Leap Frogs Kick Off Wounded Warrior Warrior Relay

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Fletcher Gibson, U.S. Navy Parachute Team Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Members of the U.S. Navy Parachute Demonstration Team, the Leap Frogs, jumped into Rancho Bernardo High School May 20 to kick off a 12-hour relay marathon designed to raise awareness about wounded veterans of the U.S. armed forces.

The six-man Leap Frog jump team paraded the U.S. flag to the national anthem performed by the Rancho Bernardo Madrigals before touching down in the school's athletic field where the relay would take place.

"It was a great performance," said Paul Robinson, the school's principal. "It reminds us of the tremendous heart and skill of our armed forces."

The relay served as a focal point for the Rancho Bernardo community to come together and show their support for the nation's wounded warriors. Held in conjunction with "Team Red, White and Blue" and "Advocates in Action," the marathon featured athletic and educational teams from the school as well as members of the surrounding area going the distance for the injured veterans among them.

"When a soldier or sailor is wounded in action, they're returned to the States and separated from their unit or their ship," said Kathleen Kennedy, the event chairperson. "It's really hard for them to leave that brotherhood, and it's up to the community to provide what they're missing."

This was the inaugural event for what many are expecting to be an annual community tradition.

"Mark your calendars for next year," said Robinson to the Leap Frogs. "This will get better and better."

The Leap Frogs next scheduled performance is May 24 at Coney Island in New York.

The Leap Frogs are based in San Diego and perform aerial parachute demonstrations in support of Naval Special Warfare and Navy recruiting.

Clinton Affirms NATO Open-door Membership Policy

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2012 – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at NATO’s summit in Chicago today that member nations are committed to the organization’s open-door membership policy, which she called a “powerful motivation” for countries wishing to join the alliance.

Speaking at a meeting of NATO’s decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, Clinton said the prospect of gaining membership in the alliance spurs countries to “implement difficult but necessary reforms, resolve internal differences as well as differences with their neighbors, and contribute to security operations that benefit themselves and all of us.”

The open-door policy has produced some of the alliance’s most active and committed members, she said, and has helped to promote stability and cooperation in central and eastern Europe.

According to NATO agreements, the alliance is open to any European country able to meet the commitments and obligations of membership and contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area.

Since 1949, NATO’s membership has increased from 12 to 28 countries through six rounds of enlargement. Albania and Croatia, which were invited to join NATO at the alliance’s April 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania, formally became members April 1, 2009.

Georgia is advancing toward NATO membership, and Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina are also working to become alliance members.

Clinton said the United States is deeply committed to NATO’s open-door policy. “It is in that spirit that we welcome our aspirant nations here today,” she said.

“We will keep working with each of them, both bilaterally and through NATO, to help them implement finally the reforms needed to meet the standards for membership,” she added. “As I said yesterday, I believe this summit should be the last summit that is not an enlargement summit.”

Clinton said NATO looks to aspiring member nations to demonstrate that they share NATO’s values and =are willing and able to meet the standards for membership. “And we promise to help them as they do so because this is in our interest,” she added.

Gaining membership can be a lengthy and challenging process, Clinton acknowledged.

“We need to stick with it and remember our ultimate goal: a stronger, more durable, more effective NATO,” she said, adding that enlargement of the alliance, done right, is a core element of NATO’s purpose and its community.

Gov. Walker lauds Wisconsin National Guard during Armed Forces Week

By 1st Sgt. Vaughn R. Larson

Wisconsin National Guard

Gov. Scott Walker thanked members of the Wisconsin National Guard May 18, the eve of Armed Forces Day, for their commitment to the state and nation, and said he and other governors are committed to keeping a strong Guard.

"We're committed to working with our congressional delegation in the federal government because we believe a well-prepared, well-armed [military] is important for our nation," Walker said in Witmer Hall at Joint Force Headquarters in Madison, Wis. "But we also believe very strongly that the most efficient, the most cost-effective and the most practical way of doing that is investing in our Guard."

Walker noted that Wisconsin National Guard members bring not only their military training to the table, but their civilian work experience as well.

"That can't be replicated anywhere else," he continued, "so we're going to continue to fight for that because we want a strong Guard in Wisconsin and the 49 other states, and throughout this country."

Walker related an account where a woman approached him to meet her son's commander in chief.

"She gave me this bracelet," he said, pointing to one of two on his left wrist. "I told her I'd put it next to this one," worn in honor of a fallen service member from Janesville. "It reminds me of how words can't explain the debt of gratitude we have to all of you. To every one of you here, to the 10,000 strong in the Guard here in the state of Wisconsin, and to all others, in the Guard around the country, in the Reserves and in the active duty service, for what you do as a commitment to your country. We just can't thank you enough."

Walker said he is frequently asked how Wisconsin service members cope with deploying multiple times.

"It's part of our history - that's who we are," he explained. "From World War I, the 'Greatest Generation' of World War II, and Korea and Vietnam, two decades ago in Desert Storm … every step of the way we've had a proud tradition that dates all the way back to those first Soldiers from Wisconsin, who went out in record numbers to fight in our nation's Civil War.

"We're proud because of our heritage," Walker continued. "We're proud because of who we are. Thank you for helping that live on."

Rotational Deployments to Boost U.S. Asia-Pacific Presence

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2012 – Welcoming new Marine rotational deployments in Australia and Navy rotations planned for Singapore, the top U.S. Pacific Command officer said he’ll seek similar arrangements, possibly to include the Army, that expand U.S. presence in the region without the need for more permanently based forces.

Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear Jr. noted the arrival of about 200 U.S. Marines in Darwin, Australia, last month for the first six-month rotations serving alongside the Australian Defense Force.

“It’s only a small group thus far, but over the next several years, we would like to grow that to about 2,500,” he said during an interview here with American Forces Press Service.

Based at Australia’s Robertson Barracks outside Darwin, the Marines are bolstering U.S. theater engagement in the Asia-Pacific region -- a major goal in the new defense strategic guidance -- without the need for new infrastructure or permanent U.S. bases, Locklear noted. The Marines provide “an increase in your ability to be forward, which provides a tremendous ability to work with our partners and build those relationships,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Navy’s new littoral combat ship, USS Freedom, is scheduled for its first 10-month rotational deployment to Singapore beginning next spring. If Singapore agrees, Locklear said, he ultimately would like to expand the arrangement to include additional littoral ships.

All, he said, will be positioned alongside a strong, reliable partner near the strategic Straits of Malacca that links the Indian and Pacific oceans. “It will give us a unique, credible combat credibility for our maritime security, particularly in one of the largest choke points in the world,” he said.

Locklear said he’d like to build on these models as he implements the new strategic guidance that emphasizes the importance of Asia and the Pacific. Already, the Army has approached him with an interest in rotating units into Asia and the Pacific as operations wind down in Afghanistan. That makes sense, he added, noting that five of the world’s largest armies are in the region.

“Our ability to operate effectively, cross-Army to cross-Army, has not been good in the last decade or so, because most Army assets were tied up in the Middle East,” he said. “So we are really going to pursue some good opportunities in that regard.”

Rotational forces provide “an uptick in presence” that he said complements that provided by the 330,000 service members permanently based within the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility.

“What they provide is an ability to work with our allies and to leverage the capabilities of the allies across all aspects of peace to conflict,” the admiral said. Meanwhile, he added, the additional presence rotational forces provide creates regional footholds that could pay off if the United States had to flow more forces to protect U.S. or allies interests there.

That presence, and the experience base it helps to build, would be particularly valuable in a disaster requiring humanitarian assistance, such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, or any other crisis, he said.

“It gives training to the forces that rotate in and out,” he explained, so they are familiar with the region and the regional militaries if they need to work together. He cited last year’s Operation Tomodachi in Japan as an example. “So there is a lot of value to it,” he said.

While anticipating no change in the number of permanently assigned U.S. troops in the region, Locklear said, he expects to see a “reshaped military” that’s able to deploy more throughout the region, particularly to allies and partner countries. He noted the realignment of base infrastructure under way or planned in Japan, Guam and South Korea. The United States and Japan agreed last month on a plan to relocate about 9,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa. About 5,000 will move to Guam, with the rest to transfer elsewhere in the region.

In addition, almost all of the 28,500 U.S. service members in Korea will have completed the move south of South Korea’s capital of Seoul, most of them to Camp Humphreys, in the coming years. All but a tiny residual force will leave U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, current home to U.S. Forces Korea and Combined Forces Korea in the heart of Seoul, and the 2nd Infantry Division and its supporting elements will relocate from Camp Casey and its tiny satellite bases north of the capital.

“We are working hard, between the U.S. government and our allies, to ensure that we do the right things now to ensure the success of both moves,” Locklear said. Meanwhile, the Japanese government has the lead in setting a timeline for the movement of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a more remote area of Okinawa.

As this reshaping takes place, Locklear said, members of Pacom should “expect to stay busy” and continuing doing the “great work they are doing today.”

“They need to stay focused on the job at hand,” he said, and be ready to carry out whatever mission is asked of them.

“When required, they have to be able to produce what is necessary -- either build relationships, provide better security, and to deter and dissuade [aggression],” he said. “And if deterrence fails, they have to be able to fight and win. And that is what we get paid to do.”

Pacific Partnership 2012 Celebrates Asian Pacific Heritage Month

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Clay M. Whaley, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West

USNS MERCY, At Sea (NNS) -- Service members and civilians aboard Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) celebrated Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, May 20, while underway for Pacific Partnership 2012 (PP12).

Crew members participated in an educational brief, singing, dancing and a fashion show for a first-hand view of the different traditions, culture and history of Asian and Pacific Islanders.

"We held an Asian Pacific Islander Heritage celebration to commemorate and recognize the different cultures and traditions of people, and to share their history of hard work and service to our country," said Chief Hospital Corpsman Marvin Ramos, leading chief petty officer for the directorate of Nursing Services. "Since we have such a diverse group of people in the military, I think it's important to understand everyone's heritage and background."

Ramos said Mercy crew members will be spending a majority of the mission in the Asian-Pacific region, so it is important to become accustomed to their culture and heritage.

"The celebration is important to PP12 because our objective is to build relationships with the host nations of Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Philippines," said Ramos. "Knowing the culture and traditions of each of these countries helps us better understand their backgrounds, and can aid us in building successful relationships."

Many PP12 crew members aboard Mercy are of Asian and Pacific Islander descent.

"It has been seven years since I've seen my family and friends in Guam," said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Oliver Sicat. "I'm happy that PP12 is giving me opportunity to reunite with them again after all these years."

Sicat, who was born in the Philippines and raised in Guam, will have the opportunity to visit his extended family for the first time since childhood.

"I'm really excited to see my grandma," said Sicat. "I moved away from the Philippines when I was just a young child, so this will really be one of the only times I will ever have seen most of my family in my life."

Pacific Partnership is a five-month humanitarian assistance initiative designed to build partnerships and a collective ability to respond to natural disasters that and will make port visits to Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.