Own the Edge Week 2

The Army Combat Readiness Center's safety campaign Own the Edge is in full swing.

Since the CRC campaign's start in October, it has been educating Soldiers on how to better mange risk to safely accomplish their combat or training missions and off-duty activities.

It is part of the Composite Risk Management program to highlight the critical importance of safety consciousness for Soldiers. The goal of the campaign is to improve combat readiness of the individual Soldier, whereby preserving total combat power across the Army's formations.

- The "Own the Edge" campaign consists of a two-part strategy. One is audience- specific, targeting three separate groups: senior leaders, middle leaders and junior leaders/Soldiers, each emphasizing the impact and importance of their actions.

- The other strategy is knowledge-based: emphasizing CRC tools and programs to support and improve the commander's CRM program.

As the CRC continues to serve as a knowledge center for loss across the Army and study deaths to determine root causes, CRC officials said the following trends emerge: Junior leaders are the ones making decisions "where the rubber meets the road" that determine safe execution or unnecessary loss. And failure to apply and enforce the most basic standards and indiscipline is killing Soldiers.

The measurement tool for how the campaign is doing can be seen in the number of Soldier fatalitiesd. CRC develops and disseminates weekly "Got Risk?" posters summarizing the preliminary loss reports for the previous week.

For more information, see the web brochure.

Source: ARNEWS article

NEWS ABOUT THE ARMY

• Study: 'Army stretched to breaking point' (WP | EB)
• Capt. continues to fight after attack leaves him paralyzed (WT | EB)
• US troop levels in Iraq have dropped to lowest since last summer (AT)
• Army revises death penalty rules (NPR)
• Helmet saves Soldier's life (ARNEWS)
• Army's veteran bomb-disposal robot now 'packs heat' (AFIS)

WAR ON TERROR NEWS

• U.S. Forces, insurgents clash near Ramadi (VOA)
• Pakistani president says U.S. missile attack killed foreigners (MSNBC)
• Info Is as important as ammo in 'Long War,' General says (AFIS)
• Report: 'Rebuilding effort understaffed, costs soaring' (NPR)
• Al Qaeda sees resurgence in Pakistani tribal areas (ABC News)
• Shiite leaders begin talks with Sunni and Kurdish politicians (USAT)
• Saddam trial plunges into deeper disarray (TT)

OF INTEREST

• Commentary: 'In dealing with Iran, no method is sure, but save combat for last (CSM)
• Suicide bombers' mother runs in Palestinian election (ABC News)
• Father dies shortly before son's anticipated return from Iraq (Newsday)
• Hidden combat wounds: extensive, deadly, costly (PT)
• There's desperation in Osama's voice (SLATE)
• Attorney General Alberto Gonzales speaks about domestic wiretapping (NPR)
• Analysis: 'For Palestinians, vote is all about corruption' (MSNC)
• Outrage over Morales' top military picks (CNN)

WORLD VIEW

• Pentagon plans major increase in special forces (Reuters | story)
• U.S. and Iraqi forces search for kidnapped Germans (Deutsche Welle | story)
• Hizb Allah calls for rebranding (Aljazeera | story)
• Palestinians vote in first parliamentary election for a decade (BBC News | story)
• Editorial: 'Keep Spain's army out of politics' (International Herald Tribune | story)
• Swiss army out in full force in Davos (Swissinfo | story)
• Foreign-language skills can help Americans fight terror (The Japan Times | story)
• Afghans hold rally to denounce bombings (Arab News | story)