Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Senate Confirms Keating, Renuart to Key Commands

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

March 20, 2007 – The U.S. Senate confirmed the nominees to the top posts at U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Pacific Command during last night's session. The full Senate confirmed
Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating as PACOM commander and Air Force Lt. Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., to receive his fourth star and to become commander of NORTHCOM and North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Renuart, who currently serves as Gates' senior
military assistant, will assume Keating's NORTHCOM post.

In announcing both officers' nominations in February, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates praised them for establishing a record of accomplishments in a variety of complex and challenging assignments. "Each has shown the requisite combination of military, diplomatic and intellectual skills to be successful in these two positions," he said.

"They both have served this country extremely well, and if confirmed, they both will continue to do so," agreed
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Keating, a native of Dayton, Ohio, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1971. Before assuming his current post in November 2004, he served as director of the Joint Staff.

Renuart entered the
Air Force in 1971 following graduation from Indiana University and received his commission through Officer Training School in 1972. He was director of strategic plans and policy for the Joint Staff before becoming the defense secretary's senior military assistant in August 2006.

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Alabama Declares May 1 'Silver Star Day'

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

March 20, 2007 – May 1 will be "Silver Star Day" in Alabama, as Gov. Bob Riley signed a proclamation officially declaring the observance in a brief ceremony yesterday. The Silver Star Day initiative was started in November, when Silver Star Families of America drafted a resolution to create the day and sent it to every state. Alabama joins 20 states and the city of Madison, Wis., which also set aside May 1 to honor wounded servicemembers, Steve Newton, the group's founder and president said. Newton is a veteran who served in both the Navy and Marine Corps.

Silver Star Families of America is a member of the Defense Department's America Supports You program, which highlights the ways Americans and the corporate sector support the nation's servicemembers.

"I know I and the members of our group are gratified to see the wonderful patriotism and care for the wounded that these states are exhibiting by declaring May 1 Silver Star Day for the wounded," Newton said. "We have worked long and hard to make this happen, but it takes the caring of governors and the people in the states to make things work."

The group, founded in 2005, has presented hundreds of Silver Star banners to wounded servicemembers and their families. The banners, which the group is working to make a government-recognized service banner, like those of the Gold Star Mothers, serve as a reminder to everyone who sees them of individuals' sacrifices.

Alabama State Rep. Greg Wren said he introduced the legislation to ensure that the "blood sacrifice of those who were wounded while wearing the uniform of the United States" is recognized. His efforts paid off with unanimous approval in both the state's house and senate.

Wren also had a personal reason for working to have May 1 declared as Silver Star Day in Alabama. His family has a long history of
military service, including his father, retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. James Wren, he said.

After Riley singed the proclamation, Wren held a reception to honor four wounded veterans. David M. Cox, a World War II veteran; Leroy Arceneaux, a Korean War veteran; Robert Jones, a veteran of Vietnam; and Sean Phillips, a veteran of the war in Iraq, all received Silver Star banners.

"Alabama's citizens have supported our nation's
military in unprecedented numbers in relation to our state's population," Wren said. "Alabamians stand for freedom and salute each person who has worn a military uniform, especially those who have been wounded or lost their life in defending the United States of America."

States observing Silver Star Day in a little over a month are planning rallies and special events, Janie Orman, Silver Star Families of America's vice president, said, adding that the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars are have been very supportive. The group's hope is that Silver Star Day will become an American tradition.

"We are asking people to visit the wounded, volunteer at a (Veterans Affairs) hospital, write cards and letters to our wounded and, of course, fly the Silver Star Banner in support," Newton said. "May we never forget the sacrifices made by so many of our kids."

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Army Launches Wounded Warrior, Family Hotline

American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2007 –
Army officials this morning launched a new hotline to help wounded warriors and their family members to get information or assistance with medical or other issues. The "Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline," 1-800-984-8523, also will help Army leaders improve services to wounded soldiers and their families, officials said.

"We have designed this call center to be able to collectively hear what the soldiers say about their health care issues, so as issues are raised, we can identify systemic faults or problematic areas and senior leaders can better allocate resources," said Maj. Gen. Sean J. Byrne, commander of
U.S. Army Human Resources Command.

"It's all about serving our wounded and injured soldiers and their families," he added. "If we can find a way to improve our system, we will. It's that simple."

In a statement,
Army officials acknowledged that many soldiers wounded in the global war on terror and their families are "enduring hardships in navigating through our medical care system."

"The Army is committed to providing outstanding medical care for the men and women who have volunteered to serve this great nation," officials said in the statement.

Care of wounded soldiers has been in the spotlight since a February series of articles in the Washington Post revealed shortcomings in outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, here. Since then, the hospital's commander was relieved, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey resigned, and the service's surgeon general submitted his retirement request over the issue.

"Recent events made it clear the Army needs to revise how it meets the needs of our wounded and injured Soldiers and their families," Army officials said in yesterday's statement. "In certain cases, the soldiers' chain of command could have done a better job in helping to resolve medically related issues."

Officials stressed that the hotline is not intended to circumvent the chain of command, but is "another step in the direction of improvement."

"Wounded and injured soldiers and their families expect and deserve the very best care and leadership from America's
Army," officials said. "The Army's intent is to ensure wounded and injured soldiers and their families that they receive the best medical care possible. The Army chain of command will ensure every soldier is assisted in navigating the military health care system.

The Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline can be reached from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at 1-800-984-8523. As additional personnel are trained to receive calls and refer them to the proper organization or agency for resolution, the hotline hours of operation will expand to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, officials said.

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Company Gives Troops Break on Rent

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2007 – Covering the rent just got a little bit easier for
military personnel in Ohio thanks to Empirian Property Management's "Service Appreciation Program." Through the company's program, military personnel and civil servants can get $50 to $100 off their rent, Julie Yesnick, a senior regional manger in Ohio, said.

"We felt that it was a good way to honor people that are serving our country," she said.

The program honors active-duty, reserve-component and retired
military personnel, as well as fire and police department employees, Yesnick said.

Though the management company would eventually like to offer the program in all its markets, it selected its Ohio market to test the Service Appreciation Program. This is largely Yesnick's doing.

"I volunteered my region because I knew what it was like to be an enlisted soldier and be kind of strapped for cash and not know where the best place to live was," Yesnick, a former Ohio National Guardsman, said. "This presents a lot of options for enlisted personnel in the ...
military and other hometown heroes."

Empirian has set some guidelines for the program, however, she said. Five percent of its participating properties have been reserved for renters eligible for the Service Appreciation Program.
Military personnel wishing to rent under this program must be new customers and be able to provide a valid military identification card or discharge papers for veterans.

The discounted rents are fixed for the one-year lease, and start as low as $299 for a one-bedroom apartment, Yesnick said. Lease renewal rates have not been determined, however.

Since the program launched March 1, the Cleveland market has shown the most interest, she said. Reservists have rented all five apartments rented through the Service Appreciation Program.

Full details and a listing of properties eligible for the program are available at Empirian's Web site.

"What we're doing is trying to make it possible for our service personnel ... here to have the benefit of having housing that doesn't place a burden on them," Yesnick said.

Editor's Note:
Military families can also avail themselves of the Defense Department's America Supports You program, which highlights home-front groups across the nation that are providing a variety of services and support to troops and their families. A listing of these groups and information about their efforts is available at www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil

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Pentagon Channel Documentary Focuses on Guard, Reserve Members

By David Mays
Special to American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2007 – They were once known as "weekend warriors," ordinary citizens who gave up just a little bit of their time for minimal military
training and a paycheck. "What we advertised was one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer, that's all we asked," said Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command. "We were not going to mobilize and go to war unless the Russians came across the Fulda Gap (in Germany); ... we were going to have plenty of time before we were needed to mobilize, to train, to get organized."

That changed forever on Sept. 11, 2001, when
terrorists struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the United States launched the global war on terror. Since that war began, first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq, tens of thousands of National Guardsmen and reservists have been mobilized with lightning speed and shipped off for a year or more -- leaving behind jobs and families -- to fight battles thousands of miles from home.

The Pentagon Channel is dedicating its latest half-hour monthly documentary, "Recon," to an in-depth look at the people and the units that comprise today's reserve components. "Citizens in Service" takes a look at the history of the Guard and reserves and the gritty reality "part time" servicemembers face alongside their active-duty counterparts.

"These days, the men and women who make up our Guard and Reserve forces are more integrated into the Department of Defense missions around the world that even before,"
Air Force Master Sgt. Daniela Marchus, host of the documentary, said. "In fact, they're usually indistinguishable from those who've chosen the military as a full-time career. Like their active-duty counterparts, they spend more time away from home, families and friends. And they face the same dangers."

The documentary features servicemembers who have served in both active duty and reserve-component capacity and share their candid experiences from the present and the past. "You know, back then you got leftovers from the regular Army," said Sgt. Maj. Lana Labay who volunteered in Vietnam, served active duty stateside, then joined the Army Reserve. "We got the old uniforms, the old boots. It was really outdated."

"To me it was insulting," said Command Sgt. Maj. Leon Caffie, who heads the U.S. Army Reserve Command. "I came from the active component to the reserve component that was basically a social group. We had organizations that had no idea what they were doing. They were looking for 14 days annual training which in most cases was a big party."

"Remember, before Sept. 11, it was a strategic reserve,"
Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said. "The nation made a strategic decision to accept risk and not equip the Guard fully."

The documentary traces the massive call up of Guard members and reservists members during operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield in the early 1990s when American forces were assembled to force Saddam Hussein's army out of Kuwait after it invaded and tried to annex Iraq's tiny border country.

"I think Desert Storm was a test of our ability to mobilize the force and deploy it," Stultz said. "But what it did not test was our ability to sustain it."

This "Recon" shows how lessons learned from the first Gulf War and subsequent missions, such as enforcing the no-fly zones over Iraq, helped fine tune the role of the Guard and reserves as modern warfighters.

It also shows how even greater changes became necessary after the Sept. 11 attacks and looks into the future of the reserve components, including goals laid out by Defense Department leaders. "One thing the attacks made obvious was that the fight in our future would be nothing like those of the past," Marchus said.

"Citizens Who Serve" debuts Friday, March 23rd and encores throughout the month of April. It is also available via podcast and video on demand at www.PentagonChannel.mil.

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DoD Urges Education Officials to Work with Local Businesses

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2007 – Local education officials should seek partnerships with chambers of commerce and other business organizations to explain the financial needs of schools that serve students from
military families, a senior Defense Department official said here today. "All possible partners" should be engaged when addressing the needs of schools that educate students from military families, Leslye A. Arsht, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy, said in remarks to members of the National Military Impacted Schools Association.

Many school districts in the United States serving students from
military families are eligible to receive federal payments, called impact aid, that are used to offset the potential loss of property-tax revenue. Many military families live in military-provided housing that's not subject to local property taxes, which are used to maintain schools. DoD has a separate impact aid program that augments the original federal program that was instituted in 1950.

However, community requirements for building new schools and renovating older facilities will likely become more acute in coming years as 2005 Base Realignment and Closure actions kick in, and thousands of U.S. troops and their families are redeployed from Europe to stateside locations, Arsht said.

In fact, more than 63,000 students from military families are expected to be moving to local school systems in the United States through 2011, according to DoD documents.

It's therefore prudent that local school officials and business leaders collaborate "to share innovative and successful ways to plan for quality education expansion," Arsht explained.

Arsht said "a consensus of cooperation" was reached at the conclusion of a DoD-sponsored conference on education for military-connected communities that was held in Atlanta in November.

"Despite the challenges, we believe these significant (student) relocations offer an exceptional opportunity to strengthen our working relationships with the communities and schools that are the home to our
military families," Arsht said.

During visits to military communities around the country, Arsht said, she discovered schools "eager to share innovative and collaborative ways" to provide a quality education.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement "is a valuable partner," Arsht said, that can identify educational resources in addition to impact aid.

The Department of Defense Education Activity also provides useful information and ideas to school districts that will be affected by 2005 BRAC actions or troop redeployments, Arsht said.

"We are really looking at ways to interact with you as we seek best practices," DoDEA Director Joseph D. Tafoya told he audience. For example, DoDEA is inviting Hawaiian public school teachers to attend a DoDEA-sponsored mathematics training seminar that's slated to be conducted in Honolulu this summer, Tafoya said.

The nationwide
Military Impacted Schools Association also partners with DoD's America Supports You program, which is an ongoing, nationwide program connecting America's support for the troops to the men and women of the armed forces and their families.

John Deegan, MISA's chief executive officer and just-named president of the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, MISA's umbrella organization, attended today's meeting. He said in a recent news release that MISA is proud to be a part of America Supports You.

America Supports You "continues to demonstrate the importance of the role our military families play each day to defend our nation," Deegan stated.

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VFW Ladies Auxiliary Has Tradition of Military Support

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2007 – Since 1914, members of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars have supported U.S. servicemembers and their families and worked to ensure that America's
military veterans are never forgotten, auxiliary officials said. Today, the auxiliary's almost 600,000 sisters, daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers carry on that tradition, Cara Day, director of communication and publications at the organization's headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., said.

"Auxiliary members support troops in a number of ways," Day said, including the sending of care packages to overseas-deployed military members, "adoption" of
military units, sponsorship of servicemember-support programs at schools, and other programs.

The group partners with America Supports You, a Defense Department-sponsored program highlighting the ways Americans are supporting the nation's servicemembers.

"Everything we do is centered on honoring our veterans and helping them in any way possible," Day said. "Being able to share with 'America Supports You' what the nearly 600,000 members of this organization do for veterans and servicemembers is just one of the many ways we hope to tell them that we're here for them."

The Ladies Auxiliary also donates money to Operation Uplink, which provides free long-distance phone cards to servicemembers serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and other locales, Day said.

The Unmet Needs program is another auxiliary-sponsored initiative, Day said, where anyone can donate money that's used to assist
military families in need by providing funds for mortgage payments, medical or grocery bills, car repairs and other purposes.
The Ladies Auxiliary also encourages skilled people like mechanics, lawyers and baby sitters to donate their time to help military families whose sponsors are deployed in support of the war against terrorism, Day said.

Most auxiliary members are in their 50s and 60s and thereby old enough to remember America's participation in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, Connie Atkinson, the auxiliary's national secretary and treasurer, said.

"It's important to support the families of veterans, whether we're at war or not at war," Atkinson said. "We are the mothers and sisters and daughters of veterans and we know what our servicemembers and their families are going through today.

"They need all the support they can get. They need to know that America cares for her veterans," she added.

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