#SAAM: SUBASE New London Sailors Attend Sexual Assault Training

By Lt. Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg, Commander, Submarine Group 2 Public Affairs

GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- Sailors assigned to Naval Submarine Base New London attended two Sexual Assault Training events at the Dealey Center in Groton April 18.

Rear Adm. Rick Breckenridge, commander, Submarine Group 2 addressed the Sailors prior to the kick-off of the training about the institutional changes required in our Navy to end sexual assault.

"This year, this month, our purpose is to talk about this frankly and to make a resolute to change this behavior within our organization," said Breckenridge. "We will make it crystal clear without ambiguity on what the rules are within the Navy."

Breckenridge added that "sexual assault is not to be tolerated; sexual assault, period, is wrong."

Deb Drucker, Sexual Assault Response coordinator at Naval Submarine Base New London, provided training and discussed how sexual assessment is contrary to the Navy's core values.

"The Navy is deeply committed to how it responds to sexual assault and the best way to train its force and how to deal with this issue," said Drucker.

"Efforts will not stop in April, it's our moral duty to keep Sailors and their families safe," said Drucker. "Sexual assault affects us all."

The goal of Navy Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), April 2012 is to reduce sexual assaults through direct, sustained engagement of all-hands at all levels, while sending the message that preventing the crime is everyone's duty.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response is an important element of the readiness area of the 21st Century Sailor and Marine initiative which consolidates a set of objectives and policies, new and existing, to maximize Sailor and Marine personal readiness, build resiliency and hone the most combat-effective force in the history of the Navy and Marine Corps. The Department of the Navy is working to aggressively to prevent sexual assaults, to support sexual assault victims, and to hold offenders accountable.

Help raise awareness by joining the conversation on social media using #SAAM.

Secretary: U.S., Latin America Face Common Challenges

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, April 23, 2012 – Latin America figures prominently in the Pentagon’s new defense strategy as an increasingly capable region that shares common challenges with the United States, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said today.

Panetta is on his first trip to South America as defense secretary with visits planned in Colombia, Brazil and Chile. He has visited the region before as CIA director, as a member of Congress and as chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton.

One goal of the defense strategy, Panetta said, is to build innovative partnerships and alliances that will strengthen relationships in places like Europe, Africa and Latin America.

“The purpose of this trip is to engage in consultations with a number of our partners in this part of the world, trying to promote innovative security partnerships in the region,” he told reporters traveling with him.

Latin America is a key region, the secretary added. Its countries are neighbors in this hemisphere “and we face some common challenges,” he said.

Among those challenges are narcotics trafficking and its spread to Africa, terrorism, cyber security, and the ability to provide humanitarian assistance, he said.

“One of the things these countries are doing is developing their own regional security [as well as] doing outreach with their security development,” Panetta said. “So that’s something we want to review and try to help them with.”

Partnerships in the region will include joint training, exercises, technology sharing and other kinds of assistance.

On this trip, the secretary said, the focus will be on old and new partners.

“I will be in Colombia where we have worked for a long period of time, even since I was in the Congress, trying to provide assistance to them, particularly with regard to narcotrafficking,” Panetta said, going after the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, called the FARC.

“Colombia, to its credit, has done a tremendous job in going after the FARC,” he added, which at one point numbered 20,000, but now has about 8,000 members.

Many countries in the region look to Colombia for lessons learned over a decade, he said.

In the emerging power of Brazil, Panetta said, “I want to build on the U.S.-Brazil Defense Cooperative Dialog” that President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff agreed this month to commence.

There, he said, “We’ll be looking at defense trade, scientific research, technology sharing, logistics cooperation and cyber security.”

The secretary then will visit Chile, which Panetta said is “doing a great job in developing regional security. We’ll get a chance to see some of their exercises up close and their developing capabilities.”

During this trip, Panetta added, “we’ll really try to develop a key part of our new defense strategy, which is to … reinforce some very innovative partnerships in a very important region of the world that represents a key security interest for the United States.”

Misawa CPO 365 Helps Conduct Beach Cleanup

By Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Daniel Sanford, Naval Air Facility Misawa Public Affairs

MISAWA, Japan (NNS) -- Members of the Navy Misawa CPO 365 Program spent the morning cleaning up the local Misawa Fish Port, April 21.

The event was in coordination with the 42nd annual observance of Earth Day, a global event filled with activities highlighting environmental concerns and issues.

More than 30 Misawa Air Base chief petty officers (CPOs) and board-eligible first class petty officers worked together to help the community pick up trash and help beautify the areas in the local community.

"Were here this morning to help out our host country and Mother Nature," said Chief Navy Counselor Todd Wean, who hails from Sarasota, Fla. "The members of CPO 365 do monthly community relations projects together anyway, so it seemed like a good fit for us to combine our effort in the community, while also helping out the environment in the process."

The cleanup is always one of the largest environmental awareness projects in Misawa with several tons of refuse being collected and removed from the fish port.

"We have a great relationship with the local community, and they are very open, receptive and helpful to service members living here in Misawa," said Chief Cryptologic Technician Collection Erika Haws, who originally hails from New Orleans, and serves as the Navy Misawa CPO 365 community relations coordinator. "It's nice to return the favor, and help make this area even more beautiful than it already is."

Besides, the CPO 365 members, many more Misawa service and family members were also on hand to help with the cleanup. Misawa cub scouts, girl scouts and numerous other base groups and organizations joined CPO 365 in their effort.

"It's nice to see folks of all ages come on out from the base and take ownership in the local community," said Wean. "We love Misawa, and this is just one small way that we can make it an even better place to be stationed and live."

Face of Defense: Marine Earns Top-Shooter Status

By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Paul Peterson

U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., April 23, 2012 – Gunnery Sgt. Joshua A. Peterson is one of the few riflemen to earn a coveted place on the Marine Corps Shooting Team, where the time-honored art of marksmanship is a full-time job.

Peterson recently earned top-shooter status at the Eastern Division Match Championship held here, dropping only 12 points out of a possible 600.

Peterson said he was no stranger to firearms growing up in Wisconsin.

“I grew up shooting with my dad,” Peterson said. “I learned on iron sights as a kid and he wouldn’t let me shoot with scopes or anything like that until I was proficient.”

Peterson says the examples his family set helped him to become the Marine he is today.

“I’ve done a lot of things in my life that probably haven’t been the greatest, but you always have to deal with those and take that right step forward,” he said. “Character just comes from my family. My mother and father always pushed [me] to do the right things and do the best I can and the best with what you’ve got. I give a lot of credit to both of them.”

Peterson said his work on the Marine Corps Shooting Team helps to spread the art of shooting across the Marine Corps community. In his spare time, he also coaches the local West Potomac High School air rifle team.

“The [Marine Corps] shooting team keeps us on a pretty busy schedule,” said Master Sgt. Gregory T. Schardein, the team’s staff noncommissioned officer in charge and an accomplished shooter himself. “I know [Peterson] likes to ride [motorcycles], but what little time he does have he’s coaching the high school shooting team.”

It’s not the kind of activity one might expect upon meeting Peterson, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom with a Bronze Star medal for valor, though he’d never bring it up in an interview. He’s not a man to revel in his own accomplishments, nor does he ever stop pushing to do better.

Peterson enlisted in 1997. In 1998, his feet graced the same yellow footprints that greet the future of the Marine Corps today at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. He considers himself fortunate.

“I have had the opportunity to serve with some of the best Marines that have come into the history of the Marine Corps,” said Peterson, as he patiently waited for his turn on the pistol range here.

A stoic with a quiet but sincere passion for shooting, Peterson’s solid frame, shaven head and strong gaze say more than words about his character. His teammates describe him as a dangerous threat to the enemy with a weapon in his hand.

Schardein describes Peterson as a natural leader and the kind of shooter other competitors can never discount.

“He’s highly competitive and forces everyone to bring their ‘A’ game,” Schardein said of Peterson. “Gunny Peterson is a known quantity. He’s someone you can count on -- highly reliable.”

Peterson said he believes the skills and discipline that are forged on the shooting range are not about winning competitions.

“I don’t consider this to be a sport,” Peterson said. “I consider this to be training, [as part of preparation] to go back in-country to take out those that are putting our guys in harm’s way.”

“There are some really good shooters, one or two that could probably match, or on a good day, beat him,” Schardein said of Peterson’s shooting ability. “He’s probably one of the top 10 shooters in the Marine Corps.”

Competitive shooting takes mental fortitude and physical strength, said Peterson, who sets aside time each day to ensure his physical and shooting skills remain sharp.

“You wake up every morning and the first thing that you see in the mirror is what you are,” he said. “You are a Marine.”

Panetta Visit to Expand South American Defense Ties

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2012 – During his first visit to South America as defense secretary, which starts today, Leon E. Panetta will meet over the next week with military officials in Brazil, Colombia and Chile, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.

The secretary “is looking to expand defense and security cooperation with three important countries in the region and, increasingly, in the world,” Little added.

Panetta will travel to Brasilia and Rio de Janiero in Brazil, Bogota in Colombia, and Santiago in Chile.

This trip follows a late-March visit by Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, Fla., and then to Brazil and Colombia.

In Brazil Dempsey met with Defense Minister Antonio Celoso Amorim and top-ranking military official Gen. Jose Carlos de Nardi in Brasilia, and in Bogota with Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno and Gen. Alejandro Navas, commander of the Colombian Armed Forces.

For Panetta, one set of discussions in South America will focus on partnering with Brazil, Chile and Colombia to help build capacity for the military to assist civil authorities in such Central American nations as Guatemala, El Salvador and Belize, a senior defense official told reporters in a background briefing on Friday.

“The challenges these countries face are towering compared to their own capacity to deal with them,” he said, adding that Brazil, Chile and Colombia already are significant contributors to building partner capacity.

Colombia, for example, offers capacity-building assistance in 16 countries inside and outside the region, including Africa.

Colombian service members have trained more than two dozen Mexican helicopter pilots and now train police in Honduras and Guatemala. The nation also provides assistance in nondefense areas like justice reform, the official said.

Also in the region, in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Haiti, thousands of U.S. and Brazilian military personnel worked together to provide life-saving relief to the Haitian people. It was the largest combined operation of U.S. and Brazilian military forces since they fought together as allies in World War II.

“We could have done better in Haiti if we had glued together the system in advance to provide for more effective defense support to civil authorities,” the official said.

“By collaborating with [all three countries],” he added, “the United States can get down to specifics about which country will be conducting specific initiatives and what kinds of initiatives, so together we can ensure the investment we’re making … is as efficient and effective as possible.”

During an April 9 meeting in Washington, President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff established the U.S.-Brazil Defense Cooperation Dialogue and announced that Panetta and Amorim would hold the first meeting this week in Brazil.

The DCD will help bolster cooperation between DOD and Brazil’s Ministry of National Defense, and between the nations’ militaries, the White House said in a statement.

Beyond the Western Hemisphere, the Defense Department is looking to Colombia and Brazil, both of which already have deep ties to Africa and now provide assistance there, to help U.S. Africa Command with peacekeeping and other efforts there.

“Africa typifies the situation we’re in, where the United States has limited capacity to help build partner capabilities,” the defense official said.

“Brazil and Colombia … are stepping up to the plate. Let’s collaborate with them, establish a dialogue between their militaries and Africom so we’re working in mutual support in an informed, cooperative way,” he added.

Panetta will also seek to expand the range of defense collaborations, including traditional military efforts such as training, exchanges and joint exercises.

“Clearly we still have plenty to talk about in continuing to support the Colombians in their efforts against [the narcoterrorist group FARC, for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]to talk about counternarcotics,” the official said.

Panetta also will discuss new challenges like cyber security and defense support to civil authorities that offer opportunities for collaboration.

In 2014 Brazil will host the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, World Cup tournament in Rio de Janeiro, and two years later that city will host the 2016 Olympic Games.

“We know in the United States how to provide defense support to civil authorities, to law enforcement or to help prepare for the kinds of challenges these world-class sporting events can attract,” he said, “so we’re going to share expertise [and] talk about the kind of dialogue that will help nations get prepared.”

He added, “In the context of limited resources of the United States for defense … we have an opportunity to partner together with other nations so they become security exporters.”

Panetta, Little said, sees Brazil, Chile and Colombia “as increasingly important players on the regional stage and also in terms of their leadership roles internationally.”

All have made progress in terms of their economies, their militaries and their political situations over the last several years, he added.

“These three countries are on the upswing in many areas and it’s time for us to enhance our already strong cooperation with all three,” Little said.