Drill sergeant does double duty as Taekwondo coach

 Watching a group of Navy personnel train for deployment overseas wouldn't seem the ideal place to witness the head coach of the All-Military Taekwondo team in action, but it is.

For the coach, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Fennell - also a drill sergeant with Task Force Marshall - preparing others to fight is an everyday occurrence.

"One of things we can do is to get them as close to the real thing as possible," Fennell said of merging Taekwondo and training others for deployment. "If the team only trains on shield and paddles [and not man to man], they will never be ready for an actual fight.

http://www.army.mil/article/152381/Drill_sergeant_does_double_duty_as_Taekwondo_coach/

Army Fitness & Nutrition

Because a Soldier's level of physical fitness has a direct impact on his or her combat readiness, a Soldier in the U.S. Army must be mentally and physically fit. Not only are physically fit Soldiers essential to the Army, they are also more likely to have enjoyable, productive lives. The renewed nationwide interest in fitness is accompanied by several research studies on the effects of regular participation in sound physical fitness programs. The overwhelming conclusion is that proper exercise programs enhance a person's quality of life, improve productivity, and bring about positive physical and mental changes.

 http://www.goarmy.com/soldier-life/fitness-and-nutrition.html

Soldiers use database to learn about nutrition

 When Soldiers rip open Meals, Ready-to-Eat, also known as MRE, in a combat zone, most people probably are thinking more about flavor and filling their stomachs than about the nutrition.

However, that does not mean nutrition is not important. The new online combat rations database, or ComRaD, formally launched earlier this month by the Department of Defense's Human Performance Resource Center, or HPRC, provides warfighters, military dietitians, food service officers and leaders the opportunity to learn more about the nutritional value of what is inside those packages.

http://www.army.mil/article/152307/Soldiers_use_database_to_learn_about_nutrition/

All-Army triathlete rides road to pro

Underneath his quiet and cool demeanor, 1st Lt. Marcus Farris is ready to be unleashed on race days. A disciplined athlete, he has trained for many hours to represent and compete as a member of the All-Army Triathlon team.

Farris, a quality assurance representative in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Alaska District's Construction Division, said he did not realize his passion for running until his Junior ROTC days while attending high school in Huntsville, Alabama. Back then, preparing for physical training tests introduced him to the sport. Once his engineering studies began at Auburn University, he started participating in ultra marathons - distances longer than the standard 26.2 miles.

 http://www.army.mil/article/152318/All_Army_triathlete_rides_road_to_pro/

ARMY STEM: CAREERS & JOBS Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

Specialized skills are part of every U.S. Army job. If you have a particular aptitude for science, technology, engineering or mathematics, here are some Army careers and jobs that will put your analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities to the test. Whether Officer or enlisted, each offers experience and skills with applications in the Army and beyond.

 http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/about-army-stem.html

Army chemists study new kind of molecule

Imagine a future in which a chemical attack on a Middle Eastern village in the dead of night has no effect on the people in its path. They are sleeping soundly in tents embedded with protective filtration material that prevents any harm. The village elders, who come out to investigate, have that same material in the headscarves they wear over their faces as they walk about with chemicals lingering in the air.

That day is coming closer. Two U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center scientists, Greg Peterson and Jared DeCoste, are working with chemists at Northwestern University to make it a reality.

For the past eight years, Peterson and DeCoste have been steadily refining and improving a recently developed class of chemical compounds known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. Chemists make them in a laboratory using organic struts and metallic nodes, much like an erector set, creating void spaces for chemical warfare agent, or CWA, or toxic industrial compound, or TIC, molecules to enter.

 http://www.army.mil/article/151839/Army_chemists_study_new_kind_of_molecule/

The Army's two astronaut candidates officially joined the astronaut corps

The Army's two astronaut candidates officially joined the astronaut corps, July 7.

Maj. Anne McClain and Maj. Andrew Morgan are among the eight new astronauts, who are ready to help advance scientific research aboard the International Space Station and pave the way for the United States' new space launch capabilities and journey to Mars. The four women and four men moving from candidates to the corps were part of the 2013 astronaut class, chosen from 6,300 applications - the second largest number of applications NASA ever has received.

 http://www.army.mil/article/152252/NASA_s_newest_astronauts_complete_training/