Medal of Honor Recipient Celebrates Christmas With Military Family

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 2017 — Flo Groberg celebrated Christmas at home with his brothers- and sisters-in-arms this year.

Home is this base outside Jalalabad where Groberg was deployed in 2012 as an Army 1st lieutenant.

After retiring as a captain, he has returned as a symbol of bravery and resiliency for the soldiers of this base. Now, Groberg wears the Medal of Honor around his neck for his actions in nearby Asadabad on Aug. 8, 2012, when he was severely injured attempting to stop an attack on his patrol by suicide bombers.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, invited Groberg to accompany him for the 2017 USO Holiday Tour, an invitation he said he immediately accepted.

Groberg’s first stop upon arriving at the base was to visit the memorial at the entrance to the base. The names of the four Americans killed in the attack in Asadabad are engraved there.

“I left [Forward Operating Base] Fenty on a stretcher,” Groberg told the soldiers. “I spent the next couple of months of my life -- hell, years -- at Walter Reed Hospital to recover. One thing I never lost: From the first day I came into the United States Army and I put on that uniform that you are wearing, I held onto my warrior ethos -- that will to fight and destroy the enemy.”

Best of the Best

The Army and the country needs that ethos, because “the reality is, we’re at war,” Groberg said. “The reality is the work you do every single day is an honor -- you are the best of the best.

“I am back here to tell the enemy who blew me up and killed my brothers that I’m still standing. They can’t keep me down. I still have my spirit.”

Groberg told the soldiers that they are doing the job that he can’t do anymore. “For that, I honor you,” he said. “There is no better place in the world to be today -- on Christmas Eve -- than spending the holidays with you.”

The chairman also thanked the soldiers for their sacrifices and stressed that those sacrifices have been worth it to the nation. “There’s a lot of people back home this year, they are enjoying the Christmas holidays, they go into a mall, they don’t think twice about their security, they drive around and conduct their lives not thinking twice about terrorists,” Dunford said. “I’m firmly convinced … that the reason they can do that is because we are playing an away game here, instead of a home game.

He told the soldiers that he believes the reason America has not seen another 9/11 is because of the men and women who have deployed to Afghanistan over the past 16 years. “So thanks for what you are doing,” he said.

Chairman’s USO Tour Takes to Sea Aboard Aircraft Carrier Operating in Gulf

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, Persian Gulf, Dec. 23, 2017 — The Chairman’s 2017 USO Holiday Tour left al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates and flew 20 minutes to sovereign U.S. soil in the form of the 4.5-acre flight deck of this Nimitz-class aircraft carrier today.

Navy and Marine Corps aircraft use this big-deck carrier to take the fight to America’s enemies and to maintain American presence in tough waters. The ship left its home port of San Diego in October. The crew has already missed Thanksgiving with their families and will be launching operations over Christmas, so Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thought it was important to bring the show to the Roosevelt.

The chairman’s senior enlisted advisor -- Army Command Sgt. Maj. John W. Troxell -- told the crew that they are living up to the “Big Stick” motto of the vessel’s namesake. “Any time somebody wants to get froggy out on the water, we just send up a carrier strike group, do a little freedom of navigation operation and show them who the real maritime kings of the world are,” he said at the start of the show on the hangar deck.

In an interview after the USO show, Troxell said the Roosevelt and the rest of Carrier Strike Group 9 are an integral part of the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. “The aircraft that are flying off of this carrier … every day are going to Syria and they are going to Iraq and they are putting the hammer on [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria],” the sergeant major said. “Because of their efforts, we have this threat on the run.”

And it requires operations around the clock and around the calendar, he said. The enemy doesn’t take Christmas off, Troxell noted, and service members need to be ready, even on holidays, to defend the United States, its interests and its allies.

American Might

The Roosevelt epitomizes the reality of American might. The nuclear-powered ship is 1,092 feet long and 20 stories tall. Its flight deck is 252 feet wide. The ship carries more than 70 aircraft, from F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters to E/A-18 Growlers and the old C-2 Greyhounds. And it moves along at about 35 miles per hour.

The sergeant major got a chance to speak to members of the crew and said morale is high. “They understand why they are here,” he said. “They understand what the mission is.”

The morale is also high “probably because they have a port visit coming up in Dubai, and they are going to get a little well-deserved liberty they need after being out here for several months,” the SEAC said with a smile.

He said the Roosevelt is a huge American advantage, but the crew is what makes it work and he is impressed with “how well-trained, how well-educated and how focused they are. These petty officers out here are clearly the greatest competitive advantage we have in the waters, because of them being empowered by the officers of this vessel.”

Troxell noted that thousands of service members will be away from families doing the nation’s work on Christmas and New Year’s. The Chairman’s Holiday USO Tour is one effort to let them know that America cares about them, he said. “It is truly an honor for me to be part of this USO tour, along with General Dunford … and be over here on the holidays. Nothing is more important to us than spending time with the troops on the Christmas holidays.”

Pence Visits U.S. Troops in Afghanistan; Chairman Continues USO Holiday Tour

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

AL-DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 22, 2017 — Vice President Mike Pence delivered America’s holiday wishes to service members in Afghanistan yesterday during an unannounced visit to that nation.

Pence visited troops at Bagram Airfield and met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul.

President’s Message to Troops

“Before I left the Oval Office yesterday I asked the president if he had a message for our troops here in Afghanistan, and he looked at me without hesitation and … he said, ‘Tell them I love them,’” Pence said. “And during this special season, I know President [Donald J.] Trump was speaking for every American.”

There are roughly 13,000 American troops based in Afghanistan. This was the vice president’s first trip to Afghanistan since taking office.

“The old Book says if you owe debts, pay debts; if honor, then honor; if respect, then respect,” the vice president said. “And I am here on behalf of your commander in chief and all of the American people to pay a debt of honor and respect and gratitude to each and every one of you for your service and your sacrifice.”

USO Holiday Tour Continues

Meanwhile, in the United Arab Emirates, Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brought the USO Holiday Tour to airmen and soldiers taking the fight to the enemy throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Dunford and Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Wayne Troxell, the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman, thanked U.S. service members at Al-Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates for their sacrifices.

Around 2,500 American service members serve at this base and the flight line is crowded with F-22 Raptors, KC-10 refueler aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, transporters and utility aircraft. Sharing the line are host-nation F-16s and aircraft from a number of coalition partners.

The chairman compared and contrasted the situation in the region two years ago to today. Two years ago, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria had taken vast areas in Syria and Iraq, and declared a caliphate.

“There was also a pretty pessimistic attitude on what was going on in Afghanistan,” Dunford said.

“Tonight, as we gather for this Christmas celebration, 97 percent of the ground ISIS held two years ago has been taken back, and not one piece of ground that Iraqi security forces or the Syrian Democratic Forces have taken was taken back by ISIS,” the chairman added.

Dunford saluted the bravery and sacrifices of Iraqi and Syrian allies.

“I would tell you as I am standing here as the chairman with pride, that the single biggest difference in tonight and two years ago is air power,” he said.