By Christen N. McCluney
Special to American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - An astronaut who has logged more than 950 hours in the space shuttles Discovery and Atlantis visited servicemembers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Warrior Transition Brigade here today. "I wanted to find a way to come back and share with and honor you all," retired Army Col. Patrick Forrester said.
Forrester showed the brigade's wounded, ill and injured soldiers a video from a Discovery mission to the international space station. The video documented the process from takeoff to re-entry and gave the servicemembers a glimpse at what it is like to live in space.
He also presented the soldiers with their brigade guidon, which traveled with him for 5.7 million miles and 217 orbits of the Earth.
"This isn't about me and what I do, but what you do," he told the soldiers.
"We really appreciate you taking our colors up there and flying them," Army Lt. Col. Teri A. Hassell, the brigade's commander, told Forrester. "That means a lot to the warrior transition brigade. We were the first warrior transition unit to stand up, so this truly means a lot to us."
Forrester also held a short question-and-answer session in which he noted that he first applied to be an astronaut while he was in the Army, and he kept his dream alive for more than a decade thereafter before it came to fruition.
"Education is the biggest thing," he said. "Never give up. From the time I first applied to the time I was selected, it took 11 years."
He credited his education at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and his background in flying for his success, and he encouraged servicemembers that were seriously interested to take Army astronaut classes.
Forrester said he came to Walter Reed to honor the soldiers in the warrior transition brigade. "I was made aware of the brigade," he said, "and this was a way to honor and thank them for all of their service."
(Christen N. McCluney works in the Defense Media Activity's emerging media directorate.)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Cost-of-living Allowance Depends on Unpredictable Factors
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - Because unpredictable factors can affect the cost-of-living allowance many servicemembers stationed overseas receive as a supplement to their normal pay, Defense Department officials want servicemembers to be aware the allowance can fluctuate rapidly and without warning.
Tonia Bock, chief of strategic planning for the Defense Travel Management Office, said in a Pentagon Channel interview yesterday that officials are trying to raise awareness that the allowance – known as the COLA – is volatile.
Overseas COLA is intended to equalize purchasing power so servicemembers can purchase the same goods and services overseas as they could if they were stationed in the United States. The prices of goods and services overseas are compared with equivalent prices in the United States.
The price comparison yields an index that reflects a cost of living. If prices in the United States are rising at a greater rate than those overseas, COLA will decrease. However, if prices rise or fall at the same rate, COLA stays the same.
"One of the misperceptions is that it's always going to be there, [and] it's always going to be the same," she said. "But COLA does fluctuate. They see it as $300 one month, $200 another month."
Defense Department officials recently rolled out some new marketing tools to serve as a megaphone for the advice Bock and others are delivering concerning the COLA's unpredictable nature. The gist of that message: plan accordingly.
"One of the reasons we really want them to understand is this does impact their finances," she said. "We don't want servicemembers to make budget decisions based on this amount that comes in their paycheck, because it will change. It will fluctuate."
A safe strategy, defense officials say, is for servicemembers to budget their fixed expenses, such as rent and car payments, based on what they can afford without COLA.
A page devoted to the overseas COLA on the Defense Travel Management Office's Web site includes a full explanation of the allowance and links to a COLA communications toolkit and a COLA calculator. It also contains a link to a video that provides a COLA overview and descriptions of its key elements.
"We value the commitment that servicemembers are providing to our country," Bock said, "and we want to make sure they understand those extra allowances that are afforded to them. "But we don't want them to misunderstand and misuse the allowances."
Jan. 27, 2010 - Because unpredictable factors can affect the cost-of-living allowance many servicemembers stationed overseas receive as a supplement to their normal pay, Defense Department officials want servicemembers to be aware the allowance can fluctuate rapidly and without warning.
Tonia Bock, chief of strategic planning for the Defense Travel Management Office, said in a Pentagon Channel interview yesterday that officials are trying to raise awareness that the allowance – known as the COLA – is volatile.
Overseas COLA is intended to equalize purchasing power so servicemembers can purchase the same goods and services overseas as they could if they were stationed in the United States. The prices of goods and services overseas are compared with equivalent prices in the United States.
The price comparison yields an index that reflects a cost of living. If prices in the United States are rising at a greater rate than those overseas, COLA will decrease. However, if prices rise or fall at the same rate, COLA stays the same.
"One of the misperceptions is that it's always going to be there, [and] it's always going to be the same," she said. "But COLA does fluctuate. They see it as $300 one month, $200 another month."
Defense Department officials recently rolled out some new marketing tools to serve as a megaphone for the advice Bock and others are delivering concerning the COLA's unpredictable nature. The gist of that message: plan accordingly.
"One of the reasons we really want them to understand is this does impact their finances," she said. "We don't want servicemembers to make budget decisions based on this amount that comes in their paycheck, because it will change. It will fluctuate."
A safe strategy, defense officials say, is for servicemembers to budget their fixed expenses, such as rent and car payments, based on what they can afford without COLA.
A page devoted to the overseas COLA on the Defense Travel Management Office's Web site includes a full explanation of the allowance and links to a COLA communications toolkit and a COLA calculator. It also contains a link to a video that provides a COLA overview and descriptions of its key elements.
"We value the commitment that servicemembers are providing to our country," Bock said, "and we want to make sure they understand those extra allowances that are afforded to them. "But we don't want them to misunderstand and misuse the allowances."
MILITARY CONTRACTS January 28, 2010
NAVY
Arriba Corp., Norfolk, Va.* (N40080-10-D-0495); Allen & Shariff Corp., Columbia, Md.* (N40080-10-D-0496); Corinthian Contractors, Inc., Arlington, Va.* (N40080-10-D-0497); and G-W Management Services, LLC, Rockville, Md.* (N40080-10-D-0498), are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity small multiple-award construction contract for various large dollar construction projects within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Washington's area of responsibility (AOR). The maximum dollar value, including the base period and four option years, for all four contracts combined is $500,000,000. The work to be performed provides for construction services. The contractor shall provide all labor, supervision, engineering, materials, equipment, tools, parts, supplies and transportation to perform all work described in the specifications. All work on this contract will be performed within NAVFAC Washington's AOR, to include Maryland (55 percent); Virginia (30 percent); and Washington, D.C. (15 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of January 2015. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online Web site, with 10 proposals received. These four contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $202,696,561 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0007) to exercise an option for the procurement of 196 fiscal year 2010 Tomahawk Block IV all-up-round missiles. The Tomahawk Block IV missile is capable of launch from surface ships equipped with the vertical launch system (VLS), submarines equipped with the capsule launch system (CLS), and submarines equipped with the torpedo tube launch system (TTL). This contract provides for 132 VLS missiles, 53 CLS missiles and 11 TTL missiles. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz. (32 percent); Walled Lake, Mich. (9 percent); Camden, Ark. (8 percent); Anniston, Ala. (5 percent); Glenrothes, Scotland (5 percent); Huntsville, Ala. (4 percent); Fort Wayne, Ind. (4 percent); Minneapolis, Minn. (4 percent); Ontario, Calif. (3 percent); Spanish Fork, Utah (3 percent); Westminster, Colo. (2 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (2 percent); Middletown, Conn. (2 percent); Largo, Fla. (2 percent); Vergennes, Vt. (2 percent); Farmington, N.M. (2 percent); and various locations inside and outside of the contiguous United States (12.8 percent). Work is expected to be completed in July 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., is being awarded a maximum $30,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect/engineering contract for renovation/repair and new construction of various facilities in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed includes architectural and engineering design; studies and site investigation reports to support new development of facilities on raw land, or re-development of existing facilities on developed sites; preparation of requests for proposals for design-build projects; preparation of fully designed plans and specifications for invitation for bid projects; architectural and engineering design analysis, reports, cost estimates, evaluations, and preparation of facility planning documents; construction inspections; and construction support services. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR including, but not limited to, California (87 percent); Arizona (5 percent); Nevada (5 percent); Colorado (1 percent); New Mexico (1 percent); and Utah (1 percent). Work is expected to be completed by January 2015. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the NAVFAC e-solicitation Web site,with 53 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N62473-10-D-5403).
L-3 Systems Co., Camden, N.J., is being awarded a $13,073,867 firm-fixed-price contract for design and production of a machinery control system (MCS) for Military Sealift Command's T-AOE 6-class fast combat support ships. MSC's four fast combat support ships provide one-stop shopping to the U.S. Navy by providing underway replenishment of fuel, ammunition, food, and other cargo. This contract includes 12 options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $44,739,422. Installation support work will occur at two locations in the United States. If all options are exercised, work is expected to be completed in December 2016. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with two offers received. The solicitation was issued on an unrestricted basis, using full and open competitive procedures via the Military Sealift Command, Navy Electronic Commerce Online, and Federal Business Opportunities Web sites. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00033-10-C-7501).
Tompco-Triton, LLC, Bremerton, Wash., is being awarded $6,671,449 for firm-fixed price task order #0011 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N44255-08-D-3018) for the design and construction of the renovation and expansion of the Naval Exchange at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. The work to be performed provides for all labor, materials, equipment and associated costs for the renovation and expansion. Work will be performed at Whidbey Island, Wash., and is expected to be completed by June 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $6,671,449 will not expire at the end of fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Silverdale, Wash., is the contracting activity.
United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a $5,905,395 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus incentive fee/award fee contract (N00019-08-C-0033) for additional initial spares for the Air Force conventional take off and landing Joint Strike Fighter propulsion system. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Conn., and is expected to be completed in February 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Arriba Corp., Norfolk, Va.* (N40080-10-D-0495); Allen & Shariff Corp., Columbia, Md.* (N40080-10-D-0496); Corinthian Contractors, Inc., Arlington, Va.* (N40080-10-D-0497); and G-W Management Services, LLC, Rockville, Md.* (N40080-10-D-0498), are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity small multiple-award construction contract for various large dollar construction projects within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Washington's area of responsibility (AOR). The maximum dollar value, including the base period and four option years, for all four contracts combined is $500,000,000. The work to be performed provides for construction services. The contractor shall provide all labor, supervision, engineering, materials, equipment, tools, parts, supplies and transportation to perform all work described in the specifications. All work on this contract will be performed within NAVFAC Washington's AOR, to include Maryland (55 percent); Virginia (30 percent); and Washington, D.C. (15 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of January 2015. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online Web site, with 10 proposals received. These four contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $202,696,561 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0007) to exercise an option for the procurement of 196 fiscal year 2010 Tomahawk Block IV all-up-round missiles. The Tomahawk Block IV missile is capable of launch from surface ships equipped with the vertical launch system (VLS), submarines equipped with the capsule launch system (CLS), and submarines equipped with the torpedo tube launch system (TTL). This contract provides for 132 VLS missiles, 53 CLS missiles and 11 TTL missiles. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz. (32 percent); Walled Lake, Mich. (9 percent); Camden, Ark. (8 percent); Anniston, Ala. (5 percent); Glenrothes, Scotland (5 percent); Huntsville, Ala. (4 percent); Fort Wayne, Ind. (4 percent); Minneapolis, Minn. (4 percent); Ontario, Calif. (3 percent); Spanish Fork, Utah (3 percent); Westminster, Colo. (2 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (2 percent); Middletown, Conn. (2 percent); Largo, Fla. (2 percent); Vergennes, Vt. (2 percent); Farmington, N.M. (2 percent); and various locations inside and outside of the contiguous United States (12.8 percent). Work is expected to be completed in July 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., is being awarded a maximum $30,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect/engineering contract for renovation/repair and new construction of various facilities in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed includes architectural and engineering design; studies and site investigation reports to support new development of facilities on raw land, or re-development of existing facilities on developed sites; preparation of requests for proposals for design-build projects; preparation of fully designed plans and specifications for invitation for bid projects; architectural and engineering design analysis, reports, cost estimates, evaluations, and preparation of facility planning documents; construction inspections; and construction support services. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR including, but not limited to, California (87 percent); Arizona (5 percent); Nevada (5 percent); Colorado (1 percent); New Mexico (1 percent); and Utah (1 percent). Work is expected to be completed by January 2015. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the NAVFAC e-solicitation Web site,with 53 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N62473-10-D-5403).
L-3 Systems Co., Camden, N.J., is being awarded a $13,073,867 firm-fixed-price contract for design and production of a machinery control system (MCS) for Military Sealift Command's T-AOE 6-class fast combat support ships. MSC's four fast combat support ships provide one-stop shopping to the U.S. Navy by providing underway replenishment of fuel, ammunition, food, and other cargo. This contract includes 12 options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $44,739,422. Installation support work will occur at two locations in the United States. If all options are exercised, work is expected to be completed in December 2016. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with two offers received. The solicitation was issued on an unrestricted basis, using full and open competitive procedures via the Military Sealift Command, Navy Electronic Commerce Online, and Federal Business Opportunities Web sites. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00033-10-C-7501).
Tompco-Triton, LLC, Bremerton, Wash., is being awarded $6,671,449 for firm-fixed price task order #0011 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N44255-08-D-3018) for the design and construction of the renovation and expansion of the Naval Exchange at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. The work to be performed provides for all labor, materials, equipment and associated costs for the renovation and expansion. Work will be performed at Whidbey Island, Wash., and is expected to be completed by June 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $6,671,449 will not expire at the end of fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Silverdale, Wash., is the contracting activity.
United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a $5,905,395 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus incentive fee/award fee contract (N00019-08-C-0033) for additional initial spares for the Air Force conventional take off and landing Joint Strike Fighter propulsion system. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Conn., and is expected to be completed in February 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Public Health Emergency Management Within the DoD
By Rob Anastasio
FHP&R Staff Writer
January 27, 2010 - A new DoD Instruction will “establish DoD guidance to protect installations and personnel by mitigating the impacts of publish health emergencies,” according to USPHS Capt. D.W. Chen, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, who spoke at the At the 2010 MHS Conference Jan 26. Chen said that, additionally, the policy will clarify roles and responsibilities of military treatment facility (MTF) commanders and emergency managers, as well as public health emergency officers (PHEOs).
The DoD Instruction (DoDI), number 6200.03, is titled “Public Health Emergency Management Within the Department of Defense” and was signed Jan. 14 by Gail McGinn, deputy undersecretary of defense (plans) performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
The DoDI takes a holistic approach to public health emergency management moving DoD toward an “all-hazards” focus and away from the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosive (CBRNE) focus of the past.
Other significant provisions of the DoDI include: public health emergency notification routing requirements; authorization for DoD laboratories to participate in the Laboratory Response Network (LRN); update of guidance on quarantine and restriction of movement; authorization for military installations to serve as close points of distribution and receipt, staging, storage sites for strategic national stockpile assets; guidelines surrounding situational standards of care; establishment of military treatment facility emergency managers (MEMs); enumeration of roles and responsibilities of military public health emergency officers (PHEOs) and MEMs and attendant training/education requirements; the use of ESSENCE as the DoD syndromic surveillance tool.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs has a major responsibility with the policy. “The ASD(HA) will serve as the primary advisor to the Secretary of Defense regarding PHEs, will be the point of contact for interagency coordination,” said Chen. “The individual services will ensure commanders work with state and local government authorities, and ensure that public health emergency management (PHEM) resources are identified and developed.”
In addition to the added responsibilities of the services, geographic combatant command, military commander, and the MTF commander, there are a set of general procedures that military commanders must follow during a PHE.
“Making timely decisions is very important,” said Chen. “The emergency should be immediately reported through the proper channels, and the PHEOs have the responsibility of examining facilities that may endanger public health, share the information with civilian public health officials, and declare a public health emergency.”
PHEOs are also responsible for assisting with risk communication efforts and maintaining situational awareness of the public health emergency, said Chen.
The new DoDI also incorporates guidance from and brings the Department of Defense into compliance with several key documents that have emerged over the past several years, including the updated International Health Regulations, updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quarantine regulations, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, and the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act. While it was written specifically in coordination within the Department of Defense, this DoDI was also coordinated extensively within the federal interagency with offices from the Departments of Health and Human Services, State, and Veterans Affairs.
FHP&R Staff Writer
January 27, 2010 - A new DoD Instruction will “establish DoD guidance to protect installations and personnel by mitigating the impacts of publish health emergencies,” according to USPHS Capt. D.W. Chen, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, who spoke at the At the 2010 MHS Conference Jan 26. Chen said that, additionally, the policy will clarify roles and responsibilities of military treatment facility (MTF) commanders and emergency managers, as well as public health emergency officers (PHEOs).
The DoD Instruction (DoDI), number 6200.03, is titled “Public Health Emergency Management Within the Department of Defense” and was signed Jan. 14 by Gail McGinn, deputy undersecretary of defense (plans) performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
The DoDI takes a holistic approach to public health emergency management moving DoD toward an “all-hazards” focus and away from the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosive (CBRNE) focus of the past.
Other significant provisions of the DoDI include: public health emergency notification routing requirements; authorization for DoD laboratories to participate in the Laboratory Response Network (LRN); update of guidance on quarantine and restriction of movement; authorization for military installations to serve as close points of distribution and receipt, staging, storage sites for strategic national stockpile assets; guidelines surrounding situational standards of care; establishment of military treatment facility emergency managers (MEMs); enumeration of roles and responsibilities of military public health emergency officers (PHEOs) and MEMs and attendant training/education requirements; the use of ESSENCE as the DoD syndromic surveillance tool.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs has a major responsibility with the policy. “The ASD(HA) will serve as the primary advisor to the Secretary of Defense regarding PHEs, will be the point of contact for interagency coordination,” said Chen. “The individual services will ensure commanders work with state and local government authorities, and ensure that public health emergency management (PHEM) resources are identified and developed.”
In addition to the added responsibilities of the services, geographic combatant command, military commander, and the MTF commander, there are a set of general procedures that military commanders must follow during a PHE.
“Making timely decisions is very important,” said Chen. “The emergency should be immediately reported through the proper channels, and the PHEOs have the responsibility of examining facilities that may endanger public health, share the information with civilian public health officials, and declare a public health emergency.”
PHEOs are also responsible for assisting with risk communication efforts and maintaining situational awareness of the public health emergency, said Chen.
The new DoDI also incorporates guidance from and brings the Department of Defense into compliance with several key documents that have emerged over the past several years, including the updated International Health Regulations, updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quarantine regulations, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, and the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act. While it was written specifically in coordination within the Department of Defense, this DoDI was also coordinated extensively within the federal interagency with offices from the Departments of Health and Human Services, State, and Veterans Affairs.
DCoE Unveils New Real Warriors Profile
By Sarah Heynen
DCoE
January 27, 2010 - The Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury unveiled a new Real Warriors Campaign profile at the MHS 2010 Conference on Jan 26. Sponsored by DCoE, the Real Warriors Campaign is a multimedia public education initiative designed to combat stigma associated with seeking treatment for psychological health concerns and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Air Force Lt. Col. Mary Carlisle’s profile highlights her experiences coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The casualties that Carlise saw daily as a critical care nurse serving at the intensive care unit at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq, took a toll on her psychological health. After returning home, Carlisle began to exhibit the signs and symptoms of PTSD, but she initially worried that seeking treatment would negatively impact her career. She found the strength to reach out after seeing her friend, and Real Warriors Campaign volunteer, Maj. Iwona Blackledge, speak out about her own experiences coping with PTSD.
Carlisle hopes that her profile, and the other video profiles and PSAs at www.realwarriors.net, will inspire others to reach out. “My point is to share this ... to get the message out,” she said. These powerful videos highlight real warriors of different ranks and services who have experienced PTSD or TBI, have sought treatment, and who are maintaining successful careers. Real Warrior profiles like Carlisle’s are the proof that service members, veterans, and families need to know that resources are available, and that they work.
CoE is not only working to eliminate the stigma associated with seeking help for psychological health concerns. Army Brig. Gen. Lorree K. Sutton, director of DCoE, explained in greater detail what DCoE does.
“We are the open front door within the Department of Defense for all issues related to psychological health and traumatic brain injury, the unseen wounds of war,” Sutton said. “We assess, we validate, we reach into the next generation, find next generation solutions and bring them into the here and now. You are not alone. The unseen wounds of war are real. Treatments work, and the sooner we can intervene the better. Finally, reaching out is an act of courage and strength.”
DCoE opened in November of 2007. DCoE works on a wide range of projects -- all under the scope of psychological health and traumatic brain injury. These efforts are accomplished through collaborating with the services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, federal partners and leading academic institutions and organizations. Six component centers also make up DCoE, which include the Center for Deployment Psychology, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Deployment Health Clinical Center, National Center for Telehealth & Technology and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (scheduled to open summer 2010).
DCoE
January 27, 2010 - The Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury unveiled a new Real Warriors Campaign profile at the MHS 2010 Conference on Jan 26. Sponsored by DCoE, the Real Warriors Campaign is a multimedia public education initiative designed to combat stigma associated with seeking treatment for psychological health concerns and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Air Force Lt. Col. Mary Carlisle’s profile highlights her experiences coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The casualties that Carlise saw daily as a critical care nurse serving at the intensive care unit at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq, took a toll on her psychological health. After returning home, Carlisle began to exhibit the signs and symptoms of PTSD, but she initially worried that seeking treatment would negatively impact her career. She found the strength to reach out after seeing her friend, and Real Warriors Campaign volunteer, Maj. Iwona Blackledge, speak out about her own experiences coping with PTSD.
Carlisle hopes that her profile, and the other video profiles and PSAs at www.realwarriors.net, will inspire others to reach out. “My point is to share this ... to get the message out,” she said. These powerful videos highlight real warriors of different ranks and services who have experienced PTSD or TBI, have sought treatment, and who are maintaining successful careers. Real Warrior profiles like Carlisle’s are the proof that service members, veterans, and families need to know that resources are available, and that they work.
CoE is not only working to eliminate the stigma associated with seeking help for psychological health concerns. Army Brig. Gen. Lorree K. Sutton, director of DCoE, explained in greater detail what DCoE does.
“We are the open front door within the Department of Defense for all issues related to psychological health and traumatic brain injury, the unseen wounds of war,” Sutton said. “We assess, we validate, we reach into the next generation, find next generation solutions and bring them into the here and now. You are not alone. The unseen wounds of war are real. Treatments work, and the sooner we can intervene the better. Finally, reaching out is an act of courage and strength.”
DCoE opened in November of 2007. DCoE works on a wide range of projects -- all under the scope of psychological health and traumatic brain injury. These efforts are accomplished through collaborating with the services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, federal partners and leading academic institutions and organizations. Six component centers also make up DCoE, which include the Center for Deployment Psychology, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Deployment Health Clinical Center, National Center for Telehealth & Technology and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (scheduled to open summer 2010).
TRICARE Presents Quadruple Aim
By David Loebsack
Health.mil
January 27, 2010 - The “Triple Aim” is a phrase that is often discussed in the health care community. It’s an idea that refers to the three integral factors that determine the overall quality of health care: population health, positive patient experience, and per capita cost.
Adm. Christine Hunter, the deputy director of TRICARE Management Activity, has taken this health care paradigm and added a necessary fourth determinant – readiness – in order to adapt it to Military Health System use. She gave a lecture regarding the MHS’s “Quadruple Aim” during the 2010 MHS Conference, on Jan. 26.
Hunter opened by discussing the sheer size of TRICARE’s operations: 59 hospitals and medical centers, 364 health clinics and roughly 350,000 individual providers serving a beneficiary population of 9.6 million. She also talked about the massive numbers of processes that are being initiated on a regular basis: roughly 22,000 inpatients admitted, 2.5 million prescriptions written and 3.5 million claims being processed every week.
Because TRICARE handles such a vast array of needs in the military medical community, its ability to remain on target in achieving these four goals is foundational in maintaining an effective and efficient system, to keep the U.S. Armed Forces fit to fight.
She began by comparing TRICARE patient costs with similar federal Blue Cross Blue Shield standard and Kaiser HMO plans, showing that over a period of nine years TRICARE has consistently required less cost-sharing from its patients.
She also showed that readiness has steadily grown in the total force for four consecutive quarters. Although there was initial cause for concern beginning in 2007, with an increase in behavioral diagnoses, the MHS responded with a 20 percent surge in mental health providers. Since 2008, behavioral health locator lines have also helped address this burden, serving more than 20,000 men and women, and helping increase the overall capacity of services rendered.
Hunter went on to cite the Enrollee Preventive Health Quality Index to track population health showing that health outcomes have also been on a steady rise since 2007. In fact, the MHS is ahead of target for 2010 thanks to an increase in preventive measures.
Her plan for improving the quality of health care included enhancing the patient experience, streamlining the emergency room product line and incorporating the medical home model – which places a high emphasis on patient centered care, team-based delivery and population health.
In closing, Hunter said that TRICARE is ready for change. Maximizing readiness, focusing on outcomes, and achieving sustainable costs are the end-goals, but in order to get there, Hunter called on everyone in the system to be facilitators and incentivizers.
Health.mil
January 27, 2010 - The “Triple Aim” is a phrase that is often discussed in the health care community. It’s an idea that refers to the three integral factors that determine the overall quality of health care: population health, positive patient experience, and per capita cost.
Adm. Christine Hunter, the deputy director of TRICARE Management Activity, has taken this health care paradigm and added a necessary fourth determinant – readiness – in order to adapt it to Military Health System use. She gave a lecture regarding the MHS’s “Quadruple Aim” during the 2010 MHS Conference, on Jan. 26.
Hunter opened by discussing the sheer size of TRICARE’s operations: 59 hospitals and medical centers, 364 health clinics and roughly 350,000 individual providers serving a beneficiary population of 9.6 million. She also talked about the massive numbers of processes that are being initiated on a regular basis: roughly 22,000 inpatients admitted, 2.5 million prescriptions written and 3.5 million claims being processed every week.
Because TRICARE handles such a vast array of needs in the military medical community, its ability to remain on target in achieving these four goals is foundational in maintaining an effective and efficient system, to keep the U.S. Armed Forces fit to fight.
She began by comparing TRICARE patient costs with similar federal Blue Cross Blue Shield standard and Kaiser HMO plans, showing that over a period of nine years TRICARE has consistently required less cost-sharing from its patients.
She also showed that readiness has steadily grown in the total force for four consecutive quarters. Although there was initial cause for concern beginning in 2007, with an increase in behavioral diagnoses, the MHS responded with a 20 percent surge in mental health providers. Since 2008, behavioral health locator lines have also helped address this burden, serving more than 20,000 men and women, and helping increase the overall capacity of services rendered.
Hunter went on to cite the Enrollee Preventive Health Quality Index to track population health showing that health outcomes have also been on a steady rise since 2007. In fact, the MHS is ahead of target for 2010 thanks to an increase in preventive measures.
Her plan for improving the quality of health care included enhancing the patient experience, streamlining the emergency room product line and incorporating the medical home model – which places a high emphasis on patient centered care, team-based delivery and population health.
In closing, Hunter said that TRICARE is ready for change. Maximizing readiness, focusing on outcomes, and achieving sustainable costs are the end-goals, but in order to get there, Hunter called on everyone in the system to be facilitators and incentivizers.
Obama Reaffirms Desire to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - President Barack Obama announced during his State of the Union address tonight that he intends to work with Congress and the military during the year ahead to repeal the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law.
Obama said he will aim "to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are."
"It is the right thing to do," he said.
The president has long advocated allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters in June that he had directed Defense Department lawyers to explore ways to make the policy more flexible until the law is changed.
The law prohibits officials from inquiring into a servicemember's sexual orientation in the absence of statements or acts that indicate the servicemember is homosexual, but allows the services to take action against servicemembers who disclose their homosexuality by word or action.
Gates told reporters in June that he had talked with the president about how to work toward his goal of overturning the policy.
"The issue that we face is, How do we begin to do preparations and, simultaneously, the administration move forward in asking the Congress to change the law?" the secretary said.
"What we have is a law, not a policy or regulation," he said. "And as I discovered when I got into it, it is a very prescriptive law. It doesn't leave a lot to the imagination or a lot of flexibility. So one of the things we are looking at is, Is there flexibility in how we apply this law?"
Gates cited the example of someone who's been "outed by a third party," possibly the result of blackmail or a jilting.
"Does that force us to take an action?" he questioned. "I don't know the answer to that. I don't want to pretend to. But that is the kind of thing we are looking at."
Gates said he believes there's "at least a more humane way to comply with the law until the law gets changed," though he acknowledged that what that way might be is up to legal interpretation. "We have general counsel working on it," he said.
The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law has been in effect since 1993. Previously, homosexuals were strictly banned from military service.
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - President Barack Obama announced during his State of the Union address tonight that he intends to work with Congress and the military during the year ahead to repeal the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law.
Obama said he will aim "to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are."
"It is the right thing to do," he said.
The president has long advocated allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters in June that he had directed Defense Department lawyers to explore ways to make the policy more flexible until the law is changed.
The law prohibits officials from inquiring into a servicemember's sexual orientation in the absence of statements or acts that indicate the servicemember is homosexual, but allows the services to take action against servicemembers who disclose their homosexuality by word or action.
Gates told reporters in June that he had talked with the president about how to work toward his goal of overturning the policy.
"The issue that we face is, How do we begin to do preparations and, simultaneously, the administration move forward in asking the Congress to change the law?" the secretary said.
"What we have is a law, not a policy or regulation," he said. "And as I discovered when I got into it, it is a very prescriptive law. It doesn't leave a lot to the imagination or a lot of flexibility. So one of the things we are looking at is, Is there flexibility in how we apply this law?"
Gates cited the example of someone who's been "outed by a third party," possibly the result of blackmail or a jilting.
"Does that force us to take an action?" he questioned. "I don't know the answer to that. I don't want to pretend to. But that is the kind of thing we are looking at."
Gates said he believes there's "at least a more humane way to comply with the law until the law gets changed," though he acknowledged that what that way might be is up to legal interpretation. "We have general counsel working on it," he said.
The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law has been in effect since 1993. Previously, homosexuals were strictly banned from military service.
Waiting for returning Guardsman a labor of love
By 1st Sgt. Vaughn R. Larson
Wisconsin National Guard
(1/14/10) -- The pain Johana Ortiz experienced waiting for her husband, Spc. Melvin Ortiz of the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 1158th Transportation Company, to return from his year-long deployment to Iraq was more than just longing.
Johana, who was due to deliver a baby Jan. 17, went into labor hours before her husband was to arrive here at Volk Field, a Wisconsin Air National Guard facility roughly 20 miles east of Fort McCoy.
But the contractions did not keep Johana from making the trip from Milwaukee. "My doctor said 'don't go,'" the mother of three admitted.
When the plane carrying about 300 Soldiers, who deployed to Iraq with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, landed at about 4 p.m., Jan.13, Brigade Commander Col. Steven Bensend and Brigade Command Sgt. Major Ed Hansen boarded and called Spc. Ortiz to the front. They informed him of his wife's condition and directed him to leave the plane first.
Ortiz bounded down the staircase to the pavement, handed his backpack to another Soldier and sprinted to the hangar, where his wife was waiting. The families at the edge of the airstrip, many of whom were aware of Johana's condition, applauded appreciatively.
Once inside, Ortiz embraced his wife. "I'm excited," he said moments later. "I just want to go to the hospital."
Earlier, Bensend had promised Johana that her husband would be granted a pass so that he could be with her for the birth of their child.
"This is a great thing," Bensend said. "There's no way I would have missed my child's birth."
True to his word, paperwork was waiting for Spc. Ortiz to sign that allowed him to leave with his wife minutes after arriving at Volk Field. They made it safely to West Allis Memorial Hospital, where Johana gave birth to a 7 lb., 8 oz., baby boy the couple named Eduardo.
Capt. Joshua Porter, commander of the 1158th Transportation Company, based in Beloit and Black River Falls, said that Ortiz would return to complete his demobilization process after his pass expired.
Ortiz was among about 500 Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers to return from Iraq on two separate flights Wednesday, part of the 3,200 Soldiers who deployed with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team that will return in stages throughout January.
Site Provides Instructions for Transporting Aid
By Army Maj. James Lowe
Special to American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - U.S. Transportation Command's Web site now provides instructions for nongovernmental or nonprofit organizations seeking airlift or sealift for humanitarian supplies and relief personnel. "How Do I Get Lift?" is an interactive presentation that steers customers through the process of acquiring qualifying military-provided transportation for cargo or people.
The ongoing crisis in Haiti has led numerous private organizations to request a simple way to navigate through complex U.S. military rules regulating the movement of cargo and passengers, officials said.
"This presentation meets a need in the national humanitarian relief community," said Lance Carpenter, chief of Transcom's Joint Interagency Communication Group. "It will help [nongovernmental organizations] more easily and quickly identify qualifying opportunities to move relief supplies and personnel into places like Haiti.
"The presentation, available at the Web address http://www.transcom.mil/TransportFAQs.ppsx, is a resource guide that allows customers to investigate either air or surface transportation options. Surface transportation includes ship, train and truck, officials explained, adding that sometimes a combination of air and surface transportation is most appropriate.
Clear guidelines -- including telephone and e-mail contact information for military transportation experts -- streamline the process for organizations seeking to move goods or personnel.
Transcom orchestrates transportation solutions for military and nonmilitary customers through its three components: the Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, the Air Force's Air Mobility Command and the Navy's Military Sealift Command.
(Army Maj. James Lowe serves in the U.S. Transportation Command public affairs office.)
Special to American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - U.S. Transportation Command's Web site now provides instructions for nongovernmental or nonprofit organizations seeking airlift or sealift for humanitarian supplies and relief personnel. "How Do I Get Lift?" is an interactive presentation that steers customers through the process of acquiring qualifying military-provided transportation for cargo or people.
The ongoing crisis in Haiti has led numerous private organizations to request a simple way to navigate through complex U.S. military rules regulating the movement of cargo and passengers, officials said.
"This presentation meets a need in the national humanitarian relief community," said Lance Carpenter, chief of Transcom's Joint Interagency Communication Group. "It will help [nongovernmental organizations] more easily and quickly identify qualifying opportunities to move relief supplies and personnel into places like Haiti.
"The presentation, available at the Web address http://www.transcom.mil/TransportFAQs.ppsx, is a resource guide that allows customers to investigate either air or surface transportation options. Surface transportation includes ship, train and truck, officials explained, adding that sometimes a combination of air and surface transportation is most appropriate.
Clear guidelines -- including telephone and e-mail contact information for military transportation experts -- streamline the process for organizations seeking to move goods or personnel.
Transcom orchestrates transportation solutions for military and nonmilitary customers through its three components: the Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, the Air Force's Air Mobility Command and the Navy's Military Sealift Command.
(Army Maj. James Lowe serves in the U.S. Transportation Command public affairs office.)
Site Provides Instructions for Transporting Aid
By Army Maj. James Lowe
Special to American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - U.S. Transportation Command's Web site now provides instructions for nongovernmental or nonprofit organizations seeking airlift or sealift for humanitarian supplies and relief personnel. "How Do I Get Lift?" is an interactive presentation that steers customers through the process of acquiring qualifying military-provided transportation for cargo or people.
The ongoing crisis in Haiti has led numerous private organizations to request a simple way to navigate through complex U.S. military rules regulating the movement of cargo and passengers, officials said.
"This presentation meets a need in the national humanitarian relief community," said Lance Carpenter, chief of Transcom's Joint Interagency Communication Group. "It will help [nongovernmental organizations] more easily and quickly identify qualifying opportunities to move relief supplies and personnel into places like Haiti.
"The presentation, available at the Web address http://www.transcom.mil/TransportFAQs.ppsx, is a resource guide that allows customers to investigate either air or surface transportation options. Surface transportation includes ship, train and truck, officials explained, adding that sometimes a combination of air and surface transportation is most appropriate.
Clear guidelines -- including telephone and e-mail contact information for military transportation experts -- streamline the process for organizations seeking to move goods or personnel.
Transcom orchestrates transportation solutions for military and nonmilitary customers through its three components: the Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, the Air Force's Air Mobility Command and the Navy's Military Sealift Command.
(Army Maj. James Lowe serves in the U.S. Transportation Command public affairs office.)
Special to American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - U.S. Transportation Command's Web site now provides instructions for nongovernmental or nonprofit organizations seeking airlift or sealift for humanitarian supplies and relief personnel. "How Do I Get Lift?" is an interactive presentation that steers customers through the process of acquiring qualifying military-provided transportation for cargo or people.
The ongoing crisis in Haiti has led numerous private organizations to request a simple way to navigate through complex U.S. military rules regulating the movement of cargo and passengers, officials said.
"This presentation meets a need in the national humanitarian relief community," said Lance Carpenter, chief of Transcom's Joint Interagency Communication Group. "It will help [nongovernmental organizations] more easily and quickly identify qualifying opportunities to move relief supplies and personnel into places like Haiti.
"The presentation, available at the Web address http://www.transcom.mil/TransportFAQs.ppsx, is a resource guide that allows customers to investigate either air or surface transportation options. Surface transportation includes ship, train and truck, officials explained, adding that sometimes a combination of air and surface transportation is most appropriate.
Clear guidelines -- including telephone and e-mail contact information for military transportation experts -- streamline the process for organizations seeking to move goods or personnel.
Transcom orchestrates transportation solutions for military and nonmilitary customers through its three components: the Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, the Air Force's Air Mobility Command and the Navy's Military Sealift Command.
(Army Maj. James Lowe serves in the U.S. Transportation Command public affairs office.)
Gates Video Highlights Top 2009 Accomplishments
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - Most people would be hard-pressed to squeeze the highlights of their past year – and what they hope to accomplish in the year ahead -- into 50 seconds.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates took a crack at it in a new White House video, ticking off the Defense Department's most significant milestones since January 2009.
The secretary focused on three top efforts: the war effort in Afghanistan, the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, and submission of a defense budget that supports major reforms while increasing military capabilities and taking care of troops and their families.
Operations in Afghanistan topped Gates' list. He noted President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, announced in early December, that includes 30,000 additional troops, in addition to the 17,000 ordered to Afghanistan earlier in the year.
Obama's strategy calls for beginning to transfer security responsibility to the Afghan forces, and beginning the process of drawing down U.S. troops in July 2011, based on conditions on the ground.
These additional forces, Gates noted in the video, are aimed at rolling back the Taliban and preventing al-Qaida from destabilizing Pakistan and attacking the United States.
Gates also noted continuation of a responsible drawdown in Iraq, with even steeper reductions expected this year.
Obama announced in February his decision to redeploy all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by the end of August of this year. Between 35,000 and 50,000 Americans are expected to remain in Iraq to train and mentor the Iraqi forces or track down extremist groups in conjunction with Iraqi forces.
Gates cited the fiscal 2010 defense budget request – "a reform defense budget focused on the military capabilities we truly need" – as another 2009 Defense Department milestone. While eliminating underperforming or unnecessary programs and concentrating on pressing warfighter requirements and what's needed to fight future conflicts, the budget also ensures "our troops and their families get the support they deserve," Gates said.
Gates closed his video with the reminder, "America remains a nation at war." He urged the American public to "keep our brave men and women in uniform uppermost in your thoughts during this coming year."
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - Most people would be hard-pressed to squeeze the highlights of their past year – and what they hope to accomplish in the year ahead -- into 50 seconds.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates took a crack at it in a new White House video, ticking off the Defense Department's most significant milestones since January 2009.
The secretary focused on three top efforts: the war effort in Afghanistan, the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, and submission of a defense budget that supports major reforms while increasing military capabilities and taking care of troops and their families.
Operations in Afghanistan topped Gates' list. He noted President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, announced in early December, that includes 30,000 additional troops, in addition to the 17,000 ordered to Afghanistan earlier in the year.
Obama's strategy calls for beginning to transfer security responsibility to the Afghan forces, and beginning the process of drawing down U.S. troops in July 2011, based on conditions on the ground.
These additional forces, Gates noted in the video, are aimed at rolling back the Taliban and preventing al-Qaida from destabilizing Pakistan and attacking the United States.
Gates also noted continuation of a responsible drawdown in Iraq, with even steeper reductions expected this year.
Obama announced in February his decision to redeploy all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by the end of August of this year. Between 35,000 and 50,000 Americans are expected to remain in Iraq to train and mentor the Iraqi forces or track down extremist groups in conjunction with Iraqi forces.
Gates cited the fiscal 2010 defense budget request – "a reform defense budget focused on the military capabilities we truly need" – as another 2009 Defense Department milestone. While eliminating underperforming or unnecessary programs and concentrating on pressing warfighter requirements and what's needed to fight future conflicts, the budget also ensures "our troops and their families get the support they deserve," Gates said.
Gates closed his video with the reminder, "America remains a nation at war." He urged the American public to "keep our brave men and women in uniform uppermost in your thoughts during this coming year."
Air Force Team Cares for Haiti Victims in Flight
By Derek Kaufman
Special to American Forces Press Service
Jan. 27, 2010 - A three-person medical team from the Wright-Patterson Medical Center here is providing aeromedical evacuation support for victims of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The critical care air transport, or CCAT, team is staging from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., with the 45th Aeromedical Staging Squadron. From there, the team flies to Port-au-Prince, picks up critically injured patients and takes them to hospitals in southern Florida.
CCAT teams are highly specialized, rapidly deployable medical teams that set up and provide intensive-care-unit-level care for patients aboard transport aircraft in flight. Most often, they set up their equipment aboard Air Force C-130 Hercules or C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
Air Force Maj. (Dr.) John Lynch, a physician with the 88th Medical Group here, leads the Wright-Patterson team. Air Force Capt. Jeffery Marsh, an intensive-care unit nurse, and Air Force Senior Airman Brooke Lohr, a cardiopulmonary technician, round out the team.
"Ours was the first CCAT to arrive on the ground in Haiti," Lynch said. The first CCAT mission supporting Operation Unified Response left Haiti for Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jan. 20.
To date, the Wright-Patterson team has flown three missions, evacuating 10 critical-care patients. Two were flown to Fort Lauderdale and one to Miami. The team planned to leave late yesterday to fly to Port-au-Prince for its fourth medevac mission.
"We're transporting a lot of crush injuries, amputees, burns, and closed-head trauma," Lynch said. "About half of our critical patients to date have been pediatric patients with all of those types of injuries."
Lynch said his team calls ahead to emergency personnel in Miami-Dade and Broward counties while airborne to identify the mix of patients onboard so they are ready to receive and transport them to local medical centers.
"As soon as we open the back of the plane, they are there waiting to take the patients off," Lynch said.
Lynch said each CCAT team typically oversees care for three critical patients in flight, but has provided intensive care for up to four patients on missions flown from Haiti so far. Critical care patient capacity is maxed out on each aircraft, he said.
Two additional CCAT teams from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., have joined the Wright-Patterson team to move patients. As of yesterday, Lynch said, the combined CCAT teams had moved 20 patients.
On the ground in Haiti, the air evacuations are directed by a combination of a medical air staging facility, which provides triage and stabilization, and an air evacuation liaison team, which arranges airlift with Air Mobility Command's Tanker-Airlift Control Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
Air Force Capt. Jeffery Marsh -- a critical care nurse originally from Albuquerque, N.M., who now lives in Dayton, Ohio, -- said many of the patients the team has evacuated have been extremely ill, having had to endure burns and crushing injuries for seven days or more prior to transport.
"It's a different mission than we encounter in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said. "Nonetheless, it's very rewarding to be part of this humanitarian effort. ... It's really hectic, really stressful, because of the situation in country. You normally don't get this type of experience in a career, so I am very happy to be a part of it."
Marsh and Lynch said the real heroes in the Air Force's medical response have been a group of special operations airmen from Hurlburt Field, Fla., who were on the ground in Port-au-Prince early, helping to free those trapped in the rubble and providing quick surgical intervention. All of the critical patients moved by the Wright-Patterson team to date were identified by the special operations team.
Marsh called the special operations airmen "a mixed bag of pararescue jumpers, surgeons [and] nurses who ask for no thanks and somehow manage to keep a smile on, despite being dead tired."
Lohr, the CCAT team's only enlisted member, ensures patients have a good airway and are getting enough oxygen. The Columbia, S.C., native said she's "really learned a lot about teamwork."
"We each know a little bit about what the other does," she said, "but it really takes every person on the team to accomplish the mission and bring the patient safely back to wherever they are going."
One patient who stands out in her mind is a 9-month-old girl who was experiencing a perfect storm of respiratory distress from malaria, pneumonia and an apparent asthma attack.
"We were able to give two albuterol nebulizer treatments, and racemic epinephrine, which they didn't have available," Lohr said. "Had we not been there to give those medications, they probably would have had to intubate to save the baby, and they really don't have a lot of pediatric stuff right now."
The baby was stabilized and later was transported to the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort.
Lynch, a Lexington, Ky. native, said all CCAT team members get two weeks of specialized training with the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks City Base, Texas. His team also participated in a two-week trauma training course in partnership with University Hospital Cincinnati.
(Derek Kaufman works in the 88th Air Base Wing public affairs office.)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
5,000-Bed Hospital to Increase Haitian Medical Capacity
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - U.S. and international relief workers in Haiti are developing a 5,000-bed hospital in the capital of Port-au-Prince to increase medical capacity as the country struggles to recover two weeks after a devastating earthquake struck. Among other facilities, the hospital will accept patients from the floating hospital ship USNS Comfort, where more than 100 surgeries have been performed since arriving at the Haitian coast last week.
Though still some weeks away from becoming fully operational, U.S. medical equipment that will outfit the additional hospital in northern Port-au-Prince has begun to arrive, Army Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, the top U.S. commander in Haiti, told Pentagon reporters today.
"We are anticipating to at least get the seeds of that hospital up within the next week or so, but that we'll begin small and then grow from there," Keen said via teleconference from Haiti. "We are hoping to be able to at least start with a 250-man centerpiece."
Haitian authorities have said more than 150,000 bodies have been buried in Haiti since a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated the country Jan. 12. Original estimates by the Red Cross were that upwards of 3 million Haitians were affected.
International aid continues pouring into Haiti in the midst of what an official called one of the greatest humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas. Among those assets is the USNS Comfort, on which U.S. medical personnel has taken aboard nearly 400 patients, performed more than 100 surgeries and filled more than 11,800 prescriptions since its Jan. 20 arrival.
Keen said the Haitian government quickly granted a request for a large piece of land -- situated near the hospital ship and also accessible by road -- that could host the 5,000-bed hospital. A principal source of the incoming patients will come from the Comfort, he added.
"We want to continue to see a flow of patients that need that critical care that the Comfort offers, and then take patients off of her that do not need that any longer, in order to maximize the utility of the Comfort," Keen said.
The general said nongovernment organizations are determining who will man the hospital once it opens its doors to patients, with the United States playing the role of advisors and assistants in what Keen characterized as a "joint venture."
"[The organizations] are responding, in terms of being able to manage the hospital and in being able to staff the hospital," he said. "We are enabling that by working with the international community to procure tinnage and all the things that you can imagine you need in order to build a hospital of that magnitude."
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - U.S. and international relief workers in Haiti are developing a 5,000-bed hospital in the capital of Port-au-Prince to increase medical capacity as the country struggles to recover two weeks after a devastating earthquake struck. Among other facilities, the hospital will accept patients from the floating hospital ship USNS Comfort, where more than 100 surgeries have been performed since arriving at the Haitian coast last week.
Though still some weeks away from becoming fully operational, U.S. medical equipment that will outfit the additional hospital in northern Port-au-Prince has begun to arrive, Army Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, the top U.S. commander in Haiti, told Pentagon reporters today.
"We are anticipating to at least get the seeds of that hospital up within the next week or so, but that we'll begin small and then grow from there," Keen said via teleconference from Haiti. "We are hoping to be able to at least start with a 250-man centerpiece."
Haitian authorities have said more than 150,000 bodies have been buried in Haiti since a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated the country Jan. 12. Original estimates by the Red Cross were that upwards of 3 million Haitians were affected.
International aid continues pouring into Haiti in the midst of what an official called one of the greatest humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas. Among those assets is the USNS Comfort, on which U.S. medical personnel has taken aboard nearly 400 patients, performed more than 100 surgeries and filled more than 11,800 prescriptions since its Jan. 20 arrival.
Keen said the Haitian government quickly granted a request for a large piece of land -- situated near the hospital ship and also accessible by road -- that could host the 5,000-bed hospital. A principal source of the incoming patients will come from the Comfort, he added.
"We want to continue to see a flow of patients that need that critical care that the Comfort offers, and then take patients off of her that do not need that any longer, in order to maximize the utility of the Comfort," Keen said.
The general said nongovernment organizations are determining who will man the hospital once it opens its doors to patients, with the United States playing the role of advisors and assistants in what Keen characterized as a "joint venture."
"[The organizations] are responding, in terms of being able to manage the hospital and in being able to staff the hospital," he said. "We are enabling that by working with the international community to procure tinnage and all the things that you can imagine you need in order to build a hospital of that magnitude."
DoD and Army Work to Provide Psychological Health Care When It’s Needed Most
By Sarah Heynen
DCoE
January 26, 2010 - The Army is ever increasing its efforts to treat and provide continuity of care for soldiers with psychological health issues, an Army psychological health expert said at the 2010 MHS Conference Jan. 25.
“We've got a tremendous sense of mission now,” said Col. Elspeth C. Ritchie, M.D., M.P.H., psychiatry advisor to the Army surgeon general. Ritchie said that the Army has increased behavioral health providers by 50 percent since 2007.
In addition to the increase in providers, Ritchie said that the Army has and will continue to install new programs that will reach the warriors who need help, increase effective treatments for those who have already sought help, and combat the rise in suicides. The programs include using telehealth services that can treat patients through the use of video teleconferencing and Webcams.
Ritchie said that after creating innovative programs to meet the needs service members there still remains the challenge to implement the programs in a way that is effective and useful. Among the barriers to care for service members is the stigma sometimes associated with seeking psychological health care. While efforts to eliminate stigma are increasing, it is still necessary to ensure that policies are also in place that protect those service members who seek help.
As the Army increases its efforts in this arena, the Department of Defense is doing the same, said Capt. Edward Simmer, senior executive director for psychological health at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, and also a speaker at the conference.
“We must provide the best possible care in the worst possible place,” said Simmer, reminding that service members need to receive the highest quality care available in some of the most remote locations – from warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan to Reservists battling PTSD in Minnesota many miles away from a behavioral health provider. Simmer, too, suggested the use of telehealth in these circumstances.
Simmer highlighted a model for care based on “resilience, recovery and reintegration.” As service members go through the continuum of care this model provides a way to help prevent future issues, acknowledge and heal from any injury that may occur (physical or psychological), and reintegrate back into life whether from an injury or just returning from deployment.
Empowering line leaders, service members and families to take responsibility for service members' psychological health is another way to increase access to psychological health services, Simmer said. With protocols in place to enable line leaders to identify problems and make the initial intervention, warriors could get the needed help sooner. Simmer also stressed the importance of partnering with civilian health care providers to increase the number of behavioral health providers available. The DoD, along with the services, is actively working to provide warriors access to the best psychological health care available, when they need it most.
DCoE
January 26, 2010 - The Army is ever increasing its efforts to treat and provide continuity of care for soldiers with psychological health issues, an Army psychological health expert said at the 2010 MHS Conference Jan. 25.
“We've got a tremendous sense of mission now,” said Col. Elspeth C. Ritchie, M.D., M.P.H., psychiatry advisor to the Army surgeon general. Ritchie said that the Army has increased behavioral health providers by 50 percent since 2007.
In addition to the increase in providers, Ritchie said that the Army has and will continue to install new programs that will reach the warriors who need help, increase effective treatments for those who have already sought help, and combat the rise in suicides. The programs include using telehealth services that can treat patients through the use of video teleconferencing and Webcams.
Ritchie said that after creating innovative programs to meet the needs service members there still remains the challenge to implement the programs in a way that is effective and useful. Among the barriers to care for service members is the stigma sometimes associated with seeking psychological health care. While efforts to eliminate stigma are increasing, it is still necessary to ensure that policies are also in place that protect those service members who seek help.
As the Army increases its efforts in this arena, the Department of Defense is doing the same, said Capt. Edward Simmer, senior executive director for psychological health at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, and also a speaker at the conference.
“We must provide the best possible care in the worst possible place,” said Simmer, reminding that service members need to receive the highest quality care available in some of the most remote locations – from warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan to Reservists battling PTSD in Minnesota many miles away from a behavioral health provider. Simmer, too, suggested the use of telehealth in these circumstances.
Simmer highlighted a model for care based on “resilience, recovery and reintegration.” As service members go through the continuum of care this model provides a way to help prevent future issues, acknowledge and heal from any injury that may occur (physical or psychological), and reintegrate back into life whether from an injury or just returning from deployment.
Empowering line leaders, service members and families to take responsibility for service members' psychological health is another way to increase access to psychological health services, Simmer said. With protocols in place to enable line leaders to identify problems and make the initial intervention, warriors could get the needed help sooner. Simmer also stressed the importance of partnering with civilian health care providers to increase the number of behavioral health providers available. The DoD, along with the services, is actively working to provide warriors access to the best psychological health care available, when they need it most.
First Lady Announces Family Program Budget Boost
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - President Barack Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request calls for a record $8.8 billion for military family support programs, First Lady Michelle Obama told military spouses today at Bolling Air Force Base here. The request represents a 3 percent increase over current funding, she told attendees at the Joint Armed Forces Officers' Wives Club annual luncheon.
The budget request will include $1.3 billion to reduce shortages in military child care and ensure its quality remains high, and also increases funding for youth programs, she said.
Another provision will provide $439 million to build 10 new Department of Defense Education Activity Schools. This measure, directed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, is part of a major, five-year effort to renovate or replace 103 of the schools by 2015.
Obama emphasized the challenges military children face, and the need to ensure they're cared for.
"We cannot forget that military kids also serve in their own special way," she said. "They're just like any other child in this country – except their lives are turned upside-down every time their mom or dad is gone halfway around the world, risking their lives so that all our children can enjoy the freedoms of our democracy."
As a result, she said, military children often experience higher levels of anxiety and a higher risk of depression than their nonmilitary classmates, and a tougher time focusing at school.
"So, we can never forget just how much these wars affect our military kids, and we all have an obligation to ensure they have the support they need at home and at school," she said.
Based on input from military spouses, the fiscal 2011 budget request also will include $84 million for spousal career development, Obama said, including tuition assistance and a federal internship program.
Another provision will provide $14 million in new funding for Coast Guard housing.
"These are all major investments, and they are the result of military families speaking up and being heard," the first lady said. "They are part of a larger, ongoing commitment to care for our troops and their families after the fighting ends."
Obama said her many interactions with military families over the past year has deepened her respect and gratitude for them, and her recognition of "the spirit and strength and courage that our military families display every day."
"You put your own priorities aside. You take care of one another. You take care of this nation," she said. "So, as first lady, I can't thank you enough for that sacrifice, and I promise you that I will use every ounce of my energy to make sure that America always takes care of you."
Obama said she recognizes that providing this level of support network will require "active citizens," as well as the government, working hand in hand.
She said she will continue making it a priority to keep asking all Americans to join in supporting military families. She noted, for example, the "Mission Serve" network she and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, helped to launch on Veterans Day to bring civilian and military services groups together to help in supporting military members and their families.
"We're asking Americans to engage and support military families any way they can," she said, through job opportunities, professional services, or even babysitting or providing a home-cooked meal. "Our men and women in uniform and their families sacrifice for every single one of us, and every single one of us can do something in return, even if it's as simple as saying, 'Thank you.'"
Attendees at today's luncheon said they welcomed the first lady's commitment to military families – one they noted that she has demonstrated continually since her husband entered the presidential race.
"The fact that she's shown such an interest means a lot," said Meredith Simpson, whose husband, Marine Corps Capt. Neal Simpson, is a student at the Expeditionary Warfare School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.
Simpson is no stranger to the challenges military families face. The couple's 3-year-old twins were born when their father was deployed to Iraq, and they were 3 months old before he met them.
Simpson said she's encouraged by Obama's emphasis on putting military families first – and by the example she credits the first lady with showing by putting her own family first. "That's very promising to me," she said.
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - President Barack Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request calls for a record $8.8 billion for military family support programs, First Lady Michelle Obama told military spouses today at Bolling Air Force Base here. The request represents a 3 percent increase over current funding, she told attendees at the Joint Armed Forces Officers' Wives Club annual luncheon.
The budget request will include $1.3 billion to reduce shortages in military child care and ensure its quality remains high, and also increases funding for youth programs, she said.
Another provision will provide $439 million to build 10 new Department of Defense Education Activity Schools. This measure, directed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, is part of a major, five-year effort to renovate or replace 103 of the schools by 2015.
Obama emphasized the challenges military children face, and the need to ensure they're cared for.
"We cannot forget that military kids also serve in their own special way," she said. "They're just like any other child in this country – except their lives are turned upside-down every time their mom or dad is gone halfway around the world, risking their lives so that all our children can enjoy the freedoms of our democracy."
As a result, she said, military children often experience higher levels of anxiety and a higher risk of depression than their nonmilitary classmates, and a tougher time focusing at school.
"So, we can never forget just how much these wars affect our military kids, and we all have an obligation to ensure they have the support they need at home and at school," she said.
Based on input from military spouses, the fiscal 2011 budget request also will include $84 million for spousal career development, Obama said, including tuition assistance and a federal internship program.
Another provision will provide $14 million in new funding for Coast Guard housing.
"These are all major investments, and they are the result of military families speaking up and being heard," the first lady said. "They are part of a larger, ongoing commitment to care for our troops and their families after the fighting ends."
Obama said her many interactions with military families over the past year has deepened her respect and gratitude for them, and her recognition of "the spirit and strength and courage that our military families display every day."
"You put your own priorities aside. You take care of one another. You take care of this nation," she said. "So, as first lady, I can't thank you enough for that sacrifice, and I promise you that I will use every ounce of my energy to make sure that America always takes care of you."
Obama said she recognizes that providing this level of support network will require "active citizens," as well as the government, working hand in hand.
She said she will continue making it a priority to keep asking all Americans to join in supporting military families. She noted, for example, the "Mission Serve" network she and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, helped to launch on Veterans Day to bring civilian and military services groups together to help in supporting military members and their families.
"We're asking Americans to engage and support military families any way they can," she said, through job opportunities, professional services, or even babysitting or providing a home-cooked meal. "Our men and women in uniform and their families sacrifice for every single one of us, and every single one of us can do something in return, even if it's as simple as saying, 'Thank you.'"
Attendees at today's luncheon said they welcomed the first lady's commitment to military families – one they noted that she has demonstrated continually since her husband entered the presidential race.
"The fact that she's shown such an interest means a lot," said Meredith Simpson, whose husband, Marine Corps Capt. Neal Simpson, is a student at the Expeditionary Warfare School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.
Simpson is no stranger to the challenges military families face. The couple's 3-year-old twins were born when their father was deployed to Iraq, and they were 3 months old before he met them.
Simpson said she's encouraged by Obama's emphasis on putting military families first – and by the example she credits the first lady with showing by putting her own family first. "That's very promising to me," she said.
Department of Military Affairs furlough day set for Friday, Jan. 29
January 26, 2010 - Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs (DMA) will operate on a limited basis Friday, Jan. 29, as state employees take one of 16 furlough days required for all state workers in the next two years. DMA will resume regular business hours Monday, Feb. 1.
The Department of Military Affairs includes Joint Force Headquarters-Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard, and the Wisconsin Division of Emergency Management. Wisconsin National Guard federal employees are not furloughed.
Brig. Gen. Don Dunbar, the adjutant general of Wisconsin, said the Wisconsin National Guard's Joint Operations Center (JOC) and the 24-Hour Emergency Management Duty Officer System will remain fully operational. Edward Wall, WEM Administrator, has ensured that if a disaster or emergency should occur on Jan. 29, there will be staff available to respond to the scene and to work in the state Emergency Operations Center.
The Department of Military Affairs includes Joint Force Headquarters-Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard, and the Wisconsin Division of Emergency Management. Wisconsin National Guard federal employees are not furloughed.
Brig. Gen. Don Dunbar, the adjutant general of Wisconsin, said the Wisconsin National Guard's Joint Operations Center (JOC) and the 24-Hour Emergency Management Duty Officer System will remain fully operational. Edward Wall, WEM Administrator, has ensured that if a disaster or emergency should occur on Jan. 29, there will be staff available to respond to the scene and to work in the state Emergency Operations Center.
Pay, Medical, Family Issues Highlight Budget Request
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - Recognizing the nation's responsibility to support its men and women in uniform and their families, President Barack Obama will request increased funding for military pay, housing allowances, family support programs and care for wounded warriors, White House officials said today.
The budget request, expected to be released Feb. 1, will include a 1.4 percent basic pay raise officials say is designed to keep military pay increases in line with those in the private sector. The request also will include an average housing allowance increase of 4.2 percent, as well as a variety of enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses and monthly payments for specialty skills.
Family support programs will grow 3 percent if Congress approves the request – to $8.8 billion – to support the family members who officials credit with providing the strength and stability on which the uniformed force relies.
The request will include $1.3 billion to make affordable, high-quality child care services more available at 800 military child development centers stateside and overseas. This represents an $87 million increase over fiscal 2010 funding levels, officials noted.
Expanded counseling and assistance services to be funded in the new budget will help families meet the challenges of repeated deployments and family separations, officials noted. The president will request $1.9 billion for these services, which range from financial counseling to transition and relocation assistance, up $37 million from fiscal 2010 funding.
In addition, the request will include $84 million for enhanced career and educational opportunities for military spouses through tuition assistance and federal internship programs. This represents a $12 million increase over current funding.
Another provision in the request will provide $439 million to build 10 new Department of Defense Education Activity schools. This is the first step in a Defense Department plan to replace or renovate 103 of the schools by 2015, providing military children what officials called "the world-class education they deserve," offered in "world-class facilities."
Providing high-quality medical care for more than 9.5 million servicemembers and their families and military retirees -- but especially wounded, ill and injured troops -- remains a top administration priority, officials said. Toward that end, the fiscal 2011 budget request includes support for wounded warrior transition units and centers of excellence in vision, hearing, traumatic brain injury and other areas.
Specifically, it includes: $30.9 billion overall for medical care, up 5.8 percent from current levels; $669 million to provide TBI and psychological health care; and $250 million for continued mental-health and TVI research.
The budget request also will fund more employment and job training for military spouses and veterans, officials noted. It provides $262 million for the Labor Department's Veterans Employment and Training Service, up $6 million from fiscal 2010 levels. This includes $5 million for a new initiative to help homeless women veterans and homeless families.
Another effort, to provide more employment workshops for spouses of separating servicemembers, will receive $1 million in the president's budget request.
The budget request also seeks to expand veterans' access to medical care, officials noted. Obama will request $50.6 billion in advance appropriations for the VA medical care program to ensure veterans' care isn't interrupted due to budget delays. The goal, officials explained, is to ensure VA has timely, predictable funding from year to year, so veterans can rely on the quality and accessibility of the care they receive through VA.
For the first time, highly disabled veterans who are medically retired from the military will be eligible to receive both VA disability benefits and military retirement benefits. By 2015, all medically retired servicemembers will be eligible to receive concurrent benefits, officials said.
The fiscal 2011 budget request also provides funds to continue enrolling more than 500,000 veterans with moderate income into the VA health care system by 2011.
Another measure in the request funds technology to improve the timely, high-quality delivery of health care and benefits, officials said. The Defense Department and VA are implementing the Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record – essentially an electronic medical record that will follow a servicemember from initial enlistment through retirement or separation and transition to the VA system.
The request also includes more than $200 million in automated processing to directly improve both the accuracy and timeliness of the delivery of veterans benefits – particularly disability compensation and the new Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit, officials said.
Speaking to military spouses today at the Joint Armed Forces Officers' Wives Club at Bolling Air Force Base here, First Lady Michelle Obama said the budget request represents a shared interest among administration officials, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, and the entire military chain of command to take care of servicemembers and their families.
"The quality of the lives of our military and their families means a great deal, because in the history of our all-volunteer forces, we've never asked so much of so few," she said. "We've seen the huge burden of eight years of war on our troops – tour after tour, year after year, missing out on moments that every parent treasures: a baby's first steps, the first words, the day the training wheels come off the bike, birthdays, anniversaries."
Obama said she's been inspired by the spirit of the men and women in uniform and the families who stand with them as they serve the nation.
"All of you – our troops and families – you do your duty, and you do it without complaint," she said. "You give your all and ask very little in return -- only that we back you up so our troops can do their job.
"That's why my husband and his administration have worked to do right by our armed forces and their families," she said, "to be there for you like you have been there for us, to lighten your load as all of you have lightened ours."
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - Recognizing the nation's responsibility to support its men and women in uniform and their families, President Barack Obama will request increased funding for military pay, housing allowances, family support programs and care for wounded warriors, White House officials said today.
The budget request, expected to be released Feb. 1, will include a 1.4 percent basic pay raise officials say is designed to keep military pay increases in line with those in the private sector. The request also will include an average housing allowance increase of 4.2 percent, as well as a variety of enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses and monthly payments for specialty skills.
Family support programs will grow 3 percent if Congress approves the request – to $8.8 billion – to support the family members who officials credit with providing the strength and stability on which the uniformed force relies.
The request will include $1.3 billion to make affordable, high-quality child care services more available at 800 military child development centers stateside and overseas. This represents an $87 million increase over fiscal 2010 funding levels, officials noted.
Expanded counseling and assistance services to be funded in the new budget will help families meet the challenges of repeated deployments and family separations, officials noted. The president will request $1.9 billion for these services, which range from financial counseling to transition and relocation assistance, up $37 million from fiscal 2010 funding.
In addition, the request will include $84 million for enhanced career and educational opportunities for military spouses through tuition assistance and federal internship programs. This represents a $12 million increase over current funding.
Another provision in the request will provide $439 million to build 10 new Department of Defense Education Activity schools. This is the first step in a Defense Department plan to replace or renovate 103 of the schools by 2015, providing military children what officials called "the world-class education they deserve," offered in "world-class facilities."
Providing high-quality medical care for more than 9.5 million servicemembers and their families and military retirees -- but especially wounded, ill and injured troops -- remains a top administration priority, officials said. Toward that end, the fiscal 2011 budget request includes support for wounded warrior transition units and centers of excellence in vision, hearing, traumatic brain injury and other areas.
Specifically, it includes: $30.9 billion overall for medical care, up 5.8 percent from current levels; $669 million to provide TBI and psychological health care; and $250 million for continued mental-health and TVI research.
The budget request also will fund more employment and job training for military spouses and veterans, officials noted. It provides $262 million for the Labor Department's Veterans Employment and Training Service, up $6 million from fiscal 2010 levels. This includes $5 million for a new initiative to help homeless women veterans and homeless families.
Another effort, to provide more employment workshops for spouses of separating servicemembers, will receive $1 million in the president's budget request.
The budget request also seeks to expand veterans' access to medical care, officials noted. Obama will request $50.6 billion in advance appropriations for the VA medical care program to ensure veterans' care isn't interrupted due to budget delays. The goal, officials explained, is to ensure VA has timely, predictable funding from year to year, so veterans can rely on the quality and accessibility of the care they receive through VA.
For the first time, highly disabled veterans who are medically retired from the military will be eligible to receive both VA disability benefits and military retirement benefits. By 2015, all medically retired servicemembers will be eligible to receive concurrent benefits, officials said.
The fiscal 2011 budget request also provides funds to continue enrolling more than 500,000 veterans with moderate income into the VA health care system by 2011.
Another measure in the request funds technology to improve the timely, high-quality delivery of health care and benefits, officials said. The Defense Department and VA are implementing the Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record – essentially an electronic medical record that will follow a servicemember from initial enlistment through retirement or separation and transition to the VA system.
The request also includes more than $200 million in automated processing to directly improve both the accuracy and timeliness of the delivery of veterans benefits – particularly disability compensation and the new Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit, officials said.
Speaking to military spouses today at the Joint Armed Forces Officers' Wives Club at Bolling Air Force Base here, First Lady Michelle Obama said the budget request represents a shared interest among administration officials, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, and the entire military chain of command to take care of servicemembers and their families.
"The quality of the lives of our military and their families means a great deal, because in the history of our all-volunteer forces, we've never asked so much of so few," she said. "We've seen the huge burden of eight years of war on our troops – tour after tour, year after year, missing out on moments that every parent treasures: a baby's first steps, the first words, the day the training wheels come off the bike, birthdays, anniversaries."
Obama said she's been inspired by the spirit of the men and women in uniform and the families who stand with them as they serve the nation.
"All of you – our troops and families – you do your duty, and you do it without complaint," she said. "You give your all and ask very little in return -- only that we back you up so our troops can do their job.
"That's why my husband and his administration have worked to do right by our armed forces and their families," she said, "to be there for you like you have been there for us, to lighten your load as all of you have lightened ours."
MILITARY CONTRACTS January 26, 2010
ARMY
Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wisc., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $258,201,196 firm-fixed-price contract to exercise the option for 90 lots authorized stockage list kits, 90 lots of prescribed load list kits, 23 each deprocessing spare kits, and 132 lots battle damage repair kits for the mine resistant ambush protected all terrain vehicle. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, Wisc., (50 percent) and McConnellsburg, Pa., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. TACOM, CCTA-ADC-A, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).
Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wisc., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $67,448,554 firm-fixed-price contract for the partial exercise the option for 2 lots authorized stockage list kits, 2 lots of prescribed load list kits, and 65 lots battle damage repair kits for the mine resistant ambush protected all terrain vehicle. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, Wisc., (50 percent) and McConnellsburg, Pa., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. TACOM, CCTA-ADC-A, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).
BAE Systems Inc., Anniston, Ala., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $29,247,535 firm-fixed-price contract for the Centralized and National Level RESET of a total of 417 M113 Family of Vehicles. Work is to be performed in Anniston, Ala., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2010. One bid was solicited with one bid received. TACOM, CCTA-AHLA, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-05-G-0005).
Lockheed Martin Corp, Missiles and fire control, grand prairie, Texas, was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $44,875,596 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee for PATRIOT advanced capability – 3 (PAC-3) United Arab Emirates requirement quantities are 16 launcher mod kits and 16 motor control units. Work is to be performed in Dallas, Texas, (82.8 percent), Camden, Ark., (0.2 percent), Lufkin, Texas, (10.9 percent), Ocala, Fla., (6.1 percent). One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-09-C-0002).
Vetco Contracting Service, LLC., Watertown, N.Y., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $15,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to design and construct a child development center. Work is to be performed at in Fort Belvoir, Va., with an estimated completion date of Aug. 30, 2011. Four bids were solicited with three bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineer District-Baltimore District, Baltimore, Md., is the contracting activity (W912DS-09-D-0007-DA01).
Watterson/Davis JV., Anchorage, Ark., was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $11,231,012 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of an F22A weapons loading crew training facility, Elmendorf AFB, Ark. Work is to be performed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Ark., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 13, 2011. Seven bids were solicited with three bids received. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Alaska District, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Ark., is the contracting activity (W911KB-07-D-0013).
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded on Dec. 31, 2009 a $8,219,728 firm-fixed-price contract for the UH-60 (BLACKHAWK) for 22 each, transmission, mechanical, NSN: 1615-01-542-7514, part number: 70400-06641-201. Work is to be performed in Stratford, Conn., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2011. One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aviation & Missile Command Contracting Center, CCAM-AL-A, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (N00383-06-G-006F)
Northstar Huffman JV, North Olmsted, Ohio, was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $6,258,000 firm-fixed-price contract to remove 400,000 cubic yards of dredged material from consolidated disposal facility 10B. Work is to be performed in Cleveland, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 14, 2010. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with 10 bids received. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Buffalo District, Buffalo, N.Y., is the contracting activity (W912P4-10-C-0001).
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., LLC., Oak Brook, Ill., was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $6,233,200 firm-fixed-price contract for Jacksonville Harbor maintenance dredging, 40-foot project, Bar Cut 3 through Bar Cut 45, Duval County, Fla. Work is to be performed in Duval County, Fla., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 1, 2010. Six bids were solicited with three bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity (W912EP-10-C-0016).
Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Mass., was awarded on Jan. 19, 2010 a $5,912,675 firm-fixed-price contract for air traffic navigation integration and coordination system hardware, sustainment support, II spares and engineering services. Work is to be performed in Marlborough, Mass., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 11, 2011. One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Contracting Aviation and Missile Contracting Center, Huntsville, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-06-C-0323).
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Metals USA, (DBA) 1-Solutions Group, Fort Washington, Pa., is being awarded a maximum $124,500,000 fixed price with economic price adjustment, prime vendor contract for customer direct meals deliveries. Other locations of performance are throughout Pennsylvania. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies in the Western United States. There were originally five proposals solicited with two responses. This contract consists of a two year base with three one-year option periods. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is January 26, 2012. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM8EG-09-D-0013)
United Technologies, East Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a maximum $110,138,427 firm fixed price, indefinite quantity, sole source, corporate contract for engine lines. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Navy and Air Force. There was originally one proposal solicited with one response. This modified contract is exercising the seventh option period. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is Feb. 14, 2011. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Richmond, Richmond, Va., (SPM400-01-D-9405).
Propper International Inc., Mayaguez, Puerto Rico is being awarded a maximum $19,461,168 firm fixed price contract for men's and women's airman battle uniform, coats and trousers. Other locations of performance are throughout Puerto Rico. Using service is Air Force. The original proposal was Web solicited with six responses. This contract includes a base and four one-year options and represents the third option year period. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is Jan. 31, 2011. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM1C1-07-D-0008).
American Apparel, Inc., Selma, Ala., is being awarded a maximum $14,046,480 firm fixed price contract for men's and women's airman battle uniform, coats and trousers. Other locations of performance are in Texas and Mississippi. Using service is Air Force. The original proposal was Web solicited with six responses. This contract includes a base and four one-year options and represents the third option year period. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is Jan. 31, 2011. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM1C1-07-D-0009).
AIR FORCE
CSC Applied Technologies LLC of Fort Worth, Texas was awarded a $29,513,871 contract which will provide for base operating support service at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. At this time, $25,427,428 has been obligated. 81 CONS, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., is the contracting activity (FA3002-08-C-0001, A0024)
NAVY
Argon ST, Inc., Fairfax, Va., is being awarded a $23,838,548 firm-fixed-price contract for 28 Cerberus units and associated spares for deployment in support of operational forces abroad. Cerberus is a portable, self sustaining, integrated tower developed to provide persistent ground surveillance system for perimeter defense for the Forward Operating Bases. Work will be performed in Newington, Va., (90 percent) and Orlando, Fla., (10 percent) and is expected to be completed in December 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $20,371,498 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.3. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity (N68335-10-C-0110).
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Integrated Systems Sector, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded an $11,000,000 not-to-exceed modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-07-C-0055) for autonomous aerial refueling technology maturation and demonstration activities in support of the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration. Work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif., (60 percent) and Rancho Bernardo, Calif., (40 percent), and is expected to be completed in November 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin, MS2 Division, Syracuse, N.Y., is being awarded an $8,817,539 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-5201) to exercise Fiscal Year 2010 options for upgrade kits for the Navy's AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Undersea Warfare System. The AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 is a surface ship combat system with the capabilities to search, detect, classify, localize and track undersea contacts; and to engage and evade submarines, mine-like small objects, and torpedo threats. Work will be performed in Lemont Furnace, Pa., (50 precent); Syracuse, N.Y., (25 percent); and Eagan, Minn., (25 percent) and is expected to be completed by September 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY
Intelsat General Corp., 6550 Rock Spring Drive, Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20817-1112, was awarded a contract for the guaranteed minimum of $10 million, firm-fixed-price, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command's Commercial Broadband Satellite Program on Jan. 25, 2010. The contract, with a not-to-exceed ceiling of $542.7 million, provides worldwide commercial telecommunications services to include: C, Ku, and X-band satellite resources, land earth stations, terrestrial backhauls, and bandwidth management services. The period of performance is Jan. 26, 2010 through Jan. 25, 2015 (a one-year base with four one-year options). Performance will be at various locations around the world. The solicitation was issued as a full and open competitive action. Solicitation was posted to FEDBIZOPPS. Five offers were received. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott AFB Ill., is the contracting activity. Contracting point of contact is Karen E. Kincaid at 618-229-9451 (HC1013-10-D-2000).
Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wisc., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $258,201,196 firm-fixed-price contract to exercise the option for 90 lots authorized stockage list kits, 90 lots of prescribed load list kits, 23 each deprocessing spare kits, and 132 lots battle damage repair kits for the mine resistant ambush protected all terrain vehicle. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, Wisc., (50 percent) and McConnellsburg, Pa., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. TACOM, CCTA-ADC-A, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).
Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wisc., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $67,448,554 firm-fixed-price contract for the partial exercise the option for 2 lots authorized stockage list kits, 2 lots of prescribed load list kits, and 65 lots battle damage repair kits for the mine resistant ambush protected all terrain vehicle. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, Wisc., (50 percent) and McConnellsburg, Pa., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. TACOM, CCTA-ADC-A, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).
BAE Systems Inc., Anniston, Ala., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $29,247,535 firm-fixed-price contract for the Centralized and National Level RESET of a total of 417 M113 Family of Vehicles. Work is to be performed in Anniston, Ala., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2010. One bid was solicited with one bid received. TACOM, CCTA-AHLA, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-05-G-0005).
Lockheed Martin Corp, Missiles and fire control, grand prairie, Texas, was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $44,875,596 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee for PATRIOT advanced capability – 3 (PAC-3) United Arab Emirates requirement quantities are 16 launcher mod kits and 16 motor control units. Work is to be performed in Dallas, Texas, (82.8 percent), Camden, Ark., (0.2 percent), Lufkin, Texas, (10.9 percent), Ocala, Fla., (6.1 percent). One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-09-C-0002).
Vetco Contracting Service, LLC., Watertown, N.Y., was awarded on Jan. 20, 2010 a $15,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to design and construct a child development center. Work is to be performed at in Fort Belvoir, Va., with an estimated completion date of Aug. 30, 2011. Four bids were solicited with three bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineer District-Baltimore District, Baltimore, Md., is the contracting activity (W912DS-09-D-0007-DA01).
Watterson/Davis JV., Anchorage, Ark., was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $11,231,012 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of an F22A weapons loading crew training facility, Elmendorf AFB, Ark. Work is to be performed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Ark., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 13, 2011. Seven bids were solicited with three bids received. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Alaska District, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Ark., is the contracting activity (W911KB-07-D-0013).
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded on Dec. 31, 2009 a $8,219,728 firm-fixed-price contract for the UH-60 (BLACKHAWK) for 22 each, transmission, mechanical, NSN: 1615-01-542-7514, part number: 70400-06641-201. Work is to be performed in Stratford, Conn., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2011. One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aviation & Missile Command Contracting Center, CCAM-AL-A, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (N00383-06-G-006F)
Northstar Huffman JV, North Olmsted, Ohio, was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $6,258,000 firm-fixed-price contract to remove 400,000 cubic yards of dredged material from consolidated disposal facility 10B. Work is to be performed in Cleveland, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 14, 2010. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with 10 bids received. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Buffalo District, Buffalo, N.Y., is the contracting activity (W912P4-10-C-0001).
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., LLC., Oak Brook, Ill., was awarded on Jan. 22, 2010 a $6,233,200 firm-fixed-price contract for Jacksonville Harbor maintenance dredging, 40-foot project, Bar Cut 3 through Bar Cut 45, Duval County, Fla. Work is to be performed in Duval County, Fla., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 1, 2010. Six bids were solicited with three bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity (W912EP-10-C-0016).
Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Mass., was awarded on Jan. 19, 2010 a $5,912,675 firm-fixed-price contract for air traffic navigation integration and coordination system hardware, sustainment support, II spares and engineering services. Work is to be performed in Marlborough, Mass., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 11, 2011. One bid was solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Contracting Aviation and Missile Contracting Center, Huntsville, Ala., is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-06-C-0323).
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Metals USA, (DBA) 1-Solutions Group, Fort Washington, Pa., is being awarded a maximum $124,500,000 fixed price with economic price adjustment, prime vendor contract for customer direct meals deliveries. Other locations of performance are throughout Pennsylvania. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies in the Western United States. There were originally five proposals solicited with two responses. This contract consists of a two year base with three one-year option periods. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is January 26, 2012. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM8EG-09-D-0013)
United Technologies, East Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a maximum $110,138,427 firm fixed price, indefinite quantity, sole source, corporate contract for engine lines. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Navy and Air Force. There was originally one proposal solicited with one response. This modified contract is exercising the seventh option period. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is Feb. 14, 2011. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Richmond, Richmond, Va., (SPM400-01-D-9405).
Propper International Inc., Mayaguez, Puerto Rico is being awarded a maximum $19,461,168 firm fixed price contract for men's and women's airman battle uniform, coats and trousers. Other locations of performance are throughout Puerto Rico. Using service is Air Force. The original proposal was Web solicited with six responses. This contract includes a base and four one-year options and represents the third option year period. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is Jan. 31, 2011. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM1C1-07-D-0008).
American Apparel, Inc., Selma, Ala., is being awarded a maximum $14,046,480 firm fixed price contract for men's and women's airman battle uniform, coats and trousers. Other locations of performance are in Texas and Mississippi. Using service is Air Force. The original proposal was Web solicited with six responses. This contract includes a base and four one-year options and represents the third option year period. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is Jan. 31, 2011. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa., (SPM1C1-07-D-0009).
AIR FORCE
CSC Applied Technologies LLC of Fort Worth, Texas was awarded a $29,513,871 contract which will provide for base operating support service at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. At this time, $25,427,428 has been obligated. 81 CONS, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., is the contracting activity (FA3002-08-C-0001, A0024)
NAVY
Argon ST, Inc., Fairfax, Va., is being awarded a $23,838,548 firm-fixed-price contract for 28 Cerberus units and associated spares for deployment in support of operational forces abroad. Cerberus is a portable, self sustaining, integrated tower developed to provide persistent ground surveillance system for perimeter defense for the Forward Operating Bases. Work will be performed in Newington, Va., (90 percent) and Orlando, Fla., (10 percent) and is expected to be completed in December 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $20,371,498 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.3. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., is the contracting activity (N68335-10-C-0110).
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Integrated Systems Sector, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded an $11,000,000 not-to-exceed modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-07-C-0055) for autonomous aerial refueling technology maturation and demonstration activities in support of the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration. Work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif., (60 percent) and Rancho Bernardo, Calif., (40 percent), and is expected to be completed in November 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin, MS2 Division, Syracuse, N.Y., is being awarded an $8,817,539 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-5201) to exercise Fiscal Year 2010 options for upgrade kits for the Navy's AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Undersea Warfare System. The AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 is a surface ship combat system with the capabilities to search, detect, classify, localize and track undersea contacts; and to engage and evade submarines, mine-like small objects, and torpedo threats. Work will be performed in Lemont Furnace, Pa., (50 precent); Syracuse, N.Y., (25 percent); and Eagan, Minn., (25 percent) and is expected to be completed by September 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY
Intelsat General Corp., 6550 Rock Spring Drive, Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20817-1112, was awarded a contract for the guaranteed minimum of $10 million, firm-fixed-price, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command's Commercial Broadband Satellite Program on Jan. 25, 2010. The contract, with a not-to-exceed ceiling of $542.7 million, provides worldwide commercial telecommunications services to include: C, Ku, and X-band satellite resources, land earth stations, terrestrial backhauls, and bandwidth management services. The period of performance is Jan. 26, 2010 through Jan. 25, 2015 (a one-year base with four one-year options). Performance will be at various locations around the world. The solicitation was issued as a full and open competitive action. Solicitation was posted to FEDBIZOPPS. Five offers were received. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott AFB Ill., is the contracting activity. Contracting point of contact is Karen E. Kincaid at 618-229-9451 (HC1013-10-D-2000).
U.S., U.K. Share History, Values in Afghanistan
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - "The United States has no closer ally than the United Kingdom," Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said here yesterday. The two nations have a special relationship based on history, shared values and a shared future, he said during a speech before the House of Commons All-Party Parliamentary Group on Transatlantic and International Security.
"Nowhere is our special relationship more apparent than in Afghanistan," he pointed out. "No one country has stood closer with us on the front lines in our fight against violent extremism -- and no country has paid so high a price in this crucial mission."
As of November, 9,000 of the United Kingdom's 150,240 soldiers were participating in NATO operations in Afghanistan. According to BBC News, 251 British military personnel have been killed during operations there, including the latest, Lance Cpl. Daniel Cooper, who was killed Jan. 24 in an explosion south of Sangin district center in Helmand province. Of those killed, 31 have died from accidents, illness or non-combat injuries, or have yet to be assigned a cause of death.
Lynn expressed the American people's deep gratitude for their service and sacrifice. "We rely greatly on the expertise and resources that you bring to the fight," he told the members of the Parliamentary group.
The U.S. deputy defense secretary arrived here the night of Jan. 24, primed to address mutual security concerns and encourage defense cooperation during his public events and one-on-one meetings with government officials. Following a meeting at the U.S. Embassy with Ambassador Louis Susman, Lynn spoke during an off-the-record session at the European Security and Defense Conference.
About 250 European diplomats, military and government officials and think-tank researchers are attending the two-day conference at Chatham House, home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Next on his docket was his visit to Parliament, where he was escorted on a brief tour of the historic building by Gisela Stuart, member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston and chairwoman of the All Parliamentary Group. Following lunch in the House of Commons, Lynn addressed the need for defense cooperation to develop new capabilities to deal with unconventional threats. He also spoke of the continuing military partnership between the two nations.
"In Haiti, your military and rescue services are serving alongside ours to help make a desperate situation a little less desperate each day," he said. "Off the Horn of Africa, your Navy sails with ours to sweep the sea clear of pirates."
Turning to Afghanistan, Lynn said, British leadership has helped to solidify European resolve as the war there enters a pivotal phase.
"Your public, like ours, has grown weary of conflict," he said. "Your treasury, like ours, is under strain. And yet when President Obama asked for others to join in our renewed push for security, it was your country who first answered the call. In fact, you increased your troop presence even before the new strategy was announced."
Lynn noted that the London Conference on Afghanistan is also being held here this week, co-hosted by the British and Afghan governments. Nearly 70 delegations are attending to focus on the civilian side of the mission. Lynn said he hopes the conference will link international support with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's anti-corruption, governance and security initiatives.
The deputy defense secretary also highlighted the Afghan government's plan to announce a new program of reconciliation underwritten by the U.K.-Japan International Reintegration Fund. The program's goal is to provide "an assured and lasting means to demobilize Taliban fighters who are willing to switch sides," Lynn said.
"The London Conference is also an important opportunity for countries to fulfill their pledges of support, and for still more countries to step forward with pledges of troops," he added. A shortage of trainers to help ready Afghan security forces, he said, "is an area where we can and should do more."
Measurable progress should take place over the next 18 to 24 months, Lynn said, but he acknowledged that it's too early to judge whether momentum on the ground has shifted.
"But we are confident that the new strategy will help us reach our goal of beginning the transition to Afghan leadership and control next year," he said. "We are not in an easy fight. And 2011 is not the end. It will be the beginning of a transition to Afghan control. But a stable and secure Afghanistan, free from terrorist threat, is a goal worth fighting for -- for America, for Europe, for our partners and for Afghanistan."
American Forces Press Service
Jan. 26, 2010 - "The United States has no closer ally than the United Kingdom," Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said here yesterday. The two nations have a special relationship based on history, shared values and a shared future, he said during a speech before the House of Commons All-Party Parliamentary Group on Transatlantic and International Security.
"Nowhere is our special relationship more apparent than in Afghanistan," he pointed out. "No one country has stood closer with us on the front lines in our fight against violent extremism -- and no country has paid so high a price in this crucial mission."
As of November, 9,000 of the United Kingdom's 150,240 soldiers were participating in NATO operations in Afghanistan. According to BBC News, 251 British military personnel have been killed during operations there, including the latest, Lance Cpl. Daniel Cooper, who was killed Jan. 24 in an explosion south of Sangin district center in Helmand province. Of those killed, 31 have died from accidents, illness or non-combat injuries, or have yet to be assigned a cause of death.
Lynn expressed the American people's deep gratitude for their service and sacrifice. "We rely greatly on the expertise and resources that you bring to the fight," he told the members of the Parliamentary group.
The U.S. deputy defense secretary arrived here the night of Jan. 24, primed to address mutual security concerns and encourage defense cooperation during his public events and one-on-one meetings with government officials. Following a meeting at the U.S. Embassy with Ambassador Louis Susman, Lynn spoke during an off-the-record session at the European Security and Defense Conference.
About 250 European diplomats, military and government officials and think-tank researchers are attending the two-day conference at Chatham House, home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Next on his docket was his visit to Parliament, where he was escorted on a brief tour of the historic building by Gisela Stuart, member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston and chairwoman of the All Parliamentary Group. Following lunch in the House of Commons, Lynn addressed the need for defense cooperation to develop new capabilities to deal with unconventional threats. He also spoke of the continuing military partnership between the two nations.
"In Haiti, your military and rescue services are serving alongside ours to help make a desperate situation a little less desperate each day," he said. "Off the Horn of Africa, your Navy sails with ours to sweep the sea clear of pirates."
Turning to Afghanistan, Lynn said, British leadership has helped to solidify European resolve as the war there enters a pivotal phase.
"Your public, like ours, has grown weary of conflict," he said. "Your treasury, like ours, is under strain. And yet when President Obama asked for others to join in our renewed push for security, it was your country who first answered the call. In fact, you increased your troop presence even before the new strategy was announced."
Lynn noted that the London Conference on Afghanistan is also being held here this week, co-hosted by the British and Afghan governments. Nearly 70 delegations are attending to focus on the civilian side of the mission. Lynn said he hopes the conference will link international support with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's anti-corruption, governance and security initiatives.
The deputy defense secretary also highlighted the Afghan government's plan to announce a new program of reconciliation underwritten by the U.K.-Japan International Reintegration Fund. The program's goal is to provide "an assured and lasting means to demobilize Taliban fighters who are willing to switch sides," Lynn said.
"The London Conference is also an important opportunity for countries to fulfill their pledges of support, and for still more countries to step forward with pledges of troops," he added. A shortage of trainers to help ready Afghan security forces, he said, "is an area where we can and should do more."
Measurable progress should take place over the next 18 to 24 months, Lynn said, but he acknowledged that it's too early to judge whether momentum on the ground has shifted.
"But we are confident that the new strategy will help us reach our goal of beginning the transition to Afghan leadership and control next year," he said. "We are not in an easy fight. And 2011 is not the end. It will be the beginning of a transition to Afghan control. But a stable and secure Afghanistan, free from terrorist threat, is a goal worth fighting for -- for America, for Europe, for our partners and for Afghanistan."
Wisconsin Guard family readiness group leader to be First Lady's guest at State of Union
January 26, 2010 - Janell Kellett has found that moving forward and giving back can bring satisfaction and purpose - and a special invitation to the nation's capitol. Kellett learned last week that she had been selected to attend the State of the Union address Wednesday (Jan. 27) as the guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. Kellett will be among 23 guests, civilian and military, to sit with the First Lady as well as Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice- President Joe Biden.
"It's totally awesome," Kellett said. "If you would have told me four months ago, or even four weeks ago, that this was a possibility, I wouldn't have believed it."
Kellett's husband, Maj. Michael Hanson, recently returned from Iraq following a year-long deployment with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. While that 3,200-Soldier unit was training, mobilizing and deploying, Kellett served as the lead volunteer for the brigade's Family Readiness Group, where she coordinated the efforts of approximately 27 subordinate-unit Family Readiness Group volunteers. They launched a community service campaign called "Moving Forward, Giving Back" to bring together families of Soldiers who have deployed in the past with families experiencing their first deployment, as well as to provide a focus outside of deployment concerns.
The Wisconsin National Guard learned late last year that the 32nd Brigade's Family Readiness Group was named the best in the Army National Guard for 2009, and will be one of seven reserve component family readiness groups to receive a Department of Defense award next month.
Kellett contends that her volunteer work, both with the Family Readiness Group as well as other organizations, likely played a major role in receiving the invitation. For example, a food drive the 32nd Brigade Family Readiness Group conducted at Volk Field as Red Arrow Soldiers were returning from Iraq netted more than 2,000 pounds of food for the Mauston Food Pantry.
"Our leadership here in Wisconsin, as well as our leadership in Washington, support volunteerism and clearly support these efforts," she said. "It's a lot of hard work, but a lot of rewarding work. I truly believe our volunteers are serving the National Guard, definitely making an important contribution."
Brig. Gen. Don Dunbar, adjutant general of Wisconsin, agreed.
"We are very proud of Janell and grateful for her tireless efforts on behalf of the 32nd IBCT," Dunbar said. "She has a heart of gold and is the perfect choice to represent Family Readiness Group volunteers across the military.
"I am also very appreciative of the honor that the First Lady is bestowing to Janell and all volunteers who support our military family," he continued. "Clearly, our First Lady understands the importance of family support to our nation's warriors."
Kellett was nominated by Col. Steven Bensend, commander of the 32nd Brigade, as well as by Jan Van Kirk, lead volunteer for the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, and by Lt. Col. Tammy Gross, director of the Wisconsin National Guard's Service Member Support Division.
She said her husband, who will watch the speech from the theater room of the White House while she is at the Capitol Building, jokes that he is the "and guest" part of the invitation. She disagreed.
"If it wasn't for him, I never would have been asked," Kellett, the only National Guard spouse to be invited, said. She described the invitation as a great honor, and said she struggled to justify why she was selected over other deserving candidates.
"At first I was excited, and then I was panicked, and then I was wondering why someone else wasn't picked," she explained. "Then I accepted that I was picked, and then I was excited again."
"It's totally awesome," Kellett said. "If you would have told me four months ago, or even four weeks ago, that this was a possibility, I wouldn't have believed it."
Kellett's husband, Maj. Michael Hanson, recently returned from Iraq following a year-long deployment with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. While that 3,200-Soldier unit was training, mobilizing and deploying, Kellett served as the lead volunteer for the brigade's Family Readiness Group, where she coordinated the efforts of approximately 27 subordinate-unit Family Readiness Group volunteers. They launched a community service campaign called "Moving Forward, Giving Back" to bring together families of Soldiers who have deployed in the past with families experiencing their first deployment, as well as to provide a focus outside of deployment concerns.
The Wisconsin National Guard learned late last year that the 32nd Brigade's Family Readiness Group was named the best in the Army National Guard for 2009, and will be one of seven reserve component family readiness groups to receive a Department of Defense award next month.
Kellett contends that her volunteer work, both with the Family Readiness Group as well as other organizations, likely played a major role in receiving the invitation. For example, a food drive the 32nd Brigade Family Readiness Group conducted at Volk Field as Red Arrow Soldiers were returning from Iraq netted more than 2,000 pounds of food for the Mauston Food Pantry.
"Our leadership here in Wisconsin, as well as our leadership in Washington, support volunteerism and clearly support these efforts," she said. "It's a lot of hard work, but a lot of rewarding work. I truly believe our volunteers are serving the National Guard, definitely making an important contribution."
Brig. Gen. Don Dunbar, adjutant general of Wisconsin, agreed.
"We are very proud of Janell and grateful for her tireless efforts on behalf of the 32nd IBCT," Dunbar said. "She has a heart of gold and is the perfect choice to represent Family Readiness Group volunteers across the military.
"I am also very appreciative of the honor that the First Lady is bestowing to Janell and all volunteers who support our military family," he continued. "Clearly, our First Lady understands the importance of family support to our nation's warriors."
Kellett was nominated by Col. Steven Bensend, commander of the 32nd Brigade, as well as by Jan Van Kirk, lead volunteer for the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, and by Lt. Col. Tammy Gross, director of the Wisconsin National Guard's Service Member Support Division.
She said her husband, who will watch the speech from the theater room of the White House while she is at the Capitol Building, jokes that he is the "and guest" part of the invitation. She disagreed.
"If it wasn't for him, I never would have been asked," Kellett, the only National Guard spouse to be invited, said. She described the invitation as a great honor, and said she struggled to justify why she was selected over other deserving candidates.
"At first I was excited, and then I was panicked, and then I was wondering why someone else wasn't picked," she explained. "Then I accepted that I was picked, and then I was excited again."
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