Volume 6, No. 35 ©SS 2014
F RIDAY , A
UGUST
15, 2014
LOYAL FUNNY HONEST GENEROUS SUPPORTIVE USO FAVORITE
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Actor Robin Williams arrives at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq, to perform for servicemembers during the 2007 USO Christmas Tour.
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Friday, August 15, 2014 Maldivian Marines move logs to a training area to set up a squad competition during a noncommissioned officer development program with U.S. Marine Corps on the Maldives on Jan. 21.
PACIFIC
PETE THIBODEAU/Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps
Matter of national security? PACOM planning, programs, exercises include environmental strategy ‘ Seventy percent of the bad storms that
BY WYATT OLSON Stars and Stripes
A
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii s Congress remains gridlocked on more than 200 bills related to climate change, U.S. Pacific Command is forging strategies with partner nations in the region to mitigate the security effects of global warming. “You can’t deny the fact that there are military consequences going on as a result of storms,” said Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod, who headed PACOM’s Logistics, Engineering and Security Cooperation directorate for two years until transferring to the Pentagon this summer. “Seventy percent of the bad storms that happen in the world are in the Pacific,” he said. “Call it climate change, call it the big blue rabbit, I don’t give a hoot what you call it — the military has to respond
CALM WATERS
happen in the world are in the Pacific. Call it climate change, call it the big blue rabbit, I don’t give a hoot what you call it — the military has to respond to those kinds of things.
’
Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod headed PACOM’s Logistics, Engineering and Security Cooperation directorate to those kinds of things.” Indeed, despite claims by some that global warming is a myth, there’s growing accord among analysts and military thinkers around the world that the repercussions of climate change will require the same application of strategy the military would employ when grappling with any foe. To that end, PACOM initiated a series of forums held throughout the
WILD SIGHTS
region designed to brainstorm military-civil solutions to climate-related security issues. Pacific Command is already collaborating with several small island nations to help them cope with problems from rising sea level, such as saltwater encroachment into ground water. PACOM’s role in all this is to build resilience in such countries, McLeod said. “Maybe that means we don’t have to go out there and do as much,
costing the U.S. government money. Maybe it also allows us to build relationships with those countries and then have access.” To keep such efforts on track, PACOM last fall began incorporating an environmental strategy into all its planning, programs and exercises, he said. It’s a practical way for the U.S. military — in coordination with the State Department’s country teams in respective nations — to head off the kinds of direct and indirect security threats posed by climate change.
Challenges ahead In June, the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change, an initiative of the Brussels-based Institute for Environmental Security, issued a report outlining the military challenges arising from climate change. SEE PAGE 3
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Friday, August 15, 2014
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PAGE 3
PACIFIC FROM PAGE 2
They could include violent conflict, displaced populations, shifts in disease vectors, water shortages, more frequent and intense natural disasters, rising sea levels and all-around hotter temperatures in which troops operate. The Pentagon’s 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review describes the effects of climate change, such as water scarcity and disruptions in food supply, as “threat multipliers” that “can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence.” The review concludes that the “impacts of climate change may increase the frequency, scale and complexity of future missions.” Compared with the 2010 QDR’s narrow climate-related focus on military installations and disaster relief, this year’s QDR “opens the door for the Department of Defense and PACOM in the region to look more broadly at how they can help in terms of working with nations and partner militaries in helping those nations be prepared for events before they occur,” said Francesco Femia, director of the Center for Climate and Security, a nonprofit policy institute in Washington. “In a lot of ways, the front line on this issue is PACOM, given its (humanitarian disaster relief) responsibilities,” he said. “So we’re actually seeing the U.S. military playing a leading role in figuring out how climate change plays into our relationships in the area — including, from a more See an interactive traditional security perspective, how graphic of global our assistance to our warming effects allies and prospecstripes.com/go/ tive allies in terms of pacomclimate climate adaptation feeds into influence in the region vis-àvis China.” Those military-to-military relationships can help partner nations prepare for climate-related “cascading disasters,” Femia said. “You know, you have a storm that hits, and then maybe there’s a major drought somewhere else that feeds into the vulnerability.” A “cascade” could also be geopolitical. For example, Femia said, the Philippines has an ongoing dispute with China over control of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, with routine skirmishes between their ships. In the aftermath of the massive Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines last November, the country “took its eye off” the dispute, which had the potential to embolden China and foster further conflict, Femia said. Climate change falls under the rubric of “environmental security” for PACOM, McLeod said, and the logistics directorate has overseen integrating that aspect of security into the region. “Climate change and environmental security are soft-power ways we engage with our partners to build that partner
JUSTIN PUMMELL /Courtesy of the U.S. Army
During the South Asia Regional Environmental Security Forum, Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod, of U.S. Pacific Command, stands to the right on a June 4 tour of the operations of a Maldivian business that’s using environmentally sustainable practices. capacity, while at the same time addressing some big issues,” he said. McLeod cited a couple of examples. Kiribati is a tiny island nation about 1,200 miles south of Hawaii. With much of its land barely a yard above sea level, it is highly vulnerable to the current rise of the Earth’s sea level, primarily the result of the expansion of ocean water as it warms. The nation’s underwater freshwater supply is already endangered by encroaching saltwater and drought. That could potentially turn the roughly 103,000 inhabitants into “environmental refugees” who will have to “cross borders, have to relocate, all logistical and military concerns,” McLeod said. While in Hawaii earlier this year, Kiribati’s president asked PACOM to collaborate with the country on engineering support, he said. “So the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has put together three proposals that we’ve bounced off Kiribati to begin a technical exchange of environmental engineers,” McLeod said. “We’ll be able to go down there, assess what kind of projects and requirements they have, and then come back to the United States and then apply whole-of-government solutions to try to address those things.” Solutions could entail desalination, rainwater collection and building up natural wave barriers such as mangrove stands and coral reefs. More radical ideas include man-made floating islands and construction of seawalls.
The Maldives PACOM has also partnered with the Maldives, a string of roughly 1,200 islands to the south of India. The Mal-
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dives also has a problem with saltwater encroachment of freshwater, exacerbated by more frequent periods of drought. They’ve coped by desalinating water in a centralized plant and loading it into tanks aboard boats for distribution to scores of islands. PACOM has agreed to assist the country with prepositioning shipboard equipment for mobile water production, McLeod said. “What we have in the military are fuel and water distribution systems off our ships that allow us to move mass quantities very efficiently,” McLeod said. PACOM will share that equipment, which will essentially preposition it for future use by the U.S. “Remember, part of the reason why we want to put our equipment out there is that if we have to respond, we can use it as well,” McLeod said. “We’re not about forward-basing anymore. We’re about rotational forces, and those rotational forces mean approval from host nations,” he said. “We want to follow your rules and regulations, bolster your security, but at the same time accomplish some of our theater goals. “That’s illustrative of how environmental security and climate change is a great soft-power engagement tool — just like medical is, just like logistics is. That’s why we are embracing this so wholeheartedly right now,” he said. PACOM’s bellwether for the climate change issue in the region is its annual South Asia Regional Environmental Security Forum, most recently held in June in Maldives. About 80 participants from 10 countries discussed civil-military solutions to energy and environmental problems, particularly those related to climate change.
McLeod said PACOM will reap rewards from countries it assists in climate-related woes. For example, Maldives is constructing an atoll that will anchor its coast guard ships. “They’re thinking about building us facilities so that when we go there for exercises, we have a place to stay that’s close to their forces so that we can interact,” McLeod said. “That’s what this is all about, ultimately, from a PACOM perspective in terms of the war-fighting side of it.” Andrew Holland, a senior fellow for energy and climate at the American Security Project, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, described PACOM’s climate-related role in the Pacific as a “demand response” because the issue is a top concern to so many countries. Recent defense white papers by South Korea and Japan have included substantial sections about the security ramifications of climate change. “The small states don’t have as much of a defense planning culture — or defense planning documents at all — but their leadership are going around the world saying, ‘Hey, our security’s threatened. Our very existence as a state is threatened,’ ” Holland said. PACOM is often the most important diplomatic engagement for many of these small nations, he said. “The military doesn’t have the luxury of playing politics with this, with something that’s actually happening, and you’re seeing the effects already on the ground,” Holland said. “They have to be planning for it because they can’t wait for there to be political agreement to begin planning real responses to this.” olson.wyatt@stripes.com
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4
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Friday, August 15, 2014
AFGHANISTAN
SERVICE SACRIFICE Hagel says killing of major general will not alter troop drawdown plans in Afghanistan BY STEVEN BEARDSLEY AND ZUBAIR BABARKARKHAIL
D
Stars and Stripes
KABUL, Afghanistan efense Secretary Chuck Hagel said last week that the killing of an Army major general by a suspected Afghan soldier would not alter U.S. drawdown plans or cause a reconsideration of a post-2014 training mission in Afghanistan. The body of Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, who was shot dead at a military school in Kabul on Aug. 5, was serving as deputy commander at a training unit working with Afghan forces. He was the highestranking officer killed by hostile fire overseas since the Vietnam War. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed Afghan military official, said the gunman, who had enlisted in the Afghan army more than two years ago, apparently had failed to turn in his NATO-issued machine gun on returning from a patrol and hid in a bathroom before shooting at NATO forces. CNN reported he shot from inside a building at the NATO troops outside. The AP’s source said the soldier, who went by the single name Rafiqullah and was killed Aug. 5, was the focus of the investigation. A motive was unclear. The attack at the Marshal Fahim National Defense University also wounded more than a dozen coalition troops, including a German general. A NATO spokesman said Aug. 6
all were in stable condition but declined to discuss their injuries. The incident is still under investigation, he said. Hagel said during a visit in Stuttgart, Germany, that he had written a condolence note to Greene’s family and had spoken with President Barack Obama following the attack. But he said it would not change U.S. plans for Afghanistan following the departure of all combat troops by the end of this year. “We will continue on the same course we are on for post 2014,” Hagel said. When asked whether the attack that killed Greene and other recent insider attacks would result in a move to give commanders more flexibility over the pace of the drawdown — set to shrink to roughly 9,800 U.S. troops next year — Hagel said current plans remain in place and the drawdown remains on course. A visit to the area outside the base on Aug. 6 revealed little about the shooting. Shopkeepers nearby said they often heard firing from training ranges on the installation, named Camp Qargha, but few could offer any concrete information about the attack.
‘ These
soldiers were professionals, committed to the mission. It is their service and sacrifice that define us as an Army.
’
Gen. Ray Odierno Army chief of staff
SEE PAGE 6
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Friday, August 15, 2014
AFGHANISTAN FROM PAGE 4
PHOTOS
BY
C HRIS CARROLL /Stars and Stripes
Dignitaries watch as the remains of Army Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene are transferred at Dover Air Force Base on Aug. 7.
An Army carry team transfers the remains of Greene.
The family of Army Maj. Gen. Harold Greene walk to thank the flight crew for carrying his remains on Aug. 7 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. From left, daughter Amelia Greene, daughter in-law Kasandra Greene, son Army 1st Lt. Matthew Greene, wife retired Col. Susan Myers and an unidentified mortuary affairs officer.
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{
relocation
The defense university, which is located on the base, is a series of dun-colored barracks and buildings surrounded by stone walls near the mountains of western Kabul. Run by the British military and sometimes referred to as “Sandhurst of the Sand,” a reference to the U.K.’s esteemed officer’s academy, the Afghan school opened last October with a class of 270. It was unclear whether the shooter was attending the school or affiliated with it in any way. A Taliban statement referred to the gunman as “a patriot” but did not claim responsibility for his attack. The attack in Kabul occurred shortly after a separate shooting targeted U.S. soldiers in Paktia province, in the east. A guard at the provincial governor’s home opened fire on the visiting soldiers, said the provincial police chief, Zalmai Oryakhel. The attacker was shot and killed, and a spokesman for the NATO coalition said no members were injured. As with the attack that killed Greene, the Taliban lauded the Paktia shooting but did not take credit for it. Yet the group claimed responsibility for an attack Aug. 6 at a police checkpoint in Tirin Kot in Uruzgan province. According to a provincial official, a police officer was on watch at the checkpoint about 3 a.m. when he allowed insurgents to enter. They killed six police officers and wounded another, said the official, Gulab Khan, deputy head of the province’s anticrime department. The attackers all escaped, as did the police officer who helped them, he said. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said insurgents killed seven police officers with the help of an Afghan police officer and injured one. The Taliban commonly give different casualty numbers than Afghan or NATO officials, often inflating them. An AP report said the police officer drugged the victims, citing a doctor at a nearby hospital. Attacks by Afghan forces against Western forces have dropped since 2012, when 53 members of the NATO coalition were killed in 38 incidents, according to a count by the AP. Yet sporadic attacks, including those against Afghan forces, continue to plague security forces, despite efforts to improve vetting processes for new Afghan recruits. The attacks are a grim reminder of the challenges facing the U.S. as it seeks to keep a force of advisers in the country past the scheduled withdrawal of Western combat troops at year’s end.
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54 Serpentine fish
110 Assess again
33 Country singer Buck
72 Advance warning
55 Dudley or Demi
111 Steep cliffs
35 NFL tight end Dennis
56 Arm bones
112 Added to one’s knowledge base
36 Church feature
73 Wrapped in a waxy cloth
113 Like Rapunzel’s head
39 Cruel boss
57 Not exciting 59 In a brutal manner 62 Corp. section 66 Away from others 68 Doesn’t spend 69 “Well, ___-di-dah ...” 70 People in haunted houses, perhaps
DOWN 1
Salad style
37 Type of naked 40 Locked horns 41 Familiar red-whiteand-blue symbol
2 “He’s ___ nowhere man” (Beatles lyric)
42 Athenian marketplace
3 Part of a drum kit
43 Drew back, like a startled horse
25 Take big steps
79 Jai alai ball 80 Like some yak herders
6 Expressed joy, in a way
46 “Fidelio,” e.g.
26 Sedative-hypnotic drug
7
49 Dinner’s often on him
86 Cylindrical with tapered ends
28 It’s held during Oktoberfest
81 Arab leader (var.)
8 Secrets
50 Numerous
91 Hotel postings
82 Nutmeg coverings
92 Gather for oneself
30 Natural necklace
9 Undiluted at the bar
52 Baltimore or San Francisco
31 ATM number
83 Places for relief pitchers
10 Direction at a scene’s end
53 Some building additions
95 Aphrodite’s consort
32 Ponselle or Bonheur
84 Emerald’s mineral
34 Places for the pampered
85 Mark over a vowel
11 Copland’s “Symphonic ___”
55 Where to find Utopia Planitia
96 South African colonist 97 He played Hawkeye
56 Applications
13 French or Italian, e.g.
98 Go-___ (small racer)
41 Fit with a toupee
87 Drunkards
42 Like Pisa’s most famous landmark
88 ___-de-camp
14 Check out before a heist
58 Brittle, transparent candy
89 Whitney or Lilly
15 Debate side
59 This puzzle has several
100 Culturally pretentious
43 Blasting homers
90 “... boy ___ girl?”
60 Brewery fixtures
101 Ms. alternative
46 Like some muffins
93 Decree
16 Appeared at county fairs
102 Continental trade org.
47 Must, informally
96 Candidate in 2008 and 2012
61 Part of the eye containing the iris 63 Really delight
105 Have second thoughts about
101 Piddling
49 Time for a break 50 Bricklayer’s material
64 Missionary’s target
104 Eight-line poem
19 Become mature
65 If-___ (computer routines)
51 Hardened (to)
107 Cameron smash-hit film
27 Turn upside down 29 Child’s game
52 West Point frosh
108 Entertain big-time
53 Allocate
109 Tinged with gold
32 Fasten again, as sneakers
67 Cultured gem 70 Strikebreakers 71 Bit part
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94 Seaweed variety
12 Dream phenom
18 Affirmative action
09 NISSAN MURANO SL
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85 Undergraduate degrees
86 U.S. paper money word
48 Flew in place, as a helicopter
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83 Like some birthday cards
38 Nine-day devotion
17 Muhammad in the ring
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80 Forum garb
78 Diva Maria
Unable to look away
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79 Either of two skull bones
24 The scholarly world
45 Soft palate feature
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77 Morally depraved
75 Tow truck dispatcher
5 Pins and needles holder
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76 Possessed of the requisite skills
23 Withstand hardship
44 Not the gregarious type
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75 ___ the lily (overembellish)
73 Thickets
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74 It may be pitted
22 Not digital, as a watch
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99 ___ and done with
103 Palindromic title
106 Sr.’s nest egg
Last week’s answers
August 15, 2014
9 – A1
STARS AND STRIPES
>> EXPLORE ALASKA
Put Talkeetna on your travel plans Major Mike Dryden USAR Ret.
Put Talkeetna on your “must see” list for the summer. Located just off the Parks Highway 120 miles north of Anchorage and 275 miles south of Fairbanks is Talkeetna, Alaska (rumored to be inspiration for the town of Cicely, Alaska from the nineties TV series “Northern Exposure”). This small town is a must see and is the launching pad for those brave climbers wishing to add Mount McKinley (Denali) to their list of conquests. The tallest mountain in North America at 20, 320 feet can be seen in all its glory as you approach the town on the Talkeetna Spur (well marked) with a large paved pull out for the best picture taking opportunities. Just after the pull out you cross the Alaska Railroad so watch out for traffic. This is a favorite stop for tour buses on day trips from Anchorage and Denali Park. Float plane rides can be taken from a seaplane base or in fixed gear airplanes at the airport. For a town of less than 900, the airport boosts more than its share of air taxi guide and sightseeing operators. Many Alaskan aviation legends have called the airport home base with many of the original tour operators still in business. On a sunny day, the main street is packed with visitors from all over the world taking in the sights like The Fairview Inn, Nagley’s General Store and the Talkeetna Roadhouse. On my most recent trip this past weekend I saw Stubbs the Cat, the Mayor of Talkeetna, who I am proud to report seems to have recovered from the recent mugging (police reported it as a dog mauling but the locals know the real story). Stubbs was posing for pictures in front of the General Store greeting tourists and pressing the paws for votes with the locals.
The small downtown area has many original buildings on the 80 lots that were auctioned off in 1919 for $14.25 each. The values have risen slightly since then. The local historic society maintains several cabins and structures from pioneer days. These are worth a visit before you visit the local brew house and pubs. These accommodations, I am sorry to say, are no longer available for lodging so if you want to make your trip into an overnighter then you will have to suffer in one of the many new modern hotels in the area. I could name some but I don’t to receive hate mail from the ones I didn’t mention. Just search the web for Talkeetna area accommodations. July brings the Moose Dropping Festival to town. In 2009 PETA, after realizing moose droppings were a natural body function of moose and the event did not feature live moose being dropped from helicopters, dropped any further protest to the event allowing the event to continue (you got to love those idle trust fund babies). Vendors of all trades are in ample supply selling everything from food to beads and trinkets. On more than one occasion, young
enterprising youths have been known to market store bought chocolate covered candy as chocolate covered moose droppings, so buyers beware. Personally I am sticking with M&Ms. The town is located at the confluence of the Susitna, Chulitna and the Talkeetna Rivers making for great sightseeing opportunities by boat tours. I would recommend one of these guided trips unless you already own $100,000 worth of truck and boat and have been piloting the boat in the area for a hundred days a year for 20 plus years. I say this to save you the embarrassment of having to call the Civil Air Patrol and Alaska National Guard PJs out find you. We will make fun of you and take pictures. Seriously folks, do not let this summer pass without a trip to Talkeetna. Your visiting friends and relatives (also known as VFRs) will thank you profusely for this side trip. Combine Talkeetna with a trip to Denali Park at Glitter Gulch (entrance to the park) on a three day weekend for a memorable Alaskan trip. Be safe and enjoy Alaska.
10 – A1
STARS AND STRIPES
August 15, 2014
August 15, 2014
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VIETNAM AT 50
RETURN TO THE HANOI HILTON POW back in Vietnam in search of closure BY PAUL A LEXANDER Stars and Stripes
HANOI, Vietnam — North Vietnam wasn’t on many Americans’ radar until President Lyndon B. Johnson went on radio 50 years ago to tell them about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, a naval clash off the coast of the Southeast Asian nation that escalated U.S. involvement there. The next day, Aug. 5, 1964, American bombers were pounding targets in the communist country. Anti-aircraft fire hit a Navy Skyhawk piloted by Everett Alvarez Jr. near Hong Gai. Alvarez ejected and was captured. First held nearby, he was transferred to Hanoi on Aug. 12, becoming the first U.S. prisoner of war to be taken to the Hoa Lo prison. For seven months, Alvarez was the only POW there. Then other aviators trickled in until the cells were crowded. Using gallows humor to cope with their poor treatment, they came up with a nickname for their harsh accommodations: The Hanoi Hilton.
For more on the Vietnam War, go to stripes.com/vietnam50
� � � Alvarez had been a POW for three years and three months when Navy Lt. Lee Ellis’ F-4C Phantom jet went down on Nov. 7, 1967, during a mission to pound the guns that protected the Quang Khe ferry near Route 1A, the main thoroughfare for transporting supplies to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He and Capt. Ken Fisher had just dropped their bombs when their plane was hit. Ellis managed to eject safely but was quickly captured and stripped to just his olive drab boxer shorts. Fisher also survived, and the two men were transported to several POW camps around Hanoi. Ellis spent two stints, totalOn his 53rd mission Courtesy of Leon F. , Navy Lt. Lee Ellis’ “Lee” Ellis ing about 28 months, for more than 5½ plane was shot do years, he was relea wn on Nov. 7, 1967 at the Hanoi Hilton. sed in 1973, along . A prisoner of wa r with now-Sen. John He remembers it all McCain and others . too well — the deprivation, the He talked about the lifelong torture and the constant fight back until the elbows touched friendships that he forged did a complex system of hand against depression as days and the shoulders were virtuwith now-Sen. John McCain, signals. turned into years. ally pulled out of joint,” he R-Ariz., who was captured by And there were the small But just over a week before wrote. “Then the torturer the North Vietnamese 11 days but satisfying acts of rebelhe went back for the first time would push the bound arms before Ellis, and other fellow lion. The POWs made up since his release in 1973, he POWs. He focused on how the up and over the head, while names like Clark Kent or Ben still wasn’t sure about how he military principles he learned applying pressure with a knee Casey for fictitious commandfelt about it. in training were galvanized in to the victim. ers when they were being “I don’t know. Accessing prison into his rules for life. “During torture, the circuinterrogated for operational my feelings is something I’ve In his book, he described lation is cut off and the limbs information. had to learn about in the last the early interrogation sesgo to sleep, but the joint pain “Even the smallest victories few years,” the plain-speaksions, trying to avoid giving continues to increase as the were important in this war of ing Ellis said. “When I came anything more than name, ligaments and muscles tear. wills,” Ellis wrote. home, I was looking forward, rank and service number, When the ropes are finally Perhaps the best-known innot back.” and feeling shame when the removed, circulation surges cident came when the guards He quickly picked up the torture proved to be too much back into the ‘dead’ limbs, tried to photograph Navy Lt. pieces of his interrupted life, and he divulged more. causing excruciating pain.” Paul Galanti in a spacious met his future wife a few He was awarded two Silver McCain seemed to get it room for propaganda purposmonths later, resumed his Stars, the Legion of Merit, the worst after his captors dises. Galanti casually extended military career and moved on. Bronze Star with Valor device, covered that his father was both middle fingers in defiStill, time in captivity the Purple Heart and the commander of all U.S. forces ance. They were airbrushed shaped Ellis’ life. He built a POW Medal for his service in in the Vietnam theater. out, but an original copy made successful consulting busiVietnam, which included 5½ Despite the conditions, a it back to the U.S. ness and wrote a well-received years as a POW. sense of community grew, Rumors of imminent release book, “Leading with Honor,” � � � with senior officers doing circulated occasionally, bringon the lessons he learned at their best to keep morale from ing hopes that the ordeal was As more POWs arrived, life the Hanoi Hilton, using anecsinking. POWs found ways coming to an end. Ellis reat the Hanoi Hilton fell into a dotes on coping with adversity called thinking, “We’ll get on rough rhythm of poor food and around the rules that were to illustrate his points. And designed to keep them from that plane, then I’ll believe it.” occasional interrogations that time has allowed the wounds sharing information. It could Finally, in 1973, meals often were brutal — ranging to heal, mostly. started improving. The POWs be a painful game — getting from spending hours on their At least he thought so. figured their captors didn’t caught violating any rules knees with their arms out“I don’t have a lot of bad want them to look too emacimeant lockdown in leg irons. stretched above their heads to memories because it was just ated when they were released, Ellis said he found that, a position called the “pretzel” an episode on my life,” Ellis and soon they were going using a blanket muffler, he that Ellis described in his said. “We were warriors, and home in groups, first in, first could talk through a 16-inch book. we were the lucky ones. We out. Ellis was in the group that wall when guards weren’t “After the prisoner’s legs came back. We suffered, our included McCain. nearby. A system of taps were tied together, his arms families suffered, but there also conveyed messages, as were laced tightly behind his SEE PAGE 12 were blessings, too.”
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VIETNAM AT 50 FROM PAGE 11
� � � February in Hanoi is chilly and drizzly, but Ellis barely seemed to notice when he returned earlier this year for the first time since his release. His eyes were everywhere, taking in how much the city has changed since the war, rebuilding from the rubble left by American bombardments. Twenty-four years after he left the military as a colonel, his black hair was shot with gray, but Ellis still looked like he could switch quickly into a uniform from his neat khaki trousers and blue button-down shirt, a sharp contrast with the black cotton pajamas that were his constant attire in captivity. He has more than a little sense of irony. Instead of going directly to the Hanoi Hilton, which has been turned into a museum, he had lunch first with wife Mary at the Hanoi Opera Hilton hotel. The hotel opened 15 years ago, carefully choosing its name to avoid association with the prison a few blocks away. Ellis looked a little taken aback by his luxurious surroundings but was in a good mood as he sat in a chair for the first time in Vietnam; in captivity it was flat wooden boards or rough concrete. He drank his first coffee, and the lemongrass chicken was his first meat here; in prison, the only protein was a two-inch cube of bean curd once a week. Other memories came floating back — leg irons and hand-
cuffs, rubber sandals to make it difficult to escape, a steady diet of pumpkin soup alternating with months of cabbage soup, and a first meal as a prisoner of fish heads and rice, which apparently was standard fare for new captives. Before missions, pilots used to joke with each other to be careful or they’d be eating fish heads that night. “I wondered if the guards knew the joke,” he said. And he recalled the sounds of air raids, with anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles going up from the ground, punctuated by the nearby concussions of rockets fired by fellow American pilots from above. Finally, after a dessert that left him longing for a nap following the drive from a cruise ship docked on the coast, it was time to head to the Hilton that he really associates with Hanoi. � � � Ellis stood outside what remains of Maison Centrale, the yellow stone-and-concrete prison built by French colonialists in 1896. It used to take up an entire block, but 80 percent has been torn down to make way for Hanoi Towers, a residential/office complex. Ellis, usually a model of reserve, started to look a little apprehensive as he walked in, and he was immediately frustrated by Vietnam’s rigid officialdom. A cameraman he brought from the cruise ship can’t bring in his professional-level gear because he didn’t seek government permission first. Still cameras and cellphone cameras were OK, though.
As it turned out, one of the remaining sections of the prison is where Ellis was held. It was dubbed “Thunderbird,” after the former Las Vegas hotel, as were other sections: “Desert Inn” and “Stardust.” Bare light bulbs provided scant light. Two rows of statues depicted shackled Vietnamese prisoners — the museum is dedicated to them; the American POWs are treated almost as an afterthought. Ellis saw a pit toilet that prisoners used when they were allowed out of their cells and recalls how one officer lost his dental bridge while squatting over it. Another POW dug through the muck and recovered it, then washed and returned it. A couple of cells still have black leg irons that Ellis said “started to cut into your skin pretty fast.” There were buckets to use as a toilet when the doors were locked, but “if you were in leg irons (for violations of prison rules), you just went on yourself.” The men slept shoulder to shoulder on hard surfaces, and Ellis said some developed hip, knee and other problems that have plagued them over the years. Ellis’ upbeat demeanor faded in the face of the past, and he seemed to be slipping back into that time, the memories becoming clearer. As Mary watched, he noisily slammed open and shut the metal covers over the small barred opening in the otherwise solid cell door — Bang! Bang! Bang! — just like the guards used to do. “What you would hear was the rattling of the keys at meal
An aerial view of the “Hanoi Hilton” before much of the prison, originally built by French colonialists, was torn down, is shown in a print at the museum that stands there now. The remainder has been turned into a museum focused on Vietnamese inmates, with only a small mention of the American pilots who were held there as POWs.
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time and bucket time,” he said. “At unexpected times, it could be scary,” because it could mean hours of interrogation and torture for someone. “The threat was always there. “I get a little skittish around things like this,” he admitted. “The darkness is probably the thing I feel the most, the gray walls with no glass, just bars. In the winter, it was cold. You didn’t get enough calories to stay warm. You’d wake up dreaming about going through a cafeteria line eating a full breakfast. “There would be heat-rash boils in the summer. And there were the rats, big rats. When the sun started going down, you’d hear them scurrying over the walls. They’d come in through the drains in the walls.” Along a pathway outside, he spotted what used to be a guard post manned with a machine gun, then climbed up to see the view he never experienced, including the broken glass imbedded on the top of the prison walls. The other direction was the interrogation room, where torture was common, then more cells. Ellis walked into one, stretched out his arms and paced three steps, turned around and repeated it, telling his wife that this was how big his living area was. He fell into a rhythm and seemed lost in memory: “One, two, three,” he counted off the steps, making an about-face and disappearing into the darkest part of the cell, “One, two, three,” then repeating the process again. Finally, toward the end of the self-tour, there were two rooms focused on the American POWs. Ellis clearly got upset as he saw how all the pilots’ mistreatment has been excised, how the Hanoi Hilton has been portrayed as almost a vacation spot for them. One sign claims: “During the war, the national economy was difficult, but the Vietnamese government had created the best living conditions to U.S. pilots, for they had a stable life during their temporary detention period.” Photos show inmates decorating a Christmas tree, receiving letters and care packages from home and playing basketball and volleyball. SEE PAGE 14
“I don’t have a lot of bad memories because it was just an episode on my life. We were warriors, and we were the lucky ones. We came back. We suffered, our families suffered, but there were blessings, too.” Navy Lt. Lee Ellis
For more on the Vietnam War, go to stripes.com/vietnam50
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VIETNAM AT 50 FROM PAGE 12
One shows two POWs playing chess. “The traitor!” Ellis spat out, referring to one of the men, who was perceived as being a collaborator with the Vietnamese in exchange for favorable treatment. A bed with a thin mattress is on display, but it just made Ellis angrier. “I don’t know anybody who slept on a bed like that,” he said. “We slept on concrete slab or wood planks.” There was a moment of excitement as Ellis ran into a small group of tourists from his small hometown in Georgia, who coincidentally were touring the museum at the same time. Photos and handshakes followed as other visitors realized they were seeing a man who once was confined here. Ellis pointed to himself in a photo on the wall of a group of POWs, including McCain, as they were being released. He recalled how he dropped from about 160 pounds at the start of captivity to about 130-135 pounds before the Vietnamese started feeding the POWs better shortly before their release so they wouldn’t look so skeletal and mistreated. Suddenly, he wanted to leave. Badly. “I’ve seen enough,” he said, already heading for the exit. “Let’s go.” Outside on the sidewalk, Ellis took a few deep breaths to calm down, oblivious again to the drizzle, the honks of motorbikes. “The only thing that place really did was make me frustrated,” he said, his voice taking on a sense of urgency as he realized he didn’t get what he had hoped for. “It didn’t bring me any peace, any closure. “I believe in documenting things accurately. It’s not
surprising; I knew all of that from other people who came and then told me about it,” Ellis said. “But I hate spin. American politics is getting worse like that, too.” A tour guide took Ellis and his wife to the city’s Old Quarter, where shops and restaurants line the streets. But he wasn’t interested in food or gifts; he just seemed lost in thought. It’s not clear what he saw, but it didn’t seem to be the chaotic traffic at a busy intersection. � � � Two weeks later, Ellis returned home. After the day in Hanoi, the cruise ship stopped near Danang briefly, then spent several days docked in Ho Chi Minh City, known as Saigon during the war. He said he was heartened somewhat by what he saw
Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher none currently Terry Leonard, Editorial Director Tina Croley, Enterprise Editor 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 Daniel Krause, Weekly Partnership Director: krause.dan@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com
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there. Hanoi is still gripped fairly tightly by the Communist Party, but Ho Chi Minh City is the country’s economic engine. That clout, combined with the distance from the capital, create a sense of pure capitalism at work — and a level of resentment at the country’s leaders. “There’s a real energy in the people,” Ellis said. “I really feel like freedom is winning out every day. Everywhere I went, I heard, ‘The government is ripping us off.’ Basically, the officials are just getting their cut.” He thinks the lack of truth, like what he encountered at the Hanoi Hilton, will ultimately be the government’s downfall. “What I’m really seeing is the danger of lies,” Ellis said. “It undermines freedom. Everything depends on truth; otherwise, it’s built on a house of sand.” Freedom is just as important as truth to Ellis. The desire for it was his constant companion in prison, and he believes Vietnam’s people long for it, too, after decades of oneparty rule. In fact, he remains staunch in his belief that what happened in Vietnam was only a temporary victory for communism, that capitalism already is winning out. He was happy his wife was with him, both for the company she provided and so she could share some of his experiences for the first time. He talked about returning in September to meet the North Vietnamese soldier who escorted him from his point of capture to Hanoi. But most of all, he said the experience has “sharpened a little” his message of leading with honor. alexander.paul@stripes.com
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, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
Psychology yesterday and military life today
A
friend gave me a and some actually consider it a clipping from an privilege.” old magazine, an A former executive of article supposedly CHAMPUS, Tricare’s predeabout military families, which cessor, contributed this gem: brought home to me how much “There is also a small group more our way of life is studied, of aggressive men who joined understood and appreciated by the armed forces to live the those outside our world than it warrior myth, who dress their used to be. kids in little uniforms and give The story, from a 1986 issue them guns for toys.” of Psychology Today, preAlthough some of those sumed to explore and analyze interviewed were quite willing military life. Unfortunately, at to make broad generalizations the time there was so little data based on limited knowledge, available about military famisome important questions went lies that the author had to rely unanswered a few decades ago. on anecdotes, generalizations For instance, how much do and unsubstantiated theories. military children worry about She admitted in her story that their military parents’ safety? studies and surveys of military “I don’t think we have a families in the mid-1980s were clue,” said a child psychologist outdated or questionable. As a from Bethesda Naval Mediresult, much of the story was cal Center. “It’s something laughable or offensive. Somechildren deal with in a very times both. quiet way.” One civilian psychologist This SPOUSE CALLS incredible she interviewed, for example, asserted that military children article was often suffered from something published a he called “military family synyear after drome,” which made them, he I became explained, more likely to have a military behavioral disorders. wife, but I Another clinician who didn’t read treated military children said, it then. I “I see everything that a child had no idea psychiatrist who never saw a this is what military child would see. Do the rest of Terri Barnes I see it more the world frequently? My Join the conversation with Terri at thought of hunch is yes.” stripes.com/go/spousecalls the life I had Yet anlived since other found birth. I could military children so clean-cut have told them a thing or two. and conscientious that she So could many military family compared military life to members, but no one was ask“Leave-It-To-Beaverland.” ing us. In this century, we don’t Now they are. In addition to have to rely on hunches, comscientifically conducted studparisons to TV Land and other ies, several yearly surveys give fiction. Federally and privately opportunities to address the funded studies by the Rand needs in our own lives and our Corp. have explored the effects community. Organizations like of deployment on children, use Blue Star Families, National of military medical care, and Military Family Association the challenges of caregivers, and the Military Officers Asamong other issues. Modern sociation of America sponsor support and services for our surveys of the military populacommunity, though not perfect, tion and inform policy makers are much more available and of the findings. connected to the realities of Today’s military community military life. has a greater opportunity to be Meanwhile, back in the ’80s, heard: through surveys, studPsychology Today printed ies, support organizations, as stunning statements like, well as blogs, books and other “Despite the stereotypes of media. blood-thirsty professional warWe can speak out about the riors, military personnel are realities of military life. We not necessarily more belligerhave a voice, let’s use it to tell ent than anyone else.” And this our stories and to say goodbye one, “Many (military children) to misconceptions about the survive ‘growing up military’ life we live.
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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
L
N Z Y D E T E F E T Z Y
Q C P P O Z X ,
W Z D E ,
T D
N L Y
W Z D E
Z Q
Y P G P C
R Z G P C Y X P Y E
M P
Q Z C P G P C .
Z Y N P
C P D E Z C P O .
U Z S Y
N S L Y R P O
W T M P C E J ,
Q C Z X
Z Y N P
L O L X D
Hint: Twenty-five years after nominating George Washington to be commander-in-chief, this person nominated John Marshall as Chief Justice of the United States. Last week’s answer: In the great fulfillment we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it and more anxious about what it can do for the nation. Warren G. Harding
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Write press releases, call media organizations, and/or design ads? Coordinate with schools, Scouts, etc to arrange tours and other events?
Friday, August 15, 2014
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Brief VFW’s, American Legions, AMVETS & DAV Chapters on AVM activities ? Help collect oral histories; work directly with our Veterans to document their experiences? Help by donating Military uniforms & artifacts form WWI, Korea, Vietnam & the Gulf Wars? Help raise money to continue and expand our programs, and ultimately move to a larger space?
Please call: Suellyn @ (907) 696-4904 to offer any help you can.