Golfers Tee Up Support for Troops, Families

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

July 17, 2007 – A San Diego-based group is working to remind troops serving overseas that folks back home are grateful for their efforts, the group's founder and chairman said. "Golfers 4 Freedom is ... dedicated toward caring for our military and their families," Keith Barnett said. "Our main effort is to give encouragement and pride to our enlisted servicemembers.

"It is vital to support those willing to sacrifice their lives in the name of freedom," he added.

Golfers 4 Freedom is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

The group holds regular golf tournament fundraisers, which benefit other nonprofit groups that offer direct support to military families.

The first tournament, held in 2006, raised more than $9,000 for fellow America Supports You member the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund, which grants scholarship to children of servicemembers killed or seriously injured in the line of duty.

The group also presented children of these servicemembers with Christmas gifts through the American Christmas Foundation.

Most recently, the group held a golf tournament and used the money raised to provide hand-crank bikes for amputees at Naval Medical Center San Diego. "These young men use the equipment to get exercise and fresh air," Barnett said.

Golfers 4 Freedom also runs an all-year program that provides golf equipment to U.S. military camps in Iraq, he said.

"Soldiers and Marines have used the equipment to set up golf ranges (and) courses," Barnett said. "This ... gives them a quiet time to relax individually or team up for a competitive sport."

The group's America Supports You membership has provided national visibility.

"We had a gentleman from New York find us through (the America Supports You) Web site," Barnett said. "His golf club was hosting a golf tournament and chose us as the recipient of the money raised.

"In addition, (the membership) gives us credibility with those not familiar with Golfers 4 Freedom," he added.

DoD Increases R&R Policy

The Department of Defense approved today a policy change to the U.S. Central Command Rest and Recuperation Leave Program, increasing the time provided to military service members for rest and recuperation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

The policy change, signed by David S. C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, increases the R&R leave period from 15 to 18 chargeable days for those service members deploying to the OEF and OIF area of operations for 15 months.

The amended policy became effective July 13, 2007, applies to military personnel only and is not retroactive. Only service members who took leave on or after July 13, 2007, may take 18 days of leave.

Service members will not be charged for their travel days. The R&R leave begins when the service member arrives at the commercial airport nearest their leave destination.

Service members serving one-year tours will continue to receive 15 days of chargeable R&R leave.

The amended R&R policy came as a result of the recent DoD change to the rotation and mobilization policy increasing some theater deployments to 15-month tours.

Army to Launch Traumatic Brain Injury, PTSD Education Program

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

July 17, 2007 – Within 90 days, all soldiers will receive information to help them identify symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury, and they will be urged to seek treatment if necessary, Army officials told reporters at the Pentagon today. Mental health care professionals will brief Army Secretary Pete Geren on the new program at the Pentagon tomorrow. And by Oct. 18, the same educational supplement will have been presented to platoon-sized groups of active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers throughout the force.

"The mild traumatic brain injury and the post-traumatic stress disorders -- they're real," said Army Lt. Gen. James Campbell, director of the Army staff. "They impact soldiers and impact those soldiers' families. And as a result of that, that impacts the readiness of our great Army."

During his 37-year career, Campbell said he recalls only two other instances when the Army mandated such extensive "chain training" programs.

According to subject matter experts, mild traumatic brain injury is an affliction that's become a signature injury of the war on terror, often resulting from soldiers' proximity to roadside bombs, mortars and other explosions. Symptoms are similar to those resulting from a concussion, from slower reaction times to emotional and cognitive problems.

PTSD often occurs from a feeling of helplessness at the time of a severely traumatic event. It manifests itself in three clusters of symptoms: intrusive re-experiencing of the event, numbness or disassociation, and hypervigilance, or the feeling that one is constantly "on edge."

Traumatic brain injury, which ranges from mild to moderate and severe cases, requires an "injury event," while PTSD can occur from cumulative effects of combat or extended deployments.

During two 30-minute multimedia presentations that make up the program, soldiers will learn to identify basic symptoms in themselves and other soldiers. Afterwards, health professionals will answer troops' questions. The Army also has produced a video to make soldiers' family members more sensitive to possible warning signs and treatment options.

Campbell said the program's main objective is to reverse the tendency in military culture to attach a stigma to mental health care.

"I'm not naive. There is a huge culture issue here, and it is this: that those leaders or soldiers who seek help could be perceived ... as being weak," he said. "The whole thrust behind this program is that if you are, in fact, someone who needs help, that desire to get that help is not perceived as a weakness but rather as a strength, as a personal courage to do it."

Anticipating greater demand on its medical system, the Army is actively recruiting health care practitioners, hoping to gain 270 professionals. Currently, some soldiers wait up to one month before receiving treatment; the Army is seeking to reduce that amount of time.

"The sooner the intervention is made, the easier it is to treat," said Army Dr. (Col.) Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, director of Army's Proponency Office for Behavioral Health. "We don't want another Vietnam. We don't want people with chronic symptoms who first present (them) 15, 20, 25 years later when it's really hard to get rid of the symptoms.

"We want to take care of them and help the person right away," she added.

Soldiers and their families will be able to learn more about the program at www.army.mil. Also, the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline can be reached at 1-800-984-8523, or via email at wsfsupport@conus.army.mil.

Annual Program Highlights Women's Contribution to Federal Service

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

July 17, 2007 – Over the years, women equipped with industry acumen and armed with advanced degrees have climbed ladders and shattered the glass ceiling that had once stunted their career growth. To train and mentor aspiring female professionals in the federal sector, a group known as Federally Employed Women, or FEW, began a training program in 1970. About 50 participants gathered yesterday for the Defense Department's forum on women affairs, one installment in a series of courses and lectures at the 38th annual FEW seminar, which runs through July 20 at the Hilton Washington Hotel here.

"Up until the 1940s, only a handful of agencies hired women," said keynote speaker Tina Jonas, the Defense Department's comptroller and chief financial officer. "Some of the offices, including the U.S. Patent Office, provided billets for women, but the women had to work at home, and their paychecks were made out in the name of their male relatives."

Jonas, the first woman to serve as the Defense Department's comptroller, said women's contribution to the work force today is invaluable.

"We simply would not be able to manage without women," she said. "At the Pentagon, women fill every role in the civil service, and throughout the armed services, including admiral and general."

As comptroller, Jonas manages an office that comprises about 60 budget analysts and other accountants, who she said put together roughly $750 billion worth of budgetary requests in "record time." Last year, the staff earned the Presidential Rank Award, which recognizes and celebrates a small group of career senior executives for exceptional long-term accomplishments.

Forty-nine percent of those workers are women who fulfill leading roles, Jonas said. For example, the assistant deputy chief financial officer, director for military personnel and construction, and director of operations are women, she noted.

"I would say that their leadership is absolutely key to the defense of the nation and to the efficient and effective management of the nation's dollars," she said. "It's not an easy job."

The team, which has near-equal gender representation, managed a $481 billion 2008 base budget, a $142 billion global war on terror budget, and $100 billion of emergency supplement funding from Congress.

"We are a complex organization," she said. "We're bigger than Ford, General Motors, Exxon or even Wal-Mart."

Jonas addressed the contributions of women in uniform, including Air Force Master Sgt. Artri Spratling, who opened the forum by singing the national anthem.

"I always get a little chill up my spine when I hear the anthem, and the master sergeant who sang today was really good at her job," Jonas said. "There are women across the military, from her job all the way across the department, working in theater, flying airplanes; this is a wonderful department.

"It's a great place for women," she noted.

Search Underway for WWII Japanese MIAs in Alaska

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a small team of Japanese and U.S. specialists is visiting Attu Island, Alaska, in search of information which may lead them to remains of missing Japanese soldiers.

With support from the Department of Defense, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the team of five Japanese and three Americans arrived Thursday for a four day mission. The team is investigating potential loss or burial sites where the remains of Japanese soldiers may be found. The team's findings will be evaluated by the U.S. and Japanese governments to determine if follow-on excavations are called for.

Primary airlift for the team was provided by the U.S. Coast Guard on a regularly-scheduled C-130 airlift mission from Kodiak to Attu Island. While visiting the island, the team is being housed at the long range navigation station where some Coast Guardsmen have volunteered to assist in the investigations. Attu Island is under the management and protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which administers the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. At the end of Alaska's Aleutian island chain, Attu is the westernmost point of land of the United States.

In June 1942, a unit of the Japanese Army occupied Attu, capturing and imprisoning many of its inhabitants. U.S. forces began action to recapture the small island in May 1943, where fierce hand-to-hand battles led to about 540 American and 2,300 Japanese deaths. It was the site of the only land battle in WWII in North America.

Shortly after the war, 235 sets of Japanese remains were recovered on Attu by U.S. forces and reburied at Ft. Richardson, near Anchorage, Alaska. The Japanese later disinterred those remains, cremated them as part of a religious ceremony and reburied them at the same location.

The Japanese government assisted U.S. investigators last month in a visit to Iwo Jima in search of information related to American WWII MIAs.

Peer Amputee Volunteer Puts Experience, Compassion Into Recovery

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

July 16, 2007 – An admitted golf "nut," Jack Farley said he has heard probably every handicap joke there is, having hit the green for the last four decades wearing a prosthetic right leg. Still, nobody cuts him any slack, he said. "I try to get strokes for this and nobody will give me any strokes," Farley said and laughed.

Farley is a peer amputee visitor at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. A retired federal judge, Farley is quick with a joke and a smile. He knows nearly everybody at the center it seems and knows nearly everything there is to know about prosthetics.

His right leg was claimed by a mortar in Vietnam nearly 40 years ago. He was fitted for his first prosthesis at Walter Reed. It was there, on a blind date, that Farley met the woman who would later become his wife. It was there he started a new life. If he hadn't lost his leg, Farley said, he wouldn't have returned to college to study law and subsequently would not have become a federal judge. It is only fitting, Farley said, that he returns to help others.

"It's a sense of paying back. I had mentors and people visiting me when I was here in Walter Reed in 1969 and '70," he said. "I get more out of it than they do. It's a real selfish act on my part."

The peer visitor program began four years ago at Walter Reed when, due to the war in Iraq, an influx of amputees started entering the hospital system. It began with a small group of amputees experienced in visiting and listening and helping new amputees and has grown into a formal program offering training and certification. Peer amputee visitors are considered part of the treatment team at the center. They have access to every floor.

"In the beginning our job is just to listen. I don't come in and say, 'Hey, look at me,'" Farley said. "The peer visitor comes in and just tries to deal with the family and deal with the patient, explaining that life is going to be different, but whether it's better or worse it's still up to the patient."

On this visit, Farley talked with Marine Lance Cpl. Josh Bleill, who lost both legs in Iraq when the Humvee in which he was riding struck a bomb. It killed two fellow Marines, one riding to the front and one to the left of him. The gunner lost his right leg. Remarkably, the driver was uninjured and is still serving in Iraq, Josh said.

Josh was getting a new socket, the piece of the prosthetic leg in which the residual portion of the leg fits. New bone growth in Josh's leg rubbed against his old socket, causing pain.

Wearing a pair of khaki shorts, Farley sported a star-spangled socket -- blue with white stars, just like an American flag. It is the most important piece of the prosthetic leg, he said.

"You can put a million dollars in technology below the socket, but if it doesn't fit right or is uncomfortable, nobody is going to wear it," he said.

Josh said Farley's experience sometimes helps him explain things to the doctors and technicians that are hard to put into words.

The program consistently receives the highest ratings from patients at the center, he said.

"It's a great program," Josh said. "It's nice to see when you are first injured that there is life after this."

Farley said his role changes during the progress of the amputee. Each goes through five stages: enduring, suffering, reckoning, reconciling and normalization.

For many, though, there is a sixth stage -- thriving, Farley said.

"You'll see people who actually accomplish more having gone through the trauma ... than they would without it," Farley said.

"I wouldn't have gone to law school. I already had an MBA. I was going into business. I would have never been a lawyer, much less a federal judge," Farley said. "By overcoming this in a positive way, it actually can assist you in other challenges in life."

Farley said that some younger servicemembers resist help at first. He told the story of a young man who was trying to do everything himself, resisting the helpful efforts of a new bride.

"He wanted to do everything himself," Farley said. "One day I just pulled him aside and said, "You know, the greatest gift of love you can give is to maybe allow somebody to help you.

"Later on, we all realize we need the help of everybody," he said.

Women's Basketball Salutes Troops, Families

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

July 16, 2007 – The Women's National Basketball Association showed its support for the military by giving out 2,000 free tickets for U.S. servicemembers and military family members to attend this year's All-Star Game held yesterday at the Verizon Center here. To further honor women serving in the military, the WNBA invited Air Force Brig. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson to attend the game. Johnson, a former star player on the Air Force Academy's women's basketball team and a member of the academy's athletic hall of fame, participated in a ceremonial tip off.

"It's fabulous the WNBA would be so generous and invite so many military members and their kids," said Johnson, the director of U.S. Air Force Public Affairs. Parallels between sports and the military are "immense," she noted, citing shared values of teamwork, setting goals and working for a greater good.

WNBA leaders and players "do great things for their communities," Johnson said. "I love it that they're reaching out to the folks here."

Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne also attended the game. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Casey Elliot, a vocalist for the U.S. Navy Band, was accompanied by a Joint Service Color Guard as she sang the national anthem before the game began.

The Women's NBA is proud to honor America's servicemembers and their families, said Donna Orender, the association's president.

"The WNBA really believes in thanking all of the service people, because we truly believe that they not only support, but also help to create our way of life and preserve it," Orender said.

Members of the crowd were encouraged to support U.S. troops by a pre-game announcement over the Verizon Center's public address system informing the crowd about the Defense Department's America Supports You program. The program connects servicemembers and their families to individuals, groups and companies that provide support and assistance. There are more than 250 ASY homefront groups, as well as a multitude of corporate sponsors.

The WNBA also has been "thrilled" with America Supports You, Orender said, noting it "is a great outreach program that allows every American to let our troops know that we are behind them, and I think that is very important."

Young beneficiaries of the America Supports You-affiliated group "Kids Serve Too" participated in pre-game activities and later welcomed the All-Star players as they took the court. Kids Serve Too sends thank you cards and letters to children of deployed servicemembers. Families from all branches of the armed services can request a letter for their children at www.saluteourservices.org.

Andrea Hall appreciated that Kids Serve Too sent cards to her children to thank them for their father's service in Afghanistan in 2005. "I think that military families need all the support that they can get," she said. "America Supports You acts on that."

Wilda Ferguson, a member of another military family that attended the All-Star game, also is grateful for ASY and other kinds of family-member support. Her Virginia Army National Guard husband, Lt. Col. John Ferguson, just returned home after serving a year-long tour of duty in Iraq. John and Wilda Ferguson attended the All-Star Game with their twin 6-year-old daughters, Devin and Julia.

"People don't realize just how tough it is to have somebody deployed," Wilda said. "You try not to worry and do all the things that you need to do in order for him not to be worried about things on the home front so he can do what he needs to do while he's overseas."

The Eastern Conference All-Stars beat the West's squad, 103-99, in the annual All-Star showdown.

'Spirit of America Tour' Founder Receives Top Public Service Honor

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

July 16, 2007 – With country music legend Charlie Daniels at his side, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England today honored Robert Rosenthal, who with his wife Nina has been bringing top entertainers to stateside troops since 2002. England presented Rosenthal the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service for his and his wife's support for the men and women in uniform. The medal is the highest honorary award the department can present to a private citizen.

The Rosenthals created the Spirit of America Tour after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to boost the morale of the troops and their families at stateside bases with headline performances, Rosenthal said. Since then, they've poured in more than $2 million of their own money to cover overhead expenses and recruited big-name performers such as Daniels who are willing to volunteer their time. To date, they've put on 92 concerts for more than 450,000 troops and their families.

England praised Rosenthal for devoting countless hours coordinating with artists, agents, managers and Defense Department officials to arrange shows that bring "a touch of home" to military bases.

"Thanks for all your great work and contribution ... in remembering our men and women in uniform." England said. "It's wonderful that you do this."

Daniels, whose band frequently entertains troops through the Spirit of America Tour program, called Rosenthal "a truly great American who has all the services very much at heart and ... wanted to be a part of making life a little easier for them."

Rosenthal noted that with so much focus on U.S. troops deployed overseas, sometimes those serving stateside get overlooked. "They need a morale boost, also," he said. "They need somebody from the entertainment industry to say to them, 'We support you.'" Hearing that message directly from entertainers like Daniels who come to their bases as volunteers means a lot to troops and their families, he said.

Seventy-year-old Daniels, who remembers the Pearl Harbor attack and grew up at a time of "intense patriotism," said today's troops deserve nothing less.

"What they are doing is protecting America," he said. "I know in my mind and I know in my heart that what we are doing in Iraq and what we are doing in Afghanistan is the war on terror....It is the most serious situation this country has been involved in since the Second World War."

"The world will never be the same again," since the 9/11 attacks and the spread of terrorism, he said. "And the only thing standing between us and (terrorists) is our military, and they deserve our support."

Daniels said he likes to share that support when he walks on stage to entertain the troops. He said he's traveled the country "coast to coast and border to border every year," and knows that public support for the military goes "incredibly beyond" what the media reports. "I want them to know it," he said.

He also wants the troops to know "that they did not give up the prime years of their life volunteering for something that made no difference."

"It does make a difference," Daniels said. "It is the difference between America being free and America not being free. It is the difference of America being safe and America not being safe. It is the difference between there being an America and there not being an America. And I believe that with all my heart."

Daniels' next scheduled appearance with the Spirit of America Tour will be Sept. 9 at Fort Polk, La.

The Spirit of America Tour is a partner in the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program that showcases the many initiatives the American public is carrying out to support the troops.

Chairman Checks Morale Among Deployed Troops

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

July 16, 2007 – Families and morale are important parts of the equation in assessing the health of the force, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Marine Gen. Peter Pace arrived here today to meet with leaders and troops in an effort to assess troop morale in U.S. Central Command during a swing through the region.

Pace and Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman, will meet with troops all over the country. Also helping with the assessment is retired Marine Col. Barney Barnum, the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for reserve affairs. Barnum received the Medal of Honor for actions in combat in Vietnam in 1969.

"What's important from a military standpoint is what we see on the battlefield," Pace said. "I think from the standpoint of stress on the force, what's important is what you see in the kitchens. Both of these aspects need to be taken into consideration when looking at the health of the force."

Tour lengths, dwell time between deployments, the number of tours affect both troop and family morale, the chairman said. "We need to make sure those who volunteer -- that one percent of the nation that signs up to protect the other 99 percent -- know that their service is valued and that we provide for them as best we can," Pace said.

The war on terror is the first prolonged war the United States has fought with an all-volunteer force.

"There is no historical data to go back to," Pace said. "That's why it's really important for me and everybody else to constantly talk to people and listen to them. Retention is still extremely high -- higher than it was before the war -- but you just can't take numbers like that and assume that it means everything is just fine."

And families are incredibly important to the equation. Pace said the force today is an "all-recruited force."

"You recruit individuals, but you retain families," he said.

Part of his trip will be to visit families of American servicemembers deployed to U.S. Central Command from Europe.

"I owe it to them to stand in front of them and explain to them the process that we went through from July through December last year," Pace told reporters traveling with him to Iraq. "(I want to tell them) how my thinking emerged, why I made the recommendations I did and, most importantly, tell them that we understand their sacrifice."

This is the first time Pace has had the opportunity to meet with these Europe-based family members since the decision to extend soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 months. He has met with families in Alaska, Hawaii and other stateside posts, but this is the first time meeting with families living overseas.

"It's important to remember that it is not just the men and women in uniform that are making the sacrifices," he said. "The families are the ones changing the calendars on the refrigerator doors."

Pace said there are many ways to quantify morale of the force. Reenlistment is strong, "but that's not good enough for me," he said. "I want to get out and talk to the families. I want to look the spouses in the eyes and talk to them about what we're doing and why we're doing it and get their reactions."

Terrorism, Poetry and Memoirs

Editor's Note: Two of the three authors are former military.

July 17, 2007 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added three police officers who have written books: Richard L. Allen; Michael Aman; and, Anthony J. Carbo.

Richard L. Allen was born in Gary, Indiana and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He served four years as an aircraft mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, including six months in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. After 24 years in the Air Force Reserves, Allen joined the Newark Police Department where he served until his retirement in 2001. Richard Allen is the author of Lock and Key; Poetic Police Food for Thought; and, A New Ark Police Officer's View of Poetic Just Ice/Justice.

According to the book description of Lock and Key, “with enough episodes to fill a season of televised police dramas, author and former police officer Richard Allen provides readers with a candid look into the nature of police work and the daily challenges an officer must face. In his memoir, "Lock and Key," Allen recalls some of the most unforgettable incidents and individuals of his experience. He depicts the humanity, compassion, and courage of those who serve their community as officers of the peace while revealing his deepest gratitude and appreciation for his fellow police officers. "Lock & Key" will definitely leave readers a greater appreciation of police work and a deeper respect for those who work to keep us safe.”

Michael Aman was a commissioned officer in the German Air Force from 1984 to 1993. Upon immigrating to the United States he joined the El Paso Police Department and has risen to the rank of detective. Michael Aman has served in the Gang Unit, Cold Case Squad, Criminal Investigations Division, Dignitary Protection Unit, and the Patrol Division.

Michael Aman has an MBA from the German Armed Forces University. During his law enforcement career, Michael Aman Developed a course for law enforcement officials called “Defense Against Terrorist Suicide Attacks.” Eventually, that course let to the book Preventing Suicide Terrorist Attacks.

He described the book as a self-study training manual for law officers or for civilians who want to be informed about the topic. According to an interview in the El Paso Times Michael Aman said, “It's really written for police officers, specifically patrol officers who might come in contact with these guys. That's the main target audience.”

According to the book description of Preventing Suicide Terrorist Attacks, “It won't happen here, is a common belief when it comes to suicide attacks by terrorists, but unfortunately-it can. This text provides essential information for law enforcement officers on techniques for recognizing potential terrorists and preventing suicide attacks. Information discussed is applicable to preventing attacks that are domestic and international in origin. This resource is ideal for self-study or as a four-hour training course.”

In 1964, Anthony J. Carbo joined the Newark Police Department. During his career he worked patrol, traffic and the Patrol Division Crimes Prevention Unit. He retired in 1979. He is the author of Memoirs of a Newark, New Jersey Police Officer. According to the book description, his book is “a story from a police officer telling of his personal thoughts. These are fast moving episodes that go from one incident to another at a quick and moving pace telling of life, death, unrest and riots during some of the most turbulent years from 1964 to 1979 in the City of Newark.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 648 police officers (representing 284 police departments) and their 1382 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.