Editor's Note: All three police authors are former servicemembers.
April 3, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. Each of the police officers newly listed on the website is also a former servicemember.
In 1954, Robbie Waters enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, completing his tour of duty in 1957. In 1958, he joined the Sacramento Police Department. His law enforcement career with the Sacramento Police Department included assignments in patrol, detectives, and administrative functions. Retiring at the rank of lieutenant, he was elected sheriff of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.
In addition to serving as a member of the law enforcement community for over 28 years, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology from California State University at Sacramento. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He retired from the Sacrament County Sheriff’s Department in 1987 and was subsequently elected to the Sacramento City Council. Robbie Waters is the author of An Introduction to Law Enforcement.
Arthur Knuckey was a Hospital Corpsman in the United States Navy. Discharged in 1951, he returned to his life as a professional rodeo cowboy. In 1954, he joined the San Bernardino Police Department (California), retired 22 years later at the rank of lieutenant. A law school graduate, he was ultimately appointed as a Superior Court Commissioner in 1988 and retired in 1999. He is the author of Me and Other Great Hunters: A Humorous Look at True Events in the Sport of Hunting; Recollections of a Rodeo Cowboy: We May Not Have Been; and, The Odor of Death.
According to the book description of The Odor of Death, “With its cast full of brawny, bright, and beautiful characters, this book is a thrill a minute! The Odor of Death is a must for anyone who loves a modern adventure. The author has crafted a compelling and thoroughly entertaining story that includes wonderfully accurate depictions of cowboys, cops, and civilians.”
Richard Carlson is a veteran of the US Army and who joined the San Diego Police Department in 1969. During his 35 year law enforcement career, Richard Carlson worked patrol, crime prevention and detectives. He spent eight years a homicide detective and five years assigned to the Violent Crime Task Force. Richard Carlson is the author of I'm in the Tub, Gone.
According to the book description of I'm in the Tub, Gone, “We now live in a time of comfort, convenience and opportunity such as mankind has never known. With all the great things we are provided, we also get many side effects that some thrive on and others do not welcome. Some of these are expectations, added or unwanted responsibility, inconvenience, or extreme supervision to name a few. We all deal with these pressures in a different manner. Then we add another factor, our personal lives. Most people have the ultimate goal to make their personal lives better. We want a happy, normal life at home, no matter what our status is in the community. Some choose suicide as an option to get relief. These are true stories of those final thoughts. Could they have been helped? We will never know. Can we help others in desperate need? Maybe, if we provide a little kindness and understanding. At least we can try.”
Police-Writers.com now hosts 921 police officers (representing 390 police departments) and their 1931 police books in 33 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.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
NATO Summit Participants Wrap Up Busy Second Day
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
April 3, 2008 - The second day of NATO's summit conference wrapped up here today with clear support for more troops in Afghanistan, a missile defense system for Europe and the hopes of eventually adding at least five more countries to the alliance. It was a day of extended, hours-long, closed sessions in which NATO members went "off script" and passionately debated the language of communiqués and declarations that would map out the direction of the alliance for years to come.
It was a "fine day for NATO," according to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I think that it was, for me, affirming of the decision to expand this alliance; it was affirming of the decision to keep new blood coming into the alliance, especially new blood of people who understand what it was to live under tyranny and now are breathing freedom and liberty with a kind of gusto and enjoyment that perhaps only those who have been denied it can have," Rice said.
Rice was joined at the news conference by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
"People really got off script," Hadley said. "You know, the characterization of these meetings is people sitting around a table reading prepared talking points. In the discussions today, people talked with a first person and a passion that was interesting."
In the end, NATO issued a summit declaration in which it:
-- Invited Albania and Croatia to begin accession talks with NATO;
-- Named the mission in Afghanistan its "top priority;"
-- Acknowledged for the first time that ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to the allies; and
-- Agreed to work with Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro in their quest for NATO membership.
NATO also invited Serbia to begin a dialogue with the alliance.
The declaration said that "Euro-Atlantic and wider international security is closely tied to Afghanistan's future as a peaceful, democratic state," and asserted that the alliance would not allow extremists and terrorists to regain control of Afghanistan or use it as a base for terror.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his country would send another battalion of troops to help in Afghanistan. The troops will be added to the eastern provinces of the country, allowing U.S. troops, who have been successful at squelching the troubles there, to move to the embattled southern provinces.
Also, Hadley said, another dozen or so allies have pledged contributions. He said that it will be about three weeks before the final numbers of troops dedicated to the region can be tallied, but that the commitment would meet the Canadian parliament's demands that allies provide at least 1,000 more troops and equipment to the region in order for it to keep its 2,500 troops there.
In a show of support to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, NATO also committed to building an equipped Afghan army to 80,000 troops by 2010.
"Bottom line, a good day on Afghanistan," Hadley said. "NATO has adopted a vision statement to explain the mission and the importance of the mission to their publics. They have developed and integrated a plan for integrating political and military instruments in order to try and achieve success there."
NATO pledged to invite Macedonia to join the alliance as soon as it can work through the dispute over its name with its neighbor, Greece. Greece objects to using the name Macedonia, saying it implies claims on a Greek province of the same name.
"We encourage negotiations to be resumed without delay, and expect them to be concluded as soon as possible," the declaration reads.
NATO reaffirmed both its open-door policy and its plans for developing a missile defense strategy in its declaration, which said that "far from posing a threat to our relationship, (those efforts) offer opportunities to deepen levels of cooperation and stability."
Russia has opposed U.S. plans to place radars in the Czech Republic and Poland. The United States wants to develop a long-range missile defense system complimented by a NATO-led, short- and medium-range missile defense system.
"The NATO allies ... asked Russia to stop its criticism of the alliance effort and to join in the cooperative efforts that have been offered to it by the United States," Rice said. She called the declaration a "breakthrough document for missile defense for the alliance." Russian President Vladimir Putin meets tomorrow with the NATO-Russian Council.
In the declaration, NATO said it would explore ways to link the United States' proposed capability to current NATO-wide missile defense architecture. NATO tasked the North Atlantic Council, its main governing body, to develop options for a comprehensive plan for review at the alliance's 2009 summit.
The declaration also reiterated the allies' commitment to supporting the government of Iraq and agreed to extend the NATO training mission there through 2009.
American Forces Press Service
April 3, 2008 - The second day of NATO's summit conference wrapped up here today with clear support for more troops in Afghanistan, a missile defense system for Europe and the hopes of eventually adding at least five more countries to the alliance. It was a day of extended, hours-long, closed sessions in which NATO members went "off script" and passionately debated the language of communiqués and declarations that would map out the direction of the alliance for years to come.
It was a "fine day for NATO," according to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I think that it was, for me, affirming of the decision to expand this alliance; it was affirming of the decision to keep new blood coming into the alliance, especially new blood of people who understand what it was to live under tyranny and now are breathing freedom and liberty with a kind of gusto and enjoyment that perhaps only those who have been denied it can have," Rice said.
Rice was joined at the news conference by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
"People really got off script," Hadley said. "You know, the characterization of these meetings is people sitting around a table reading prepared talking points. In the discussions today, people talked with a first person and a passion that was interesting."
In the end, NATO issued a summit declaration in which it:
-- Invited Albania and Croatia to begin accession talks with NATO;
-- Named the mission in Afghanistan its "top priority;"
-- Acknowledged for the first time that ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to the allies; and
-- Agreed to work with Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro in their quest for NATO membership.
NATO also invited Serbia to begin a dialogue with the alliance.
The declaration said that "Euro-Atlantic and wider international security is closely tied to Afghanistan's future as a peaceful, democratic state," and asserted that the alliance would not allow extremists and terrorists to regain control of Afghanistan or use it as a base for terror.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his country would send another battalion of troops to help in Afghanistan. The troops will be added to the eastern provinces of the country, allowing U.S. troops, who have been successful at squelching the troubles there, to move to the embattled southern provinces.
Also, Hadley said, another dozen or so allies have pledged contributions. He said that it will be about three weeks before the final numbers of troops dedicated to the region can be tallied, but that the commitment would meet the Canadian parliament's demands that allies provide at least 1,000 more troops and equipment to the region in order for it to keep its 2,500 troops there.
In a show of support to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, NATO also committed to building an equipped Afghan army to 80,000 troops by 2010.
"Bottom line, a good day on Afghanistan," Hadley said. "NATO has adopted a vision statement to explain the mission and the importance of the mission to their publics. They have developed and integrated a plan for integrating political and military instruments in order to try and achieve success there."
NATO pledged to invite Macedonia to join the alliance as soon as it can work through the dispute over its name with its neighbor, Greece. Greece objects to using the name Macedonia, saying it implies claims on a Greek province of the same name.
"We encourage negotiations to be resumed without delay, and expect them to be concluded as soon as possible," the declaration reads.
NATO reaffirmed both its open-door policy and its plans for developing a missile defense strategy in its declaration, which said that "far from posing a threat to our relationship, (those efforts) offer opportunities to deepen levels of cooperation and stability."
Russia has opposed U.S. plans to place radars in the Czech Republic and Poland. The United States wants to develop a long-range missile defense system complimented by a NATO-led, short- and medium-range missile defense system.
"The NATO allies ... asked Russia to stop its criticism of the alliance effort and to join in the cooperative efforts that have been offered to it by the United States," Rice said. She called the declaration a "breakthrough document for missile defense for the alliance." Russian President Vladimir Putin meets tomorrow with the NATO-Russian Council.
In the declaration, NATO said it would explore ways to link the United States' proposed capability to current NATO-wide missile defense architecture. NATO tasked the North Atlantic Council, its main governing body, to develop options for a comprehensive plan for review at the alliance's 2009 summit.
The declaration also reiterated the allies' commitment to supporting the government of Iraq and agreed to extend the NATO training mission there through 2009.
Navy to Christen The USNS Amelia Earhart
The Navy will launch and christen the USNS Amelia Earhart at a 9 p.m. PDT ceremony on April 6, 2008. The christening ceremony for the newest ship in the Lewis and Clark (T-AKE) class of underway replenishment ships will be held at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego.
Designated as T-AKE 6, the new ship honors aviation pioneer Amelia Mary Earhart for her courage, vision and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women.
Earhart's name became a household word in 1932 when she became the first woman -- and second person -- to fly solo across the Atlantic, flying from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Londonderry, Ireland. That year, she received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French government, and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover. In January 1935, Earhart became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif. Later that year she soloed from Los Angeles to Mexico City and back to Newark, N.J. In July 1936, Earhart took delivery of a Lockheed 10E "Electra," financed by Purdue University, and started planning her around-the-world flight.
Rep. Susan A. Davis, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Earhart's niece, Amy Kleppner, will serve as ship's sponsor. The launching ceremony will include the time-honored Navy tradition when the sponsor breaks a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship "Amelia Earhart."
The USNS Amelia Earhart is the sixth ship in the Navy's 11-ship T-AKE class. The ship will directly contribute to the ability of the Navy to maintain a worldwide forward presence by delivering ammunition, food, fuel, and other dry cargo to U.S. and allied ships at sea. The ship is designed to operate independently for extended periods at sea and can carry and support two helicopters to conduct vertical replenishment.
As part of Military Sealift Command's (MSC) Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force,the USNS Amelia Earhart is designated as a United States Naval Ship (USNS) and will be crewed by 124 civil service mariners working for Military Sealift Command's. The ship will also have a military detachment of 11 U.S. Navy sailors to provide supply coordination.
One previous ship has been named for Earhart. The SS Amelia Earhart was a Liberty ship built in the U.S. during World War II.
Additional information about this class of ship is available on line at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4400&tid=500&ct=4.
Designated as T-AKE 6, the new ship honors aviation pioneer Amelia Mary Earhart for her courage, vision and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women.
Earhart's name became a household word in 1932 when she became the first woman -- and second person -- to fly solo across the Atlantic, flying from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Londonderry, Ireland. That year, she received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French government, and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover. In January 1935, Earhart became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif. Later that year she soloed from Los Angeles to Mexico City and back to Newark, N.J. In July 1936, Earhart took delivery of a Lockheed 10E "Electra," financed by Purdue University, and started planning her around-the-world flight.
Rep. Susan A. Davis, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Earhart's niece, Amy Kleppner, will serve as ship's sponsor. The launching ceremony will include the time-honored Navy tradition when the sponsor breaks a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship "Amelia Earhart."
The USNS Amelia Earhart is the sixth ship in the Navy's 11-ship T-AKE class. The ship will directly contribute to the ability of the Navy to maintain a worldwide forward presence by delivering ammunition, food, fuel, and other dry cargo to U.S. and allied ships at sea. The ship is designed to operate independently for extended periods at sea and can carry and support two helicopters to conduct vertical replenishment.
As part of Military Sealift Command's (MSC) Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force,the USNS Amelia Earhart is designated as a United States Naval Ship (USNS) and will be crewed by 124 civil service mariners working for Military Sealift Command's. The ship will also have a military detachment of 11 U.S. Navy sailors to provide supply coordination.
One previous ship has been named for Earhart. The SS Amelia Earhart was a Liberty ship built in the U.S. during World War II.
Additional information about this class of ship is available on line at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4400&tid=500&ct=4.
Tactics and Fiction
Editor's Note: One of the authors is a former servicemember.
April 3, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books.
Special Agent Ronald Adams, Riverside Police Department (California), retired, is a 28 year veteran, of law enforcement and a widely known and recognized as an expert in police officer safety and survival. He is the co-author of Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters.
Peter Wright is a retired detective from the Redlands Police Department (California). Peter Wright is the author of The Iron Dog.
According to the book description, “The Iron Dog case follows the abduction and assault of a seventeen-year-old highschool girl and the hunt for the suspects by Barton Keene, a former San Francisco homicide detective, and his two close friends, Buddy Bigfeather, a grape grower in the California wine country, and Denton Tuggle, a local cop. Keene’s pursuit of the outlaw gang that kidnapped Tonya Charbonneau eventually includes murders, crime scene investigations, airplane crashes, and autopsies.”
Charlie Staump is a retired investigator from the Orange County Sheriff's Department in California. After 8 years in the Marine Corps and 18 years in law enforcement he found himself in the unenviable position of being retired at the age of 43 because of health problems. In an attempt to keep busy, he organized and directed an eighteen-piece swing band which was comprised of many veterans of the famous big bands of the forties and fifties. He also started a little business of making miniatures which he sold throughout the country. Charlie Staump is the author of The Calico Incident and The Lady of Goldstone.
According to the book description of The Calico Incident, “In the year of 1988 Johnny M. Johnson, a retired deputy Sheriff in San Bernardino, California, takes a job as an actor-gunfighter in the ghost town of Calico. He was well aware of the history of that old mining town and the rumors of its reported ghostly legends. Johnny had a personal connection to Calico that went back one hundred years. He had no idea that this connection would come back to haunt both he and his partner.”
Police-Writers.com now hosts 918 police officers (representing 390 police departments) and their 1926 police books in 32 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.
April 3, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books.
Special Agent Ronald Adams, Riverside Police Department (California), retired, is a 28 year veteran, of law enforcement and a widely known and recognized as an expert in police officer safety and survival. He is the co-author of Street Survival: Tactics for Armed Encounters.
Peter Wright is a retired detective from the Redlands Police Department (California). Peter Wright is the author of The Iron Dog.
According to the book description, “The Iron Dog case follows the abduction and assault of a seventeen-year-old highschool girl and the hunt for the suspects by Barton Keene, a former San Francisco homicide detective, and his two close friends, Buddy Bigfeather, a grape grower in the California wine country, and Denton Tuggle, a local cop. Keene’s pursuit of the outlaw gang that kidnapped Tonya Charbonneau eventually includes murders, crime scene investigations, airplane crashes, and autopsies.”
Charlie Staump is a retired investigator from the Orange County Sheriff's Department in California. After 8 years in the Marine Corps and 18 years in law enforcement he found himself in the unenviable position of being retired at the age of 43 because of health problems. In an attempt to keep busy, he organized and directed an eighteen-piece swing band which was comprised of many veterans of the famous big bands of the forties and fifties. He also started a little business of making miniatures which he sold throughout the country. Charlie Staump is the author of The Calico Incident and The Lady of Goldstone.
According to the book description of The Calico Incident, “In the year of 1988 Johnny M. Johnson, a retired deputy Sheriff in San Bernardino, California, takes a job as an actor-gunfighter in the ghost town of Calico. He was well aware of the history of that old mining town and the rumors of its reported ghostly legends. Johnny had a personal connection to Calico that went back one hundred years. He had no idea that this connection would come back to haunt both he and his partner.”
Police-Writers.com now hosts 918 police officers (representing 390 police departments) and their 1926 police books in 32 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.
Security Sector Reform in Liberia: Mixed Results from Humble Beginnings
The author presents an explanatory overview and analysis of progress made with the process of security sector reform in Liberia--with particular reference to the armed forces and the police. The author begins with a concise review of what the theory of SSR and its application in the Liberian context and follows with a description of Liberia’s post-war security architecture and the urgent need for a comprehensive and sustained process of reform. An overview of the legal and conceptual framework for engaging in SSR in Liberia is provided as further backdrop to substantive sections dealing with the reform (or re-building) of the Armed Forces of Liberia and the Liberia National Police. The author concludes with a critical analysis of the SSR process and recommendations for further action.
READ ON
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=855
READ ON
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=855
The Political Context Behind Successful Revolutionary Movements, Three Case Studies: Vietnam (1955-63), Algeria (1945-62), and Nicaragua (1967-79)
Following the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the new world order did not bring about a closure of revolutionary warfare. In fact, the Soviet-inspired wars of liberation against imperialism have been eclipsed by reactionary, jihadist wars. By all indications in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, and Iraq, Islamic militants have embraced revolutionary warfare, although not Mao’s People’s War model. Therefore, a study of revolutionary warfare is apt because the conflict between the West and radical jihadism will continue to take place in dysfunctional, collapsing, or failed states. The author examines the political-military lessons from these conflicts and suggests that the United States should minimize the level and type of assistance to states fighting in an insurgency because these states possess greater advantages than previously supposed.
READ ON
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=851
Drug Intoxicated Irregular Fighters: Complications, Dangers, and Responses
The presence of drugged fighters is not unknown in the history of warfare. Yet widespread drug use on the battlefield is now part of protracted conflicts largely fought by nonprofessional combatants that take place in an international system characterized by the process of globalization. From marijuana, khat, hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine to looted pharmaceuticals, irregular fighters have found a ready supply of narcotics to consume for a variety of combat purposes. Such consumption has led to unpredictable fighting, the commission of atrocities, and to the prolongation of internal violence. The presence of intoxicated combatants will continue to be a feature of armed conflict and requires a fuller accounting to adequately prepare policymakers and military planners for future conflicts.
READ ON
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=850
READ ON
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=850
NATO Offers Membership to Two of Three Balkan Candidates
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
Romania, April 3, 2008 - NATO formally offered membership today to two of the three Balkan nations President Bush had strongly advocated for acceptance. Albania and Croatia were accepted by the 26 other NATO members to begin the accession process after hours-long discussions of the North Atlantic Council, NATO's principal decision-making body, this morning.
"Both these nations have demonstrated the ability and the willingness to provide strong and enduring contributions to NATO," Bush said at a meeting of the council in which representatives of the candidate nations were present. "Both have undertaken challenging political, economic and defense reforms. Both have deployed their forces on NATO missions. Albania and Croatia are ready for the responsibility NATO brings, and they will make outstanding members of this alliance," he said.
Greece blocked Macedonia, the third Balkan nation under consideration, from receiving an invitation to join. Greece objects to the nation using the name Macedonia, saying it implies claims on a Greek province of the same name.
U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, in a briefing after the meetings to the White House traveling press, said NATO agrees that Macedonia "clearly" is ready for NATO membership, but that a mutually accepted name should be resolved between the two countries before an invitation to membership is extended.
"We regret that we were not able to reach consensus today to invite Macedonia to join the alliance," Bush said. "Macedonia has made difficult reforms at home. It is making major contributions to NATO missions abroad. The name issue needs to be resolved quickly, so that Macedonia can be welcomed into NATO as soon as possible."
Bush said NATO needs to intensify its engagement with Macedonia to ensure it becomes a member.
"Albania, Croatia and Macedonia all know the difference between good and evil, because they clearly remember evil's face," Bush said. "These nations do not take their freedom for granted, because they still remember life without it. These nations respect the hard work of building democracy, because they brought it to life in their countries."
In other NATO issues, Georgia and Ukraine were not invited to start the membership action plan, a necessary step toward membership. Hadley said a strong consensus is in place within the alliance that the two former Soviet republics eventually will join NATO, but the timing of starting the plan is in question.
Some members questioned whether the democratic reforms in the two countries have taken root and their political systems are stable, Hadley said. Also, Georgia has unresolved disputes with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he said.
Still, NATO members agreed to a strongly worded statement that "NATO welcomes Ukraine and Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO," Hadley said.
"That's a very strong statement, giving them a clear prospect of NATO membership," he said.
Instead of starting the MAP process with the two countries, NATO opted instead to step up its engagement with the countries, and their status will be reassessed in December. NATO's foreign ministers will decide then whether Georgia and Ukraine have made sufficient progress to begin the membership action plan. The decision does not have to go back to NATO for consensus, Hadley said.
"Would we have preferred to have MAP today? Of course. Do we think we achieved the strategic decision we needed from the NATO alliance that these countries will be members of NATO? Absolutely," Hadley said.
Two other countries moved toward eventual membership during the talks today.
NATO agreed that an "intensified dialogue" should begin with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro. Both are considered in the "Partnership for Peace" stage of working toward membership. Intensified dialogue is the stage just before being invited to begin the membership action plan. NATO also agreed that an intensive dialogue would be offered to Serbia.
In other news from the NATO summit conference, a communiqué is expected to come from the meetings today delivering what U.S. officials wanted on the issue of missile defense, a senior administration official said, speaking on background. The United States expects a NATO endorsement of its missile defense plan in Europe, as well as plans to develop a NATO-run short- and medium-range missile defense system, the official said.
The statement is expected to say that ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to allies' forces, territory and populations. Also, it is expected to task the heads of state with developing a plan for the NATO missile defense architecture to bring back to the 2009 summit.
Missile defense was not a specific agenda item for the summit, but is expected to be discussed through the day and tomorrow, when Russian President Vladimir Putin joins the talks tomorrow for the NATO-Russian Council. Putin has expressed concern over U.S. plans for the missile defense system, and officials have been working to ease his concerns that the system could be used against Russia.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced in the early meetings his country would send another battalion of troops to help in Afghanistan. The troops will deploy to the eastern provinces of the country, allowing U.S. troops, who have been successful at squelching problems there, to move to the embattled southern provinces.
The Canadian parliament had agreed to extend Canada's troops in the south only if allies provided more resources. Other countries are expected to announce troop increases.
American Forces Press Service
Romania, April 3, 2008 - NATO formally offered membership today to two of the three Balkan nations President Bush had strongly advocated for acceptance. Albania and Croatia were accepted by the 26 other NATO members to begin the accession process after hours-long discussions of the North Atlantic Council, NATO's principal decision-making body, this morning.
"Both these nations have demonstrated the ability and the willingness to provide strong and enduring contributions to NATO," Bush said at a meeting of the council in which representatives of the candidate nations were present. "Both have undertaken challenging political, economic and defense reforms. Both have deployed their forces on NATO missions. Albania and Croatia are ready for the responsibility NATO brings, and they will make outstanding members of this alliance," he said.
Greece blocked Macedonia, the third Balkan nation under consideration, from receiving an invitation to join. Greece objects to the nation using the name Macedonia, saying it implies claims on a Greek province of the same name.
U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, in a briefing after the meetings to the White House traveling press, said NATO agrees that Macedonia "clearly" is ready for NATO membership, but that a mutually accepted name should be resolved between the two countries before an invitation to membership is extended.
"We regret that we were not able to reach consensus today to invite Macedonia to join the alliance," Bush said. "Macedonia has made difficult reforms at home. It is making major contributions to NATO missions abroad. The name issue needs to be resolved quickly, so that Macedonia can be welcomed into NATO as soon as possible."
Bush said NATO needs to intensify its engagement with Macedonia to ensure it becomes a member.
"Albania, Croatia and Macedonia all know the difference between good and evil, because they clearly remember evil's face," Bush said. "These nations do not take their freedom for granted, because they still remember life without it. These nations respect the hard work of building democracy, because they brought it to life in their countries."
In other NATO issues, Georgia and Ukraine were not invited to start the membership action plan, a necessary step toward membership. Hadley said a strong consensus is in place within the alliance that the two former Soviet republics eventually will join NATO, but the timing of starting the plan is in question.
Some members questioned whether the democratic reforms in the two countries have taken root and their political systems are stable, Hadley said. Also, Georgia has unresolved disputes with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he said.
Still, NATO members agreed to a strongly worded statement that "NATO welcomes Ukraine and Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO," Hadley said.
"That's a very strong statement, giving them a clear prospect of NATO membership," he said.
Instead of starting the MAP process with the two countries, NATO opted instead to step up its engagement with the countries, and their status will be reassessed in December. NATO's foreign ministers will decide then whether Georgia and Ukraine have made sufficient progress to begin the membership action plan. The decision does not have to go back to NATO for consensus, Hadley said.
"Would we have preferred to have MAP today? Of course. Do we think we achieved the strategic decision we needed from the NATO alliance that these countries will be members of NATO? Absolutely," Hadley said.
Two other countries moved toward eventual membership during the talks today.
NATO agreed that an "intensified dialogue" should begin with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro. Both are considered in the "Partnership for Peace" stage of working toward membership. Intensified dialogue is the stage just before being invited to begin the membership action plan. NATO also agreed that an intensive dialogue would be offered to Serbia.
In other news from the NATO summit conference, a communiqué is expected to come from the meetings today delivering what U.S. officials wanted on the issue of missile defense, a senior administration official said, speaking on background. The United States expects a NATO endorsement of its missile defense plan in Europe, as well as plans to develop a NATO-run short- and medium-range missile defense system, the official said.
The statement is expected to say that ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to allies' forces, territory and populations. Also, it is expected to task the heads of state with developing a plan for the NATO missile defense architecture to bring back to the 2009 summit.
Missile defense was not a specific agenda item for the summit, but is expected to be discussed through the day and tomorrow, when Russian President Vladimir Putin joins the talks tomorrow for the NATO-Russian Council. Putin has expressed concern over U.S. plans for the missile defense system, and officials have been working to ease his concerns that the system could be used against Russia.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced in the early meetings his country would send another battalion of troops to help in Afghanistan. The troops will deploy to the eastern provinces of the country, allowing U.S. troops, who have been successful at squelching problems there, to move to the embattled southern provinces.
The Canadian parliament had agreed to extend Canada's troops in the south only if allies provided more resources. Other countries are expected to announce troop increases.
Department to Phase Out Full Social Security Numbers on IDs
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
April 3, 2008 - As a means of combating identity theft, the Defense Department will issue identification cards without full Social Security numbers printed onto them, a senior official said here today. The Defense Department cares about protecting personal information as well as increasing database security, Mary Dixon, director of the Defense Manpower Data Center based in Arlington, Va., told Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters.
Identity theft is a very real problem today, Dixon explained. Criminals who pilfer SSN-bearing identity cards can virtually assume someone's identity through a few computer keystrokes and clicks of a mouse, she said.
TriCare, the military services' health maintenance organization, already has removed Social Security numbers from its members' identification cards, Dixon said.
Plans are to remove the Social Security numbers from identification cards issued to military family members by the end of this year, Dixon said, noting that those cards still would display the sponsors' SSN, for now. Between 2009 and 2010, all department-issued identification cards will feature only the last four digits of a holder's Social Security number, she said.
About 3.4 million people now have department-issued common access cards, Dixon said. Around two-thirds of those card holders are military members, and some civilians who deploy overseas, who have full Social Security numbers printed onto the back of their CACs.
"You might lose that card," Dixon pointed out, noting that family members, including children, could misplace their identification cards, too.
Modern information technology precludes the need to have full social security numbers printed onto employee and family member ID cards, Dixon said.
"Today, all of our (computer) systems can 'talk' to each other, so we don't necessarily need to know all of that information printed on your card," she said.
New identification cards will be issued as they reach their expiration dates, Dixon said.
American Forces Press Service
April 3, 2008 - As a means of combating identity theft, the Defense Department will issue identification cards without full Social Security numbers printed onto them, a senior official said here today. The Defense Department cares about protecting personal information as well as increasing database security, Mary Dixon, director of the Defense Manpower Data Center based in Arlington, Va., told Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters.
Identity theft is a very real problem today, Dixon explained. Criminals who pilfer SSN-bearing identity cards can virtually assume someone's identity through a few computer keystrokes and clicks of a mouse, she said.
TriCare, the military services' health maintenance organization, already has removed Social Security numbers from its members' identification cards, Dixon said.
Plans are to remove the Social Security numbers from identification cards issued to military family members by the end of this year, Dixon said, noting that those cards still would display the sponsors' SSN, for now. Between 2009 and 2010, all department-issued identification cards will feature only the last four digits of a holder's Social Security number, she said.
About 3.4 million people now have department-issued common access cards, Dixon said. Around two-thirds of those card holders are military members, and some civilians who deploy overseas, who have full Social Security numbers printed onto the back of their CACs.
"You might lose that card," Dixon pointed out, noting that family members, including children, could misplace their identification cards, too.
Modern information technology precludes the need to have full social security numbers printed onto employee and family member ID cards, Dixon said.
"Today, all of our (computer) systems can 'talk' to each other, so we don't necessarily need to know all of that information printed on your card," she said.
New identification cards will be issued as they reach their expiration dates, Dixon said.
Senior Citizen Hits Slopes to Inspire Younger Disabled Vets
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - Seventy-four-year-old Bob Eiden stood on a snow bank overlooking Snowmass Mountain yesterday, mentally preparing himself for his first experience on skis, 16 months after having his right leg amputated. "I'm scared to death," admitted Eiden, an Air Force Korean War veteran who is joining about 400 other disabled veterans for his first National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. "But I'm going to do this, because I want to be an example for the younger people."
Eiden broke his leg in two places sliding into home plate during a pickup softball game while he was assigned to Strategic Air Command in Topeka, Kan. That was in 1957, decades before many of the troops he hopes to inspire here were born.
After eight surgeries, the most recent one to remove his leg, Eiden said he finally feels liberated from the pain that haunted him for 43 years. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me," he said.
Now, despite failing eyesight and hearing, Eiden said he's ready to push himself to new limits on the mountain. It's a way to prove something not only to himself and his son, but just as importantly, to younger veterans he said he hopes to inspire.
Eiden remembers all too clearly what it felt like to be cut down in his prime by a freak accident, and said he sees a lot of the same emotions he felt in combat-wounded troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Some come back depressed; they don't want to do anything but sit in a wheelchair. They think that their life is over," he said. "Well, I'm here to show them that there's still life after a disability. I hope my being here will show other people that their life isn't over."
Eiden is an active member of Disabled American Veterans, serving as its chapter commander in Nampa, Idaho. He said he's proud of the DAV's role in supporting disabled veterans, including cosponsoring the winter sports clinic with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"It's important that we recognize our disabled veterans and look out for their needs," he said.
A big part of that, he said, is helping disabled veterans realize what they're still able to do. Eiden remembers how it felt to have his family clamor to protect him and do things for him. What he really needed at the time, he said, was to learn how to become independent in his new circumstances.
"Disabled people want to be able to do things themselves," he said. "They need to know that, 'I'm still a whole man,' or 'I'm still a whole woman.'
"Being here at the winter sports clinic, putting on those skis and going down that mountain is one way of proving that."
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - Seventy-four-year-old Bob Eiden stood on a snow bank overlooking Snowmass Mountain yesterday, mentally preparing himself for his first experience on skis, 16 months after having his right leg amputated. "I'm scared to death," admitted Eiden, an Air Force Korean War veteran who is joining about 400 other disabled veterans for his first National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. "But I'm going to do this, because I want to be an example for the younger people."
Eiden broke his leg in two places sliding into home plate during a pickup softball game while he was assigned to Strategic Air Command in Topeka, Kan. That was in 1957, decades before many of the troops he hopes to inspire here were born.
After eight surgeries, the most recent one to remove his leg, Eiden said he finally feels liberated from the pain that haunted him for 43 years. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me," he said.
Now, despite failing eyesight and hearing, Eiden said he's ready to push himself to new limits on the mountain. It's a way to prove something not only to himself and his son, but just as importantly, to younger veterans he said he hopes to inspire.
Eiden remembers all too clearly what it felt like to be cut down in his prime by a freak accident, and said he sees a lot of the same emotions he felt in combat-wounded troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Some come back depressed; they don't want to do anything but sit in a wheelchair. They think that their life is over," he said. "Well, I'm here to show them that there's still life after a disability. I hope my being here will show other people that their life isn't over."
Eiden is an active member of Disabled American Veterans, serving as its chapter commander in Nampa, Idaho. He said he's proud of the DAV's role in supporting disabled veterans, including cosponsoring the winter sports clinic with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"It's important that we recognize our disabled veterans and look out for their needs," he said.
A big part of that, he said, is helping disabled veterans realize what they're still able to do. Eiden remembers how it felt to have his family clamor to protect him and do things for him. What he really needed at the time, he said, was to learn how to become independent in his new circumstances.
"Disabled people want to be able to do things themselves," he said. "They need to know that, 'I'm still a whole man,' or 'I'm still a whole woman.'
"Being here at the winter sports clinic, putting on those skis and going down that mountain is one way of proving that."
Newly Wounded Warriors Experience 'Miracles on the Mountainside'
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - Less than six months ago, Army Pfc. Michael Dinkel had his leg destroyed by a roadside bomb while he was deployed to Afghanistan with the Fort Riley, Kan.-based 70th Engineer Battalion. Today, still a patient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dinkel is shimmying down the slopes of Snowmass Mountain, refusing to let a disability stand in the way of a good time -- or a full, productive life. "I'm having a blast!" exclaimed 27-year-old Dinkel as he took a break after another run down the mountainside. "This is something I dreamed about!"
Dinkel is among several active-duty troops who have joined nearly 400 disabled veterans here for the 22nd National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. Together, they're experiencing what event organizers describe as "Miracles on the Mountainside" as they try their hands at Alpine and Nordic skiing, rock climbing, scuba diving, trapshooting, snowmobiling, sled hockey, curling, fencing and a host of other activities.
In doing so, they're demonstrating that an amputation, spinal cord injury, visual impairment or other severe disability doesn't have to stop them in their tracks, explained Sandy Trombetta, who came up with the concept of the winter sports clinic and serves as its national director.
Dinkel never took much convincing that an amputation didn't have to keep him from his longtime love of skiing. "Three months after I got blown up, I went skiing," said Dinkel, recalling a trip to Windham Mountain, N.Y., organized through Walter Reed. His next ski trip was to Liberty Mountain ski resort in Pennsylvania, where he continued to fine-tune his technique with adaptive skis.
Here at Snowmass Mountain, Dinkel is a world away from the surgeries still ahead of him at Walter Reed over the next six to seven months before he's able to return to his native Cincinnati, Ohio.
But in reality, the six-day winter sports clinic is a big part of Dinkel's and other disabled veterans' rehabilitation, said Lisette Mondello, assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs for public and intergovernmental affairs.
"This is a rehabilitative event. It's not about a week of camaraderie and ski lessons," she said. "It's about taking someone who's had a catastrophic injury and saying, 'Now is the time to move on. Your life isn't over. It's time to start again.'"
Edward Hartman, Disabled American Veterans' national director for voluntary services, agreed that the clinic is a valuable first step toward disabled veterans' moving forward with their lives. "This is just an introduction to what they can do and what the possibilities are for them," he said. "This event helps make them realize that their life doesn't end with their disability."
Vance Pease, a recreational therapist at the VA center in Seattle who specializes in spinal cord injuries, said he's witnessed firsthand the benefits the clinic has brought to the disabled veterans he works with. "This can open so many doors and show the veterans that there are so many opportunities out there for them," he said. "It's showing to these veterans that life goes on. The challenge, the thrill, the adventure, the risk -- all of it is still there for them if they want it."
Not everyone arrives at the winter sports clinic quite as mentally prepared as Dinkel for the challenges, thrills, adventure and risk they'll face here. Harry Williamson, a Vietnam-era Marine Corps veteran suffering from multiple sclerosis, admitted he had some trepidation about his first time down the slope in an adaptive sit-ski.
"I'm nervous," said the Long Beach, Calif., native. "But I'm going to give it a try. I'm going to see if I can do it, to see if I can master it. And if I do, that's another challenge I tried and I conquered."
Conquering challenges on the mountainside is a metaphor for conquering life challenges with a disability, clinic organizers explained. For about one-third of the veterans here for the first time, the clinic offers an opportunity to push themselves in ways many never thought imaginable.
Marine Cpl. Steve Schulz was serving his second tour in Iraq in April 2005 when an improvised explosive device in Fallujah left him blind in his right eye and suffering a traumatic brain injury.
Three years and 17 surgeries later, 23-year-old Schulz said he's attending his first winter sports clinic to recapture some of the thrill the roadside bomb stripped from his life. "I like going fast," said Schulz, lamenting that his brain injury has left him unable to drive.
So as volunteers at the winter sports clinic strapped him into a sit-ski for his first whirl down Snowmass Mountain, Schulz was looking forward to feeling the wind in his face and the blur of spectators' faces as they cheered him down the mountain.
Darol Kubacz, a 33-year-old Army veteran rendered a paraplegic 15 years ago during a training accident at Fort Knox, Ky., said he remembers being in Schultz' shoes when he attended his first clinic a year after his injury.
Kubacz skied for the first time here and fell so in love with the sport that he moved to Vail, Colo., and ultimately became an adaptive ski instructor. "It changed my life," he said.
But Kubacz said the clinic gave him something far more powerful than just a new activity to pursue -- and it's kept him coming back year after year, 13 times. "There's so much that goes on here, on so many levels," he said. "It's about brotherhood. It's about great people. It's about great physical and emotional experiences.
"But most of all, it's about positive mental attitude," he said. "That's what they're teaching people here. Because, when it comes down to it, the only way we are going to succeed and have fun in life is to have a positive mental attitude."
Kubacz said he gains much from sharing with fellow veterans at the clinic. As they meet at sporting activities, during meals, or at social events throughout the week, they swap stories about everything from the latest adaptive equipment to advice for navigating the VA benefits system, he said. "We educate each other on so many things on so many levels," he said.
Just as disabled Vietnam veterans guided him when he was first injured, Kubacz said, he hopes to help guide younger veterans with new disabilities suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I'm here for the new guys," he said. "I'm here to listen to them, to support them and to share motivation with them."
Hope Cooper, an Air Force veteran who was medically retired in 1989, said she, too, hopes to share the life-changing impact the clinic had on her own life with newly wounded veterans.
Cooper said she attended her first clinic in 1991 as a withdrawn and sometimes suicidal woman struggling to come to terms with the disease that left her wheelchair-bound. But she left a new woman, with a new outlook on life that she's embraced for the past 17 years.
"Coming to this clinic made me realize that no matter what I may have lost, I didn't lose me," she said. "The core of me is still there."
Cooper said she's sharing that discovery with the newly wounded veterans attending this year's clinic. "I go around to them and let them know we're here for them," she said. "We've been through it, and what we tell these young folks is that it's not over. It's just a new program for them, and a way for them to triumph over adversity."
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - Less than six months ago, Army Pfc. Michael Dinkel had his leg destroyed by a roadside bomb while he was deployed to Afghanistan with the Fort Riley, Kan.-based 70th Engineer Battalion. Today, still a patient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dinkel is shimmying down the slopes of Snowmass Mountain, refusing to let a disability stand in the way of a good time -- or a full, productive life. "I'm having a blast!" exclaimed 27-year-old Dinkel as he took a break after another run down the mountainside. "This is something I dreamed about!"
Dinkel is among several active-duty troops who have joined nearly 400 disabled veterans here for the 22nd National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. Together, they're experiencing what event organizers describe as "Miracles on the Mountainside" as they try their hands at Alpine and Nordic skiing, rock climbing, scuba diving, trapshooting, snowmobiling, sled hockey, curling, fencing and a host of other activities.
In doing so, they're demonstrating that an amputation, spinal cord injury, visual impairment or other severe disability doesn't have to stop them in their tracks, explained Sandy Trombetta, who came up with the concept of the winter sports clinic and serves as its national director.
Dinkel never took much convincing that an amputation didn't have to keep him from his longtime love of skiing. "Three months after I got blown up, I went skiing," said Dinkel, recalling a trip to Windham Mountain, N.Y., organized through Walter Reed. His next ski trip was to Liberty Mountain ski resort in Pennsylvania, where he continued to fine-tune his technique with adaptive skis.
Here at Snowmass Mountain, Dinkel is a world away from the surgeries still ahead of him at Walter Reed over the next six to seven months before he's able to return to his native Cincinnati, Ohio.
But in reality, the six-day winter sports clinic is a big part of Dinkel's and other disabled veterans' rehabilitation, said Lisette Mondello, assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs for public and intergovernmental affairs.
"This is a rehabilitative event. It's not about a week of camaraderie and ski lessons," she said. "It's about taking someone who's had a catastrophic injury and saying, 'Now is the time to move on. Your life isn't over. It's time to start again.'"
Edward Hartman, Disabled American Veterans' national director for voluntary services, agreed that the clinic is a valuable first step toward disabled veterans' moving forward with their lives. "This is just an introduction to what they can do and what the possibilities are for them," he said. "This event helps make them realize that their life doesn't end with their disability."
Vance Pease, a recreational therapist at the VA center in Seattle who specializes in spinal cord injuries, said he's witnessed firsthand the benefits the clinic has brought to the disabled veterans he works with. "This can open so many doors and show the veterans that there are so many opportunities out there for them," he said. "It's showing to these veterans that life goes on. The challenge, the thrill, the adventure, the risk -- all of it is still there for them if they want it."
Not everyone arrives at the winter sports clinic quite as mentally prepared as Dinkel for the challenges, thrills, adventure and risk they'll face here. Harry Williamson, a Vietnam-era Marine Corps veteran suffering from multiple sclerosis, admitted he had some trepidation about his first time down the slope in an adaptive sit-ski.
"I'm nervous," said the Long Beach, Calif., native. "But I'm going to give it a try. I'm going to see if I can do it, to see if I can master it. And if I do, that's another challenge I tried and I conquered."
Conquering challenges on the mountainside is a metaphor for conquering life challenges with a disability, clinic organizers explained. For about one-third of the veterans here for the first time, the clinic offers an opportunity to push themselves in ways many never thought imaginable.
Marine Cpl. Steve Schulz was serving his second tour in Iraq in April 2005 when an improvised explosive device in Fallujah left him blind in his right eye and suffering a traumatic brain injury.
Three years and 17 surgeries later, 23-year-old Schulz said he's attending his first winter sports clinic to recapture some of the thrill the roadside bomb stripped from his life. "I like going fast," said Schulz, lamenting that his brain injury has left him unable to drive.
So as volunteers at the winter sports clinic strapped him into a sit-ski for his first whirl down Snowmass Mountain, Schulz was looking forward to feeling the wind in his face and the blur of spectators' faces as they cheered him down the mountain.
Darol Kubacz, a 33-year-old Army veteran rendered a paraplegic 15 years ago during a training accident at Fort Knox, Ky., said he remembers being in Schultz' shoes when he attended his first clinic a year after his injury.
Kubacz skied for the first time here and fell so in love with the sport that he moved to Vail, Colo., and ultimately became an adaptive ski instructor. "It changed my life," he said.
But Kubacz said the clinic gave him something far more powerful than just a new activity to pursue -- and it's kept him coming back year after year, 13 times. "There's so much that goes on here, on so many levels," he said. "It's about brotherhood. It's about great people. It's about great physical and emotional experiences.
"But most of all, it's about positive mental attitude," he said. "That's what they're teaching people here. Because, when it comes down to it, the only way we are going to succeed and have fun in life is to have a positive mental attitude."
Kubacz said he gains much from sharing with fellow veterans at the clinic. As they meet at sporting activities, during meals, or at social events throughout the week, they swap stories about everything from the latest adaptive equipment to advice for navigating the VA benefits system, he said. "We educate each other on so many things on so many levels," he said.
Just as disabled Vietnam veterans guided him when he was first injured, Kubacz said, he hopes to help guide younger veterans with new disabilities suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I'm here for the new guys," he said. "I'm here to listen to them, to support them and to share motivation with them."
Hope Cooper, an Air Force veteran who was medically retired in 1989, said she, too, hopes to share the life-changing impact the clinic had on her own life with newly wounded veterans.
Cooper said she attended her first clinic in 1991 as a withdrawn and sometimes suicidal woman struggling to come to terms with the disease that left her wheelchair-bound. But she left a new woman, with a new outlook on life that she's embraced for the past 17 years.
"Coming to this clinic made me realize that no matter what I may have lost, I didn't lose me," she said. "The core of me is still there."
Cooper said she's sharing that discovery with the newly wounded veterans attending this year's clinic. "I go around to them and let them know we're here for them," she said. "We've been through it, and what we tell these young folks is that it's not over. It's just a new program for them, and a way for them to triumph over adversity."
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
America Supports You: 4-H Provides Ways to Help Military Kids
By Spc. William E. Henry, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - In mid-March, Indiana school administrators, military support groups and volunteers met at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds in Noblesville, Ind., to learn about ways to assist children affected by a family member's deployment. One way is through "Operation Military Kids," a program initiated by U.S. Army Child and Youth Services. Now in 42 states, the program works through the 4-H program and other volunteer organizations that connect with military youth and provide support through a network of community resources.
"The idea of the meeting is to give training to the educators to know what steps they can take to form the right connections (to help military kids)," said Judy Hauser, 4-H project coordinator.
She stressed how important these connections were in establishing resources to assist military children in times of trouble or confusion.
"Socially, it gives them support through being able to interact with other kids on their level, do fun activities away from school, plus gain support from the volunteers," said Amy Nierman, a 4-H member with the Purdue Extension. "It gives the youth an opportunity to meet with other kids throughout the county, focusing on things they are interested in."
During family meetings like those held by the Family Readiness Group for the Indiana National Guard, 4-H volunteers try to provide children with fun educational activities, including packets created specifically for them.
Another program 4-H participates in is the assembly and distribution of "Hero Packs" for children. Hero Packs are backpacks or sacks filled with fun things to occupy children's time.
"When you work on projects with kids, they tend to talk more and open up about things," said Jacque McBride, a counselor at South Elementary School, in Danville, Ind.
She said the program has given her a lot of insight on things that could be done when dealing with military children. "I think it will help give me some ideas on who to talk to, and things to do with (the children)," McBride said. "I would like to be more connected with them and be more open.
"I've been brainstorming some ideas on, like a wall of fame for the military, to put up in the hallway and things like that," she added.
4-H is a youth organization administered by the Cooperative Extension System of the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The four "H's" stand for head, heart, hands and health. The organization provides extracurricular activities in every county in the United States, including arts and crafts, photography and working with animals.
(Army Spc. William E. Henry serves with the Indiana National Guard.)
Special to American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - In mid-March, Indiana school administrators, military support groups and volunteers met at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds in Noblesville, Ind., to learn about ways to assist children affected by a family member's deployment. One way is through "Operation Military Kids," a program initiated by U.S. Army Child and Youth Services. Now in 42 states, the program works through the 4-H program and other volunteer organizations that connect with military youth and provide support through a network of community resources.
"The idea of the meeting is to give training to the educators to know what steps they can take to form the right connections (to help military kids)," said Judy Hauser, 4-H project coordinator.
She stressed how important these connections were in establishing resources to assist military children in times of trouble or confusion.
"Socially, it gives them support through being able to interact with other kids on their level, do fun activities away from school, plus gain support from the volunteers," said Amy Nierman, a 4-H member with the Purdue Extension. "It gives the youth an opportunity to meet with other kids throughout the county, focusing on things they are interested in."
During family meetings like those held by the Family Readiness Group for the Indiana National Guard, 4-H volunteers try to provide children with fun educational activities, including packets created specifically for them.
Another program 4-H participates in is the assembly and distribution of "Hero Packs" for children. Hero Packs are backpacks or sacks filled with fun things to occupy children's time.
"When you work on projects with kids, they tend to talk more and open up about things," said Jacque McBride, a counselor at South Elementary School, in Danville, Ind.
She said the program has given her a lot of insight on things that could be done when dealing with military children. "I think it will help give me some ideas on who to talk to, and things to do with (the children)," McBride said. "I would like to be more connected with them and be more open.
"I've been brainstorming some ideas on, like a wall of fame for the military, to put up in the hallway and things like that," she added.
4-H is a youth organization administered by the Cooperative Extension System of the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The four "H's" stand for head, heart, hands and health. The organization provides extracurricular activities in every county in the United States, including arts and crafts, photography and working with animals.
(Army Spc. William E. Henry serves with the Indiana National Guard.)
Defense Secretary Arrives in Bucharest for NATO Summit
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates landed here today for the start of the NATO summit. Tonight he will attend a working dinner hosted by the Romanian minister of defense with the defense ministers from other NATO allies to discuss defense transformation. The secretary is not scheduled to have any private meetings with other defense ministers, but instead is supporting President Bush, who is here for the summit.
The three-day summit will include meetings at NATO's highest level in different formats, such as the North Atlantic Council, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the NATO-Russia Council and the NATO-Ukraine Commission.
The North Atlantic Council meetings start off first tomorrow morning with the main topic likely being NATO enlargement, officials said.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are hoping for an invitation to join NATO. All have been working through the membership action plan. Also, the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine have asked for an invitation to start the membership action plan process, a necessary step to eventually join NATO.
U.S. officials strongly support those actions, a senior defense official said on background en route to the summit.
Defense ministers from countries with troops serving in Regional Command South in Afghanistan will meet tomorrow afternoon, and afterward NATO heads of state and government and leaders of non-NATO nations contributing troops to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
The United States is hoping for an endorsement of a "strong" ISAF public vision statement that explains why NATO is there, what it has achieved and its plan for the next five years, the official said. The statement is expected to be published before the end of the summit.
Also, U.S. officials are hoping for an official NATO endorsement of the recently chosen United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, the defense official said. The job, created by the United Nations Security Council in March, is intended to help improve regional coordination of international agencies such as the U.N., the European Union and NATO.
In addition, U.S. officials want to ensure that more troops can be provided for the mission there. Canada's parliament agreed to extend its 2,500 troops there on the condition that other allies provide 1,000 more troops and extra equipment for its mission in Kandahar province, in southern Afghanistan.
The defense official said it is not likely that any one nation will provide all of the troops, but some are expected to announce troop increases.
France announced this week its plans to send an additional "few hundred" troops. Also, the British are "likely to make an announcement" of adding more troops, the official said. Georgia also is looking at ways to provide troops to ISAF, he said.
The U.S. is sending 3,500 Marines to the region this month.
Other countries are expected to discuss how they can provide additional troops in smaller functional roles, such as trainers, and special teams, such as explosive ordnance teams.
While there is no session specific to U.S. missile defense plans in Europe, they are likely to be discussed in several of the groupings, the defense official said. "There is a growing ballistic missile threat to NATO territories and populations," the official said.
The U.S. has plans to place missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic to protect NATO allies from long-range ballistic missile threats. But officials want NATO to begin developing a plan to build a "complimentary" missile defense system that would guard against short- and medium-range threats, the official said.
"There needs to be coverage for all allies, particularly those who are vulnerable to short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, so a territorial missile defense system would be appropriate," the official said.
The U.S. wants the North Atlantic Council to develop options on what a complimentary NATO territorial missile defense system could look like and bring the plans back to the 2009 summit. The U.S. is hoping for an official statement from NATO that would endorse both the U.S. missile defense concept and promote furthering a NATO plan for a complimentary system, he said.
A formal gala dinner wraps up tomorrow's events. The summit concludes April 4 with meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission and the NATO-Russia Council, which Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend.
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates landed here today for the start of the NATO summit. Tonight he will attend a working dinner hosted by the Romanian minister of defense with the defense ministers from other NATO allies to discuss defense transformation. The secretary is not scheduled to have any private meetings with other defense ministers, but instead is supporting President Bush, who is here for the summit.
The three-day summit will include meetings at NATO's highest level in different formats, such as the North Atlantic Council, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the NATO-Russia Council and the NATO-Ukraine Commission.
The North Atlantic Council meetings start off first tomorrow morning with the main topic likely being NATO enlargement, officials said.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are hoping for an invitation to join NATO. All have been working through the membership action plan. Also, the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine have asked for an invitation to start the membership action plan process, a necessary step to eventually join NATO.
U.S. officials strongly support those actions, a senior defense official said on background en route to the summit.
Defense ministers from countries with troops serving in Regional Command South in Afghanistan will meet tomorrow afternoon, and afterward NATO heads of state and government and leaders of non-NATO nations contributing troops to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
The United States is hoping for an endorsement of a "strong" ISAF public vision statement that explains why NATO is there, what it has achieved and its plan for the next five years, the official said. The statement is expected to be published before the end of the summit.
Also, U.S. officials are hoping for an official NATO endorsement of the recently chosen United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, the defense official said. The job, created by the United Nations Security Council in March, is intended to help improve regional coordination of international agencies such as the U.N., the European Union and NATO.
In addition, U.S. officials want to ensure that more troops can be provided for the mission there. Canada's parliament agreed to extend its 2,500 troops there on the condition that other allies provide 1,000 more troops and extra equipment for its mission in Kandahar province, in southern Afghanistan.
The defense official said it is not likely that any one nation will provide all of the troops, but some are expected to announce troop increases.
France announced this week its plans to send an additional "few hundred" troops. Also, the British are "likely to make an announcement" of adding more troops, the official said. Georgia also is looking at ways to provide troops to ISAF, he said.
The U.S. is sending 3,500 Marines to the region this month.
Other countries are expected to discuss how they can provide additional troops in smaller functional roles, such as trainers, and special teams, such as explosive ordnance teams.
While there is no session specific to U.S. missile defense plans in Europe, they are likely to be discussed in several of the groupings, the defense official said. "There is a growing ballistic missile threat to NATO territories and populations," the official said.
The U.S. has plans to place missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic to protect NATO allies from long-range ballistic missile threats. But officials want NATO to begin developing a plan to build a "complimentary" missile defense system that would guard against short- and medium-range threats, the official said.
"There needs to be coverage for all allies, particularly those who are vulnerable to short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, so a territorial missile defense system would be appropriate," the official said.
The U.S. wants the North Atlantic Council to develop options on what a complimentary NATO territorial missile defense system could look like and bring the plans back to the 2009 summit. The U.S. is hoping for an official statement from NATO that would endorse both the U.S. missile defense concept and promote furthering a NATO plan for a complimentary system, he said.
A formal gala dinner wraps up tomorrow's events. The summit concludes April 4 with meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission and the NATO-Russia Council, which Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend.
Bush Pushes NATO Acceptance of Three Balkan Nations
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - President Bush today called NATO's upcoming decision on whether to accept three Balkan nations for membership into the alliance "historic" and said the United States strongly supports their membership. Speaking here this morning before the official start of the NATO summit, Bush heralded the progress of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia, saying that a decade ago the Balkans were "wracked by war and fanaticism and ethnic cleansing."
He credited much of the current peace in the region to the three countries' leadership.
"These countries have walked the difficult path of reform and built thriving free societies," Bush said. "They are ready to contribute to NATO, and their citizens deserve the security that NATO brings."
Bush also urged NATO to accept requests from two other Balkan nations, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, to begin an intensified dialogue with NATO, a first step to NATO membership.
"As we welcome new NATO allies, we also affirm that the door to NATO membership remains open to other nations that seek it," he said.
Also at this summit, NATO will consider the applications of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO's membership action plan, to which the president gave his unequivocal support.
"My country's position is clear: NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine into the membership action plan," Bush said. "NATO membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it and are ready to share in the responsibilities of NATO membership."
The membership action plan does not guarantee NATO membership, but is a prerequisite.
In his 30-minute speech, Bush also laid the groundwork for NATO's discussion of its mission in Afghanistan. The United States hopes that NATO reinforces its commitment to the country and that other allies will come forward with more troops for the mission there. Bush called the mission NATO's most ambitious.
"An alliance that never fired a shot in the Cold War is now leading the fight on a key battleground of the first war in the 21st century," Bush said. "In Afghanistan, forces from NATO and many partner nations are bringing honor to their uniforms and pride to their countries."
Already NATO has trained 55,000 Afghan soldiers, and many are capable of leading combat operations, he said. And the increased security has led to civil gains.
"A nation that was once a safe haven for al Qaeda is now a democracy where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope," the president said.
But recent gains do not signal a time for NATO to relax on its commitments, he said.
"If we were to let up the pressure, the extremists would reestablish safe havens across the country and use them to terrorize the people of Afghanistan and threaten our own," Bush said. "And that is why we'll stay on the offense, and that is why we'll keep the pressures on these radicals and extremists, and that is why we'll succeed."
Bush also cited recent threats by al Qaeda against Europe. In 2006, officials thwarted an al Qaeda plot to blow up passenger jets traveling from Europe to the U.S. This year, Turkish officials broke up an al Qaeda cell plotting attacks in that country.
"Two weeks ago, Osama bin Laden issued an audio recording in which he threatened Europe with new attacks. We need to take the words of the enemy seriously. The terrorist threat is real, it is deadly, and defeating this enemy is the top priority of NATO," Bush said.
In support of the mission in Afghanistan, the United States is sending 3,500 more Marines. Romania also has indicated it will send more troops, and Bush asked that other allies "step forward," as well.
"If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our own soil. Innocent civilians in Europe and North America will pay the price," Bush said.
The president also discussed U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Europe, calling the need for such a system "urgent."
"One of the most important steps we can take ... to protect our citizens is the deployment of new capabilities to defend against a ballistic missile attack," Bush said.
Bush cited Iran's developing technology that could be used to produce nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. In 2006, Iran conducted military exercises in which it launched ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel and Turkey.
"Iranian officials have declared that they are developing missiles with a range of 1,200 miles, which would give them the capability to reach us right here in Romania," Bush said. "Our intelligence community assesses that, with continued foreign assistance, Iran could test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States and all of Europe if it should choose to do so."
The U.S. wants an endorsement of its missile defense plan in Europe, as well as plans to develop a NATO-run short- and medium-range missile defense system.
This has caused some angst with Russian President Vladimir Putin, though. Putin is scheduled to be at the NATO-Russian Council talks April 4, the final day of the summit. In March, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Putin in Moscow in an attempt to allay some of the Russians' fears that the system could be turned against them.
"We're inviting Russia to join us in this cooperative effort so as to be able to defend Russia, Europe and the United States against an emerging threat that could affect us all," Bush said.
Also, Bush plans to travel to Russia later this week for further missile defense talks, he said.
"I will reiterate that the missile defense capabilities we are developing are not designed to defend against Russia," Bush said. "The Cold War is over. Russia is not our enemy. We're working toward a new security relationship with Russia whose foundation does not rest on the prospect of mutual annihilation."
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - President Bush today called NATO's upcoming decision on whether to accept three Balkan nations for membership into the alliance "historic" and said the United States strongly supports their membership. Speaking here this morning before the official start of the NATO summit, Bush heralded the progress of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia, saying that a decade ago the Balkans were "wracked by war and fanaticism and ethnic cleansing."
He credited much of the current peace in the region to the three countries' leadership.
"These countries have walked the difficult path of reform and built thriving free societies," Bush said. "They are ready to contribute to NATO, and their citizens deserve the security that NATO brings."
Bush also urged NATO to accept requests from two other Balkan nations, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, to begin an intensified dialogue with NATO, a first step to NATO membership.
"As we welcome new NATO allies, we also affirm that the door to NATO membership remains open to other nations that seek it," he said.
Also at this summit, NATO will consider the applications of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO's membership action plan, to which the president gave his unequivocal support.
"My country's position is clear: NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine into the membership action plan," Bush said. "NATO membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it and are ready to share in the responsibilities of NATO membership."
The membership action plan does not guarantee NATO membership, but is a prerequisite.
In his 30-minute speech, Bush also laid the groundwork for NATO's discussion of its mission in Afghanistan. The United States hopes that NATO reinforces its commitment to the country and that other allies will come forward with more troops for the mission there. Bush called the mission NATO's most ambitious.
"An alliance that never fired a shot in the Cold War is now leading the fight on a key battleground of the first war in the 21st century," Bush said. "In Afghanistan, forces from NATO and many partner nations are bringing honor to their uniforms and pride to their countries."
Already NATO has trained 55,000 Afghan soldiers, and many are capable of leading combat operations, he said. And the increased security has led to civil gains.
"A nation that was once a safe haven for al Qaeda is now a democracy where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope," the president said.
But recent gains do not signal a time for NATO to relax on its commitments, he said.
"If we were to let up the pressure, the extremists would reestablish safe havens across the country and use them to terrorize the people of Afghanistan and threaten our own," Bush said. "And that is why we'll stay on the offense, and that is why we'll keep the pressures on these radicals and extremists, and that is why we'll succeed."
Bush also cited recent threats by al Qaeda against Europe. In 2006, officials thwarted an al Qaeda plot to blow up passenger jets traveling from Europe to the U.S. This year, Turkish officials broke up an al Qaeda cell plotting attacks in that country.
"Two weeks ago, Osama bin Laden issued an audio recording in which he threatened Europe with new attacks. We need to take the words of the enemy seriously. The terrorist threat is real, it is deadly, and defeating this enemy is the top priority of NATO," Bush said.
In support of the mission in Afghanistan, the United States is sending 3,500 more Marines. Romania also has indicated it will send more troops, and Bush asked that other allies "step forward," as well.
"If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our own soil. Innocent civilians in Europe and North America will pay the price," Bush said.
The president also discussed U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Europe, calling the need for such a system "urgent."
"One of the most important steps we can take ... to protect our citizens is the deployment of new capabilities to defend against a ballistic missile attack," Bush said.
Bush cited Iran's developing technology that could be used to produce nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. In 2006, Iran conducted military exercises in which it launched ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel and Turkey.
"Iranian officials have declared that they are developing missiles with a range of 1,200 miles, which would give them the capability to reach us right here in Romania," Bush said. "Our intelligence community assesses that, with continued foreign assistance, Iran could test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States and all of Europe if it should choose to do so."
The U.S. wants an endorsement of its missile defense plan in Europe, as well as plans to develop a NATO-run short- and medium-range missile defense system.
This has caused some angst with Russian President Vladimir Putin, though. Putin is scheduled to be at the NATO-Russian Council talks April 4, the final day of the summit. In March, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Putin in Moscow in an attempt to allay some of the Russians' fears that the system could be turned against them.
"We're inviting Russia to join us in this cooperative effort so as to be able to defend Russia, Europe and the United States against an emerging threat that could affect us all," Bush said.
Also, Bush plans to travel to Russia later this week for further missile defense talks, he said.
"I will reiterate that the missile defense capabilities we are developing are not designed to defend against Russia," Bush said. "The Cold War is over. Russia is not our enemy. We're working toward a new security relationship with Russia whose foundation does not rest on the prospect of mutual annihilation."
Manas Airmen's Charitable Program Reaches Milestone
By Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore, USAF
Special to American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - The Manas Air Base Outreach Society and the local Children's Heart Ward recently passed a milestone in the community. With support, donations and hope from the base, two doctors who perform heart surgeries for free recently performed their 100th surgery. During a trip to meet the doctors and the 100th patient on March 29, a small group of Manas Air Base personnel also visited with the 99th and 101st heart surgery patients, and played with some of the kids on the ward still awaiting treatment.
"I'm very pleased with the years of our friendship," said Dr. Kaldarbek Abdramanov, director and professor of surgery in the local Institute of Cardiac Surgery and Organ Transplantation. "I hope we can continue this partnership for many years."
Abdramanov said the children's heart ward receives patients from all over Central Asia, but they only are able to help a fraction of them because of the cost.
"Most families here live under the line of poverty, and to have a sick child with a medical condition adds a great strain on a family," he said. "Doctors are supposed to tell the truth, and so I tell you that the Americans help us a lot -- your support is important.
"The government doesn't have the means to help everyone, and the families don't have the money. So when Americans showed up and gave us support, it helped a great deal," he said. "Even if you helped just a little, it would be a big deal for us, but you have helped a lot."
Manas Air Base airmen assist the heart ward by covering the fee for the "oxygenator," a piece of equipment needed for each surgery that costs $560. The Manas Air Base Outreach Society has addressed that need with its Children's Heart Ward focus group. Airmen raise money to pay for the oxygenators for heart surgeries and sometimes for other types of surgeries so that even more children can be assisted.
The 376th Expeditionary Maintenance Group held a fundraiser to support the 100th surgery, explained the 376th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron KC-135 section chief, Master Sgt. Scott Kaulig, who is deployed to Manas from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.
"The maintenance group asked for donations to support the 100th surgery," the Cincinnati, Ohio, native said.
The simple tactic worked. In fact, the outpouring of support was so great, the group ended up funding the 101st surgery as well. "I'm very proud of the group and the (817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, Detachment 1) C-17 airmen for donating the money to help," Kaulig said.
Abdramanov explained that his clinic supports the 5 million people in the Kyrgyz Republic, and his ward sees about 2,000 to 3,000 adult patients annually. They can only fully support about 400 to 500 a year. It isn't for lack of skill, but lack of funding. He explained that his clinic has doctors who are as qualified as doctors and surgeons in Europe.
The situation is the same for the children. The clinic sees about 5,000 to 6,000 children annually and is only able to help about 300 children a year.
"Heart surgeries are very expensive, and that's why most hospitals have a lot of financial difficulties," he said. "But I can't thank you for your help enough. You Americans are modest and don't make a big deal of it; you help and expect nothing in return."
Dr. Samudin Shabyralier, a heart surgeon who's been with the children's heart ward since Manas Air Base supported the first surgery, has seen the benefit of the long-term partnership.
"I'm very pleased with the support from the Americans," he said. "I hope that we can work together for many years.
For him, it is also about helping people.
"The reason I stay involved is because I have a 3-year-old son of my own, and I love to help others any chance I get," Shabyralier said.
"God sees everything and everyone; we have some well off people this country that do not help as much as they could. And what you do is important. I know that I've given a lot of my time helping others, but I still feel that it's not enough."
Abdramanov expressed similar sentiments. "For me, I must help; just to see a child smiling again is reason enough for me," he said.
Whatever the reason for the generosity, Sakin Tumenbaeva, mother of the 100th patient, Alymbekov Amanbek, was appreciative of the support.
"Thank you to all who helped," Tumenbaeva said through an interpreter. "If it wasn't for you, I don't know who I could have turned to. I'm thankful for you all."
(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore is assigned to 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs.)
Special to American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - The Manas Air Base Outreach Society and the local Children's Heart Ward recently passed a milestone in the community. With support, donations and hope from the base, two doctors who perform heart surgeries for free recently performed their 100th surgery. During a trip to meet the doctors and the 100th patient on March 29, a small group of Manas Air Base personnel also visited with the 99th and 101st heart surgery patients, and played with some of the kids on the ward still awaiting treatment.
"I'm very pleased with the years of our friendship," said Dr. Kaldarbek Abdramanov, director and professor of surgery in the local Institute of Cardiac Surgery and Organ Transplantation. "I hope we can continue this partnership for many years."
Abdramanov said the children's heart ward receives patients from all over Central Asia, but they only are able to help a fraction of them because of the cost.
"Most families here live under the line of poverty, and to have a sick child with a medical condition adds a great strain on a family," he said. "Doctors are supposed to tell the truth, and so I tell you that the Americans help us a lot -- your support is important.
"The government doesn't have the means to help everyone, and the families don't have the money. So when Americans showed up and gave us support, it helped a great deal," he said. "Even if you helped just a little, it would be a big deal for us, but you have helped a lot."
Manas Air Base airmen assist the heart ward by covering the fee for the "oxygenator," a piece of equipment needed for each surgery that costs $560. The Manas Air Base Outreach Society has addressed that need with its Children's Heart Ward focus group. Airmen raise money to pay for the oxygenators for heart surgeries and sometimes for other types of surgeries so that even more children can be assisted.
The 376th Expeditionary Maintenance Group held a fundraiser to support the 100th surgery, explained the 376th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron KC-135 section chief, Master Sgt. Scott Kaulig, who is deployed to Manas from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.
"The maintenance group asked for donations to support the 100th surgery," the Cincinnati, Ohio, native said.
The simple tactic worked. In fact, the outpouring of support was so great, the group ended up funding the 101st surgery as well. "I'm very proud of the group and the (817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, Detachment 1) C-17 airmen for donating the money to help," Kaulig said.
Abdramanov explained that his clinic supports the 5 million people in the Kyrgyz Republic, and his ward sees about 2,000 to 3,000 adult patients annually. They can only fully support about 400 to 500 a year. It isn't for lack of skill, but lack of funding. He explained that his clinic has doctors who are as qualified as doctors and surgeons in Europe.
The situation is the same for the children. The clinic sees about 5,000 to 6,000 children annually and is only able to help about 300 children a year.
"Heart surgeries are very expensive, and that's why most hospitals have a lot of financial difficulties," he said. "But I can't thank you for your help enough. You Americans are modest and don't make a big deal of it; you help and expect nothing in return."
Dr. Samudin Shabyralier, a heart surgeon who's been with the children's heart ward since Manas Air Base supported the first surgery, has seen the benefit of the long-term partnership.
"I'm very pleased with the support from the Americans," he said. "I hope that we can work together for many years.
For him, it is also about helping people.
"The reason I stay involved is because I have a 3-year-old son of my own, and I love to help others any chance I get," Shabyralier said.
"God sees everything and everyone; we have some well off people this country that do not help as much as they could. And what you do is important. I know that I've given a lot of my time helping others, but I still feel that it's not enough."
Abdramanov expressed similar sentiments. "For me, I must help; just to see a child smiling again is reason enough for me," he said.
Whatever the reason for the generosity, Sakin Tumenbaeva, mother of the 100th patient, Alymbekov Amanbek, was appreciative of the support.
"Thank you to all who helped," Tumenbaeva said through an interpreter. "If it wasn't for you, I don't know who I could have turned to. I'm thankful for you all."
(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore is assigned to 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs.)
Changing World Leads to NATO'S Transformation
By Carol L. Bowers
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - NATO's creation in 1949 provided a unique framework for Western military cooperation in an era of Soviet expansion, and subsequently throughout the Cold War. The North Atlantic Treaty's defining feature is the agreement of member nations to provide mutual defense. In a pledge known as "Article 5" for its place in the treaty, member nations agreed to treat an attack against one as an attack against all, and to respond with force as necessary.
But for most of its life, NATO had no cause to flex its military arm or test its warfighting capabilities. Although countries pledged troops, money and supplies to create a NATO fighting force, the organization's broad approach to collective security involved dialogue, cooperation and self-defense -- a strategy that stood NATO in good stead through the Cold War and well into the 1990s.
The eruption of Bosnia's civil war in the early 1990s prompted a shift in NATO's strategic view of security and planted the seeds of NATO forces' military transformation. Alarmed by the human rights violations and "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, NATO members saw that in the interest of collective security, they would need to consider military engagements outside NATO nations' borders. Under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, members often had consulted one another on matters of concern or potential threats to member nations, but until 1993 no Article 4 consultation had resulted in a military engagement.
Operation Deny Flight launched in April 1993 as a mission to prevent aerial intrusion over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and nearly a year later, on Feb. 28, 1994, NATO aircraft shot down four war planes violating the no-fly zone in the alliance's first military engagement.
In August 1995, allied air strikes on Bosnian-Serb positions were used to help compel the warring parties into peace negotiations, which followed with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement on Dec. 14, 1994.
After the signing of the Dayton agreement, NATO deployed its first peacekeeping mission, sending an implementation force into Bosnia that soon was replaced by a stabilization force to help facilitate the country's reconstruction and train Bosnian military forces. The stabilization force's mission ended in December 2004, with the European Union peacekeeping force taking over. In 2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined NATO's Partnership for Peace Program.
NATO was driven to act again when violence erupted in Kosovo. NATO's aim was to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis and promote stability and security in neighboring Albania and Macedonia. In pursuit of these objectives, Albania and Macedonia became members of the Partnership for Peace program.
The operations in Bosnia and Kosovo taught NATO that Cold-War style logistics were no longer viable. Modern military operations call for rapid deployments, and NATO began to consider strategic and military transformation that would create an expeditionary force. That process sped up with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, with the realization that attacks may come from many quarters and NATO needed a fast, technologically superior and sustainable force that also could stand ready to meet the new challenges of the new century.
The NATO Response Force was in operation by Oct. 15, 2003, barely one year after members had approved its formation. By October 2004, the force had 17,000 troops and was declared ready to take on a full range of missions. By the NATO Riga Summit in November 2006, the force was declared fully operational with 25,000 troops.
Through the NATO Response Force, member countries commit land, air, naval or special operations units for six-month rotations. Participation in the NRF is preceded by a six-month training program that includes complex exercises of both a military and peacekeeping or humanitarian aid nature.
The response force is configured to deploy as a stand-alone force for NATO nations' collective defense under Article 5 of the treaty and for crisis support including evacuation, support of disaster consequence management in the event of chemical, biological or nuclear attacks, humanitarian crisis support and counterterrorism operations as well as a quick response team to support diplomacy and deter crises.
Elements of the force helped to protect the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and were deployed to support the Afghan presidential elections in September 2004.
The force also has been used in disaster relief, including in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the United States and humanitarian aid to Pakistan.
The last few years have seen a dramatic evolution in NATO's thinking and in its posture, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said recently. "With all the new capabilities we have forged in the heat of battle – and with new attitudes – we are seeing what it means to be expeditionary," he said. "We must now commit ourselves to institutionalize what we have learned and to complete our transformation."
Gates said the alliance must find the resolve to work together through a new set of challenges "so that, many years from now, our children and their children will look back on this period as a time when we recommitted ourselves to the common ideals that bind us together -- a time when we again faced a threat to peace and to our liberty squarely and courageously, a time when we again shed blood and helped war devastated people nourish the seeds of freedom and foster peaceful, productive societies.
"That mission drew us together in 1948 and keeps us together today," he said.
American Forces Press Service
April 2, 2008 - NATO's creation in 1949 provided a unique framework for Western military cooperation in an era of Soviet expansion, and subsequently throughout the Cold War. The North Atlantic Treaty's defining feature is the agreement of member nations to provide mutual defense. In a pledge known as "Article 5" for its place in the treaty, member nations agreed to treat an attack against one as an attack against all, and to respond with force as necessary.
But for most of its life, NATO had no cause to flex its military arm or test its warfighting capabilities. Although countries pledged troops, money and supplies to create a NATO fighting force, the organization's broad approach to collective security involved dialogue, cooperation and self-defense -- a strategy that stood NATO in good stead through the Cold War and well into the 1990s.
The eruption of Bosnia's civil war in the early 1990s prompted a shift in NATO's strategic view of security and planted the seeds of NATO forces' military transformation. Alarmed by the human rights violations and "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, NATO members saw that in the interest of collective security, they would need to consider military engagements outside NATO nations' borders. Under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, members often had consulted one another on matters of concern or potential threats to member nations, but until 1993 no Article 4 consultation had resulted in a military engagement.
Operation Deny Flight launched in April 1993 as a mission to prevent aerial intrusion over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and nearly a year later, on Feb. 28, 1994, NATO aircraft shot down four war planes violating the no-fly zone in the alliance's first military engagement.
In August 1995, allied air strikes on Bosnian-Serb positions were used to help compel the warring parties into peace negotiations, which followed with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement on Dec. 14, 1994.
After the signing of the Dayton agreement, NATO deployed its first peacekeeping mission, sending an implementation force into Bosnia that soon was replaced by a stabilization force to help facilitate the country's reconstruction and train Bosnian military forces. The stabilization force's mission ended in December 2004, with the European Union peacekeeping force taking over. In 2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined NATO's Partnership for Peace Program.
NATO was driven to act again when violence erupted in Kosovo. NATO's aim was to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis and promote stability and security in neighboring Albania and Macedonia. In pursuit of these objectives, Albania and Macedonia became members of the Partnership for Peace program.
The operations in Bosnia and Kosovo taught NATO that Cold-War style logistics were no longer viable. Modern military operations call for rapid deployments, and NATO began to consider strategic and military transformation that would create an expeditionary force. That process sped up with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, with the realization that attacks may come from many quarters and NATO needed a fast, technologically superior and sustainable force that also could stand ready to meet the new challenges of the new century.
The NATO Response Force was in operation by Oct. 15, 2003, barely one year after members had approved its formation. By October 2004, the force had 17,000 troops and was declared ready to take on a full range of missions. By the NATO Riga Summit in November 2006, the force was declared fully operational with 25,000 troops.
Through the NATO Response Force, member countries commit land, air, naval or special operations units for six-month rotations. Participation in the NRF is preceded by a six-month training program that includes complex exercises of both a military and peacekeeping or humanitarian aid nature.
The response force is configured to deploy as a stand-alone force for NATO nations' collective defense under Article 5 of the treaty and for crisis support including evacuation, support of disaster consequence management in the event of chemical, biological or nuclear attacks, humanitarian crisis support and counterterrorism operations as well as a quick response team to support diplomacy and deter crises.
Elements of the force helped to protect the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and were deployed to support the Afghan presidential elections in September 2004.
The force also has been used in disaster relief, including in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the United States and humanitarian aid to Pakistan.
The last few years have seen a dramatic evolution in NATO's thinking and in its posture, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said recently. "With all the new capabilities we have forged in the heat of battle – and with new attitudes – we are seeing what it means to be expeditionary," he said. "We must now commit ourselves to institutionalize what we have learned and to complete our transformation."
Gates said the alliance must find the resolve to work together through a new set of challenges "so that, many years from now, our children and their children will look back on this period as a time when we recommitted ourselves to the common ideals that bind us together -- a time when we again faced a threat to peace and to our liberty squarely and courageously, a time when we again shed blood and helped war devastated people nourish the seeds of freedom and foster peaceful, productive societies.
"That mission drew us together in 1948 and keeps us together today," he said.
MILITARY CONTRACTS April 2, 2008
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Shell Oil Products US – Deer Park, Houston, Texas is being awarded a maximum $882,846,124.00 fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract for aviation fuel. Other location of performance is Deer Park, Texas. Using service is Defense Energy Support Center. There were 48 proposals originally solicited with 23 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is April 30, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), Fort Belvoir, Va. (SP0600-08-D-0470).
Delek Refining, Ltd., Tyler, Texas is being awarded a maximum $101,902,496.10 fixed price with economic price adjustment, partial set-aside, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract for aviation fuel. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Defense Energy Support Center. The original proposal was Web solicited with 23 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is April 30, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), Fort Belvoir, Va. (SP0600-08-D-0476).
Hermes Consolidated, Inc., Denver, Colo., is being awarded a maximum $41,079,600.00 fixed price with economic price adjustment, partial set-aside, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract for aviation fuel. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Defense Energy Support Center. The original proposal was Web solicited with 23 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is April 30, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), Fort Belvoir, Va. (SP0600-08-D-0478).
ARMY
Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Orlando, Fla., was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $91,340,065 firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of a building complex to support United States Southern Command and their collaborative partners. Work will be performed at U.S. Southcom Headquarters, Miami-Doral, Florida. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by April 16, 2009. Web bids were solicited on Aug. 8, 2007 and three bids were received. Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Ala. is the contracting agency (W91278-08-C-0021).
Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems Limited Partnership, Sealy, Texas, was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $43,579,276.55 firm-fixed price contract for adding long-term armor strategy A1P2 cabs to 730 family of medium tactical vehicles. Work will be performed in Sealy, Texas. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by Nov. 15, 2008. Two bids were solicited on Aug. 15, 2002 and two bids were received. U.S. Army TACOM, Warren, Mich. is the contracting agency (DAAE07-03-C-S023).
Archer Western Contractors, Chicago, Ill., was awarded on April 1, 2008, a $41,000,000 firm-fixed price contract for design and construction of the joint use intelligence analysis facility. Work will be performed in Charlottesville, Va. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 31, 2011. 80 bids were solicited on Sept. 21, 2007 and two bids were received. U.S. Army Engineer District, Norfolk, Va. Is the contracting agency (W91236-08-C-0031).
Sundt Construction, Tempe, Ariz., was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $20,745,734 firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of one new unaccompanied personnel barracks building. Work will be performed at Fort Carson, Colo. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by May 30, 2009. Five bids were solicited on Dec. 4, 2007 and two bids were received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Neb. Is the contracting agency (W912DQ-08-D-0008).
Foster Miller, Waltham, Mass., was awarded on March 31, 2008, a firm-fixed price contract for spall liner kits for the RG-31 Mark III and Mark V. Work will be performed in Waltham, Mass. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by March 30, 2009. One bid was solicited on Nov. 30, 2007. U.S. Army TACOM, Warren, Mich. is the contracting agency (W56HZV-08-C-0172).
Sletten Companies, Phoenix, Ariz. was awarded on March 28, 2008, an $11,981.566 firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of a human intelligence training facility. Work will be performed in Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2009. Web bids were solicited on Jan. 24, 2008, and six bids were received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, Calif. is the contracting agency (W912PL-08-C-0008).
Jacobs/Huitt-Zollars, St. Louis, Mo. was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $8,644,805 firm-fixed price contract for design implementation and integration services for the site infrastructure and brigade combat teams projects. Work will be performed at Fort Bliss, Texas. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2008. One bid was solicited on March 21, 2008. U.S. Army Engineer District, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting agency (W9126G-06-D-0011).
AIR FORCE
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Integrated Systems Air Combat Systems of San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a contract for $10,000,000. This effort is for Lot 8 advance purchase items for: two Block RQ-4 Air Vehicles; three Block 40 Air Vehicles (AV); four Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensors; four Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suites (EISS); Mission Control Element (MCE) One Launch Recovery Element (LRE). At this time $10,000,000 has been obligated. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-08-C-3001).
GSD&M Idea City, LLC of Austin, Texas, is being awarded a requirement contract for $6,000,000. The Air Force requires a full-services advertising agency capable of providing non-personal services necessary to management, supervision, personnel labor, material and equipment (except for Government furnished items) required to plan, create, design, produce, place, evaluate and measure the effectiveness of advertising and special events in support of Air Force active duty national, regional, and local recruiting marketing support. At this time $0 has been obligated. Randolph AFB, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-08-D-0019).
NAVY
Lockheed Martin Corp., St. Paul, Minn., is being awarded a $9,204,957 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-04-D-0082) to procure thirty-seven (37) advanced data storage systems and install, along with R-4100-02 chassis, into P-3 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASuW) Improvement Program (AIP) aircraft. Work will be performed in Oldsmar, Fla. (65 percent); and Eagan, Minn. (35 percent) and is expected to be completed in April 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $1,208,550 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Shell Oil Products US – Deer Park, Houston, Texas is being awarded a maximum $882,846,124.00 fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract for aviation fuel. Other location of performance is Deer Park, Texas. Using service is Defense Energy Support Center. There were 48 proposals originally solicited with 23 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is April 30, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), Fort Belvoir, Va. (SP0600-08-D-0470).
Delek Refining, Ltd., Tyler, Texas is being awarded a maximum $101,902,496.10 fixed price with economic price adjustment, partial set-aside, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract for aviation fuel. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Defense Energy Support Center. The original proposal was Web solicited with 23 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is April 30, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), Fort Belvoir, Va. (SP0600-08-D-0476).
Hermes Consolidated, Inc., Denver, Colo., is being awarded a maximum $41,079,600.00 fixed price with economic price adjustment, partial set-aside, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract for aviation fuel. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Defense Energy Support Center. The original proposal was Web solicited with 23 responses. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is April 30, 2009. The contracting activity is Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), Fort Belvoir, Va. (SP0600-08-D-0478).
ARMY
Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Orlando, Fla., was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $91,340,065 firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of a building complex to support United States Southern Command and their collaborative partners. Work will be performed at U.S. Southcom Headquarters, Miami-Doral, Florida. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by April 16, 2009. Web bids were solicited on Aug. 8, 2007 and three bids were received. Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Ala. is the contracting agency (W91278-08-C-0021).
Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems Limited Partnership, Sealy, Texas, was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $43,579,276.55 firm-fixed price contract for adding long-term armor strategy A1P2 cabs to 730 family of medium tactical vehicles. Work will be performed in Sealy, Texas. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by Nov. 15, 2008. Two bids were solicited on Aug. 15, 2002 and two bids were received. U.S. Army TACOM, Warren, Mich. is the contracting agency (DAAE07-03-C-S023).
Archer Western Contractors, Chicago, Ill., was awarded on April 1, 2008, a $41,000,000 firm-fixed price contract for design and construction of the joint use intelligence analysis facility. Work will be performed in Charlottesville, Va. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 31, 2011. 80 bids were solicited on Sept. 21, 2007 and two bids were received. U.S. Army Engineer District, Norfolk, Va. Is the contracting agency (W91236-08-C-0031).
Sundt Construction, Tempe, Ariz., was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $20,745,734 firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of one new unaccompanied personnel barracks building. Work will be performed at Fort Carson, Colo. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by May 30, 2009. Five bids were solicited on Dec. 4, 2007 and two bids were received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Neb. Is the contracting agency (W912DQ-08-D-0008).
Foster Miller, Waltham, Mass., was awarded on March 31, 2008, a firm-fixed price contract for spall liner kits for the RG-31 Mark III and Mark V. Work will be performed in Waltham, Mass. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by March 30, 2009. One bid was solicited on Nov. 30, 2007. U.S. Army TACOM, Warren, Mich. is the contracting agency (W56HZV-08-C-0172).
Sletten Companies, Phoenix, Ariz. was awarded on March 28, 2008, an $11,981.566 firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of a human intelligence training facility. Work will be performed in Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2009. Web bids were solicited on Jan. 24, 2008, and six bids were received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, Calif. is the contracting agency (W912PL-08-C-0008).
Jacobs/Huitt-Zollars, St. Louis, Mo. was awarded on March 31, 2008, a $8,644,805 firm-fixed price contract for design implementation and integration services for the site infrastructure and brigade combat teams projects. Work will be performed at Fort Bliss, Texas. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2008. One bid was solicited on March 21, 2008. U.S. Army Engineer District, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting agency (W9126G-06-D-0011).
AIR FORCE
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Integrated Systems Air Combat Systems of San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a contract for $10,000,000. This effort is for Lot 8 advance purchase items for: two Block RQ-4 Air Vehicles; three Block 40 Air Vehicles (AV); four Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensors; four Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suites (EISS); Mission Control Element (MCE) One Launch Recovery Element (LRE). At this time $10,000,000 has been obligated. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-08-C-3001).
GSD&M Idea City, LLC of Austin, Texas, is being awarded a requirement contract for $6,000,000. The Air Force requires a full-services advertising agency capable of providing non-personal services necessary to management, supervision, personnel labor, material and equipment (except for Government furnished items) required to plan, create, design, produce, place, evaluate and measure the effectiveness of advertising and special events in support of Air Force active duty national, regional, and local recruiting marketing support. At this time $0 has been obligated. Randolph AFB, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-08-D-0019).
NAVY
Lockheed Martin Corp., St. Paul, Minn., is being awarded a $9,204,957 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-04-D-0082) to procure thirty-seven (37) advanced data storage systems and install, along with R-4100-02 chassis, into P-3 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASuW) Improvement Program (AIP) aircraft. Work will be performed in Oldsmar, Fla. (65 percent); and Eagan, Minn. (35 percent) and is expected to be completed in April 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $1,208,550 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
America Supports You: Volunteers, Sponsors Drive Disabled Vets Sports Clinic
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
April 1, 2008 - As nearly 400 disabled veterans enjoy the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic here, officials credit a legion of volunteers and sponsors as the driving force behind the clinic's success. The six-day event, which opened here March 30 and continues through April 4, gives severely disabled veterans the opportunity to ski, rock climb, scuba dive, trapshoot, snowmobile, and try their hand at sled hockey and wheelchair fencing, among other activities -- all with the help of more than 600 volunteers.
In addition, 76 sponsors have joined forces with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Disabled American Veterans to fund the $1 million program, according to Edward Hartman, DAV's national director for voluntary services.
"None of this is possible without the power of all the people who make it happen," said Sandy Trombetta, who came up with the concept of the winter sports clinic and has served as VA's national director for the program throughout its 22-year history.
Trombetta praised the sponsors who finance the activities and volunteers who return year after year, giving up vacation time and paying their own way to get here to work with the veterans. "They all want to be part of something bigger than themselves," he said. "What you see here is people really giving back to others. It still leaves me awestruck."
Theresa Parks, event coordinator for the past five years, said it would be impossible to run the clinic without the volunteers' support. "What they do is huge," she said. "They all make such a commitment. There just isn't a better group of people to work with than our volunteers."
Parks called their efforts a labor of love that translates into a supportive environment where veterans with severe disabilities can push their limits, and, ultimately, form lasting friendships. "They treat the veterans like family, and embrace them like a brother or son or father," he said. "There's a real sense of connection that takes place here."
Among the volunteers are more than 200 certified adaptive ski instructors, including current and former members of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, coaches and support staff.
Kevin Ridley, an adaptive ski instructor from Boston, is a first-time volunteer at the winter sports clinic after working with disabled veterans in New England for the past 12 years. "This is an awesome event, and what they are doing for these veterans is amazing," said Ridley, a Vietnam veteran.
Like other volunteers at the clinic, Ridley said he gets more out of his volunteerism than the participants, particularly when he sees them react after a run down the mountainside.
"Just to see the smiles on their faces and to see their confidence built up, with their recognition of what they can do, is the reward," he said.
While ski instructors make up a big percentage of the volunteer force, many volunteers at the winter sports clinic work in other capacities, running a full range of activities.
Among them is John Ognie, a Denver resident who has been volunteering at the clinic since 1995, most of those years teaching scuba diving. "It's a great thing for them because of the sense of freedom they get," he said. "They get in the pool and they don't want to come out."
A volunteer at the VA hospital in Denver for more than 20 years and a disabled veteran himself, Ognie said he gets a special sense of gratification helping his fellow veterans.
"I enjoy it," he said. "I just want to be here to help the veterans and their families."
Elizabeth Lowery, an employee at the VA medical center in Grand Junction, Colo., is volunteering at the clinic for the third year to schedule veterans for a variety of activities off the ski slopes, load them on buses and accompany them to the events.
"It's awe-inspiring just being here," she said. "Once you come one time, you always come back. There's just nowhere else you want to be."
Some, like eight volunteers from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., pick up veterans at the airport and transport them between venues during the event. Air Force Master Sgt. Bryan Malkowski of the 63rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit is back for his second year at the clinic helping any way he can.
"It's really rewarding to see their faces when they're doing something that they thought they would never get to do," he said. "Seeing them enjoy themselves is the best reward ever."
Gretchen Annan, also from the Grand Junction VA medical center, is here for her second clinic, helping veterans move their trays through the food lines in the dining room and get settled at their tables to eat three meals served each day.
Annan said she feels honored to get to work with such exceptional people who refuse to let a disability get in the way of living life to its fullest.
"I'm so thankful to be here, and nothing can make my day happier than seeing someone confronted with so many challenges still making it through the day," she said. "It's really inspiring."
Other volunteers, like John Corbett, known for his roles in "Sex and the City" and "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding" will take center stage later this week with his band to entertain the veterans. In addition, actress Bo Derek, honorary chair of VA's national rehabilitation special events, will attend activities throughout the week.
The Snowmass community has opened its arms to the participants, too, with local restaurants and hotels treating participants to two parties in the Snowmass Village mall. During the afternoon leading up to the opening ceremony, more than 10 local restaurants hosted a "Taste of Snowmass" event for attendees. An even larger event is slated for the clinic's final day, said Allison Campbell, Silvertree Hotel's director of conference services and coordinator for the event.
"Everybody wants to be a part of it," she said. "This is everyone's most favorite event of the year, and our way of giving back to these guys and girls who gave for us. ... It's a definite community thing, and I'm glad to be a part of it."
The gratification of providing support to disabled veterans makes volunteers "want to come back forever," Parks said. In fact, there's so little turnover in the clinic's volunteer force that Parks said she finds herself having to turn down offers from others who would like to contribute.
"Our biggest problem -- and it's hard to call this a problem -- is that we have to turn away hundreds of people every year who want to volunteer," she said. "Our volunteers come, and they stay."
The volunteers' dedication isn't lost on participants here.
"These volunteers are great people," said Jarod Behee, an Army veteran blinded during operations in Iraq who's attending the winter sports clinic for the first time this year. "I'm really thankful that they're here. They really make it special for us."
Hope Cooper, an Air Force veteran medically retired in 1989, said she's overwhelmed by the outpouring of volunteers who travel here "on their own dime to help us with everything and anything."
"They're giving of their lives to us this week, and what they do is heartfelt," she said. "And do you want to know the true reason they do it? It's because they love us. Knowing that is powerful, and it's healing."
American Forces Press Service
April 1, 2008 - As nearly 400 disabled veterans enjoy the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic here, officials credit a legion of volunteers and sponsors as the driving force behind the clinic's success. The six-day event, which opened here March 30 and continues through April 4, gives severely disabled veterans the opportunity to ski, rock climb, scuba dive, trapshoot, snowmobile, and try their hand at sled hockey and wheelchair fencing, among other activities -- all with the help of more than 600 volunteers.
In addition, 76 sponsors have joined forces with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Disabled American Veterans to fund the $1 million program, according to Edward Hartman, DAV's national director for voluntary services.
"None of this is possible without the power of all the people who make it happen," said Sandy Trombetta, who came up with the concept of the winter sports clinic and has served as VA's national director for the program throughout its 22-year history.
Trombetta praised the sponsors who finance the activities and volunteers who return year after year, giving up vacation time and paying their own way to get here to work with the veterans. "They all want to be part of something bigger than themselves," he said. "What you see here is people really giving back to others. It still leaves me awestruck."
Theresa Parks, event coordinator for the past five years, said it would be impossible to run the clinic without the volunteers' support. "What they do is huge," she said. "They all make such a commitment. There just isn't a better group of people to work with than our volunteers."
Parks called their efforts a labor of love that translates into a supportive environment where veterans with severe disabilities can push their limits, and, ultimately, form lasting friendships. "They treat the veterans like family, and embrace them like a brother or son or father," he said. "There's a real sense of connection that takes place here."
Among the volunteers are more than 200 certified adaptive ski instructors, including current and former members of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, coaches and support staff.
Kevin Ridley, an adaptive ski instructor from Boston, is a first-time volunteer at the winter sports clinic after working with disabled veterans in New England for the past 12 years. "This is an awesome event, and what they are doing for these veterans is amazing," said Ridley, a Vietnam veteran.
Like other volunteers at the clinic, Ridley said he gets more out of his volunteerism than the participants, particularly when he sees them react after a run down the mountainside.
"Just to see the smiles on their faces and to see their confidence built up, with their recognition of what they can do, is the reward," he said.
While ski instructors make up a big percentage of the volunteer force, many volunteers at the winter sports clinic work in other capacities, running a full range of activities.
Among them is John Ognie, a Denver resident who has been volunteering at the clinic since 1995, most of those years teaching scuba diving. "It's a great thing for them because of the sense of freedom they get," he said. "They get in the pool and they don't want to come out."
A volunteer at the VA hospital in Denver for more than 20 years and a disabled veteran himself, Ognie said he gets a special sense of gratification helping his fellow veterans.
"I enjoy it," he said. "I just want to be here to help the veterans and their families."
Elizabeth Lowery, an employee at the VA medical center in Grand Junction, Colo., is volunteering at the clinic for the third year to schedule veterans for a variety of activities off the ski slopes, load them on buses and accompany them to the events.
"It's awe-inspiring just being here," she said. "Once you come one time, you always come back. There's just nowhere else you want to be."
Some, like eight volunteers from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., pick up veterans at the airport and transport them between venues during the event. Air Force Master Sgt. Bryan Malkowski of the 63rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit is back for his second year at the clinic helping any way he can.
"It's really rewarding to see their faces when they're doing something that they thought they would never get to do," he said. "Seeing them enjoy themselves is the best reward ever."
Gretchen Annan, also from the Grand Junction VA medical center, is here for her second clinic, helping veterans move their trays through the food lines in the dining room and get settled at their tables to eat three meals served each day.
Annan said she feels honored to get to work with such exceptional people who refuse to let a disability get in the way of living life to its fullest.
"I'm so thankful to be here, and nothing can make my day happier than seeing someone confronted with so many challenges still making it through the day," she said. "It's really inspiring."
Other volunteers, like John Corbett, known for his roles in "Sex and the City" and "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding" will take center stage later this week with his band to entertain the veterans. In addition, actress Bo Derek, honorary chair of VA's national rehabilitation special events, will attend activities throughout the week.
The Snowmass community has opened its arms to the participants, too, with local restaurants and hotels treating participants to two parties in the Snowmass Village mall. During the afternoon leading up to the opening ceremony, more than 10 local restaurants hosted a "Taste of Snowmass" event for attendees. An even larger event is slated for the clinic's final day, said Allison Campbell, Silvertree Hotel's director of conference services and coordinator for the event.
"Everybody wants to be a part of it," she said. "This is everyone's most favorite event of the year, and our way of giving back to these guys and girls who gave for us. ... It's a definite community thing, and I'm glad to be a part of it."
The gratification of providing support to disabled veterans makes volunteers "want to come back forever," Parks said. In fact, there's so little turnover in the clinic's volunteer force that Parks said she finds herself having to turn down offers from others who would like to contribute.
"Our biggest problem -- and it's hard to call this a problem -- is that we have to turn away hundreds of people every year who want to volunteer," she said. "Our volunteers come, and they stay."
The volunteers' dedication isn't lost on participants here.
"These volunteers are great people," said Jarod Behee, an Army veteran blinded during operations in Iraq who's attending the winter sports clinic for the first time this year. "I'm really thankful that they're here. They really make it special for us."
Hope Cooper, an Air Force veteran medically retired in 1989, said she's overwhelmed by the outpouring of volunteers who travel here "on their own dime to help us with everything and anything."
"They're giving of their lives to us this week, and what they do is heartfelt," she said. "And do you want to know the true reason they do it? It's because they love us. Knowing that is powerful, and it's healing."
Gates Thanks Danes for Commitment, Sacrifices
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
April 1, 2008 - Two tables were set within the stone walls of the historic barracks of the Royal Danish Life Guards here for U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' meetings this morning. At the first, Gates sat across from Danish Defense Minister Soren Gade. Both leaders were flanked by senior military officials in dress uniforms and policy makers in business suits.
At the second, in a room off to the side, he again sat across from Gade, but this time both were surrounded by about a dozen Danish soldiers in their service uniforms, ranging in rank from private to lieutenant colonel, fresh from combat in Afghanistan.
White tablecloths, chips and soda set the stage for Gates to hear the challenges the soldiers faced while fighting in one of the toughest regions in southern Afghanistan.
Denmark is slightly smaller in size than Vermont and New Hampshire combined. With a population of about 5.5 million, the Danes have lost more soldiers per capita in Afghanistan combat than any other NATO ally. Fourteen Danish servicemembers have died there since 2002 — 10 in the past six months.
Gates said Denmark's contributions to the effort in Afghanistan are what brought him here for the first trip to Denmark by a U.S. defense secretary in a decade.
"I wanted to come above all to express my thanks on behalf of the American people ... and appreciation for the contributions that Denmark is making, especially in Afghanistan," Gates said in a briefing after the meetings with Gade and the soldiers, "and also to express our condolences for the loss of the fine Danish soldiers.
"Every single one of these casualties is a tragedy," he continued, "but it is for a greater cause. It is for security in Europe, security in America, as well helping the Afghans develop a country where they have some choice in the future."
The Danes have about 630 troops in Afghanistan, with most stationed in the south. In all, there are about 18,000 NATO troops there, but NATO officials have said that is not enough to provide adequate security to allow for proper rebuilding efforts. NATO officials said yesterday they need at least three more infantry or maneuver battalions in the country.
Gates said he thinks some countries will announce troop increases for Afghanistan at the NATO summit conference that begins tomorrow in Bucharest, Romania.
"I am reasonably optimistic that there will be additional forces made available for (Regional Command) South," he said. But, Gates added, he is doubtful it will be all that NATO's International Security Assistance Force commanders say they need.
A swath of southern Afghanistan that makes up 10 percent of the country's area and is home to only about 6 percent of the population is where 70 percent of the violence in the country takes place, according to NATO statistics. It is there that the Danes have most of their troops. Gates called their efforts "extraordinary."
"The Danes are fighting hard in RC South, and I think that there are a handful of us that are carrying that burden," Gates said. "Denmark is clearly one of the most significant, along with Canada, the Australians, the British and ourselves."
The United States is sending about 3,500 Marines to Afghanistan this month, with about 2,000 of them heading toward the southern provinces. But they will leave in November, and Gates said NATO's challenge is filling in behind them.
"This is a challenge for the alliance," Gates said. "Every ally has fulfilled the specific commitment that they made. What has not been fulfilled is the broader commitment ... to provide the ISAF commander with the forces needed to be successful.
"So it is the level of effort above the commitments already made and fulfilled that is the challenge ... for the alliance," Gates said.
Gates said he expects a reaffirmation to come out of the upcoming summit conference that will more solidly place the alliance's commitment to the region.
"I think part of what will come out of Bucharest, I hope, is a statement of reaffirmation of why NATO is in Afghanistan – why success in Afghanistan is important to the security of Europe and to all of the nations that are partners with us there," Gates said. "And perhaps that will create the environment in which it is possible for other countries to do more."
Even so, Denmark's Gade reinforced that Danish troops will stay in the region, regardless of whether other countries commit to providing reinforcements.
"We will keep doing the job in the south," Gade said. "We have no plans whatsoever to withdraw or something like that."
Gates, when questioned about how Americans respond to U.S. soldiers' deaths there, replied that there is strong support, both public and political, for the fight in Afghanistan.
"We are in Afghanistan because we were attacked from Afghanistan. Three thousand Americans lost their lives because a terrorist attack was planned and executed from Afghanistan," Gates said. "In terms of the American public, I think there is little question about why we are in Afghanistan."
Gates finished his visit this morning with a tour of the Danish amphibious command and control ship, the Absalon, docked here. He meets with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Foreign Affairs Minister Per Stig Moller this afternoon, and leaves tomorrow for the NATO summit conference in Bucharest.
American Forces Press Service
April 1, 2008 - Two tables were set within the stone walls of the historic barracks of the Royal Danish Life Guards here for U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' meetings this morning. At the first, Gates sat across from Danish Defense Minister Soren Gade. Both leaders were flanked by senior military officials in dress uniforms and policy makers in business suits.
At the second, in a room off to the side, he again sat across from Gade, but this time both were surrounded by about a dozen Danish soldiers in their service uniforms, ranging in rank from private to lieutenant colonel, fresh from combat in Afghanistan.
White tablecloths, chips and soda set the stage for Gates to hear the challenges the soldiers faced while fighting in one of the toughest regions in southern Afghanistan.
Denmark is slightly smaller in size than Vermont and New Hampshire combined. With a population of about 5.5 million, the Danes have lost more soldiers per capita in Afghanistan combat than any other NATO ally. Fourteen Danish servicemembers have died there since 2002 — 10 in the past six months.
Gates said Denmark's contributions to the effort in Afghanistan are what brought him here for the first trip to Denmark by a U.S. defense secretary in a decade.
"I wanted to come above all to express my thanks on behalf of the American people ... and appreciation for the contributions that Denmark is making, especially in Afghanistan," Gates said in a briefing after the meetings with Gade and the soldiers, "and also to express our condolences for the loss of the fine Danish soldiers.
"Every single one of these casualties is a tragedy," he continued, "but it is for a greater cause. It is for security in Europe, security in America, as well helping the Afghans develop a country where they have some choice in the future."
The Danes have about 630 troops in Afghanistan, with most stationed in the south. In all, there are about 18,000 NATO troops there, but NATO officials have said that is not enough to provide adequate security to allow for proper rebuilding efforts. NATO officials said yesterday they need at least three more infantry or maneuver battalions in the country.
Gates said he thinks some countries will announce troop increases for Afghanistan at the NATO summit conference that begins tomorrow in Bucharest, Romania.
"I am reasonably optimistic that there will be additional forces made available for (Regional Command) South," he said. But, Gates added, he is doubtful it will be all that NATO's International Security Assistance Force commanders say they need.
A swath of southern Afghanistan that makes up 10 percent of the country's area and is home to only about 6 percent of the population is where 70 percent of the violence in the country takes place, according to NATO statistics. It is there that the Danes have most of their troops. Gates called their efforts "extraordinary."
"The Danes are fighting hard in RC South, and I think that there are a handful of us that are carrying that burden," Gates said. "Denmark is clearly one of the most significant, along with Canada, the Australians, the British and ourselves."
The United States is sending about 3,500 Marines to Afghanistan this month, with about 2,000 of them heading toward the southern provinces. But they will leave in November, and Gates said NATO's challenge is filling in behind them.
"This is a challenge for the alliance," Gates said. "Every ally has fulfilled the specific commitment that they made. What has not been fulfilled is the broader commitment ... to provide the ISAF commander with the forces needed to be successful.
"So it is the level of effort above the commitments already made and fulfilled that is the challenge ... for the alliance," Gates said.
Gates said he expects a reaffirmation to come out of the upcoming summit conference that will more solidly place the alliance's commitment to the region.
"I think part of what will come out of Bucharest, I hope, is a statement of reaffirmation of why NATO is in Afghanistan – why success in Afghanistan is important to the security of Europe and to all of the nations that are partners with us there," Gates said. "And perhaps that will create the environment in which it is possible for other countries to do more."
Even so, Denmark's Gade reinforced that Danish troops will stay in the region, regardless of whether other countries commit to providing reinforcements.
"We will keep doing the job in the south," Gade said. "We have no plans whatsoever to withdraw or something like that."
Gates, when questioned about how Americans respond to U.S. soldiers' deaths there, replied that there is strong support, both public and political, for the fight in Afghanistan.
"We are in Afghanistan because we were attacked from Afghanistan. Three thousand Americans lost their lives because a terrorist attack was planned and executed from Afghanistan," Gates said. "In terms of the American public, I think there is little question about why we are in Afghanistan."
Gates finished his visit this morning with a tour of the Danish amphibious command and control ship, the Absalon, docked here. He meets with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Foreign Affairs Minister Per Stig Moller this afternoon, and leaves tomorrow for the NATO summit conference in Bucharest.
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