Volume 7, No. 12 ©SS 2015
FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter greets Army Brig. Gen. Viet Luong after his arrival in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Feb. 22, five days into his tenure. JONATHAN ERNST/AP
Carter’s running start shows desire to be major player in foreign policy
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COVER STORY
Man of action
Defense secretary wrests control of policy debates with stellar first week BY JON H ARPER Stars and Stripes
N
WASHINGTON ew Defense Secretary Ashton Carter went to Capitol Hill to discuss the Pentagon’s budget request Tuesday and Wednesday in his first hearings since being confirmed as defense secretary last month. He went in with a stronger hand than any new Pentagon chief in memory. On Feb. 20, after just three days in office, Carter flew to Afghanistan and immediately injected himself into the foreign policy conversations roiling Washington. In the process, analysts say, he established himself as a player with a White House accused of micromanaging. Carter said the U.S. is considering slowing the pace of troop withdrawals and base closures there, as well as changing the counterterrorism mission to account for new threats. President Barack Obama’s critics have accused him of rushing for the exits in Afghanistan while the Taliban insurgency continues. Recent events in Iraq, where the Islamic State militant group overran much of the country and routed the U.S.trained Iraqi army after American troops were withdrawn, added fuel to that criticism. Obama had called for the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, which now stands at about 10,000 servicemembers, to be halved by the end of this year and to shrink to an embassy presence by the end of 2016. Carter signaled that the plan might be significantly revised to keep the Taliban at bay. “Our priority now is to make sure this progress [in Afghanistan] sticks,” he said during a joint news conference with President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul. Although the new Pentagon chief has
not submitted formal recommendations about altering timelines, his public comments suggest that he is strongly in favor of it. Carter is no novice when it comes to defense policy. He dealt with Afghanistan issues at the Pentagon when he served as deputy secretary and filled other senior positions. “He’d made many trips to Afghanistan, and was very close to the troops, and had clear ideas about what needed to be done there, so [quickly going out into the field] is not surprising,” former Secretary of Defense William Perry said. “I think that when [Carter] took this job, he was better prepared for it than any of his predecessors, including myself … He knew the job, he knew what he wanted to do, and I figured he would hit the deck running, and that’s exactly what he did.” After meeting with commanders and troops in Kabul and Kandahar, Carter turned his attention to the other ongoing American war effort and flew to Kuwait. There he hosted an extraordinary confab at Camp Arifjan with 25 senior U.S. military and diplomatic leaders to discuss the campaign against the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS or ISIL. He called the attendees “Team America.” After a six-hour talk on how to best com-
bat the militants, Carter said the Obama administration and the international anti-Islamic State coalition have “the ingredients of the strategy” right, but he told reporters that the coalition needs to do better in certain areas. Defense analysts were encouraged by Carter’s decision to convene a war council to discuss the broader anti-Islamic State strategy. “This message it sends [is that] the secretary seems to want to lead from the front when it comes to working with the military commanders and the analysts on the ground in the region in terms of having a thorough campaign against the Islamic State,” said Nicholas Herat, a Middle East expert at the Center for a New American Security. “That can be helpful in terms of building the long-range strategy, and that will, hopefully, inform how this campaign against ISIS plays out and also informs the contingency planning.” The Obama administration’s Middle East policy has come under heavy criticism. Decisions have yet to be made about whether to deploy special operations teams to call in more precise airstrikes in Iraq, or the level of support that will be given to Syrian rebels that the coalition plans to train to battle the Islamic State. “I think that a
‘ This message it
sends [is that] the secretary seems to want to lead from the front when it comes to working with the military commanders and the analysts on the ground in the region in terms of having a thorough campaign against the Islamic State.
’
Nicholas Herat a Middle East expert at the Center for a New American Security
lot of what he has done or been doing as secretary of defense [is] working at issues which clearly needed to be addressed, where there was a need for urgent action,” said Anthony Cordesman, a defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Some in Washington believe Carter’s predecessor, Chuck Hagel, was a solid manager of the Defense Department but was too deferential when it came to developing and articulating war strategies. During his first trip as Pentagon chief, Carter demonstrated that he wants to have a strong hand in policymaking. SEE PAGE 3
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COVER STORY
In first testimony as DOD chief, Ash Carter defends defense budget BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN Stars and Stripes
A
JONATHAN ERNST/AP
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter holds a news conference on his first overseas trip since starting the Pentagon job at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, on Feb. 22. The United States is considering slowing its military exit from Afghanistan by keeping a larger-thanplanned troop presence this year and next because the new Afghan government is proving to be a more reliable partner, Carter said. FROM PAGE 2
“He’s clearly trying to set a different tone, and I think he’s succeeded in doing that,” said Kenneth Pollack, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution. “He’s made it clear to a whole variety of people that he’s really determined to become intimately involved with all of the different policy issues related to U.S. security, that he’s going to take a fresh look at them [and] he’s not simply going to be willing to continue the policies of the past. And he wants to examine them right from the start, and ask if the United States is doing the right thing, and if not, what should we be doing instead?” Hagel got off to a terrible start as secretary of defense following a weak performance at his confirmation hearing. Political observers believe it damaged his standing within the power centers in Washington, and it was difficult for him to recover. With less than two years to make his mark and cement his legacy, Carter needed to show political strength right out of the gate. “When you do [what Carter did], you show you’re taking charge … A secretary of defense has to take charge [because] this is a very different cabinet position” than any other and it’s more complicated, Cordesman said. “A secretary of defense that doesn’t demonstrate that he is going to be really active is a serious problem.” The Obama White House has been accused of micromanaging the military, and Hagel was viewed as having less influence than other members of the president’s national security team. During his first trip, Carter made it clear that his voice will be loud. “I’m not going to pull any punches; I’ll say it exactly the way I see it …,” Carter said during a troop talk in Kandahar. “That’s
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what [Obama] deserves. He won’t necessarily do what I recommend, OK. Fair enough. He’s the president, I’m not. But he deserves to hear what I say and what I think. “One person, no matter how able they are, couldn’t possibly get on top of all those things. He needs help. And one of my jobs is to help him, and then to carry out those instructions.” Carter is Obama’s fourth secretary of defense. Leon Panetta and Hagel each served in the post for less than two years, and Obama has been criticized for cycling through so many Pentagon leaders. “It gives him some extra freedom to maneuver, because obviously, this White House doesn’t want him to resign as well. That would be a real political black eye for them,” Pollack said. Cordesman said Carter won’t get fired unless he publicly clashes with the president on the budget or troop levels. He believes that the new secretary of defense is politically savvy enough to play the game well in Washington. Experts predict that Carter will be a strong defense chief going forward. “Considering his experience, with different jobs in the Pentagon, considering his intellect, his energy, the fact that he was known and respected by the military, all of those things argue, to me, that he was going to make a very effective secretary,” Perry said. Cordesman credited Obama for tapping Carter for the job at such a turbulent time. “I think that the president made a wise choice,” he said. Stars and Stripes editor Patrick Dickson contributed to this report. harper.jon@stripes.com Twitter: @JHarperStripes
WASHINGTON U.S. military officer’s media briefing about plans for an Iraqi-led ground offensive in Mosul, including its expected timing, amounted to a disclosure of “military secrets,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday. The briefer, whose Feb. 19 presentation for reporters at the Pentagon was authorized by U.S. Central Command, said the U.S. wanted the Iraqis to launch the offensive in Mosul in April or May, although he also said it might go later. “That clearly was neither accurate information nor, had it been accurate, would have been information that should be blurted out to the press,” Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “So it’s wrong on both scores.” In his first Congressional testimony since being confirmed, Carter otherwise seemed to follow his predecessor Chuck Hagel. He stuck to safe political ground, calling the White House’s proposed 2016 defense budget “responsible and prudent” while being questioned by committee members. But Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, who joined him to represent the military, said the budget proposal is “at the bottom edge of manageable risk,” undercutting Carter’s assurances and pushing the message that more money is needed. Carter is just two weeks into the Pentagon’s top job and still establishing his leadership style following what many considered a
lackluster tenure by former senator and Vietnam vet Hagel, who was often overshadowed by Dempsey and other military leaders. In a Senate hearing last year, Hagel told lawmakers that the Obama administration would not send ground troops to Iraq to fight the Islamic State. Dempsey then pushed the envelope by saying he would consider using such forces in the future if needed — a move that broke open an ongoing debate about the possibility of a ground war. On Tuesday, Carter told senators that President Barack Obama’s proposed $534 billion budget — $38 billion over the cap — will allow the military to defend the country and fight wars, while also warning that funding the military under the smaller cap could create a national security crisis. Dempsey testified that the military is stressed by high deployment tempos and enemies are beginning to catch up and “level the playing field” in space defense and cyberwarfare. The White House proposed defense budget is “what we need to remain … at the bottom edge of manageable risk to our national defense,” Dempsey said. “As the chairman said, there is no slack, no margin left for error or room for strategic surprise.” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and the ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., are leading a push in Congress for even more defense dollars than what the Obama administration has requested. The Associated Press contributed to this report. tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten
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Specialized RB-66s assisted F-105 aircraft to bomb in North Vietnam’s frequently poor weather conditions.
BY WYATT OLSON
I
Stars and Stripes
n 1964, Keith Connolly was a young Air Force pilot and was among the first Americans to fly sorties in the F-100 Super Sabre fighter bomber targeting the North Vietnamese communist insurgency. “The atmosphere was that we were going over there to provide the firepower necessary to bring the North Vietnamese to their knees,” said Connolly, who now lives in Arizona after retiring from 35 years in the Air Force. The average American back then paid scant attention to the long-simmering civil war on the Indochina peninsula, where the U.S. had sent military advisors but was not yet involved in direct ground combat. “It was the only war in town, and it was going to be over with tomorrow,” Connelly recalled. “Boy, were we wrong.” On March 2, 1965, the U.S. commenced such bombing raids in earnest with Operation Rolling Thunder, a massive, joint Navy-Air Force campaign of more than 300,000 attack sorties over 3½ years. Connolly and hundreds of other Air Force and Navy pilots would be drawn into that bombing campaign focused on North Vietnam, an operation now largely regarded as a failure that escalated U.S. involvement in the civil war, pulled American ground troops into combat and led to scores of downed U.S. flyers spending years in North Vietnam POW camps. “What it led to was an escalation of military force on the American side and a corresponding effort to keep up on the Vietnamese side, which lasted for another 10 years,” said Marilyn B. Young, a history professor at New York University who co-edited the book “Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam, Or, How Not to Learn from the Past.” “I think Rolling Thunder was a profound failure.”
Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force
‘Profound failure’ Rolling Thunder escalated U.S. involvement in the civil war and pulled ground troops into combat “It was just a mess, from start to finish,” said James H. Willbanks, a veteran of the war and author of numerous books on the subject, including “Abandoning Vietnam: How America Left and South Vietnam Lost its War.” Scholars point to numerous reasons Rolling Thunder was
ineffective: heavy-handed restrictions on targets, shifting and vague operational goals, underestimation of the enemy, lack of intensity and confused evaluation. “And in the process, we lost over 500 aircraft to no particular end,” Willbanks said.
No magic formula Rolling Thunder sprang from a cantankerous debate and mutual mistrust between President Lyndon Johnson’s civilian security advisers, particularly Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, and top military officials over how to
deal militarily with the spread of communist insurgency in Southeast Asia. Johnson’s advisers argued for waging of a limited war, a concept that was largely anathema to military heads who had cut their teeth on the full-scale World War II. SEE PAGE 6
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STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
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FROM PAGE 4
Such a limited bombing campaign would employ gradual pressure on North Vietnam “until they finally reached the point where the North Vietnamese leadership would say, ‘We give. We say uncle,’ ” said Edward Marolda, a naval historian and author of “By Sea, Air and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the War in Southeast Asia.” “If you’re not achieving success when you start bombing, then you would increase the bombing and military pressure,” Marolda said. But there was always a self-imposed “ceiling” on that pressure because Johnson and McNamara feared that bombing too intensely — or too close to the border of China — could trigger direct Chinese or Soviet Union intervention on behalf of North Vietnam, he said. “They did not want to generate World War III,” he said, but the U.S. never found that “magic formula” of pressure. “As it turned out, gradual escalation gave the enemy time to improve anti-aircraft defenses and to take other measures to reduce the impact of the bombing,” said Mark Moyar, author of “Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965.” When North Vietnam did not cave in, Rolling Thunder morphed into “Plan B,” with a goal of stemming the flow of supplies and personnel to the insurgency in the South, primarily through the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Marolda said.
Pilots in danger As Rolling Thunder rumbled on, missions became ever more risky for the men flying them. Connolly recalled that the anti-aircraft gunners in North Vietnam in 1964 were “not that good.” “They were like us,” he said. “In fact, in our squadron, we did not have a person who had been involved in combat before. This was all new to us.” When Connolly went back for his second tour of duty, he found that Rolling Thunder had ushered in a new era. “When I returned in ’65 and
things got more intense and we started losing more air crews, it became very apparent that we had underestimated our foe,” he said. “In the early days, when you’d go across a target, they’d shoot at you. They weren’t horribly accurate. Later on, they wouldn’t shoot at you until they got the ideal shot. They became much more disciplined. “Conversely, we got better at our job, which was basically getting into the target, delivering munitions and escaping.” Some didn’t escape. Among them was Sen. John McCain, then a Navy aviator who was shot down near Hanoi in October 1967 and spent the next six years as a POW. The pilots Connolly flew with in those days were a small, tightly knit group. “There were not a lot of fighter pilots, particularly who were flying the F-100 or the F-105,” he said. “We all knew each other because we rotated around that system. So if you didn’t know the guy personally — and many of them you did — you knew someone who did. So each loss was amplified by the fact that, hey, we lost a really good guy here or there or he went in and we never heard from him. “It’s always tough when you’ve lost three of four people on a given sortie and the next day you have to go up there again.”
Ground war Rolling Thunder ushered in American ground combat because such a vast operation had to rely on more jets based in South Vietnam, aside from aircraft sortieing from Thailand and carriers at sea. “So you’re going to have to put airplanes on the ground in Vietnam, and that’s in fact why in March of ’65 we put the Marines ashore in Da Nang, to secure the air base,” Willbanks said. “And of course, once you get the Marines ashore, you can’t secure an air base by sitting in the wire. You’ve got to patrol, and pretty soon what starts as a defensive means looks very much like offensive operations. And fairly quickly we’re in a real, no-kidding shooting war on the ground.”
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Johnson tacitly admitted that Rolling Thunder had failed by announcing in March 1968 he would not run for re-election and that the U.S. was going to enter peace negotiations with North Vietnam, Marolda said. In the decades since Rolling Thunder officially ended in the fall of 1968, the operation has routinely been held up as classic example of the pitfalls of political micromanagement of war. “There’s some truth to that,” said Christian G. Appy, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and author of “American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity.” “But what should not be forgotten is that while there were some constraints on bombing in the North, our bombing of the South was utterly unconstrained,” Appy said, adding that 4 million tons of bombs were dropped on the South, compared with 1 million tons in the North. Appy argues that despite the destruction of Rolling Thunder, it had no impact because there was no military solution to be had in Vietnam. “So long as the government in South Vietnam didn’t have the sufficient support of its own people, the American objective of creating a permanent, non-communist country called South Vietnam was just not going to happen.”
The legacy Moyar said Rolling Thunder is an example of America’s recurring tendency to overestimate air power. “The precision of air power has improved greatly since Vietnam, but we continue to see the nation’s enemies adapting in ways that limit the damage that can be inflicted from the air.”
Phases of Operation Rolling Thunder Phase 1, March 2-summer 1965: American airpower mainly targeted the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and its limited industrial base. Once planned for eight weeks, the campaign ended 44 months later. Phase 2, summer 1965-winter 1966-67: Aimed at degrading North Vietnam’s capability to infiltrate and send men into South Vietnam. Phase 3, spring 1967-early 1968: Focused on industrial and transportation targets in and around Hanoi, Hai Phong and 10-mile buffer zone near the China border. As of Dec. 31, 1967, according to the Department of Defense: � 864,000 tons of American bombs had been dropped on North Vietnam during Rolling Thunder. � 653,000 tons were dropped during the entire Korean War. � 503,000 tons were dropped in the Pacific theater during World War II. By October 1968, Rolling Thunder reportedly had destroyed: � 77 percent of ammunition depots � More than 60 percent of oil storage facilities � Almost 60 percent of North Vietnamese power plants � More than 50 percent of major bridges � 12,500 vessels � 10,000 vehicles � 2,000 railroad cars and engines Estimate of total casualties: � 1,000 North Vietnamese per week, or about 90,000 for the 44-month period, 72,000 of whom were civilians � 745 crewmen shot down; 145 rescued, 255 killed, 222 captured (23 of whom died in captivity), and 123 missing � 454 Naval aviators killed, captured or missing during combined operations over North Vietnam and Laos � 506 U.S. Air Force, 397 Navy, and 19 Marine Corps aircraft lost over or near North Vietnam SOURCES: CIA, Department of Defense, history.com
Col. Gregory Daddis, an academy professor of history at West Point, said he advises his students to look to history for perspective rather than specific lessons because context changes over time. “In the case with Rolling Thunder, I think there’s something to be learned here about an honest dialogue between civilian policymakers and senior military leaders about what military force can achieve,” Daddis said.
Stars and Stripes
A germane question Rolling Thunder raises is what beliefs and assumptions did civilian and military leaders hold that made them believe the U.S. could bend or break the will of Hanoi’s leaders through the military, in particular air power, he said. “That’s important because it suggests that military power might not always be able to help you achieve your political objectives,” he said. olson.wyatt@stripes.com
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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.
©2013 CBC National Bank is a FDIC insured chartered commercial bank approved VA Lender #6720800000. NMLS #402135
At a glance
The Vietnam experience
Time to Refinance
Rich Moore, Mortgage Banker NMLS# 211177 toll free: 855.313.8138
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ALASKA EDITION
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crossword
A T-OUGH PUZZLE By Richard Auer
98 Cosmetic safety org.
16 Maladjusted person
72 Christmas dinner bird
56 Lennon’s bride
99 Castle’s waterway
73 “Active” start
101 Places for taking off
ACROSS
57 Carpet layer’s calculation
17 Fragrant hair dressing
103 Electronics giant, once
19 Long-legged shore bird
75 Single or homer, e.g.
21 Comparatively rational
1
Witches’ brews
8
Hangs on a line
lozenge
58 Campus building, for short
74 “No ___ to apologize” 76 Lake bordering Buffalo
13 Rapscallion
59 “___ got it!”
104 Auto assembly-line add-on
18 Be a resident of
60 Ballerina’s garment
106 2002 animated movie
27 Partiality
78 Rush furiously, as a river
19 “The Treasure of the ___ Madre”
61 Kind of exam or history
109 Certain Native American homes
29 “That’s disgusting!”
79 Campfire remnant
32 Careful examinations
81 Salt source
20 Recorded books, e.g.
62 Batman alter ego Bruce
111 Pain-loving person
83 The price of education
112 Where to pull the plug
34 ___ ball (hot toy of 1988)
63 Old King and Nat King
113 Cast a spell over
35 Revealed, in slang
23 Cargo ship
65 Makes a mistake
114 Tibetan monks
24 TV type
66 They’re not good to be behind
115 Scrawny chicken parts
36 Worshipper’s distance?
67 Bart Simpson is one
116 Has a dwelling
22 Like the king of the jungle
25 Balloon filler 26 Albatross, e.g. 28 Remove, as from office
68 “Stop!” 69 Big John’s way out
DOWN
30 Bleacher creature
70 Circle segment
1
31 Hoopster’s ref-baiting move
71 Stereotypical snacks for cops
Eastern dish of meat and rice (var.)
2
Playwright Eugene
33 With cunning (var.)
75 They save the day
3
34 Plane-swatting King
77 Oil-rich land
It follows a warrant showing
36 General helper
80 Court hearings
37 Chimney parts
81 Satellite radio giant
39 Bit of body art, slangily
82 Big-eared equine
38 “It’s all the ___ to me” 40 Maneuver through the mud 41 Figures of speech 42 Santa ___, Calif. 44 Prime-time hrs.
85 Starched and pleated collars 86 Severe experience 87 It’s south of South Sudan 88 Women’s reproductive cells 89 Special Forces headwear 91 Epoch when mammals appeared
45 Bird of paradise feature
92 Minimal amounts
47 Italian marble
95 Wizards
48 Succotash ingredient
96 ___ of the crime 99 Clifflike, flat-topped elevation
4
“At Seventeen” singer Janis
5
“The Mikado” sashes
49 A “shalt not”
Dressed to the ___
50 It’s made by a long fermentation
100 Food for Fido
51 Contest submissions
101 Type of daytime show
52 Awakens suddenly
102 Min. fractions
53 Tropical African tree
105 Lacking brightness
54 Aquatic rodent
107 Conductor’s signal
55 Brooks
108 And so forth (abbr.) 110 ___ Beta Kappa
83 Barfly
6
40 Much in demand
84 Honoring, in a way
7 Cat-footed
43 Sales meeting diagrams
85 Engaged in disorderly play
8
“Dear” book
9
Split apart
45 Novels have them
89 Car-grille covering
10 Aggravate
46 Some strands in a cell
90 Fred’s wife on “I Love Lucy”
11 Before, back and forth
47 Buddy-buddy
93 Persuade
12 Island wear
58 Matt of Hollywood
13 Easy marks
49 Less delicate
94 Combatant or contestant
60 Attack aggressively
14 Unorthodox sect
62 Somewhat broad
53 Deep voices
95 Cat chatter
63 Grasshopper’s trill
54 Throat-soothing
97 Slender woodwind
15 Org. on toothpaste tubes
48 End the business day
84 ___ A to Z
64 Feed-bag contents
Last week’s answers
8
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9
ALASKA EDITION
OPINION
Military Benefits Cuts are Coming; Tricare By Major Mike Dryden USAR Retired
F
or veterans, seeing temporary politicians take a knife to the military budget is nothing new. For some elected officials, low hanging fruit like retirement pay and Tricare healthcare insurance is an easy choice since so it directly affects so few voters. For those of us who began their military career with a “Greeting from Uncle Sam” letter from the draft board, we assumed we had a contract with the Federal government. That contract was if we spend 20 years in the military, and we would be rewarded with a pension and free healthcare. Well, guess what my fellow veterans? Now that we have completed with our service, the Federal government obligation isn’t as solid as we thought. The perpetual sub-committees on military budget reduction are once again looking at a redefinition of retirement benefits for new recruits with a ‘‘promise” not to touch current retirees’ benefits. If you believe that line. I have a bridge to sell you in the Mohave. Some trial balloons that are being floated are combining the commissary and Post/Base Exchange systems. The rationale is both serve the same purposes and sell similar items. This proposal is such an absurd statement on its surface; I will only respond by saying the PX/BX system operates without appropriated funds and provides money to operate MWR facilities for military families. The commissary, in my humble opinion, has gotten itself into a tail wagging the dog situation that is a solvable internal problem. Service members view commissary privileges as a core benefit and should be off the table.
best watchdogs for these clandestine changes so subscribe to all the blogs and newsletters you can. Keep our congressional delegation numbers on speed dial. The Veteran Administration is back in the news so the honeymoon for the new VA Secretary, Robert “Bob” McDonald, must be over. This situation may come as a shock to you, but nothing beyond eye candy has been accomplished. The VA has a new slogan; I CARE and I, for one, feel better already. According to The Arizona Republic, a snafu caused the selection one of the key personnel in the investigation process into the Phoenix Veterans Health Care Center, who has a conflict of interest. Karen Craig, the Phoenix VA’s longtime executive secretary, worked directly for the former head, Sharon Helman before Helman was suspended and eventually terminated. Craig handled logistical duties and had no part in witness interviews or the deliberative processes. Given the pristine track record of the VA reporting system, I cannot understand why ANYONE would have viewed this as a conflict of interest. The investigation has been suspended until the situation is resolved. As a follow-up, Sharon Helman was not fired for falsifying records and delaying care that cost veterans their life. Her fatal sin was going on a lobbyist paid junket just like all members of Congress do every year.
This situation may come as a shock to you, but nothing beyond eye candy has been accomplished. The VA has a new slogan; I CARE and I, for one, feel better already.
I was shocked, shocked to find this out. Say it ain’t so, Joe. This revelation has to rank right up there with Senator Ted Stevens’ federal prosecutors walking free without any punishment for lying and withholding evidence.
I should sum this article up as SNAFU and FUBAR. The 20-year retirement with 50% base pay has always Kids ask your Dad what these acronyms mean. been a target. For the uninformed readers, this figure is different than half of the retiree’s last paycheck; it’s closer to a third since housing, specialty pay, and allowances aren’t calculated into base pay. A thrift saving plan like other Federal workers that is vested after a short period would be an improvement for both the taxpayers and the service members. Only organizations with no financial acumen would ever obligate future generations with a defined benefits plan that automatically increases with the CPI as opposed to a defined contribution plan. Changing Tricare benefits has been floated every year since its inception so brace for cuts. The Affordable Care Act will not be cost neutral and will have to be funded from Medicare and Tricare recipients. At present, no change to current Tricare clients is proposed, and I don’t expect to be in the next Congress. Last minute deals, however, have a way of surfacing so we will be on guard. Service organizations are the
One cowhide can produce 10 footballs.
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 © 2015 National University NU14_1705-35
10
ALASKA EDITION
March 6, 2015
March 6, 2015 Friday, March 6, 2015
11
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
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PAGE 11
MILITARY
Can senators block A-10 move? BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — Senators are trying to block the Air Force from moving 18 A-10 Thunderbolts into its backup fleet, saying it amounts to a “back-door divestment” as lawmakers continue to debate the future of the aircraft. The group of eight lawmakers led by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., say the move will unnecessarily syphon off A10 personnel and reduce the military’s ability to provide effect close air support to infantry troops. The sidelining of up to 36 of the aircraft, also known as the Warthog, was approved by Congress in last year’s defense budget. But A-10 supporters on Capitol Hill have not given up a legislative battle that is set to continue through this year’s budget process over an Air Force proposal to retire the A-10, which the service says will save money and make way for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. “Despite the growing need for the (close air support) capabilities that the A-10 provides, as evidenced by the deployment of A-10s to fight ISIS (the Islamic State group) and deter ad-
ditional aggression in Europe, the Air a shrinking force. The Force continues to attempt to pursue Air Force and the a ‘back-door’ divestment of the A-10 other military using a (backup aircraft inventory) services face plan,” Ayotte and her fellow senators a budget cap wrote in a Feb. 25 letter. this year that About 300 Air Force personnel and is putting 12 A-10s from Davis-Monthan Air even more Force Base in Arizona arrived last pressure on month at Spangdahlem Air Base in spendGermany as tensions with Russia over Ukraine rose. On Feb. 27, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said about 30 percent of close-air-support sorties have been flown by Courtesy of the the A-10 during the ing. U.S. Air Force wars in Iraq and The Afghanistan. It accounted senators acfor about 11 percent of total sorties knowledged that the plans would free against the Islamic State group in Iraq up valuable airmen but and Syria even though it entered battle several months after the conflict began said the Air Force should find “other last August, according to the secretary. ways to meet maintenance personnel In the authorization passed last requirements that do not involve gutyear by Congress — despite strong ting the readiness of our nation’s best resistance — allows the service to close air support aircraft.” move maintenance personnel out of The Air Force said Feb. 27 that it is A-10 units and reduce flight hours as holding off on moving the remaining 18 it seeks to redistribute funding across Warthogs into its backup fleet, called
SHOP BUCK
BAI, despite the defense budget authorization. “While we are authorized by Congress to put 36 aircraft into BAI status, doing that now would require taking down an entire squadron. Out of respect for the intent of Congress, we’re placing 18 aircraft in BAI status,” James said in a released statement. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said the service will revisit the decision later this year. “This action represents the difficult choices required to balance between maintaining the capacity to meet current operational requirements and the resource investment required to keep our modernization efforts on schedule,” Welsh said in a written statement. tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten
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March 6, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
PAGE 12
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Friday, March 6, 2015
MILITARY
Actor Vaughn visits, takes new movie to California air base BY JENNIFER HLAD Stars and Stripes
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Vince Vaughn was filming “Wedding Crashers” when he learned that Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. The death of the pro-football-playerturned-soldier really affected Vaughn, he said, and he immediately called the USO to see if he could bring his then-new comedy, “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” to the troops. The call led to his first USO tour, in June 2004. The following year, he traveled the world screening “Wedding Crashers” for servicemembers. On Saturday, Vaughn flew to this isolated desert base 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles for his third USO tour, meeting a handful of airmen and their families before introducing an advance screening of his newest comedy, “Unfinished Business.” Vaughn’s father served in the Navy, one of his sisters served in the Army
Reserve and Texas Army National Guard, and his family has a tradition of military service dating to the American Revolution, he said, so he enjoys It’s nice being able to bring to be in a a few laughs to serving now. position to those “It’s nice to be say thank in a position to say thank you,” Vaughn you. It’s said. “It’s inspiring inspiring to be around such inspiring people.” to be Vaughn landed around at Edwards on such Saturday afternoon and spent time at inspiring the on-post library people. talking to and Vince Vaughn taking photos with actor about two dozen airmen and their families before heading to the base theater to introduce the movie. Vaughn laughed as he told the airmen that on his first USO tour, shortly
‘
’
PHHOTOS
BY
JENNIFER HLAD/Stars and Stripes
Vince Vaughn meets with airmen at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Saturday. after “Dodgeball” was released, he was surprised that many deployed servicemembers had already seen the movie — illegally recorded versions purchased overseas. This time, he said, he hoped he was able to actually give troops their first look at his new movie, which isn’t due to be released until Friday. Airman 1st Class Logan Patrick, of Sherwood, Ore., said he was impressed that Vaughn took the time to come visit Edwards. “It’s not every day you get to meet someone who is in movies,” he said. “It’s just a cool experience.” Airman 1st Class Nick Ledbetter, of Montgomery, Ala., said he thought the movie was awesome, and called the
event itself “a huge morale booster.” “There’s not a lot to do around here,” he said, so having a movie screening was particularly special. Senior Airman Jacob Fowler, of Jacksonville, Fla., agreed. “This makes us feel a little important once in a while,” he said. Vaughn said he enjoys spending time talking to servicemembers, and though he can’t see himself “flying stuff,” the Air Force would likely be his choice if he joined the service, he said. “The Air Force bases do seem to be the nicest.” hlad.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @jhlad
March 6, 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 Y E
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Hint: This inventor never patented his creations, stating that this helped define his social innovation “paying it forward”. Last week’s answer: “The hand of the aggressor is stayed by strength — and strength alone.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
word search V
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Created with TheTeachersCorner.net Word Search Maker
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Barbie
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Frozen Food
Crabmeat
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Anthem
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Cold Cuts
Salesperson
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Previous week’s answers
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.
14
STARS AND STRIPES • STARS
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FDA: Prozac ingredient M found in drug supplement Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — A fitness supplement that was twice pulled from exchange store shelves, first following soldier deaths and then after an outbreak of liver disease, has now been found to contain the active ingredient in the prescription drug Prozac, the Food and Drug Administration announced Saturday. OxyElite Pro Super Thermogenic is sold as a weightloss supplement but the FDA said it has discovered the product contains fluoxetine, a drug used in treating mental disorders such as depression, bulimia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Fluoxetine and other drugs in its class can have serious side effects such as suicidal thinking, seizures and abnormal bleeding, the FDA said in its warning. The agency said consumers should not buy or use OxyElite Pro. The Marine Corps Exchange, the Navy Exchange and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service said Monday that they do not stock it. The supplement was first pulled from military bases in 2011 after it and other supplements were found to contain the unregulated synthetic stimulant methylhexanamine, known as DMAA, which was suspected in the deaths of two soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas. The manufacturer,
Friday, March 6, 2015
Caregivers of veterans with ALS need support
MILITARY
BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN
March 6, 2015
OxyElite Pro Super Thermogenic is sold as a weight-loss supplement but the FDA said it has discovered the product contains fluoxetine, a drug used in treating mental disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and bulimia. USPLabs, removed DMAA and tweaked the ingredients in 2013. But soon after the FDA said the supplement was suspected in 24 cases of nonviral hepatitis in Hawaii and appeared to contain an ingredient called aegeline, which had no history in the food supply and had not been safety tested. Lawyers representing USPLabs wrote a letter to the FDA about its warning Saturday saying the company did not produce the OxyElite Pro found to contain fluoxetine. It said production of the supplement stopped in May 2013. “USPLabs immediately conducted an investigation and determined that the product shown in the [FDA] public notification and tested by FDA was not manufactured or distributed by or for the company. It is a counterfeit,” Covington and Burling, a business and corporate law firm, wrote in the letter posted on USPLabs’ website. The supplement was not
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
listed Monday among the company’s products on its website. A separate website dedicated to OxyElite Pro contained a legal disclaimer in small print at the top and bottom of the page: “This site is not run by or affiliated with USPLabs in any way.” The unaffiliated website also included advertisements and links to Amazon sales of EpiBurn Pro, a product labeled with the company’s logo and listed on its official website. The USPLabs letter to the FDA said a “brief Internet search” found a Brazilian website selling OxyElite Pro and that might have been the source of the samples that the FDA found contained fluoxetine. “Neither USPLabs nor its contract manufacturers has ever ordered or in any way handled fluoxetine for any purpose of any kind,” according to the letter. tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten
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.
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ary Ward said she it is impossible for a person sometimes feels with ALS to get through a day invisible. In reality, alone.” she is indispensThe rate of progression varable, the sole caregiver for her ies among individual ALS sufveteran husband, Tom, who has ferers. Diagnosed in 2010 when amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. he was 55, Tom still has use of ALS is “a lonesome disease,” his right hand, is able to speak, Mary said. “You feel grief all eat and walk limited distances. the time at different levels. You He uses a breathing machine want to be able to say that you only at night. He can use the feel sad, but people don’t like computer and is learning to that. They don’t want to adplay slide guitar, a technique dress this with you.” that allows him to make music Mary grieves for what ALS with limited use of his left has taken from her husband, hand. He was practicing his piece by piece — his indepenguitar while Mary spoke with dence — and for what it will me from their North Carolina eventually take — his life. home. There is no cure for the pro“He has an indomitable gressive disease, which kills by spirit,” she said. “We have two destroying motor neurons and grown chilconsequently, muscle control. SPOUSE CALLS dren. Our ALS is rare, affecting about daughter is a 30,000 Americans at any given teacher, and time, mostly men and includour son is a ing a disproportionate number soldier. Tom of veterans. Male military is a rock for veterans of all branches and all all of us. He eras have a greater risk — up to doesn’t lose twice as high for Gulf War vettime feeling erans — to die from ALS than sad about it.” men who have not served in the Mary said military, according to the ALS they try to Terri Barnes Association. The cause, like the make the cause for the most of their disease itself, Join the conversation with Terri at days, focusstripes.com/go/spousecalls is unknown. ing on what The DeTom can do partment of rather than Veterans Affairs classifies ALS what he can’t. He can no longer as a presumptive service-concarry a full cup of coffee, but nected condition. Veterans he can still drink it — for now. with ALS can receive medical The unpredictability of the care, disability compensation, disease’s progression means grants to adapt their homes and the Wards don’t know what will vehicles and other equipment come next or when. they require as the disease “There’s no road map,” said progresses. Mary. “You can’t say, ‘We’re Tom needs help showering, in stage four,’ but it’s a disease shaving and dressing, so Mary of losses. You’re never looking left her full-time teaching job to toward independence. You’re become his full-time caregiver. always looking toward more deShe works from home when pendence. When I lie in bed at she can, revising curriculum night and listen to the machine and teaching online classes, her breathing in and out for him income a fraction of what she … I think how much I’m going used to earn. However, because to miss him and how much I Tom’s military service was in already miss the life we had.” the 1970s, Mary doesn’t qualify That’s part of accepting for the stipend provided to Tom’s condition, Mary said, but caregivers of disabled post-9/11 the couple chooses not to live in veterans. This is an injustice, mourning. Mary said. “Mostly we live our lives in “There should not be a the best way possible. We fill dividing line between pre- and our days with as many good post-9/11 caregivers. That is things as we can,” she said. not equal protection under the “Tom lets me be sad, and then law,” she said. “Were it not for we get on with it. He just feels the caregiver of the veteran that everyone has something to with ALS, they would have to deal with in this world and this hire full-time care or go into a is his. He’s not going to stop livnursing home. At some point ing while he’s still alive.”
March 6, 2015
STARS AND STRIPES
a hand UP not a handout. “Bean’s Cafe The Children’s Lunchbox”
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March 6, 2015 Friday, March 6, 2015
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