Marvel, AAFES Offer New Military-Only Comic

Dec. 6, 2006 – Just in time for the holiday season, Marvel Comics' "The New Avengers" and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service have teamed up to bring troops stationed around the world another free, military-exclusive comic book. Marvel Comics and the Army Air Force Exchange Service have joined forces to bring servicemembers around the world the fourth installment in the "The New Avengers" military-only comic book series. "The New Avengers: Letters Home" is scheduled to arrive in U.S. exchanges around Dec. 20 and overseas, including 53 facilities throughout operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, shortly thereafter. Courtesy photo '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Marvel Comics, a division of Marvel Enterprises, Inc., is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program highlighting ways Americans and the corporate sector support the nation's servicemembers.

"The New Avengers: Letters Home" is scheduled to arrive in U.S. exchanges around Dec. 20 and overseas, including the 53 BX/PX facilities throughout operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, shortly thereafter. It's the fourth installment of the military-only comic book series.

"Due to their limited availability, collectors have historically shown great interest in these special AAFES/Marvel Comics editions," Army Col. Max Baker, AAFES chief of staff, said. "If the past is any indicator, 'The New Avenger: Letters Home' issue should go quickly."

Available exclusively at AAFES stores, the newest issue once again features Marvel's superhero Captain America, who, because his regular supporting cast is away for the holidays, is joined by Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider and special guest, The Punisher. When Hydra takes over a military communications satellite, the superheroes spring into action to ensure troops' e-mail messages to loved ones make their way home.

Because of the highly collectible nature and the anticipated demand for the 36-page comic, AAFES officials advise that "The New Avengers: Letters Home" is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Safety Committee Promotes Holiday Hazard Awareness

By Kim Sears

Dec. 6, 2006 – Increased alcohol consumption and dangerous road conditions are two of many holiday hazards a Defense Department safety committee is working to remind servicemembers about this season. The Defense Safety Oversight Council is using a series of holiday messages from top DoD officials and Service Safety Center activities to promote awareness and the importance of safe and responsible behavior through the holidays.

The holidays account for an increased amount of safety mishaps DoD-wide, officials said. From drinking and driving to leaving holiday candles unattended, the potential for injury and loss goes up dramatically during this time.

The committee is putting particular emphasis on safe driving, using a series of leadership messages focused on accountability by individuals and the chain of command and the importance of defensive driving.

The council also is directing servicemembers to Service Safety Center Web sites, which have online tools to help local commanders and individuals reduce risks. Online resources include tips, presentations and articles on topics including fireplace safety, suicide prevention, and carbon monoxide poisoning, among others.

In a June 22 memorandum, the Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reiterated his directive to reduce all safety mishaps within DoD by 75 percent by the end of fiscal 2008. The Defense Safety Oversight Council was created to find ways to meet that goal. David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, is chairman of the council.

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Fort Bliss Offers Example, Lessons for BRAC Gaining Posts

By Donna Miles

Dec. 6, 2006 – Bases slated to grow as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure process need look no farther for lessons learned than this sprawling post that's tripling its population and transforming from an air-defense center to an armor center. Even before the ink had dried on the BRAC 2005 recommendations, Fort Bliss was already preparing to welcome about 20,000 1st Armored Division soldiers and 27,000 family members relocating from Germany, Clark McChesney, director of the post's Transformation Office, told American Forces Press Service.

That plan, part of the Defense Department's global reposturing strategy and the Army's modularization effort, calls for the 1st Armored Division headquarters, four brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade from Fort Hood, Texas, to move to Fort Bliss within the next five years. Meanwhile, the Air Defense Artillery Center and School is slated to move from Fort Bliss to Fort Sill, Okla., during the next four years.

Post planners anticipated big growth for the post long before they were formally announced and began laying the initial groundwork for it more than 20 years ago, said Jean Offutt, the post's public affairs officer.

As a result, she said, Fort Bliss is at the leading edge of the sweeping changes under way at other posts around the country and is being looked to by many as a model for growth.

"I was told by the people in Washington that whenever anybody wants to know anything about how to do something or they need a briefing about it, they call Fort Bliss to come and tell them," Offutt said.

McChesney compared planning to boost the post's soldier population from 10,000 to about 30,000 to putting together a puzzle in which all the pieces are the same size and color. "We're trying to figure out how to put the puzzle together here at Fort Bliss," he said. "And I expect that a lot of our other sister installations around the United States are doing the same thing."

Complicating the process, he said, is the fact that the Army is at war, and changeable deployment schedules leave big question marks as to exactly what units will be moving both to and from the post and when.

"I like to talk about this like it's dominoes," he said. "Somebody has to be the first domino to fall. And that first domino has to fall because someone has to move off of Fort Bliss in order to create a vacancy in facilities so that there is a place for that next person to move in."

Some of the first units slated to leave Fort Bliss departed this summer, opening up space for the first incoming units, including the new, high-tech Future Force Integration Directorate.

But even as post officials tweak their planning, the first of the incoming soldiers, the 1st Cavalry Division's 4th Brigade, began arriving in October 2005. The brigade moved into temporary modular facilities but will relocate to permanent facilities when $2.5 billion in construction at Fort Bliss wraps up in 2014, McChesney said.

Post officials broke ground Oct. 23, beginning a six-year construction boom that will transform stretches of mesquite brush and sand dunes on the post's eastern side into state-of-the-art living and training facilities. "We're basically building an entire new city," McChesney said.

Ultimately, the expansion will include new headquarters and administrative spaces, aircraft hangars, arms rooms, unit storage facilities, barracks, dining facilities, fitness centers, medical and dental facilities, motor pool areas, maintenance facilities and wash racks.

Plans also call for $180 million in construction to expand the range complexes, which now serve air defense units, so they're suitable for mounted maneuvers. The expansion plans will tap into the space and capabilities at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., collectively offering 800,000 acres of on- and off-road maneuver area, McChesney said.

"We are going to end up with three major range complexes when this is all done," he said, allowing four combat brigades and a division to conduct everything from individual-soldier training to brigade-level operations.

These new range facilities will enable soldiers "to go out and conduct realistic training that meets their requirements so that they are prepared when they go into combat with the best training facilities that we have to give them," McChesney said.

The Fort Bliss expansion plan also includes a full range of quality-of-life and family-support facilities and programs, too. That includes about 600 new homes, a number McChesney said could increase to about 1,700 depending on results of a local housing analysis. "What the housing market analysis is going to try to do is ... determine what is the capability of El Paso to absorb this growth, and then how much does the Army have to make up?" he said.

Plans also call for new child-care facilities, shopping areas and other quality-of-life activities. "All of those things have to grow to keep up with the population," McChesney said. "You can't just build facilities for soldiers to live in. You also have to be concerned about their quality of life."

Because the post is smack in the middle of El Paso, one of Texas' biggest cities, which is experiencing its own population boom, Fort Bliss planners are working closely with state and local officials to ensure it's the base's growth is a success. "This has really been a huge partnership. ... And one of the real significant lessons learned is that you have to be partners with the folks downtown," McChesney said.

That includes not just the city and county government, but also five local school systems expected to absorb about 9,600 school-age children from Fort Bliss, business developers, homebuilders, realtor associations and transportation officials, among others.

The Texas Department of Transportation is looking at building a $300 million high-speed "inner loop" roadway to support Fort Bliss, and local officials are considering building a community college on the installation, McChesney said.

When the expansion is completed and all the new units have arrived, Fort Bliss will transform back to its historical cavalry roots. The post was originally established to protect the Butterfield Trail and other trade routes, and the 1st Cavalry Division stood up here in 1921, Offutt said. When it relocated here in 2005, the 1st Armored Division's 4th Brigade was returning to its birthplace, she said.

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DoD Civilians Prove Disability Is No Handicap

By Gerry J. Gilmore

Dec. 6, 2006 – Lisa Marie Waugh offers tried-and-true advice to people with disabilities who want to get ahead in life: "You should let nothing stop you." Waugh, an intelligence research specialist with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, at Fort Belvoir, Va., has successfully dealt with Stargardt's disease, a malady that has compromised her vision.

"I'm just thankful for what I have," Waugh said.

Waugh was among 14 Defense Department employees honored at the 26th Annual DoD Disability Awards held yesterday in Bethesda, Md.

David S. C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, hosted the event and presented awards to outstanding DoD civilian employees with disabilities. The award ceremony was followed by the start of a federal disability forum that's held each year.

"This is the only annual training conference that focuses exclusively on federal employment of individuals with disabilities," Chu said, noting President Bush is dedicated to help disabled Americans reach their full potential.

The Defense Department is a recognized leader in assisting disabled persons to have full and productive lives, Chu said, noting DoD hired 206 disabled students for permanent and summer jobs this year. Some occupations filled under the program included aerospace engineer, accounting clerk, park ranger, archeologist, cartographic aide, and store worker.

"The program, I believe, has proven to be an excellent pipeline to careers in the (DoD) civilian workforce for those with disabilities," Chu said.

DoD now employs more than 5,000 people with severe disabilities targeted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chu said. "That is almost 1 percent of our civilian workforce. While that percentage is higher than in some other agencies, we do know that it should be higher still," he said.

The theme for this year's National Disability Employment Awareness Month held in October, "Americans with Disabilities: Ready for the Global Workforce," is very fitting, Chu said.

"It's a most appropriate theme, particularly when I think about how much defense has been able to do to improve job opportunities for those with disabilities, including military personnel who've been wounded in combat," Chu said.

The Defense Department is committed to its programs that prepare wounded servicemembers for their futures, he said. The Military Severely Injured Center program serves as a coordinating mechanism and umbrella organization for similar programs managed by each military branch.

New technology and shifting attitudes have enabled many wounded servicemembers to opt to stay on military duty, Chu said. The federal government-wide Computer/Electronics Accommodations Program started by DoD in 1990 helps eliminate barriers in the workplace and assists disabled persons to achieve their full potential. Recent federal legislation has given CAP the authority to serve wounded servicemembers, as well as disabled government civilians, Chu said.

Keynote speaker John R. Vaughn, chairman of the National Council on Disability, urged DoD, other federal agencies and private-sector employers not to forget that disabled people make excellent, productive employees.

Vaughn, a retired businessman who as a young man lost his sight to a degenerative eye disease, said there should be a national campaign with the slogan, "Don't Count Me Out," that highlights the advantages of hiring disabled people.

"We've got to believe in giving everybody a chance to be whatever they can," Vaughn said, noting disabled people meld well with today's fluid, global business environment.

"I don't know of anybody else who is a better champion for change and dealing with change than a person with a disability where their whole life has been turned upside down," Vaughn said.

Chu also presented awards to:

-- Leslie Eden Bell, an attorney with the National Security Agency, at Fort Meade, Md.;

-- Chester Bogart III, a materials handler at Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pa.;

-- Deirdre J. Carter, a copier and duplicating equipment operator at the Defense Logistics Agency, in Whitehall, Ohio;

-- Paul Robert Gabriel, an electronics engineer at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas;

-- Jerome Anthony Knight, a laborer with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, at Fort Eustis, Va.;

-- Derek Alan Lee, a commissary support clerk at the Defense Commissary Agency, at Fort Lee, Va.;

-- Carlene J. Miles, a digital production system assistant with the National Guard Bureau, in Blackstone, Va.;

-- Vicki D. Morgan, an accounting technician with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, in Rome, N.Y.;

-- Christine Rose Murphy, an information technology specialist with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, in Washington, D.C.;

-- Judy C. Spain, a management analyst with the Defense Contract Management Agency, in Indianapolis;

-- Gregory Paul Springer, a systems engineer with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in Bethesda, Md.; and

-- Dr. James Nelson Templeman, a computer engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory, in Washington, D.C.

Chu also honored three DoD components for their outstanding accomplishments in their affirmative action programs for people with disabilities. The awards are brass cups that are passed on from the previous year's winners.

The Best Military Department award went to the Department of the Army, and the Defense Logistics Agency earned Best Mid-Size Component honors. The Defense Security Service took the Best Small Component award.

The Army and DLA also won last year in their respective categories.

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Officials Weigh Need for Africa Command

By Jim Garamone

Dec. 6, 2006 – Defense Department officials continue to examine the idea of establishing a U.S. Africa Command, a top DoD official said here this week. A team of DoD officials is looking at all options in examining the need for a new combatant command, Theresa Whelan, deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, said in an interview.

Responsibility for U.S. military operations in Africa is currently divided among three combatant commands. The area from Kenya to Egypt is part of U.S. Central Command. The rest of the continent falls under the auspices of U.S. European Command. The eastern island nations are in U.S. Pacific Command's area of operations.

"We are looking at different ways of organizing DoD for doing business in Africa," Whelan said. "The different circumstances and threats have caused us to take a step back and look at the way we're doing business."

There is no set date for a decision on establishing a new command or finding another means for handling operations in Africa, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. Officials are working to decide on the best course of action: to stick with the status quo, to establish a subordinate command, or to stand up a full out combatant command, on par with European Command and Central Command.

The group will make its recommendations through the Joint Chiefs of Staff before presenting them to the chairman and the secretary for a decision.

Whelan said the security environment in Africa has changed fundamentally in the last decade. "You have a situation where the threats are not confined to state actors or geographically confined," she said. "You don't have to look to a state that has a large military to find an entity that can threaten U.S. security in a serious way."

She said the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, brought that home in a very stark and tragic manner. "Africa is an environment that has the potential to be used by these non-state actors to achieve or at least move closer to their ends," she said.

Africa has seen its own attacks. Al Qaeda attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing hundreds of innocent people, most of them local citizens. Other terrorist organizations have been regionally focused in the past, but now are expanding their interests and jumping on the al Qaeda bandwagon, Whelan said.

The United States military always has paid attention to the continent. In the past, the U.S. military has had bases in Ethiopia, Libya, Liberia and Morocco.

Poor governance, wars and population pressures are some of the human-caused problems on the continent, but natural threats need to be dealt with as well, Whelan said. "There are clearly challenges in terms of disease -- AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis -- are major threats," she said. "Your issue is you have these major demographic changes caused by disease and the untimely death of the working-age population. The African population in many countries is now very young or very old, Whelan said.

A U.S. Africa Command would work at "preventing problems from becoming crises and crises from becoming catastrophes," Whelan said. "Instead of the United States being reactive, ... we want to be more proactive in promoting security, to build African capacity to build their own environments and not be subject to the instability that has toppled governments and caused so much pain on the continent."

She likened it to a fire department. Instead of waiting until a fire breaks out, U.S. Africa Command would be like firefighters who work with the community to promote fire safety or help businesses install sprinklers. "It may prevent a fire or lessen the magnitude of damage," she said.

If officials decide to go ahead with a U.S. Africa Command, "you would clearly want to have it based on that continent." But, she said, there are a lot of ways to "skin that cat."

The command may have its main headquarters in the United States, but forward operating bases in Africa.

The command would not necessarily have a large number of people. The needs are so great in Africa that a little can go a long way, she said. The command would coordinate training teams, advisory teams, civil affairs teams, medical and veterinary aid to the continent. It would also help interface with other government agencies and non-governmental aid groups in efforts on the continent.

In short, it would not look like other U.S. combatant commands. "Africa Command will not be a cookie-cutter organization," Whelan said. "If we go this way, it will be something different."

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Navy to Christen USNS Alan Shepard

The Navy will christen the USNS Alan Shepard, the newest ship in the Lewis and Clark class of underway replenishment ships, on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006, during an 8 a.m. PST launching at General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), San Diego, Calif.

The ship honors the first American in space, Rear Adm. Alan B. Shepard Jr. Like the legendary explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, for whom the first ship of the class was named, Shepard bravely volunteered to explore the unknown and became the first American in space. Thus began one of the most challenging endeavors in human history: the manned exploration of space.

Shepard graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., in 1944. He served aboard destroyers in the Pacific during World War II and later entered flight training, receiving his designation as a naval aviator in 1947. Shepard served several tours in fleet squadrons and was selected to attend the Navy Test Pilot School in 1950. He logged more than 8,000 hours of flying time.

In 1959, Shepard was one of seven men chosen by NASA for the Mercury manned space flight program. Two years later, he became the first American to journey into space in the Freedom 7 spacecraft launched by a Redstone rocket on a suborbital flight. He reached an altitude of 116 miles.

In 1963, he was designated chief of the Astronaut Office with responsibility for monitoring the coordination, scheduling and control of all activities involving NASA astronauts. Shepard made his second space flight as spacecraft commander on Apollo 14 in 1971. He was accompanied on the third U.S. lunar landing mission by Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot. Shepard logged 216 hours and 57 minutes in space, of which 9 hours and 17 minutes were spent in lunar surface extravehicular activity. He resumed his duties as chief of the Astronaut Office in June 1971 and served in this capacity until he retired from NASA and the Navy on Aug. 1, 1974.

After his Navy and NASA careers, he entered private business in Houston and served as the president of the Mercury Seven Foundation, a non-profit organization now known as the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation that provides college science scholarships for deserving students. Shepard died July 21, 1998, at the age of 74.

John H. Sununu, former governor of New Hampshire, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Laura Churchley will serve as sponsor of the ship named for her father. The launching ceremony will be highlighted in the time-honored Navy tradition when the sponsor breaks a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship "Alan Shepard."

The USNS Alan Shepard is the third ship in the Navy's new 11-ship T-AKE 1 Class. T-AKE is a combat logistics force vessel intended to replace the current capability of the T-AE 26 Kilauea-Class ammunition ships, T-AFS 1 Mars-Class combat stores ships and, when operating with T-AO 187 Henry J. Kaiser-Class oiler ships, the AOE 1 Sacramento-Class fast combat support ships. To conduct vertical replenishment, the ship will support two military logistics helicopters.

Designed to operate independently for extended periods at sea while providing replenishment services to U.S., NATO and allied ships, the USNS Alan Shepard will directly contribute to the ability of the Navy to maintain a worldwide forward presence. Ships such as Alan Shepard provide logistic lift from sources of supply either in port or at sea from specially equipped merchant ships. The ship will transfer cargo (ammunition, food, limited quantities of fuel, repair parts, ship store items, and expendable supplies and material) to ships and other naval warfare forces at sea.

The USNS Alan Shepard is 689 feet in length, has an overall beam of 106 feet, a navigational draft of 30 feet, and displaces approximately 42,000 tons. Powered by a single-shaft diesel-electric propulsion system, the ship can reach a speed of 20 knots. As part of the Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force, the ship will be designated USNS. The term stands for United States Naval Ship. Unlike their United States Ship (USS) counterparts, USNS vessels are manned primarily by civil service and civilian mariners working for the U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C.

Additional information about this class of ship is available on line at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4400&tid=500&ct=4 .

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Report: Iraq Situation Serious, But Not Lost

By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA

Dec. 6, 2006 – The Iraq Study Group released its findings today in a report made available this morning to President Bush and Congress, and later to the general public.
"We believe that the situation in Iraq today is very, very serious," former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, co-chair of the bipartisan panel commissioned by Congress to examine the way ahead in Iraq, said at a news conference following the report's release.

"We do not know if it can be turned around, but we think we have an obligation to try, and if the recommendations that we have made are effectively implemented, there is at least a chance that you can see established a stable government in Iraq and stability in the region," Hamilton said. "The task ahead of us is daunting -- very, very difficult -- and we recognize that, but it is not by any means lost."

Members of the study group agree with the administration's goal in Iraq: to create a country that can govern, sustain and defend itself, former Secretary of State James Baker, co-chair of the group, said at the news conference. However, the group believes a new approach is needed in Iraq, he said.

"As a matter of humanitarian concern, as a matter of national interest, and as a matter of practical necessity, it is time to find a new way forward, a new approach," Baker said.

The report recommends a five-fold increase in the number of U.S. forces training Iraqi troops, he said, but does not endorse a large-scale increase in U.S. forces overall, a "stay the course" solution, or a division of Iraq into three autonomous regions.
The Iraq Study Group included a total of 79 recommendations in its report, Baker said. These recommendations cover military, political and diplomatic issues, as well as criminal justice, oil, reconstruction, the U.S. budget process, the training of U.S. government personnel, and U.S. intelligence, he said.

The group's three most important recommendations are equally important and reinforce each other, Baker said. The first is a change in the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq that will enable the U.S. to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly. The second recommendation is prompt action by the Iraqi government to achieve milestones, particularly on national reconciliation. The third is a new and enhanced diplomatic and political effort in Iraq and in the region.

"The primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq should evolve to one of supporting the Iraqi army, which would take over primary responsibility for combat operations," the group's report states. "By the first quarter of 2008, subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq.

"At that time, U.S. combat forces in Iraq could be deployed only in units embedded with Iraqi forces, in rapid-reaction and special operations teams, and in training, equipping, advising, force protection, and search and rescue," the report states. "Intelligence and support efforts would continue. A vital mission of those rapid reaction and special operations forces would be to undertake strikes against al Qaeda in Iraq."

It is clear that the Iraqi government will need assistance from the United States for some time to come, especially in carrying out security responsibilities, according to the report.

"Yet the United States must make it clear to the Iraqi government that the United States could carry out its plans, including planned redeployments, even if the Iraqi government did not implement their planned changes," it states. "The United States must not make an open-ended commitment to keep large numbers of American troops deployed in Iraq."

"Our group offers and supports each and every one of our recommendations unanimously," Baker said. "We of course recognize that some people will differ with some of these recommendations; we nevertheless hope very much that in moving forward, others will wish to continue to broaden and deepen the bipartisan spirit that has helped us to come together."

Hamilton and Baker both said that if the group's recommendations are effectively implemented, the chances for success in Iraq will be greatly improved.

After receiving the report this morning, President Bush pledged to take the recommendations seriously and act in a timely fashion. "This report gives a very tough assessment of the situation in Iraq," Bush said. "It is a report that brings some really very interesting proposals, and we will take every proposal seriously, and we will act in a timely fashion."

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Gates Vows to Focus on Iraq, Troop Welfare if Confirmed

By Donna Miles

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2006 – Defense secretary nominee Robert M. Gates told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing today that if he's confirmed to the top Pentagon post, his highest calling will be to ensure success in Iraq and look out for the men and women in uniform. Gates told committee members during his opening statement that he's "under no illusion why I am sitting before you today: the war in Iraq." He said he recognizes the importance of improving the situation there.

During a questioning period, Gates said he doesn't believe the coalition is currently winning in Iraq. But, he added, he also agrees with Marine Gen. Peter Pace's assessment, offered Nov. 29 during a Pentagon news conference, that the coalition is not losing, either.

The period ahead is critical in tipping that scale, Gates said.

"Developments in Iraq over the next year or two will, I believe, shape the entire Middle East and greatly influence global geopolitics for many years to come," he said. "Our course over the next year or two will determine whether the American and Iraqi people and the next president of the United States will face a slowly but steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region or will face the very real risk of a possible reality of a regional conflagration."

Achieving victory will require cooperation and close coordination by the many players involved. "We need to work together to develop a strategy that does not leave Iraq in chaos, and that protects our long-term interests in and hopes for the region," he said.

Gates said he's open to alternative strategies and tactics for operations in Iraq, including those expected soon from the Iraq Study Group, which he was involved with until President Bush nominated him as defense secretary Nov. 8.

He told the committee he also will consult with military leaders and combatant commanders in the field and "will give most serious consideration to the views of those who lead our men and women in uniform."

Gates said he also will consult with leaders in the executive branch and Congress and share that input with the president and National Security Council. "Of course, it is the president who will decide what, if any, changes are made in our approach," he said.

He told committee members the "most humbling" part of his job, if confirmed as defense secretary, will be making decisions that will have life-and-death consequences. "Our country is at war, and if confirmed, I will be charged with leading the men and women who are fighting it," he said.

Gates offered high praise to the U.S. armed forces and said they proudly carry on the tradition of their predecessors, who have fought the country's wars for the past 230 years.

"The patriots who have volunteered to serve in our armed services today have no equal in the world," he said. "I offer this committee my solemn commitment to keep the welfare of our forces uppermost in my mind."

Gates, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told committee members he did not seek a return to government or the job of defense secretary. "I am here because I love my country and because the president of the United States believes I can help in a difficult time," he said. "I hope you will reach a similar conclusion."

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