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U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Japan Air Self-Defense Force aircraft fly in formation above Japanese and Canadian vessels during Keen Sword in the Philippine Sea, Oct. 26, 2020. The exercise is conducted with joint and bilateral partners to enhance long-range interception capabilities.
Airmen sit inside an F-16 Viper during an event with leaders at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., Oct. 22, 2020.
Marines participate in a regimental air assault course during training at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Oct. 23, 2020.
Soldiers set up a training site in Aomori, Japan, Oct. 26, 2020, during Keen Sword/Orient Shield, an exercise with joint and bilateral partners to enhance long-range interception capabilities.
Sailors secure a catapult aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford at the Naval Station Norfolk, Va., Oct. 22, 2020.
A Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk pilot flies near an MK-124 smoke and illumination signal during a joint Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force search and rescue exercise near Virginia Beach, Va., Oct. 22, 2020.
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar, and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh joined Esper for the so-called "two-plus-two" meeting in New Delhi.
The meeting — held in the beautiful Edwin Lutyens-designed Hyderabad House — was a chance for the two nations to check the progress of previous agreements. It also was a chance for the leaders to continue to build the defense relationship across a range of areas. These areas include regional security cooperation, defense information sharing and defense sales, the secretary said.
"As the world confronts a global pandemic and growing security challenges, the United States-India partnership is more important than ever to ensure security, stability and prosperity to the region and the world," Esper said at the conclusion of the talks.
It has only been 15 years since the first U.S.-India defense framework agreement. The defense ties are a pillar for the overall relationship between the United States and India.
Esper called the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement important as it is the last of the foundational defense agreements between the two countries. "This enables greater geospatial information sharing between our two armed forces," he said.
"Based on our shared values and common interests, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific for all, particularly in light of increased aggression and destabilizing activities by China," the secretary said.
China confronted India over the summer along its disputed border. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed.
Esper and Pompeo also visited with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The men discussed the COVID-19 response and security and defense cooperation.
The two-plus-two meeting reaffirmed America's commitment to a comprehensive and forward-looking defense partnership with India. The men discussed concrete ways to expand regional security cooperation, military-to-military interactions and defense trade relationships
Helping in the region includes bilateral defense cooperation in the Indian Ocean region, Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific. One example of this cooperation was the combined exercise by the Indian navy and the USS Nimitz carrier strike group in July. The two nations have also exchanged military liaisons to strengthen coordination and ties between military staffs.
The two nations are also working toward establishing new cyber and space dialogues to increase cooperation in domains where both countries face emerging threats, Esper said.
The four men also discussed engagement with like-minded nations, like Japan and Australia, to advance maritime security, humanitarian aid, disaster relief and other common interests across the region.
Esper praised India's recent decision to include Australia in the upcoming Malabar naval exercise among Indian, American and Japanese forces. He said it reflects the acknowledgment of the importance of working multilaterally to address global challenges.
He said he would like to see this grow. "We have a lot of existing exercises right now," the secretary said earlier in his trip. "We would like to multilateralize more things."
The engagement between the Indian and U.S. militaries is strong and moving in the right direction, he said. Earlier in the trip, Esper said the navy-to-navy cooperation is fairly strong. We are looking to build more army-to-army and air force-to-air force opportunities," he said.
U.S. and Indian defense trade and technology cooperation continues to grow. Esper noted that India acquired Apache and Seahawk helicopters earlier this year. "We look forward to advancing sales for other key defense platforms including fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial systems," he said.
Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center pharmacy personnel work at Fort Meade, Md., Oct. 15, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic changed how Kimbrough provides pharmacy services to beneficiaries through the implementation of curbside pharmacy services.
Oct. 27, 2020 | BY David Vergun , DOD News
Robert "Bob" William Andrew Feller was a renowned pitcher for the Cleveland Indians from 1936 to 1941 and from 1945 to 1956.
During his 18 seasons, he pitched 3,827 innings with a win-loss record of 266-162. He pitched 279 complete games, 44 shutouts and had a 3.25 earned run average.
He was an eight-time All-Star and helped the Indians win the 1948 World Series.
Baseball great Ted Williams called Feller "the fastest and best pitcher I ever saw during my career."
Feller most likely would have boosted the Indians' scoreboard even more, except for America's entry into World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941.
After learning of the attack, Feller, then 23, decided that the right thing to do would be to serve. "The last thing on my mind right then was playing baseball. I immediately decided to enlist in the United States Navy," he said decades later. "People today don't understand, but that's the way we felt in those days. We wanted to join the fighting."
On Dec. 9, 1941, he gave up the chance to earn $100,000 with the Indians and became the first professional athlete to join the Navy after Pearl Harbor.
In 1942, after basic training, Feller was stationed at Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia. He found time there to pitch for the base's Bluejackets baseball team, which went 92-8 that year.
Feller then served as a gun captain on the battleship USS Alabama. In 1943, they sailed in the North Atlantic in support of combat operations in Europe.
In August 1943, they departed for the Pacific Theater.
During that time through the spring of 1944, the Alabama served as a carrier task force escort, protecting the carriers from surface and air attacks. The ship also bombarded Japanese positions, fought off enemy aircraft, and, in some cases, supported amphibious landings on Betio, Makin, Nauru, Kwajalein, Roi-Namur, Truk, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Palau, Yap, Ulithi, Woleai and other islands.
The Alabama then took part in the Philippines campaign from September through December 1944, including providing support for the landing at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines in October 1944 and operations against Japanese-occupied Taiwan.
On Dec. 17, while the fleet was refueling at sea, Typhoon Cobra swept through the area, battering the fleet. Heavy seas caused the ship to roll up to 30 degrees and the typhoon was responsible for sinking three other destroyers in the task force, though the Alabama emerged with only minor damage.
In January 1945, the Alabama departed the Western Pacific for an overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington, ending Feller's combat tour.
He spent the rest of the war at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois, as an instructor. Feller also found time to manage the installation's baseball program, and he even pitched for the team.
Feller was honorably discharged as a chief petty officer on Aug. 22, 1945.
In 2010, Feller died at age 92.
Oct. 27, 2020
FOREIGN MINISTER RAJNATH SINGH: (Via interpreter) Mr. Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, Dr. Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense, my esteemed colleague Dr. S. Jaishankar, distinguished members of the two delegations, a very warm welcome to both of the secretaries and your delegations. Thank you for traveling all the way to New Delhi when traveling is still considered quite risky.
Thank you for your personal commitment to the India-USA partnership. We are meeting today at an extraordinary time. This pandemic is something that we have never experienced in our lifetime. Our economies have suffered losses. People have been affected by the pandemic, and a number of those have succumbed, which is a number that is far from insignificant. We have implemented the whole-of-government approach to take industrial and service outputs back to normalcy. We are providing relief to all those badly impacted by the pandemic. We have to quickly make up for the losses as economic downturn will have both domestic and external consequences.
Excellencies, in the area of defense we are challenged by reckless aggression on our northern borders – (inaudible).
SECRETARY MIKE POMPEO: Thank you very much. It’s an honor to be here with you (inaudible) for the third 2+2 (inaudible) all three. Our friendship and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific was clearly, clearly highly on display when we were in Tokyo this past week and a half for the Quad meeting that Minister Jaishankar and I had with our Australian and Japanese friends earlier this month.
Today is real opportunity for two great democracies like ours to grow closer, as I said on my trip to India last year when I called for a new age of ambition in our relationship. I think we’ve delivered on that over this past year. There is much more work to do for sure.
We have a lot to discuss today, from cooperating on defeating the pandemic that originated in Wuhan, to confronting the Chinese Communist Party’s threats to security and freedom, to promoting peace and stability throughout the region.
Together our two countries are building a better future for our people based on our shared set of values and our cultures, our defense ties, our scientific collaboration, and mutual prosperity. I thank you for your leadership to each of you to build what ought to be a defining partnership of democracies in the 21st century. Thank you.
SECRETARY MARK T. ESPER: Minister Singh, Minister Jaishankar, I am honored to be here with you alongside Secretary Pompeo for our third 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue. Today we meet in the midst of public health, economic, and security challenges around the globe, which the partnership between our two nations has better prepared us to address and deter.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the first U.S.-India Defense Framework and our third 2+2 Ministerial. We have strengthened our defense and security partnership considerably since then, especially over the past year, during which we advanced our regional security, military-to-military, and information-sharing cooperation. Our focus now must be on institutionalizing and regularizing our cooperation to meet the challenges of the day and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific well into the future.
Today I look forward to discussing key opportunities to expand our efforts on regional security concerns and to advance our defense priorities, to include increasing information sharing and mutual logistics operations between our militaries.
To my Indian colleagues, thank you again for your gracious hospitality and friendship as we continue to strengthen this most consequential partnership between the world’s two largest democracies. Thank you both.
MINISTER SUBRAHMANYAM JAISHANKAR: (Inaudible) Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Esper, dear colleagues, it is a great pleasure to welcome the American delegation to India for the third 2+2 meeting between us. As foreign minister, I attach great importance to this particular format of our interaction for three reasons.
First, we live in a more uncertain world with much greater stresses and sharper fault lines. For most countries, that means giving security a greater salience in their foreign policy. As major powers, this is even more so in our case.
Second, over the last two decades, our bilateral relationship has grown steadily in its substance, assets, and significance. The accompanying comfort levels today enable us to engage much more intensively on matters of national security. This format is clearly tailored for that purpose.
Third, at a time when it is particularly important to uphold a rules-based international order, the ability of India and the United States to work closely in defense and foreign policy has a larger resonance.
Together we can make a real difference when it comes to regional and global challenges, whether it is in respecting territorial integrity, promoting maritime domain awareness, counterterrorism, or creating prosperity. I am therefore looking forward to our discussions today, and I am sure they will be very productive and fruitful. Thank you.
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