Year in review - Calendar

Soldiers Magazine, Jan, 2004

Information for this chronology was taken from Soldiers magazine, the Army News Service, the American Forces Press Service and other official news sources.

January 2003

Jan. 2

TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp. begins contacting its military beneficiaries after a December 2002 computer theft allowed unauthorized access to military information in the TRICARE Central Region.

Jan. 5

The Army sponsors the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, The top 78 high school football players are placed into two regional teams to play in the annual East vs. West all-star game.

Jan. 7

The Pentagon hosts a commemorative display in honor of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. The expedition covered 7,689 miles of waterways in two years and helped open the American West for settlement.

Jan. 16

Field Manual 7-22.7. a pocket-sized NCO reference manual, becomes available electronically for all Soldiers.

Jan. 22

The U.S. Army Knowledge Online team's Web site is recognized by CIO magazine as one of the top 50 among business- and government-related sites.

Jan. 29

Bill Mauldin, former National Guard Soldier and creator of the World War II "Willie and Joe" cartoons, is buried during a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

February 2003

Feb. 1

The space shuttle Columbia breaks apart above north-central Texas 15 minutes before a planned touchdown at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Four of the seven astronauts aboard are U.S. military officers.

Feb. 5

National Guard Soldiers from Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas begin assisting federal authorities with the search for wreckage from the shuttle Columbia.

Feb. 13

Korean War veterans are honored at the Pentagon during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new exhibit exploring their service to America.

Feb. 14

Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Reginald Brown approves stop-loss measures for Soldiers in units that have been alerted for deployment to the Persian Gulf. Tours for Soldiers stationed in Korea are extended by 90 days.

Feb. 18

The Army racing team, led by driver Jerry Nadeau, finishes 28th at the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Feb. 20

National Guard Soldiers from Delaware. the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia are called to duty after a record-breaking blizzard paralyzes the East Coast.

Feb. 21

Army athletes dominate the 2003 Armed Forces Boxing Championships g eight of 13 bouts against the Navy team

March 2003

March 11

SGT Dremiel Byers and PFC Tina Wilson, wrestlers from Fort Carson, Colo., are honored as the Army's top male and female athletes of 2002.

March 17

The National Guard Memorial Museum opens in Washington, D.C. The museum chronicles the history of the National Guard as a national military force, from George Washington's time to today's mission of homeland defense.

March 19

President George W. Bush announces that operations to disarm Iraq have begun. The military actions will be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.

March 31

The first Army brigade equipped with Stryker wheeled armored vehicles begins its' evaluation process during an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

April 2003

The U.S. Military Academy's lacrosse coach, Jack Emmer, becomes the all-time top winning lacrosse coach in the NCAA's Division I.

April 10

The Army well-being newsletter debuts. The newsletter, containing family-related information, is part of the Army's Personnel Transformation Initiative.

April 11

Army Space Command activities the service's first space unit--the 1st Space Brigade at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

April 13

The All-Army freestyle wrestling team wins six of seven gold medals to dominate the 2003 Armed Forces Wrestling Championships.

April 21

The annual White House Easter egg roll is closed to the public in order to host an estimated 12,000 military families.

April 23

The destruction of a mustard-agent stockpile at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., begins under an accelerated program implemented after the Sept. 11,2001, terrorist attacks.

April 25

Secretary of the Army White submits his resignation after two years in office.

May 2003

May 1

Torii Station, Japan, earns the 2003 Army Community of Excellence Award.

May 6

Nearly 200 National Guard Soldiers are on duty helping civil authorities in Missouri, Kansas and Tennessee after a tornado tore through those states.

May 7

The Army wins three of five Department of Defense environmental awards. The winners are the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Ga.; and the Texas National Guard.

May 10

The All-Army wrestling team wins its third U.S. National Wrestling Championship.

May 15

The Fort Lewis, Wash.-based Stryker Brigade Combat Team moves to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., to begin its operational evaluation exercise.

May 16

More than 7,000 Pacific-based Soldiers deploy to Thailand as part of Exercise Cobra Gold 2003.

May 19

With the victory in Iraq, the Army lifts its "stop-movement" order and allows Soldiers with certain specialties and in certain units to report to their next assignments.