Gates Arrives in Moscow to Meet with Top Russian Leaders

By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 11, 2007 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Moscow tonight to join Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in meetings with top Russian leaders. Gates left Washington yesterday evening, stopping first in London for several hours to meet with British Prime Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for Defense Desmond Brown. The U.S. and British leaders primarily addressed ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During his two-day visit to Moscow, Gates is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Anatoliy Eduardovich Serdyukov and other top Russian officials. He also is slated to attend a dinner hosted by First Deputy Premier Sergey Borisovich Ivanov.

Along with discussing ongoing operations in Iraq and developments in Iran, a senior U.S. defense official traveling with the Gates said Gates and the Russian leaders most likely will discuss European missile defense and the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.

Putin has voiced opposition to the U.S. plans for missile defense and reportedly may suspend his country's participation in the treaty Dec. 12 if the United States goes forward with its plans.

There is no provision for suspension of the treaty, the senior official told reporters traveling with the secretary. "It's either full compliance or withdraw. The Russians have defined a term of 'suspension' basing it on their legal analysis that if under an international agreement that you can withdraw then there's a half measure you that can suspend."

If the Russians decide to suspend CFE, he said, Russia would no longer have to supply information on its number of tanks or other conventional armaments. An inspection regime under the treaty that allows any signatory country to see if another country is honoring its commitment would no longer exist. Russia also would be able to reallocate forces anywhere with in its territory.

"It could move forces into the northern Caucuses, closer to Georgia," the official said. "It could also move forces into closer to Poland and the Belarus area."

If Russia was to withdraw from the treaty, he said, the other signatories, the Europeans and the United States could do the same. But the other signatories "will continue to honor the CFE regardless of Russian withdrawal," the official said.

The United States started laying out plans for a missile defense system for Europe in January. President Bush decided to begin discussions on plans to field radar and interceptors in Eastern Europe that would extend the zone of coverage for the potential long-range missile threat from Iran or others in the region. NATO's missile defense program covers most of Europe for short- and medium-range systems.

"The two locations we chose -- the Czech Republic and Poland -- are based on some pretty lengthy studies, and those are the most optimal places for the positioning of interceptors and the radar in order to be able to get as much coverage of Europe as possible," the senior defense official said.

In April, Gates traveled to the Czech Republic and Poland to discuss the plans. Officials in both nations have made it clear they are integral parts of the current plan, the official said.

Gates also discussed the plans with Putin in April, and U.S. officials presented suggestions on how the U.S. and Russia could cooperate on missile defense. Since then, U.S. and Russian experts have met in Washington, Paris and Moscow to discuss details of the plans, the official said.

"The Russians still have not formally responded to the proposals we put on the table in April about different opportunities for joint data exchange, technology sharing, joint experimentation," he said.

U.S. officials also have offered to provide data from radar equipment in Greenland, Poland or the Czech Republic, the official said. U.S. officials also are open to sharing early-warning information and threat analysis. "We're open to any possibility," he noted.

"The Russians have made it clear that any data that would be shared from their end would come from either Azerbaijan or new radar they are establishing," he said. "The radar feed could not be linked into our system. It would be early-warning radar that would be linked into a joint data center, but not part of our missile defense system."

A proposal to establish a joint data exchange center also has been on the table for 10 years, the official said. Each country would be able to share data so that if there were an accidental launch by any of the countries with ballistic missiles, they'd be able to track it and they'd be able to determine if it were an accidental launch or an attack.

"U.S. officials are open to a variety of different ways to use the data," the official said. "The Russians have made it clear that as long as we continue with the Czech Republic and Poland, integration from their system is not an option."

'Neighbors' Positively Affect Troops' Lives

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 10, 2007 - Volunteers with a Northern Virginia military-support group gather twice a month to fill care packages for troops serving overseas. "One of our primary focuses for the past few years has been sending care packages to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Sharon Rainey, founder of the group, Neighbors International Foundation. "To date, we have sent over 7,000 packages and more than 26,000 letters of support."

Those packages create strong connections between the senders and the recipients and often result in thank you letters, Rainey said. Those small items are all the proof the volunteers need to know they're touching real lives.

"One chaplain would write us and tell us who got each item and why," she said. "For instance, the guys who burn sensitive documents got the bag of marshmallows so they could roast them while burning the documents."

The connection that develops extends beyond the troops, however.

One of the packages the foundation sent contained small stuffed animals for the recipients to share with local Iraqi children. "Animal drops" in several remote locations brought smiles to the faces of the local children. Better yet, the toys take the servicemembers a step closer to winning the kids' loyalty, Rainey said.

Another soldier wrote the foundation about handing out the same type of small stuffed toys in the local community. "The next day they were driving their tanks through the town and one little girl sat in the road and would not move," Rainey recounted from the soldier's letter.

Recognizing the girl, the soldier approached her to find she was holding the toy she'd received the day before.

"(She) moved so he could see that she was next to a (roadside bomb)," Rainey said. "She saved their lives because he offered a gift of friendship the day before.

"We are making a difference," she said.

The foundation also helped stock a school with supplies after the military rebuilt it, Rainey said.

Neighbors International Foundation is a new supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

The foundation's mission extends beyond supporting the military, however. It provides funds and volunteer services to support local charitable, educational, religious, public safety and similar organizations that serve the surrounding neighborhoods and communities, Rainey said.

Services Attain Strong Recruiting Numbers for Fiscal 2007

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 10, 2007 - The Defense Department reported strong recruiting numbers for fiscal 2007 today, as all four active-duty components met their goals for the year. When the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the Army and Navy had attained 101 percent of their recruiting goals with 80,407 and 37,361 recruits, respectively. The Marine Corps and Air Force were at 100 percent, with 35,603 and 27,801 recruits, respectively.

Four of the six reserve components met their recruiting goals. The Marine Corps Reserve finished the year at 110 percent of its goal, with 7,959 recruits. The Air Force Reserve followed with 104 percent, or 7,110 recruits. The Army and Navy reserves came in at 101 and 100 percent, respectively, with 35,734 and 10,627 recruits.

Among the reserve components, only the Army and Air National Guard reported not meeting recruiting goals, but that number is somewhat deceptive, defense officials said. In both services, they explained, retention was higher than expected, which reduced the number of recruits needed.

In fact, the Army National Guard had to curtail recruiting because its retention numbers were so high that it wouldn't have had the funds to pay for the likely overage to its authorized end-strength if recruiting continued at the originally projected pace.

The Army Guard finished the year at 101 percent of its planned 350,000-soldier end-strength – nearly 3,000 troops above that target and almost 6,500 more soldiers than it started the year with. The Air Guard finished the fiscal year at 99.3 percent of its targeted 107,000-airman end-strength.

The quality of recruits remains high, said David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. Briefing Pentagon reporters today, Chu said the Defense Department standards are that 90 percent of its new recruits have a high school diploma and 60 percent score higher than average on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a series of tests given to prospective recruits. Also, no more than 4 percent of those who score in Mental Category IV – between the 10th and 30th percentile in the nation – are allowed to enlist.

"In other words, we aim for the military to draw an above-average slice of America into its enlisted ranks," Chu said.

In the active components, all but the Army reported meeting those standards. Only 79 percent of the Army's non-prior service recruits had a high school diploma, Chu said, but he noted that's about the same percentage as American society at large.

Five of the six reserve components met the high school diploma goal. The Army Reserve came in at 86 percent. Four of the six made the testing goal of 60 percent or higher, while the Army National Guard and Reserve came in just under the mark at 57 percent. All reserve components met the goal of no more than 4 percent of recruits having Category IV test scores.

Retention numbers were not released, but Chu reported that all four active components met their retention goals and all six reserve components were within the Defense Department's expectations.

The recruiting successes are needed for a force that has plans to grow in the next five years. The Army expects to grow to 547,000 and the Marine Corps to 202,000 by as early as 2010. The Navy and Air Force plan to reduce their forces.

Officials can't say exactly how many recruits will be needed each year, because retention and attrition also affect end-strength, but the Army expects to add about 7,000 annually and the Marines 5,000.

Chu reported that a downward trend in support by community influencers toward military service has leveled off, and that officials hope to see it take a more positive turn.

"I think it's important for all citizens to support the choices of young people, and this is one of the ironies we've seen in this extended conflict -- that the young people are willing to step forward, but the more senior members of our society ... are less willing to applaud that choice when they do so," Chu said.

Chu did not report on the number of recruits who required waivers to be admitted into the military, but, when questioned, said that waiver submissions were at a historically high level, about equal to last year. But, Chu said, that includes medical and conduct waivers.

Chu said the military takes a "whole person" stance on waivers and will grant a conduct waiver for a recruit who may have committed a misdemeanor or sampled illegal drugs, but otherwise is qualified and has not continued the illegal behaviors.

"We certainly are not going to accept for enlistment anyone with a serious criminal record, but the services ask questions, as they should, of new entrants that try to ensure we know whom we're recruiting," Chu said. "We want to know who that whole person is."

Chu said the number of recruits admitted with a criminal record is a "small number" of the force.

Army Maj. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commander of the Army's Recruiting Command, said that 85 percent of those enlisting in the Army did not need a waiver. Of the 15 percent who needed waivers, 87 percent were for misdemeanors, or "small infractions," he said, such as joy riding, breaking curfew or using a false ID.

"So we're not bringing in murderers, criminals, drug dealers, felons. Those people are not coming into the United States Army," Bostick said. "This is a very high-quality Army. I served in combat side by side with them. Many of the recruiters are combat veterans. They're going to go back to the force and serve next to these soldiers. They want them to be the highest quality."

Army Works to Accelerate Leader Development

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 10, 2007 - The Army is exploring new ways to accelerate the development of leaders prepared for the broad challenges they'll face in what's expected to be an era of persistent conflict, the Army's chief of staff said here yesterday. "We are committed to investing in our officer, warrant officer, noncommissioned officer and civilian leaders," Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. told attendees at the annual Association of the U.S. Army convention. "In this era of persistent conflict, it is absolutely essential that we develop leaders that can handle the challenges of full-spectrum operations."

Full-spectrum operations include the broad range of missions soldiers can be called on to carry out: from supporting peacetime operations to conducting major combat operations, and everything in between.

This operating environment requires agile, adaptive leaders, able to shift quickly and smoothly between missions, Casey said.

"Our leaders in the 21st century must be competent in their core competencies, broad enough to operate across the full spectrum of conflict, able to operate in joint, interagency and combined environments, at home in other cultures and courageous enough to see and exploit opportunities in the complex environments they will be operating in," he said.

Just as warfare has changed, so too has the way the Army develops leaders, Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, commander of the Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., said during a panel discussion about accelerating leader development.

"We don't want to teach you what to think," he said. "We want to teach you how to think."

This effort extends throughout the Army's education and professional development system, through a blend of formal education, operational experience and guided self-development, Caldwell said.

Officer candidates are getting more field and operational experience, Maj. Gen. W. Montague Winfield, commander of U.S. Army Cadet Command, told attendees. Officers are getting more educational opportunities and more access to joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational training, Brig. Gen. Mark O'Neill, deputy commandant of the Army's Command and General Staff College, told the group.

Warrant officers are attending more officer training courses, said Col. Mark Jones, command of the Army Warrant Officer Career Center. And recognizing that its enlisted force is "taking on more responsibility earlier in their careers than ever before, the Army is adapting its training programs so they're better prepared, said Col. Donald Gentry, commandant of the Army Sergeants Major Academy.

Meanwhile, the Army is tapping into best practices from the private and public sectors to accelerate training and development of its civilian work force that's filling critical positions and maintaining continuity, said Volney "Jim" Warner, director of the Army's Civilian Development Office.

How well the Army develops soldiers and leaders able to operate effectively and efficiently in an era of persistent conflict will have far-reaching impact on the force and its ability to succeed, the officials agreed.

"Soldiers are the strength of this Army, and they make this Army the strength of this nation," Casey said. "It will be our soldiers who lead us to victory over the nation's enemies, and it will be soldiers who preserve the peace for us and for our allies."

Decision Point Approaches in Kosovo, NATO Chief Says

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Oct. 10, 2007 - With elections nearing and the question of independence uncertain, the next few months will be a "telling time" for people in the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, NATO's top military officer said at a Pentagon news conference today. Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, said the Balkan province is the No. 2 issue he works on, second only to Afghanistan.

Craddock said Kosovo's elections are scheduled for Nov. 17. Kosovars will elect 120 members of the national assembly. The parliament members will then elect a new president and prime minister. For the first time, voters also will directly elect mayors in the province's 30 towns.

NATO leads the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Its 16,000-member Kosovo Force provides security and stability. NATO soldiers moved in following a 78-day NATO air campaign that began in March 1999 in response to Serbian moves to expel the Albanian population of the area. Kosovo is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.

The vast majority of Kosovars want independence from Serbia. Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who served as a special United Nations negotiator in Kosovo, recommended the country become independent of Serbia – a move the Serbs vigorously oppose.

"I think right now I would tell you that in Kosovo there is uncertainty," Craddock said today. "There's impatience (among the Kosovars), because they want a decision. I think that December will be a telling time, and I think that there is some angst right now in Kosovo, and impatience and uncertainty."

The decision in Kosovo is about employment and the economy, the general said. "And it's about getting electricity every day, because that's a terrible situation right now," he said. There has been a drought in the province, and water is a concern. All these things are "front-burner issues" for Kosovars, and NATO will have to watch the process closely in December, Craddock said.

Craddock said NATO's Kosovo Force is extremely well-trained. National caveats that had limited how some countries' forces could be used are now gone, Craddock said. NATO commanders in the province have the flexibility they need, and NATO officials have been making prudent and wide-ranging plans, he said.

Roughly 1,600 Texas National Guardsmen are part of the force in Kosovo. They're due to rotate home soon, to be replaced by a National Guard unit from New Jersey.