Face of Defense: Airman Seeks to Make Difference in Africa

By Air Force Staff Sgt. Antoinette Gibson

Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa

CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti, Jan. 6, 2014 – Two million people died, 4 million were displaced, and thousands more fled during a civil war in his native Sudan, but one “lost boy,” now an American airman, has returned home.

When he was 5 years old, Air Force Staff Sgt. Deng Pour had a life filled with gunfire and attacks. He and his family moved from village to village to stay alive. One night, Sudanese government troops ambushed the village where they were living, forcing him to flee from Sudan to Ethiopia.

“The thought of leaving never really crossed our mind until that night,” Pour said. “My aunt and I left everything we had and headed for Ethiopia. My aunt told me my mom had to stay behind to take care of my grandmother, but little did I know that my mom had been actually captured.”

Pour said they survived by eating grass and mud. They watched many men, women and children being killed. When he got tired, he said, his aunt would carry him on her back as they walked miles at a time, ran from troops and avoided bombs dropped from planes.

After three months of unimaginable hardship, Pour and dozens of others arrived in Ethiopia to a refugee camp, where they were safe, but often had little to eat. A year later, his mother joined them, and they felt as if the camp was going to be home, he said.

“When I saw my mom, I was so happy. I just knew everything would be OK, and we would have a normal life,” Pour said.

But after three years, the Ethiopian government was overthrown, and a civil war broke. The family fled back to war-torn Sudan.

“People kept saying, ‘You have to leave; you have to leave.’ We heard the gunfire get closer,” he said. "We felt like it was life or death. We knew the road ahead would be tough, but we had to go. My mom, uncle, cousins and I headed toward Sudan, and my aunt fled with others to Kenya."

About half of the young people who fled Ethiopia -- more than 500 -- failed to complete the journey back to Sudan, Pour said. Those who survived embarked on a long, difficult walk to return to their home. Some were shot, and others were killed by wild animals or died of hunger, thirst, disease or utter exhaustion. Some died crossing the crocodile-infested Pibor River, Pour said. “But once again, I made it. I survived,” he added.

Pour said their home in Sudan was not how they left it. Their village had burned down, and the livestock had been killed. They made do with hardly anything, Pour said. One day, a plane flew in to deliver aid to his country, and Pour and his cousin stood watching in amazement.

Pour’s uncle asked the pilot if he would take Pour and his cousin to Kakuma, a refugee camp in northern Kenya. Saying she wanted a better life for them, Pour said, she sent them alone to the refugee camp, where the elders from their local village formed loose family groups and took care of them. Pour said he and thousands of other southern Sudanese children became known as the “lost boys of Sudan.”

At the camp, they attend school and learned basic reading, writing and arithmetic. For the next five years, life got better.

“Sept. 17, 1999, is a day I will never forget,” Pour said. “That was the day my aunt adopted me as her son and sent for me to come to the U.S.”

By then, Pour was 16. He could barely speak English and found himself below the academic standard, he said, but he worked day and night to continue to learn.

Pour graduated from high school was accepted into Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky on a soccer scholarship, but it didn’t take him long to realize he was wasting his time. He wanted to join the Air Force, he said, but he was unable to because he didn’t have a green card.

“I knew as soon as I got my green card that I would join the Air Force,” he said.

In 2006, an Air Force recruiter traveled three hours to meet Pour at his home in Fergus Falls, Minn. The recruiter assured him he would do whatever he could to help him enlist in the military. Pour either could wait a year for the job he wanted or go right away by leaving his specialty open. Without hesitation, Pour took the first available job to enlist in the Air Force.

“Services was my first job, but once I was able to retrain, I cross trained into the chaplain corps," Pour said. "I knew was where God called me to be.”

Pour has been in the military for seven years, with assignments at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. He has deployed to Kuwait and Afghanistan, and now is deployed to Africa. Life hasn’t always been easy since he left his country, he said, and mentors such as Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Dayton Lowry reminded him there always will be better days.

“Chief, as well as many others, motivate me, and the Air Force is a community where everyone wants to come and help,” Pour said. “There is always a leader or mentor there when you are ready to give up. I have faced many roadblocks in my life, but I’ve been reminded that if you are determined, you can accomplish anything.”

Pour is the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa religious affairs office here, where he works in a variety of support roles, building morale among the combined forces and helping partner nation militaries in improving their military chaplaincies.

“He is a valuable member to our team,” said Navy Capt. Dana Reed, director of religious affairs. “With a past that is so rich in this region, he provides us with firsthand knowledge on customs and traditions with our partnering countries.”

Pour said his goal in Africa is simple: to make a difference. "As I was going through my struggles, many people went out of their way to help me. … The Air Force is a way for me to give back, to serve my adopted country, because I know I’m representing something greater than myself,” he said. “The mission here at [the task force] helps people. It helps my people.”

For a long time, Pour said, he was unable to tell his story, but he tells it now because it may leave someone encouraged. His 25-year journey since leaving Sudan has made him who he is today, he added.

MQ-1B Predator accident report released

Release Number: 010614

1/6/2014 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va -- An MQ-1B Predator turbocharger failure and wind gusts led to the crash of the aircraft at Jalalabad Air Base, Afghanistan, June 27, 2013, according to an Air Combat Command Abbreviated Accident Investigation Board report released today.

The remotely piloted aircraft was deployed from the 432d Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada. When the accident occurred, the Launch and Recovery Element crew from the 62d Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron was flying a classified surveillance mission out of Jalalabad Air Base, Afghanistan. The aircraft and one air-to-ground AGM-114 Hellfire missile were destroyed on impact, with a loss valued at approximately $4.5 million. There were no injuries or damage to other government or private property.

According to the report, the crew noticed indications of a possible turbocharger failure during the mission, including a decrease in altitude and low airflow into the engine compared to the engine's revolutions per minute. The Mission Control Element Crew completed the appropriate checklist, and notified air traffic control that the aircraft was unable to maintain altitude. Roughly eight hours into the flight, the MCEC turned over control of the aircraft to the Launch and Recovery Element Crew, who initiated the aircraft's return to the landing airfield, and ran the appropirate checklists. The maintenance operations superintendant was in the ground control station, and agreed with the crew that the turbocharger was unresponsive and suspected of failure.

During the final approach for landing, the air traffic control tower reported wind gusts within operational guidelines. However, upon crossing the runway threshold, the aircraft experienced a strong gust of wind, which led the mishap pilot to deem the conditions no longer safe for landing. The pilot executed procedures for a go-around, but the aircraft was unable to sustain flight and impacted the ground at approximately 800 ft. past the departure end of the runway.

The Accident Investigation Board President found by clear and convincing evidence, the cause of the mishap was a combination of mechanical failure of the engine's turbocharger and gusty wind conditions during the attempted landing. Additionally, the board president found by a preponderance of evidence that insufficient technical guidance, operational acceptance of aircraft weight-waivers, and the decision to go-around substantially contributed to the mishap.

For more information, contact Air Combat Command Public Affairs at (757) 764-5007 or e-mail accpa.operations@us.af.mil.

HSC-25 Conducts 31st and Final Search and Rescue for 2013

From Joint Region Marianas Public Affairs

MANGILAO, Guam (NNS) -- Sailors from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25 conducted a search-and-rescue (SAR) operation and recovered two distressed swimmers off the coast of Pagat Caves in Mangilao, Guam Dec. 30.

HSC-25 received a request from U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam at approximately 4 p.m. A Navy MH-60S Knighthawk was then launched from Andersen Air Force Base where the crew retrieved the individuals. Navy personnel transported the patients to U.S. Naval Hospital Guam for treatment.

The incident was the 31st SAR executed by HSC-25 personnel in 2013. Also in 2013, the command executed 25 medical evacuations and assisted Guam Homeland Security in one aerial firefighting incident.

HSC-25 is the Navy's only forward-deployed MH-60S expeditionary squadron. As a part of Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Pacific, it provides an armed helicopter capability for U.S. 7th Fleet in support of logistics, search and rescue and humanitarian assistance missions.

HSC-25 is also the only squadron that maintains a 24-hour search-and-rescue and medical evacuation alert posture, directly supporting the U.S. Coast Guard and Joint Region Marianas.

HSC-25 Conducts 31st and Final Search and Rescue for 2013

From Joint Region Marianas Public Affairs

MANGILAO, Guam (NNS) -- Sailors from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25 conducted a search-and-rescue (SAR) operation and recovered two distressed swimmers off the coast of Pagat Caves in Mangilao, Guam Dec. 30.

HSC-25 received a request from U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam at approximately 4 p.m. A Navy MH-60S Knighthawk was then launched from Andersen Air Force Base where the crew retrieved the individuals. Navy personnel transported the patients to U.S. Naval Hospital Guam for treatment.

The incident was the 31st SAR executed by HSC-25 personnel in 2013. Also in 2013, the command executed 25 medical evacuations and assisted Guam Homeland Security in one aerial firefighting incident.

HSC-25 is the Navy's only forward-deployed MH-60S expeditionary squadron. As a part of Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Pacific, it provides an armed helicopter capability for U.S. 7th Fleet in support of logistics, search and rescue and humanitarian assistance missions.

HSC-25 is also the only squadron that maintains a 24-hour search-and-rescue and medical evacuation alert posture, directly supporting the U.S. Coast Guard and Joint Region Marianas.

Face of Defense: Marine Thanks Family, Corps for Support

By Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Shane Mellor

U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa

STUTTGART, Germany, Jan. 3, 2014 – The Marine Corps is known to breed strong, resilient warriors to face enemies and dangers unimagined to the citizens they protect. But for a lot of Marines, this strength comes not from recruit training but from the family, brothers and sisters in arms, and chain of command of the individual Marine.

Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Raymond Diaz, the comptroller chief for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa here, drew strength from these exact sources while serving and in his personal life.

For Diaz, the Marine Corps was his ticket out of the small country town of Brawley, Calif.

“The recruiter nailed it. He marched into my economics class; he was loud, told us only 1% could claim the title of ‘U.S. Marine.’ He told us he was looking for a special kind of individual, the opportunities to travel, for education; I knew it was the place for me,” Diaz said.

Diaz married his high-school sweetheart and started a career that took him from southern California to Hawaii, leading to recruiting duty in Austin, Texas. Along with the responsibilities and duties of being a Marine, recruiting duty proved to have its challenges which led to stress, poor diet habits and lack of exercise.

“I was on a steady diet of two energy drinks for breakfast, fast food for lunch and would occasionally grab a quick dinner,” Diaz said. “I was constantly tired and lethargic and I attributed it to my daily routine.”

He continued, “As Marines, we are taught to push through the pain to accomplish the mission; that it wasn’t that bad and I thought it would go away as soon as I transferred to my next duty station. My health and my marriage were being deprived, but my wife kept life together at home and I kept fighting to accomplish the mission at work.”

Completing his recruiting tour, Diaz was transferred to Camp Pendleton, Calif., where a physical health assessment was performed as a standard check-in procedure. The blood work caused concern enough to refer him to a specialist and eventually a couple of trips to the emergency room where a stomach scan revealed a five-inch cancerous tumor lodged in his colon.

“There was a history of cancer in my family but at 30 years old, my mother had not told me the details,” Diaz said.

The medical tests provided evidence the cancer was spreading and prompt attention was needed. Diaz was scheduled for immediate surgery.

As Diaz readied for surgery, he and his wife were joined by his parents and the doctor began the pre-surgery checklist which would reveal new surprises to the situation. The group answered question after question without hesitation but when his wife was asked if she was pregnant, the delayed response was enough to confirm she was in fact carrying their first child.

“So that is how my parents found out we were pregnant, with me laying on a gurney about to go into a lifesaving surgery and my wife pregnant,” Diaz said. “I told my mom and dad we were planning on surprising them; we were just not intending this to be the way. Never have we cried tears of happiness and sadness.”

The road to recovery after cancer is never an easy one, but with his wife and new child, Diaz found a new mission -- to fight for them. This was his bedrock when he was given the choice of medical retirement or chemotherapy using an experimental drug that had the potential for a full recovery.

Diaz said it was the hardest decision of his life, but his wife reminded him of how important it is that their child had two healthy parents.

“She was my strength. Even after we decided to go ahead, things got tough,” Diaz said.

His recovery was full of complications. A weakened immune system made minor infections grave threats to his life and allergic reactions and medications meant multiple returns to the hospital.

Diaz recalled telling his wife that he wanted to quit.

“At that point, she took my hand and put it on her belly,” he said. “I felt our child move and I knew there was a higher reason for me to continue to fight. I found the strength to fight on.”

Diaz recalled the important lessons he’s learned in the Marine Corps, and his gratitude for the support of his Marine buddies and his superiors.

“Just as we learn in the Marine Corps, we are always capable of doing more than we think possible -- of pushing on,” he said.

Diaz fought until the cancer was in complete remission. He returned to full duty as the father of a new baby and with a rejuvenated and reinforced love for the Corps.

His wife and child were his reason to fight, Diaz said, noting they gave him the courage to live. The Corps, he added, was his reminder of his higher calling, not just as a Marine, but as a husband and a father.

“I always want to be known as the guy that can ‘pick up the log’ and be a contributing factor,” Diaz said.

His cancer is in remission, Diaz is back on full-duty status and he was recently promoted to gunnery sergeant.

Citizen Airman embraces the title--literally

by 1st Lt. Lori Fiorello
446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

12/23/2013 - MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. -- The sky's the limit for Senior Airman Adedapo "Odie" Odupitan, a medical technician with the 446th Aerospace Medicine Squadron here, who raised his right hand and became a U.S. citizen, Nov. 8.

Odupitan, along with approximately 30 other foreign service members, swore in during a naturalization ceremony here at the Co-located Club.

Odie was born in Nigeria, lived there until he was 12, and then moved with his Dad who accepted a contract working for a Dutch Airliner in Malaysia. There, he diligently completed high school and the equivalent to a four year degree here in Electronic Electrical Engineering, which granted him approval for a job in the states under a six year work Visa.

"The job wasn't exactly what I thought I was signing up for," said the new American, "I was under the impression I would be doing some sort of engineering work, but I ended up working a contract job in a warehouse, where I ended up living for months."

In an effort to get closer to his original plan, Odie decided to make adjustments.

He cold called a local car dealership. But after finding out there weren't any engineer openings, he accepted an open sales position to get his foot in the door.

Odie's unwavering work ethic moved him up the ranks quickly to become assistant sales manager then on to manage all of sales for the dealership.

But as his successes increased, so did his aspirations. He had dreams of getting into the medical field, and was afraid he'd lose focus by staying at the dealership. But before he walked away, he made the deal of his life.

"I met my wife, Heidi, at the dealership when she came in to buy a car," said the former sales manager. "I realized her sales person was making too much of a profit on her sale and I had to call her back in to drop the sales price." The lovebirds married only months later.

Heidi didn't forget about his gesture, and returned the favor when she was considering joining the Air Force Reserve and introduced Odie to her recruiter, Master Sgt. Chris Brown, in August 2012. Odie learned about the assortment of medical opportunities in the wing, and within a month, he was the one who recited the oath of enlistment.

"I told the recruiter that I have my ducks in a row ... don't beat around the bush, tell me what I need to do to get into the medical field," said a steadfast Odupitan.

Brown not only cleared a path to the medical community, but he also provided a roadmap to become a U.S. citizen. At a naturalization ceremony in November, Odie found himself raising his right hand a second time. With this achievement, he plans on going for the hat trick by pursuing a career as a commissioned officer and physician's assistant with the wing.

"The U.S. is the land of opportunity, but not everyone puts in the hard work and perseverance that comes along with it," said the American. "I am never going to cut my life short from opportunity."

Odupitan is a certified emergency medical technician and a volunteer firefighter with the Black Diamond Fire Department in Auburn, Wash. He has chased the 'American Dream' of prosperity and success since first stepping foot on U.S. soil, and has worked his way up from sleeping in a warehouse to selling cars, and demonstrates his gratitude by serving his community and his adopted nation.

"I wouldn't be where I am right now without the opportunities (in the U.S.)," said the Reservist. "I now have the opportunity to become the person I want to be (as well)."

Pentagon Announces Upcoming Changes to Imminent Danger Pay

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

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2014 – The Defense Department announced today changes in imminent danger pay that will go into effect June 1, DOD spokesman Army Col. Steven Warren told reporters here.

“This is a process that began [in 2011],” he said, and “included in-depth threat assessment from the combatant commands. It was made in coordination with the Joint Staff, combatant commands and military services.”

Warren noted this policy change was not a budget-driven decision, but part of a routine recertification that “happens every couple of years -- it’s an ongoing process.”

According to a DOD news release announcing the recertification, the combatant commands conducted in-depth threat assessments for countries within their areas of responsibility.

Following the review, the release stated, it was determined that the imminent threat of physical harm to U.S. military personnel due to civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism or wartime conditions is significantly reduced in many countries, resulting in the discontinuation of imminent danger pay in those areas.

Periodic recertification of IDP, according to the news release, ensures that imminent danger designations match the actual conditions of designated countries so that the department can provide fair entitlements and benefits. The last recertification was completed in 2007.

The DOD news release noted the following areas would no longer be designated as imminent danger areas for IDP purposes:

• The nine land areas of East Timor, Haiti, Liberia, Oman, Rwanda, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

• The six land areas and airspace above Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro.

• The four water areas of the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea.

• The water area and air space above the Persian Gulf.

“Of specific note,” Warren said, “imminent danger pay will remain in effect for the following: Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen and Egypt.”

Although 2013 statistics are not currently available, Warren noted the year prior, 194,189 personnel received imminent danger pay.

“Approximately 50,000 less will be receiving imminent danger pay,” he said. “In [2012], we spent approximately $500 million on imminent danger pay. This will result in a reduction of approximately $100 million.”

The benefit provides troops in imminent danger areas about $7.50 per day up to the maximum monthly rate of $225, Warren said.