Thursday, November 18, 2010

General Officer Announcements

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today that the President has made the following nominations:

Army Brig. Gen. Robert B. Abrams has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Abrams is currently serving as commanding general, National Training Center and Fort Irwin, Fort Irwin, Calif.

Army Brig. Gen. Al T.  Aycock has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Aycock is currently serving as deputy commanding general/chief of staff, Installation Management Command, San Antonio, Texas.

Army Brig. Gen. Peter C. Bayer Jr., has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Bayer is currently serving as director of strategy, plans and policy, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. James C. Boozer Sr., has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Boozer is currently serving as director of operations, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Installation Management, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Buchanan is currently serving as director, J-9, U.S. Forces-Iraq, Operation New Dawn, Iraq.

Army Brig. Gen. Gary H. Cheek has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.   Cheek is currently serving as director, Military Personnel Management, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Kendall P. Cox has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Cox is currently serving as director, J-7, U.S. Forces-Iraq, Operation New Dawn, Iraq.      

Army Brig. Gen. William T. Crosby has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Crosby is currently serving as program executive officer, aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

Army Brig. Gen. Anthony G. Crutchfield has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Crutchfield is currently serving as commanding general, Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker, Fort Rucker, Ala.

Army Brig. Gen. Peter N. Fuller has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Fuller is currently serving as program executive officer, Fort Belvoir, Va.

Army Brig. Gen. William K. Fuller has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Fuller is currently serving as deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Walter M. Golden Jr., has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Golden is currently serving as director, J-1, the Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Patrick M. Higgins has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Higgins is currently serving as deputy director, requirements, J-8, the Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Frederick B. Hodges has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Hodges is currently en route to director, Pakistan/Afghanistan Coordination Cell, the Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Anthony R. Ierardi has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Ierardi is currently serving as director of force management, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Richard C. Longo has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Longo is currently serving as deputy chief of staff, operations and training, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Va.

Army Brig. Gen. Alan R. Lynn has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Lynn is currently serving as commanding general, Signal Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon, Fort Gordon, Ga.

Army Brig. Gen. David L. Mann has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Mann is currently serving as commanding general, 32d Army Air Missile Defense Command, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Army Brig. Gen. Bradley W. May has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  May is currently serving as director, Iraq Training and Advisory Team, U.S. Forces-Iraq, Operation New Dawn, Iraq.

Army Brig. Gen. Lloyd Miles has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Miles is currently serving as deputy commanding general, I Corps and Joint Base Lewis McChord, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Wash.

Army Brig. Gen. Mark A.Milley has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Milley is currently serving as deputy director, regional operations, J-3, the Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Jennifer L. Napper has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.   Napper is currently serving as commanding general, U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, Fort Huachuca, Ariz. 

Army Brig. Gen. John W. Nicholson, Jr. has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Nicholson is currently serving as director, Pakistan/Afghanistan Coordination Cell, the Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Raymond P. Palumbo has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Palumbo is currently serving as commanding general, U.S. Army Alaska/Deputy Commander, U.S. Alaskan Command, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Army Brig. Gen. Gary S. Patton has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Patton is currently serving as deputy commander for programs, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan.

Army Brig. Gen. Mark W. Perrin has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Perrin is currently serving as director, J-2, U.S. Forces-Iraq, Operation New Dawn, Iraq.

Army Brig. Gen.William E. Rapp has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Rapp is currently serving as commandant of cadets, U.S. Army Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.

Army Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Richardson has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Richardson is currently serving as director, J-4, U.S. Forces-Iraq, Operation New Dawn, Iraq.

Army Brig. Gen. Frederick S. Rudesheim has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Rudesheim is currently serving as director, requirements and integration, J-8, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Va.

Army Brig. Gen. Bennet S. Sacolick has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Sacolick is currently serving as commanding general, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Brig. Gen. Frank D. Turner III has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Turner is currently serving as program manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program, Saudi Arabia.

Army Brig. Gen. Kevin R. Wendel has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Wendel is currently serving as deputy director, operations, U.S. Africa Command, Stuttgart, Germany.

Army Brig. Gen. Larry D. Wyche has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general.  Wyche is currently serving as deputy chief of staff for logistics and operations, U.S. Army Materiel Command, Fort Belvoir, Va.

Navy to Commission Guided Missile Destroyer Gravely

The Navy will commission its newest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, Gravely, during an ceremony Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010, in Wilmington, N.C.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead will deliver the ceremony’s principal address.  Alma Gravely will serve as sponsor of the ship named for her late husband.  The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when she gives the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”

Designated DDG 107, the new destroyer honors the late Vice Adm. Samuel L. Gravely Jr.  Gravely was born in Richmond, Va., June 4, 1922.  After attending Virginia Union University, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve in September 1942.  In 1943 he participated in a Navy program (V-12) designed to select and train highly qualified men for commissioning as officers.  On Dec. 14, 1944, Gravely successfully completed midshipman training, becoming the first African American commissioned as an officer from the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps.  He was released from active duty in April 1946, but remained in the Naval Reserve.

Gravely was recalled to active duty in 1949.  As part of the Navy’s response to President Truman’s executive order to desegregate the armed services, his initial assignment was as a Navy recruiter, recruiting African Americans in the Washington, D.C. area.  Gravely went on to a Navy career that lasted 38 years and included many distinguished accomplishments.

Gravely’s performance and leadership as an African American Naval officer demonstrated to America the value and strength of diversity.  Gravely’s accomplishments served as watershed events for today’s Navy.  He was the first African American to command a warship (USS Theodore E. Chandler); to command a major warship (USS Jouett); to achieve flag rank and eventually vice admiral; and to command a numbered fleet (Third).

Gravely is the 57th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.  The ship will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management, to sea control and power projection.  Gravely will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and contains a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare in keeping with “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower,” which postures the sea services to apply maritime power to protect U.S. vital interests.

Cmdr. Douglas Kunzman will become the first commanding officer of the ship and lead the crew of 276 officers and enlisted personnel.  The 9,200-ton Gravely was built at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.  The ship is 509 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet, and a navigational draft of 31 feet.  Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots.

Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Information at 703-697-5342.  More information on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers can be found at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=900&ct=4.

SEALs Honored During Veterans Ceremony at Norfolk State University

From Naval Special Warfare Group TWO Public Affairs

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Norfolk State University hosted a Navy SEAL and wounded warrior, along with a contingent of SEALs from Naval Special Warfare Group TWO, during a Veterans Day observance ceremony at the university student center, Nov. 11.

The ceremony was held in conjunction with the local Hampton Roads Reserve Officers Training Corps unit and other local veterans groups.

Ceremony guest speaker Lt. Jason Redman spoke about the meaning of Veterans Day and the sacrifices of service, sharing his experiences serving as a SEAL on the front lines and about the near-death experience that left him seriously injured.

Redman was injured in combat, along with two of his teammates in Iraq, when his squad came under heavy machine-gun and small-arms fire. Despite being hit numerous times, Redman and his team won the fight and brought all of his teammates home alive.

While he was recovering at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Redman posted an inspirational sign outside his hospital room that discouraged visitors from pity and urged fellow wounded warriors to be proud of their service. The sign, gaining the attention of Secretary of Defense Robert S. Gates, became a statement for wounded warriors everywhere, and continues to hang in the wounded ward at the medical center.

"The truth is," said Redman, "I am thankful for these scars because I know they mean that my family, my friends and all of you, hopefully will never have to wear them. I proudly wear them for you."

The torch of American Freedom has burned for 234 years, he said.

"Three years ago, against all odds, I brought my torch of freedom back from Iraq. I pass it on to all of you here today," said Redman. "What will you do with yours?"

Redman reminded the audience that military service requires an incredible amount of dedication and self sacrifice.

"Thousands have willingly sacrificed their own flames of freedom to ensure the flames of all Americans' would never be extinguished by the winds of terrorism," said Redman.

He concluded by thanking all veterans and inviting the members of the audience to meet visiting Navy SEALs and other veterans in attendance.

"Thankfully, there are those of us who wear the uniform; who are entrusted with an oath and presented at the start of our military careers with a part of the flame to keep the torch of American freedom always burning," said Redman.

Public Health Center Promotes 2010 Great American Smokeout

By Hugh Cox, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center Portsmouth Public Affairs

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) in Portsmouth, Va., is partnering with Navy Liberty Centers and the Marine Corps Semper Fit Program as part of Navy-wide efforts to promote the Great American Smokeout (GASO) Nov. 18.

The GASO is an American Cancer Society initiative held across the United States to encourage smokers to quite smoking.

Nearly 31 percent of Sailors and 37 percent of Marines smoke cigarettes, according to a 2008 Department of Defense survey of health related behaviors.

"There are lots of reasons for Sailors and Marines to quit smoking and using tobacco," said Dr. Mark Long, NMCPHC public health educator. "In addition to the myriad of reasons that numerous anti-smoking organizations have been touting for years, smoking can also adversely impact operational and individual readiness."

According to Long, more individuals quit smoking Nov. 18, the GASO, than any other day of the year.

Navy Medicine has long-recognized that tobacco harms the health and well-being of Sailors, Marines and their families.

"More importantly, tobacco use is being acknowledged by Navy and Marine Corps leadership as a readiness issue with our deployed forces," said Capt. Larry Williams, NMCPHC health promotion and analysis head.

Williams is the chair of the Tobacco Cessation Action Team (TCAT), a Navy Medicine group that reviews, develops and provides resources, guidance and policies aimed to help decrease tobacco use in the Navy and Marine Corps.

Long, also a member of TCAT, has been the driving force behind the Navy GASO initiatives for many years.

"It is also important for the non-tobacco users to support their friends and loved ones who decide to quit on the 18th," said Williams. "Quitting is easier with friends to support you."

"More and more Navy and Marine Corps commands are actively promoting and participating in the GASO and encouraging their Sailors and Marines to stop," said Long. "It is a great opportunity to quit using tobacco."

Numerous resources are available to tobacco users interested in quitting tobacco, including military treatment facilities and clinics that offer tobacco cessation programs and support groups. Additionally, the NMCPHC website has a wide variety of tools, tips and resources for tobacco users, as well as program managers.

For more information on the GASO and other Navy public health programs, visit the NMCPHC's website at http://www.nmcphc.med.navy.mil/Healthy_Living/.

For additional information, also visit the Department of Defense's "Quit Tobacco, Make Me Proud" Web-based program at www.ucanquit2.org.

Tricare also offers a free helpline to assist with cessation. Call the following numbers for information:

North Region: (866) 459-8766
South Region: (877) 414-9949
East Region: (866) 244-6870

Veterans’ Reflections: 'Learn Everything You Can'

By Ian Graham
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2010 – When Frank “Irish” Healey was in Vietnam, he was a walking dead man. At least that’s what infamous Radio Hanoi broadcaster “Hanoi Hannah” said of Healey and his fellow Marines in the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines.

The unit became known as the “Walking Dead” because it took heavy casualties in a particularly hot combat zone near the demilitarized zone, where the North Vietnamese army was coming across the border into South Vietnam.

“She said we’re ‘already walking dead men and they don’t know it,’ so that’s where the name came from,” Healey said.

The Barnegat, N.J., native said he hadn’t expected that Marines would face such heavy combat in Vietnam. In 1964, when he followed two friends to enlist in the Corps, Vietnam was an advisory mission. They knew things were going on there, he said, but it wasn’t a full-blown war.

Healey followed a long family tradition of service in enlisting: his father and all of his uncles were veterans of World War II or Korea.

“To be a Marine was to join the best,” he said. “I was brought up learning about their valor in World War II and Korea, and that was where I was going to go. If I was going to go, I was going to go with the best.”

He spent two years in Europe aboard the USS Springfield, touring the Mediterranean, before he volunteered to go to Vietnam with the 1-9th Marines in February 1967. They were looking for troops to send to the combat zone, and Healey said he knew it was his obligation to go.

The Marines he met there would end up being an integral part of Healey’s life, even after combat. He still regularly attends 1-9th reunions and is close with many of the Marines with whom he served in Delta Company.

“They’re like brothers to me –- they’re family,” Healey said. “We lived together, we fought together, we bled together, and unfortunately, some of them died with us.”

During one particularly vicious battle near An Hoa, Delta Company took serious fire. A helicopter came, against orders, to pick up some wounded Marines, though it ended up getting shot down a short distance away.

A UPI photographer, Frank Johnston, happened to be on the chopper, and stayed with Healey and the other Marines as they rallied around the fallen aircraft, eventually taking refuge in an abandoned church. Johnson’s photographs of the scene found their way to the pages of Life magazine and numerous newspapers, magazines and books about the war in Vietnam.

The pictures, depicting exhausted, injured Marines fresh off the battlefield, defined an era for the Corps. While Healey said he appreciates that he’s a part of that history, he added that it doesn’t matter that it’s him and his company on the film.

“It’s great –- but the point isn’t who’s in the picture,” he said. “Every one of us was in that picture. We were tight, we were close, and we shared everything we had. Every Marine and corpsman was in that photograph.”

Healey left active duty in 1968 and served two more years as a reservist. In 1970, he accepted a discharge as sergeant, but his story with the Marine Corps doesn’t end there. His son enlisted in the Corps, and he went to Camp Lejeune, N.C., prior to deploying to Saudi Arabia with the 2nd Marine Division. Then-Maj. Gen. William Keys was the commander of that division -– some years prior, he had been a company commander with the 1-9th in Vietnam.

Healey said he made a phone call, unbeknownst to his son. At first reluctant -- and impeded by his noncommissioned officers, who assumed he was being insolent -- the junior Healey eventually made contact with Keys.

“A two-star general went out and found a private first class and had him over for dinner about a dozen times before the Gulf War started,” Healey said. “My son came home and said, ‘Dad, I walked in with PFC chevrons on and dirty utilities, with colonels sitting around. A general walked in, took one look at me and said, ‘You’re a Healey, I know it.’ He took me into his office, gave me a cold bottle of water, sat down, and talked to me like a father for an hour and a half.’”

“That’s a veteran,” he added. “We’re a family.”

Healey said his best advice to servicemembers now is the same he shared with his son upon enlisting: “Learn everything you can.”

“Whatever you train in, train hard, and train well. Know your job, and know two to three jobs above you,” Healey said. “Because if you’re in combat, and you’ll have to take over when people get killed or get wounded, you’re going to have to know that job and know it well to survive and make sure your friends survive.”

(“Veterans’ Reflections” is a collection of stories of men and women who served their country in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and the present-day conflicts. They will be posted throughout November in honor of Veterans Day.)

Marine Corps Seeks Correct 21st Century Balance

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2010 – The Marine Corps needs to be like a middleweight boxer –- agile, quick and deadly, the commander of Marine Corps Combat Development Command said here today.

Speaking to the Defense Writers’ Group, Lt. Gen. George J. Flynn noted that the Marine Corps has the mission to be America’s expeditionary force in readiness.

“A middleweight fighter has to have a knockout punch,” the general said. “But I also don’t think a middleweight should go 15 rounds with a heavyweight.”

Finding the right balance to define what the Corps should look like and what capabilities it should contain is Flynn’s mission. “It means that we are going to be truly expeditionary -- that we can go wherever we need to go today, not tomorrow, and that we put a premium on readiness,” he said.

“A crisis response force does all the things you see the Marine Corps do right now,” he told the group, from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to providing aid to Pakistan, to helping countries in Africa, South America and Asia. The Marine Corps is taking the lessons of 10 years of war to heart, he added.

“One of the top lessons is that we’re doing things at a much lower level than we ever did in the past,” Flynn said.

Marine Corps companies are doing what battalions did in the past, he explained. The strategy calls for pushing intelligence and operations planning to company level.

“We’re asking a lot of the young leaders to do this,” he said. “Tactical actions have strategic implications, and that really is a key factor in pushing those things down there and asking them to coordinate these in a very complex battle space.”

Strategists talk about a three-block war, and the Marines have embraced that notion, Flynn said. “It is not uncommon to have a unit doing pretty heavy combat, at the same time they train their replacements -– be it police or army support -– and the other part is enabling governance to take place,” Flynn said.

Another lesson is integrating new technology into battle plans and integrating lessons on the fly. Pre-deployment training is an area of concentration for Marines, Flynn said. The training, he said, enables Marines at all levels to understand the mission ahead.

“We use the pre-deployment training to integrate the new things that are on the battlefield – not just equipment, but the tactics, techniques and procedures as well,” Flynn said.

For example, he said, the Marine Corps just opened the expanded immersive infantry trainer at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and is building similar facilities at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and in Hawaii. The trainer gives ground Marines the same leg up that pilots receive, Flynn said.

“For those who fly airplanes, you would never think of giving a pilot the keys to a commercial airliner or a fighter aircraft without some simulator time,” he said. “Why would we give a young squad leader the keys to a rifle squad without going through a simulator? The simulator gives you the pre-combat check ride to make sure you can deal with what you’re going to have to deal with.”

The Marines have been criticized as functioning simply as a second land army, but Flynn said he doesn’t agree.

“I would argue that since 9/11, we’ve been at sea quite a bit as well,” he said. A Marine expeditionary unit based on ships responded to the earthquake in Haiti in January, he noted. Another responded from the sea to the flooding in Pakistan. Still another responded to Haiti as a hurricane struck the island nation earlier this month, Flynn said.

Integrating new equipment into the Corps also is part of Flynn’s mission, and he is looking at new ground combat vehicles, the F-35 joint strike fighter and many other pieces of equipment, he said. He acknowledged, however, that such programs can present fiscal pitfalls. “How do programs get in trouble? We over-reach on technology, and as a result we underestimate the cost and we underestimate the time to be able to do it,” he said.

To remedy that, the general said, the military needs a better dialogue with industry from the beginning of the process.

“We need to be more informed of what we’re asking and to be able to really know the cost of what we’re asking them to do,” he said.