DoD Launches Tomodachi Registry Website

From Department of Defense

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Department of Defense (DoD) launched the Operation Tomodachi Registry website Sept. 5.

The website provides location-based radiation dose estimate reports for adults and children comprising the DoD-affiliated population on or near mainland Japan following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011.

DoD-affiliated members who were in Japan during the nuclear reactor crisis, medical providers, and the public at large will be able to download location-based radiation dose estimate reports from the website. These reports include medical interpretations and provide comparisons of the Operation Tomodachi radiation doses with more commonly experienced radiation doses.

The website also includes information on the event, DoD's response to the crisis, and answers to frequently asked questions. By the end of the calendar year, individuals in the registry may request a dose assessment that is individually tailored for them, based on more detailed location data that they can provide using the "Contact Us" function on the Operation Tomodachi Registry website.

After extensive environmental monitoring and analysis, it has been determined that none of the nearly 70,000 members of the DoD-affiliated population (service members, DoD civilian employees and contractors, and family members of service members and civilian employees) who were on or near the mainland of Japan between March 12 and May 11, 2011, are known to have been exposed to radiation at levels associated with adverse medical conditions.

The Operation Tomodachi Registry, which will be housed in a secure database containing the names, locations, and radiation doses for all members of the DoD-affiliated population, will be completed by Dec. 31, 2012. Personally identified information will be omitted from this website.

Multinational Seminar Examines Violent Extremism

By Jason Tudor

George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – Professionals from 61 countries have gathered at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies here to share ideas about countering violent extremism across the globe.

A senior executive seminar titled “Beyond Al Qaeda: How to Understand and Counter Violent Extremism” gathers 98 ministers, parliamentarians, general officers and other senior leaders from around the world.

The forum provides a unique opportunity for senior policy makers to seek common understanding to a problem that doesn’t recognize borders, said Marine Corps Col. Philip Lark, the seminar’s deputy director.

“Participants are engaging in candid discussion of violent extremist ideology and activity,” he said. “The seminar is facilitating a comprehensive, cooperative approach to the problem.”

With 25 lecturers -- including Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe -- scheduled over eight days, the agenda is a busy one. Lark said the idea was to gather as many diverse points of view as possible.

“This problem has deep roots and is without borders,” Lark said. “The solutions we attempt to gather must be comprehensive.”

In his opening remarks to the group, retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, Marshall Center director, said the time this group has together is vital and should be a shared experience.

“You will get out of this course what you put into it,” Dayton said. “There will not be a ‘sage on the stage’ who will give you wisdom and you walk out feeling much better. This is your course, and it is interactive.”

About 80 NATO senior enlisted advisors will work alongside the seminar participants, including Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Roy M. Maddocks Jr., U.S. European Command’s command master chief; and Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Richard T. Small from NATO Allied Command Operations.

Also among the attendees are 10 general officers from the National Guard and Air National Guard via the State Partnership Program sponsored by Eucom.

The Marshall Center staff conducts two senior executive seminars each year. A seminar in January dealt with the “Arab Spring” and revolution across the Middle East. Like that previous seminar, Lark said, this seminar centers on real-world happenings. The event’s lectures and smaller-group studies bring them into sharp focus, he added.

“Everything within the seminar is designed to deepen our understanding of the linkages between extremism, radical violence, globalization, and religious and cultural differences,” Lark said. “Participant expertise and experience will add context to these discussions. Extremists of all determinations pose a dangerous threat to global security and must be examined with equal diligence –- fighting extremism must be done with both determination and insight.”

Lark said the goal is for participants to return home with a deeper awareness of key issues that influence national, regional and international security; the factors that shape security strategy; and the components of cooperative security in an interdependent world.

Kosovo deployment nearing end for Wisconsin aviators

By Spc. Joshua Barnett

MNBG E Public Affairs

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - Task Force Talon, the Multinational Battle Group East aviation unit that includes West Bend-based aviation Soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard, transferred authority for its peacekeeping mission to Task Force Cash during a Sept. 1 ceremony.

"This ceremony not only marks the end of our deployment in Kosovo, but it marks the end of a journey that lasted two years for us," said Lt. Col. William G. Watson, Task Force Talon commander, from the North Dakota National Guard. "We met in fall of 2010 at the joint assessment and I knew we had a good team right from the beginning."

The outgoing task force was made up of Army National Guard Soldiers from New Jersey, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The Wisconsin Soldiers - from Company F, 2nd Battalion, 238th Aviation Regiment and Detachment 1, Company B, 248th Aviation Support Battalion - supported the Kosovo Force (KFOR) medevac mission and the headquarters, lift and maintenance units. They have been deployed to Kosovo for a year in support of NATO's Operation Joint Guardian, a peacekeeping mission to ensure a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement for all residents of Kosovo.

"Our multinational battle group is quite unique," said MNBG E Commander Col. Jeffrey J. Liethen of the Wisconsin National Guard. "It consists of a diverse group of soldiers from nine nations, and each soldier brings special skills and capabilities to the battle group. Although we each come from different backgrounds, we share the same common goal of wanting to provide a peaceful and safe society for the people of Kosovo."

Aviation duties for this mission have now been assumed by National Guard Soldiers from Arkansas, California, Hawaii and South Carolina.

"Col. Watson and his team, thank you for the tremendous support that you have given us during the [relief in place] process," said Lt. Col. Matthew A. McDermott, Task Force Cash commander. Relief in place is the transition process from the departing unit to the incoming unit that includes final training and local mission familiarization. "The things you have gone over with my team truly will set us up for success for our rotation."

According to Liethen, Task Force Talon flew more than 2,800 accident-free hours during their year in Kosovo. They transported more than 2,600 passengers and 238 tons of supplies and equipment, completed 30 medevac missions and trained nearly 5,000 U.S. and multinational Soldiers on how to safely load and unload lift and medevac aircraft.

The Task Force also provided direct support to important KFOR missions - including the Rudare roadblock removal - through troop insertion, medevac support and by providing continuous overhead surveillance to provide real-time tactical information.

Behind the scenes, the aviation maintenance and headquarters companies provided operational aircraft, supplies, equipment, information and personnel support. The personnel section identified more than $125,000 in pay and bonuses due to Task Force Talon Soldiers. The logistics section maintained accountability of more than $65 million in equipment. A recent Aviation Resource Management Survey found Task Force Talon to be in 100 percent compliance regarding safety, operations and training, maintenance and facilities programs.

The Wisconsin National Guard aviation Soldiers are expected back in West Bend around mid-September. The approximately 30 Soldiers left Wisconsin Sept. 24 of last year for about two months of training at Camp Atterbury, Ind., prior to deploying to Kosovo in November. They are among the elements of the Milwaukee-based 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade that assumed command of Multinational Battle Group East last Dec. 10.

Concerns Persist Over Ex-SEAL’s bin Laden Raid Book

By Amaani Lyle

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – Defense Department officials continue to weigh their legal options against a former Navy SEAL who may have revealed classified information in a book he wrote about the Osama bin Laden raid, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a news conference here today.

On Aug. 30, the Defense Department sent an advisory letter of material breach and nondisclosure violation to the author, who used the pen name Mark Owen to write “No Easy Day.”

Officials maintain Owen may have divulged classified information that could jeopardize the safety of military members in future operations.

“When it comes to sensitive special operations missions such as the [one] that took down Osama bin Laden, it is important that those … involved in such operations take care to protect sensitive and classified information,” Little said. “And if I had been part of the raid team on the ground and I had decided to write a book about it, it wouldn't have been a tough decision for me to submit the book for prepublication review. That is common sense. It's a no-brainer, and it did not happen.”

Little said Pentagon officials have read the book and are unwavering in their concerns about sensitive and classified information that they believe the book contains, but no plans have been put in place to withhold sale of the book in military exchanges or to the public.

“There’s been no directive from this department to withhold sale of the book from military exchanges. … [The] book is being made widely available in bookstores and online,” Little said.

The Defense Department typically is not in the business of policing what goes on bookshelves, Little said. Rather, he added, it simply wants to protect classified information, as all current and former DOD employees have a “solemn obligation” to do.

“The sole yardstick is classification. … This is a former service member who wrote a book,” Little said. “This is about merely trying to protect classified information, … not about trying to prevent the telling of a story.”

Former Army Cadet Captures Paralympic Silver Medal

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

American Forces Press Service

LONDON – Many Paralympic athletes participating in the 2012 Paralympic Games here have overcome diseases, injuries or other afflictions. But not many have suffered through a combination of all of those factors and still rose above them to experience success in their chosen sports the way Jennifer Schuble, a former cadet and three-letter varsity athlete at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., has been able to.

The former Army cadet suffered a traumatic brain injury during hand-to-hand combat training at the academy. She later was involved in a car accident in which her right arm was crushed and her TBI was exacerbated. In a final challenging blow, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004.

Schuble, now a two-time Paralympian, spoke to American Forces Network here yesterday about the thrill of winning her second medal Sept. 1 at the Olympic Park's Velodrome and the electrifying crowd.

“It's just amazing hearing all the noises, screaming and roaring,” she said. “This is the loudest crowd I've ever raced in. And it's a sold-out crowd. It's just so amazing -- all these people, [and] they're screaming for us. It's just an environment that [brings excitement. People are wearing ear plugs [because] it's so loud in here. It's just like, ‘Wow!”

Schuble won her silver medal in the in the 500-meter time trial paracycling event, an event in which she earned the gold medal during the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

“I knew I had to time the [starting] gate just right,” she said. “I had to get out fast. [I knew] I could jump it after all the false starts that happened earlier by other competitors throughout the week, and I timed the gate just right and went out like a rock star. I had the fastest lap, and I was holding on for dear life. I rode the fastest lap I've ever rode. It wasn't a gold medal round – I didn't defend my gold title – but still, Sarah [Storey of Great Britain] rode a great ride.”

Schuble said she’s pleased with her silver medal, and that she also has a bronze medal to add to her accomplishments, earned with her teammates in yesterday’s team sprint cycling event.

Although she has faced many mental and physical hurdles, Schuble has demonstrated the ability to continuously adapt and overcome the challenges of her disabilities.

“What helped me get through this is I set goals for myself,” she said. “I keep looking forward. I don't look back. And that's what kept me focused.”

Schuble noted she's been working in the gym to improve her balance and coordination. “That's what's kept me healthy and my disease in check,” she said.

Along with her resilience in overcoming her disabilities to be a successful Paralympic athlete, Schuble has applied her drive to academics as well. She graduated from the University of Alabama with a master's degree in production operation research, and she works full-time as an engineer for Mercedes-Benz Corp.

Although she didn't defend her gold here, Schuble said, she is satisfied with her performance after training for the last four years.

“I didn't get my Paralympic gold medal in the 500, but I got a silver, and I rode a personal best,” she noted. “So, I mean, to get two medals so far in the [2012] Paralympic Games, and I still have two more events, I can't be more happy.”