Africom’s Makeup Promotes ‘Whole-of-government’ Approaches

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

STUTTGART, Germany, July 2, 2012 – As the Defense Department was embracing a counterinsurgency strategy that recognized the need for “whole-of-government” solutions in Iraq and then Afghanistan, U.S. Africa Command was busy putting the model into practice on the African continent.

Africom stood up five years ago as a new model of interagency cooperation: a U.S. combatant command representing a cross-section of military, diplomatic and other U.S. government capability able to bring all elements of national power to regional challenges.

And although budget realities kept Africom from fully achieving the initial vision of a half military, half interagency organization, officials at the command’s headquarters here say it’s still become a gold standard in collaboration. Its staff includes four Senior Foreign Service officers in key positions, as well as more than 30 representatives from throughout the federal government.

The goal at Africom is to work in tandem with other U.S. government agencies and international partners to help African nations deal with African challenges, Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, the Africom commander, told American Forces Press Service.

Toward that goal, the command supports military-to-military programs and military-sponsored operations aimed at promoting a stable, secure Africa, the general said. But equally important, he emphasized, is Africom’s work using non-DOD authorities and resources and carried out by the interagency.

To keep a clear-eyed focus on this effort, Ham relies heavily on two deputy commanders: one responsible for military operations and the other for civil-military activities. This composition reflects an understanding that while defense is vital to the African continent, it’s just one part of the so-called “three-D” formula that also embodies diplomacy and development, Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes, Africom’s civilian deputy commander, told American Forces Press Service.

“It represents a recognition of the reality that what we do to protect U.S. security interests in Africa is part of a much broader ‘whole-of-government approach’ to representing all our interests on the continent,” he said. It also acknowledges, he added, that traditional U.S. military solutions aren’t always the best answer to Africa’s security challenges.

“Security challenges in Africa are inextricably bound up with the development challenges in Africa,” Holmes said. “They are inherently related to the challenges of development or underdevelopment and economic, political and social development.”

Short-term solutions can’t resolve these challenges, he emphasized. “You have to be very patient. You have to address them in a long-term manner.”

This creates a tension between immediate, sometimes kinetic responses to security challenges that the military typically delivers and “soft-power” solutions that take a longer-term view toward resolving the underlying political, economic and social development causes, the ambassador noted.

“So it is a question of achieving a balanced approach that takes our security imperatives in the short term, but recognizing that our short-term approaches should not undermine our longer-term interests,” he said.

“I think it is widely recognized, particularly in Africa, that the military brings certain skill sets to addressing the challenges we face,” agreed Army Maj. Gen. Charles J. Hooper, Africom’s director of strategy, plans and programs. “But we can’t possibly address the comprehensive spectrum of challenges,” particularly those stemming from economic problems, social instability or educational shortfalls.

Hooper noted the activities by Africom’s interagency partners and nongovernmental organizations that are helping to address some of the root causes of instability on the continent.

“So the NGOs address some of those nonsecurity-related, social-related issues. Our interagency partners address some of the educational [and] economic root causes. And we [in the military] address security,” he said. “That triumvirate … works together in concert to present a broad-spectrum solution to address the challenges that we face here.”

To support that effort, Holmes focuses on creating relationships, building partners in the region and identifying common interests and common ground for cooperation.

The goal, he said, is to work together to develop a capacity in so African nations can create the institutions and achieve security themselves. As a result, individual nations, the region, the continent, and ultimately, the United States, will benefit from improved security there, he said.

Ham acknowledged that budgetary constraints have kept non-DOD agencies from providing the representation initially envisioned for the Africom headquarters staff. Instead, a smaller contingency of senior-level members from the departments of State, Agriculture, Energy, Commerce, Justice and Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the intelligence community support the mission here, all with reach-back to additional resources and expertise in the United States.

“All of that is intended to make sure that we don’t take an exclusively military view to the problems and the challenges we encounter,” Ham said. “Instead, our actions [and] our plans are informed more broadly by those who have different experiences, different perspectives and different capabilities than most of us who grow up in the U.S. military.”

“You are bringing in talented leaders who don’t think the same way you do,” agreed Army Brig. Gen. Arnold Gordon-Bray, Africom’s director of operations. “So when a plan is finished, it normally incorporates angles you may not have considered. And sometimes those angles are exactly the angles that the threat [you are countering] may have chosen to use.”

Hooper called the opportunity to work as part of an integrated, interagency team at Africom one of the best rewards of the job here. “This is what is new and what is different about U.S. Africa Command,” he said. “And it is quite exciting.”

Suicide Prevention: From the Top to the Trenches

By the Health.mil Staff

From heads of state to Main Street civilians, the grand ballroom was charged with words of advocacy and hope during the fourth annual DoD/VA Suicide Prevention Conference in Washington, D.C. last week.

The three-day event offered a glimpse into technological options on the horizon, such as the National Center for Telehealth and Technology’s (T2), Virtual Hope Box, that will function as an electronic box that’s chock-full of innovative, yet tangible, reminders of why life is truly worth living and interactive text messaging which offers immediate and ongoing human connection for those on the brink or in the midst of turmoil.

Yet, in the thick of the presentations that spotlighted strategic collaborative initiatives and groundbreaking technological advances, emerged the personal stories of strength, bravery and hope that seemed to be the shot in the arm desperately needed to revitalize communities whose intent it is to solve the problem of suicide among service members and veterans.

Auspiciously flanked by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Jonathan Woodson and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, was a young University of Notre Dame graduate named Tregg Duerson.  By his own admission, he is not in the military nor is he from a military family.  He is, however, intimately familiar with the tragic effects of suicide. 

Duerson’s father, NFL great Dave Duerson, committed suicide in February 2011.  Suspecting he had developed a debilitating brain condition -- later identified as chronic traumatic encephalopathy -- the celebrated athlete scribbled his final words in a note that would contain a good bye to loved ones and a request that his brain be donated to the NFL’s brain bank for research.  He took his life with a gunshot to the chest, leaving his family devastatingly blindsided.  None of his friends or family knew of his voiceless despondency.

The day before Duerson addressed attendees, Woodson spoke of three imperatives that underscored the conference theme of “Back to Basics: Enhancing the Well-Being of our Service Members, Veterans and their Families.”  He spoke of the need for vigilance and being on guard for what the “buddy on the left” and the “buddy on the right” needs. “These are the responsibilities all of us have,” he said.  Additionally, he stressed the importance of efforts to reduce the stigma many associate with seeking mental health care.  The third imperative emphasized the importance of talking about the successes that have been achieved in the crusade against a most insidious enemy, suicide.

Following Duerson, Panetta passionately proffered a strategic four-step plan of attack in suicide prevention which included vigilance, improvement to behavioral health care and greater accessibility, elevation of mental fitness, and improved understanding of suicide and related mental health issues through greater scientific research.

Concluding in an unapologetic crescendo, Panetta strongly admonished, “All of us, and frankly for that matter all Americans, have to always support and care for those who have stepped forward to defend our country in uniform. “We are a family, and by God we have to take care of our family members.”

Hope sprang eternal in Duerson as this passionate, unvarnished speaker told the story of a loving father, a committed teammate and a man with a secret – sadly, a health-related secret for which he did not seek professional help.  Duerson’s message punctuated a week-long refrain that proclaimed a call for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Some Firefighting C-130s to Redeploy from Colorado to Wyoming

From a 153rd Air Expeditionary Group News Release

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Starting tomorrow, four of the eight Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped C-130 military aircraft presently stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., to combat wildfires in Colorado and other western states will begin operating out of the Wyoming Air National Guard’s base in Cheyenne.

Since June 25, MAFFS-equipped aircraft have been operating from Peterson, located in Colorado Springs, to assist with firefighting efforts in the Rocky Mountain region.

Four additional C-130 aircraft arrived at Peterson yesterday, bringing the total of MAFFS-equipped aircraft based there to eight.

The four C-130s from the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing and the North Carolina National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing are moving from Colorado Springs to Cheyenne at the request of the U.S. Forest Service to minimize fire retardant reloading time, said Air Force Col. Jerry Champlin, 153rd Air Expeditionary Group commander.

“Moving four of our aircraft further north will allow the Forest Service tremendous flexibility to assist with several regional fires at once,” he said. “Reducing the reaction time to get to fires in Wyoming and South Dakota, for example, will be a huge force multiplier.”

The four aircraft from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, from Channel Islands, and the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing based at Peterson Air Force Base, will continue to operate from Peterson.

The C-130s have dropped more than 170,000 gallons of fire retardant on the Waldo Canyon and Flagstaff fires in Colorado, the Arapaho fire in Wyoming, and the White Draw fire in South Dakota.

“They are assigned to fires on a priority basis for each day,” said Forest Service spokesman Scott Fisher. “Air tankers may also be re-assigned during the day, based on a shift in priority for the Rocky Mountain coordination center.”

MAFFS, a joint Department of Defense and Forest Service program, is a self-contained aerial firefighting system owned by the Forest Service that can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter-of-a-mile long, by 100-feet wide.

After an aircraft discharges its load of fire retardant, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.

Navy Nurse Emphasizes Importance of Nursing in Psychiatric Health

By the Health.mil Staff

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Pam Wall, former program director for the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) Adult Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program recently discussed the role of nurses in delivering mental health care to wounded veterans.  Wall, speaking with “Need to Know,” a PBS TV and web newsmagazine, said her goal is to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health problems and mental health care.  She also emphasized the connection between nursing care and mental health care.

“One of the advantages of nursing is that because we are always with the patients I think it helps us to readily identify some mental health issues maybe before another person is able to identify it,” she said.

Wall was at the University of Pennsylvania, where she and her colleague, Lt. Cmdr. Sean Convoy, also a member of the Navy Nurse Corps and current director of the USUHS program, taught a class on post-traumatic stress disorder. Speaking with the nursing students, both Wall and Convoy emphasized the unique stresses faced by service members and the role nurses play in helping them get the psychological care they need.

New leadership takes helm of Red Arrow Brigade

By Spc. Alexandria Hughes

32nd Brigade Public Affairs

After more than 33 years of military service - including the last two as commander of the Wisconsin Army National Guard's largest brigade - Col. Martin Seifer of Seymour, Wis., formally transferred command of the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team to Col. Tim Lawson of Cambridge, Wis.

"I had my time and it was great," Seifer said, "but it's time to hang up the boots and let somebody else do it.

"Tim is a terrific Soldier and a terrific leader," Seifer continued. "I've known him since we were both majors. He will do a terrific job as commander of the 32nd IBCT."

Seifer assumed command of the 32nd in 2010 shortly after the brigade returned from a yearlong mobilization and deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was the largest overseas operational deployment in the Wisconsin National Guard since World War II.

During his tenure as commander, Seifer focused on ramping up training and refitting the brigade in terms of personnel and equipment in preparation for future missions.

Brig. Gen. Mark Anderson, commander of the Wisconsin Army National Guard, recommended Seifer as commander of the 32nd, and passed the brigade flag to Seifer during the last change of command ceremony in 2010.

"It was very much because of [Seifer's] demonstrated abilities as an officer and a leader," Anderson explained.

Seifer led the brigade through a Warfighter Exercise in May, a virtual exercise that gauges the abilities of units to react and respond to changing combat and stabilization operations.

"It really just affirms to me that Marty was absolutely the right person to take the command at the time," Anderson said.

Seifer was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his accomplishments. He plans to continue working for Schneider International.

"I've had the opportunity of working for great leaders and great peers," Seifer said, summing up his message to the Red Arrow Soldiers, "I believe the quality of a commander's life is in direct proportion to his Soldiers' commitment to excellence. The past two years have been an unbelievable experience for me, and that is due to the level of dedication, effort and commitment to excellence each and every one of you put forward to make this brigade the best IBCT in the United States Army.

"You truly have made the past two years the high point of my career," Seifer continued. "For that, I am forever grateful."

Lawson has 21 years of military experience to draw from - 10 years active service and 11 years in the Wisconsin Army National Guard - including combat arms and armor officer, military intelligence, recruiting battalion commander and state operations officer. He transitioned to infantry to command the 1st Battalion, 127th Infantry.

"It's good to be home," Lawson said. "It's good to be a part of this organization. It's good to be back at that level of tactical thinking - of combat arms. I'm happy to be in this position. I'm very fortunate to be in the shoes I am today."

"Col. Lawson will take the 32nd to that next level," Anderson added, "as it continues through its training model in preparation for any future deployments."

Lawson said he is looking forward to working with Command Sgt. Maj. Rafael Conde, senior enlisted advisor for the 32nd. Lawson and Conde worked together for 18 months in the 127th Infantry as well as a 2009 deployment to Afghanistan.

"CSM Conde and I go back a ways," Lawson said. "He is the epitome of what a noncommissioned officer should be, and as a command sergeant major - there is none better. That's speaking from an active duty and National Guard status. The man can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere."

Conde, in turn, expressed confidence in the brigade's new commander.

"The greatest thing about Col. Lawson is that he is a Soldier's commander," Conde said. "There will not be a Soldier within six months who will not know his name -not because he yells, but because he gets out and he talks to his Soldiers and still meets every expectation."