Fort Carson, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station test joint response during exercise

by Senior Airman Tiffany DeNault
21st Space Wing Public Affairs

7/21/2015 - CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN AIR FORCE STATION, Colo. -- Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, respond to an exercise at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station with Strykers and Humvees July 15.

Existing support agreements ensure support between 21st Space Wing assets and Fort Carson during real world situations. The blocking force exercise tested the ability of Fort Carson and CMAFS to execute a joint mission, manage resources, stewardship of manpower and equipment readiness.

Owned and operated by the 21st SW on Peterson Air Force Base, CMAFS is designated as the Alternate Command Center, the primary being at North American Aerospace Defense Command, U.S. Northern Command also located on Peterson AFB.

"The exercise demonstrates our joint commitment to protect the strategic missions of national significance in continuous operations at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station," said Col. Gary Cornn, 721st Mission Support Group and installation commander. "This is an important exercise showing the capability of Fort Carson's response if there is an increased threat."

The 4th ID, 1SBCT responded to provide a physical blocking force on key avenues of approach to CMAFS. In the event of a real world situation, the vehicles and personnel from Fort Carson would also be used for extra firepower, medical support, engineering and logistical support.

Strykers are eight-wheeled combat vehicles that are road legal and able to deploy immediately on and off road. The vehicles are capable of executing an array of missions and scenarios; more so than any other vehicle in the Department of Defense, said Maj. Kevin Boyd, 4th ID, 1SBCT public affairs officer. The Strykers give the 4th ID unique capabilities other Fort Carson units do not have.

"Working together in this joint security exercise was valuable for us as we worked the 759th Military Police Battalion from Fort Carson to open a closed gate to facilitate our movement up the mountain, and with the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station security forces to conduct link-up and support their security posture," said Boyd. "For our Soldiers it is important to know our neighbors and how we can conduct mutual aid for them to understand exactly what is needed and where to respond in a time of crisis cuts down our response time and enables us to bring the proper equipment."

Veterans, Contemporary Warriors Salute D-Day Landings

By Army Staff Sgt. Rick Scavetta

U.S. European Command

SAINTE-MÈRE-EGLISE, France, June 6, 2012 – When Eugene Cook jumped into Normandy during the predawn hours of June 6, 1944, he landed several miles from his intended drop zone.

Alone in the dark French countryside, the young 101st Airborne Division paratrooper from Georgia assembled his rifle, got his bearings and began looking for other Americans among Normandy’s hedgerows. In the days and weeks that followed, Cook took part in the now-famous battles that began the liberation of France and led to Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

Cook, 87, was among the handful of World War II veterans who attended the 68th anniversary of the D-Day landings here this week. U.S. service members from all the military branches took part in honoring the veterans, something Cook said he was glad to see.

“We have to commemorate the lives of the guys we left here,” Cook said. “They gave their lives for us, and we should show them thanks.”

Known as Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, combined U.S. and Allied air drops with beach landings along Normandy’s coast. U.S. paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Infantry Divisions dropped onto the Cotenin peninsula to secure bridges, roads and towns vital to allowing the troops landing at nearby Utah Beach to move inland.

“That day, 68 years ago, as American blood mixed with French soil, it cemented even further the strong bonds between our two nations,” said U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh said as visited the La Fiere drop zone.

For the returning veterans there was a mix of feelings -- glad to be alive and sharing good times and sorrowful memories of those who’d died.

Yesterday -- a cold and overcast day -- John Perrozi walked between rows of white marble gravestones at the Normandy American Cemetery, overlooking Omaha Beach. He stopped at one cross and then another, paying his respects to several buddies who died fighting in Normandy. As an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper, Perozzi fought on D-Day with the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. It was his first trip back since the war.

During a June 3 ceremony at the La Fière drop zone, a battlefield where Perozzi fought, he received France’s highest military medal, the Légion d'Honneur. Before the ceremony, thousands of spectators watched as U.S. and international paratroopers recreate D-Day’s airborne operations -- jumping from U.S. Air Force planes onto the “Iron Mike” drop zone near the La Fière bridge -- at the Mederet River just west of Sainte-Mère-Eglise.

Soldiers from the Fort Bragg, N.C.,-based U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command and the Kaiserslautern, Germany-based 5th Quartermaster Detachment were among the hundreds of paratroopers who took part.

The Liberty Jump Team, which includes veterans from other conflicts and civilian parachutists, also jumped. Dave De Soucy, a retired officer from California who served in combat with the 101st Airborne Division during Vietnam, was one of the first to land in La Fiere’s marshy drop zone -- an area that was flooded on D-Day where several 82nd paratroopers drowned on D-Day, stuck in their chutes and harnesses. Packing up his chute, De Soucy said commemorative jumps honor World War II paratroopers, but also remind people about our current military operations.

“It’s an almost overwhelming experience,” said De Soucy, pausing as emotions welled inside him. “We’ve got to remember the folks who did it and those who still do it -- the one percent who go into harm’s way for the benefit of the [other] 99 percent.”

Afterward, Charles Rivkin, U.S. Ambassador to France, jumped with the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army’s parachute demonstration team. Then spectators, dignitaries, soldiers and veterans gathered on the grassy slope nearby for a series of commemorative speeches and wreath presentations.

John Roman, 87, who came ashore with the 4th Infantry Division, was surprised to hear a German military band at the ceremony, playing “Glory, Glory Hallelujah.” Seeing German troops didn’t bother him, he said.

“You’ve got to forget, some time,” Roman said. “It’s good that they are here. Maybe, the world will be better off.”

Toward the end of the war, Roman met a young French woman, Jacqueline, at a café. They’ve been married 66 years and had six children, she said. Each year, they come back, as Roman wants to remember buddies he lost, she said.

When wind gusts caught the beret of a German soldier, Jacqueline Roman watched in amazement as Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. Army Europe, walked over and knelt down to pick up the beret off the dirt, then handed it back to the German.

“That’s the American way,” she said. “That was wonderful.”

After World War II, there were 16 million living American veterans. Now, many are reaching their final years. U.S. troops cherished the opportunity to speak with them, to shake their hands and hear their stories.

“You can learn firsthand about history from these veterans,” Hertling said. “Not a lot has changed. They had the same fears and anxiety as they went into combat and the trauma from the things they faced. They teach our soldiers a lot about what that means.”

One older paratrooper hugged Army Staff Sgt. Rachel Medley, 34, of Eureka, Calif., who serves with the Golden Knights. Meeting soldiers from World War II is humbling, she said.

“They paved the path for the way the world is today,” Medley said. “The time is rapidly approaching when it won’t be living history anymore. It will be just something we read about in books because there will be no one who witnessed this. For us to be here and say thank you, it’s a huge honor to be in their presence.”

U.S. troops and veterans marched through Sainte-Mère-Eglise, where they were honored with a banquet in the town square. Similar events were held throughout the area during the days leading up to this year’s D-Day commemoration.

Earlier in the week, on June 2, U.S. Special Operations Forces demonstrated a high altitude, low opening jump near the historic Norman town of Mont Saint Michel. Army Capt. Stephen Cargill, an officer from the Stuttgart, Germany-based 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, said free falling above Normandy meant a lot to him.

“It’s just amazing to get the opportunity to see something so incredible,” Cargill said. “It hits that much closer to home, to land on hallowed ground.”

One evening, Cargill and fellow Special Forces soldiers relaxed outdoors near the Stop Café, a famous gathering spot in Sainte-Mère-Eglise. Troops mingled with French people wearing old-fashioned uniforms. One Dutch teen, Rob Van Meel, 13, cautiously approached the Green Berets in his authentic World War II uniform of a 101st Airborne Division soldier.

While many French children ask U.S. troops for a souvenir, Van Meel just asked about their patches. Impressed with Van Meel’s detailed uniform, Army Master Sgt. Damon Storey got down and presented Van Meel with a set of combat jump wings -- a treasured possession. Van Meel attended D-Day anniversaries in Normandy every year of his life, he said. In fact, his first costume was as a World War II ammunition box at just 3 months old. He thanked Storey, but said he wouldn’t wear the jump wings on the Screaming Eagles uniform, as it wouldn’t have been historically correct.

A handful of aging U.S. and Allied veterans attended several ceremonies over the course of week. Ellan Levitsky Orkin, 92, and her sister Dorothy, 95, who served together in Normandy as U.S. Army nurses, were offered honorary French citizenship during a June 4 ceremony in Bolleville. They helped unveil a new memorial to World War II medics, near where they served with the 164th Field Hospital. They come back every year, but they don’t quite understand all the excitement, Orkin said.

“We came and had a job to do and we went home,” she said. “When we went home, nobody asked us questions then and we didn’t talk about it. It was too painful.”

Still, some veterans are willing to share their tales. And they don’t mind using newer technology if it means bridging the gap of miles. Milt Staley, 93, of Redding, Calif., waded through chest-deep surf onto Utah Beach on D-Day with the 4th Infantry Division. He first returned in 2011 and has since kept in touch with his French friends on Facebook.

When Staley visits the church at Sainte-Mère-Eglise, he remembers occupying foxholes dug earlier by 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers. Afterward, Staley fought with the 90th Infantry Division and was wounded in combat. Coming back to France is not about reliving the horrors of war, he said. It’s about sharing time with people in France.

“I was never hugged and kissed and thanked so much for what we did,” Staley said. “It amazed and overwhelmed me and I think I’ll never forget it.”

Cook, on the other hand, has returned many times. He also looks forward to seeing people he’s met before, plus reflecting on some of his wartime thoughts, he said.

“This brings back the memories of the guys we were with here,” Cook said. “It’s important that we rededicate ourselves to their sacrifice and D-Day helps us do that.”

Face of Defense: Airman Honors Father With Bronze Star

By Air Force Capt. George Tobias

Air Force Space Command Public Affairs

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., June 21, 2011 – An Air Force Space Command chief master sergeant used the occasion of her retirement ceremony here to take care of one last troop -- her father, who was presented with the Bronze Star Medal he earned four decades ago.

Chief Master Sgt. Nancy Geisler, a contracting superintendent and area manager for the command, recognized her father, retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Porter at her June 13 retirement ceremony. Geisler coordinated with the Army to present Porter with the medal he earned for service in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 with the 4th Infantry Division, currently located at Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colo.

For Geisler it was important to recognize her father's service.

"My father told me while I was young that he had received a Bronze Star," she said. "So I kept that in the back of my mind, and with my upcoming retirement I wanted to present a shadow box to my father of his Bronze Star and his citation, but he told me that the Army never presented him his Bronze Star."

Geisler then decided that at her retirement ceremony, her father should be presented his Bronze Star medal. While they had the orders that showed Porter earned the medal, no records of the citation could be found.

This prompted the 4th ID to regenerate the citation, allowing Army Col. Timothy Coffin, deputy commander of Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Strategic Command, to present it and the Bronze Star to Porter.

"Now is the time to make history right," Coffin said as he presented the medal.

Service members today enjoy great support from the nation, but "that was not the case back in 1969 and 1970 during the period of time that Sgt. 1st Class Porter was in Vietnam,” Coffin said.

"The 4th ID is still today overseas serving in Afghanistan, serving in combat operations," he said. "We have young soldiers today doing the same things that, 41 years later, Sergeant Porter has been recognized for."

Geisler also commented on the disparity of support that today’s service members enjoy, as compared to their predecessors who’d served in Vietnam.

"It is very rewarding to me to see that he finally got recognized for his service," Geisler said of her father’s award.

Geisler said her father was very pleased when he heard he would be presented his Bronze Star.

"He said he was so proud and told all his friends where he lives that the Army finally did him right," she said.

Soldiers in Colorado slayings tell of Iraq horrors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Soldiers from an Army unit that had 10 infantrymen accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter after returning to civilian life described a breakdown in discipline during their Iraq deployment in which troops murdered civilians, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Some Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldiers have had trouble adjusting to life back in the United States, saying they refused to seek help, or were belittled or punished for seeking help. Others say they were ignored by their commanders, or coped through drug and alcohol abuse before they allegedly committed crimes, The Gazette of Colorado Springs said.

The Gazette based its report on months of interviews with soldiers and their families, medical and military records, court documents and photographs.

Several soldiers said unit discipline deteriorated while in Iraq.

"Toward the end, we were so mad and tired and frustrated," said Daniel Freeman. "You came too close, we lit you up. You didn't stop, we ran your car over with the Bradley," an armored fighting vehicle.

With each roadside bombing, soldiers would fire in all directions "and just light the whole area up," said Anthony Marquez, a friend of Freeman in the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment. "If anyone was around, that was their fault. We smoked 'em."

Taxi drivers got shot for no reason, and others were dropped off bridges after interrogations, said Marcus Mifflin, who was eventually discharged with post traumatic stress syndrome.

"You didn't get blamed unless someone could be absolutely sure you did something wrong," he said

Soldiers interviewed by The Gazette cited lengthy deployments, being sent back into battle after surviving war injuries that would have been fatal in previous conflicts, and engaging in some of the bloodiest combat in Iraq. The soldiers describing those experiences were part of the 3,500-soldier unit now called the 4th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team.

Since 2005, some brigade soldiers also have been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, DUIs, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping and suicides.

The unit was deployed for a year to Iraq's Sunni Triangle in September 2004. Sixty-four unit soldiers were killed and more than 400 wounded — about double the average for Army brigades in Iraq, according to Fort Carson. In 2007, the unit served a bloody 15-month mission in Baghdad. It's currently deployed to the Khyber Pass region in Afghanistan.

Marquez was the first in his brigade to kill someone after an Iraq tour. In 2006, he used a stun gun to shock a drug dealer in Widefield, Colo., in a dispute over a marijuana sale, then shot and killed him.

Marquez's mother, Teresa Hernandez, warned Marquez's sergeant at Fort Carson her son was showing signs of violent behavior, abusing alcohol and pain pills and carrying a gun. "I told them he was a walking time bomb," she said.

Hernandez said the sergeant later taunted Marquez about her phone call.

"If I was just a guy off the street, I might have hesitated to shoot," Marquez told The Gazette in the Bent County Correctional Facility, where he is serving a 30-year prison term. "But after Iraq, it was just natural."

The Army trains soldiers to be that way, said Kenneth Eastridge, an infantry specialist serving 10 years for accessory to murder.

"The Army pounds it into your head until it is instinct: Kill everybody, kill everybody," he said. "And you do. Then they just think you can just come home and turn it off."

Both soldiers were wounded, sent back into action and saw friends and officers killed in their first deployment. On numerous occasions, explosions shredded the bodies of civilians, others were slain in sectarian violence — and the unit had to bag the bodies.

"Guys with drill bits in their eyes," Eastridge said. "Guys with nails in their heads."

Last week, the Army released a study of soldiers at Fort Carson that found that the trauma of fierce combat and soldier refusals or obstacles to seeking mental health care may have helped drive some to violence at home. It said more study is needed.

While most unit soldiers coped post-deployment, a handful went on to kill back home in Colorado.

Many returning soldiers did seek counseling.

"We're used to seeing people who are depressed and want to hurt themselves. We're trained to deal with that," said Davida Hoffman, director of the privately operated First Choice Counseling Center in Colorado Springs. "But these soldiers were depressed and saying, 'I've got this anger, I want to hurt somebody.' We weren't accustomed to that."

At Fort Carson, Eastridge and other soldiers said they lied during an army screening about their deployment that was designed to detect potential behavioral problems.

Sergeants sometimes refused to let soldiers get PTSD help or taunted them, said Andrew Pogany, a former Fort Carson special forces sergeant who investigates complaints for the advocacy group Veterans for America.

Soldier John Needham described a number of alleged crimes in a December 2007 letter to the Inspector General's Office of Fort Carson. In the letter, obtained by The Gazette, Needham said that a sergeant shot a boy riding a bicycle down the street for no reason.

Another sergeant shot a man in the head while questioning him, lashed the man's body to his Humvee and drove around the neighborhood. Needham also claimed sergeants removed victims' brains.

The Army's criminal investigation division interviewed unit soldiers and said it couldn't substantiate the allegations.

The Army has declared soldiers' mental health a top priority.

"When we see a problem, we try to identify it and really learn what we can do about it. That is what we are trying to do here," said Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, Fort Carson's commander. "There is a culture and a stigma that needs to change."

Fort Carson officers are trained to help troops showing stress signs, and the base has doubled its number of behavioral-health counselors. Soldiers seeing an Army doctor for any reason undergo a mental health evaluation.

___

On the Net:

Colorado Springs Gazette: http://www.gazette.com