Face of Defense: Quick-thinking Airman Prevents Tragedy

By Air Force Senior Airman Michael Charles

379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA  – While preparing for her night shift, Air Force Senior Airman Lanea Trevino noticed something odd about the shower stall next to hers.

The shower supplies, visible through the half-opened curtain, had remained untouched for the entire time she had been there.

"It was strange," Trevino said. "I had seen nobody else in the facility so it was odd that an entire set of supplies would be left."

While some might dismiss the empty shower stall and shower supplies as a case of forgetfulness, Trevino decided to walk through the facility to be sure. After noticing an occupied female toilet stall, Trevino knocked on the door and asked the person inside if she had left her shower supplies.

There was no response.

"I immediately began to worry," Trevino said. "I could see that she was in the stall but wasn't moving."

Trevino reached her hand under the stall and shook the girl's leg but there was no response. She quickly peeked under the stall and noticed the airman was unconscious. Taking immediate action, she ran to the nearest trailer and told the first person she saw to call emergency responders.

"My first instinct was to get help," Trevino said. "I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not but I knew that she would need additional medical assistance either way and ran to get it."

Fearing the worst, she grabbed a male, who had been walking by on his way to lunch to help her get the unconscious individual out of the stall. The door had been locked from the inside and the only way into the stall was to climb over top of it. The male lifted her over the stall and she opened the door from the inside.

Using a fireman carry, Trevino dragged the unresponsive female out of the stall and laid her flat on the ground. Moments later, paramedics from the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group arrived on scene and begin caring for the individual, who was later diagnosed with severe dehydration.

Being vigilant and watching out for your fellow wingman is the responsibility of all airmen, said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. William Harner, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing’s command chief.

"Trevino displayed the ethos we expect from all our Air Force teammates," Harner said. "She paid attention to her surroundings, noticed that something was not right, and acted accordingly. Her vigilance yielded a life or death result."

Heat-related injuries can include dizziness, confusion, heavy breathing or unconsciousness, Trevino said.

"It's our duty to look out for each other,” she said, “especially in the summertime when the heat takes its toll on your body."

Thanks to Trevino's actions the service member is due to make a full recovery.

"I would expect anyone else to do the same for me," Trevino said. "As airmen in the U.S. Air Force, we are part of a unique family and you never have to have a reason to look out for your family members."

Locklear: Pacom’s Priorities Reflect New Strategic Guidance

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON  – With clear direction from President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, the new U.S. Pacific Command chief said he’s using the new strategic guidance as a roadmap as he sets priorities and engages with the region.

Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, who assumed his post in March, said he feels fortunate to have taken command when the strategic guidance succinctly defines leadership emphasis and priorities across his vast area of responsibility.

“Every military commander wants to know what is expected of him or her and how to proceed toward the future,” Locklear said during an interview with American Forces Press Service. “So the president and the secretary of defense have given me through their strategic guidance clear direction on what they want [and] what they expect to see.”

The 14-page strategic guidance, released in January, recognizes challenges as well as opportunities in a region that covers 52 percent of the earth’s surface and includes some 3.6 billion people in 36 nations. Asia and the Pacific, Locklear noted, represent half the world’s trade, a transit point for most of its energy supplies, and home to three of the world’s largest economies and most of its major militaries.

“I think the strategy is recognition that we, as an American people, are a Pacific nation,” as well as an Atlantic nation, the admiral said. “We are a Pacific nation, and what happens in the Asia-Pacific matters to us. And this strategy helps reemphasize that.”

In implementing the new guidance, Locklear has outlined five basic priorities for Pacom:

-- Strengthen and advance alliances and partnerships;

-- Mature the U.S.-China military-to-military relationship;

-- Develop the U.S.-India strategic partnership;

-- Remain prepared to respond to a Korean Peninsula contingency; and

-- Counter transnational threats.

Alliances and partnerships are key factors for regional security and stability, Locklear said. He vowed to work to strengthen the United States’ alliances with South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia and Thailand.

“These alliances are historic,” he said. “They underpin our strategy in the region and they underpin the security arrangements in the region.”

Locklear noted promising developments within these alliances, such as the new Marine rotations in Australia and improving special operations and counterterrorism capabilities in the Philippines’ armed forces.

Pacom also will focus on establishing and building partnerships with other nations that share the United States’ interest in security and economic prosperity and increasingly, human rights, he said.

“We are going to put more time and effort into making sure that those relationships are built for the future,” the admiral said.

Locklear recognized the United States’ already-strong military-to-military ties with Singapore and its “very much improving” relationships with Indonesia.

In addition, the United States wants a long-term strategic relationship with India, a large regional democracy and rising economic power that’s also increasing in military capability.

“We hope to partner with them to share the strategic landscape as it applies to how we apply security to the globe that allows prosperity and peace, freedom of movement and allows prosperity in the world,” the admiral said.

Locklear said he also hopes to strengthen military-to-military relations with China. China is an emerging power with many significant decisions to make, he said, adding that the United States would like to play a role in helping influence those decisions in a way that promotes a secure global environment.

“One way to do that is to communicate better,” Locklear said. “The last thing you want to have is miscalculation between large militaries.”

One way to build trust and confidence between those militaries, Locklear said, is through military-to-military operations.

“You learn to operate together, you learn to cooperate, you learn about each other’s families. You get a personal view of each other” that can pay off in helping resolve any differences that may arise.

Locklear said North Korea looms as the most-pressing trouble spot. Its new, untested leader and its pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and world pressure create a tenuous, unstable situation.

“If there is anything that keeps me awake at night, it’s that particular situation,” the admiral said. “We have to ensure that we maintain as much of a stable environment on the Korean Peninsula as we can.”

Transnational threats pose another concern and area of emphasis for Pacom. Locklear identified cyber threats as the most daunting, noting the importance of secure networks not only for Pacom’s military operations, but also for regional stability and economic viability.

The admiral said his command’s Cyber Pacific organization is working closely with U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command to identify better ways to defend Pacom’s networks.

“No matter what happens out there on the Internet and Facebook, we still have to be able to operate the networks that allow us to produce combat power,” Locklear said. “And so one of my priority jobs is to ensure those [command] networks will survive when they have to survive.”

Terrorism is another major concern for Pacom, the admiral said, as violent extremists increasingly seek safe havens in the Asia-Pacific region. Locklear said he recognizes the need to continue adapting U.S. forces to deal with the challenge.

“In the terrorist world, as you squeeze on one side of the balloon, it pops out somewhere else. [Terrorists] look for areas of opportunity. And they find areas of opportunity in places that are disenfranchised, that have poor economies and opportunity to change the mindset of the people looking for a better life but don’t know how to get it.”

Locklear said the kind of environment the United States and its allies and partners in the region are working to promote is the best response.

“In the long run, the solution for that, I think, is prosperity, and the general sense of security that makes it so that these terrorist organizations can’t thrive.”

Locklear also noted the problem of narcotics, particularly methamphetamine production in the region, which provides the financing for terrorists to operate.

“We are seeing an increasing amount of that activity. And that money, we know, goes to the terrorist organizations,” he said. “So we are going to have to make sure we keep our focus pretty tightly on this, because that transnational threat is equal or more damaging to our national security than any of the others.”

In leading Pacom’s response to these threats, Locklear noted the positive impact of more than six decades of U.S. presence in the region.

“The U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific has provided the security infrastructure that basically underpins the security environment which has led to an environment that allowed … emerging economies [and] emerging nations to thrive -- from Japan to Korea to Australia to the Philippines to China, to the U.S.,” Locklear said. “We are part of that.”

Pacom’s activities today will have a long-term impact for the future, the admiral said.

“We have tremendous interest that will carry forward, not just to the near term, but to our children and our grandchildren and their children,” he said.

Lincoln Prepares Future LDOs, Warrant Officers for Success

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kathleen L. Church, USS Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs

USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, At Sea (NNS) -- Sailors aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) participated in a weekly limited duty officer (LDO) and chief warrant officer (CWO) recruitment training session, May 16.

Lincoln holds the training to prepare interested Sailors for the extensive application process, one that provides the Navy with officer technical managers and specialists who exercise leadership in key positions throughout the service.

"The chance to become an LDO or CWO is an exceptional opportunity for leadership," said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Mike Guertin. "It is never too early to start preparing for the transition."

Guertin implemented the LDO/CWO recruitment and training aboard Lincoln to provide enlisted Sailors with tools and information about career advancement. He recommends to interested parties that they sit in on the training to get extra information about a competitive process designed to select Sailors who have demonstrated sustained superior performance throughout their careers.

The admission process focuses on promotion rankings, command endorsement, interview appraisal sheets, leadership traits, major accomplishments, significant in-rate and watch station qualifications, certifications and the difficulty of previous assignments.

"It is important to set goals early in your career," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Laila Salaam. "Becoming an LDO or CWO is a long process full of hard work, but it is a process that will set you up for a stable future."

Guertin described the selection process as among the most competitive in the Navy. "Sailors need to make themselves look as good as possible because only the top few will gain a spot in the program," he said. In 2011, of the 1,020 Sailors who applied for the CWO program Navywide, 156 were selected.

"Lincoln had amazing success in the CWO program last year," said Guertin. "We had five people selected to become CWOs; most commands are lucky to get one Sailor selected."

The application process takes approximately 11 months before results are announced.

"Very few get to serve as an LDO or CWO," said Guertin. "It is a position to be proud of because you have proved to the Navy that you are in the elite in your rate."

Lincoln is currently deployed with Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9, which also includes embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, guided-missile cruiser Cape St. George (CG 71) and Destroyer Squadron 9, comprised of guided-missile destroyers USS Momsen (DDG 92) and USS Sterett (DDG 104). CSG 9 is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and combat flight operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Navy Recruits Players for Online Wargame to Tackle Energy Challenges

From Chief of Naval Operations Energy and Environmental Readiness Division Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy's Energy and Environmental Readiness Division (OPNAV N45), together with the Office of Naval Research (ONR), invites civic and military collaboration in energyMMOWGLI (Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame Leveraging the Internet) May 22-24.

The game will build on efforts to improve the U.S. Navy's combat capability and energy security, particularly by promoting energy efficiency and diversifying its energy supply (use of alternative energy), which will ultimately reduce reliance on fossil fuels from overseas.

Scheduled to run for three days, energyMMOWGLI will immerse players in a future energy scenario from the year 2022 (view scenario at http://portal.mmowgli.nps.edu), and will ask them to generate ideas about how to reduce energy consumption, improve energy efficiency, and diversify its energy supply for the sake of future strategic readiness.

The game will be "an examination of what our energy future looks like if we fail to act now," said Cmdr. James Goudreau, director of the Navy Energy Coordination Office. "Every day that petroleum prices increase, it erodes our ability to train for and execute operations that our nation demands of us. Little by little, that results in decreased combat capability, and that is something we simply cannot accept."

Through use of the energyMMOWGLI, Goudreau says, "We hope to increase the awareness of energy security as a national security issue as well as stimulating discussion that will allow the Navy to achieve greater energy resiliency and combat readiness."

Inviting broad-based participation - both civilian and military - is part of the strategy for a more secure energy footing in the context of a more uncertain energy future.

"We're hoping for an extremely diverse set of players including talented thoughtful players from academia, industry, military, government, NGOs, and global citizens," said Goudreau.

The game invites players to bring everything they know about energy from strategies they use at home to their workplace conversations, from their professional knowledge to their wildest imaginings. MMOWGLI is "an online game platform designed to elicit collective intelligence from an engaged pool of world-wide players to solve real problems facing the Navy and Marine Corps," said Dr. Larry Schuette, director of innovation at ONR. The energyMMOWGLI game motto is: Play the game, change the game.

Players can view the future scenario and pre-register now online at http://portal.mmowgli.nps.edu. The Naval Postgraduate School and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Institute for the Future are partnering with N45 and ONR on the energyMMOWGLI project.

Media interested in additional information should contact Katherine Turner, OPNAV N45 (katherine.m.turner.ctr@navy.mil), Peter J. Vietti, ONR (peter.vietti@navy.mil), or Jean Hagan, Institute for the Future at jhagan@IFTF.org.