In today’s keynote address at the Association of the United States Army Convention and Exposition in Washington DC, the Secretary of the Army, the Hon. Pete Geren, announced a new initiative designed to help army families. At a Family Forum later, Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George W. Casey Jr, gave more details and fielded questions from the audience about the new Army Family Covenant.

The focus of the covenant’s major goals is similar to that of a welfare state: the provision and full funding of healthcare, education and employment opportunities, housing, and family services. In an article in the AUSA’s magazine ARMY, Secretary Geren writes, “Together, the American Soldier and the Army Family are our All-Volunteer Force” and that force is “a national treasure”. He will be asking for $1.4 billion in funding for the Army Family Covenant in the next fiscal year.

In keeping with the Army’s transition from its Army of One branding to this new family focus, the new Army brand is Army Strong, and the logo features bootprints and the words Soldiers*Families*Army Civilians. The Army has trademarked the phrase The Strength of the Nation.

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At an earlier press conference, Gen. Casey was asked about the status of Future Combat Systems, an Army/Defense/Industry initiative that funnels federal dollars out to the private sector for research and development. He was pleased to report that two projects he visited last week in California would soon be at the point “where people can see and feel and touch things.”

In the meantime, about 300 companies fill three exhibition halls at the Conference Center, showing everything from nuttybuddies—scrotal armor—to realtime media monitoring and simultaneous translation of up to four foreign-language TV channels, to some serious military hardware. As one reporter quipped at the press conference, “I know the NorthEast [of DC] is dangerous, but shouldn’t that armored vehicle be on the streets of Baghdad?” Two members of the Metropolitan Police of DC were being given a run-down of the vehicle when I toured the exhibition hall later in the day.

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