Volume 6, No. 26 ©SS 2014
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2014
A father revealed Returned letters reveal side of man never known to children, promise kept for nearly 50 years Page 2
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COVER STORY Van Wissem was stationed in Okinawa, and when he went off to fight in Vietnam, he left behind a treasure trove of photographs, letters and postcards that reveal happier times, before the war. His children were reunited with the items this month, thanks to Seikichi Tamanaha and his four-decade-old promise to the man who would become their father. Tamanaha never gave up hope of finding Van Wissem or his family to return the items. The 81-year-old Tamanaha still wears Van Wissem’s faded green military jacket when he does yard work at his home in Ginowan. “Who would save something for such a long period of time for a stranger?” said Van Wissem’s daughter, Chantal Dortants-Van Wissem, from her home in the Netherlands. “It’s amazing.”
‘It’s history’
M ATTHEW M. BURKE /Stars and Stripes
Seikichi Tamanaha, 81, wears the jacket of Army Pfc. Pierre Mathieu Van Wissem in his Ginowan, Okinawa, garden where the men met almost 50 years ago. Van Wissem asked Tamanaha to hold onto his belongings while he went to Vietnam but he never returned. Despite Van Wissem’s death in 2003, Tamanaha returned the items to Van Wissem’s children this month.
A promise kept By Matthew M. Burke and Chiyomi Sumida Stars and Stripes CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa rmy Pfc. Pierre Mathieu Van Wissem went to Vietnam in 1965, and part of him never came home. After being wounded and deserting from a hospital in Germany, he went on to marry, become a father, divorce and run several businesses in Europe before quietly passing away in France in 2003. His children loved him but thought he was constantly fending off an ever-present shadow from the war. More than 10 years after his death, they learned new things about his life — thanks to a tenacious elderly Okinawan man.
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It has been nearly 50 years since the balmy day when Van Wissem stopped by Tamanaha’s yard with a favor to ask. The quiet and mild-mannered soldier with the “gentle look on his face” had never spoken with his landlord — and they would never speak again — but that fleeting moment forever linked the two men. “He asked me to keep two boxes that contained his belongings while he was away,” Tamanaha said recently. “He promised me he’d be back in three months. I had a feeling that he had gone to war.” It was April 1965 when Van Wissem, then a member of 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade, left Okinawa, according to military records and the 1964 1/503rd Yearbook. The records don’t say where he was headed, and there is gap of a couple of months in his service record. The U.S. had just officially entered into the war with Vietnam with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution a few months earlier. Japan was quickly becoming a launch pad for forces heading to southeast Asia. Members of the 1/503rd at the time recalled advanced parties being flown into Vietnam on May 4 and the rest of the brigade deploying the next day.
Continuing series Stars and Stripes looks back at the Vietnam War and the cultural changes that surrounded it. With contributions from the men and women who were there, we will examine how the war was executed, how it changed our military and foreign policy thinking, and how America viewed itself then and now.
stripes.com/ vietnam50
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Share your memories Fifty years later, the war in Vietnam still elicits strong emotions. As part of our coverage of the anniversary, Stars and Stripes is looking for your personal recollections of the war: the victories, the losses, the defining moments and the enduring memories from the divisive conflict. Share your memories at stripes.com/vietnam50, or send them to Vietnam at 50, Stars and Stripes, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC 20045. Please include your name and phone number in case we need more information.
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Promise: Landlord finally looked in soldier’s boxes after six years The 1/503rd deployed to Vung Tau and the rest of the brigade deployed to Bien Hoa, according to Craig Ford of 1/503rd’s Charlie Company. It took several days to fly everyone in. Some of the support troops traveled by boat. Ford said that they were on temporary duty of 90-120 days, which could be why Van Wissem thought he would be returning to Okinawa. But the unit was permanently reassigned to Vietnam. After Van Wissem left Okinawa, Tamanaha went to the home down the street from his own that he had rented to Van Wissem and several other American soldiers. There, in Van Wissem’s meticulous room, he found two boxes, each about 5 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall. They were tightly covered and nailed shut. Tamanaha lugged the boxes to his home and put them deep in his closet for safe keeping, never telling his family about them, he said. Then he watched as days turned into months, and months turned into years. “After he left Okinawa, I was told that he was with a parachute squadron and that not many troops survived,” Tamanaha said. “So I have been wondering all these years.” After about six years, Tamanaha told the housing agent for his apartment about the boxes. Curiosity got the better of the two men and they decided to take a peek. Inside, they found a military uniform and jacket, a sleeping bag, a half-dozen surgical scissors, safety pins, neatly wrapped razor blades, as well as a bundle of photographs, negatives and letters. It was the little things that had endeared Van Wissem to his Japanese landlord even though they barely knew each other. There was something about the gentle nature of his face, his sincerity and the meticulous way he cleaned his room before he left and stored his belongings. “We hardly talked, but my impression about him is proven, I think, in the way he kept his personal belongings in the boxes,” he said. “I could tell he was a thorough and conscientious person.”
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M ATTHEW M. BURKE /Stars and Stripes
Stacks of photos and letters detailing the youth of Army Pfc. Pierre Mathieu Van Wissem are stacked on the table of retired Marine Mark Simmons at his home in Sasebo, Japan. Simmons took possession of the letters and photos on behalf of Seikichi Tamanaha to try and track down Van Wissem. Van Wissem is seen leaning back on his backpack with his eyes closed. Sensing Van Wissem might not come back, Tamanaha gave away some of the clothing, the sleeping bag and other items but could not bring himself to dispose of the photos and letters. “I decided to keep them for him because I know how much they meant to him,” he said. “All these years, I had some hope that he would come back one of these days to pick them up.” Hope faded with each passing year, especially the last 10, Tamanaha said. Holding these precious items weighed on him, until he finally decided to enlist some help. A few years ago, the silverhaired Japanese grandfather passed the photos to his daughter, Naoko, who passed them to her friend, Meiko Simmons, hoping that her Marine husband, retired Staff Sgt. Mark Simmons, could help track down Van Wissem. Naoko said the photos and letters seemed like unfinished homework to her father.
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Simmons retired from the Corps after 22 years in 1993 but lived and worked on Okinawa off and on from about 1972 to 2006 and lives today at Sasebo Naval Base, where he works in the environmental department. Wherever Simmons went, the photos and letters went with him. “It’s history; it’s the past; if it were me, I’d want them back,” Simmons said of the letters. Tamanaha “thought because I was in the service, I could track him down and give him his stuff back ... I thought it would be an interesting project.”
A father, revealed The piles of letters are mostly from young women from around the world as well as from Van Wissem’s family in Maastricht, the Netherlands. They depict a charmer who could be brash sometimes and displayed a temper but loved women, a good drink and steak dinners. He joined
the military in 1963 because he had gone to Canada and then to America in search of good-paying jobs. “I want you to know that I will never forget you, especially when I look at my ring that you gave me,” wrote a woman from Montreal. “Give my regards to your buddies and say that you also have a girl waiting for you on the other side of the ocean,” wrote another from Sweden. The photos were taken all over the world, from France to Montreal to Atlanta. Simmons paid for online services that track people down, but too many names came up. He tried to get Van Wissem’s military records but hit another wall. “I didn’t think it would be as difficult as it was,” he said. “I just kept running into dead ends, so I just gave up.” That’s when National Personnel Records Center management analyst Niels Zussblatt got involved and delivered bad news: He found a
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Dutch obituary online for Van Wissem, who died in 2003. However, he also found a lead on Van Wissem’s children, living in the Netherlands. “It was sad to learn that he had already gone, but yet I was very happy to hear that he was survived by his children,” Tamanaha said. “He survived the war, went home and had his own family. Learning about this made me very happy.” To Van Wissem’s children — daughter Dortants-Van Wissem and son Janneau Van Wissem — their father had always been an enigma. He lived in the Netherlands most of his life and was a successful businessman. But he never talked about his past and was often emotionally disconnected. While he always put his children first, he suffered bouts of depression and rage. From what they have put together from things he left behind, letters from the Defense Department and hints he dropped over the years, they believe he went to Vietnam but was wounded soon after arriving. While recovering in Germany, he deserted. The war was a cloud that followed him for the rest of his life. “It left a mark on his soul,” Janneau said. “His decisions afterward were always influenced by what he saw or did in Vietnam, we think,” Chantal DortantsVan Wissem said. “He never told us. Mother always told us that is why he was depressed.” The letters showed that he wasn’t always “grumpy.” At one time, he was that young, sincere, soldier with the gentle face, mugging for the camera next to a beautiful woman. After helping the Van Wissem children to better understand their father more than 10 years after his death, from halfway around the world, Tamanaha’s work is done. He was overwhelmed to think that the treasured letters and items had finally reached his children — “the right place where the items and his thoughts belong,” he said, “I feel like I had a longtime weight finally lifted off my chest.” burke.matt@stripes.com
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NAVY
Sunset for strong fleet?
Courtesy of the U.S. Navy
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Reagan, above, will move to Japan, but not before the USS George Washington leaves in late 2015 for Virginia — and an overhaul. As a result, the U.S. will have no carrier in the Asia-Pacific region — just one of many shortfalls the fleet could face.
In era of tight budgets, opinions differ on necessary number of carriers BY JON H ARPER Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — Aircraft carriers are perhaps the most powerful expression of U.S. military might. They’re also expensive and potentially vulnerable. In an era of fiscal constraint, defense officials, lawmakers and the commander in chief must answer a question that could have enormous strategic consequences: How many are enough? Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of Naval Operations, believes he knows the answer. “We need 11, when you add [combatant commander requirements] with the contingencies that we are tasked
to respond to, in the time that we have to respond, and the capabilities that we have out there,” he told reporters last month. “... And so when I look out into the future, we need at least 11 carriers.” The Pentagon is considering retiring the carrier USS George Washington to save money if Congress doesn’t lift the budget caps imposed on the Defense Department. Such a move would cut the authorized carrier fleet from 11 to 10 ships. “We would have to change the way we do presence and the way we think about contingency response if we go to 10 aircraft carriers,” Greenert said. In that scenario, according to the Navy chief, the U.S. would have to accept
coverage gaps or change its force posture model. The Navy aims to always have three carriers on station in the strategically vital regions of the Western Pacific and the Middle East. How those three carriers are divvied up among those areas depends on the security situation in both places. Only a fraction of the fleet is at sea at any given time, due to maintenance and training. With 11 carriers, the Navy can maintain an average of 3.5 carriers deployed, according to retired Vice Adm. Peter Daly, who commanded a carrier strike group. The average is higher than three because when one carrier is relieving another in an area
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of operations, there are more than three carriers at sea. But with a 10-carrier fleet, that average number of carriers deployed drops to about 3.0, and there are times when fewer than three carriers are at sea, Daly said. With nine carriers, the deployment average drops to 2.5. Going down to eight would make it difficult to keep even two carriers deployed, according to Daly. The effects of having fewer than 11 carriers are already being seen. Right now, the Navy has only 10 available because the USS Enterprise was retired at the end of 2012, and its replacement, the USS Gerald R. Ford, won’t be ready until 2016 at the earliest.
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Carriers: Admiral says longer deployments can increase wear on vessels FROM PAGE 4
As a result, the U.S. won’t have a carrier based in Asia in late 2015 after the George Washington leaves Japan and sails to Virginia to prepare for an overhaul, according to the Navy. The USS Ronald Reagan eventually will move to Japan, but Navy officials would not provide specific time lines for when that will happen. “You’d have massive gaps in coverage,” Daly said. Outside analysts are not as reluctant to ax the flattops. During a recent budget and force-planning exercise conducted by four Washington think tanks, the teams proposed cutting two to four carriers over the next 10 years. In a tight fiscal environment, the think tank analysts saw reducing the number of carriers as preferable to putting other military capabilities on the chopping block.
A high price The carrier’s price tag is indeed high. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars per year to operate a carrier strike group, and the newest carrier — the USS Gerald R. Ford — cost $13 billion to procure. Todd Harrison of one of the participating think tanks, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, described carrier-cutting proposals as “the least worse alternative given the [budget] constraints.” But he noted that each team proposed cutting the same number of carriers under both a fullsequestration budget cap scenario and a more generous half-sequestration budget cap scenario. “That indicates that these decisions in each team were not necessarily [totally] budget driven,” Harrison said at a conference when the results of the exercise were unveiled earlier this year. Center for Strategic and International Studies analyst David Berteau told conference attendees that his proposal to cut three carriers from the fleet during the next decade was based on an assumption that there would still be a forward deployment capability that provided the same coverage that the Navy has today. Greenert contends that trying to maintain the same cov-
BRIAN H. A BEL /Courtesy of the U.S. Navy
The USS George Washington returns to Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan, in December after completing its patrol. erage with fewer carriers by instituting longer deployments and doing less maintenance would be counterproductive. “Some folks say, ‘Well, deployments will just be longer.’ I say not necessarily, [because] there’s a limit to that. There’s an optimal response that you can provide that would be to come back and you do maintenance and train again and go out there. And we have to take care of our sailors … and the equipment. So if you just turn the crank faster, for lack of a better term, in the cycle of deployment, the ship gets older faster [and] the uranium burns out faster [and] you don’t get [to keep the ship in service] for 50 years,” according to the Navy chief. Daly said carrier deployments typically last seven or eight months nowadays, which is sustainable (although six-month deployments would be ideal), but extending that timeline would result in excessive wear and tear on the flight decks, making the surface more dangerous for aviators and crewmembers. It would also place too much stress on sailors, according to Daly. “If you get north of eight months, it starts to break down … It has a bad impact on families, and eventually this will come around on us,” especially when the economy improves, he said. “It’s unrealistic to think that we’d have the retention we have today.” Skepticism about the need to maintain 11 carriers is not limited to those outside DOD.
In 2010, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates called into question the need to have that many, given the nature of the threats posed by other powers. “The need to project power across the oceans will never go away. But consider the massive overmatch the U.S. already enjoys. Consider, too, the growing anti-ship capabilities of adversaries. Do we really need 11 carrier strike groups for another 30 years when no other country has more than one?” Gates asked a Navy League audience at the time. But Daly said sizing the fleet simply based on the number of carriers that other countries possess is a flawed methodology because the American Navy doesn’t just fight other navies; in wartime, carriers are used as platforms from which planes attack targets ashore, like they have throughout the war in Afghanistan in support of U.S. troops on the battlefield. Carriers also offer advantages over overseas air bases because they are more difficult to target and they don’t require the U.S. to get a “permission slip” from other governments to launch airstrikes from their soil, Daly noted.
In danger of obsolescence Critics also argue that emerging anti-ship missiles, especially China’s DF-21D ballistic missile, are making carriers obsolete as the U.S. military pivots toward Asia. The DF-21D — sometimes
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referred to as the “carrier killer” — has a reported range of nearly 1,100 miles, whereas the carrier variant of the new Joint Strike Fighter can’t fly more than 700 miles without being refueled. That means getting the service’s premier manned aircraft of the future within striking distance of Chinese territory would require that an American carrier get within range of China’s advanced anti-ship missiles. “The aircraft carrier is in danger of becoming like the battleships [of the World War II era]: big, expensive, vulnerable — and surprisingly irrelevant to the conflicts of our time … [But] the national security establishment, the White House, the Department of Defense and Congress persist [with buying carriers] despite clear evidence that the carrier equipped with manned strike aircraft is an increasingly expensive way to deliver firepower, and that carriers themselves may not be able to move close enough to targets to operate effectively or survive in an era of satellite imagery and long-range precision strike missiles,” Navy Capt. Henry Hendrix wrote in a paper published by the Center for a New American Security last year. By Hendrix’s calculation, for the amount of money that the U.S. Navy spends to procure a new carrier, the Chinese military could buy more than 1,200 DF-21Ds to saturate carrier strike groups’ defensive systems. “The risk of a carrier suffering a mission kill that takes it off the battle line without actually sinking it remains high,” according to Hendrix. Hendrix recommends investing more in advanced conventional missiles such as the Tomahawk that can be fired from stealthy submarines, which are much harder to target than carriers. He would phase out the existing carriers. “Money is tight, and as the nautical saying goes, the enemy has found our range. It is time to change course,” he wrote. But Daly argues it’s illogical to abandon a major weapons platform just because an enemy is developing a weapon to counter it. “When people bring up the
DF-21D and say, wow, here’s one thing that one group says they built, it’d be like saying, ‘Well, somebody somewhere developed an anti-tank weapon, so now the world can’t have tanks’ … We have fixed air bases ashore whose GPS coordinate are known down to 20 significant digits, and somehow that’s a better alternative than an aircraft carrier that’s mobile and moves around at sea and is protected by multiple defensein-depth systems? That’s kind of crazy, if you ask me,” Daly said. “[It’s like saying], ‘Somebody invented the AK-47, so now we shouldn’t have soldiers because they might be hit by this weapon.’ It’s just bizarre.” Greenert said the Navy has “lots of intelligence” on the DF-21D, and the service is developing countermeasures to protect its carriers. “It’s a good weapon that they’ve developed. But there’s nothing that doesn’t have vulnerabilities, and we continue to pursue ideas in that regard … We’re working quite feverishly on that, and I’m pretty comfortable with where we can operate our carriers,” Greenert told reporters, while declining to provide details about the steps the U.S. is taking to thwart the Chinese missiles. When it comes to the size of the fleet, Greenert said 11 carriers is “enough” to get the job done. Others say the Navy needs even more. “We’re an 11-carrier Navy in a 15-carrier world,” Rear Adm. Thomas Moore, the service’s program executive officer for aircraft carriers, said last year. Given defense budget constraints, it’s unlikely that the Navy will be able to field more than 11 in the foreseeable future. But going below 11 is currently prohibited by Congress, and a powerful group of lawmakers, industry lobbyists and seapower advocates stand in the way of that prohibition being lifted. So regardless of whether an 11-carrier fleet is too big, too small or just enough, it is the reality that the Navy will probably have to live with. harper.jon@stripes.com Twitter: @JHarperStripes
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VA SCANDAL
IG: Prosecutors weighing criminal charges BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — The inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that potential criminal cases related to the department’s nationwide patient wait-list scandal are being reviewed by federal prosecutors. The IG is investigating 69 VA facilities for criminal, civil and administrative wrongdoing after revealing late last month that scheduling abuses implemented to mask long wait times for health care are systemic within the veteran health care system, acting Inspector General Richard Griffin said during a hearing before House lawmakers. Earlier in the day, the scope of the crisis became more apparent when the VA released its own audit showing more than 57,000 veterans have been Puzzle - Medium waiting moreSudoku than three months for care appointments. The audit blamed a lack of providers and an “overly complicated” scheduling process for the breakdown in timely care at 731 hospitals and clinics nationwide. “I think it comes down to accountability of senior leadership out in these facilities,” Griffin said before the House Committe on Veterans’ Affairs. “Once somebody loses their job or is criminally charged, that will be the shot heard around the system.” The IG has discovered that in many cases, staff would game the system by giving veterans the first available appointment date — up to six months in the future — despite their requests for an earlier visit and then mark the appointment as the desired date, which would then appear in the VA computer system as no wait, Griffin said. www.sudoku-puzzles.net Staff also would schedule patients for visits months into the future, then Sudoku Puzzle Medium cancel the appointment two -weeks before and reschedule for the same date so it appeared to fall within the VA’s goal of 14-day wait times, he said. The IG and Department of Justice are discussing whether such practices rise to the level of criminal activity, Griffin said. “You have to work your way back up the supervisory chain to find out who put out that order, and that’s what we are having to do,” he said. “Maybe if people do start getting charged, maybe somebody will say, ‘I don’t want to take the fall for somebody farther up the food chain who told me to do this.’ ” The VA audit released Monday showed that about 70 percent of the 731 VA facilities reviewed used offthe-books patient waiting lists at least once, and management pressured staff
C HRIS CARROLL /Stars and Stripes
Steven Klein, 55, a retired Army master sergeant who hurt his back in 2005, says he was told he’d have to wait five months for a specialist appointment at his Baltimore-area VA clinic.
Longest wait times Veterans Affairs medical centers have come under criticism for long wait times for care. Here is a list of the facilities with the longest average waits as of May 15. New patient primary care 1. Honolulu, Hawaii: 145 days 2. VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend HCS, Harlingen, Texas: 85 days 3. Fayetteville, N.C.: 83 days 4. Baltimore HCS, Maryland: 81 days 5. Portland, Ore.: 80 days 6. Columbia, S.C.: 77 days 7. Central Alabama Veterans HCS, Montgomery, Ala.: 75 days 8. Providence, R.I.: 74 days 9. Salt Lake City, Utah: 73 days 10. Richmond, Va.: 73 days New patient mental health care 1. Durham, N.C.: 104 days 2. Clarksburg, W.Va.: 96 days 3. Amarillo, Texas: 61 days 4. El Paso, Texas: 60 days Solution - Medium 5. Erie, Penn.: Sudoku 57 days 6. Central Alabama Veterans HCS, Montgomery, Ala.: 57 days 7. White City, Ore.: 57 days 8. VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend HCS, Harlingen, Texas: 55 days 9. Hampton, Va.: 54 days 10. Dallas: 50 days — The Associated Press
attles, Western Theater some cases to manipulate appointC H T R E E C R E E K Winments to make waits appear shorter, the audit confirmed. H V I L L E Z E C R B H The VA rushed out the audit under from Congress and veteran Y R A N O I S S I M C H pressure groups. The findings provide the D S O N U G L H Y L U Wfirst detailed look — at least from the Z Y WB Z Zwww.sudoku-puzzles.net RXPZ RR L QDQX G Puzzle H R- Medium VHZ Sudoku N E K D N O MH C I R B Previous NUESAZ SECADF week’s T NZ Z S F T GS UI B answers B RE V I RS E NOT S NPXNI L KNARF C B I GJ OOV QQNF O T PI SXHNAL KXR D V V X T X J J MP C I J T KDVRAPSI NN C H I C K A MA U G A T L C G MR D G R A I E H O N H I L Lwww.sudoku-puzzles.net XARZ F R www.sudoku-puzzles.net
Sudoku Solution - Medium
department’s own perspective — at patient wait times at individual facilities since allegations in April that up to 40 patients died awaiting care at a Phoenix VA hospital. Philip Matkovsky, assistant deputy veterans affairs undersecretary for health for administrative operations, apologized to the public and to veterans during testimony Monday night before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and said the audit marked a turning point for the department. “We saw this as the opportunity, the opportunity for us to do a reset,” Matkovsky said. Last year, the department began requiring that veterans receive care within two weeks of asking for an appointment, and it used the goal to evaluate employee performance. Those who kept waits within that time frame were given awards and bonuses, the VA inspector general found. Matkovsky said the VA has now discontinued the scheduling goal and stopped using it as a personnel performance measure. Sudoku Solution - Medium The audit released Monday found the goal was partly responsible for the deep problems within the department. “Meeting a 14-day wait-time performance target for new appointments was simply not attainable given the ongoing challenge of finding sufficient provider slots to accommodate a growing demand for services,” according to the audit. It found that department leaders failed by expecting staff to meet the appointment goal without understandwww.sudoku-puzzles.net ing the potential effects on hospitals Sudoku Solution - Medium and clinics that serve 6.5 million beneficiaries annually. Still, the VA audit claims that the majority of veterans — about 90 per-
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Sudoku Solution - Medium
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cent to 99 percent — receive care within 30 days of booking appointments. Across the board, wait times for new veteran patients greatly exceeded those for established patients, it found. For example, a VA hospital in Philadelphia now has 426 veterans who have been waiting more than three months for a first visit. Those patients must wait 43 days on average for primary care, while returning patients wait about three days. The statistics drew some skepticism from House lawmakers, who said the VA statistics have been continually changing, and reports from their districts of veterans waiting for care were sometimes much higher than the numbers shown in the audit. Matkovsky said the newest statistics are more accurate than past reports. “As we improve the integrity of our reporting,” he said, “the patient wait times may get worse.” Wait times are already painfully long, said some of the veterans who gathered at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post near Baltimore on Monday night to relate experiences with the VA health care system to VFW’s national leaders. Their stories, along with more accounts gathered at a similar meeting Monday in Kansas City, Mo., will be compiled and submitted to Congress and the White House, VFW officials said. Steven Klein, 55, a retired Army master sergeant who badly injured his back in 2005, was told he’d have to wait months for a specialist appointment. Baltimore was identified Monday in the VA’s self audit as having among the longest wait times for new patients seeking primary care, although it did not rank among the top 10 worst hospitals for patients in need of specialty care. “I went down to the VA hospital in Baltimore, and they told me they couldn’t fit me in for five months,” Klein said. “If it hadn’t been for my wife’s health insurance, I would have been in pain for those five months.” The extra cost of using his wife’s insurance was worth it, he said, because he was able to see a doctor within days and quickly have surgery for what turned out to be five herniated spinal discs. Klein said he’s been satisfied with his VA primary care doctors, but when time is of the essence, the system breaks down. “If I need a specialist, I’ll use my wife’s insurance,” he said. “At the VA in downtown Baltimore, you’re gonna wait.”
www.sudoku-puzzles.net
Civil War Battles Western Theater Chickamauga Nashville Richmond Kentucky Stones River Franklin Shiloh Corinth Port Hudson Peachtree Creek Missionary Ridge Champion Hill
June 13, 2014
Can you:
Volunteers needed
Meet and greet guests, data entry, and give tours? Schedule volunteers & directors for duty each month?
Alaska Veterans Museum
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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?
is Yo ap ur pr he ec lp iat ed
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.
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Marines get new wrinkled, wiggly recruit
“H
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Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher 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
Friday, June 13, 2014
Dad’s timeless lessons help span generation gap
BY JENNIFER HLAD MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO — Like many Marine recruits, Pvt. Smedley Butler hasn’t quite grown into his feet, his drill technique could use work, and he eats whatever is put in front of him. But Smedley is likely the only private who has to be stopped from chewing on shoelaces. The wiggly, wrinkly, extroverted 14-weekold English bulldog puppy will be the recruit depot’s newest mascot — as soon as he finishes his training. Smedley, named after the Marine general who first introduced English bulldogs as Marine mascots in the 1920s, was bred in Escondido, Calif., and lives in the barracks with his handler, Cpl. Tyler Viglione. One of Smedley’s brothers is the mascot at Georgetown University. Viglione, who works in the public affairs office, cared for the previous mascot, Belleau Wood, for nearly a year before the dog “decided not to re-enlist.” Belleau now lives with a Marine family in Temecula, Calif., Viglione and Maj. Neil Ruggiero said. For now, Viglione is taking Smedley to training and practicing basic tasks at home. Eventually, the Marines hope to teach the Devil Pup to salute, and he’ll be fitted with uniforms at the same tailoring shop that alters uniforms for the new recruits. Once he graduates from recruit training and becomes a private first class, Smedley will perform at weekly graduation ceremonies and also will attend recruiting and community relations events like Padres and Chargers games and adopt-a-school events. He’ll be one of three official mascots in the Corps: Chesty XIV serves as mascot at Marine Barracks Washington and Legend serves at Marine Corps Recruit Depot
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JENNIFER HLAD/Stars and Stripes
Pvt. Smedley Butler, a 14-week-old English bulldog, is in training to become the mascot for Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Parris Island in South Carolina. But Ruggiero and Viglione don’t want to rush the pup. Whenever he’s ready, he’s ready, they said. Belleau served as the recruit depot’s mascot for about five years, earning the rank of corporal. Smedley has been at the depot for about a month, but is progressing well — despite a bit of slobbering and a few bathroom-related accidents. Viglione’s family had several dogs when he was growing up, including an American bulldog, he said. He first met Smedley when he was 2 weeks old, and went to visit the dog every week until he was old enough to move to San Diego. Having a puppy in the barracks is “a bit of a learning experience for both of us,” he said. Smedley has gained almost 15 pounds in a matter of weeks and is expected to grow to about 75 pounds. He “works” in the public affairs office during the day, where he likes to sit in an empty row of a metal bookshelf or take naps in his crate. Marines and civilians from all over the depot come visit and play with him, Viglione said. He elicited smiles and belly rubs from everyone he passed last week on a short walk for a photo shoot. The pudgy private has also proved popular on social media: His personal Instagram feed, @ mcrdsd_mascot, has only 10 photos so far, but nearly 600 followers. hlad.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @jhlad
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.
see page 11
© Stars and Stripes, 2014
ow’s it going, prise and smiled. guys?” I asked “I wondered why that was my husband in there. It’s been in this box and son, who forever.” were out in the garage trying When I was beginning colto breathe life into our 1966 lege, my dad had a talk with Ford Mustang. The car has me. Not about boys or grades. been in storage during our It was about my car, another past few assignments, so it reMustang, a ’65. He wanted to quires tender loving mechanibe sure that I knew how to do cal care to bring it back to the more than put gas in it and go. land of the living. I never had any brothers, Father and son have been but I did have a dad who was spending some bonding time a mechanic. A flight mechanic over the past few weeks tinin his Air Force days and a car kering with the car and makmechanic most of his life. ing a lot of trips to the auto He taught me the major parts store. They’ve taken off engine parts, which on my old the fuel tank, had it cleaned, Ford were pretty simple. He put it back in, replaced the taught me how to check all the carburetor and the battery, fluid levels, clean corrosion among other things. off the battery posts, change On this particular Sunday the oil and filter and the spark afternoon, they’d hoped for SPOUSE CALLS plugs. He also real engine noises. When I showed my came into the garage, the only sister and sounds were clinks and clanks me how to as my husband rummaged change a through his big red toolbox. tire. Dad “I can’t find my gap setter to also gave set the points,” he said. me the If you don’t know, “points” beige and are part of an old-school — not green plastic electronic — ignition system. tackle box, A gap setter is a gauge for Terri Barnes filling it setting the with tools points at the Join the conversation with Terri at he thought correct minstripes.com/go/spousecalls I’d need: ute distance, crescent which has wrench, yelsomething to low-handled adjustable pliers, do with providing spark to the screwdrivers (Phillips and spark plugs. I don’t know a lot regular), wire cutters, other about engines, but I do know miscellaneous tools and a this: The battery provides matchbook advertising “Delithe initial power, the ignition cious Hamburgers” at a place system increases the power called Jimbo’s. and fires up the spark plugs. The location and function There’s a spark plug for each of points was another of Dad’s engine cylinder. When the spark meets the fuel vapor and lessons. He showed me how air in those cylinders, combus- to set the points, explaining how to set the gap using a tion happens, and you can go matchbook cover in a pinch. shopping. He probably knew I’d never My husband, Mark, knows a have to do that on my own, but lot more: Like how the engine I think he enjoyed showing me does all that stuff, and how to the tricks of his trade. fix it when it won’t. He’s been No lesson from Dad is ever passing along some of this wasted. After more than 30 knowledge to our son while years, the Jimbo’s matchbook they work on the car, which is was still in the tackle box, and why Mark is looking for the I still remembered why it was gap setter. there. My husband used it. He began poking through The spark plugs sparked, and a beige and green plastic the old engine came to life. tackle box full of automotive I wish Dad could have heard bits and pieces. I walked over it. He died a few years ago, and picked up a worn white but he would have appreciated matchbook from the top of the knowing that even the small box, and said, “Use this. My gifts he bestowed are still with dad told me that’s why he put me. Some of the big things too. it in there.” I still have the ’65. Mark looked at me in sur-
Veteran Owned Businesses Britten & Associates
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Brr Concepts
17214 Meadow Creek Dr Eagle River, AK 99577 (907) 727-8438 www.brrconcepts.com
Coldfoot Environmental Services
6670 Wes Way Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 770-9936 www.coldfootenv.com
Currier’s Asphalt Maintenance
1605 Roosevelt Dr Anchorage, AK 99517 (907) 522-8687 www.curriers.com
Denali Bio-Diesel Inc
22443 Sambar Loop Chugiak, AK 99567 (743) 730-8665 www.denalibiodiesel.com
Environmental Compliance Consulting
1500 Post Rd Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 644-0428 www.eccalaska.com
Lasher Sport Inc
801 E 82nd Ave Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 529-8833 www.lashersport.com
Ljc Group Limited
Sustainable Design Group LLC
1785 East Raven Cir Wasilla, AK 99654 (907) 720-3259 www.sdg-ak.com
Ltr Training Systems Inc.
Weston Productions 20845 Frosty Dr Chugiak, AK 99567 (907) 229-6116 www.westonproductions.tv
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5761 Silverado Way Ste Q Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 563-4463 www.survivaltraining.com
MH Consulting
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2120 Casey Cusack Lp Anchorage, AK 99515 (907) 306-7052 www.zusam.spruz.com
Alaska Radiator Distributor LLC
Tenant Watch
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5401 Cordova St Ste 305 Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 561-1606 www.flavinphotography.com
3309 Spenard Rd Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 561-4633 www.frigidn.com
Globelink Telecom Inc
6706 Greenwood St Unit 2 PO Box 231256 Anchorage AK 99523 (907) 562-0384 www.radiator.com
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3201 C St Ste 202 Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 272-7336 www.tenantwatch.net
Trailboss Enterprises Inc 201 E 3rd Ave Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 338-8243 www.trailboss.biz
1425 N Spar Ave #2 Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 337-3355 www.yardchief.biz
Bandapart Productions
Charters & Campground Ninilchik, AK Deep Creek (907) 567-73671 www.heavenlysights.com
Pyramid Audio
2440 Seward Hwy Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 272-9111 www.pyramidaudiovideo.com
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Veteran Owned Businesses New Horizons Telecom Inc
901 Cope Industrial Way Palmer, AK 99456 (907) 761-6124 www.nhtiusa.com/contact.html
Nite Shift Janitorial Service
1305 W Ridgeview Dr Wasilla, AK 99654 (907) 373-7905 www.niteshiftjanitorial.com
Northwestern Surgical Repair
8460 E 20th Ave Anchorage, AK 99504 (907) 338-9099 www.nwsurgicalrepair.com
Pioneer GI Clinic
4048 Laurel St Ste 301 Anchorage, AK 99508 (907) 440-7816 www.pioneergiclinic.com/Pioneer_GI_Clinic/Home.html
Pollux Aviation Ltd
6205 E Beechcraft Circ Wasilla, AK 99654 (907) 746-0673 www.polluxaviation.net
Scheduleze
12110 Business Blvd Ste 6 PMB 335, Eagle River AK 99577 (907) 223-4958 www.scheduleze.com
Sequestered Solutions Alaska LLC
801 B St Ste 102 Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 868-8678 www.sequesteredsolutions.com
The Printer
2415 Spenard Rd Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 258-5700 www.theprinterak.com
Veteran Environmental Consulting
2410 W 29th Ave Apt 3 Anchorage, AK 99517 (907) 727-7797 www.vetenviron.com/
AAA Billiards Sales & Service
1040 E 5th Ave Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 278-7665 www.alaskabilliards.com
Alpine Septic Pumping Inc
700 Vine Rd Wasilla, AK 99654 (907) 373-2120 www.alpineseptic.com
Alaska Quality Publishing Inc
2203 Sorbus Way Anchorage, AK 99508 (907) 277-3131 www.stasercg.com
Veteran’s Alaska Construction LLC
10613 Lafayette Cir Anchorage, AK 99515 (907) 339-9565 www.veteransalaska.com/
8537 Corbin Dr Anchorage, AK 99507 (907) 562-9300 www.aqppublishing.com
Teeple Cabinets and Construction
A-1 Copy Systems LLC
1120 E 5th Ave Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 277-7555 www.arcticcontrols.com
Ads-b Technologies LLC
15908 E Helmaur Pl Palmer, AK 99654 (907) 746-5442 www.arcticskyexcavating.com
Staser Group LLC
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Terrasat Inc
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900 Merrill Field Dr Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 258-2372 www.ads-b.com
Arctic Controls Inc
Arctic Sky Excavating
Automated Laundry Systems and Supply Corp 5020 Fairbaks St Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 771-0103 www.autolaundrysystems.com
Bradshaw and Associates
2300 E 76th Ave Ste 1222 Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 522-7205 www.bardshawandassociates.com
Bering Global Logistics LLC
1800 W 48th Ave Anchorage, AK 99517 (907) 351-9943 www.beringglobal.com
All Pro Alaska
6627 Rosewood St Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 338-5438 www.bjlift.com
Blind Factory
10800 Northfleet Dr Anchorage, AK 99515 (907) 344-4600 www.blindfactoryak.hdspd.com
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Friday, June 13, 2014
Veteran Owned Businesses Windy City LLC
1410 Rudakof Cir Anchorage, AK 99508 (907) 222-0844 adaktu.net
Historical Urban Wear
PO Box 141402 Anchorage, AK 99524 (907) 351-8834 classyurbanwear.com
Denali Graphics and Frame
5001 Arctic Blvd Ste 3 Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 561-4456 denaligraphics.com
Mat-Su Tactial
4900 E Palmer-Wasilla Hwy Wasilla, AK 99654 (907) 357-3381 matsutactical.com/index.html
M-W Drilling Inc
12200 Avion St Anchorage, AK 99516 (907) 345-4000 mwdrillinginc.com
Orion Construction Inc
4701 E Shaws Dr Wasilla, AK 99654 (907) 631-3550
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Revl Inc
650 W 58th Ste J Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 563-8302 revlinc.net/Contact.aspx
World-wide Movers Inc
7120 Hart St Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 349-2581 world-widemovers.com
Federal Resource Solutions
PO Box 244911 Anchorage, AK 99524 (760) 473-2982 www.4frs.com
A-Two Septic
8460 E Gold Bullion Blvd Palmer, AK 99645 (907) 841-8632 www.a2septic.com
Alaska Commercial Carpenting and Services 8530 Gordon Cir Anchorage, AK 99507 (907) 830-9878 www.accs1.com
Alaska Construction Surveys LLC
4141 B St Ste 203 Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 344-5505 www.akconstsurveys.com
Alaska Veteran’s Business Alliance 3705 Arctic Blvd #1335 Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 279-4779 www.akvba.org
Computer Matrix Court Reporter
135 Christensen Dr Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 243-0668 www.computermatrixcourtreporters.com
Container Specialties of Alaska
8150 Petersburg St Anchorage, AK 99507 (907) 349-2300 www.containerspecialtiesak.com
Custom Truck Inc
Ace Delivery and Moving Inc
4748 Old Seward Hwy Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 563-5490 www.customtruckak.com
Brown’s Electrical Supply
8240 Petersburg St Anchorage, AK 99507 (907) 562-2312 www.denalidrilling.com
7920 Schoon St Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 522-6684 www.alaskanace.com
365 Industrial Way Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 272-2259 www.brownselectric.com
Central Environmental
311 N Sitka St Anchorage AK 99501 (907) 561-0125 www.cei-alaska.com/contactus.html
Denali Drilling
J&S Auto Repair
21065 Bill Stevens Dr Chugiak, AK 99567 (907) 688-1191 www.jsautoak.com
Lemay Engineering and Consulting
4272 Chelsea Way Anchorage, AK 99504 (907) 250-9038 www.lemayengineering.com/Contact.html
LMC Management Services
2440 E Tudor Rd 1123 Anchorage, AK 99507 (907) 242-6069 www.lmcmanagementservices.com
Lugo’s Upholstery
648 E Dowling Rd Ste 101 Anchorage AK 99518 (907) 562-5846 www.lugosupholstery.com
Microbyte Computers
PO Box 90057 Anchorage, AK 99509 (907) 382-8397 www.mbcak.com/contact/
Mckinley Fence Co of Alaska, Inc
5901 Lake Otis Pkwy, Anchorage, AK 99507 (907) 563-3731 www.mckinleyfence.com