By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
Sept. 2, 2007 - The Defense Department is recognizing General Motors for its procedures and policies to support its mobilized reserve component employees. The company, the largest car maker in America, will receive the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award. A total of 15 companies of all sizes will receive the award at during a ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building here Sept. 12.
The company has about 20 reservists serving in Iraq and Afghanistan now, said Greg Martin, a GM spokesman here. Navy reservist Chris Shortridge nominated GM for the honor. Another GM employee, a soldier named Douglas Waite, also nominated GM for the award, but he is serving in Iraq and could not be reached for comment.
Shortridge, who works in GM's plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., was called up and served in Mosul, Iraq, with the Army's 4th Brigade Combat Team for nine months. He returned to Spring Hill in June. Shortridge is a first class petty officer who has been selected for promotion to chief petty officer. selectee Hewho says his job in civilian life is "to just build cars."
He Shortridge said GM's policies really helped his family out while he was deployed. He doesn't live near a military base, and has found it hard to find providers who accept the military's health care plan.
"Tricare is great if you are from around a military base, but if you are deployed from suburban America, it can be more of a pain than it's worth," he said in an interview. "The doctors here have no idea what Tricare is, and are often not set up to accept it."
GM continues its employees' health care insurance while they are deployed, allowing the families to continue with a familiar process.
"I was flying from Kuwait into Baghdad, and I hadn't heard from my wife, which was kind of strange," Shortridge said. "Turns out, my daughter had appendicitis and had to have an emergency operation. Because I had the same insurance, my wife was able to get her right into the hospital and there were no hassles, no headaches."
GM also makes up the difference between military pay and their regular wages for its workers called to the colors.
"We don't think it's right that one of our workers should lose financially for reserve duty," Martin said. "So we make up any difference between military pay and their civilian wages."
GM also guarantees reservists their job will be waiting for them when they return.
"It may sound trite, but it's the right thing to do," Martin said. "We try to match what we say with actions, and we do value our employees."
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and Reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Families Prepare for Stryker Brigade's Homecoming
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - There's a sense of giddiness here as families prepare for their "Arrowhead Brigade" Strykers to return home after a 15-month deployment to Iraq. An advance party from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) is slated to arrive at neighboring McChord Air Force Base on Sept. 3, finalizing groundwork for almost 4,000 more troops to fly in beginning Sept. 11.
Jubilant and frequently tearful reunions will play out again and again over the next week to 10 days, as one plane after another touches down to bring the full brigade home.
Melissa Townsend, wife of Col. Steve Townsend, the brigade commander, reports that the families are ready and counting the days.
After a particularly challenging deployment – marred by 54 casualties and the announcement in April of a three-month extension – Townsend said families are on the edge of their seats waiting for the homecoming celebration to begin.
They've painted colorful welcome-home banners to decorate the route between McChord and Fort Lewis, as well as the Sheridan Gym, where families will reunite with their soldiers.
Earlier this week, the brigade's rear detachment and family support network sponsored the last of several redeployment seminars to help prepare families for the adjustments they'll go through during redeployment.
And to make sure its single soldiers feel welcome, too, several of the brigade wives got together last week to make more than 200 beds for troops whose barracks rooms have been vacant for more than a year. After they finished tucking in the corners and smoothing the sheets, the wives assembled care packages of toiletries and goodies to place in each room to greet the returning soldiers.
"You wouldn't think you'd be able to get so excited about making a bed," Townsend said. "But that's because it's tangible. It's an assurance that, yes, they are coming back."
Townsend called the welcome-home preparations a big relief after a long, lonely and, for many families, difficult summer as their loved ones led surge operations in and around Baghdad.
"It's a sign that there's light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "We can actually almost sigh."
Maj. Kyle Marsh, who returned from Iraq in May to serve as the brigade's rear detachment commander, said he's excited about the homecoming that's in store for his fellow Strykers.
As they step off the plane at McChord, the Fort Lewis audiovisual staff will beam live images to the families assembled at the Fort Lewis gym. Meanwhile, audio from the gym will blare over the airfield. "We'll have a camera at the bottom of the stairs and a speaker set up at the airfield so soldiers can hear everything going on at the gym," Marsh said.
The biggest thrill, he said, will be watching the soldiers reunite with their families. "Every soldier will be in tears. I know. I did this. They will be bawling," he said.
Marsh remembered his own experience reuniting with his family. "You come into the gym, you look around and you can't find them. And then you make eye contact," he said. "Your heart is beating a thousand miles an hour. It's absolutely awesome."
The emotion hits everyone who comes to welcome the troops home, said Darlene Pacheco, the brigade's full-time family assistance advisor. "Even if it's not your soldier coming back that day, you get caught up in the excitement," she said.
As the troops return, Fort Lewis is planning its big official homecoming celebration, slated for Oct. 11. That's when the brigade will form up and uncase the unit colors. Afterward, its members will be treated to a big barbecue, courtesy of the local community.
Townsend, the brigade commander, will send invitations to the brigade's wounded troops, recovering here and at other medical facilities around the country. "We've had a lot of wounded, a lot," said Marsh. "And he wants to give them a personal invitation to be a part of the welcome home."
"If the kids at Walter Reed (Army Medical Center in Washington) and amputees at Brooke (Army Medical Center in San Antonio) are ambulatory and able to move, they are going to get an invitation," he said. "We would love to have them there."
Marsh anticipated the emotion that will overcome the brigade when its wounded warriors join the troops they served with in Iraq. After the newly returned soldiers form up on the parade field, the commander of troops will turn around and tell Townsend, "Sir, the command is formed."
Townsend will respond, "No it's not, as we have several of our brothers who need to rejoin our formations."
At that point, the wounded troops will join the formation. "Maybe they'll go out in a wheelchair. Maybe they'll go out in a hospital bed," Marsh said. "The sergeant major said, 'Hey, if I have a kid who can't stand, I'll put him in a chair next to the formation and he can sit there."
"Talk about powerful," Marsh said. "That will be huge."
Family time and reintegrating back into the community will be the big focus for the troops until they take block leave during the holidays, Marsh said. Rear detachment soldiers will take care of the never-ending taskings to give the newly returned troops a chance to rejuvenate.
That's critical, Marsh said, because after they return from block leave, they'll be back to the same demanding training routine they left behind. "Once they come back in January, guess what?" he said. "We're right back at it again, getting ready for the next time we go back to Iraq."
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - There's a sense of giddiness here as families prepare for their "Arrowhead Brigade" Strykers to return home after a 15-month deployment to Iraq. An advance party from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) is slated to arrive at neighboring McChord Air Force Base on Sept. 3, finalizing groundwork for almost 4,000 more troops to fly in beginning Sept. 11.
Jubilant and frequently tearful reunions will play out again and again over the next week to 10 days, as one plane after another touches down to bring the full brigade home.
Melissa Townsend, wife of Col. Steve Townsend, the brigade commander, reports that the families are ready and counting the days.
After a particularly challenging deployment – marred by 54 casualties and the announcement in April of a three-month extension – Townsend said families are on the edge of their seats waiting for the homecoming celebration to begin.
They've painted colorful welcome-home banners to decorate the route between McChord and Fort Lewis, as well as the Sheridan Gym, where families will reunite with their soldiers.
Earlier this week, the brigade's rear detachment and family support network sponsored the last of several redeployment seminars to help prepare families for the adjustments they'll go through during redeployment.
And to make sure its single soldiers feel welcome, too, several of the brigade wives got together last week to make more than 200 beds for troops whose barracks rooms have been vacant for more than a year. After they finished tucking in the corners and smoothing the sheets, the wives assembled care packages of toiletries and goodies to place in each room to greet the returning soldiers.
"You wouldn't think you'd be able to get so excited about making a bed," Townsend said. "But that's because it's tangible. It's an assurance that, yes, they are coming back."
Townsend called the welcome-home preparations a big relief after a long, lonely and, for many families, difficult summer as their loved ones led surge operations in and around Baghdad.
"It's a sign that there's light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "We can actually almost sigh."
Maj. Kyle Marsh, who returned from Iraq in May to serve as the brigade's rear detachment commander, said he's excited about the homecoming that's in store for his fellow Strykers.
As they step off the plane at McChord, the Fort Lewis audiovisual staff will beam live images to the families assembled at the Fort Lewis gym. Meanwhile, audio from the gym will blare over the airfield. "We'll have a camera at the bottom of the stairs and a speaker set up at the airfield so soldiers can hear everything going on at the gym," Marsh said.
The biggest thrill, he said, will be watching the soldiers reunite with their families. "Every soldier will be in tears. I know. I did this. They will be bawling," he said.
Marsh remembered his own experience reuniting with his family. "You come into the gym, you look around and you can't find them. And then you make eye contact," he said. "Your heart is beating a thousand miles an hour. It's absolutely awesome."
The emotion hits everyone who comes to welcome the troops home, said Darlene Pacheco, the brigade's full-time family assistance advisor. "Even if it's not your soldier coming back that day, you get caught up in the excitement," she said.
As the troops return, Fort Lewis is planning its big official homecoming celebration, slated for Oct. 11. That's when the brigade will form up and uncase the unit colors. Afterward, its members will be treated to a big barbecue, courtesy of the local community.
Townsend, the brigade commander, will send invitations to the brigade's wounded troops, recovering here and at other medical facilities around the country. "We've had a lot of wounded, a lot," said Marsh. "And he wants to give them a personal invitation to be a part of the welcome home."
"If the kids at Walter Reed (Army Medical Center in Washington) and amputees at Brooke (Army Medical Center in San Antonio) are ambulatory and able to move, they are going to get an invitation," he said. "We would love to have them there."
Marsh anticipated the emotion that will overcome the brigade when its wounded warriors join the troops they served with in Iraq. After the newly returned soldiers form up on the parade field, the commander of troops will turn around and tell Townsend, "Sir, the command is formed."
Townsend will respond, "No it's not, as we have several of our brothers who need to rejoin our formations."
At that point, the wounded troops will join the formation. "Maybe they'll go out in a wheelchair. Maybe they'll go out in a hospital bed," Marsh said. "The sergeant major said, 'Hey, if I have a kid who can't stand, I'll put him in a chair next to the formation and he can sit there."
"Talk about powerful," Marsh said. "That will be huge."
Family time and reintegrating back into the community will be the big focus for the troops until they take block leave during the holidays, Marsh said. Rear detachment soldiers will take care of the never-ending taskings to give the newly returned troops a chance to rejuvenate.
That's critical, Marsh said, because after they return from block leave, they'll be back to the same demanding training routine they left behind. "Once they come back in January, guess what?" he said. "We're right back at it again, getting ready for the next time we go back to Iraq."
American Legion Recognizes Servicemembers' Volunteer Efforts
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - Enlisted representatives from the five armed services were honored this week by the nation's largest wartime veterans' organization. The American Legion presented the Spirit of Service award to Army Sgt. Korey W. Chandler, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Gaurav R. Patel, Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew W. Stone, Air Force Airman 1st Class Robb K. Hulet, and Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class David B. Edelson on Aug. 28 during the organization's 89th National Convention here.
The award was presented for each of the recipient's volunteer service in their local communities, American Legion officials said. This is the eighth annual presentation of the award, which includes shaped, etched glass mounted on a marble base, as well as a one-year membership in the American Legion.
National Commander Paul A. Morin, who presented the awards to the servicemembers along with Gen. Charles C. Campbell, commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, explained the purpose of the award.
"As an organization of wartime veterans, we truly understand and cherish the concept of service to community, state and nation," Morin said. "These outstanding representatives of our armed forces demonstrate the very heart of every Legionnaire – a relentless commitment to serving their country and their fellow Americans."
To receive this recognition, the individual must be an outstanding military professional and be actively involved in volunteer projects in the community during off-duty hours.
"Volunteerism is at the heart of what the American Legion does, ... and it is this dedication to community volunteerism that keeps the nation's largest veterans organization growing," Morin said.
"We know about service to others. We also know that those in uniform today – America's newest veterans in this war against terrorism – often go out of their way to make a difference for others in the communities in which they live," he continued. "Today, Legionnaires honor these outstanding Americans who reflect the great spirit of service to others that the founders of our organization considered essential."
Morin said that the servicemembers being honored fit the bill and are representative of thousands of their peers who make up the finest fighting force in the world.
"Each of them has demonstrated a strong commitment to serving others, a spirit of service that deserves the highest recognition The American Legion can provide," he said.
The servicemembers were selected by their individual services to receive the award. The American Legion provided for accommodations, meals and travel during their time in Reno. They participated in the ceremonial opening of the convention, rode in the American Legion parade, attended the National Commander's Banquet as distinguished guests and, as the newest members of the American Legion, interacted with their fellow veterans of several generations.
Aug. 31, 2007 - Enlisted representatives from the five armed services were honored this week by the nation's largest wartime veterans' organization. The American Legion presented the Spirit of Service award to Army Sgt. Korey W. Chandler, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Gaurav R. Patel, Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew W. Stone, Air Force Airman 1st Class Robb K. Hulet, and Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class David B. Edelson on Aug. 28 during the organization's 89th National Convention here.
The award was presented for each of the recipient's volunteer service in their local communities, American Legion officials said. This is the eighth annual presentation of the award, which includes shaped, etched glass mounted on a marble base, as well as a one-year membership in the American Legion.
National Commander Paul A. Morin, who presented the awards to the servicemembers along with Gen. Charles C. Campbell, commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, explained the purpose of the award.
"As an organization of wartime veterans, we truly understand and cherish the concept of service to community, state and nation," Morin said. "These outstanding representatives of our armed forces demonstrate the very heart of every Legionnaire – a relentless commitment to serving their country and their fellow Americans."
To receive this recognition, the individual must be an outstanding military professional and be actively involved in volunteer projects in the community during off-duty hours.
"Volunteerism is at the heart of what the American Legion does, ... and it is this dedication to community volunteerism that keeps the nation's largest veterans organization growing," Morin said.
"We know about service to others. We also know that those in uniform today – America's newest veterans in this war against terrorism – often go out of their way to make a difference for others in the communities in which they live," he continued. "Today, Legionnaires honor these outstanding Americans who reflect the great spirit of service to others that the founders of our organization considered essential."
Morin said that the servicemembers being honored fit the bill and are representative of thousands of their peers who make up the finest fighting force in the world.
"Each of them has demonstrated a strong commitment to serving others, a spirit of service that deserves the highest recognition The American Legion can provide," he said.
The servicemembers were selected by their individual services to receive the award. The American Legion provided for accommodations, meals and travel during their time in Reno. They participated in the ceremonial opening of the convention, rode in the American Legion parade, attended the National Commander's Banquet as distinguished guests and, as the newest members of the American Legion, interacted with their fellow veterans of several generations.
Why We Serve: Air Force NCO Shares His View on Service
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - A 17-year Air Force veteran who led vehicles more than 20,000 miles across Kuwait and Iraq during 18 missions -- rolling over streets often flanked with armed insurgents and littered with roadside bombs -- is sharing the message of his service with the American people. Tech. Sgt. Howard L. Watkins served as a convoy commander with the 70th Medium Truck Detachment based at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Through the Defense Department's "Why We Serve" speakers program, he carries the lessons of his military experience and shares them with the American public at speaking events across the country.
One night, a 155 mm homemade artillery round strapped to a propane tank detonated next to a civilian truck attached to Watkins' convoy. "That truck was completely engulfed in flames in 20 seconds," he recalled.
Watkins ran to the burning truck to rescue victims inside. He and a fellow airman found the truck driver, who suffered wounds to his head and torso in the blast, and moved him away from the truck. Mindful that his team was vulnerable to ambush while standing still, Watkins got the convoy moving again, calling for medical assistance for the injured driver on the radio while coordinating the vehicles to drive toward safety.
"One of the great things about my job when I deploy as a convoy commander is that I have a great feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment in what I do," he said. "When you go on deployment like this most recent one, you develop an immensely strong bond with the people that you're working with. You really are dependent on these people for your life."
The story of Watkins' first step into service begins like many others. His small hometown -- Seligman, Mo., which boasts a population under 1,000 -- presented few job opportunities. As a high school senior, Watkins' ambition stretched as far as graduation, but not much further. He lacked direction, he said.
"About a quarter of the way through my senior year, I knew I wanted to get out of the area. The military seemed like the best way to go," said Watkins, who decided to enlist in the Army and follow the footsteps of his father, who served in the 101st Airborne Division during the World War II.
"But when I went to the recruiting station in Joplin, Mo., of course they've got all the different branches of service next to each other," he said. "I got there right around lunch time, and both the Air Force and Army recruiter were going to eat at the same time.
"The Army recruiter just sort of looked at me and passed me by, whereas the Air Force recruiter was the one that actually stopped and talked to me," Watkins said. "I remember his name and everything. It was Tech. Sergeant Fitzner."
The decision to join the Air Force has worked out for Watkins. He was named Air Combat Command's transportation noncommissioned officer of the year for 2006. He has earned the Bronze Star Medal, three Air Force Commendation Medals and three Air Force Achievement Medals.
"I believe that everything happens for a reason," Watkins said about his decision to join the Air Force. "I was probably an easier sell to the Army recruiter," he joked, "if he hadn't been quite as hungry that day."
Watkins is one of eight servicemembers who have served overseas in the war on terrorism who are traveling throughout the United States to speak to community groups and businesses in the "Why We Serve" public outreach program.
The program was initially the idea of Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and began in the fall of 2006. Eight servicemembers, two from each branch of the military, are chosen to participate in the program each quarter.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - A 17-year Air Force veteran who led vehicles more than 20,000 miles across Kuwait and Iraq during 18 missions -- rolling over streets often flanked with armed insurgents and littered with roadside bombs -- is sharing the message of his service with the American people. Tech. Sgt. Howard L. Watkins served as a convoy commander with the 70th Medium Truck Detachment based at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Through the Defense Department's "Why We Serve" speakers program, he carries the lessons of his military experience and shares them with the American public at speaking events across the country.
One night, a 155 mm homemade artillery round strapped to a propane tank detonated next to a civilian truck attached to Watkins' convoy. "That truck was completely engulfed in flames in 20 seconds," he recalled.
Watkins ran to the burning truck to rescue victims inside. He and a fellow airman found the truck driver, who suffered wounds to his head and torso in the blast, and moved him away from the truck. Mindful that his team was vulnerable to ambush while standing still, Watkins got the convoy moving again, calling for medical assistance for the injured driver on the radio while coordinating the vehicles to drive toward safety.
"One of the great things about my job when I deploy as a convoy commander is that I have a great feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment in what I do," he said. "When you go on deployment like this most recent one, you develop an immensely strong bond with the people that you're working with. You really are dependent on these people for your life."
The story of Watkins' first step into service begins like many others. His small hometown -- Seligman, Mo., which boasts a population under 1,000 -- presented few job opportunities. As a high school senior, Watkins' ambition stretched as far as graduation, but not much further. He lacked direction, he said.
"About a quarter of the way through my senior year, I knew I wanted to get out of the area. The military seemed like the best way to go," said Watkins, who decided to enlist in the Army and follow the footsteps of his father, who served in the 101st Airborne Division during the World War II.
"But when I went to the recruiting station in Joplin, Mo., of course they've got all the different branches of service next to each other," he said. "I got there right around lunch time, and both the Air Force and Army recruiter were going to eat at the same time.
"The Army recruiter just sort of looked at me and passed me by, whereas the Air Force recruiter was the one that actually stopped and talked to me," Watkins said. "I remember his name and everything. It was Tech. Sergeant Fitzner."
The decision to join the Air Force has worked out for Watkins. He was named Air Combat Command's transportation noncommissioned officer of the year for 2006. He has earned the Bronze Star Medal, three Air Force Commendation Medals and three Air Force Achievement Medals.
"I believe that everything happens for a reason," Watkins said about his decision to join the Air Force. "I was probably an easier sell to the Army recruiter," he joked, "if he hadn't been quite as hungry that day."
Watkins is one of eight servicemembers who have served overseas in the war on terrorism who are traveling throughout the United States to speak to community groups and businesses in the "Why We Serve" public outreach program.
The program was initially the idea of Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and began in the fall of 2006. Eight servicemembers, two from each branch of the military, are chosen to participate in the program each quarter.
Steel Producer Earns Honor for Reserve Employee Support
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - The Defense Department is recognizing a Charlotte, North Carolina.-based steel producer with plants all over the United States for its exemplary support of an employee who serves in the National Guard. Nucor Corp. is one of 15 businesses and organizations selected to receive this year's Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, which honors businesses and organizations that provide support for their employees in the Guard or reserves.
Steven Garrett, who works for Nucor Steel Jackson in Flowood, Miss., nominated the company for the award. Garrett is a sergeant in the Mississippi National Guard, and when he was deployed for Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Nucor stepped up to support him and his family.
While Garrett was deployed, Nucor paid the difference between his military salary and Nucor salary, factoring in bonuses and other financial rewards. The company also provided full benefits to Garrett and his family, including life insurance.
Garrett's fellow employees in Flowood checked in regularly on his family while he was gone, he said, offering to help mow the lawn, pay bills, or do anything else they needed. "They always made it known that I didn't have anything to worry about, that if I needed anything, they would pretty much be there," said Garrett, who has worked for Nucor for three years.
Nucor's 45 plants, which employ about 14,000 people in all, tend to be located in small, rural communities, said Jim Coblin of Nucor Corp. The small-town atmosphere lends to the family environment that's fostered within the plants, he said.
Coblin said Nucor values its employees with military experience, because they bring discipline and special skills to the job. "We found that people coming out of the military are well-disciplined, they're motivated, they're highly trained in their skill, they know how to get along on teams," he said. "They tend to work out very well for Nucor."
Garrett said Nucor made his military service easier, because he didn't have to worry about his job security or whether his family was taken care of. "You focus more on the mission instead of worrying about things going on back home," he said.
Taking care of employees in the military stems not only from a patriotic foundation as an American company, but also from a desire to keep valuable employees, Coblin said. "We need to take care of the employee while they're off serving in the military so that they will come back to us gladly and happily and want to come back to us, because we have a lot invested in them, in their training and background," he said.
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and Reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.
The Freedom awards will be presented Sept. 12 in a ceremony here.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - The Defense Department is recognizing a Charlotte, North Carolina.-based steel producer with plants all over the United States for its exemplary support of an employee who serves in the National Guard. Nucor Corp. is one of 15 businesses and organizations selected to receive this year's Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, which honors businesses and organizations that provide support for their employees in the Guard or reserves.
Steven Garrett, who works for Nucor Steel Jackson in Flowood, Miss., nominated the company for the award. Garrett is a sergeant in the Mississippi National Guard, and when he was deployed for Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Nucor stepped up to support him and his family.
While Garrett was deployed, Nucor paid the difference between his military salary and Nucor salary, factoring in bonuses and other financial rewards. The company also provided full benefits to Garrett and his family, including life insurance.
Garrett's fellow employees in Flowood checked in regularly on his family while he was gone, he said, offering to help mow the lawn, pay bills, or do anything else they needed. "They always made it known that I didn't have anything to worry about, that if I needed anything, they would pretty much be there," said Garrett, who has worked for Nucor for three years.
Nucor's 45 plants, which employ about 14,000 people in all, tend to be located in small, rural communities, said Jim Coblin of Nucor Corp. The small-town atmosphere lends to the family environment that's fostered within the plants, he said.
Coblin said Nucor values its employees with military experience, because they bring discipline and special skills to the job. "We found that people coming out of the military are well-disciplined, they're motivated, they're highly trained in their skill, they know how to get along on teams," he said. "They tend to work out very well for Nucor."
Garrett said Nucor made his military service easier, because he didn't have to worry about his job security or whether his family was taken care of. "You focus more on the mission instead of worrying about things going on back home," he said.
Taking care of employees in the military stems not only from a patriotic foundation as an American company, but also from a desire to keep valuable employees, Coblin said. "We need to take care of the employee while they're off serving in the military so that they will come back to us gladly and happily and want to come back to us, because we have a lot invested in them, in their training and background," he said.
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and Reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.
The Freedom awards will be presented Sept. 12 in a ceremony here.
Bush Salutes Employer Support of Guardsmen, Reservists
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - President Bush yesterday signed a federal proclamation declaring Sept. 9-15 as National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week for 2007. The Defense Department will honor 15 employers of Guardsmen and reservists in a Sept. 12 ceremony here. They'll receive the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award for the support they've given to their citizen-warrior employees.
"During National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week, we recognize the vital contributions of the brave men and women who serve our great nation, and we pay tribute to the employers who support them," the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces stated in the proclamation.
The courageous men and women in the reserve components deployed overseas "are fighting a new and unprecedented war, having answered the call to defend our freedom and way of life," Bush stated. "At home, the National Guard is working to protect our borders, and provide vital aid and assistance in times of crisis and natural disasters."
Members of the National Guard and reserves represent "the best of America," Bush said. All Americans, he said, are "proud to stand behind the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve."
Bush also saluted "the sacrifice of employers across our country, who support the important mission of our National Guard and reserve personnel." Employers support their employees in the Guard or reserves by providing time off, pay, health care benefits and job security, he said.
Supportive employers also assist employees in the Guard or reserves by helping them to return to their families and civilian life after military missions, the president said.
"The commitment of our nation's employers is a vital and integral part of the success of our armed forces," Bush asserted.
National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week reflects America's "deepest gratitude to the dedicated men and women of the National Guard and Reserve and to the employers who support them in their important service to our nation," Bush said.
Bush called upon state and local officials, private organizations, businesses, and all military commanders to observe the week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - President Bush yesterday signed a federal proclamation declaring Sept. 9-15 as National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week for 2007. The Defense Department will honor 15 employers of Guardsmen and reservists in a Sept. 12 ceremony here. They'll receive the Secretary of Defense Freedom Award for the support they've given to their citizen-warrior employees.
"During National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week, we recognize the vital contributions of the brave men and women who serve our great nation, and we pay tribute to the employers who support them," the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces stated in the proclamation.
The courageous men and women in the reserve components deployed overseas "are fighting a new and unprecedented war, having answered the call to defend our freedom and way of life," Bush stated. "At home, the National Guard is working to protect our borders, and provide vital aid and assistance in times of crisis and natural disasters."
Members of the National Guard and reserves represent "the best of America," Bush said. All Americans, he said, are "proud to stand behind the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve."
Bush also saluted "the sacrifice of employers across our country, who support the important mission of our National Guard and reserve personnel." Employers support their employees in the Guard or reserves by providing time off, pay, health care benefits and job security, he said.
Supportive employers also assist employees in the Guard or reserves by helping them to return to their families and civilian life after military missions, the president said.
"The commitment of our nation's employers is a vital and integral part of the success of our armed forces," Bush asserted.
National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week reflects America's "deepest gratitude to the dedicated men and women of the National Guard and Reserve and to the employers who support them in their important service to our nation," Bush said.
Bush called upon state and local officials, private organizations, businesses, and all military commanders to observe the week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Road Provides Training for Troops, Lifeline for Village
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 30, 2007 - Bumping down a dusty, narrow logging trail away from camp in an old red truck, Army Col. Frederick J. West talked about a project that, after 10 years, has literally left him at the end of the road. It started with him walking more than 14 miles across Annette Island's coastal wilderness, surveying its virgin land, intent on cutting a road into its rugged, rocky landscape. It will end next month with a gravel-coated lifeline that will connect a small Indian village to year-around access to jobs, education and health care.
"I think that most people, when they depart from this good Earth, want to leave something behind. This certainly does that for me," West said.
What lay between the start and the finish is dubbed Joint Task Force Operation Alaskan Road, or the Walden Point Road project, as the local citizens call it. Designated as a Defense Department Innovative Readiness Training program, the road has provided training opportunities for engineers, medics, cooks, fuelers and a host of others from all service branches, both active duty and reserve component. In all, 12,000 troops from some 300 units have come here to train.
This month, the Metlakatla Indian Community, along with military and political dignitaries, celebrated the turnover of the road to the community. West and his crews are putting final touches on the road until Sept. 15, the official day the mission ends. After that, West will begin the process of turning the camp over to U.S. Pacific Command's Alaskan Command.
West has served the longest of anyone on the project, joining at the start as the operations officer and later as the commander of Joint Force Engineer Component Command, tasked with running the project's operations and the camp. For the Missouri Army National Guard engineer officer, it was the right project at the right time of his life, he said.
"I fell in love with the project," West said. "If I didn't think it was worthwhile, I certainly wouldn't have spent 10 years of my life doing it."
It truly had to be a labor of love, at least at the start, for those landing on the remote, southeast Alaska island. At first there was no running water, no septic system, no electricity and the servicemembers shared camp with a logging company. The crews would ferry to nearby Ketchikan for supplies and showers every few days.
Originally, officials estimated the project would take about seven years, but with design modifications and because crews were training as they were building, the project was extended. West's job basically was to "clear, grub, burn, drill, blast and build" the road to a subgrade that is ready to be finished by the Metlakatla Indian Community, which will pave and stripe the road and install guard rails. The Alaska Department of Transportation plans to build a ferry terminal at the end of the new road.
The path for the road was surveyed in the late 1940s, and updated in the 1970s. But the majority of the initial survey was done by air. Once on foot on the proposed path, West and his counterparts at the Federal Highways Administration, along with surveyors and designers, knew that steep drop-offs and mountains of rock would require some route modifications. They also modified the plans to reduce the speed limit from 55 to 35 mph. This allowed for sharper turns and more dips, making the project more manageable, West explained.
Still, most of the route left crews between a rock and a soft place. Crews had to drill and blast through 300,000 more meters of solid rock than anticipated. Where they didn't find mountains of rock, crews had to dig out of the boggy, indigenous muskeg -- layers of decomposing dead plants and trees. The muskeg, sometimes as much as 30 feet deep, had to be dug out and refilled with rock and soil. One strip, dubbed "Muskeg Flats" was 3,000 meters long, or nearly two miles. While muskeg sometimes can be solid enough to stand on, crews had to be especially careful not to sink their 100,000-pound excavators and loaders into the mossy mess.
Much of the road follows the island's scenic coast, offering sweeping views of the ocean and village on a clear day. Because it follows the coast, though, in some spots crews had to fill nearly 100 feet up the side of the mountain, while blasting hundreds of feet down through rock to meet in the middle, where the road was supposed to run.
Some inclines were so steep that one crew used its excavator's bucket to reach up, claw into the rock, and drag itself up the side of the mountain to get to where they needed to start drilling and blasting.
The rock added to the training value of the job, West said, as most military engineers are used to working primarily with dirt.
"Most of the engineers units are not used to working with rock. Building a road with rock is a totally different situation," West said.
Crews pecked through the landscape, averaging a little more than mile's progress each season. In 2002, crews progressed nearly three miles. In 2001, the crews made it only three-quarters of a mile.
Every winter except last, the camp would be winterized and abandoned. A handful of people would stay in Ketchikan and return to check on the camp intermittently during the winter months. West would return to Missouri to continue making arrangements for the next year's portion of the project and to recruit staff and units. This past winter, though, to mark off another two-tenths of a mile and to ensure the project would be finished on time, West and a small crew braved the winter elements to continue the work.
West said he didn't originally intend to stay on the project this long.
"When I first started this, I didn't know I would be here 10 years. But after the first three or four, you just say 'Heck, let's finish it,'" he said.
A "duration" staff of about 100 active duty and reserve component servicemembers runs the camp, living on the island from March through September. Typically, the force was divided into thirds among active duty, reserve and Guard personnel. The rotating units started arriving in April. Troops from engineer, medical, water purification, bulk fuel, mess and even naval boat operations fell in on the camp for training. Some deployed to the camp as units, others as individual augmentees.
Support jobs often received training as valuable to them as that the engineers received, West said. For example, he said, bulk fuelers who often train with only water had the opportunity to offload bulk fuel from a barge.
Learning to work with other services was another valuable training experience for the road project participants, West said. But while the diversity is good for training, it can make managing a staff and building a road difficult at times, especially at the season's start, the colonel said.
"Put yourself in a position of owning a company and every six months you get a whole new company, and that's basically it," West said. "Here, you get 100 people who have never met each other, and you're trying to meld them and you're trying to go into a high op tempo right off the bat. That is a training challenge."
West said he tried to get duration troops to return, but most didn't because the employment is seasonal and most of the positions were for only six months.
"Most people can't afford to come back every season," West said. "If I get somebody to repeat a second year, that's great, but those are few."
Usually, about 70 traditional National Guard members rotated in and out through the summer, helping to build the road or providing support.
Over time, West built his camp to include a small gym, a base exchange, an Internet cafe, and a dayroom with pool and pingpong tables. Troops lived in open-bay, 16- by 32-foot plywood "sea huts" that provided a bunk bed, mattress, and a dry place to sleep – dry being key in a temperate rainforest region that gets 165 inches of precipitation annually.
Local people measure the rain in feet, not inches. West said one summer he counted fewer than 10 sunny days. That summer, it rained every day for 35 days.
"I think I could write a paper on the effects of sunshine on personalities. It can be raining for two weeks and when that sun comes out you just see a change in people's attitudes," West said.
Other than the rain, the field time there offered some advantages over the "lower 48." There are no chiggers, ticks, snakes or poison ivy on the island.
As West turns off of the logging trail and onto the wider, smoother, Walden Point Road, he can mark its progress, much like a parent describing key events in a child's growth. He talks of making it to the top of a "cut," where crews could begin drilling and blasting, to beating a specific deadline by only two days, to putting in culverts and bridges.
When the work is finished, military crews will have moved 3.2 million cubic yards of rock. That is the equivalent, West said, to filling a football field-size area 150 stories high with rock. Crews used more than 1.5 million pounds of explosives.
Engineers installed 145 culverts, which, if set end to end, would stretch more than 2.6 miles. One culvert was 25 feet wide, 180 feet long and was built with 210 1,000-pound panels. It took 3,000 bolts and two weeks to put it in place.
But the statistic West is most proud of, and grateful for, is that there have been no serious injuries or deaths during the project, he said.
"A bad day for me was when I heard on the radio that somebody got hurt and they were taking them to the hospital. Every time that happens, you just feel like you got kicked in the stomach. Fortunately, every time it turned out to be not serious," West said.
West said he considers this a "remarkable feat," given that for 10 years an inexperienced and transient work force operated in unfamiliar and dangerous territory with unfamiliar equipment.
In the end, though, West said what made this project special for him was that it matched invaluable training with a byproduct that could be the catalyst to a brighter future for the 1,500-plus Tsimshian Indian villagers on the island.
The local mayor, Victor C. Wellington Sr., said he thinks the road is essential. Unemployment in the village is as high as 80 percent seasonally. Two logging mills and a cannery, both huge employers offering good salaries, shut down more than a decade ago. Since then, most who are employed work for the local government, the medical clinic, or a cold-storage facility operating out of the former cannery, selling frozen salmon and other products. Most local residents hunt and fish during the summer for subsistence during the winter.
"What we're trying to do right now is dig out. And we're slowing coming out, and this road opens up a lot of possibilities for our people," Wellington said.
Wellington said the road will shorten the ferry travel time to Ketchikan. It is only a 15-minute trip from the site where the Alaska Department of Transportation plans to put the new ferry. Once it's open, Wellington said, he hopes residents will be able to drive on the road to the new ferry point in the morning, cross to go to work and return home by ferry in the evening. Currently, the Alaskan Marine Highway makes only two afternoon trips to the island, and it takes more than an hour each way from the current ferry point.
Also, officials hope to increase the frequency of the ferry once the new dock is opened to cash in on the tourism dollars that flood Ketchikan. Ketchikan is the first port of call for many cruise ships, and its restaurants and shops are visited by nearly a million tourists a year. Now, there is no convenient way for would-be visitors to tour the island during their stop in port.
The mayor also said the road will keep residents from risking poor weather and high seas to take private boats to Ketchikan. Even though most are experienced navigating the waters, their personal craft are no match for the winter's fog, 30-foot seas and 135-mph winds. People have died trying to make the trip, the mayor said. Even the 61-year-old mayor, a 33-year career fisherman, admits to making the journey when he was younger when it wasn't safe.
"I was nuts then," he said.
Residents will also have access to the hospital in Ketchikan. In the winter, the island is isolated when winds are too high. If medical aircraft can't land to evacuate those needing urgent care, that means a very long, rough ferry ride on ocean waters for critical patients. And even if patients can be flown from the island, that includes a rough drive, a flight, and another drive before they can receive care. The road and new ferry will allow an ambulance to transport the patient directly to the hospital.
A college education also is available in Ketchikan. The University of Alaska has a satellite campus in the town. Many in the village do not have the money to send their children away from the island for college, the mayor said. The road and ferry will allow them daily transport for classes.
The mayor said the road would not have been built except for the Alaskan Road Project. Without it, Wellington said he was not sure what the future would have held for his community.
West said he plans to return when the pavement is down and the finishing touches are complete, hopefully in the next two years. As he drives the road now, West calls it "pretty darn impressive" in an easy-going, small town manner. As he meets with the people along the route and in town, it is easy to see that friendships replaced partnerships somewhere along the way.
West said he isn't sure where the road will lead for him at the project's end. It is bittersweet, he said.
"I'm glad the road is done. I'd like to see people driving on it in 2009," West said. "But the working relationships, the friendships, ... I'm going to miss that."
But, West said, he will take home with him "a lot of memories and photographs," and the knowledge that he has, in part, changed forever the landscape of a small Alaskan community.
"Being part of someone else's dream and helping it become a reality, that's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," West said.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 30, 2007 - Bumping down a dusty, narrow logging trail away from camp in an old red truck, Army Col. Frederick J. West talked about a project that, after 10 years, has literally left him at the end of the road. It started with him walking more than 14 miles across Annette Island's coastal wilderness, surveying its virgin land, intent on cutting a road into its rugged, rocky landscape. It will end next month with a gravel-coated lifeline that will connect a small Indian village to year-around access to jobs, education and health care.
"I think that most people, when they depart from this good Earth, want to leave something behind. This certainly does that for me," West said.
What lay between the start and the finish is dubbed Joint Task Force Operation Alaskan Road, or the Walden Point Road project, as the local citizens call it. Designated as a Defense Department Innovative Readiness Training program, the road has provided training opportunities for engineers, medics, cooks, fuelers and a host of others from all service branches, both active duty and reserve component. In all, 12,000 troops from some 300 units have come here to train.
This month, the Metlakatla Indian Community, along with military and political dignitaries, celebrated the turnover of the road to the community. West and his crews are putting final touches on the road until Sept. 15, the official day the mission ends. After that, West will begin the process of turning the camp over to U.S. Pacific Command's Alaskan Command.
West has served the longest of anyone on the project, joining at the start as the operations officer and later as the commander of Joint Force Engineer Component Command, tasked with running the project's operations and the camp. For the Missouri Army National Guard engineer officer, it was the right project at the right time of his life, he said.
"I fell in love with the project," West said. "If I didn't think it was worthwhile, I certainly wouldn't have spent 10 years of my life doing it."
It truly had to be a labor of love, at least at the start, for those landing on the remote, southeast Alaska island. At first there was no running water, no septic system, no electricity and the servicemembers shared camp with a logging company. The crews would ferry to nearby Ketchikan for supplies and showers every few days.
Originally, officials estimated the project would take about seven years, but with design modifications and because crews were training as they were building, the project was extended. West's job basically was to "clear, grub, burn, drill, blast and build" the road to a subgrade that is ready to be finished by the Metlakatla Indian Community, which will pave and stripe the road and install guard rails. The Alaska Department of Transportation plans to build a ferry terminal at the end of the new road.
The path for the road was surveyed in the late 1940s, and updated in the 1970s. But the majority of the initial survey was done by air. Once on foot on the proposed path, West and his counterparts at the Federal Highways Administration, along with surveyors and designers, knew that steep drop-offs and mountains of rock would require some route modifications. They also modified the plans to reduce the speed limit from 55 to 35 mph. This allowed for sharper turns and more dips, making the project more manageable, West explained.
Still, most of the route left crews between a rock and a soft place. Crews had to drill and blast through 300,000 more meters of solid rock than anticipated. Where they didn't find mountains of rock, crews had to dig out of the boggy, indigenous muskeg -- layers of decomposing dead plants and trees. The muskeg, sometimes as much as 30 feet deep, had to be dug out and refilled with rock and soil. One strip, dubbed "Muskeg Flats" was 3,000 meters long, or nearly two miles. While muskeg sometimes can be solid enough to stand on, crews had to be especially careful not to sink their 100,000-pound excavators and loaders into the mossy mess.
Much of the road follows the island's scenic coast, offering sweeping views of the ocean and village on a clear day. Because it follows the coast, though, in some spots crews had to fill nearly 100 feet up the side of the mountain, while blasting hundreds of feet down through rock to meet in the middle, where the road was supposed to run.
Some inclines were so steep that one crew used its excavator's bucket to reach up, claw into the rock, and drag itself up the side of the mountain to get to where they needed to start drilling and blasting.
The rock added to the training value of the job, West said, as most military engineers are used to working primarily with dirt.
"Most of the engineers units are not used to working with rock. Building a road with rock is a totally different situation," West said.
Crews pecked through the landscape, averaging a little more than mile's progress each season. In 2002, crews progressed nearly three miles. In 2001, the crews made it only three-quarters of a mile.
Every winter except last, the camp would be winterized and abandoned. A handful of people would stay in Ketchikan and return to check on the camp intermittently during the winter months. West would return to Missouri to continue making arrangements for the next year's portion of the project and to recruit staff and units. This past winter, though, to mark off another two-tenths of a mile and to ensure the project would be finished on time, West and a small crew braved the winter elements to continue the work.
West said he didn't originally intend to stay on the project this long.
"When I first started this, I didn't know I would be here 10 years. But after the first three or four, you just say 'Heck, let's finish it,'" he said.
A "duration" staff of about 100 active duty and reserve component servicemembers runs the camp, living on the island from March through September. Typically, the force was divided into thirds among active duty, reserve and Guard personnel. The rotating units started arriving in April. Troops from engineer, medical, water purification, bulk fuel, mess and even naval boat operations fell in on the camp for training. Some deployed to the camp as units, others as individual augmentees.
Support jobs often received training as valuable to them as that the engineers received, West said. For example, he said, bulk fuelers who often train with only water had the opportunity to offload bulk fuel from a barge.
Learning to work with other services was another valuable training experience for the road project participants, West said. But while the diversity is good for training, it can make managing a staff and building a road difficult at times, especially at the season's start, the colonel said.
"Put yourself in a position of owning a company and every six months you get a whole new company, and that's basically it," West said. "Here, you get 100 people who have never met each other, and you're trying to meld them and you're trying to go into a high op tempo right off the bat. That is a training challenge."
West said he tried to get duration troops to return, but most didn't because the employment is seasonal and most of the positions were for only six months.
"Most people can't afford to come back every season," West said. "If I get somebody to repeat a second year, that's great, but those are few."
Usually, about 70 traditional National Guard members rotated in and out through the summer, helping to build the road or providing support.
Over time, West built his camp to include a small gym, a base exchange, an Internet cafe, and a dayroom with pool and pingpong tables. Troops lived in open-bay, 16- by 32-foot plywood "sea huts" that provided a bunk bed, mattress, and a dry place to sleep – dry being key in a temperate rainforest region that gets 165 inches of precipitation annually.
Local people measure the rain in feet, not inches. West said one summer he counted fewer than 10 sunny days. That summer, it rained every day for 35 days.
"I think I could write a paper on the effects of sunshine on personalities. It can be raining for two weeks and when that sun comes out you just see a change in people's attitudes," West said.
Other than the rain, the field time there offered some advantages over the "lower 48." There are no chiggers, ticks, snakes or poison ivy on the island.
As West turns off of the logging trail and onto the wider, smoother, Walden Point Road, he can mark its progress, much like a parent describing key events in a child's growth. He talks of making it to the top of a "cut," where crews could begin drilling and blasting, to beating a specific deadline by only two days, to putting in culverts and bridges.
When the work is finished, military crews will have moved 3.2 million cubic yards of rock. That is the equivalent, West said, to filling a football field-size area 150 stories high with rock. Crews used more than 1.5 million pounds of explosives.
Engineers installed 145 culverts, which, if set end to end, would stretch more than 2.6 miles. One culvert was 25 feet wide, 180 feet long and was built with 210 1,000-pound panels. It took 3,000 bolts and two weeks to put it in place.
But the statistic West is most proud of, and grateful for, is that there have been no serious injuries or deaths during the project, he said.
"A bad day for me was when I heard on the radio that somebody got hurt and they were taking them to the hospital. Every time that happens, you just feel like you got kicked in the stomach. Fortunately, every time it turned out to be not serious," West said.
West said he considers this a "remarkable feat," given that for 10 years an inexperienced and transient work force operated in unfamiliar and dangerous territory with unfamiliar equipment.
In the end, though, West said what made this project special for him was that it matched invaluable training with a byproduct that could be the catalyst to a brighter future for the 1,500-plus Tsimshian Indian villagers on the island.
The local mayor, Victor C. Wellington Sr., said he thinks the road is essential. Unemployment in the village is as high as 80 percent seasonally. Two logging mills and a cannery, both huge employers offering good salaries, shut down more than a decade ago. Since then, most who are employed work for the local government, the medical clinic, or a cold-storage facility operating out of the former cannery, selling frozen salmon and other products. Most local residents hunt and fish during the summer for subsistence during the winter.
"What we're trying to do right now is dig out. And we're slowing coming out, and this road opens up a lot of possibilities for our people," Wellington said.
Wellington said the road will shorten the ferry travel time to Ketchikan. It is only a 15-minute trip from the site where the Alaska Department of Transportation plans to put the new ferry. Once it's open, Wellington said, he hopes residents will be able to drive on the road to the new ferry point in the morning, cross to go to work and return home by ferry in the evening. Currently, the Alaskan Marine Highway makes only two afternoon trips to the island, and it takes more than an hour each way from the current ferry point.
Also, officials hope to increase the frequency of the ferry once the new dock is opened to cash in on the tourism dollars that flood Ketchikan. Ketchikan is the first port of call for many cruise ships, and its restaurants and shops are visited by nearly a million tourists a year. Now, there is no convenient way for would-be visitors to tour the island during their stop in port.
The mayor also said the road will keep residents from risking poor weather and high seas to take private boats to Ketchikan. Even though most are experienced navigating the waters, their personal craft are no match for the winter's fog, 30-foot seas and 135-mph winds. People have died trying to make the trip, the mayor said. Even the 61-year-old mayor, a 33-year career fisherman, admits to making the journey when he was younger when it wasn't safe.
"I was nuts then," he said.
Residents will also have access to the hospital in Ketchikan. In the winter, the island is isolated when winds are too high. If medical aircraft can't land to evacuate those needing urgent care, that means a very long, rough ferry ride on ocean waters for critical patients. And even if patients can be flown from the island, that includes a rough drive, a flight, and another drive before they can receive care. The road and new ferry will allow an ambulance to transport the patient directly to the hospital.
A college education also is available in Ketchikan. The University of Alaska has a satellite campus in the town. Many in the village do not have the money to send their children away from the island for college, the mayor said. The road and ferry will allow them daily transport for classes.
The mayor said the road would not have been built except for the Alaskan Road Project. Without it, Wellington said he was not sure what the future would have held for his community.
West said he plans to return when the pavement is down and the finishing touches are complete, hopefully in the next two years. As he drives the road now, West calls it "pretty darn impressive" in an easy-going, small town manner. As he meets with the people along the route and in town, it is easy to see that friendships replaced partnerships somewhere along the way.
West said he isn't sure where the road will lead for him at the project's end. It is bittersweet, he said.
"I'm glad the road is done. I'd like to see people driving on it in 2009," West said. "But the working relationships, the friendships, ... I'm going to miss that."
But, West said, he will take home with him "a lot of memories and photographs," and the knowledge that he has, in part, changed forever the landscape of a small Alaskan community.
"Being part of someone else's dream and helping it become a reality, that's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," West said.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Domestic and International Police Books
Editor's Note: One of the authors is a former servicemember.
Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. Two domestic police officers and one international police officer were added to the website.
James Harper Walker served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1956. He began his law enforcement career with the Willoughby Police Department (Ohio) where he served in patrol for two years. He then joined the Waite Hill Police Department (Ohio) were he served for eight years, attaining the rank of detective. He then became the Assistant Chief of Police for the Huron Road Police Department (Ohio). James Walker then moved into the private security field where he held a number of managerial and executive level positions. He has a BA in Business Administration and is the author of four books: Man in Blue; Bushytail the Squirrel; Rambling in Rhyme; and, the novel Inside your Local Police.
According to the book description of Inside your Local Police, “follow police Lieutenant James MacDonald (Mac) as he tries to solve The Claw Hammer murder case. While being constantly interrupted with assorted armed robbers, gang fights, gun fights and domestics.”
Gerald W. Boyd is the Communications Director for Baker County’s Consolidated 9-1-1 Dispatch Center. Jerry Boyd is also concurrently the Deputy Chief of the Baker County Fire Authority and the Deputy Director of the Baker County Office of Homeland Security. Jerry recently managed the complete remodeling and expansion of their 9-1-1 PSAP.
Gerald W. Boyd has been the Chief of Fire Company 50, Shasta County, CA Fire Department (1999-2003), the Chief of Police of the Martinez Police Department (California) (1991-1996) and the Chief of Police of Coronado Police Department (California) (1981-1991). Jerry Boyd’s law enforcement career also includes working at the Irvine Police Department (California) as a police lieutenant and SWAT commander and with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as both a deputy sheriff and sergeant.
Jerry Boyd has designed, fabricated and staffed Mobile Incident Command Units for over 25 years. He is well versed in Tactical and Special Operations deployments. Considered an expert in the field of PSAP Management and Supervision, Jerry holds Basic through Management POST Certificates and is a popular Police and Fire Academy Instructor. He has written five books, including three on emergency communications subjects and over three dozen articles in professional journals. Among his books, he is the author of The Will to Live--Five Steps to Officer Survival and the co-author of Incident Dispatcher: A Guide for the Professional Tactical and Incident Dispatcher.
According to the book description of Incident Dispatcher: A Guide for the Professional Tactical and Incident Dispatcher, “After years of articles, web sites, and presentations, this is the first book to examine the concept of Incident Dispatch. The authors’ purpose is to provide basic, essential guidelines for establishing an Incident Dispatch program, how to function as an incident dispatcher, and how to manage an incident dispatch team in your agency or region. It is written from more than a decade of personal experience in IDT operations, management, and training, validated by the ongoing use of hundreds of incident dispatchers and their supporting public safety and communications agencies nationwide.”
Julie Hryniewicz-Hache was hired by the Ontario Provincial Police in 1995 as a Provincial Constable. During her law enforcement career she served in five detachments of the Northeast Region of Ontario. Today, Julie Hryniewicz-Hache is a keynote speaker, workshop leader and author. According to Julie, “My purpose revealed itself through my adversity. Despite divorce, depression, illness, and bankruptch, I am so blessed for every step of my journey.” Julie Hryniewicz-Hache is the author of Natural Balance: How To Energize, Heal, & Simplify Your Life.
Police-Writers.com now hosts 726 police officers (representing 335 police departments) and their 1556 police 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.
Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. Two domestic police officers and one international police officer were added to the website.
James Harper Walker served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1956. He began his law enforcement career with the Willoughby Police Department (Ohio) where he served in patrol for two years. He then joined the Waite Hill Police Department (Ohio) were he served for eight years, attaining the rank of detective. He then became the Assistant Chief of Police for the Huron Road Police Department (Ohio). James Walker then moved into the private security field where he held a number of managerial and executive level positions. He has a BA in Business Administration and is the author of four books: Man in Blue; Bushytail the Squirrel; Rambling in Rhyme; and, the novel Inside your Local Police.
According to the book description of Inside your Local Police, “follow police Lieutenant James MacDonald (Mac) as he tries to solve The Claw Hammer murder case. While being constantly interrupted with assorted armed robbers, gang fights, gun fights and domestics.”
Gerald W. Boyd is the Communications Director for Baker County’s Consolidated 9-1-1 Dispatch Center. Jerry Boyd is also concurrently the Deputy Chief of the Baker County Fire Authority and the Deputy Director of the Baker County Office of Homeland Security. Jerry recently managed the complete remodeling and expansion of their 9-1-1 PSAP.
Gerald W. Boyd has been the Chief of Fire Company 50, Shasta County, CA Fire Department (1999-2003), the Chief of Police of the Martinez Police Department (California) (1991-1996) and the Chief of Police of Coronado Police Department (California) (1981-1991). Jerry Boyd’s law enforcement career also includes working at the Irvine Police Department (California) as a police lieutenant and SWAT commander and with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as both a deputy sheriff and sergeant.
Jerry Boyd has designed, fabricated and staffed Mobile Incident Command Units for over 25 years. He is well versed in Tactical and Special Operations deployments. Considered an expert in the field of PSAP Management and Supervision, Jerry holds Basic through Management POST Certificates and is a popular Police and Fire Academy Instructor. He has written five books, including three on emergency communications subjects and over three dozen articles in professional journals. Among his books, he is the author of The Will to Live--Five Steps to Officer Survival and the co-author of Incident Dispatcher: A Guide for the Professional Tactical and Incident Dispatcher.
According to the book description of Incident Dispatcher: A Guide for the Professional Tactical and Incident Dispatcher, “After years of articles, web sites, and presentations, this is the first book to examine the concept of Incident Dispatch. The authors’ purpose is to provide basic, essential guidelines for establishing an Incident Dispatch program, how to function as an incident dispatcher, and how to manage an incident dispatch team in your agency or region. It is written from more than a decade of personal experience in IDT operations, management, and training, validated by the ongoing use of hundreds of incident dispatchers and their supporting public safety and communications agencies nationwide.”
Julie Hryniewicz-Hache was hired by the Ontario Provincial Police in 1995 as a Provincial Constable. During her law enforcement career she served in five detachments of the Northeast Region of Ontario. Today, Julie Hryniewicz-Hache is a keynote speaker, workshop leader and author. According to Julie, “My purpose revealed itself through my adversity. Despite divorce, depression, illness, and bankruptch, I am so blessed for every step of my journey.” Julie Hryniewicz-Hache is the author of Natural Balance: How To Energize, Heal, & Simplify Your Life.
Police-Writers.com now hosts 726 police officers (representing 335 police departments) and their 1556 police 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.
Freedom Walk Nears 200 Mark Nationwide
By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 30, 2007 - In 46 states across the country, 188 groups are planning Freedom Walks to be held in conjunction with the national America Supports You Freedom Walk planned for Sept. 9 here. America Supports You is a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.
As of Aug. 28, 3,200 people had registered to walk in this year's national Freedom Walk, part of a series of events commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"All along we've been about 100-plus people (ahead of last year)," said Stephanie Linder, national Freedom Walk coordinator.
In addition to the 188 walks scheduled around the country, six are planned in overseas locations, Linder said. A group of Army wives in Schweinfurt, Germany, registered the first overseas walk.
The Navy Operational Support Center at Santa Rita, Guam, and the Al Asad Morale, Welfare and Recreation office in Iraq are organizing Freedom Walks, Linder added. So are the Vicenza Health Center in Vicenza, Italy, an MWR office in Kuwait, and schools in Yokosuka, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea.
Linder said she welcomes organizers to register their walks as late as Sept. 10.
"I know there are so many ... out there that people just haven't registered," she said. "We don't have a way of knowing about them unless they register."
The students of Zachary Elementary School in Zachary, La., made sure their walk was registered and for good reason. Not only will their walk commemorate and honor the lives lost on Sept. 11, they'll be saying "Thanks" to their principal, a Louisiana Army National Guardsman.
Capt. Patrick Jenkins has served as the school's principal for four years, though he's only been in the building for about a quarter of that time. In 2002, he served in Afghanistan. He was called back to active duty to assist in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now he and his unit are preparing for an upcoming deployment to Iraq.
The walk will include the high school band, and Junior ROTC cadets will present the colors. Students will carry photos or names of those they wish to honor, said Ashley Singleton, a teacher at the school and one of the walk's organizers. Jenkins' daughter, a student at the school, will carry a photo of her father, she said.
Singleton said she has her own reasons for being passionate about the walk. Her husband is a soldier in the Inactive Ready Reserve who returned from Iraq just last month.
"I believe everything happens for a reason," she said. "Although his recall to active duty was hard, I feel it happened so that I can help others - especially young students - cope with deployment."
More than 15,000 walkers participated in the inaugural Freedom Walk on Sept. 11, 2005, to remember those who lost their lives and honor the nation's veterans. That walk began at the Pentagon and ended on the National Mall with a performance by country singer Clint Black.
The 2006 America Supports You Freedom Walk, which took place on Sept. 10, began on the National Mall with a brief opening program before walkers crossed the Potomac River, bound for the Pentagon. In addition to a patriotic program, beams of white light shone from the building's center courtyard honoring the people who lost their lives in the attack on the Pentagon.
This year's America Supports You Freedom Walk will be held on the morning of Sept. 9 and will look similar to its predecessors. Walkers will begin at the Lincoln Memorial and proceed to the Pentagon, where they will enjoy a patriotic program featuring the Harlem Gospel Choir and military musicians.
For those wishing to participate in the national America Supports You Freedom Walk, the deadline to register is 6 p.m. Sept. 7. Walkers can register through the America Supports You Freedom Walk Web site, www.americasupportsyou.mil/freedomwalk. The site also includes a link to registered walks around the country so visitors can locate walks near their communities. It also includes information on how people can organize a walk if none is yet scheduled in their area.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 30, 2007 - In 46 states across the country, 188 groups are planning Freedom Walks to be held in conjunction with the national America Supports You Freedom Walk planned for Sept. 9 here. America Supports You is a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.
As of Aug. 28, 3,200 people had registered to walk in this year's national Freedom Walk, part of a series of events commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"All along we've been about 100-plus people (ahead of last year)," said Stephanie Linder, national Freedom Walk coordinator.
In addition to the 188 walks scheduled around the country, six are planned in overseas locations, Linder said. A group of Army wives in Schweinfurt, Germany, registered the first overseas walk.
The Navy Operational Support Center at Santa Rita, Guam, and the Al Asad Morale, Welfare and Recreation office in Iraq are organizing Freedom Walks, Linder added. So are the Vicenza Health Center in Vicenza, Italy, an MWR office in Kuwait, and schools in Yokosuka, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea.
Linder said she welcomes organizers to register their walks as late as Sept. 10.
"I know there are so many ... out there that people just haven't registered," she said. "We don't have a way of knowing about them unless they register."
The students of Zachary Elementary School in Zachary, La., made sure their walk was registered and for good reason. Not only will their walk commemorate and honor the lives lost on Sept. 11, they'll be saying "Thanks" to their principal, a Louisiana Army National Guardsman.
Capt. Patrick Jenkins has served as the school's principal for four years, though he's only been in the building for about a quarter of that time. In 2002, he served in Afghanistan. He was called back to active duty to assist in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now he and his unit are preparing for an upcoming deployment to Iraq.
The walk will include the high school band, and Junior ROTC cadets will present the colors. Students will carry photos or names of those they wish to honor, said Ashley Singleton, a teacher at the school and one of the walk's organizers. Jenkins' daughter, a student at the school, will carry a photo of her father, she said.
Singleton said she has her own reasons for being passionate about the walk. Her husband is a soldier in the Inactive Ready Reserve who returned from Iraq just last month.
"I believe everything happens for a reason," she said. "Although his recall to active duty was hard, I feel it happened so that I can help others - especially young students - cope with deployment."
More than 15,000 walkers participated in the inaugural Freedom Walk on Sept. 11, 2005, to remember those who lost their lives and honor the nation's veterans. That walk began at the Pentagon and ended on the National Mall with a performance by country singer Clint Black.
The 2006 America Supports You Freedom Walk, which took place on Sept. 10, began on the National Mall with a brief opening program before walkers crossed the Potomac River, bound for the Pentagon. In addition to a patriotic program, beams of white light shone from the building's center courtyard honoring the people who lost their lives in the attack on the Pentagon.
This year's America Supports You Freedom Walk will be held on the morning of Sept. 9 and will look similar to its predecessors. Walkers will begin at the Lincoln Memorial and proceed to the Pentagon, where they will enjoy a patriotic program featuring the Harlem Gospel Choir and military musicians.
For those wishing to participate in the national America Supports You Freedom Walk, the deadline to register is 6 p.m. Sept. 7. Walkers can register through the America Supports You Freedom Walk Web site, www.americasupportsyou.mil/freedomwalk. The site also includes a link to registered walks around the country so visitors can locate walks near their communities. It also includes information on how people can organize a walk if none is yet scheduled in their area.
Army Welcomes Geren as 20th Secretary
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 30, 2007 - Reshaping support to Army families and rebalancing a force stretched by war will be the priorities for Army Secretary Preston "Pete" Geren. Geren spoke during an arrival ceremony hosted here today by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr.
In a nod to Geren's Dallas background, the Army Band played "The Yellow Rose of Texas" during the pre-event concert. Geren, who represented Dallas in the House of Representatives from 1989 to 1997, has served as the 20th Army secretary since July 16.
"Pete Geren is the right person, at the right time, to serve as secretary of the Army," Casey said in his remarks at the ceremony.
Casey said the U.S. Army is a force at war, and is transforming in an era of persistent conflict. "Our force is stretched and out of balance," the general said. "The tempo of our deployments are not sustainable, our equipment usage is five times the normal rate and continuously operating in harsh environments."
Casey said the institutional elements of the Army – such as health care, education and family support systems – were designed for the pre-Sept. 11, 2001, world. He said those elements have adapted too slowly to the changing world "and they are fraying" under the accumulated stresses.
"Overall, we're consuming readiness as fast as we're building it," Casey said.
Geren arrived at the Pentagon in September 2001 as a special assistant to the secretary of defense. In the past six years, he said, he has been in awe of the servicemembers who deploy time and again and of the military families who have been steadfast in support.
The Army secretary said he and Casey share a heartfelt commitment to Army families. "We need to provide the support they have earned and deserve in an era of persistent conflict," he said.
The Army's more than one million soldiers are a national treasure the nation is taxing at unprecedented levels, Geren noted.
"Our Army, soldiers and families are stretching to meet the demands of this current conflict," he said. "We currently have 260,000 soldiers deployed in more than 80 countries around the world, including 150,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Since the conflict began, more than 550,000 soldiers have served in combat zones, with 220,000 deployed multiple times. "A soldier who joined the Army on Sept. 12, 2001, has deployed at least two times – likely three – and he or she is getting ready for the fourth one," Geren said. "Yet our resilient soldiers and their families – all volunteers – continue to serve with courage, professionalism and distinction. Our soldiers continue to re-enlist and go back to the fight again, and again, and their families continue to stand with them."
The Army is growing by 74,000 soldiers, and the Army Reserve and Army National Guard are changing from strategic forces to operational forces. Geren said the Army is halfway through its greatest organizational change since World War II, and must not lose sight of what's important to the service's future.
"In order to sustain our force, we will do more for our Army families in these challenging times," he said. "Family support systems, health care, child care, housing (and) education designed for the pre-9/11 Army must be adapted to sustain an Army at war."
Geren said the Army Family Action Plan will launch this fall to bolster the support to families.
"The demanding present and the prospects of an unrelenting future require an overhaul of family support systems," he continued. "Our Army families deserve a quality of life commensurate with their extraordinary service."
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 30, 2007 - Reshaping support to Army families and rebalancing a force stretched by war will be the priorities for Army Secretary Preston "Pete" Geren. Geren spoke during an arrival ceremony hosted here today by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr.
In a nod to Geren's Dallas background, the Army Band played "The Yellow Rose of Texas" during the pre-event concert. Geren, who represented Dallas in the House of Representatives from 1989 to 1997, has served as the 20th Army secretary since July 16.
"Pete Geren is the right person, at the right time, to serve as secretary of the Army," Casey said in his remarks at the ceremony.
Casey said the U.S. Army is a force at war, and is transforming in an era of persistent conflict. "Our force is stretched and out of balance," the general said. "The tempo of our deployments are not sustainable, our equipment usage is five times the normal rate and continuously operating in harsh environments."
Casey said the institutional elements of the Army – such as health care, education and family support systems – were designed for the pre-Sept. 11, 2001, world. He said those elements have adapted too slowly to the changing world "and they are fraying" under the accumulated stresses.
"Overall, we're consuming readiness as fast as we're building it," Casey said.
Geren arrived at the Pentagon in September 2001 as a special assistant to the secretary of defense. In the past six years, he said, he has been in awe of the servicemembers who deploy time and again and of the military families who have been steadfast in support.
The Army secretary said he and Casey share a heartfelt commitment to Army families. "We need to provide the support they have earned and deserve in an era of persistent conflict," he said.
The Army's more than one million soldiers are a national treasure the nation is taxing at unprecedented levels, Geren noted.
"Our Army, soldiers and families are stretching to meet the demands of this current conflict," he said. "We currently have 260,000 soldiers deployed in more than 80 countries around the world, including 150,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Since the conflict began, more than 550,000 soldiers have served in combat zones, with 220,000 deployed multiple times. "A soldier who joined the Army on Sept. 12, 2001, has deployed at least two times – likely three – and he or she is getting ready for the fourth one," Geren said. "Yet our resilient soldiers and their families – all volunteers – continue to serve with courage, professionalism and distinction. Our soldiers continue to re-enlist and go back to the fight again, and again, and their families continue to stand with them."
The Army is growing by 74,000 soldiers, and the Army Reserve and Army National Guard are changing from strategic forces to operational forces. Geren said the Army is halfway through its greatest organizational change since World War II, and must not lose sight of what's important to the service's future.
"In order to sustain our force, we will do more for our Army families in these challenging times," he said. "Family support systems, health care, child care, housing (and) education designed for the pre-9/11 Army must be adapted to sustain an Army at war."
Geren said the Army Family Action Plan will launch this fall to bolster the support to families.
"The demanding present and the prospects of an unrelenting future require an overhaul of family support systems," he continued. "Our Army families deserve a quality of life commensurate with their extraordinary service."
President, Vice President Meet with Top Officials at Pentagon
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - President Bush and Vice President Cheney met with top leaders at the Pentagon today to discuss their commitment to providing servicemembers with all they need "to meet the challenges of this new century," Bush said. In a written statement released by the White House after his meeting with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and the Joints Chiefs of Staff, Bush said he accepted a recommendation Gates made in January to increase the overall strength of the Army and Marines by 92,000 over the next five years.
"This will strengthen our military and help reset our forces to respond to multiple contingencies around the world at any given moment," Bush said. "The effort is well under way, but there is more to do, and the Joint Chiefs are doing a terrific job monitoring the health of our all-volunteer force."
The president said the meeting included discussion about military and civilian coordination, noting that joint civilian and military teams currently are deployed in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and Iraq.
"In Iraq, we have more than doubled the number of civilian-led provincial reconstruction teams this year, most of which are embedded with U.S. combat brigades," Bush said. "These teams are a force multiplier for our men and women in uniform, and they are essential to the "bottom up" political progress taking place in Anbar, Diyala, and other provinces across Iraq.
"The Civilian Reserve Corps now being developed will enlarge the pool of civilian volunteers to support and enhance our missions," he continued.
Bush remarked that a highly anticipated assessment by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker is due out next month. "This status report comes less than three months since our new strategy became fully operational and will assess what is going well, what can be improved, and what adjustments might be made in the coming months," he said.
The president urged congressional members to withhold judgment until the report has been presented.
"The stakes in Iraq are too high and the consequences too grave for our security here at home to allow politics to harm the mission of our men and women in uniform," he said. "It is my hope that we can put partisanship and politics behind us and commit to a common vision that will provide our troops what they need to succeed and secure our vital national interests in Iraq and around the world."
Bush closed his statement by praising servicemembers' resolve, and vowing to uphold the legacy of their effort.
"The brave men and women of our armed forces and their families are making heroic sacrifices to secure our country," he said. "America will honor these sacrifices by ensuring that our children and grandchildren inherit a more peaceful, just, and democratic world."
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - President Bush and Vice President Cheney met with top leaders at the Pentagon today to discuss their commitment to providing servicemembers with all they need "to meet the challenges of this new century," Bush said. In a written statement released by the White House after his meeting with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and the Joints Chiefs of Staff, Bush said he accepted a recommendation Gates made in January to increase the overall strength of the Army and Marines by 92,000 over the next five years.
"This will strengthen our military and help reset our forces to respond to multiple contingencies around the world at any given moment," Bush said. "The effort is well under way, but there is more to do, and the Joint Chiefs are doing a terrific job monitoring the health of our all-volunteer force."
The president said the meeting included discussion about military and civilian coordination, noting that joint civilian and military teams currently are deployed in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and Iraq.
"In Iraq, we have more than doubled the number of civilian-led provincial reconstruction teams this year, most of which are embedded with U.S. combat brigades," Bush said. "These teams are a force multiplier for our men and women in uniform, and they are essential to the "bottom up" political progress taking place in Anbar, Diyala, and other provinces across Iraq.
"The Civilian Reserve Corps now being developed will enlarge the pool of civilian volunteers to support and enhance our missions," he continued.
Bush remarked that a highly anticipated assessment by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker is due out next month. "This status report comes less than three months since our new strategy became fully operational and will assess what is going well, what can be improved, and what adjustments might be made in the coming months," he said.
The president urged congressional members to withhold judgment until the report has been presented.
"The stakes in Iraq are too high and the consequences too grave for our security here at home to allow politics to harm the mission of our men and women in uniform," he said. "It is my hope that we can put partisanship and politics behind us and commit to a common vision that will provide our troops what they need to succeed and secure our vital national interests in Iraq and around the world."
Bush closed his statement by praising servicemembers' resolve, and vowing to uphold the legacy of their effort.
"The brave men and women of our armed forces and their families are making heroic sacrifices to secure our country," he said. "America will honor these sacrifices by ensuring that our children and grandchildren inherit a more peaceful, just, and democratic world."
Gates Swears in Cartwright as Vice Chairman
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - Following a series of meetings at the Pentagon and the White House, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates swore in Marine Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright as the eighth vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today. he ceremony – in front of family, friends and all members of the Joint Chiefs – was short, sweet and as informal as these ceremonies are likely to be in the Pentagon.
Cartwright has been serving as vice chairman since he was confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 3. The ceremony was delayed until his family could attend.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, welcomed Cartwright to the job, and spoke with pleasure of his relationship with Cartwright over the past 10 years. Pace said that no matter what room Cartwright is in, "he's the smartest guy in the room. He flat gets it. And he gets it in a way that not only ties things together, but articulates it in a way that guys like me can understand."
Pace first worked with his fellow Marine at the Joint Staff in 1996. Cartwright then served as Pace's deputy at Marine Forces Atlantic in 2000. Cartwright also worked with Pace when he served as the Joint Staff's director for force structure, resources and assessment when Pace was vice chairman.
"It is my great privilege to watch Hoss Cartwright take the oath of office as vice chairman," Pace said. "He is a superb leader who is just what the country needs at this time."
Gates noted that Cartwright is coming to the vice chairmanship from a very successful three-year stint as commander of U.S. Strategic Command. He said his experience has made him "exceptionally well qualified to lead the Joint Requirements Oversight Council in developing our military resource requirements," a key duty for the vice chairman.
"He is an accomplished leader and strategic thinker, and he will lead a number of strategic groups in this building and our forces around the world in this most challenging time," Gates said.
"I really do look forward to this opportunity," Cartwright said after being sworn in. "The thing I remember most about my Joint Staff tours is the quality of the people that you work with, their focus and their willingness to go after the hard things."
With Pace as chairman, Cartwright as vice chairman and Gen. James T. Conway as commandant of the Marine Corps, the Joint Chiefs of Staff now include three Marines for the first time.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 31, 2007 - Following a series of meetings at the Pentagon and the White House, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates swore in Marine Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright as the eighth vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today. he ceremony – in front of family, friends and all members of the Joint Chiefs – was short, sweet and as informal as these ceremonies are likely to be in the Pentagon.
Cartwright has been serving as vice chairman since he was confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 3. The ceremony was delayed until his family could attend.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, welcomed Cartwright to the job, and spoke with pleasure of his relationship with Cartwright over the past 10 years. Pace said that no matter what room Cartwright is in, "he's the smartest guy in the room. He flat gets it. And he gets it in a way that not only ties things together, but articulates it in a way that guys like me can understand."
Pace first worked with his fellow Marine at the Joint Staff in 1996. Cartwright then served as Pace's deputy at Marine Forces Atlantic in 2000. Cartwright also worked with Pace when he served as the Joint Staff's director for force structure, resources and assessment when Pace was vice chairman.
"It is my great privilege to watch Hoss Cartwright take the oath of office as vice chairman," Pace said. "He is a superb leader who is just what the country needs at this time."
Gates noted that Cartwright is coming to the vice chairmanship from a very successful three-year stint as commander of U.S. Strategic Command. He said his experience has made him "exceptionally well qualified to lead the Joint Requirements Oversight Council in developing our military resource requirements," a key duty for the vice chairman.
"He is an accomplished leader and strategic thinker, and he will lead a number of strategic groups in this building and our forces around the world in this most challenging time," Gates said.
"I really do look forward to this opportunity," Cartwright said after being sworn in. "The thing I remember most about my Joint Staff tours is the quality of the people that you work with, their focus and their willingness to go after the hard things."
With Pace as chairman, Cartwright as vice chairman and Gen. James T. Conway as commandant of the Marine Corps, the Joint Chiefs of Staff now include three Marines for the first time.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Fort Lewis Reservists Conduct Mount Rainier Rescue Drill
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 29, 2007 - An Army Reserve helicopter crew lowered National Park Service rangers to practice plucking an injured climber from an 8,600-foot ridge on Washington's Mount Rainier yesterday in a training mission much like real-life rescues the soldiers are routinely called upon to perform. It was a glorious afternoon as aviators from Company A, 5th Battalion, 59th Aviation Regiment, dispatched a CH-47D Chinook helicopter to the mountain, which towers over their airfield, to exercise skills they and their Park Service partners could be called on to use at a moment's notice.
The unit, nicknamed the "Hookers" in reference to the three cargo hooks beneath their helicopters, has worked with the National Park Service since 1990 to conduct high-altitude search-and-rescue missions on Mount Rainier, said Army Maj. William Wynn, the unit's commander.
As many as 10,000 climbers tackle the 14,410-foot active volcano every year, the vast majority between May and September, National Park Service officials said. About half of those climbers successfully reach the summit.
But even the most spectacular mountain conditions can deteriorate quickly. Fierce storms and white-out conditions that seemingly appear out of nowhere claim an average of three climbers a year. "It can be a pretty hostile and unforgiving environment," Wynn said.
When a climber goes missing or the Park Service gets word of a climber who's stranded or injured at higher altitudes than standard helicopters can fly, the Hookers' crews step -- make that fly -- in.
Crews stand on alert throughout the climbing season, ready to respond to a Park Service call within an hour, Wynn said. All understand that every minute counts for a climber in trouble at high altitude.
When the Park Service calls, crews muster at their hangar, prepping the aircraft with the special gear they'll need: climbing ropes, baskets, hoists and oxygen. Once airborne, they race to a designated base camp on the mountain to rendezvous with climbing rangers from the Park Service.
Operating at high altitudes, particularly in ever-changing mountain conditions, poses challenges to rescuers as well as to climbers, explained Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bob Agee, a pilot trainer for the unit. Turbulent air can make aircraft buck to updrafts and downdrafts. Winds can pick up, and visibility can plummet in the blink of an eye. Low oxygen levels often require crews to wear oxygen masks.
Recognizing these difficulties, Wynn sends only his most experienced pilots on search-and-rescue missions. Among them is Agee, who first flew Chinooks during the Vietnam War and has 20 years of SAR experience under his belt.
Another is Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Scott Salkovics, who brings not only extensive flying experience, but also mountaineering experience to the mission. Salkovics has climbed nearby Mount St. Helens 43 times. The one time he attempted Mount Rainier, he got "blown off the mountain" at 10,000 feet, giving him a unique respect for the mountain.
That failed attempt also gave Salkovics an appreciation of the contribution he and his fellow Hookers are making. "I believe in the mission. There's definitely a need," he said. "It's nice to know if you get into trouble, there's someone trained to come get you."
During yesterday's training mission, the crews flew to Kautz Helibase to pick up the park rangers, just as they would during a real rescue mission. From there, they proceeded to the site of the injured climber, represented by a 160-pound dummy they lowered onto a glacier-covered area on the mountain's north side.
Hovering at about 50 feet, Army Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Rhoads, a flight engineer, helped lower the Park Service rescuers on a cable device known as a jungle penetrator. They wrapped the dummy in a sleeping bag to protect it from the freezing winds whipped up by the helicopter's prop wash, then secured it onto a litter.
Rhoads and another flight engineer worked together to raise the litter, then the rescuers, slowing their ascent as they neared the aircraft to prevent them from swinging into it.
Mike Gauthier, supervisory climbing ranger, called the support the reservists bring to the Mount Rainier National Park Service "immeasurable." The park could never dedicate an aircraft with the capabilities of the Chinook to the SAR mission, he said, and the Hookers bring vast experience to the mission. "And at the same time, you're seeing federal agencies working together to perform a valuable public service," he said.
Fellow climbing ranger Andy Anderson praised the close training arrangement between the Park Service and the Army Reserve. "This is something we all practice on a regular basis and always hope we never have to use," he said. "But thanks to training like this, we know that if we need it, we're prepared."
This year has been a good one on Mount Rainer. With just a month left of the prime climbing season, no climber has yet been killed. The Hookers have been called out to support just two search-and-rescue missions; one that was aborted after the climber was found safe, and the other in which they airlifted a climber with a dislocated shoulder from 11,000 feet.
Regardless of how much they use their search-and-rescue skills on the mountain, unit members say those skills paid off in a big way during a deployment to Iraq and when they supported hurricanes Katrina and Rita relief efforts in 2005.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Richard Bovey, a unit instructor pilot, compared the landscape on Mount Rainier to that in which he flew while supporting relief efforts after a 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and during a deployment to Afghanistan. "Getting experience flying in environments like that is just invaluable," he said.
"This is a win-win all around," agreed Rhoads. "It's one of those situations where everybody benefits."
Like his fellow reservists, Rhoads considers himself lucky to be part of the SAR mission. "You get to help somebody go home to their family when you pluck them off the mountain alive," he said. "That's the biggest gratification of what we do."
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 29, 2007 - An Army Reserve helicopter crew lowered National Park Service rangers to practice plucking an injured climber from an 8,600-foot ridge on Washington's Mount Rainier yesterday in a training mission much like real-life rescues the soldiers are routinely called upon to perform. It was a glorious afternoon as aviators from Company A, 5th Battalion, 59th Aviation Regiment, dispatched a CH-47D Chinook helicopter to the mountain, which towers over their airfield, to exercise skills they and their Park Service partners could be called on to use at a moment's notice.
The unit, nicknamed the "Hookers" in reference to the three cargo hooks beneath their helicopters, has worked with the National Park Service since 1990 to conduct high-altitude search-and-rescue missions on Mount Rainier, said Army Maj. William Wynn, the unit's commander.
As many as 10,000 climbers tackle the 14,410-foot active volcano every year, the vast majority between May and September, National Park Service officials said. About half of those climbers successfully reach the summit.
But even the most spectacular mountain conditions can deteriorate quickly. Fierce storms and white-out conditions that seemingly appear out of nowhere claim an average of three climbers a year. "It can be a pretty hostile and unforgiving environment," Wynn said.
When a climber goes missing or the Park Service gets word of a climber who's stranded or injured at higher altitudes than standard helicopters can fly, the Hookers' crews step -- make that fly -- in.
Crews stand on alert throughout the climbing season, ready to respond to a Park Service call within an hour, Wynn said. All understand that every minute counts for a climber in trouble at high altitude.
When the Park Service calls, crews muster at their hangar, prepping the aircraft with the special gear they'll need: climbing ropes, baskets, hoists and oxygen. Once airborne, they race to a designated base camp on the mountain to rendezvous with climbing rangers from the Park Service.
Operating at high altitudes, particularly in ever-changing mountain conditions, poses challenges to rescuers as well as to climbers, explained Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bob Agee, a pilot trainer for the unit. Turbulent air can make aircraft buck to updrafts and downdrafts. Winds can pick up, and visibility can plummet in the blink of an eye. Low oxygen levels often require crews to wear oxygen masks.
Recognizing these difficulties, Wynn sends only his most experienced pilots on search-and-rescue missions. Among them is Agee, who first flew Chinooks during the Vietnam War and has 20 years of SAR experience under his belt.
Another is Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Scott Salkovics, who brings not only extensive flying experience, but also mountaineering experience to the mission. Salkovics has climbed nearby Mount St. Helens 43 times. The one time he attempted Mount Rainier, he got "blown off the mountain" at 10,000 feet, giving him a unique respect for the mountain.
That failed attempt also gave Salkovics an appreciation of the contribution he and his fellow Hookers are making. "I believe in the mission. There's definitely a need," he said. "It's nice to know if you get into trouble, there's someone trained to come get you."
During yesterday's training mission, the crews flew to Kautz Helibase to pick up the park rangers, just as they would during a real rescue mission. From there, they proceeded to the site of the injured climber, represented by a 160-pound dummy they lowered onto a glacier-covered area on the mountain's north side.
Hovering at about 50 feet, Army Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Rhoads, a flight engineer, helped lower the Park Service rescuers on a cable device known as a jungle penetrator. They wrapped the dummy in a sleeping bag to protect it from the freezing winds whipped up by the helicopter's prop wash, then secured it onto a litter.
Rhoads and another flight engineer worked together to raise the litter, then the rescuers, slowing their ascent as they neared the aircraft to prevent them from swinging into it.
Mike Gauthier, supervisory climbing ranger, called the support the reservists bring to the Mount Rainier National Park Service "immeasurable." The park could never dedicate an aircraft with the capabilities of the Chinook to the SAR mission, he said, and the Hookers bring vast experience to the mission. "And at the same time, you're seeing federal agencies working together to perform a valuable public service," he said.
Fellow climbing ranger Andy Anderson praised the close training arrangement between the Park Service and the Army Reserve. "This is something we all practice on a regular basis and always hope we never have to use," he said. "But thanks to training like this, we know that if we need it, we're prepared."
This year has been a good one on Mount Rainer. With just a month left of the prime climbing season, no climber has yet been killed. The Hookers have been called out to support just two search-and-rescue missions; one that was aborted after the climber was found safe, and the other in which they airlifted a climber with a dislocated shoulder from 11,000 feet.
Regardless of how much they use their search-and-rescue skills on the mountain, unit members say those skills paid off in a big way during a deployment to Iraq and when they supported hurricanes Katrina and Rita relief efforts in 2005.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Richard Bovey, a unit instructor pilot, compared the landscape on Mount Rainier to that in which he flew while supporting relief efforts after a 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and during a deployment to Afghanistan. "Getting experience flying in environments like that is just invaluable," he said.
"This is a win-win all around," agreed Rhoads. "It's one of those situations where everybody benefits."
Like his fellow reservists, Rhoads considers himself lucky to be part of the SAR mission. "You get to help somebody go home to their family when you pluck them off the mountain alive," he said. "That's the biggest gratification of what we do."
Annual Ride Honors Family of Fallen
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 29, 2007 - Since 2004, a group of Minnesota motorcyclists has visited more than 40 families throughout the state who have lost a loved one while serving the country, and this year will be no different. The fourth annual "Tribute to the Troops" ride and concert will begin Sept. 7 and conclude two days later.
"This year, on Sept. 7 and 8, (more than) 90 motorcyclists will participate in three separate rides that will be visiting 18 families from Lake City to Moorhead, including seven families in the Twin Cities area," said Gregg Schmitt, the group's executive director and co-founder of the ride. "Our mission is to demonstrate to them that this group of fellow Minnesotans care and we will never forget their loss."
Riders will present each family with a specially framed photo of their loved one, a commemorative flag and a copy of recording artist Rockie Lynne's music video "Home."
"Not enough has been done to recognize the loss these families have suffered," Lynne said. "We all need to do more to let these families know that we, as ordinary Americans, recognize their loss and the sacrifice they have made for our country."
Lynne, co-founder of the ride, produced the DVD to honor all fallen servicemembers. It also served as the inspiration for the three-day tribute event.
The event concludes Sept. 9 with a memorial ride that will take the group to visit military personnel at Minnesota National Guard's Camp Ripley, in Little Falls. A concert featuring Lynne and the bands High Noon and the Killer Hayseeds will conclude the fourth annual Tribute to the Troops ride and concert.
Editor's Note: To find out about more individuals, groups and organizations that are helping support the troops, visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America Supports You directly connects military members to the support of the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their quest to find meaningful ways to support the military community.
Aug. 29, 2007 - Since 2004, a group of Minnesota motorcyclists has visited more than 40 families throughout the state who have lost a loved one while serving the country, and this year will be no different. The fourth annual "Tribute to the Troops" ride and concert will begin Sept. 7 and conclude two days later.
"This year, on Sept. 7 and 8, (more than) 90 motorcyclists will participate in three separate rides that will be visiting 18 families from Lake City to Moorhead, including seven families in the Twin Cities area," said Gregg Schmitt, the group's executive director and co-founder of the ride. "Our mission is to demonstrate to them that this group of fellow Minnesotans care and we will never forget their loss."
Riders will present each family with a specially framed photo of their loved one, a commemorative flag and a copy of recording artist Rockie Lynne's music video "Home."
"Not enough has been done to recognize the loss these families have suffered," Lynne said. "We all need to do more to let these families know that we, as ordinary Americans, recognize their loss and the sacrifice they have made for our country."
Lynne, co-founder of the ride, produced the DVD to honor all fallen servicemembers. It also served as the inspiration for the three-day tribute event.
The event concludes Sept. 9 with a memorial ride that will take the group to visit military personnel at Minnesota National Guard's Camp Ripley, in Little Falls. A concert featuring Lynne and the bands High Noon and the Killer Hayseeds will conclude the fourth annual Tribute to the Troops ride and concert.
Editor's Note: To find out about more individuals, groups and organizations that are helping support the troops, visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America Supports You directly connects military members to the support of the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their quest to find meaningful ways to support the military community.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Reservist Cites Healthcare Marketing Firm's Superb Support
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 29, 2007 - An Army reservist praised his civilian employer, Creative Healthcare Solutions, for providing exemplary support when he was deployed to Iraq last year, and the Defense Department is officially recognizing that support. "They really went above and beyond in terms of not only supporting me, but also my family," said Lt. Col. Thomas P. Weikert, 46, a marketing consultant who works out of his home office in Alpharetta, Ga., for the Scottsdale, Ariz.,-based company.
Creative Healthcare Solutions, a provider of marketing services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, is among 15 businesses and organizations selected to receive this year's Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. Weikert nominated his company for the annual award, which honors businesses and organizations that provide exemplary support for their employees in the Guard or reserve.
Weikert, a strategic-planning training officer in his military life, said he received differential pay and other benefits during his year-long Iraq deployment. He received care packages collected by his employer. Company representatives also took his two young sons to a National Hockey League game in nearby Atlanta during his absence, he added.
Creative Healthcare Solutions President Norman Stalsberg recalled that Weikert had about a week to prepare before he departed for Iraq. The 18-employee company quickly stepped up to help prepare Weikert and his loved ones for the deployment, the executive said.
"At that stage, pretty much all of our attention was put onto what we could do to help Tom and his family to make this deployment as least-disruptive as possible," Stalsberg said.
Stalsberg was "surprised and humbled" that his small company was selected to receive a Freedom Award.
"From my viewpoint, it's not about what we've done for Tom, but it's really about what Tom and his fellow soldiers are doing for us," Stalsberg pointed out.
Supporting employees in the Guard and reserve is important, because they're "putting life and limb on the line to fight for what this country stands for," Stalsberg said.
During his June 2006 to June 2007 tour of duty in Iraq, Weikert worked with senior U.S. and Iraqi military leaders in devising planning for the surge of forces in and around Baghdad. That important work was made easier, Weikert said, because he knew his family was being well taken care of back home.
"What they did for me really reflects how they feel about supporting the country," Weikert said of his civilian employer.
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and Reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.
Stalsberg will accept the Freedom Award on behalf of his company during a formal ceremony here Sept. 12.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 29, 2007 - An Army reservist praised his civilian employer, Creative Healthcare Solutions, for providing exemplary support when he was deployed to Iraq last year, and the Defense Department is officially recognizing that support. "They really went above and beyond in terms of not only supporting me, but also my family," said Lt. Col. Thomas P. Weikert, 46, a marketing consultant who works out of his home office in Alpharetta, Ga., for the Scottsdale, Ariz.,-based company.
Creative Healthcare Solutions, a provider of marketing services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, is among 15 businesses and organizations selected to receive this year's Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. Weikert nominated his company for the annual award, which honors businesses and organizations that provide exemplary support for their employees in the Guard or reserve.
Weikert, a strategic-planning training officer in his military life, said he received differential pay and other benefits during his year-long Iraq deployment. He received care packages collected by his employer. Company representatives also took his two young sons to a National Hockey League game in nearby Atlanta during his absence, he added.
Creative Healthcare Solutions President Norman Stalsberg recalled that Weikert had about a week to prepare before he departed for Iraq. The 18-employee company quickly stepped up to help prepare Weikert and his loved ones for the deployment, the executive said.
"At that stage, pretty much all of our attention was put onto what we could do to help Tom and his family to make this deployment as least-disruptive as possible," Stalsberg said.
Stalsberg was "surprised and humbled" that his small company was selected to receive a Freedom Award.
"From my viewpoint, it's not about what we've done for Tom, but it's really about what Tom and his fellow soldiers are doing for us," Stalsberg pointed out.
Supporting employees in the Guard and reserve is important, because they're "putting life and limb on the line to fight for what this country stands for," Stalsberg said.
During his June 2006 to June 2007 tour of duty in Iraq, Weikert worked with senior U.S. and Iraqi military leaders in devising planning for the surge of forces in and around Baghdad. That important work was made easier, Weikert said, because he knew his family was being well taken care of back home.
"What they did for me really reflects how they feel about supporting the country," Weikert said of his civilian employer.
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and Reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.
Stalsberg will accept the Freedom Award on behalf of his company during a formal ceremony here Sept. 12.
Threat-Reduction Program Marks 15-Year Anniversary
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 29, 2007 - When the Soviet Union lifted its Iron Curtain after the Cold War, Moscow left behind a lethal legacy in former Soviet bloc countries -- arsenals filled with chemical and biological weapons, nuclear warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and submarines. But 15 years ago today, in the midst of rising fears that rogue regimes or terrorists sought the remaining stockpiles, U.S. Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar initiated the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, also called the Nunn-Lugar Program. Since 1992, the program drastically cut the number of leftover weapons, dismantling more than 2,000 intercontinental missiles, eliminating 1,000 missile launchers and deactivating 7,000 nuclear warheads in former Soviet Union states.
"Cooperative threat-reduction programs are a critical tool used to address one of the gravest threats we face: the danger that terrorists and proliferators could gain access to weapons or materials of mass destruction," President Bush said in a statement today.
Dedicated to securing, eliminating and accounting for large-scale deadly weapons, Bush said, cooperative threat-reduction programs represent "the cornerstone for U.S. funding" outlined in multilateral nonproliferation partnership efforts.
At a roundtable discussion yesterday at the Carnegie Center in Moscow, Lugar, who co-sponsored the program, called it "a concept through which we attempt to take control of a global threat of our own making."
"(The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program) became the primary tool through which the United States works with Russia to safely destroy its massive nuclear, chemical and biological warfare capacity," he said. "Both sides recognized the importance of this endeavor to our mutual security."
Together, the United States and Russia convinced Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan to eliminate all nuclear weapons from their territories, and in all, the program has disabled more nuclear weapons than exist in the combined arsenals of the United Kingdom, France and China.
"The significance of this is often underestimated," said Liz Sherwood, former deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia from 1993-96. Sherwood, who helped build the Nunn-Lugar framework on the Defense Department's behalf, noted that Ukraine possessed the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal when it gained independence in 1991.
"We largely don't notice the dogs that didn't bark, but Ukraine with nuclear weapons would have been a very different challenge for us," she said. "Basically, that hasn't been something we had to worry about at all, because we managed to denuclearize them so easily."
Sherwood commended Nunn and Lugar for their efforts, calling their program "important and inspirational."
"In an era in which are very worried about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," she said, "it is important to take note of how much we can do to prevent proliferation."
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 29, 2007 - When the Soviet Union lifted its Iron Curtain after the Cold War, Moscow left behind a lethal legacy in former Soviet bloc countries -- arsenals filled with chemical and biological weapons, nuclear warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and submarines. But 15 years ago today, in the midst of rising fears that rogue regimes or terrorists sought the remaining stockpiles, U.S. Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar initiated the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, also called the Nunn-Lugar Program. Since 1992, the program drastically cut the number of leftover weapons, dismantling more than 2,000 intercontinental missiles, eliminating 1,000 missile launchers and deactivating 7,000 nuclear warheads in former Soviet Union states.
"Cooperative threat-reduction programs are a critical tool used to address one of the gravest threats we face: the danger that terrorists and proliferators could gain access to weapons or materials of mass destruction," President Bush said in a statement today.
Dedicated to securing, eliminating and accounting for large-scale deadly weapons, Bush said, cooperative threat-reduction programs represent "the cornerstone for U.S. funding" outlined in multilateral nonproliferation partnership efforts.
At a roundtable discussion yesterday at the Carnegie Center in Moscow, Lugar, who co-sponsored the program, called it "a concept through which we attempt to take control of a global threat of our own making."
"(The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program) became the primary tool through which the United States works with Russia to safely destroy its massive nuclear, chemical and biological warfare capacity," he said. "Both sides recognized the importance of this endeavor to our mutual security."
Together, the United States and Russia convinced Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan to eliminate all nuclear weapons from their territories, and in all, the program has disabled more nuclear weapons than exist in the combined arsenals of the United Kingdom, France and China.
"The significance of this is often underestimated," said Liz Sherwood, former deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia from 1993-96. Sherwood, who helped build the Nunn-Lugar framework on the Defense Department's behalf, noted that Ukraine possessed the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal when it gained independence in 1991.
"We largely don't notice the dogs that didn't bark, but Ukraine with nuclear weapons would have been a very different challenge for us," she said. "Basically, that hasn't been something we had to worry about at all, because we managed to denuclearize them so easily."
Sherwood commended Nunn and Lugar for their efforts, calling their program "important and inspirational."
"In an era in which are very worried about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," she said, "it is important to take note of how much we can do to prevent proliferation."
Indiana Guardsman Cites Freight Firm for Excellent Support
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - Indiana National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Michael S. McAllister is so impressed with the support provided by his employer, Con-way Inc., that he recommended that it receive a prestigious Defense Department award. Con-way Inc. is among 15 businesses and organizations selected to receive this year's Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. McAllister nominated the company for the annual award, which honors businesses and organizations that provide exemplary support for their employees in the Guard or reserves.
McAllister is a coordinator at Con-way Freight's trucking hub in Plainfield, Ind., located near Indianapolis. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based firm is a division of Con-way Inc., a freight transportation and global logistics company based in San Mateo, Calif.
McAllister, 41, cited the company's demonstrated concern and support for its employees in the Guard or reserves.
"It wasn't so much all of the benefits. I mean, those are nice, because they're above and beyond what the law requires," McAllister explained.
Rather, he cited his employer's practice of welcoming home employees returning from military duty.
"We're obviously elated that the company was recognized, but as I've made it a point to share with people, we didn't do it for any 'brownie points' if you will, or awards for us," said David L. Miller, Con-way Freight's chief operating officer.
"We're doing it because we have the means to support our citizen-soldiers, and it is the right thing to do at the end of the day," Miller said. "We only enjoy our freedoms because we have fine young men and women that are willing to put it on the line."
Con-way Inc. and its subsidiaries provide differential pay to their employees in the Guard or reserves who are called up for active duty. The company also provides health benefits for spouses and children who remain at home and collects and delivers care packages of books, snacks and other items to overseas troops.
"We do a wage differential, so that when the guys or gals are deployed on active duty, whatever they would have earned here working for us, we make up the differential between what they make in the military vs. what they would have made here," Miller explained.
Supporting employees in the Guard or reserves who've been activated for duty assists them to "have their heads in the mission," so they can come home safely, Miller pointed out.
"We don't want them having to look over their shoulders, wondering if their families are being taken care of when they are over there taking care of all of our families," he said.
McAllister recalled being activated to participate in Operation Noble Eagle to guard airports and other vital U.S. infrastructure for two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He recently was activated again to help establish a new state training organization that will prepare Guard and reserve troops who've been mobilized for overseas duty.
Miller reiterated that his civilian employer excels at supporting its employees in the Guard or reserves. "I don't have to worry about the way the company's going to view me when I get back," the senior noncommissioned officer said, noting his company is proud of its employees in the Guard or reserves.
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.
Miller will accept the Freedom Award on behalf of Con-way Inc. during a formal ceremony here Sept 12.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - Indiana National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Michael S. McAllister is so impressed with the support provided by his employer, Con-way Inc., that he recommended that it receive a prestigious Defense Department award. Con-way Inc. is among 15 businesses and organizations selected to receive this year's Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. McAllister nominated the company for the annual award, which honors businesses and organizations that provide exemplary support for their employees in the Guard or reserves.
McAllister is a coordinator at Con-way Freight's trucking hub in Plainfield, Ind., located near Indianapolis. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based firm is a division of Con-way Inc., a freight transportation and global logistics company based in San Mateo, Calif.
McAllister, 41, cited the company's demonstrated concern and support for its employees in the Guard or reserves.
"It wasn't so much all of the benefits. I mean, those are nice, because they're above and beyond what the law requires," McAllister explained.
Rather, he cited his employer's practice of welcoming home employees returning from military duty.
"We're obviously elated that the company was recognized, but as I've made it a point to share with people, we didn't do it for any 'brownie points' if you will, or awards for us," said David L. Miller, Con-way Freight's chief operating officer.
"We're doing it because we have the means to support our citizen-soldiers, and it is the right thing to do at the end of the day," Miller said. "We only enjoy our freedoms because we have fine young men and women that are willing to put it on the line."
Con-way Inc. and its subsidiaries provide differential pay to their employees in the Guard or reserves who are called up for active duty. The company also provides health benefits for spouses and children who remain at home and collects and delivers care packages of books, snacks and other items to overseas troops.
"We do a wage differential, so that when the guys or gals are deployed on active duty, whatever they would have earned here working for us, we make up the differential between what they make in the military vs. what they would have made here," Miller explained.
Supporting employees in the Guard or reserves who've been activated for duty assists them to "have their heads in the mission," so they can come home safely, Miller pointed out.
"We don't want them having to look over their shoulders, wondering if their families are being taken care of when they are over there taking care of all of our families," he said.
McAllister recalled being activated to participate in Operation Noble Eagle to guard airports and other vital U.S. infrastructure for two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He recently was activated again to help establish a new state training organization that will prepare Guard and reserve troops who've been mobilized for overseas duty.
Miller reiterated that his civilian employer excels at supporting its employees in the Guard or reserves. "I don't have to worry about the way the company's going to view me when I get back," the senior noncommissioned officer said, noting his company is proud of its employees in the Guard or reserves.
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recognizes U.S. employers that rise above the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, manages the award process. ESGR assists Guard and reserve members and their employers understand employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations, benefits and remedies under the act.
Miller will accept the Freedom Award on behalf of Con-way Inc. during a formal ceremony here Sept 12.
Dinners Give Troops New Support Network
By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - For injured servicemembers, the transition between hospital and hometown can be a rough one. Kathy Pearce is working to make that transition a little smoother in Arizona's Sun Valley with monthly "Hometown Heroes Dinners." The dinners give still-recovering servicemembers a chance to get together with others in the area who have shared similar experiences.
"What I was finding is that once they get back home ... there is such a loss of that camaraderie once they're not with their unit or they're not in a rehab center," said Kathy Pearce, a Military Severely Injured Center advocate for support in Arizona.
It wasn't Pearce's role as an advocate that opened her eyes to this issue. It was her role as a military mom.
Her son, Army Staff Sgt. Brent Bretz, suffered severe injuries in December 2004 while serving in Iraq. Pearce spent months with him as he recovered. During this time, she observed the bond Bretz formed with his fellow patients over shared experiences. "I thought we needed to do something to bring them all together (again)," she said. "That's when I started looking for somebody that would do dinners."
Patrons of a new restaurant in the area who knew of Pearce's plan suggested she talk to Ron Youngberg, a managing partner in one of three R.T. O'Sullivan's Sports Grill restaurants in the Sun Valley area.
He stepped up to the plate and hosted the inaugural dinner for about 11 servicemembers and their guests Aug. 6.
"(If) you get a chance to give back to somebody, then we want to do that. Ray O'Sullivan (the restaurant owner) ... was all for it," Youngberg said. "He's an ex-Irish cop, an ex-Irish soccer player, and he's had the benefits of living over here for many years now. It was a small token of appreciation he could extend to them, because they've done so much for us.
"It wasn't just the idea of giving the guys a free meal," Youngberg said. "It was just a matter of having them come out to have a spot to mainly network amongst themselves."
Both Youngberg and Pearce saw just that beginning to happen.
"You could kind of see that they were making new friends, new bonds," Pearce said of the veterans who attended the dinner. "It may take a few times to get it where they really feel comfortable, but you could see it happening."
In addition to the veterans, Veterans Affairs case workers and the Arizona director of VA services attended that first dinner. The VA representatives were on hand to introduce themselves and offer their assistance when the servicemembers are ready to enter that system, Pearce said.
R.T. O'Sullivan's Glendale, Ariz., location hosted the first of the monthly dinners, based on similar events in Washington and Texas.
The R.T. O'Sullivan's in Mesa Springs has agreed to host the next dinner Sept. 5, Youngberg said. The reason for the shift in stores is simply to reach as many veterans as possible, since travel can be difficult for the recovering servicemembers.
Youngberg has contacted friends who own restaurants and asked them to come on board, as well. Pearce confirmed that one of those restaurants has agreed to host a future dinner.
The restaurants donate the meals, meaning there's no cost to those attending the dinners, Pearce said. If it ever becomes more than the restaurants feel they can handle financially, she has two nonprofit groups lined up to help defray the cost. One of those is a Washington-based organization.
The other is Salute A Soldier Foundation, the nonprofit group her son and his siblings formed to raise awareness and promote the assistance of injured servicemembers and their families as they return to their communities. The organization already serves as a co-host of the "Hometown Heroes Dinners."
"It's just kind of their way to say, 'Thank you' back to others as they are now trying to return home," she said of Salute A Soldier.
Editor's Note: To find out about more individuals, groups and organizations that are helping support the troops, visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America Supports You directly connects military members to the support of the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their quest to find meaningful ways to support the military community.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - For injured servicemembers, the transition between hospital and hometown can be a rough one. Kathy Pearce is working to make that transition a little smoother in Arizona's Sun Valley with monthly "Hometown Heroes Dinners." The dinners give still-recovering servicemembers a chance to get together with others in the area who have shared similar experiences.
"What I was finding is that once they get back home ... there is such a loss of that camaraderie once they're not with their unit or they're not in a rehab center," said Kathy Pearce, a Military Severely Injured Center advocate for support in Arizona.
It wasn't Pearce's role as an advocate that opened her eyes to this issue. It was her role as a military mom.
Her son, Army Staff Sgt. Brent Bretz, suffered severe injuries in December 2004 while serving in Iraq. Pearce spent months with him as he recovered. During this time, she observed the bond Bretz formed with his fellow patients over shared experiences. "I thought we needed to do something to bring them all together (again)," she said. "That's when I started looking for somebody that would do dinners."
Patrons of a new restaurant in the area who knew of Pearce's plan suggested she talk to Ron Youngberg, a managing partner in one of three R.T. O'Sullivan's Sports Grill restaurants in the Sun Valley area.
He stepped up to the plate and hosted the inaugural dinner for about 11 servicemembers and their guests Aug. 6.
"(If) you get a chance to give back to somebody, then we want to do that. Ray O'Sullivan (the restaurant owner) ... was all for it," Youngberg said. "He's an ex-Irish cop, an ex-Irish soccer player, and he's had the benefits of living over here for many years now. It was a small token of appreciation he could extend to them, because they've done so much for us.
"It wasn't just the idea of giving the guys a free meal," Youngberg said. "It was just a matter of having them come out to have a spot to mainly network amongst themselves."
Both Youngberg and Pearce saw just that beginning to happen.
"You could kind of see that they were making new friends, new bonds," Pearce said of the veterans who attended the dinner. "It may take a few times to get it where they really feel comfortable, but you could see it happening."
In addition to the veterans, Veterans Affairs case workers and the Arizona director of VA services attended that first dinner. The VA representatives were on hand to introduce themselves and offer their assistance when the servicemembers are ready to enter that system, Pearce said.
R.T. O'Sullivan's Glendale, Ariz., location hosted the first of the monthly dinners, based on similar events in Washington and Texas.
The R.T. O'Sullivan's in Mesa Springs has agreed to host the next dinner Sept. 5, Youngberg said. The reason for the shift in stores is simply to reach as many veterans as possible, since travel can be difficult for the recovering servicemembers.
Youngberg has contacted friends who own restaurants and asked them to come on board, as well. Pearce confirmed that one of those restaurants has agreed to host a future dinner.
The restaurants donate the meals, meaning there's no cost to those attending the dinners, Pearce said. If it ever becomes more than the restaurants feel they can handle financially, she has two nonprofit groups lined up to help defray the cost. One of those is a Washington-based organization.
The other is Salute A Soldier Foundation, the nonprofit group her son and his siblings formed to raise awareness and promote the assistance of injured servicemembers and their families as they return to their communities. The organization already serves as a co-host of the "Hometown Heroes Dinners."
"It's just kind of their way to say, 'Thank you' back to others as they are now trying to return home," she said of Salute A Soldier.
Editor's Note: To find out about more individuals, groups and organizations that are helping support the troops, visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America Supports You directly connects military members to the support of the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their quest to find meaningful ways to support the military community.
Justice, Defense Agencies Examine Contracting Problems
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - The Justice Department and defense agencies are examining contracting problems in Southwest Asia in light of improprieties uncovered in internal reviews, a Defense Department spokesman said today. While not commenting on specific investigations, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the department is concerned about "ensuring the integrity of our accounting systems, as well as the integrity of our contracting procedures."
The Army Audit Agency, Army Criminal Investigation Command, Defense Contract Auditing Agency, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, FBI, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and Justice Department are cooperating to address problems that have come to light due to internal investigations, Whitman told reporters.
The entities are "looking at aspects of our operations to ensure that people are doing the right thing as they go about their business of contracting for goods and services, accounting for property and things like that," he said.
Department officials are concerned with the number of contracting improprieties that have been uncovered, Whitman said.
The Army is the lead agency in the fraud investigations. The investigations are into contracts for goods and services issued in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. As of Aug. 23, 73 criminal investigations relating to contract fraud in the region had been started. A total of 20 civilians and military personnel have been charged, Army spokesman Col. Dan Baggio said. He said these individuals are accused of taking some $15 million in bribes.
A total of $5 billion in contracts are affected by the criminal investigations, he added.
Problems with the contracts run the gamut from bid-rigging, kickbacks, product substitution, and double billing, Baggio said. Those being investigated include government employees, contractors, military personnel and local nationals.
When defense officials identify people who have done things that are inappropriate or criminal, "we prosecute them and hold them accountable," Whitman said.
Defense Department Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter is bringing a team to Iraq soon to take a look at overall contracting procedures. "(Inspectors general) have broad charters when they go in," Whitman said. The team will look across the broad landscape of the department and take what actions are warranted.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - The Justice Department and defense agencies are examining contracting problems in Southwest Asia in light of improprieties uncovered in internal reviews, a Defense Department spokesman said today. While not commenting on specific investigations, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the department is concerned about "ensuring the integrity of our accounting systems, as well as the integrity of our contracting procedures."
The Army Audit Agency, Army Criminal Investigation Command, Defense Contract Auditing Agency, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, FBI, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and Justice Department are cooperating to address problems that have come to light due to internal investigations, Whitman told reporters.
The entities are "looking at aspects of our operations to ensure that people are doing the right thing as they go about their business of contracting for goods and services, accounting for property and things like that," he said.
Department officials are concerned with the number of contracting improprieties that have been uncovered, Whitman said.
The Army is the lead agency in the fraud investigations. The investigations are into contracts for goods and services issued in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. As of Aug. 23, 73 criminal investigations relating to contract fraud in the region had been started. A total of 20 civilians and military personnel have been charged, Army spokesman Col. Dan Baggio said. He said these individuals are accused of taking some $15 million in bribes.
A total of $5 billion in contracts are affected by the criminal investigations, he added.
Problems with the contracts run the gamut from bid-rigging, kickbacks, product substitution, and double billing, Baggio said. Those being investigated include government employees, contractors, military personnel and local nationals.
When defense officials identify people who have done things that are inappropriate or criminal, "we prosecute them and hold them accountable," Whitman said.
Defense Department Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter is bringing a team to Iraq soon to take a look at overall contracting procedures. "(Inspectors general) have broad charters when they go in," Whitman said. The team will look across the broad landscape of the department and take what actions are warranted.
Army Extends Level of Support to Fallen Soldiers' Families
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - Families of deceased active-duty soldiers can receive an extended level of support from a long-term care program the Army launched 18 months ago, the program's chief said today. The Army Long Term Family Case Management program provides long-term support to families of fallen soldiers by helping them through the often painful and sometimes arduous steps toward receiving benefits and various other types of support, Army Lt. Col. Nora Linderman, program chief of Army Long Term Family Case Management, told online journalists and "bloggers" in a conference call today.
"My team and I are constantly listening to families, learning what they need (and) enhancing and expanding our program accordingly so that we can do whatever is required," she said.
Casualty assistance officers generally avail themselves to families at the early stages of the mourning process, at least through a fallen soldier's interment, Linderman said. But in the months and years following the loss of a loved one, unresolved issues and questions often surface regarding benefits and support services, she said.
To address such issues, a support coordinator with Army Long Term Family Case Management contacts the family about six months following the loss of a loved one. The coordinator maintains an "open dialogue" with family members for as long as they find it helpful, Linderman said.
The program also follows congressional legislation that pertains to benefits programs offered to families of deceased soldiers and posts the information on its Web site, http://www.altfcm.army.mil.
Launched in February 2006, Army Long Term Family Case Management already has helped more than 5,000 families identify benefits to which they're entitled, Linderman noted.
"Being able to be there with a support structure for the families through the months and the years after the loss is a wonderful step in the right direction," she said. "I encourage anyone who has suffered a loss to lean on us."
Information about Army Long Term Family Case Management is available on the program's Web site or by calling a support coordinator at 1-866-272-5841.
American Forces Press Service
Aug. 28, 2007 - Families of deceased active-duty soldiers can receive an extended level of support from a long-term care program the Army launched 18 months ago, the program's chief said today. The Army Long Term Family Case Management program provides long-term support to families of fallen soldiers by helping them through the often painful and sometimes arduous steps toward receiving benefits and various other types of support, Army Lt. Col. Nora Linderman, program chief of Army Long Term Family Case Management, told online journalists and "bloggers" in a conference call today.
"My team and I are constantly listening to families, learning what they need (and) enhancing and expanding our program accordingly so that we can do whatever is required," she said.
Casualty assistance officers generally avail themselves to families at the early stages of the mourning process, at least through a fallen soldier's interment, Linderman said. But in the months and years following the loss of a loved one, unresolved issues and questions often surface regarding benefits and support services, she said.
To address such issues, a support coordinator with Army Long Term Family Case Management contacts the family about six months following the loss of a loved one. The coordinator maintains an "open dialogue" with family members for as long as they find it helpful, Linderman said.
The program also follows congressional legislation that pertains to benefits programs offered to families of deceased soldiers and posts the information on its Web site, http://www.altfcm.army.mil.
Launched in February 2006, Army Long Term Family Case Management already has helped more than 5,000 families identify benefits to which they're entitled, Linderman noted.
"Being able to be there with a support structure for the families through the months and the years after the loss is a wonderful step in the right direction," she said. "I encourage anyone who has suffered a loss to lean on us."
Information about Army Long Term Family Case Management is available on the program's Web site or by calling a support coordinator at 1-866-272-5841.
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