38 or Gabrielle White. In different times, the Army might have celebrated White's history-making presence. But under Trump and Hegseth, mentions of historic achievements by women and minorities have been removed from military websites. As of this writing, trans service members have been banned from the military, and the Pentagon has taken the name of the slain gay leader Harvey Milk, a Navy veteran, off of a supply ship. In his 2024 book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, Hegseth wrote that 'women cannot physically meet the same standards as men,' arguing that they will mother soldiers in their units. 'Dads push us to take risks,' he wrote, but 'moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units.' On a video podcast last year, Hegseth said: 'I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective; hasn't made us more lethal; has made fighting more complicated.' (He has since walked back some of his earlier remarks. On the Megyn Kelly Show in early December, he said, 'If we have the right standard and women meet that standard, roger. Let's go.') During his confirmation process, Hegseth echoed President Trump's desire for a Pentagon focused on 'lethality, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness.' It is worth noting that Gabrielle White was given no accommodations or special treatment, and at no point did the Ranger instructors adjust her score because she was a woman. Waiting to start the Malvesti Obstacle Course, Moore and Hokanson bounced from foot to foot and shook out their arms and legs. Both knew they had no more than four minutes of suffering before a break. When they got the order to go, Moore and Hokanson easily knocked out the six chin-ups and shimmied up the 30-foot rope. Jumping down a log ladder with nearly six feet between each rung barely slowed them down. Finishing the monkey bars over water put them on the edge of the notorious 'worm pit,' a shallow, muddy trench covered with barbed wire that would-be Rangers must crawl through—sometimes submerged—on their belly. Hokanson went first. Moore was next, slipping past the last rusty strand of wire and meeting Hokanson on the chin-up bar. Six more chin-ups and a run to the finish line later, they'd completed the obstacle course in three minutes and 35 seconds—a respectable time for rested soldiers, and an astonishing one for people who'd been going for almost 13 hours. They hadn't caught their breath before it was time for a pop quiz, which instructors give after some events to test competitors' cognitive powers. In which three conflicts did Army Colonel Richard Malvesti—the Ranger for whom the course is named—serve? (The answer, which Hokanson and Moore got right, was Vietnam, Grenada, and Operation Just Cause in Panama.) Before a night ruck march, the field would be narrowed to 32 pairs. In the holding area, Moore pulled off his boots and propped his swollen feet, chewed up with blisters from his wet socks, on his rucksack. He was exhausted, but he and Hokanson were in first place and Moore knew all eyes were on them. 'I'm going to act like this is the first thing I'm doing and I'm fresh,' Moore said. 'Everyone's going to look at me and realize that we are here to do business.' Competitors had deliberately not been told how long the ruck march would be, but at least they were hydrated and had gotten something to eat. When it was time, Moore laced up his boots once more. 'You look strong,' Hokanson told his partner. 'I don't know if you're faking it or if you're being serious, but you look strong.' Moore admitted afterward that he'd been faking it a little. Nevertheless, Team 44 took the lead and tore through the first four miles. Hokanson and Moore soon dumped their rucksacks to face the next test: They were each to carry two 45-pound water jugs for an unknown distance using only grip strength—no carrying the jugs on their shoulders, no wrist wraps, no resting the jugs on their feet, no setting them on the ground. As soon as one jug was set down, both men would have to stop and return to the starting line. The test, as the Ranger livestream commentator said, had a steep price for failure. Team 44 came in second, but had the most total points for the competition. Team 38—White and Deltenre—sat near the bottom of the table. Before the second day's events kicked off, the Rangers lay on the grass outside Doughboy Stadium, their boots and socks off. When they walked, they tended to do so with a grimace or a limp. Inside the stadium were six stations, including one where the soldiers had to breach doors with a torch, a saw, and fire-rescue tools. At the first station, teams would toss a 100-pound medicine ball over one shoulder between burpees—30 in all—before hauling a 290-pound yoke 50 meters. Then they'd each climb a 15-foot rope 10 times. Later they'd sprint to a dummy, bandage its fake wounds, and haul it roughly 50 yards on a stretcher sled back to the starting line. At the last station, they would throw axes before they retreated to a neighboring baseball field to throw practice grenades. For Team 44, this was light work. Moore, in particular, seemed to have a well of energy, and the men left the stadium area before lunch, giving them time to rest. More was at stake for White and Deltenre as they entered the stadium to cheers from their supporters; only 16 teams would advance to the third and final day, and Team 38 would need good scores to make it. After each burpee and medicine-ball throw, White and Deltenre encouraged each other to press on. They skipped the rope climb, incurring a penalty but saving energy for other events, and went on to win the axe throwing, which moved them up to 17th place. By the end of the afternoon, they were the only team that still seemed upbeat. They waited for the order to head toward the field where a Black Hawk helicopter would take them to Camp Darby for a mystery event before the night land-navigation test—historically the most difficult part of the competition. Once they got the order, White and Deltenre trotted to the helicopter. For the night event, each team would have five hours to find five points in the tangled swamps near Hollis Branch Creek without using any roads or trails. Hokanson took the lead on navigating for Team 44. Moore followed his partner's chem light as they bushwhacked through the swamp, in mud up to their knees, to the first point. But when they got across the swamp, Hokanson didn't see what he'd expected. Checking the map again, he realized they were going the wrong way. 'Kevin, I love you, but we're going to have to go through this again,' Hokanson said. 'Griff, I'm going to kill you,' Moore said. 'I'm going to wring your neck.' They had planned to hit one point each hour, but it took them almost two hours in the thorn brushes and mud to find the first one. With their bearings finally set, the men found two more points in under two hours and a fourth before the five-hour cutoff, leaving them with a lead of more than 100 points going into day three. (No team found all five points in the allotted time.) Team 38, meanwhile, ranked second in the night navigation event, securing themselves a spot for the final day. At 7:30 the next morning, as the first streaks of light came through the pine trees, the 16 remaining teams prepared to take on the Darby Queen, one of the toughest obstacle courses in the U.S. Army. The course comprises 24 stations made mostly of wood and rope set over a mile of rolling terrain. Some are as tall as three stories; others require crawling through trenches. Hokanson, who scored the fastest official solo time during the regiment's training period this year, moved effortlessly through them all, encouraging Moore as he went. They finished first, extending their lead. Next, the teams retreated to a field where they packed their gear and wrapped it with their ponchos to create a raft before boarding a helicopter for a short flight to Victory Pond. Sitting in the door of the helicopter with his legs dangling, Hokanson was shivering uncontrollably. After two full days of competition, he couldn't wait to complete the final tasks. The helicopter swooped past a rappelling tower and hovered over the middle of the lake. As the crew chief signaled for Team 44 to jump, they pushed their raft into the water before following it out. They swam their rucksacks to shore, then ran to a launch point where inflatable boats waited and paddled against the current, across the lake to the rappelling tower. One more water event and Team 44 could rest before the final run, whose distance the competitors did not know. The Combat Water Survival Assessment, which also must be completed during the beginning of Ranger School, starts at the bottom of a 35-foot-tall metal ladder. From the top, with no safety harness, Moore calmly walked across a log suspended above the pond. He shimmied across a rope, plunged into the water and swam to a dock, then ran back and tagged Hokanson, who started up the 35-foot ladder to the suspended log. Moore, meanwhile, headed for a 70-foot tower. At the top of the tower's staircase, he slid down on a pulley attached to a suspended cable, and crashed into the pond. All of these tasks were timed. Even though their lead was insurmountable this late in the competition, Hokanson and Moore ran through the course at full speed; they didn't want to leave any doubt. They came in fourth for the event, all but assuring their victory. Now the only thing left to do was run the final road race. Team 43—another 75th Regiment team, made up of Sergeants Emerson Schroeder and Tyler Steadman—was in third place but wanted to use this last event to push for second. When it was time to run, they kept a near-superhuman pace after having been almost constantly active for three days, and won the 4.1-mile race in about 30 minutes, becoming the first team to raise its rifles at the finish line. Team 44 came in third in the race, and first in the overall competition. As they approached the finish line, Hokanson was so tired that he couldn't lift his rifle above his head. Tears welled up in his eyes as blood ran from his face onto his bib. The loudest cheers were for Team 38, which finished the run second to last. Overall, though, White and Deltenre ended the competition 14th out of the 52 teams. After raising their rifles, they hugged and went to get checked by the medics, a standard safety precaution. Kris Fuhr was at the finish line with the other Team 38 supporters. Watching White raise her rifle at the end of the race felt like validation, she told me, for the work she and her peers had done to make the military a more hospitable place for the women who came after them. Jackie Munn: I felt more welcome in combat than I did on base For their part, White's opponents seemed to respect her. 'Anyone who makes it to day three and finishes the competition has achieved a standard far beyond anything in the Army,' Hokanson said. In his speech at the awards ceremony, General Randy A. George, the Army chief of staff, asked a question that had hung over the whole three days: Why does the Army put so much time and so many resources into the Best Ranger Competition? 'Our Army is the best in the world,' George told the audience. 'When tested in battle, we prevail time and again. Rangers are the best of our Army.' Later, I asked George whether he thought that this generation of soldiers was less lethal than those that came before. 'I don't buy that,' George said, shaking his head. In fact, he said, if you compare Rangers over the past three decades, today's are at least as capable as their predecessors—maybe even more so. 'Everybody's going to have to shoot, move, and communicate on the modern battlefield,' George said. 'They're going to have to be absolute experts at that. And that's what you get with any Ranger formation.' Toward the end of the awards ceremony, George challenged every Ranger onstage to take what they'd learned and use it to inspire excellence among their peers. 'Go back to your units and build Rangers,' he said. 'Challenge your troops. Test them and push them. Send them to school and set expectations that they come home Ranger-qualified. Hold them accountable to being tough and lethal.' In my conversations with the competitors, I saw this ethic firsthand. The Rangers had trained for months not in the hopes of attaining fame or fortune but for the chance to exceed even their own expectations. Perhaps this is why, after the competition ended, none of the soldiers I spoke with brought up the fact that this year's Best Ranger Competition had made history by being the first to include a woman—not because they did not want to draw attention to White or her performance but because the days-long physical and mental challenge demanded everything they had, leaving them no time to think about anything but putting one foot in front of the other.
NBC News
8 hours ago
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National Guard troops deployed in D.C. and Dems make redistricting a core issue: Morning Rundown
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Mayor Muriel Bowser struck a critical tone about Trump in remarks to community leaders last night, characterizing his actions as an 'authoritarian push.' But on the whole, her response to the mobilization has been far more measured than those of Democrats, both in the D.C. area and nationally, who have repeatedly and forcefully hammered the Trump administration, reporters Jonathan Allen and Megan Lebowitz write in an analysis. Earlier this week, Bowser pointed out that the city and federal agencies have a long history of working together for special events in the city. She also struck a neutral tone after a meeting yesterday with Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying she was focused on 'how to make the most of the additional officer support that we have.' Bowser's reaction to Trump might have something to do with the law, federal money and a long-standing threat to repeal self-government in the city being lined up behind him, giving the mayor little choice but to comply. 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Any Democrats hoping to draw attention on the national stage must show the base they know how to take off the gloves, says one leader at a progressive grassroots group. Read the full story here. More politics news: Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to take place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, a White House official said. The White House is reviewing the Smithsonian's museum exhibitions, materials and operations — and plans to commemorate the country's 250th anniversary — to ensure it aligns with Trump's views of history. The national debt surpassed $37 trillion, years sooner than pre-pandemic projections. College-educated young men struggle in a slowing job market With hiring by employers slowing and fewer jobs than anticipated being added to the economy, one group of workers is finding it difficult to get their foot in the job market: young men with bachelor's degrees. An NBC News analysis found that they are slightly likelier to be unemployed than young men with just high school diplomas. Data also shows the unemployment rate for young men with bachelor's degrees is 6%, compared to 3.5% for young women with the same level of education. This shift in employment prospects for young men is tied partly to the changing dynamics of the labor market. For one, much of the job growth in the U.S. has been driven by the health care and social services industry, in which 80% of workers are female. At the same time, the tech industry has been hit particularly hard by recent layoffs, and a Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed 11,000 manufacturing jobs were lost last month. For young men such as Emanuel Barcenas, a 25-year-old with a computer science degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, the search for a job has been a long, frustrating process. Despite having applied for more than 900 jobs, Barcenas has only gotten a handful of interviews. 'I'm trying my best, but I guess my best isn't good enough,' he said. Read the full story here. Read All About It The man suspected of gunning down three people outside a Target store in Austin, Texas, was identified as a 32-year-old man who police found naked, holding a Bible and claiming to be Jesus. Medicare enrollees who buy the optional Part D drug benefit may see substantial premium price hikes next year. Frozen out of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, European leaders including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy are to push the U.S. president in a virtual call on Wednesday over growing alarm there could be a disastrous agreement for Kyiv. Is 'War of the Worlds' the worst movie of 2025? Some think the movie's tagline, 'It's worse than you think,' pretty much sums things up. Fake German heiress Anna 'Delvey' Sorokin was accused of dumping pet rabbits in a Brooklyn park after a photoshoot, and now she said she has received hundreds of death threats. Staff Pick: Denim-maker's 'Made in the USA' identity is a point of pride Americans spend over $500 billion on clothing a year, but only 2.5% of it is made in the U.S. That number got me wondering: In a time when global sourcing is cheaper and easier than ever, why would a brand choose domestic manufacturing? What does it take to survive? And what could that say about the prospects for reshoring apparel manufacturing? That's when I discovered Round House, a 122-year-old garment maker still sewing jeans in Oklahoma. Their jeans are priced at $70 a pair, more affordable than most 'Made in America' brands, and the company pays their employees above-market wages. It survives not by cutting corners or maximizing profit, but through a devotion to heritage, a commitment to community and a stomach for razor-thin margins. A foreign-made arm of the business also helps keep the lights on. In many ways, the company fits Trump's 'America First' vision, but their story proves just how tough it is to produce clothing domestically. — Jing Feng, business and economy producer NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified One simple piece of advice to follow when trying to keep your dog cool: If it's too hot for you, it's too hot for your dog. Here's how to keep them from overheating, according to vets. The NBC Select team also found over 30 college dorm essentials for a comfortable yet organized room, right in time for back-to-school preparations.
