Soldiers Train, Provide Christmas Cheer at Operation Toy Drop

By Army Sgt. Nicole Paese, 361st Press Camp Headquarters

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Dec. 4, 2017 — Hundreds of U.S. Army and foreign airborne troops gathered here Dec. 1-2 to get in some airborne training and provide Christmas cheer to local children during the 20th annual Operation Toy Drop.

The Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop is an annual tradition here. Hosted by the Army Reserve and the Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, participating soldiers conduct an airborne operation with foreign jumpmasters. During the event, the American soldiers -- who could jump with an unwrapped toy or stuffed animal that would be donated to underprivileged local children -- also had a chance to earn their foreign jump wings.

On Dec. 1, soldiers gathered at Green Ramp at Pope Air Field here from 7-11 a.m. to receive a lottery ticket. Troops with winning tickets received a spot in the airborne operation the following day.

The Operation Toy Drop tradition was established in 1998 by then-Army Staff Sgt. Randy Oler, a U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command soldier. Operation Toy Drop began as a training event, with more than 1,200 soldiers participating and donating 550 toys.

Foreign Country Participation

“Eight foreign countries participate. Soldiers train with foreign jump masters and learn commands,” said Army Maj. Kathleen S. Feeley-Lynch, with the Army Reserve’s 7458th Medical Backfill Battalion. For many of the reservists, she said, Operation Toy Drop serves as a venue to conduct training that mirrors their civilian careers. Foreign countries participating in this year’s event included Canada, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.

“A lot of our new soldiers are medics for the Army and are full-time students,” said Feeley-Lynch. “Many of the soldiers have recently completed the Drop Zone Medical Operations course offered at Fort Bragg’s Medical Simulation Training Center.” The course, she said, focuses on injuries that could occur during airborne operations.

Training Experience

Operation Toy Drop also enables soldiers to experience real-world military training.

“Soldiers practice basic soldiering and medical skills in a controlled environment,” said Army Reserve 1st Lt. Kirsten A. Westberg, a medical-surgical nurse with the 7458th and a civilian nurse.

“You’re in a field environment, being able to set up an aid station and learn how to load patients and litters on to an aircraft,” Feeley-Lynch said.

“It’s more relevant for real life. We need hands-on field training,” said Army Maj. Arnold J. Cortez, an emergency room nurse with the 7458th. “This is what we’re trained for.”

Working With Other Reservists

Another benefit is the opportunity to work with soldiers from other Army Reserve units.

“We’re fortunate to work with a bunch of professionals,” Cortez said.

“We have two doctors, several [emergency room] nurses, an [intensive care unit] nurse and several medics. We have 28 personnel in total,” Feeley-Lynch said. “We’re spread out through the drop zone; we also have roaming medics who are walking around with first aid bags.”

“Our overall goal to provide support for this mission. Our team is well-equipped to help people out if they really need it,” Cortez said.

Shanahan Makes Case for Budget Stability, Says Situation ‘Is Not Normal’

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2017 — The Defense Department has clear orders from President Donald J. Trump “to build a stronger military, take care of our men and women, and excel in our business operations,” Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan said yesterday.

Shanahan was the closing speaker at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, and he spoke how the department is putting the president’s orders into effect.

The deputy secretary has been on the job for just under five months, and said he is most concerned with managing business practices to find money to make the military more lethal.

The deputy came to the department after 30 years at Boeing, where he shepherded the 787 Dreamliner to production. And while he says the transition from the aircraft manufacturer to DoD has been seamless, there have been some surprises. “I will say a couple of the department’s behaviors strike me as abnormal,” he said. “First, operating without a budget is not normal. Doing so every year for nine years, is really not normal.”

Stopping the Abnormal From Becoming Normal

While this tongue-in-cheek statement was met with knowing laughs from the high-powered audience at the forum, it served to underscore the problems facing DoD. Shanahan continued his statement of the problem. “Airplanes are meant to fly,” he said. “A service with significant number of its airplanes grounded and awaiting maintenance is not normal.”

“Part of my job as a leader is guarding against normalization of abnormal behaviors within the department,” Shanahan said. “A high level of performance is not only expected of our military, it is essential for America’s security, no matter the restraints.”

He noted that the U.S. military also faced obstacles to readiness and modernization in the years immediately preceding World War II. “While military leaders sought stable funding, political tensions and budgetary pressures stymied readiness efforts until the Second World War arrived on our doorstep,” he said.

Today, artificial constraints once again hold the national defense hostage, Shanahan said. “From budget stresses like continuing resolutions and Budget Control Act caps to disagreements in Congress that affect timely decision-making, right now we have time -- one of our most precious resources. But we lack the stable budget needed to prepare for future fights,” he said.

If a crisis appears, Congress will fund the military, the deputy secretary said, but there will be no time to prepare. “We cannot rely on a crisis to be the catalyst for solutions,” he said. “The cost of global conflict is simply too high and we value our men and women in uniform far too much. The rapidly changing security environment and budgetary instability have forced our department into a risk management posture, the consequences of which are hard to calculate.”

Limited Elasticity

The career engineer used an analogy from physics to illustrate his point. A material may be stretched in many ways and will return to form when the stresses upon it are released unless it is stretched too far. Then it will remain deformed. “The Department of Defense has its limits to elasticity,” he said. “Excessive pressure in the form of budgetary instability has the potential to permanently distort the department’s character, and lessen the lethality.”

The department must get away from risk management and seize opportunities to remain competitive. “A risk-balanced, opportunity driven approach with spark innovation and help protect our hard-earned culture of excellence from the unintended distortion of instability,” he said.

Long-term readiness and modernization will be embedded into the National Defense Strategy, the deputy secretary said. “We are building alignment across the department, the interagency, with industry and other partners and allies,” he said. “We view all these efforts through the critical lenses of lethality and affordability. After all, we must remember the department’s primary purpose is to be as lethal as possible, ensuring our diplomats speak from a position of strength.

“This is only possible when our enemies know with certainty that we are ready to fight and win our wars, and our allies know we stand steady alongside them,” he continued.

National Security Advisor Hints at Basis of Trump’s National Security Strategy

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2017 — During a speech to the Reagan National Defense Forum yesterday, President Donald J. Trump’s national security advisor gave hints on what the president’s national security strategy will contain.

Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the first active-duty national security advisor since Army Gen. Colin Powell, said the strategy would set the stage for the country to reclaim its strategic confidence.

Making the speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, was a tribute to the president who resurrected U.S. confidence when he took office in 1981. The 1970s were not a high point in American history. One president forced to resign, the loss in Vietnam, the Arab oil embargo and Iran breaking into the American embassy in Tehran and holding 55 American citizens hostage set the stage for Reagan’s presidency.

Confidence in the United States and the nation’s influence abroad were at a low point, McMaster said. “The Soviet Union appeared to be on the rise and America, it seemed, was in decline,” he said. “President Reagan ushered in a dramatic rethinking of America’s role in the world and a dramatic renewal of American confidence. America would not only triumph in the Cold War and beyond but reach a new height of influence and prosperity.”

It was also fitting to discuss the Trump administration’s national security strategy, which will be released shortly, since Reagan signed the first national security strategy in 1987, the general said.

Crossroads

“Today as we approach the unveiling of the Trump administration’s national security strategy, we are at a similar crossroads,” McMaster said.

Russia and China are subverting the post-World War II political, economic and security orders to advance their own interests at the expense of the United States and its allies, the national security advisor said.

Iran and North Korea are violating the sovereignty of their neighbors, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and exporting terror to other nations. “Jihadist terror organizations such as [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] threaten all civilized people in every corner of the world,” he said.

“These national security challenges also require a dramatic rethinking of American foreign policy from previous decades,” McMaster said.

The national security strategy “will focus on protecting our homeland, advancing American prosperity, preserving peace through strength … and finally enhancing American influence,” he said.

McMaster said the administration is reclaiming the strategic confidence necessary for implementing the strategy through understanding in four areas. “First, the values that define our nation; second, the full instruments that define our power; third, the threats facing our nation; and fourth, the dynamic and competitive nature of our security environment,” he said.

Instruments of Power

The values that define America are important. President Reagan called America “a shining city upon a hill” and spoke of the suffering of people living under fear and oppression. Americans believe in the value of every human life, McMaster said, and the world should know that is the case.

Trump’s actions have reinforced this, the general said. He ordered attacks on the Syrian airfield from which aircraft laden with chemical weapons launched attacks on their own people. “The president further demonstrated his commitments to American values with changes in the policies toward Cuba, Iran and Venuzuela,” he said.

Using all instruments of national power is at the heart of the strategy. “President Reagan understood that diplomacy and military force were both important and equally vital tools for national power,” McMaster said. “President Trump is aligning diplomatic, economic, military, informational, intelligence and law enforcement efforts since the first days.”

The South Asia strategy is a good example of this, he said. “We would no longer confuse activity with progress,” the general said. “Our military efforts and operations in the region combined with the efforts of our partners would focus on what brought us to Afghanistan in 2001 -- to deny terrorists safe havens that they could use to threaten America and threaten our allies.”

The administration is also clear about the threats facing America, McMaster said. These threats, he said, “emanate from revisionist powers, rogue regimes and jihadist terrorist organizations.”

The approach adopts a realistic view of our security environment, the general said. “For this reason, we do not base national security decisions on rigid ideology, but instead on our core national interests and clearly defined objectives derived from those interests,” McMaster said.

Finally, the approach seeks to understand the dynamic and competitive nature of the security environment. “We must acknowledge that the international system is, above all, characterized by competition, interaction and change,” he said.

The United States wants all nations to develop and compete, “but the competition must be fair,” McMaster said. “Our economic relationships will respect our partners sovereignty and their economic destinies, while ensuring American workers and American companies are not unfairly disadvantaged.”