Wounded Soldier Advocate Finds His Calling

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

Nov. 10, 2008 - Doug Miller never really knew what he wanted to do when he grew up – that was, until after he retired this year. The 65-year-old combat veteran and former technology businessman finally found his calling, he said, taking care of Army wounded warriors.

"I think we owe so much to these people who have served our country and who are now going through a whole lot more than they expected to go through. I want to do something for them," Miller said.

Miller took the federal civilian job this year after a friend called and asked if he'd be interested. With his daughter serving with the U.S. State Department in Iraq and his son serving as an Army helicopter pilot, Miller jumped at the opportunity.

"I just felt compelled to go back and serve some more. This is the best thing I could do at my age," Miller said. "This is a chance for me to come back and do something that's needed."

Miller is a retired Army helicopter pilot and two-tour combat veteran. That usually opens doors for him as he calls those under his watch and introduces himself. He has 84 cases right now, although he is supposed to have only 30. Eventually, those extra cases will be turned over to two other case managers.

Of Miller's cases, about 70 percent of the troops are retired or awaiting the outcomes of physical evaluation boards. Two continue to serve on active duty in duty assignments, while others still are working through their recovery in warrior transition units on military installations and at treatment facilities. Miller's territory includes northern California and parts of Nevada.

Poking Around the Edges

On a typical day, Miller spends most of his time on the phone, on e-mail or on the road. He calls every soldier once a month, Miller said.

"It's not just to have a brief conversation, but it's to, as best we can, assess the total family environment," Miller said. "We want to know how the soldier is doing but we want also want to know how the family is doing as well. Because a lot of times what's happened to the soldier has a significant impact on the family dynamics."

For the most part, he is a generalist, with no particular specialty, Miller said. His power comes from his reach back to Washington, D.C., that gives him access to specialists and senior leaders to whom many times the soldiers and families do not have access.

"We identify an issue and we call headquarters. They do all the research, find the right resources and come to us with some recommendations and a solution," Miller said.

Sometimes servicemembers or families are upset over bureaucratic snafus or, once they are away from a military treatment facility, have feelings of being ignored, Miller said.

"Sometimes you have to poke around the edges and not push too hard," Miller said of his conversations. "But as you establish a trust over several conversations, over several weeks or months, they begin to open up."

Miller said one soldier was extremely frustrated over not being able to receive his Traumatic Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance -- a one-time payment aimed at helping severely injured soldiers through immediate financial needs brought on by their injuries. The amount varies depending on the injury, but it often makes it financially possible for families to be with the servicemembers during recovery.

For six months, the soldier's paperwork kept getting rejected over a discrepancy. The soldier was so frustrated by the time Miller first called him, he didn't even want to talk, Miller said.

"I said 'Just give me a chance. I know who to call,'" Miller said. "He gave me chance. I called him back and said 'Your payment's been approved.' We're the best of friends now. We talk all the time.

"It's not that I did anything. It's that I was there and showed some concern."

Care Plus Marketing Equal Advocacy

Miller's first objective is to let the soldiers and families know the Army still cares about them. After that, his goal is to help them along their transition, whether it is back to military duty or into civilian life.

"Whether they stay in the service or they get out and go to school or get a job, we want to help them, mentor them, facilitate them along the way," Miller said.

He helps the soldiers develop a five-year plan that takes them through their transition and sets goals as steps along the way.

Miller's job complements the efforts of the warrior transition units. There, troops have squad leaders and a command structure to help them through problems.

Part of Miller's time is spent meeting with and speaking to private and civic groups that want to help wounded warriors. He is active in his local Veterans of Foreign Wars in Pleasanton, Calif., and works with the Sentinels of Freedom, a nonprofit group that provides scholarships to help veterans become self- sufficient.

About 80 percent of Miller's time is spent talking to soldiers and families, and the rest marketing the program and advocating on soldiers' behalf.

The experiences of his past two jobs, as an Army officer and in corporate marketing, have provided him with a perfect combination of skills for his efforts now, Miller said.

"As a government employee I can't solicit help for them, but I can make people in the community aware they are there," Miller said.

To be successful as an advocate, you have to have a passion for taking care of soldiers, Miller said. While he was attending training in Washington with other new advocates, he was impressed by the overall sense of dedication, Miller said.

"Everybody was very emotional," Miller said. "It was one of the most emotional experiences to hear everyone's story."

When Miller first considered the job, taken on in what was supposed to be his golden years, he told his wife he would stick with it for a year or two, he said.

But somewhere down the line, something changed.

"I think I'm going to have difficulty telling my wife, but I don't see any reason to quit," Miller said. "I don't know how long I'll do the job, but I can't see why I'd ever want to quit."

Miller said he used to joke during his time in the military and while he was working in the corporate world that he never knew what he wanted to do when he grew up.

He's not joking anymore.

"Now, basically, I know. Everything I was doing in my life was preparing me for this job." Miller said.

Officials Call Energy Efficiency 'Huge Priority' for Air Force

By Navy Seaman William Selby
Special to American Forces Press Service

Oct. 22, 2008 - As the largest consumer of energy in the federal government, the Air Force has made conserving resources a priority, officials said yesterday. "We have to continue with our strategy of reducing demand and increasing [energy] supply and changing the culture within the Air Force," Kevin Billings, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, told bloggers during a teleconference.

Billings said finding cheaper, more efficient energy remains a top priority, because the Air Force uses so much energy.

The Air Force is spending more time looking for best practices and collaborating with the other services in terms of how to move forward, Billings said. In addition to changing facilities management activities and aviation operations, he added, the Air Force now wants to address the general outlook airmen have toward conserving energy.

"Technology can provide us better aviation operation procedures and, certainly, more alternative energy and renewable energy resources," Mike Aimone, assistant deputy chief of staff for logistics and installations, said. "But the culture can significantly reduce the demand for electricity if we, in fact, build this culture where airmen make energy a consideration."

In addition to changing its energy conservation culture, the Air Force is exploring ways to use its land for energy sources, Billings said. For example, he said, the Air Force sold 140 acres of land at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., to developers to build 72,000 solar arrays that created 14 megawatts of clean, renewable energy for Nevada Power. As a result, he said, the Air Force received a 20-year reduction of $1 million per year off its energy bill.

The Air Force also has begun a significant effort to monitor how much petroleum is being used on its bases, Aimone said, initiating an audit to find out the best methods of satisfying energy needs besides putting convoys of petroleum products.

Another project is the ongoing application of insulating foam to worn-out tents in Iraq and Afghanistan. At one location, Aimone said, eight air conditioning units were needed to cool the tents before the foam was applied. Now, only three air conditioning units are needed, he said.

Looking forward, Billings said, the Air Force plans to research more opportunities to use wind and solar energy and to test different fuels for vehicles. However, he said, some of the more efficient fuels are more expensive.

"We're not going to subsidize it in terms of paying a premium for the fuel, because we've got a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to fly our missions as cost-effectively as possible," Billings explained.

While the Air Force will continue to search for more efficient energy, Billings said, it will not interfere with their overall mission.

"The No. 1 thing is providing our mission and making sure that we fulfill our mission ... while developing energy resources -- whether they be wind, geothermal, solar or mineral resources under our land," he said.

(Navy Seaman William Selby works in the New Media directorate of the Defense Media Activity.)

Nevada Guard Aids Search for Missing Pilot Fossett

By Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

Sept. 5, 2007 - Searching in some of the most remote areas in the most mountainous state in the United States, Nevada National Guard members continue to seek the whereabouts of millionaire adventurer and pilot Steve Fossett today.
The Nevada Air National Guard launched a C-130 Hercules airplane equipped with "Scathe View" technology at about 8 a.m. today.

The Nevada Army Guard also dispatched a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to assist in the search, which encompasses several hundred square miles of northwestern Nevada and stretches into the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California.

"The area we are looking in is about 600 square miles," wrote Air Force Capt. April Conway, the Nevada National Guard public affairs officer, via e-mail from the aircraft. "We are searching from about 75 miles west of Yerington to about 100 miles east of Yerington and south into Mammoth, Calif."

The Nevada National Guard C-130 also had flown last night, until 2 a.m. today. Conway said the Nevada Air Guard C-130 and the Army Guard UH-60 were the only aircraft in the region equipped to search at night.

A Nevada Army Guard observational helicopter equipped with forward-looking infrared radar also participated in the search yesterday. The system enables pilots to steer their vehicles at night and detect warm objects against a cold background even in complete darkness.

The Nevada Air Guard's Scathe View imagery system consists of a sensor mounted to a modified C-130. The turret is controlled by on-board imagery analysts working at a sensor control workstation. The analysts can link full-motion video to ground staff for review. The Scathe View equipment is manned by the Nevada Air Guard's 152nd Intelligence Squadron.

The aerial search yesterday included 14 aircraft and featured grid searches over more than 7,500 square miles, which is an area larger than Connecticut.

Other organizations assisting in the search and providing aircraft are the Nevada and California Civil Air Patrols and California and Nevada Highway Patrols.

According to wire reports, Fossett, 63, the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon, took off solo early Sept. 3 from the Flying M Ranch, a private airstrip owned by hotel magnate William Barron Hilton and located about 70 miles southeast of Reno near Yerington. The Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon that he was flying is equipped with a locator that sends out a satellite signal after a rough landing, but no such signal has been received by aviation officials.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Fossett did not file a flight plan. "We believe he was looking for dry lake beds," Conway told the Washington Post. "It was just supposed to be an up-and-down trip."

Apparently, he was scouting out areas for a land-speed record attempt. A northern Nevada newspaper said Fossett has an application pending before the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for a permit in Nevada's rural, central Eureka County to attempt to break the land-speed record of 766.6 mph.

In addition to his aerial exploits, Fossett has swum the English Channel, participated in the Iditarod dog sled race and driven in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in France.

"He is an adventurer. He has been in an awful lot of scrapes in his life, and he probably has better chances than you and I of walking away from something that was potentially dangerous," Conway told the Los Angeles Times.

The weather in northern Nevada today was expected to remain calm with clear skies with temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s.

Aircraft from the Nevada Army National Guard helped locate a lost hiker in Esmeralda County, Nev., on May 30 after receiving a call for assistance from state emergency management officials. The Nevada Air National Guard also recently helped in the search for three missing hikers missing on Mount Hood in Oregon in December.

(Army Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka is assigned to the National Guard Bureau.)

Police from Nevada

Editor's Note: One of the authors is former USMC.

Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added three officer from departments within the state of Nevada: David E. Hatch; Lake Headley; and, Jeff Kaye.

Detective David E. Hatch spent more than 27 years with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. David Hatch joined the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in 1969 after discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1980, as a detective, he joined the homicide section. During his time with homicide, he investigated over 400 homicides and 125 officer-involved shootings.

After retirement in 1997, David Hatch has concentrated on law enforcement related writing and teaching. He is the author of Officer-Involved Shootings and Use of Force: Practical Investigative Techniques, Second Edition (Practical Aspects of Criminal and Forensic Investigations).

David Hatch’s book, now in its second edition, “continues to provide sound and sober models, protocols, and procedures to handle the highly charged fall-out from officer involved shootings. Written by cops for cops, it is designed to address the needs of the agency, the rights of the employee, and the concerns of the public, and give law enforcement the policies and tools to properly investigate and document this high profile area.”

In 1957, Lake Headley joined the Clark County Sheriff’s Department (Nevada). After five years Lake Headley resigned because, as he puts it, the Department “more closely resembled a vigilante committee than a law enforcement agency.” Lake Headley launched his own Private Investigations firm and became involved in many interesting, if not extraordinary cases. Lake Headley is the author of Vegas P.I. And, the co-author of the true crime books: Contract Killer; The Court-Martial of Clayton Lonetree; and, Loud and Clear.

According to Lake Headley’s publisher, Vegas P.I is “filled with major crime cases and startling revelations, it chronicles his thirty-five perilous and action-packed years as a first-rank detective defending the disenfranchised and battling crime on the streets of Las Vegas and beyond. He takes us back to a period of gambling history when the Mob ruled the strip and he busted some of the most ingenious scams cheaters ever devised. Headley gives never-revealed details of the famous "Friars Club Cheating Case" in which celebrities such as Phil Silvers, Debbie Reynolds, Tony Martin, and Groucho Marx lost more than a million dollars in a rigged gin rummy game at the exclusive Friars Club in Beverly Hills. Headley chronicles his wild adventures with the legendary bounty hunter "Papa" Ralph Thorson.

Jeff Kaye is a sergeant with the Reno Police Department (Nevada). He has spent the majority of his career working various undercover assignments. He is considered an expert in undercover operations, street level drug enforcement and undercover operative stress syndromes. Jeff Kaye is the author of the novel Two Faces Have I

According to Jeff Kaye’s book description, “Jack Stoner is having a bad day. A psycho thief wants to kill him for being a snitch, a serial killer has set him up as a murder suspect, and he's about to cross paths with an organized crime boss, which will cause a sexy female F.B.I. Agent to enter his life and add to his troubles. On top of all this, he's having problems remembering he is really a cop named Jake Slater, who has been left undercover far too long. Follow him through Nevada's glitter towns on an emotional and action-packed tour of the dirty little secret Law Enforcement calls undercover work.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 643 police officers (representing 282 police departments) and their 1373 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.