Email   Print   Share By Col. Mark Freitag, Fort Hood Garrison Commander

Facebook Digg Delicious July 22, 2010 | Editorial

Col. Freitag

The Department of the Army declares August 2010 as the Army’s Anti-terrorism Awareness Month. During this month, our Army will reinforce the DA’s anti-terrorism strategic plan by instilling heightened awareness and vigilance to prevent and protect our communities and critical resources from acts of terrorism.

In an era of persistent engagement and the near-constant threat of terrorism, we must sustain a strong defense posture. Extremist ideologies and separatist movements will continue to threaten our Army and our nation. We must remain capable of deterring and defending against the full range of threats, including terrorist attack. Enduring protection from terrorist acts can only become successful by integrating anti-terrorism doctrinal principles combined with constant anti-terrorism awareness into all of our activities and missions.

The word “terrorism” evokes memories of past attacks at places like Tokyo, Mumbai, Bali, Madrid, London, Oklahoma City, New York City and the Pentagon. These recollections probably include images of victims running and crying in the streets or caskets covered in flags as memorial services were conducted.

What connects these images is that terrorism is a global issue. Reading reports after an event may lead some to believe these types of terrorist attacks are inescapable; and with more media attention directed to successful terrorist attacks, it may seem a reasonable assumption.

But further investigation proves that many prospective attacks have been foiled and perhaps many others were deterred. Reports of these events are often difficult to find; perhaps because of the sensitivity of the classification and/or ongoing investigations, but more often because a “non-event” carries less emotional impact. Maybe these foiled attempts represent our most important lessons. The Army believes this is true.

By increasing awareness and vigilance we will succeed in our goal of preventing terrorist attacks. The building blocks are as simple as knowing how to act and recognizing suspicious activity.

I am excited to introduce the Fort Hood AT Awareness and iWatch Program or iWatch-Hood for short. The iWatch-Hood mission is to get the word out to our Soldiers, families and civilians on how they can help prevent terrorism and protect our community.

I invite you to come out to Hood Howdy and the National Night Out on Aug. 3 and sign up for AT Level I certification training scheduled Aug. 13 in concert with our first annual Fort Hood AT Awareness Day. Force Protection representatives will be onsite to answer any questions regarding iWatch or AT Awareness as well as handing out brochures, T-shirts and other items to remind us to stay vigilant.

Remember, See Something ... Say Something! Report all suspicious activity to 288-COPS. For more information about events on Aug. 13, call Carla Dayberry at 288-6466 or e-mail carla.dayberry@conus.army.mil.