Guard members participate in Army Warrior Games training at Ft. Bliss

By Sgt. Valerie Lopez
1st Armored Division

FORT BLISS, Texas (1/24/2012) “Inhale,¦exhale, the sound of breathing in a small quiet room, then a sudden pop, as the pellet is shot from an air rifle into the target in a room filled with Soldiers taking their chance at tryouts for the National Warrior Games competition.

Twenty five wounded Soldiers, including Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tracy J. Smith, gathered at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, to participate in the Warrior Games Shooting Training Camp, Jan. 11-14.

"This is our very first of three shooting clinics for selecting the 2012 Warrior Games Shooting team," said Army Master Sgt. Howard Day, an Army shooting coach for Warrior Transition Command and student at the United States Sergeants Major Academy. "We partnered with University of Texas El Paso, Warrior Transition Battalion, Fort Bliss, and Reps from Army Marksmanship in order to make this clinic happen."

The Warrior Games were created in 2010 as an introduction to Paralympics' sports for injured service members and veterans of all services – Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Special Operations. During this year's games, wounded service members and veterans will compete in seven sports: archery, cycling, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, track and field, and wheelchair basketball.

"This year's mission is to bring home the gold, from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.," Day said.

During the clinic, there were three stations set up – mental, physical and range practice.

In the mental station, Lindsay Holtz, a performance enhancement specialist, assisted warriors with creating imagery scripts to do mental practice when they don't have a weapon.

"It's like a movie script that you play in your head to that helps you keep your patterns, muscles and mind prepared for when you go back out there," Holtz said.

The physical station had UTEP woman's shooting coach George Brenzovich and team member Andrea Vautrin, exchanging ideas with the warriors on different ways to deal with anxieties and the pressures of competing. They also demonstrated alternate positions for shooting pertaining to each person's disabilities or weaknesses.

The third station was an indoor air shooting range at the ROTC building where the warriors practiced shooting and received instructions from Day, who was the coach.

Despite their circumstances these warriors all come together to compete, said Day.

One warrior, Army Spc. James Darlington, then 19, was deployed with the 82nd Airborne when his group was hit with two rocket propelled grenades in July 2010 and his arm was struck. With nerve damage and muscle loss in his right arm, Darlington, now 21 years old, has his mom with him as his non-medical attendant.

"He did his job well," said Gery Darlington, "because everyone came home from that deployment. He's here alive, and we can deal with whatever happens with his arm."

“The Warrior Transition Battalion has great programs to help Soldiers transition back to their units, and other activities to keep us from getting down," Darlington said. "The shooting clinic helped us get better at shooting. I'm looking forward to getting [on] the team."

The Soldiers' injuries here run the full scope, said Day, from Traumatic Brain Injury, to Post Traumatic Stress, and amputations. Many have multiple injuries and other medical conditions that challenge them as well.

Army Staff Sgt. Tracy J. Smith, originally with 48th Brigade, Army National Guard, was deployed three times to Iraq and Afghanistan, survived mortar rounds, explosions and firefights. Now she's battling with TBI and PTS, three pins in her knee and 50 percent hearing loss.

"I was initially introduced to adaptive sports, and wanted to stay active and physically fit so I did archery, seated shot put, track and field events, power lifting, and now marksmanship," Smith said.

She said because of the TBI and the PTS, she was at first nervous to handle a weapon, but after watching someone use the air rifle it was not as "off-putting" and was almost therapeutic.

"It's … a very easy reintroduction into the basics of Soldiering, but also very different from what we are taught in marksmanship," she said. "I am doing this for those that can't, for my battle buddy who is partly paralyzed and unable [to], because he would have if our situations were reversed."

Of the 83 Soldiers that applied, "seventy-five were notified eligible for these clinics," Day said. "From these clinics the best [shooters] will be put together to form our Army team."

As a wounded warrior himself, Day said it is vital for Soldiers to recognize that the injuries are not the end of their career and definitely not the end of possibilities in life.

"This is nothing but a speed bump, a simple turn in the road," said Day. "There is a big bright future and lots of opportunities."

Panetta Thanks Fort Bliss Neighbors for Support

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

EL PASO, Texas  – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta thanked the people of this West Texas city last night for their support of service members based in the area.

“Our military has done everything we’ve asked them to do, and this community has done everything it can to ensure they can do their mission,” Panetta said during a speech to the local Chamber of Commerce.

Fort Bliss is the new home of the 1st Armored Division, and more than 200,000 troops have deployed out of the post since 9/11, Panetta said. “While the troops have deployed, their families remain here, and El Paso has stepped up to the plate.”

Panetta told the chamber that the military must change to remain the best military in the world and confront the threats that face America. With the country facing a fiscal crisis, the Defense Department must cut $489 billion over the next 10 years.

The military has gone through reductions following wars in the past, Panetta said, but this time is different because threats remain. The American armed forces dropped after World War II, but the fascist threat had been defeated, the secretary noted. The military contracted after the Cold War, he added, but the Soviet Union had dissolved.

“We still confront some major threats,” he said. “We have continuing threats of violent extremism and terrorism.”

The United States has put al-Qaida and its allies on the run, but the threat remains, the secretary said, and U.S. forces must keep the pressure on. In addition, he told the group, the threat of proliferation of nuclear weapons and the means to launch them has not gone away.

“We’ve got the destabilizing behavior of rogue nations like Iran and North Korea,” he said, adding that uncertainty accompanies the rise of new powers in Asia and changes in the Middle East.

Countering these threats and uncertainties has to be governed by a strategy, Panetta said, and the department is firmly behind President Barack Obama’s new defense strategy revealed last week. That strategy reshapes the military while meeting new fiscal constraints, he explained, and Pentagon leaders are shaping a budget based on the strategy, “and not just some numbers game.”

“This will shape just what our military force will look like -- not just today, but in the future,” the secretary said.

The men and women in uniform will continue to be the country’s greatest strength, Panetta said, and those men and women will continue to need the support of communities like El Paso.

“As this new greatest generation of Americans begins to return home from war, many will need our support to recover from wounds, both physical and mental,” he said. “They will need our support as they transition either back into the force or back into civilian life. We must be there for them. We must honor their commitment to this country.”

People are the highest priority for DOD, the secretary stressed.

“We can’t do it alone,” he said. “We need your help. Defending America is a team effort. It’s a joint effort on the part of our troops and their families, but it also includes the people of communities like El Paso.”

Army to Replace 2 Brigades in Europe With Rotating Units

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Jan. 12, 2012 – Ground forces will remain important to the U.S. defense strategy, but the employment of the forces will change, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said today.

In an interview on his way to Fort Bliss, Texas, Panetta said that the Army will withdraw two brigade combat teams from Europe, while retaining a strong presence in the region via rotational units.

The change is part of a new, 10-year defense strategy announced by President Barack Obama last week that emphasizes air-sea doctrine to better allow the United States to confront more than one threat at a time, Panetta said. Still, ground forces will remain important, and soldiers and Marines will continue to deploy to Afghanistan and be on the Korean Peninsula and partnering with nations around the globe.

“We will continue to maintain our presence both in the Middle East and Asia,” the secretary said. “Yes, we’ll have the Navy and the Air Force, but in my experience, in any conflict you need to have the potential use of ground forces.”

Panetta said he is excited about the prospect of using Army units on a rotational basis, just as Special Forces and the Marine Corps do. “Getting the Army to deploy to areas conducting exercises providing, most of all, a partnership with countries in Latin America, Africa, other countries where we can show the flag” is important, he said.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno is particularly excited about the ability to develop that rotational capability, Panetta said. “It will keep the ground forces very meaningful in the future,” he said.

As the Army replaces the two brigade combat teams with rotational units, the Europeans actually will see more U.S. forces because the American forces in Europe have more often than not been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, Panetta said.

DOD officials have spoken to European leaders about the withdrawal and they understand why the change will be good for the U.S. military and NATO allies, senior defense officials traveling with the secretary said.

Face of Defense: Soldier Saves Drowning Child

By Army Staff Sgt. Brandon Little

32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command

FORT BLISS, Texas, Aug. 23, 2011 – "I asked my dad, 'Please don't let me die like this. I have a kid in my arms,'" said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Don Schmidt, a Patriot missile system technician here for B Battery, 3rd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery.

These were Schmidt's thoughts before a piece of debris struck him on the head and he lost his grip on 11-year-old Angel Sandoval, resulting in the boy being swept away by raging flashflood waters.

A fierce July 23 rainstorm that’d pummeled the area surrounding Tucson, Ariz., caused Schmidt to risk his life in an attempt to save the boy, named Angel, from drowning.

Many low-lying areas in the southwestern United States flood easily, Schmidt said, because of a combination of intense rain and poor drainage.

Schmidt, who hails from Tucson, said he is well aware of the areas that become dangerous and impassable when severe weather strikes. He had returned home and was visiting his family when dark, thick rain clouds filled the sky.

"I was home playing with my baby for about an hour when this huge monsoon storm rolled in and it started pouring," Schmidt said. "Initially when I went out it was still raining and I was trying to help the county [highway personnel] put out the 'Do not enter when road closed' signs."

These signs are placed at sections of roads intersecting with a usually dry riverbed, Schmidt said, which is also referred to as a "wash." He had helped position a road closing sign when he noticed how unusually high the water was in the previously dry riverbed.

"I remember leaving my truck running because I was just going to videotape [the water-filled riverbed] because I had never seen the wash this full," Schmidt said. "I recorded approximately 10 seconds of video … I took a couple of steps forward to get a better view of stuff that floats by in the wash."

On the opposite side of the river, Schmidt noticed a group of young men running along the bank and staring intently at the water. That's when he noticed Angel floating down the river as the powerful current pulled his head underwater.

"They screamed 'Help, help; he's in the water,’" Schmidt said. "I jokingly laughed to myself and said 'My wife's going to kill me and I hope no one steals my cell phone.'"

Schmidt, who in no way considers himself a strong swimmer, tossed his phone and dove into the raging, debris-riddled water, oblivious to what was awaiting him.

"I got a hold of Angel right away; he was fighting with me but I managed to get control of the situation," Schmidt said. "I got him to where his back was in my arm pit. We kept getting pulled underneath; I mean we're getting dunked constantly."

They gasped for air as their heads burst above water for only a quick two or three seconds and then they were once again submerged, Schmidt said.

"Ninety percent of my time in the water was spent underwater," he said. "There was one point where we went under [for about] 20 or 30 seconds. [When you resurface] you don't get good breaths. I was stretched out on my back and I was fighting to keep us above water; I swear I thought I was going to die."

Schmidt said he had a tight grip on Angel with his right arm while using his left arm to frantically grab at thorny branches in unsuccessful attempts to free them from the strong current. These branches caused deep lacerations on Schmidt’s hand and arm.

It was at this point, Schmidt said, that he asked his father, who’d passed away in 1999, to help him out of the perilous situation.

"I said: 'Dad please, let me get home to my baby and my wife; let me get this kid out of here. I can't die like this, I don't want to be found face down in a muddy wash,'" Schmidt said.

At that very moment, a large piece of debris struck Schmidt, splitting his bottom lip.

"When I got whacked, I still had him by the shirt but my grip had loosened up,” Schmidt said. “Somehow I lost grip [of him] and I'll never forget this kid looking at me like I let go of him … that still haunts me to this day.”

Schmidt then hit a sandbar and was pulled ashore by an onlooker. Angel, too, hit a sandbar on the opposite side of the wash and was rescued by onlookers. Schmidt had battled the ravaging current for nearly five minutes. Angel was swept away further upstream while he tried to save his younger sister who’d also fallen into the water.

Schmidt, Angel and his sister were taken to the hospital for medical treatment and then they were released.

"My wife was pretty upset and didn't speak to me the entire trip to the hospital," Schmidt said.

Schmidt said he didn’t think of being a hero when he jumped into the water to help Angel.

"I didn't jump in the water for guts and glory," Schmidt said. "I just hoped that someone would do the same for my kid in that situation. Maybe I didn't change the world, but at least I made a difference in someone's life."

Face of Defense: Air Guard NCO Graduates From Army Course

By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leisa Grant

National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 12, 2011 – Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Chris Roper is the first Air National Guard member to graduate from the in-residence Sergeants Major Course at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Roper, security forces manager with the Oregon National Guard’s 142nd Fighter Wing, graduated June 18, one of 327 graduates.

Roper said he now has a better understanding of how senior military leaders make weighty decisions.

“Now I see the ‘bigger picture’ at the operational and strategic level,” he said.

The bigger picture changed after the 9/11 attacks against the United States.

“Since 9/11, the necessity for the National Guard to operate in a joint environment with active duty forces has never been more important,” said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Denise Jelinski-Hall, senior enlisted advisor to the chief of the National Guard Bureau.

“The more opportunities we have to train and learn together,” Jelinksi-Hall said, “the more efficient and effective we will be at home and abroad in accomplishing the mission.”

The Air National Guard’s leadership encourages senior enlisted leaders to attend joint professional military education courses like the Army’s Sergeants Major Course. The course educates Army master sergeants and sergeants major, as well as senior enlisted members of other services and components, in full-spectrum operational and strategic operations to prepare them to be successful leaders in any environment, according to the course’s mission statement.

Roper’s class was the first go through an extended 10-month curriculum. The course had been nine months long since 1995.

“The Sergeants Major Course underwent a major transformation last year, with a tougher curriculum heavy on critical thinking and problem-solving, intense college-level reading and challenging writing assignments,” said Army Command Sgt. Maj. David L. Yates, director of the Sergeants Major Course.

Roper said the Sergeants Major Course was the first professional military education course he has attended as a resident.

“My biggest mistake was not attending other academies in-residence,” Roper said.

While other Air Guard members have completed the Sergeants Major Course as nonresidents, some senior enlisted leaders believe there are benefits to attending in-residence.

“In-residence attendance is an important element in the development of our future leaders,” said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. James Hotaling, command chief of the 142nd Fighter Wing. “Although I recognize our unique citizen-airman culture does not allow everyone to participate, we must make every attempt to ensure we give our airmen a chance to attend at least one resident course in their career.”

While Roper had the support of his wing, the process also involved the very top enlisted leaders of both the Air Force and the Air National Guard. His selection began with a nomination by Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Christopher Muncy, the Air National Guard’s command chief.

Muncy said Roper was selected out of six other Air Force members, both active duty and Guard. The process for selections begins in the office of Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy, who believes the Sergeants Major Course benefits all airmen, regardless of their component.

“We are a nation at war,” Roy said. “Our success depends on the Total Force engagement. Any education that enables our airmen -- be they active duty, Guard or Reserve -- to better perform their mission is an example of a joint service solution. Simply put, the better educated and trained we are, the better we perform. It makes sense to develop all of our airmen to the best of their abilities.”

Muncy agreed.

“It’s huge for force development for the Air Force and for us -- and that ‘us’ isn’t just the Air National Guard,” he said. “It’s the big ‘U.S.’ -- the one on our uniforms that stands for the United States.”

Roper said his experience at the Sergeants Major Course brought this to light.

“No matter what branch of the service,” Roper said, “it’s no longer [just] your branch you should be concerned with.”

Understanding the Army’s culture and soldier development process better prepares senior enlisted airmen for future joint operations, Roy said.

“Attending the Sergeants Major Academy provides our senior NCOs with critical operational and strategic perspectives in terms of the profession of arms,” he said.

However, learning goes both ways.

“It also presents an opportunity for the active component to better understand the National Guard, and vice versa,” Jelinski-Hall said.

Roper’s attendance at the Army Sergeants Major Academy as an Air National Guard representative was an opportunity for him to work alongside coalition forces and to highlight the missions and ideals of the Air National Guard, said Air Force Col. Michael Stencel, commander of the 142nd Fighter Wing.

“As an Air National Guard ambassador, Senior Master Sergeant Roper returned home with a wealth of knowledge that he will be able to share with the entire Oregon National Guard,” Stencel said. “In a time of tight budgets and shrinking forces, it seems that now, more than ever, these cross-cultural experiences will pay huge dividends well into the future.”

Half of Wisconsin National Guard helicopter battalion back in U.S.

By Wisconsin National Guard Public Affairs Office

After approximately 10 months, roughly half of the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment arrived at Fort Bliss, Texas Tuesday night (June 7).

Battalion senior leadership, including battalion commander Lt. Col. Marty Pond and Command Sgt. Maj. David Christianson, will return with the rest of the 147th, who are expected to arrive on Friday (June 10). The battalion will take part in demobilization processing at Fort Bliss prior to returning to Wisconsin later this month.

Nearly 400 Soldiers — including about 100 Michigan Army National Guard Soldiers who are also part of the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment — mobilized in June of 2010 and deployed in September in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They were among the 50,000 U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after Operation New Dawn began, and were responsible for all aviation operations — including troop and cargo movements, medevac and attack missions — in United States Division-South, which covers nine provinces of Iraq, including the area south of Baghdad.

While deployed, the 147th received the 2010 Army Aviation Association of America's John J. Stanko award as the best aviation unit in all the Army National Guard.

Air Force Announces Criteria for Basing of Security Forces Training Center

The Air Force announced today criteria for basing of a consolidated security forces regional training center.

The basing criteria were approved by the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force and considered factors such as mission requirements, training requirements, facilities and infrastructure, support capacity, environmental impact and cost.

"The Air Force uses a deliberate, repeatable and transparent process to address our basing needs," said Kathleen Ferguson, the Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations.  "These criteria will help to ensure that all aspects for basing of these units have been considered."

These criteria will be applied to all Air Force and select Army installations in the continental United States.   The Air Force is making plans to consolidate its regional training locations in the United States.  Currently the Air Force conducts security forces training at six U.S. bases:  Creech Air Force Base, Nev.; Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Wolters, Texas; Camp Guernsey, Wyo.; Fort Dix, N.J.; and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

The release of the candidate bases for the security forces regional training center is expected in summer 2011.  After the release of the candidate bases, the formal environmental impact analysis process will begin, allowing communities around each candidate base to participate and provide input.

For more information about these criteria, media may contact the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs office at 703-695-0640