Air National Guard receives supply drop from Girl Scouts

by Senior Airman John E. Hillier III
Air National Guard Public Affairs

7/9/2014 - JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. -- When a natural disaster strikes, the Air National Guard is among the first to respond with supplies and equipment, but July 2 the men and women of the Air National Guard Readiness Center here had the rare chance to be on the receiving end of a supply drop when 1,500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies were delivered here as a thank-you for their service.

The cookies are part of Operation Cookie Drop, a project of the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson Council, which serves the lower Hudson River valley, New York, just outside of New York City.

People throughout the community purchased the cookies specifically for donating to service members during the Girl Scouts' annual cookie sale.

"This event was an opportunity for people to take a few minutes away from their desks and come appreciate what someone else did for them," said Master Sgt. Shane Richardson, first sergeant. "I wanted to be sure that everyone at the ANGRC received a box because we're all here supporting the mission and somebody took the time to do this for us."

Richardson will also be delivering cookies to Air National Guardsmen working at the Pentagon and Arlington Hall.

Operation Cookie Drop began as a reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and has grown in size and scope since. Girl Scouts take an active part in the project, loading the delivery trucks and including personal thank you messages inside cases of cookies.

"The girls are thrilled to be involved in helping their country, and servicemen and women," said Allison Bergman, Operation Cookie Drop chairperson. "This is a way of life for many - to thank a soldier for their service."

This year, the project is expected to deliver more than 90,000 boxes of cookies to service members across the nation, on ships at sea and to deployed locations around the world. They also donate cookies for the United Serves Organizations events, the Wounded Warrior Games, and Honor Flights for New York WWII veterans.

"As New Yorkers, we can't thank [the National Guard] enough for helping us in our time of need," said Bergman. "Thank you, for all your service and sacrifice. Thank you for supporting our servicemen and women. Stay safe, stay strong, and know we are always behind you."

Air National Guard members participate in Region-3 emergency management training exercise

by Master Sgt. Craig Clapper
113th Wing Public Affairs

7/9/2014 - BETHANY BEACH, Delaware  -- 

More than 40 Air National Guard emergency management specialists participated in an emergency management training exercise June 21-28.

Comprised of Air National Guardsmen from the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the Region-3 EMT tested emergency managers' knowledge, preparedness, and responsiveness in the event of a regional disaster.

"For the first time, we've brought emergency managers from the different parts of the region to train in multiple areas including all-terrain vehicle training, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense training, and response training to simulate realistic scenarios," said Chief Master Sgt. Richard Petrush, 175th Wing Emergency Management Flight Chief, Maryland ANG. "It gives us a chance to work together in a location that is central to the different units in Region-3 and ensures we are prepared in the event of a real-world situation.

The exercise originated when the ANG placed each emergency management flight into a region similar to the process used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As multiple ANG units received the Mobile Emergency Operations Centers, the decision was made to create an atmosphere in which the emergency managers could not only use the MEOCs in a hands-on environment, but also train in other areas while building camaraderie among those in the emergency management career field.

"We've learned a great deal here and also had some team building events which really helps us get to know each other," said Master Sgt. Noah Flick, 113th Wing Emergency Management Flight Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge, DCANG. "We get a chance to learn from each other and it's been great being here with everyone."

Other parts of the exercise included emergency evacuation procedures and a "Hazmat Rodeo" in which teams of three or four individuals were randomly selected to work together through different stations dealing with unknown materials identification, materials transfer, manual dexterity, and emergency transport. Each of the seven teams had to pass each station before moving onto the next. The exercise was deemed so successful and useful for emergency management specialists that planning is already underway for the next exercise.

"It's taken several years to get to this spot but we're glad we are doing this and it's helping us identify what areas we need to work on to be better prepared for the future," said Senior Master Sgt. Bill Liston, 113th Emergency Management Flight Superintendent. "I'm looking forward to working with everyone again."

Face of Defense: Corporal Follows Dream of Leading Marines

By Marine Corps Sgt. Adwin Esters

U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif., July 9, 2014 – From a very young age, Marine Corps Cpl. Michael Kean said, he knew he wanted to lead Marines, because the core values the Marines stand for -- honor, courage, and commitment -- were traits he wanted to emulate.

“I’ve known I wanted to be a Marine since I was 6 years old,” the Crossville, Tennessee, native said.

Kean said he never had a stable father figure while he was growing up, and that he realized that joining the Marines could enable him to be the role model he never had for junior Marines under his care.

He enlisted at age 21 and served as a landing support specialist with Combat Logistics Regiment 45 out of Marietta, Georgia. Waiting a couple of years after high school, he said, gave him life experience that seemed to pay off in his leadership skills.

“He’s an outstanding Marine,” said Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Khoa Truong, a supply staff noncommissioned officer who has worked closely with Kean during Integrated Training Exercise 4-14, an annual desert training exercise. “He does nothing but drive above and beyond his required duty and has been filling the role of someone above his rank. He gives me 100 percent every day.”

Truong said he noticed Kean’s ability to tackle problems better than most corporals in his situation.

“I like it. I work better under stress,” Kean said.

Kean is a busy man. He and his wife of two years have a 6-year-old son and an 8-month-old daughter. He works as a volunteer grief counselor and has a full-time job working for a tractor manufacturer. He’s also a part-time college student at Grantham University.

Balancing work and a complicated personal life can be stressful for anyone, but this Marine reservist said the balancing act provides motivation.

Missing his family back home seems to be the biggest drawback, he said. His little girl is learning how to walk, he added, and missing those moments has been hard for him. Video chats with his family ease the pain of being apart, he said, but sometimes he has to explain the necessity of his job to his wife.

“She’s a great Marine wife. I just explain to her that I don’t want my lance corporals to suffer while they are out here,” Kean said. “They are just as important to me as my own family.”

Even in the midst of his juggling act, Kean still finds time to motivate and inspire those around him.

“He’s the most intense and most caring person I know,” said Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew Toucey, a landing support specialist with CLR 45. “He is never afraid to go to bat for the Marines under his charge. If he were pinned sergeant tomorrow, he’d be more than ready for that role.”

Toucey deployed with Kean to Afghanistan in 2010-2011, and Kean said he considers the sergeant to be a good friend and mentor. On top of his standard corporal duties, Toucey added, Kean has been filling the billet of a sergeant or above, facilitating all of the training that has been going on during the desert exercise. Kean’s role has been vital to the success of the landing support team’s missions, he said, as the corporal is directly responsible for the storage facilities for the air combat element, the arrival and departure airfield control group and the unit marshaling area.

His caring demeanor for everyone around him earned Kean the call sign “Care Bear” while in Afghanistan.

“We just wanted to mess with him,” Toucey said with a laugh. It apparently was a good fit, because the call sign has stuck with Kean even to this day. The corporal said he sees it as a term of endearment from his Marine brethren.

Kean said his goal is to retire from the Marines as an officer, but that he plans on climbing the enlisted ranks first. Learning how to lead Marines as a noncommissioned officer first before learning how lead them as an officer, he explained, will help to build his ability to lead Marines in the future.

K-9 airpower

by Senior Airman Melanie Bulow-Gonterman
6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

7/9/2014 - CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The 6th Security Forces Squadron military working dog section teamed up with the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Florida, to familiarize four MWD's with being in the presence of and flying in a helicopter, June 30, 2014.

This experience allowed the handlers to evaluate their four-legged partners' reactions when riding in, as well as, jumping in and out of a helicopter.

Conditioning a dog prior to a deployment is crucial. This reassures a handler it can depend on their partner to perform under hectic circumstances.

"The sound of the chopper is extremely loud, and when this is added to the sensitive hearing of a dog along with the high altitudes, a dog could respond negatively," said Senior Airman Tyler Sexton, 6th SFS MWD handler. "By exposing a dog to this, we are using successive approximation to get the dog acclimated to the noise and high altitudes. Having a calm dog in combat makes the mission easier and safer."

Of the four MWD teams in attendance to the training session, two had never been around helicopters.

Sexton, coordinator of the training, stated that this was the first time the 6th SFS MWD section has ever conducted training with the Coast guardsmen, but will not be the last.

Due to the positive feedback, they have scheduled future training to expose the remaining seven dogs to the loud noise and high altitude training.

The MWD section at MacDill Air Force Base is notorious for conducting training with various agencies, from local police departments to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Looking outside of the box when it comes to training is not only fun but also a good learning experience for both agencies," expressed Sexton. "The more we share tactics and training, the better we will all be."

Female Officer Calls Transition of Women to Subs ‘Smooth’

By Terri Moon Cronk

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2014 – Having female officers serve on submarines increases the pool of capable people who can do the job, and “diversity is at the heart of our strength,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today.

The secretary made his comments during a visit to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in southeastern Georgia, where he met with female submariners. The base is home to some of the Navy’s Ohio-class ballistic and guided-missile submarines.

In a DoD News television interview this morning, one of the officers said mixing the genders aboard subs has had little impact.

“The transition has been very smooth,” Navy Lt. Marquette Leveque said.

As one of the first female sub officers, Leveque said, she was assigned to the USS Wyoming in November 2011 with two other women she’d previously met during deployment. They were able to “hit the ground running on day one,’” she said.

“It took [male sailors] a few weeks to get used to female voices on submarines,” Leveque said, “but I think that was one of the biggest differences.”

The Defense Department advised Congress in 2010 it planned to do away with the ban on women on submarines.

“I qualified the same as my male counterparts and do the same job,” Leveque said. “As long as I do that, it’s been equal all the way around.”

Noting plans to also have enlisted women serve aboard submarines, the lieutenant said she foresees another easy transition in adding women to the ranks of jobs that were once forbidden to them.

“As long as they’re willing and able to do the job of their male counterparts, they’ll be fine,” she said. “In the Navy, all sailors are treated equally, regardless of any diversity, including gender.”

Planners Set Scene for Pacific Exercise Scenario

By Navy Capt. Dora Lockwood

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii, July 9, 2014 – U.S. 3rd Fleet planners conducted a scene-setter here July 5 and 6 for the multinational and interagency participants of the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief scenario of the Rim of the Pacific exercise.

Navy Cmdr. Eddie Yandoc, 3rd Fleet’s lead humanitarian assistance and disaster relief planner, set the scene by describing the disaster that exercise participants will respond to in the coming days and weeks.

“What we are trying to do is bring together a coalition so disaster relief efforts are better coordinated,” Yandoc said. “The goal is to have a better understanding of what assets are available and how best to employ them.”

One of the key objectives of the HADR scenario is to have greater civil-military interaction and cooperation, he noted.

“We will have heavy interagency participation during this year’s exercise,” Yandoc said. “As militaries, we run exercises and we know how to work together. The countries represented here are comfortable working in a military environment, but in many cases, we don’t have the opportunity to work with other agencies until we are in a real disaster. We are here to learn together in a controlled environment, so we can better respond in a real-world situation.”

In addition to country capabilities briefings, representatives from several agencies discussed best practices of civil-military engagement, humanitarian aid and foreign assistance. Presentations were given by U.S. Agency for International Development, the Australian Civil Military Centre, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Project HOPE.

Rene Van Slate is the humanitarian assistance advisor at U.S Pacific Command for USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. She explained that when disaster strikes and assistance is requested by a host nation, OFDA is the U.S. governmental agency responsible for coordinating the U.S. relief efforts.

“Our mandate is to save lives, alleviate suffering and reduce social and economic impact of a disaster,” Van Slate said. “If you see one of us on the ground during a disaster, we are leading entities of the U.S. government, we are identifying needs by working with our humanitarian partners, and we are setting priorities for the U.S. government’s assistance.”

This year, the HADR scenario includes a medical component designed to cross-train and share medical capabilities between military and civilian responders ashore and afloat.

“From a medical perspective, we have not in the past been involved in operational exercises on this scale,” said Navy Capt. Tim Hinman, 3rd Fleet surgeon. “We have done a lot of tabletop training, but this is the first time we will train in a realistic, multinational effort in coordination with civilian and military medical facilities in Hawaii.”

This is the first time in RIMPAC history that the hospital ship USNS Mercy will participate in the exercise.

“Mercy is making use of all opportunities to train for the future,” Hinman said. “The hospital ship will utilize their new small boat capability to transfer patients to the shore.”

When called upon, Navy Medicine can bring vast capabilities and clinical expertise to a disaster relief effort.

“This HADR exercise provides the opportunity to focus on identifying Navy Medicine capabilities that are available and appropriate for filling the gaps in the civilian humanitarian response,” said Capt. Colleen Gallagher, senior Navy representative to USAID. “It is the coordination and communication with organizations such as OCHA, USAID OFDA, as well as the host nation that are key to building success for a real disaster response.”

Twenty-two nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 26 to Aug. 1, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.

RIMPAC 2014 is the 24th exercise in the series that began in 1971.

DoD Official Expresses Concern Over Russian Intentions

By Nick Simeone

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2014 – Days after the Ukrainian government abandoned a ceasefire and began an offensive against pro-Russian forces in the country’s east, a senior Defense Department official said today that the United States is concerned Russian troops may be preparing a counteroffensive in support of Moscow’s separatist allies.

“I think we have to really expect the worst in terms of a Russian response, and that’s why we’re watching it so closely,” Derek Chollet, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It’s a very dangerous situation.”

The Ukrainian military has forced Russian-backed separatists to retreat in some areas, has surrounded others, and is warning it is prepared to force insurgents out of additional towns in the region, where since March separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops with what the U.S. and its European allies say is clear support and, at times, intervention from Moscow.

Chollet testified that Russia remains heavily active in destabilizing Ukraine’s east, despite having pulled back troops who were massed along the border area.

“Russian irregular forces and Russian-backed local separatists remain active inside eastern Ukraine, and both are supported by Russian financing,” Chollet said. He credited Western sanctions with changing “[President Vladimir] Putin’s calculation on how much support he would be willing to give and how deep he would get into this,” but he warned that Russia’s support for re-establishing a ceasefire may not last.

“I think we have to be very mindful of what the Russian response could be,” he said.

Last month, Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, said Russia’s aggressive actions in Ukraine had brought Europe to the most decisive point since the end of the Cold War and that additional rotational forces could be needed on the continent to sustain security.

Today, Chollet said Ukraine’s leaders have made clear they want U.S. help on security and that the United States continues to work with President Petro Poroshenko, who met with President Barack Obama last month. Obama has approved $33 million in security assistance to the government in Kiev, steps that are being enhanced, Chollet said, by visits from U.S. military advisors to the country.

“We are discussing additional steps to help train and professionalize Ukraine’s military,” he said, adding that the Defense Department will work with Ukraine on reforming, and in some cases rebuilding, its defense institutions.

116th Security Forces turn up the heat in North Georgia

by Master Sgt. Roger Parsons
116th ACW Public Affairs

7/9/2014 - TUNNEL HILL, Ga. -- Heavy machine gun fire, rifle and pistol competitions, counter insurgency operations and military operation urban training and were the order of business for the Georgia Air National Guard's 116th Security Forces Squadron as they completed 10 days of annual training at the Catoosa Training Site in North Georgia.

"Annual weapons qualification was our primary objective at the range, but Catoosa provided additional training opportunities that directly correlated to what we do as ground forces when we deploy," said Senior Master Sgt. William Greenway, 116th SFS manager.

In addition to firing ranges that accommodated all the weaponry the Airmen were required to qualify on, the site included a mock village similar to ones common in urban warfare environments.

"With us being a rapid deployment unit, honing our skills is a must, especially for the younger Airmen who have been on few deployments or who have never deployed in a combat environment before," said Master Sgt. Richard Ross, a squad leader with the 116th SFS.

"For some of our younger Airmen," shared Ross, "this is the first time they've received ASO training, or what we call outside the wire training. This will be the foundation that is crucial to them if and when they get orders to deploy in a combat situation."

Airmen with the unit reiterated how important this training is, as a number of the members participating in this event have been on multiple deployments in combat environments around the world.

For Airman 1st Class Paula Helms, just recently graduated from technical school, this was her first chance to perform annual training with her new unit.

"This training has helped give me a refresher of things I learned at tech school and I've been able to learn new things from the more experienced noncommissioned officers," said Helms. "Since so many of them have deployed, they have real-life experience to share."

In addition to the preparation the training provided for overseas deployments, many of the principles and techniques learned come into play during times when the Georgia Guardsmen are called on for domestic support.

"Members of the 116th Security Forces were the first group to set up operations in the Lower 9th Ward during Hurricane Katrina," shared Capt. Robert Brumfield, 116th Security Forces Squadron operations officer. "We did some of the same type of things there, like building clearing and rescuing people, which we trained on here."

"Having these types of facilities where everything is built and in place allowed our folks to hit the ground running and meet our training requirements in a shorter amount of time," said Brumfield.

On any given day, the reverberation of heavy machines guns, grenade launchers, shotguns, rifles, pistols and the yelling of troop commands could be heard ringing throughout the hills of the 1600 plus acre site.

Battling high heat, humidity, insects, and rain, the Airmen were given different scenarios and missions meant to mimic real life situations common for Security Forces. They were tested on their ability to communicate and react as a team while remaining flexible and adapting to the harsh environment.

"We're always looking for opportunities for more and better quality training," shared Greenway. "We train our people hard because of the job we do. It could mean the difference between life or death."