Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Walk Offers Family Chance to Reflect, Remember

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 12, 2007 - The more than 1,000 people who walked in the second annual Freedom Walk here yesterday did so to remember, reflect and commemorate those who were killed in the
terrorist attacks six years ago. For one family, however, the event held a deeper significance.

"(We're walking) to (honor) the folks that were killed in 9/11 and for my son, Daniel McVicker," Mark McVicker said during the walk. "He was in the
Marine Corps, and he was killed over in al Qaim (Iraq) on Oct. 6, 2005. So we're here in his honor as well as in remembrance of 9/11."

Freedom has new meaning for McVicker since the death of his 20-year-old son, who held the rank of lance corporal. It's one of the most important things Americans have, he said.

"I remember when they told us that he was killed. I remember going through town, and I was so mad because life was going on. I kept thinking, 'Why? Don't you people know my son is dead?'" McVicker said, fighting back tears.

Then, he said, he realized that this was exactly what his son had been fighting for. "We need to value our lives and what is in this country and never take it for granted what this freedom has cost," he told the crowd at the conclusion of the walk.

Daniel McVicker knew that, said Rick Mirenzi, who also spoke to the crowd. Mirenzi is the president of the Veteran Connection, a Canton, Ohio-based veterans group.

"I remember Mark (McVicker) telling me Danny came in his room one day and said, 'I enlisted because I want to protect America,'" he said. "That's the story that I hear all the time when we talk to Gold Star families (who have lost loved ones in service to their country)."

It's also the story he wishes terrorist leader Osama bin Laden could hear.

"If I could, ... I would introduce him to 3,600 Gold Star families and ... have him listen to the stories of these sons and daughters who gave their lives, not because they were drafted, but because they stepped up," he said. "I would take him to (the National Naval Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md.) and introduce him to the thousands of soldiers that come back from Iraq and they're hurt but they want to get better quickly so they can go back.

"Then I would sit down with bin Laden and I'd look him straight in the eye and say, 'That's why America is what it is. It isn't about two buildings. It's the people ... in small cities across this country," Mirenzi said.

He'd also introduce him to Colton Lockner, 10, who he called the "real deal." The fifth-grader organized Sebring's two Freedom Walks. "He gets it," Mirenzi said.

That's something Robyn Lockner, Colton's mom, already knew.

"If you have a veteran's hat on, he's coming up to you," she said of Colton. "If you have a uniform on, he's coming up to you and he's going to thank you for your service. It's just coming from the heart."

And he comes by that naturally, she said. Both of his grandfathers served in the military. His Uncle Brian, a staff sergeant in the Ohio National Guard, has served two tours in Iraq and will say goodbye to his wife when she deploys in January.

"He's just used to it," Robyn said of her son.

But planning something as huge as a Freedom Walk still makes him nervous, Colton said. This year was a bit easier than last, though, because he'd already made all the necessary contacts.

He tackled the project again, first and foremost, out of his deep-seated desire to honor servicemembers past and present and to commemorate the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, but he also had some encouragement.

"A lot of people were saying they hoped I had it again," Colton said. "I've learned to do this every year because people love it."

It also keeps him grounded to do something that gives so much back to so many, his mother said. Though she added with a laugh that he's still the same down-to-earth "bratty" child he's always been.

Colton's second annual Freedom Walk and the 250-plus walks around the country paralleled the third annual national America Supports You Freedom Walk held in Washington on Sept. 9. America Supports You is a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with
military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

American, Afghan Women Discuss Future

By Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein, USAF
Special to American Forces Press Service

Sept. 12, 2007 - Several influential Afghan women from Laghman province met earlier this month with
U.S. Army and Air Force women to discuss their role in the future of their province. "(Afghan women) talk to each other, to their children and their husbands, and that is a very powerful way to get information spread throughout the province," said Air Force Capt. Heather Kekic, Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team public affairs and information officer.

The Afghan women work for the Laghman provincial governor either as program directors or teachers. Sept. 5 marked the second time they met with the American women, and they talked with the aid of an interpreter. This meeting provided a chance for the Americans to educate the Afghan women about the various humanitarian and security programs available to them and their communities, she said.

The Afghan women always look forward to meeting with their American sisters, said Sharin Taj, Laghman province's director of women's affairs.

"We get attached to the women here," Taj said through an interpreter. "We get together and get to know each other, and that friendship is very important."

So are the discussions. Among topics discussed were future reconstruction and humanitarian aid projects, the possibility of women's meetings in local villages, and personal safety and security.

"They are very concerned about the security within the province," Kekic said. "They are just like us in that they want their roads to be free of bombs. They do not want their families hurt or killed by the violence."

A few women said they have received threats because of their jobs for the governor. One woman reported that her son had seen strange men with rockets walk along the river bank, while another woman spoke of her fear every day to walk along roads in her village.

The Americans shared phone numbers for the provincial coordination center (similar to 911 service in the United States) and provided information about quick response teams. They also implored the Afghan women to call if they or family members see anything suspicious.

"We have suffered a lot, but we all want the same things," Taj said. "We want freedom, just like the rest of the people in Afghanistan, and we want education, good families and good jobs. All of these things are very important."

She added that sacrifices made by the American women are not lost on any of the Afghan women.

"You can ask any female in the village," Taj said. "We know that (the Americans) have left their families, their children and husbands to come here and help the people of Afghanistan. This is a very honorable thing, and we really appreciate that."

(
Air Force Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein is assigned to U.S. Central Command Air Forces Public Affairs.)

Support of Deployed Workers Earns Turbocam Top Honor

By Carol L. Bowers
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 12, 2007 - Turbocam International's support of its deployed employees with
technology to use in the field and a special supply fund has earned the company a place of honor alongside 14 other organizations being recognized today with Secretary of Defense Employer Freedom Awards. Since Sept. 11, 2001, three Turbocam employees have been called to serve overseas: Brian Barber, a New Hampshire Air National Guard crew chief on KC-135 Stratotankers; Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Tom McGee, who served in 172nd Field Artillery in Iraq; and Army National Guard Cpl. Chris Wentworth, who served in 744th Transportation Company in Iraq. Army National Guard Sgt. James Martel of 3643rd Maintenance Company, the spouse of a Turbocam employee, also was deployed.

Because Turbocam's chairman and founder, Marian Noronha, actively recruits National Guard and members reservists as workers and honors the importance of family. He moved quickly to fully support the deployed men.

"When our soldiers are facing new forces, tactics or
technology, it is the whole American community that needs to be rallied to find solutions, not just the Pentagon," Noronha told Fosters.com, an online newspaper serving New Hampshire.

Noronha arranged for Turbocam to provide one deployed employee with software and hardware to set up an Internet cafe for his unit. He also arranged for the company to provide live-saving battlefield surveillance
technology to another. In addition, Noronha had the company create a $10,000 fund so the deployed men could draw on it to buy needed supplies that were not routinely available through normal channels.

At the
New Hampshire-based plant where the company manufactures and engineers machinery for aerospace, automotive and industrial markets, wall displays, company publications and newsletters paid tribute to Turbocam's military employees.

"Our biggest contribution probably was not the camera
technology," Noronha said in the newspaper interview. "It was the Internet cafe that enabled soldiers to stay in touch with their families. They need to know that they are supported back home."

The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and Reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.

Bush Nominates Mattis to Lead U.S. Joint Forces Command

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 12, 2007 - President Bush has nominated Marine Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis to receive his fourth star and to lead U.S. Joint Forces Command, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced yesterday. Mattis, currently "dual-hatted" as commander of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command, will replace the retiring
Air Force Gen. Lance L. Smith at JFCOM if he's confirmed by the Senate. Earlier this summer, Smith announced his plans to retire in January with 38 years of service.

If confirmed, Mattis will take the helm at JFCOM and oversee its roles in
military transformation, experimentation, joint training, interoperability, and force provision and management.

NATO's Defense Planning Committee also announced yesterday its plans to appoint Mattis as the next supreme allied commander for transformation. In that capacity, he will lead the transformation of NATO's
military structures, forces, capabilities and doctrine. Mattis also will oversee NATO training efforts to improve the alliance's and its partner nations' interoperability and military effectiveness.

Mattis will bring a solid understanding of current operational challenges to his new post. In late July, he visited Marines with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, operating in Baghdadi, in Iraq's Anbar province.

"You are all doing one hell of a job," Mattis told the Marines. "I can't thank you enough for putting up with all of this discomfort and continuing to complete the mission."

He warned them about becoming complacent as they carry out their mission. "All you have to do is hang in there, and keep your eye on the ball," he told the Marines. "We are being killed by complacency. I know it is tough out here, but keep your eye on the ball and you will make it out of here."

Mattis has amassed a full resume of experience he will bring to JFCOM. Before taking the helm at 1st MEF, he commanded
Marine Corps Combat Development Command and served as the deputy commandant for combat development.

He commanded 1st Marine Division during the initial attack and subsequent stability operations in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Before that, he served as commander of 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade and Task Force 58 in southern Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Mattis also commanded 7th Marines (Reinforced), and during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, led 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, one of Task Force Ripper's assault battalions.

Before that, he served as commander of Recruiting Station Portland, 1st Marine Brigade, rifle and weapons companies, and a 3rd Marine Division rifle and weapons platoon.

Mattis is a graduate of the Amphibious Warfare School,
Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the National War College.

(Lance Cpl. Brian L. Lewis from 2nd Marine Division contributed to this article.)

Gates Hails Employers for Support of Guardsmen, Reservists

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 12, 2007 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates praised a select group of civilian employers today for their exemplary support of employees in the National Guard and reserves. During a meeting in his Pentagon office today, Gates thanked the employers for "the
leadership that you all show and the sympathy and help that you provide to our men and women in the Guard and Reserve."

"The fact that you have won this award really is a measure of your service," he added.

Fifteen businesses and organizations were selected to receive the 2007 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, which recognizes exemplary support for employees in the reserve components.

This year's Freedom Award recipients are: Augustine and Sons Inc., Rose Hill, Iowa; Con-way Inc., San Mateo, Calif.; Creative Healthcare Solutions, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Custom Hardware Engineering Inc., Fenton, Mo.; Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Tulsa, Okla.; Gantt Excavating and Contracting Inc., Martinsburg, W.Va.; General Motors Corp., Detroit; New Hampshire State Police, Concord, N.H.; Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C.; Sierra Pacific Resources, Las Vegas; Sodexho USA, Gaithersburg, Md.; the state of Tennessee; Turbocam International, Dover, N.H.; Ultra Machining Co., Monticello, Minn; and Wilmington VA Medical Center, Wilmington, Del.

The honorees will receive their Freedom Awards tonight during the annual banquet held in Washington, D.C.

Officials from the award-winning firms and organizations met with Vice President Richard B. Cheney earlier today.

President Bush, who declared Sept. 9-15 as National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week for 2007, will greet the group at the White House tomorrow.

"During National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week, we recognize the vital contributions of the brave men and women who serve our great nation, and we pay tribute to the employers who support them," Bush said in a proclamation. Employer support, Bush stated, is critical to reserve-component servicemembers' ability to serve.

Frederick D. Gantt, president of Gantt's Excavating and Contracting Inc., said his firm supplied four all-terrain vehicles used by company employees deployed for
military duty in Iraq. Gantt's business performs commercial and residential earth work for septic systems, utilities and roads.

"We feel that we need to do it to help the country out," Gantt said of his company's contributions on behalf of its employees in the Guard and reserves. "If you don't stick together, you'll fall one at a time."

The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process.

ESGR assists Guard and reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.

This year's Freedom Award recipients are "a fantastic group," said L. Gordon Sumner Jr., a retired
Army lieutenant colonel appointed as the committee's new executive director March 29.

The firms being honored "are going above and beyond in their support for our Guard (members) and reservists," Sumner said. The fifteen honorees were selected from a list of nearly 1,200 nominations, he noted.

Dan Augustine, co-owner of Augustine and Sons Inc., a 150-year-old family-owned farm in Rose Hill, Iowa, saluted company employee Iowa National Guard 1st Sgt. Matthew T. Strasser, who nominated his firm for the award and is now deployed to Afghanistan. The company has assisted Strasser's wife, Jessica, by performing needed household chores and by taking the family's two young sons out on weekend farm outings.

"It makes us feel good that he appreciates what we have done," Augustine said of Strasser. "It's a small thing that we can do to help his family while he is deployed."

"The award, from our viewpoint, is really more about the men and women who are giving of themselves for the country," said Norman Stalsberg, president of Creative Healthcare Solutions Inc., a marketing provider to the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

West Virginia Company Lightens Load for Aviation Unit

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 12, 2007 - The contributions of a West Virginia excavating company helped lighten the load -- literally -- for a deploying
Army National Guard aviation unit. When Army National Guardsman Chief Warrant Officer 3 Timothy Smith found out he was deploying, he was concerned about the distance from the command post to the flight line at Forward Operating Base Speicher, Iraq. It was nearly a mile, and with each of the four-person crew carrying 150 pounds in gear, plus weapons and ammunition, all in 135-degree-plus heat, Smith saw a problem.

"We'd be worn out before we ever left on a mission, just getting our gear out there," said the UH-60 Black Hawk pilot with Company C, 150th Aviation, Air Assault, in Wheeling, W.Va.

After Smith talked with his wife about the problem, she went to her father, Frederick Gantt, a local businessman and former member of the West Virginia Air National Guard.

As it happens, her father is also Smith's boss, and owner of Gantt's Excavating and Contracting in Martinsburg, W.Va.

Gantt put heads together with a couple of fellow businessmen, and they raised more than $20,000 to purchase four Polaris Rangers, or small all-terrain vehicle-style trucks, to move equipment to and from the flight line.

During its deployment to Iraq from July 2006 to July 2007, the unit flew 200 missions and more than 600 hours, Smith said. The vehicles earned their money for unit, Smith said.

"They were invaluable. Many times I had members of my unit start trying to express what it was like to have those and they literally couldn't find the words," Smith said. "They were used 24/7. If they weren't supporting crews, they were supporting maintenance."

Smith, who is general manager of the business, said Gantt routinely gives back to the community in generous ways.

"They always go above and beyond to do something for the local area," Smith said.

During Smith's deployment, Gantt kept him on the payroll until he was sure his
military pay had started coming in, and then began paying Smith at the end of the deployment, before he came off duty, just to ensure there was no break in pay. The company also kept his health insurance current, so his family didn't have to switch providers during the deployment.

Smith's wife, Janesa, who is also a veteran, nominated the company to receive the prestigious Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. Gantt's Excavating and Contracting is among 15 businesses and organizations selected to receive the annual award, which recognizes exemplary support for employees in the Guard or reserve.

Smith called his boss and family true patriots.

"I think it's extremely patriotic. It's heartwarming. It's just another example of this family's commitment not only to the country, but the community," he said.

Even though Smith is his son-in-law, Gantt said, he would have done the same for any Guard member who worked for him.

"We feel that we need to do it to help the country," Gantt said. "If you don't stick together, you fall one at a time. We believe strongly in that."

Smith agreed.

"I know I'm family, but the way they have always given back to the community -- it's beyond family," he said. "They are always trying to give back. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of them for that."

The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.

Gantt is slated to accept the Freedom Award during a formal ceremony here tonight.