January 9, 2015
1
STARS AND STRIPES
Volume7,7, No. No. 4 ©SS Volume ©SS2015 2015
F RIDAY RIDAY ,, JJANUARY ANUARY 9, F 9,2015 2015
stands watch A soldier soldier stands watch after being bloodied by by after being bloodied April 25, 25, a bomb bombblast blast April 2012, in the village of of 2012, in the village Salim Aka in Kandahar Salim Aka in Kandahar province, Afghanistan province, Afghanistan. HEATH EATH D RUZIN /Stars /Stars and Stripes H DRUZIN Stripes
A time timetotoreflect reflec
Veterans on Afghanistan, Iraqwith odyssey with wide range Veterans looklook backback on Afghanistan, Iraq odyssey wide range of emotions Military Price
2014 Nissan
JUKE
S AWD
$ 20,930
188-hp 1.6L Turbocharged Engine Torque Vectoring All-Wheel Drive Power Windows, Locks, Mirrors 17” Alloy Wheels • Bluetooth
MSRP: VPP Price: Nissan Factory Cash: CONTINENTAL NISSAN OF ANCHORAGE CONTINENTALAUTOGROUP.com/Nissan
5115 Old Seward, Anchorage • 907-563-2277
$21,980 $21,430 -$ 500
License Fee: Dealer Document Fee: Total Cost with all fees:
+ $ 280 + $ 199 $21,409
#55389, Mdl 20214, VIN 484742 Two or more available at this price.
Advertised prices are valid thru January 31, 2015. Stock numbers listed are subject to previous sale. Photo may vary from actual vehicle. Dealer-installed accessories and DMV and DOC fees additional. MSRP may not reflect regional selling price. All prices after manufacturer rebates and incentives, financing rate is offered with $0-down, O.A.C. Subject to vehicle insurance, availability.
2
January 9, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
PAGE 2
A N D
STRIPES •
Friday, January 9, 2015
COVER STORY
Lance Cpl. Matthew W. McElhinney was wounded just above the right buttock and below his bulletproof vest in October 2010. There was no exit wound. He was bleeding profusely and in a lot of pain as his comrades worked to stop the loss of blood and comfort him at the same time. He later recovered.
Looking back AT 13 YEARS OF WAR
BY HEATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes
I
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan n the rings beneath his steely eyes lies the toll of Army helicopter pilot Steven Martin’s 10 years at war. The chief warrant officer 2 is no longer the eager, untethered 25-year-old he was when preparing for his first deployment. Idealism has been replaced by pragmatism; the excitement of battle has given way to the imperative of making it home to his twin girls. “I’ve changed dramatically. What once was a romantic, naive idea of going to war to defeat terrorists has disappeared,” the veteran of four Afghanistan deployments said in his unit’s planning room at Bagram Air Field. “And now I
‘ I hope that sometime in my
life, I can return. … It will be a desire to show my children where I was and what I did and why it mattered.
’
Army Maj. Rose L. Smyth 3rd Infantry Division medical administrator at Bagram Air Field know my responsibility is just to my brothers in arms and to my family.” With pride, weariness, nostalgia and some bitterness, veterans are looking back at a 13-year
2014 CHEVY
odyssey of war. Those deployed in Afghanistan have a front-row seat to a transition from a campaign that, along with Iraq, defined the post9/11 military generation and permanently altered many veterans’ lives, for better or worse. On Dec. 28, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, an amalgamation of dozens of NATO and allied nations, announced the end of its mission in Afghanistan. From Jan. 1, the military mission will be known as Resolute Support, focusing on training, advising and assisting, though that last term leaves a lot of wiggle room. Whatever the details of the new mission, there will be far fewer international troops in Afghanistan under Resolute Support, and if it goes according to plan — as little has in Afghanistan — there will be no foreign troops in the country by the end of 2016. SEE PAGE 3
EQUINOX
AWD LS CTP* PROGRAM VEHICLE
$19,900 SALE PRICE CHEVROLET OF SOUTH
ANCHORAGE
2014 CHEVY
SILVERADO 1500
DOUBLE CAB LT 4X4
$12,000 OFF MSRP
ANCHORAGECHEVROLET.COM • 9100 OLD SEWARD HWY • (907) 365-8600
*CPT: Courtesy Transportation Program. Used, CTP vehicles may have up to 7,500 miles at time of delivery. EQUINOX: 1 at this price. See dealer for stock numbers. MSRP: $27,165. Priced after $1,750 Consumer Cash, $1,000 Loyalty Cash (Must currently own a ’99 or newer GM vehicle) and $4,715 CSA Discount. SILVERADO: 1 at this price. See dealer for stock numbers. MSRP: $43,235. Priced after $2,750 Consumer Cash, $2,000 Trade Assist, $1,000 Loyalty Cash (Must currently own a ’99 or newer GM vehicle) and $6,450 CSA Discount. Price plus tax, title and license. Price includes $200 dealer Doc fee. Not all sales at MSRP. Price valid through 02/02/2015.
January 9, 2015
3
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
Friday, January 9, 2015
A N D
STRIPES •
PAGE 3
COVER STORY FROM PAGE 2
Like the war itself, the end of Operation Enduring Freedom is ill-defined and hard to pin down. U.S. troops will likely see combat next year and beyond, and the feelings of veterans watching combat fade are equally complex. At the height of the U.S. troop surge in 2010, 100,000 Americans were fighting across the rugged mountains and yawning deserts of Afghanistan, and roughly 2.5 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The war in Afghanistan has left more than 2,300 American troops and nearly 1,200 international allies dead. While the U.S. effort is significantly scaling down, there will still be about 11,000 American troops in the country Jan. 1 — about 1,000 more than President Barack Obama originally announced. Casualty figures could continue to rise. The war has cost troops friends, limbs, marriages; they’ve missed birthdays and Christmases, and they’ve formed bonds beyond most people’s comprehension — all in a place that is still little more than a vague notion for many of their loved ones. Many grew up in war, spending most of their adult life on deployment or waiting for the next tour. For some, it is surreal to think they may be forever leaving a country that has so profoundly altered their lives. “I hope that sometime in my life, I can return,” said Army Maj. Rose L. Smyth, a 3rd Infantry Division medical administrator at Bagram. “To walk away from this — it will be a desire to show my children where I was and what I did and why it mattered.” As the U.S. military was stretched between two wars after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, deployments became so regular that troops started penciling the next deployment into the calendar as soon as they arrived home from a tour. “It’s like a home away from home,” said Air Force Tech Sgt. Richard Bennett, a flight-line ramp supervisor on his fifth Afghanistan tour, along with two in Iraq. Those who served in the early days of Iraq and
Pfc. Steve Biter, with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, smells a rose while on patrol in the village of Danda Faqiran near the Pakistani border of Afghanistan’s Khost province in 2012.
Stars and Stripes photos
After climbing a ridge line, Pfc. Alexander Simpson, of 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment’s Headquarters and Headquarters Troop reconnaissance platoon, scans a nearby valley in Nuristan province, Afghanistan, shortly after sunrise on July 13, 2007. the presurge period in Afghanistan often look back fondly to that time of little or no Internet access, military rations and simple canvas tents. As the wars dragged on, blast-wall-encased bases grew, with such amenities as smoothie shops, massage studios and even a TGI Friday’s to serve the increasing numbers of troops and contractors. With each new unit, there were more rules. Large installations, like Kandahar Air Field and Bagram, started to resemble stateside garrisons without the traditional nod to certain rules being relaxed in a combat zone. God forbid you were caught without a reflective belt. “It was simpler, and it was more Army back then,” said Army Staff Sgt. Junior Casillas, a veteran of the 2003 Iraq invasion and three tours to Afghanistan. “Then you had (Military Police) handing out speeding tickets (at Kandahar) and you’re like, ‘What?!’ ” Casillas, 36, a flight engineer instructor, said he cherishes his time with his wife and 9-year-old son, time that has been limited by steady deployment that has spanned more than a decade. Still, like many troops, Casillas has found life in combat seductive and says it will be tough to adjust to life without the next deployment just over the horizon. “I don’t mind it. You get used to it — sadly enough, you kind of miss it,” he said. “You get home and things are kind of complicated.” Many Afghanistan veterans have seen what resembles two or three different wars, from the initial invasion and the relatively peaceful aftermath, to the violent years of the U.S. troop surge sent to quell a resurgent Taliban and, finally, the slow pullback to a largely training-and-advising mission that has marked the past two years. “All we worked for the past 13 years is happen-
ing since (the Afghan security forces) can stand on their own,” said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher Gilpin, based at Bagram with the 3rd Infantry Division. Many troops, however, fret about the state of the Afghan National Security Forces, who are largely on their own to combat an insurgency that has shown no sign of subsiding, albeit backed by coalition air power, intelligence and logistics help. Afghan casualties are rising sharply — troops and civilians — and many experts doubt the ability of the ANSF to hold its own long-term without continued support from international forces. For those who served at the height of the fighting in Afghanistan, it is the controversial counterinsurgency operations — battling insurgents with one hand while trying to win over the population with the other — that have defined the war, for better or for worse. On his first deployment in Afghanistan, Martin, the helicopter pilot, served as a psychological operations soldier. He would sometimes find himself fighting his way through ambushes to deliver medical supplies and other humanitarian aid. In that microcosm of the war, troops were killing and getting killed just to drop off a box in hopes of winning the ever elusive “hearts and minds.” The results of such operations were murky. Martin is proud of his service and his commitment to his fellow soldiers. What it all means, though, that’s for politicians thousands of miles from the dying to decide, he said. “The idea that the war is over, mission accomplished?” Martin said. “After 10 years in Afghanistan, I’m still not sure what the mission is.” druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes
Stars and Stripes photos chronicle 13 years of war » stripes.com/afghanistan
EXTRA 10 OFF %
Friday, January 16, 2015
• ALL Toys & Sporting Goods • Most Electronics • Fred Meyer Jewelers
• ALL Apparel, Shoes & Accessories • Most Home Items • Private Brand Groceries
For details & exclusions, see store or fredmeyer.com/AKmilitary
Show cashier your Military or Veteran ID Starting in February: Freddy’s Military Discount 3rd Thursday every month! 12-13-1-85038
4
January 9, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
PAGE 4
A N D
STRIPES •
Friday, January 9, 2015
MILITARY
Ex-Army researcher among ‘Person of the Year’ honorees BY JON H ARPER Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — Two decades before the latest Ebola outbreak killed thousands of people and left the international community scrambling, former Army scientist Thomas Geisbert was already at war with the virus. His battlefield was the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., home to an elite biosafety Level 4 lab where the U.S. military studies deadly contagions. Geisbert is one of the Ebola fighters named by Time Magazine as the 2014 Person of the Year. He had his first major brush with the virus at the institute in 1989, when as a young Army scientist he discovered a new strain in sick monkeys that had been shipped from the Philippines to Reston, Va. The discovery was chronicled in Richard Preston’s nonfiction bestseller “The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story.” “I’m the first person that saw the Reston species of Ebola in the electron microscope … Richard became a millionaire and I got an autographed copy of the book,” Geisbert, now 52, joked in a phone interview. Still, he benefitted from the experience. “The recognition I got from that really catapulted my career. As a young scientist you’re trying to find your niche,” said Geisbert, who is now a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. The Defense Department’s concerns about Ebola and other viruses jumped in the 1990s after the scope of Russia’s bioweapons program was revealed. “There was knowledge that the former Soviet Union was looking at weaponizing Ebola” during the Cold War. “And so that was kind of the mission
at USAMRIID ... to develop medical countermeasures,” Geisbert recalled. Some of the institute’s efforts appeared promising at the time, but scientists were in for disappointment when trying out potential vaccines. “You’d do a study in a mouse or a guinea pig and they’d live and you’d get all excited,” Geisbert said. “And then you’d do a study in [monkeys] and they would all die. It’s just very frustrating.” The big breakthroughs in Ebola research didn’t come until funding ramped up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Since 2003, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency has invested about $300 million to develop medical countermeasures for hemorrhagic fever viruses such as Ebola. Some Army scientists were sent to the Centers for Disease Control to create countermeasures for pox viruses. The ones who remained at the institute were directed to focus on Ebola. “Ebola was kind of my favorite bug and what I had worked on. So being told, ‘You have to work on Ebola,’ wasn’t such a bad thing,” Geisbert said. Previous research efforts had failed to protect monkeys from the disease. But Geisbert and Dr. Heinz Feldmann, a researcher at the Public Health
‘ Ebola was kind of
my favorite bug and what I had worked on. So being told, ‘You have to work on Ebola,’ wasn’t such a bad thing.
’
Thomas Geisbert one of the Ebola fighters named as Time Magazine’s 2014 Person of the Year
Courtesy of the University of Texas Medical Branch
Thomas Geisbert, standing outside his research laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, was among the Ebola fighters named by Time Magazine as the 2014 Person of the Year. Agency of Canada at the time, came up with an idea for a new type of vaccine that would later be known as VSV-EBOV. “We did the pivotal nonhuman primate studies at USAMRIID in 2003 and then published the paper showing that those vaccines completely protected monkeys against Ebola,” he said. “It was a huge deal at the time.” The success of the monkey trials suggested that the vaccine would work on people, since both primates are biologically similar. The Canadian government’s involvement in the research and Feldmann’s key role in the effort resulted in VSV-EBOV being dubbed “the Canadian vaccine.’’ “I get irked,” Geisbert said, because it doesn’t give the U.S. Army any credit. A lot of the research was done by his team at the institute, and significant funding came from the Defense Department. Another challenge that Geisbert faced at the institute was developing a drug to treat people infected with Ebola. “That’s a harder nut to
crack” than creating vaccines, which are preventative in nature, he said. But in 2007-08, he and other researchers created one that was 100 percent effective in monkeys. “There’s no greater feeling,” he said. The treatment was later named TKM-Ebola and is now being developed by the Canadian firm Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. Geisbert’s work came with significant risks. The majority of those infected with Ebola succumb to the disease.In a BSL-4 lab, an accidental prick with a needle or an animal bite could lead to a horrible death. Geisbert said he’s never had a major scare due to a mishap, but “it’s always in the back of your mind.” Former colleagues remember the scientist as a hardworking perfectionist. “He would be the first one in the [laboratory] suite and the last one out,” recalled Denise Braun, a lab technician at USAMRIID who worked with Geisbert for about 15 years. “He wanted to make certain
that his studies were flawless. When you have a leader giving 100 percent, that prompts the people working for you to do the same.” Braun said the importance of the mission drove Geisbert and the rest of his team. “At USAMRIID, we take the mission very seriously. It’s first and foremost about protecting service members, but our research also benefits public health — as we’ve seen with the current Ebola virus outbreak,” she said in an email. Despite their success in animal trials, VSV-EBOV and TKM-Ebola never made it through the FDA approval process or went into mass production. “It wasn’t our mission,” Geisbert said. “We were ... the lab guys, so our job was to come up with the ideas and prove that they worked in animal models.” After that, he said, it was up to others to conduct human trials and get the drugs to market. Geisbert said the major drug companies weren’t interested. SEE PAGE 6
Taking Care of You ~Way Beyond Your Smile… Always Welcoming New Patients and Families! NEW PATIENT EXAM INCLUDES X-RAYS Dr. Jared Adams
Dr. Clark Bassham
Dr. Joe Baggette
Call office for details.
ALASKA PREMIER DENTAL GROUP www.smilealaska.com We’re honored to serve active duty and retired military families. We are Metlife Tricare, Premera Blue Cross and Delta Preferred Providers.
125
$
YOU SAVE $248!
Dr. Brian Kruchoski
Dr. Jessica Smith
Dr. Adam Walker
ANCHORAGE
WASILLA
6611 DeBarr Rd., Suite 100 & 200 Anchorage, AK 99504 (just off the Muldoon exit)
935 Westpoint Dr., Suite 202 Romar Center • Wasilla, AK 99654 (15 minutes from Eagle River)
907-337-1322
907-373-5930
January 9, 2015
5
ALASKA EDITION
ALL NEW KIAS ARE BACKED BY AN INDUSTRY LEADING
10 YEAR - 100,000 MILE WARRANTY
GET A
400
$
MILITARY REBATE!
Come in today and see why Kia was named Kelley Blue Book’s 2014 Best Value Brand*.
All new Kias include • Bluetooth • USB & Auxiliary Jacks • Cruise • Air Conditioning • Steering Wheel Audio Controls • Alloy Wheels • Electronic Stability Control • Traction Control • ABS Brakes standard!
2015 KIA
SOUL
2015 KIA
BASE HATCHBACK
OPTIMA
LX
19,958
16,995
$
$
8 AT THIS PRICE
9 AT THIS PRICE 18,015 LITHIA DISCOUNT $ - 620 MILITARY REBATE $ - 400
22,565 -$707 CONSUMER CASH - $500 MILITARY REBATE - $400
MSRP $
MSRP $
LITHIA DISCOUNT
Named BEST FAMILY VEHICLE by the Northwest Automotive Press Association
WE SUPPORT
2015 KIA
OUR MILITARY
SORENTO
21,995
LX FWD
25,310 -$415 CONSUMER CASH $ - 2,000 12 AT THIS PRICE MILITARY REBATE -$400 COMPETETIVE/OWNER $ LOYALTY REBATE - 500
$
Ask about our special rebates and offers just for troops!
MSRP $
LITHIA DISCOUNT
LITHIA KIA OF ANCHORAGE ON THE CORNER OF OLD SEWARD & TUDOR
4434 OLD SEWARD HWY • CALL [855] 407-1982 • SHOP OUR INVENTORY KIAANCHORAGE.COM
¥2014 Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards are based on the Brand Watch™ study from Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence. Award calculated among non-luxury shoppers. For more information, visit www.kbb. com. Kelley Blue Book is a registered trademark of Kelley Blue Book Co., Inc. The Best Buy Seal and other licensed materials are registered certification marks and trademarks of Consumers Digest Communications, LLC, used under license. For award information, visit ConsumersDigest.com. See dealer for stock numbers. Prices plus Tax, Title and License. Prices include $200 Dealer Doc fee. Not all sales at MSRP. See dealer for complete list of competitive make/models. Customer must prove ownership of Kia. Dealers are required to verify eligibility of military personnel. See dealer for limited warranty details. Offer expires 1/31/15.
crossword
A BIT OF HISTORY By Jill Pepper ACROSS 1
Change to fit one’s needs
6
Meat in a can
10 Animal “in the grass”
55 Not dead
98 Birds that give a hoot
17 Top-of-the-line
66 A Greek 65-Down
56 San ___, California
99 Song sung by one
18 Strikeout king Nolan
57 “Famous” cookie man
100 Sound a sheep makes
24 Goal or intention
67 “The Great ___ Pepper” (1975 movie)
58 Antiseptic in a first-aid kit
103 Colored portion of the eye
29 Inter ___ (among other things)
60 Peter and Paul 62 “Hot” Mexican dish
104 Small part played by a big name
30 Ending for duck or dump 31 Diamond or ruby
74 Game for gamblers 76 Leontyne Price opera highlight 77 Match divisions for Serena Williams
64 Billie Holiday activity
106 Former NAACP leader
15 Night twinkler
66 ___-link fence
109 Indian princess
19 Submarine detector
67 Went back and forth
110 Goodbye, in France
32 Big name in farm machinery
20 Hourly pay
68 Taking a nap
111 “Green Gables” girl
33 They fill your sleeves
69 It lives under a bridge in fairy tales
112 Type of tea
22 How sailors say “Hi”
34 Become accustomed (to)
23 Hitter of 755 homeruns
70 Morning prayer
21 Poison
25 Legend of the 1936 Olympics
71 Sad color? 72 This, that or the ___
113 They can be cracked early in the morning
83 Hot month
36 It’s part of Superman’s outfit
84 Envious
115 Baron or earl, e.g.
37 Poems of tribute
86 Place fit for a pig
116 Carnivorous scavenger
38 “I Have a Dream” speaker
90 Caesar of “A Soldier’s Story”
39 Student, in France
92 Fertile area in the desert
27 The Big Band, for one
75 “Little Bo-Peep ___ lost ...”
DOWN
78 Allow
1
Tennis great Arthur
79 You’ll do this in a long line
2
Opposite of a slacker
3
32 Waste time
80 Ribbon worn as an insignia of honor
“___ and the King of Siam”
4
Good score for a golfer
34 It covers a cake
81 “___ we there yet?”
5
Compete for a position
36 It has a tail in space
82 Suffix for ordinal numbers
6
Beautiful aquatic birds
7
Place to picnic
8
“A long time ___ in a galaxy far ...”
30 Oscar winner Sophia 31 Teeth holders
39 Like a creepy film 40 Prefix for profit or dairy 41 10th mo. 44 Noted man in a garden 45 First African-American mayor of Detroit 49 Miners dig for it
83 Founder of the Rainbow Coalition 86 Thin, narrow opening 87 Birmingham-toMontgomery dir. 88 Farthest or highest (Abbr.)
50 The “P” of mph
89 Oscar night host
51 They expect to reap later
90 Book of maps
52 Get something through work 53 Family room, or a place for lions 54 NYC’s zone
80 301, Roman-style
114 Annie of “Designing Women”
74 Jonas E. Salk created a vaccine for it
29 “___, poor Yorick” (“Hamlet”)
73 Type of bud
35 Idea that is implied
26 Coney Island’s ___ Park 28 Sound made by a pig
69 Not that 70 Telegraph code inventor Samuel
9
What boys will be
10 German fruit bread similar to strudel 11 “In your dreams!” 12 Lumberjacks swing them
42 Certain Louisiana native
85 Rock projectors?
93 Use Twitter
43 Became jittery
94 Bring down
45 First African-American secretary of state
95 “The Greatest”
46 Being in debt 47 Long (for) 48 Horse chow
96 Muck’s partner 97 High, rugged rock 98 Skip over
51 The Beatles’ “Sexy ___”
99 “Auld Lang ___” (New Year’s song)
56 Some is junk
100 Cycler’s need
57 Word said at the end of a prayer
101 Soon, poetically
59 ___ arch (molding type)
104 23-Across wore one
102 Away from land
60 Superhero with a hammer
105 “Much ___ About Nothing”
61 Baseball’s Maglie or actor Mineo
106 Certain music genre 107 The loneliest number 108 Lock opener
91 Esther of “Good Times”
13 Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc.
93 Rhino relative
14 Nanny has three
94 Gent’s mate
63 “Par ___” (airmail stamp)
15 Beauty shop
96 “Home to Harlem” author Claude
64 Valuable furs
16 First African-American Supreme Court justice
65 Tiny spots of land in the water
Last week’s answers
6
STARS AND STRIPES
One cowhide can produce 10 footballs.
January 9, 2015
Learn even more at National University. Service members are eligible for reduced tuition. Online. On base. Non-profit. Don’t think you have time to learn something new? You just did.
Keep learning at think.nu.edu Š 2015 National University NU14_1705-35
January 9, 2015
7
ALASKA EDITION
10% discount - Veterans & active duty
Time to Refinance
Homestyle
Breakfast & Lunch
The VA offers a special refinance program for Veterans who already have a VA loan on their home. It’s called the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, or IRRRL. In many cases this program is available without the need for an appraisal if the property is still your primary residence, regardless of the current value. If you have since transitioned the property to a second home or rental, you can still obtain up to 115% of the appraised value to refinance your current VA loan. Rich Moore, Mortgage Banker NMLS# 211177 toll free: 855.313.8138 ©2013 CBC National Bank is a FDIC insured chartered commercial bank approved VA Lender #6720800000. NMLS #402135
Mon-Fri 5am-3pm
Sat-Sun 6am - 3pm
Breakfast & Espresso ALL DAY! Menu: BarbiesCafe.com 68th & Lake Otis 6728 Lake Otis Pkwy. Anchorage, AK
344-4100
Family Friendly Café featuring home-style cooking at its finest with Barbie’s array of homemade soups, potato salad, sweet cornbread, omelets, eggs benedict, burgers, chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy, sandwiches, salads and more Beer & Wine available 10am - 3pm
8
January 9, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES
ribbon racks, mini medals, Coin displays, shadow Boxes & more!
Snow Removal Sidewalk, Driveway, Lot
Veteran Owned Business | CustOm wOrk
907-227-4071 ribbons-n-racks
Brush Clearing & Tree Branch Removal
Just call to ask!
Ronnita’s 337-7777
January 9, 2015 PAGE 6
9
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
A N D
STRIPES •
Friday, January 9, 2015
MILITARY
Panel report on personnel costs due Feb. 1 BY CHRIS CARROLL Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — A congressionally appointed commission will soon deliver key proposals for reining in military personnel costs while keeping pay and benefits generous enough to maintain the quality of the volunteer force, officials say. The report from the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission is due to be delivered to the White House and Congress — complete with draft legislation that could be used to enact the proposals — by Feb. 1. That’s just weeks before the President Barack Obama is expected to deliver his federal budget proposal to Congress. The report will contain recommendations on hot-button topics including how FROM PAGE 4
“There wasn’t a very large market for Ebola countermeasures,” he said. “So you weren’t going to have big pharmaceutical companies [say], ‘Hey, I’m going to make an Ebola vaccine.’ Because who’s going to buy it?” The latest outbreak in West Africa, which has killed nearly 8,000 people and infected Westerners, changed that. “There’s a lot of people that have stepped up to the plate to do the right thing,” he said. U.S. government health agencies are fast-tracking some of the more promising Ebola treatments, and the FDA is allowing Ebola-infected people to use drugs that have been developed but haven’t been tested on humans. TKM-Ebola was given to several Ebola patients this fall, including American doctor Richard Sacra, an aid worker
to structure the military retirement system — current troops and retirees will be grandfathered in the present system, officials stress — and the fate of popular benefits such as military commissaries. The commission was mandated by Congress in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act after years of handwringing over the Defense Department’s personnel costs, which have steadily consumed about 30 percent of its base budget. Officials inside the Pentagon and without have pushed to control costs in an era of falling defense spending, but a compensation and retirement committee spokesman said proposals for change are being weighed with great care. The commission conducted an extensive round of town halls, public hearing and interviews with experts, as well
who contracted the virus while working at a hospital in Liberia. Every person who was # treated with TKM-Ebola survived, according to Geisbert. “It’s very difficult to say that one thing worked, because so many of these patients got multiple treatments,” he said. “But based on the studies that I’ve seen in nonhuman primates, I’m highly confident that it will end up being one of the better treatments.” Supplies of Ebola vaccines and drugs are limited, but the private sector is engaged in the effort to get them to market in large quantities. Merck and GlaxoSmithKline recently signed on to manufacture them, and human testing is underway. Geisbert anticipates fairly rapid progress. “I think you’re going to see some of these vaccines make a difference in the next couple of years,” he said. Despite his breakthrough
44
as a troop survey, to ensure cuts don’t make the military a hard sell even for those most eager to serve, said Jamie Graybeal, a commission spokesman. “The commissioners have worked very hard to maintain or enhance the value of compensation and benefit programs for servicemembers, their families and retirees,” Graybeal said. “Protecting the all-volunteer force and maintaining the all-volunteer force has been foremost in their minds throughout the entire process.” Although there has been speculation of proposals for measures such as allowing future troops who serve fewer than 20 years to collect some retirement benefits or for the elimination of stateside commissaries, the commission has played it close to the vest and military officials say they don’t know what will be in report.
work, Geisbert didn’t expect so much public recognition. He said he was “stunned” when he found out that he was part of the group of scientists, doctors, nurses, caregivers and health organization directors that was honored in Time. “I thought that I was one of several different scientists that was going to be included in some article about medical countermeasures” for Ebola, he recalled. He was notified by someone at the magazine about five minutes before the article was posted online. The Person of the Year title goes to a man, woman, group or concept that Time’s editors believe had the most influence on the world during the previous 12 months. For 2014, the Ebola fighters beat out the protesters in Ferguson, Mo., Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani and Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma in
In order to be ready to respond, the Pentagon is setting up working groups that will convene in early February to quickly analyze the report, according to a report Dec. 30. As outlined in a PowerPoint presentation obtained by the Military Times, the groups of officers will focus special attention on how changes could affect recruiting and retention and “develop the DOD response for Presidential consideration.” On March 13, after several rounds of reviews, Military Times reported, the secretary of defense will deliver the official DOD response to the proposals, with formal recommendations to Congress from Obama expected to follow by April 1. carroll.chris@stripes.com Twitter@ChrisCarroll_
the final stage of the selection process. “Ebola is a war, and … the rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight,” Time editors wrote, explaining their decision. “For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving,” the Ebola fighters were named Person of the Year. Geisbert appreciates the honor. But the apparent success of TKM-Ebola in treating humans is what really satisfies him. “If it saves one person’s life, it’s all worth it,” he said. “But if it saves a whole lot of people, that would be fantastic.” Geisbert left USAMRIID in 2009, but his Ebola work continues at UTMB, which was designated an Ebola treatment center after Thomas Eric
Live your life with theirs in mind.
Duncan died of the disease in October at a hospital in Dallas. The facility where Geisbert works also houses an elite BSL-4 lab. “We’re extremely proud of Dr. Geisbert and his … cutting edge research,” UTMB president Dr. David Callender said in a press release. Geisbert is using a grant from the National Institutes of Health to do more Ebola research and develop three kinds of treatments. His team is hoping to develop a cocktail of drugs that can more effectively combat the virus. Geisbert has made his mark, but the hope of saving lives with better vaccines and treatments keeps him motivated to do more. “That’s what makes me get up and go to work in the morning,” he said.
Together let’s start planning for your family’s future. harper.jon@stripes.com Twitter: @JHarperStripes
Name, approved designation Agent, New York Life Insurance Company CA/AR Ins Lic # (if applicable) Address Phone # Email
44
#
Live your life with theirs in mind.
To g e t h e r l e t ’ s s t a r t p l a n nin g fo r y o u r fa mil y ’ s f u t u r e . Together let’s start planning for your family’s future.
Name, approved designation Agent, New York Life Insurance Company CA/AR Ins Lic # (if applicable) Address Phone # Email
Steve Abeln Agent, New York Life Insurance Company 188 W Nor thern Lights Blvd, Suite 1300 | Anchorage, AK 99503 COOPT0023 .AG.RB.012013 SMRU496908(Exp.01/11/2015) 907 250-0018 | SAbeln@ft.new yorklife.com © 2013 New York Life Insurance Company, 51 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Life Insurance. Retirement. Long-Term Care.
COOPT0023.AG.RB.012013_YoungProfessionals_#44_Photo_Magazine_FullPage_7.875x10.indd 2
1/18/13 11:30 AM
10
ALASKA EDITION
January 9, 2015
January 9, 2015
11
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
Friday, January 9, 2015
A N D
STRIPES •
PAGE 11
AFGHANISTAN
An Afghan girl plays in the dirt at a camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, for refugees who have returned from Pakistan.
RELUCTANT TO RETURN
JOSH SMITH /Stars and Stripes
BY THE NUMBERS 2.5 MILLION
782,162
Afghan refugees around the world
Internally displaced people
$200
5.8 MILLION
Average grant provided to returning refugees by the U.N.
Afghan refugees who have returned since 2002
SOURCE: United Nations and the Norwegian Refugee Council
Options limited for millions of Afghans displaced by war
BY JOSH SMITH Stars and Stripes
KABUL, Afghanistan — Eight years after returning from Pakistan, Feda Mohammed wishes he’d never come back. For the better part of a decade, 45-year-old Mohammed, his wife, and eight children have been among several dozen returned refugees occupying makeshift tents and shacks on a small vacant lot on a street corner in Kabul. He has a job as a city sanitation worker, but the $80 per month salary barely covers the family’s food.
As Afghanistan slips deeper into another winter, hundreds of thousands of returned refugees and others will be trying to survive another cold season while facing a future as uncertain as ever. Record numbers of Afghans left the country during the 1980s and 1990s after the Soviet invasion triggered decades of war. Many came back after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in 2001. More than 5.8 million refugees — roughly a fifth of Afghanistan’s entire popula-
Like millions of other Afghans, Mohammed fled to Pakistan decades ago during the Soviet invasion. He returned full of hope after the allied invasion. But now he regrets ever returning. “This is my country, but it was better in Pakistan,” he said, standing amid a handful of tousled children bundled in layers of bright clothes against the biting cold. “Here there are no jobs and no security.” Many refugees and internally displaced persons are
tion — returned. But after more than a decade of international intervention, U.S.-led forces have failed to end the stubborn insurgency destabilizing the country. Fewer Afghan refugees are trying to return than during any time since 2002, even as increased violence sends new waves of people fleeing their homes. It’s one of the largest and most protracted refugee crises in the world, and like many of Afghanistan’s problems, it’s far from solved.
2014 CHEVY
CRUZE
LS
$13,900 CHEVROLET OF SOUTH
ANCHORAGE
gathered in camps. Others are taken in by relatives, just more nameless faces in a sea of humanity struggling to make a life in a country still torn by war and shackled by economic malaise. More than 2.5 million Afghan refugees still remain in other countries, mostly neighboring Pakistan and Iran. But as NATO’s international military coalition continues its drawdown, economic concerns and rising violence have slowed the voluntary return flow to just 16,000 in 2014, less than half of what it was the year before. SEE PAGE 12
2014 CHEVY
SILVERADO 1500
DOUBLE CAB LT 4X4 CTP* PROGRAM VEHICLE
SALE PRICE
$25,900
SALE PRICE
ANCHORAGECHEVROLET.COM • 9100 OLD SEWARD HWY • (907) 365-8600
*CPT: Courtesy Transportation Program. Used, CTP vehicles may have up to 7,500 miles at time of delivery. CRUZE: 1 at this price. See dealer for stock numbers. MSRP: $18,345. Priced after $1,500 Consumer Cash, $1,000 Conquest Cash (Must currently own a ’99 or newer GM vehicle, trade not needed) and $2,145 CSA Discount. SILVERADO: MSRP: $35,660. Priced after $1,750 Consumer Cash, $2,000 Trade Assist, $1,000 Loyalty Cash (Must currently own a ’99 or newer GM vehicle) and $5,210 CSA Discount. Price plus tax, title and license. Price plus tax, title and license. Price includes $200 dealer Doc fee. Not all sales at MSRP. Price valid through 02/02/2015.
12
January 9, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
PAGE 12
A N D
STRIPES •
Friday, January 9, 2015
AFGHANISTAN FROM PAGE 11
A question of opportunity At a United Nations-run facility for the displaced in Herat near the western border with Iran, Nargis Amiri, 29, is distraught. She, her husband, and daughter fled Afghanistan five years ago seeking better economic opportunity in Iran. After struggling for years to find a footing there, she says the Iranian government made their lives a nightmare. “The soldiers hit us and made us sit in the hot sun for hours and hours,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “We had no food and when we tried to buy some, the soldiers stole our money.” Countries like Iran can offer better economic opportunity and therefore a higher standard of living, but refugees can face fickle and sudden harassment or changes in official policies that make it impossible to stay. Now Amiri and her family feel trapped between a life with no options in Afghanistan, and what they see as a better economic life now out of reach across the border. Both aid officials and returning refugees cite economic challenges as a key reason why many remaining refugees are loath to return to Afghanistan. Almost 36 percent of Afghans live below the poverty line, three times the 12 percent poverty rate in Pakistan, according to World Bank statistics. And about 35 percent of Afghans are unemployed. After 2001, Afghanistan’s economy quickly improved due to the flood of international aid. But the CIA’s own public assessment acknowledged that living standards remain among the lowest in the world and that growth “slowed markedly” in 2013. “Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs,” the agency noted in its fact book. “Criminality, insecurity, weak governance, lack of infrastructure, and the Afghan Government’s difficulty in extending rule of law to all parts of the country pose challenges to future economic growth.” Returning refugees have access to a range of interna-
PHOTOS
BY
JOSH SMITH /Stars and Stripes
Camps for internally displaced people, such as this one in Kabul, are being cleared to make way for new high-rise buildings. The refugees who have occupied the camps for more than a decade have mixed feelings about moving. Some hope for better shelter, while mourning the jobs they will lose by leaving. tional aid programs such as grants of about $200 to help with transportation and other reintegration costs, shelters to stay at temporarily, briefings on legal aid and education, and vaccinations for children. The Afghan government has been allocating land to returning refugees and other displaced people, but it has a limited ability to provide other services like education and health care. “Many of the refugees lose everything when they try to come home,” said Hamidullah Khatibi, an official who oversees refugees in Herat province. “Our government doesn’t have the resources to help them all, and now we’re competing with places like Syria and Palestine for international aid.” Many Afghans who do return are being drawn to cities by the prospect of better economic opportunities, even though the reality is there are rarely more options, said Danielle Moylan, a Kabul-based Protection and Advocacy
Above: Feda Mohammed says eight years after returning from exile in Pakistan, he’s having second thoughts about staying in Afghanistan. “This is my country, but it was better in Pakistan.”
manager with the Norwegian Refugee Council. “There is often a perception that refugees want to return to their places of origin, but it is becoming widely accepted that the majority don’t want to go home,” she said. “They often left because of conflict or other hardship but now don’t want to return because of the economy.”
Still running It’s not just millions of refugees in Pakistan and Iran who are affected by Afghanistan’s troubles. As many as 800,000 Afghans are still considered internally displaced, and aid agencies say 140,000 more people have joined them in 2014 due to the escalating insurgency.
Left: Nargis Amiri, center, cries as she recalls harassment by Iranian officials who deported her and her family back to Afghanistan. In southern Helmand province, Haji Mohammed Hydar is one of many residents who fled fighting in Sangin district this summer. He and 12 members of his family moved to the provincial capital. SEE PAGE 14
What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined army. These are not our reliance against the resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. --A. Lincoln September 11, 1858 Speech at Edwardsville
Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
January 9, 2015
13
ALASKA EDITION
code breaker In these Code Quotes from America’s history, each letter given is a code consisting of another letter. To solve this Code Quote, you must decode the puzzle by replacing each letter with the correct one. An example is shown. A ‘clue’ is available if you need extra help. Example: G E O R G E W A S H I N G T O N Is coded as: W J A M W J G I T C X Z W F A Z O H E
O P A
F X G M
H Y A U K D U
I K U Z U I B A !
Z H F F X G T F U G B A .
Z O K P A B ’ A
H !
‘ B P A
Y U G Q X F P G
Y P K B O T X M !
U X A P U K
B H
O H E
R U U I
V U E ,
O H S P T X M A
B O X G
V K X G R S P G
Hint: His work in physics, political theory and philosophy led him to serve as the first president of the American Philosophical Society. Last week’s answer: “Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” President Calvin Coolidge
word search
Name: Created with TheTeachersCorner.net Word Search Maker
O
P
R
W
P
F
X
W
O
P
M
B
S
T
R
U
L
G
T
P
T
S
U
V
K
Y
E
H
C
W
W
Q
M
E
W
H
C
H
A
L
L
E
N
G
E
R
U
R
G
M
O
G
W
M
V
Q
H
X
O
N
I
U
Q
E
E
N
A
T
W
Z
O
T
U
D
G
R
A
K
J
A
A
H
W
C
R
N
R
L
K
F
I
U
N
F
O
R
B
B
M
E
K
S
P
E
D
J
N
J
M
D
G
A
C
R
L
G
U
Q
E
U
K
T
I
M
H
T
U
V
I
V
E
G
P
E
U
G
Z
I
E
A
W
U
X
O
I
W
M
L
W
E
O
S
K
M
N
K
O
R
O
N
T
G
R
R
R
S
S
V
W
E
E
P
A
E
A
W
Z
W
U
P
T
C
O
H
X
N
E
R
D
R
O
A
G
S
L
E
R
C
N
R
N
R
G
N
O
H
R
M
T
R
I
A
J
X
G
E
L
R
B
P
K
D
X
A
I
Z
B
A
Q
I
P
V
E
P
O
F
L
T
W
D
Q
O
O
B
I
V
N
E
R
E
A
N
N
L
T
A
E
T
P
T
D
L
J
N
G
H
U
Z
R
A
E
N
X
H
S
R
O
D
H
A
S
Q
H
B
I
B
M
E
E
Y
R
H
M
T
H
O
A
H
C
A
I
T
H
G
R
T
L
E
O
N
D
H
Q
Z
N
N
T
L
Y
T
H
U
Q
O
X
E
G
I
G
O
E
I
U
Z
O
Q
Y
A
E
N
I
A
R
G
I
P
T
H
C
S
L
N
L
D
H
U
B
S
E
M
B
R
Z
W
J
N
A
N
Q
Y
M
I
I
S
J
B
I
B
E
G
R
S
R
M
M
C
G
S
A
T
T
I
P
A
F
O
L
J
B
Y
A
L
Y
F
U
E
G
T
A
Q
O
F
E
I
E
X
Z
R
S
S
P
U
W
C
V
H
L
Y
I
N
Z
C
V
N
D
W
C
S
T
E
D
M
A
C
A
N
S
A
K
G
D
E
N
A
R
A
N
C
V
G
B
F
H
L
T
S
N
X
R
Y
M
M
D
R
A
F
W
Y
N
V
G
A
F
U
G
E
U
D
O
T
Y
O
A
A
E
I
O
P
X
Q
F
E
N
T
E
R
P
R
I
S
E
O
R
R
K
M
S
J
R
R
G
T
H
E
R
O
S
E
G
N
A
G
H
S
K
O
H
O
Y
O
I
R
B
R
G
C
A
L
T
O
A
O
C
A
I
T
O
E
N
H
O
N
R
O
N
Z
H
E
U
K
O
G
Y
N
P
G
T
W
N
U
S
X
S
X
I
G
X
P
Z
M
Y
M
Y
H
R
A
I
R
O
Q
B
G
B
B
T
U
A
G
O
T
A
R
A
S
V
Z
Q
B
Z
E
G
P
R
G
V
sudoku
Federation Starships Aries Ariel Armstrong Atlantis Bradbury Bozeman Challenger Cochrane Crazy Horse Defiant
Eagle Endeavour Enterprise Equinox Essex Excalibur Farragut Gandhi Ganges Gettysburg
Hood Horatio Intrepid Lexington Melbourne Merrimac Monitor Nautilus Pasteur Pegasus
Time to Refinance? The VA offers a special refinance program for Veterans who already have a VA loan on their home. It’s called the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, or IRRRL. In many cases this program is available without the need for an appraisal if the property is still your primary residence, regardless of the current value. If you have since transitioned the property to a second home or rental, you can still obtain up to 115% of the appraised value to refinance your current VA loan.
NMLS #402135 FDIC# 35309
Rich Moore, Mortgage Banker NMLS# 211177 toll free: 855.313.8138
©2013 CBC National Bank is a FDIC insured chartered commercial bank approved VA Lender #6720800000. NMLS #402135
Prometheus Reliant Rio Grande Saratoga Stargazer Thomas Paine Thunderchild Voyager Wellington Yorktown
Previous week’s answers
THANKS FOR YOUR
SERVICE WE SALUTE
YO U
Classic Alaska Trading Company
army-navy-store.com
DOWNTOWN: 4TH AVENUE | MIDTOWN: 3200 NEW SEWARD HIGHWAY | ANCHORAGE
14
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
PAGE 14
A N D
STRIPES •
January 9, 2015 Friday, January 9, 2015
Enjoy the gift of time spent with loved ones
AFGHANISTAN
O PHOTOS
BY
JOSH SMITH /Stars and Stripes
Residents of Afghanistan’s Sangin district fled flighting that has rocked the area for most of 2014. FROM PAGE 12
“We had to leave,” he said. “We are not safe anywhere. And there are many more behind us who want to leave but don’t have the money to.” And it’s not just the violence in Afghanistan that has residents in the region fleeing. In a reversal, a Pakistani military offensive in tribal regions across the border in Pakistan has sent as many as a quarter million Pakistanis across the border into Afghanistan in a wave that strained Afghanistan’s already limited capacity. The increased violence has not only sent more people packing, it has made tracking and helping them harder, Moylan said. “Conflict–induced IDPs can only be counted where the UN and humanitarian NGOs can still have access, and for this reason we think that the figures are conservative, and could become even more so if we are unable to work in areas due to safety concerns.” Despite the challenges,
During a temporary stopover at a United Nations camp in Herat, Nazar Mohammed, shown in July, points out injuries he sustained as a soldier fighting for Afghanistan’s communist government in the 1990s. thousands of Afghans are braving the odds to try to find a better life. For months, Nazar Mohammed, 40, his wife, Sorya, 37, and their three children skipped meals to save up money so they could return from Iran where they had lived for 16 years. A former soldier under the communist regime, Nazar fled from the Taliban. For years he worked and lived in Iran, but
Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher Terry Leonard, Editor Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editor Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Content Amanda L. Trypanis, U.S. Edition Editor Michael Davidson, Revenue Director CONTACT US 529 14th Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20045-1301 Email: stripesweekly@stripes.com Editorial: (202) 761-0908 Advertising: (202) 761-0910 Michael Davidson, Weekly Partnership Director: davidson.michael@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com
it never felt like home. “We don’t know where we are going,” he said, sitting in an empty room at the U.N.’s camp in Herat, surrounded by the suitcases and plastic bags holding all the family’s belongings. “But we hope it will be better.” Zubair Babakarkhail, Elyas Dayee, and Aref Karimi contributed to this report. smith.josh@stripes.com Twitter: @joshjonsmith
This publication is a compilation of stories from Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent newspaper authorized by the Department of Defense for members of the military community. The contents of Stars and Stripes are unofficial, and are not to be considered as the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, including the Defense Department or the military services. The U.S. Edition of Stars and Stripes is published jointly by Stars and Stripes and this newspaper. The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the DOD or Stars and Stripes of the products or services advertised. Products or services advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use, or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation, or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user, or patron.
© Stars and Stripes, 2015
ur family received place that’s never really been an extra gift in time “home,” except that their parto welcome the New ents live there. All the familiar Year in 2013, one that furniture and holiday decoragave us more than we extions are assembled in a house pected. It came, like Christmas that’s home, and yet it’s not. in Whoville, without ribbons, When it’s time to move or to tags, boxes or bags — unless say goodbye to friends who are you count the luggage. There moving, we military families was a fair amount of that. usually have an instinct about All three of our children those we will see again, the were with us that Christmas. friends we’ll stop and see After Christmas, we were rewhen driving cross-country, united with two families from a the ones we’ll drive across the previous assignment — and all country to see. In military life, of their children. our deepest friendships don’t These families were asdepend solely on geography, signed with us at Ramstein and they don’t end with proxAir Base, Germany, just a few imity. When we make friends years previously. In those days, for life, they remain a part of we gathered often with several our family’s story as surely as other families for Sunday lunch if they still lived around the after chapel services, for birth- corner. days, graduations or for no Good friends are forever. particular reason except that Goodbyes are not. Old acquainwe enjoyed being together. We tance might not be forgotten, celebrated holidays and helped but some experiences can’t be one another through deploySPOUSE CALLS recreated. ment, illness and loss. What we By military fiat, two of our truly relinfamilies were stationed togethquish with er again in 2013, this time in each move Virginia. Another family came is a sense from Texas to visit, and by of place, some miracle, every one of our the comcombined eight children came bination of too. The “children” ranged in friends and age from 16 to 30, and travlocation we’ll eled from Texas, Colorado, likely never Terri Barnes California and experience Slovenia, so it again. We was no small Join the conversation with Terri at may be stastripes.com/go/spousecalls miracle that tioned with brought us all the same together. families ocIn the days leading up to casionally. We might return to the visit, I wondered how all an assignment and even meet the kids would react to being familiar faces there but when a together again. In young lives, chapter ends, its pages can’t be even a few years make a big turned back. difference. They’ve each gone In this time with our friends, in different directions, to difthough, we came close. We ferent schools, careers, states were treated to shining glimpsand countries. Would they take es of happy memories, but we up where they left off, or would weren’t reliving the past. We they feel uncomfortable and were making new memories, strange? realizing our past relationships I needn’t have worried. Their could also bear fruit in the divergent lives converged once present. again over movies, meals and “It was nice to be with peogames. They exchanged old ple we know,” said my daughstories and the latest news ter, the day after everyone left. from mutual friends past and We know a lot of people, but I present. They compared notes knew exactly what she meant. about college roommates and This was the truest gift of classes. They rediscovered the time we spent together: similar tastes in art and music. to be with those who not only I overheard part of a conver- know us, but who have known sation between two of the kids us. They are part of our famione day. They were sharing ly’s history, our ongoing story. their common experience of These are gifts that go beyond coming home from college to a the same auld lang syne.
FREELANCE WRITERS Stars & Stripes U.S. Edition – Alaska is looking for freelance writers to add a local flavor to our newspaper. Two specific areas of interest are “Veteran Spotlights”, focusing on Alaska Veterans, and “Explore Alaska” focusing on Alaska adventure. Other topics will be added as well.
If you have a desire to help tell our readers about our local Veterans, Alaska’s outdoors, and other newsworthy topics, please email SteveA@AK.net. Please include some writing samples.
January 9, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES
15
16
January 9, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES
ALASKA EDITION
Publishing Alaska Anchorage Art Direction Studio D Graphics
ALASKA EDITION Sponsorship Level General:
none currently
Distribution, Content, or other information
www.ContinentalAutoGroup.com
Captian:
RIBBONS-N-RACKS
Facebook Ribbons-n-Racks
www.AnchorageChevrolet.com
ARMY NAVY
www.ClassicAlaska.com
Barbies Cafe’
www.LithiaChryslerAnchorage.com
Contact Steve Abeln
(907) 250-0018 Steve@AlaskaStripes.com
Colonel:
Major:
Advertising Steve Abeln - (907) 250-0018 Steve@StripesAlaska.com
Brought to us each week with the support of these businesses
www.LithiaKIAAnchorage.com
ALASKA PREMIER DENTAL GROUP www.SmileAlaska.com
Sponsorship Details - Steve 250-0018
www.BarbiesCafe.com
Fred Meyer
www.FredMeyer.com