Face of Defense: Soldier Dies Rescuing 4 People in Burning Building

By Terrance Bell, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Lee

FORT LEE, Va., Jan. 16, 2018 — Army Pfc. Emmanuel Mensah sacrificed his life to save others in a burning building in New York City.

The 27-year-old New York National Guardsman, a wheeled vehicle mechanic who graduated Dec. 14 from the Ordnance School at the Sustainment Center of Excellence here, caught the attention of senior officials as well as the national media after entering a burning apartment building in the Bronx at least three times on the night of Dec. 28, saving four people.

Mensah’s remains were found in a location that indicated his intention to rescue more people if he could.

A resident of the building himself, Mensah, who hailed from Ghana, is one of 12 people who died in the blaze described as the most destructive residential fire in decades, according to media reports. It was started by a youngster playing with a gas stove, authorities reported.

Former Commander’s Praise

At Fort Lee, people who’d trained Mensah expressed shock at his demise but pride in how he conducted himself in the face of danger. Army Lt. Col. Eric L. Booker, commander, 16th Ordnance Battalion, was one of them.

“The values, morals and honor he displayed -- I am really proud knowing he came from our organization,” Booker said of Mensah, who’d been assigned to Delta Company.

More than 40,000 advanced individual training students graduate from Fort Lee schools each year and are subsequently assigned to active duty and reserve component units. The trainers here are not afforded the time to ponder what becomes of the troops once they graduate.

“You do sometimes wonder after they depart what type of experiences they’re going to have as they go into the operational Army,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Patricio Cardona Vega, command sergeant major of the 16th Ordnance Battalion. “For me, it is important, at least in this circumstance, the paradigm we hope every soldier gathers from being a part of our organization -- that of being prideful -- is one this soldier obviously lived up to, based on the actions he took in this tragic event that led to the loss of his life.”

Prophetic Essay

Mensah, two weeks removed from his military school graduation here, was not fully indoctrinated into the Army by most measures. However, Army values such as duty, selfless service, honor and personal courage -- taught to him during basic combat training and reinforced in AIT -- arguably became more than concepts. This was evidenced in a required essay Mensah wrote upon being assigned to the 16th. In it, he talked extensively about “protecting citizens and saving lives,” offering a framework for the actions he took Dec. 28, Cardona Vega said.

“He verbalized in that essay what his emotions were and his reasons for serving,” he said. “As soldiers, we take a sacred oath and most don’t take it lightly. That oath is our commitment, our commitment to the American people, our commitment to those who can’t do for or defend themselves. It is a commitment of selfless service and sacrifice. As he engaged in the acts leading to his tragic loss of life -- in the back of his mind -- I’m sure the oath we all take and the sense of responsibility we all have weighed on him heavily.”

Salutes From Senior Officials

Senior Army leaders, New York City Mayor William DeBlasio, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer are among those acknowledging Mensah’s daring feats.

Schumer commended Mensah for his conduct in a Jan. 9 Facebook post.

“On behalf of all New Yorkers, and all Americans, I want to express my sincerest gratitude to Pfc. Mensah and his family for the heroic actions he displayed on that fateful day; it will not be forgotten,” Schumer wrote.

DeBlasio said in a Dec. 30 Twitter post that Mensah is the embodiment of people from other countries who have embraced America.

‘His Heroism Exemplifies the Best of Our City’

DeBlasio wrote: “Private Emmanuel Mensah was a first-generation immigrant, a soldier and a New Yorker. He gave his life rescuing his neighbors in the Bronx fire. His heroism exemplifies the best of our city. Rest in peace.”

Cuomo awarded Mensah the state’s highest military award -- the New York State Medal for Valor -- on Jan. 2. The award citation says Mensah’s “courageous and selfless act in the face of unimaginable conditions are consistent with the highest traditions of uniformed service and deserving of the highest possible recognition.”

A posthumous award of the Soldier’s Medal was approved by Army Secretary Mark T. Esper on Jan. 1.

Of all the recognition and laudatory comments Mensah received, perhaps the comments provided by his recruiter, Army Staff Sgt. Ruben Martinez-Ortiz of the New York National Guard, rings the loudest.

“I knew from the moment we met his heart was as big as our National Guard family,” Martinez-Ortiz said. “He was ready to serve our nation and community. Pfc. Mensah was the embodiment of what our Army values stand for.”

And a heartening inspiration to train troops to the highest standard.

Continuing Resolutions Create Uncertainty in Defense Department

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

BRUSSELS, Jan. 16, 2018 — For the last nine years, DoD has been subject to continuing resolutions instead of having budgets, and the department needs stability and predictability to spend resources wisely and get service members the equipment and training they deserve, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here yesterday.

Dunford is participating in the NATO Military Committee meeting at the alliance headquarters here today.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford said another continuing resolution will mean the department will go four months into fiscal 2018 and be at a lower spending level than last year.

“A CR this year would be below the level of projected funding,” he said. “In other words, the ’18 budget would be a decrease in what the president’s projected budget would be.”

A continuing resolution is designed to be a short-term bridge as lawmakers form a new budget, the chairman said. But this year, the department will be under a continuing resolution for four months. The current CR runs out January 19.

Lack of Fiscal Predictability, Stability

“This is the ninth straight year with a continuing resolution,” Dunford said. “That lack of predictability and that lack of stability in the budget has not allowed us to most efficiently plan and use the resources available to us.”

This is because whether in a household budget or funding the military, predictability is key, Dunford said. Knowing when the paycheck comes in and how much will be in it week-to-week or month-to-month allows a family to plan expenditures and purchases. Not knowing how much will be in the check or even when it will arrive inhibits smart, judicious spending.

“We want to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars and in order to do that you have to lay out a plan,” Dunford said. “And sometimes, when you are forced to spend all of the money in a compressed period of time at the end of the fiscal year, it isn’t as efficient a use of the resources as you would want it to be.”

Then, there is the uncertainty these constant continuing resolutions cause in the force. “The force … is very much aware of the budget debates, and it would be a very powerful signal for our elected leaders to pass a budget,” the general said. “On a day-to-day basis they are focused on the mission, but the budget is very much on their minds.”

Impact on Readiness, Modernization

Dunford stressed that readiness and modernization are linked. “They are all about delivering effective combat capability in terms of our units,” he said.

Modernization has effectively been delayed over the past decade and this will mean modernization accounts must be pumped back up, new technology must be exploited and new ways of using old technologies must be explored. This cannot happen under continuing resolutions, the chairman said.

Lawmakers on the committees overseeing defense understand the problem and want to pass a defense budget. “Defense Secretary [James N.] Mattis met last week with both Democrat and Republican members of the House and the Senate to outline for them the implications of a continuing resolution and the budget uncertainty that we’ve been dealing with,” Dunford said.

Mattis spelled out the real-world implications of not getting stable, predictable funding, the chairman said. The members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and Defense Appropriators understand this, Dunford said, and he and other senior DoD leaders have reached out to other representatives to explain the dangers facing the department.

Continuing Resolution Impacts

“All I can do is continue to do what we do, which is educate the members on what we need in terms of levels of resourcing, and what are the impacts of a continuing resolution, let alone a government shutdown,” Dunford said.

Service members are concerned about the budget impasse. In his travels, troops ask the chairman about the budget but their “singular focus every day is doing their job,” he said.

“I think when people like us come to visit … they’ll ask questions about it, because it’s in the media, Dunford said. “I think they are assuming … that the leadership back in Washington, D.C., -- and I include myself in that category with the secretary of defense and the members of Congress and the president -- they’re assuming we’re going to do our job and deliver from them the resources they need to do their job.”

Russia’s Actions, Spending Send Chill Through Europe, Dunford Says

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

BRUSSELS, Jan. 15, 2018 — It takes only a look at Russia’s recent history and military investments to understand that the nation is a threat to Europe and beyond, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford is participating in the NATO Military Committee meeting at the alliance headquarters here tomorrow.

A resurgent Russia is the greatest threat on the continent, and the alliance is putting in place capabilities to deter the Eastern neighbor, Dunford said. Russia has modernized many aspects of its military, including redesigning and modernizing its nuclear capability, modernizing its maritime capabilities, developing new cyber and electronic warfare capabilities and fielding antispace capabilities. The alliance has been on the path to addressing the Russian modernization program, he added.

And Russia will use its capabilities, he noted. “You’ve got to look at behavior, so you’ve got to go back and look at Georgia and look at Ukraine,” the chairman said.

Russian Actions in Georgia and Ukraine

In 2008, about 79,000 Russian soldiers marched into the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhasia. They faced roughly 10,000 Georgian soldiers, who were forced to retreat. Russia continues to occupy the provinces.

In Ukraine, Russia illegally annexed Crimea from the nation in 2014 and have integrated the province into the Russian Federation. The Russians used unmarked tanks and soldiers without identifying marks on their uniforms to move into the region. Russian troops pushed further west in the Donets region of Ukraine, and fighting continues in that region. The United States and the rest of NATO is helping train Ukrainian troops to defend their sovereignty.

Nations have a right of nations to defend themselves and not be attacked by others, Dunford said. This is true, he added, whether they march into a nation in uniform or the attack “is a combination of unconventional operations, information operations, cyber, economic coercion, and political influence.”

“It is still a violation of sovereignty,” the chairman said.

NATO’s Response

Russia’s annexation of Crimea and further actions in Ukraine got NATO’s attention. The alliance first moved to assure all allies with enhanced forward presence, stationing four multinational battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The United States led the battlegroup in Poland, and further built up forces in Europe with the addition of a rotational brigade-sized element and an aviation brigade. Today, the focus is on increasing alliance deterrence capabilities for European security.

The path in Europe is consistent with the National Security Strategy in regards to Russia, the general said.

“When we think about Russia, we think about their actions over the past few years, and then when we look at the last decade of investments the Russians have made,” Dunford said. “There is not a single aspect of the Russian armed forces that has not received some degree of modernization over the past decade.” All this, he added, informs his assessment of Russia.

Since the alliance’s Warsaw Summit in 2016, the NATO chiefs of defense have been examining initiatives taken by NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, to make sure NATO command structure and NATO forces fit the purpose.

“I would say that none of us are comfortable with where we are,” Dunford said. “If you are complacent in this business, you are obsolete. So you need to stay focused.”

Organization and Modernization

The initiatives look at alliance organization and specific capability areas where modernization is most urgently needed. “I would highlight the maritime domain, rear-area operations, organizing land forces in context of NATO contingencies,” Dunford said. “In terms of capabilities: cyber, information warfare and missile defense.”

For U.S. troops, the rotational brigade plan will continue as DoD studies other models. The current thinking in the department is the rotational model builds readiness in the force. “Our soldiers go through the process of deploying, training exercising for nine months and then coming back home,” Dunford said.

While in Europe, the forces are singly focused on all their tasks. “This model seems to work pretty well for the soldiers, for the families and allows us to meet commitments with the infrastructure available,” the chairman said. “It won’t surprise you, I have a bias toward rotational models. I spent my career in a service that has used the rotational model to meet our commitments.”

The general said the feedback from the chiefs and the soldiers on the ground is good, but the department is open to studying other methods of basing.