Volume 6, No. 31 ©SS 2014
FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2014
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July 18, 2014
STARS AND STRIPES • S
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Friday, July 18, 2014
VETERANS Left: John Krusenstjerna in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. Courtesy of John Krusenstjerna
Below: The retired Marine sergeant now owns and operates Iowa CTS Cleaners, a business he built using his experience fighting America’s recent wars. Courtesy of Jamison Studios
G N I N A E L C P
N I N A E L C UP
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W M. TTHE BY M A and Stripes
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STARS AND STRIPES • S
Friday, July 18, 2014
TA R S
A N D
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T R I P E S
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PAGE 3
Cleanup: Retired Marine sets good example for unemployed veterans FROM PAGE 2
People like Krusenstjerna are a shining example of what to do when separating from the military, officials from the Veterans Benefits Administration say. Some veterans — especially infantry or those who have seen combat — become incapacitated by the theory that their skills don’t translate to a civilian career. Separation from military often happens quickly, officials said, thrusting a servicemember from an insulated, mission-driven environment with a strong support base to being on their own. Many also are processing their experiences and perhaps nursing mental and physical wounds. “Many of them have a significant amount of decisions to make in a very short window,” said Rosye Cloud, a senior VBA veteran employment adviser. “For younger veterans, it could be their first time in the labor market. ... Now they’re the mission.”
Finding his own way It’s not surprising that Krusenstjerna, 31, found his own path. He grew up in suburban Des Moines, the son of self-employed business owners. By age 7 or 8, Krusenstjerna was operating a forklift at his parents’ paper and packaging distribution business or working at his grandfather’s trucking company. It wasn’t long before he was interacting with customers and taking care of problems, said his father, Jay. In high school, he worked several jobs, starting after school and extending long into the summer months. He had his own landscaping company. He worked so much that his parents cautioned him about keeping up his grades. But Krusenstjerna still found time to wrestle and play football and golf. “Work has always been his favorite thing,” Jay Krusenstjerna said. “He never wanted to do any other profession [other than an entrepreneur].” John Krusenstjerna joined the Marine Corps in 2003. He became a truck mechanic but was moved to convoy security in 2004 as the Marines moved into Fallujah. He served nine months in country. In 2006, he was back in Iraq for a seven-month deployment as a sergeant in charge of an engineer detachment building combat outposts for the Army and Marines in Ramadi. During some 60 missions during the battle for the city, he learned to lead by example. And he discovered his calling. Preparing combat outposts in Ramadi involved picking a house in a high insurgent activity area, clearing it, working to pay and relocate the family, and fortifying the house it with
Courtesy of Jamison Studios
‘You get to help people in a time of need. You get a
good feeling when you go in and help someone that has nowhere else to turn.
’
sandbags and barriers. In one house, Krusenstjerna found a family that had refused to leave when ordered by insurgent forces. Members were executed and left under a pile of blankets in a bedroom. His Marines looked to him for guidance, as he was trained in hazardous materials. As they removed the blankets and began to clean where the bodies had been, the smell hit him. “I got some bleach and scrubbed it until I got it cleaned up,” he said. “[In the Marine Corps] you have to make it happen.” Jay Krusenstjerna also recalled his son telling about finding a fellow Marine who had committed suicide. He said his son possesses a unique mental toughness. “Now that would give me nightmares,” Jay Krusenstjerna said. “He has emotion in his heart, but when it’s time to work, he gets going. He respects it but he doesn’t dwell on it. He puts it in a different compartment.”
Business takes off Krusenstjerna left the Marines in 2007 with an eye on a job in law enforcement. But his mind flicked back to that house in Ramadi, and he began researching crime scene cleanup. He discovered it was a relatively unfilled niche. “There is no company like mine in Iowa,” he said. “I couldn’t even go work for one to see if I could do it. I basically had to reinvent the wheel.”
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John Krusenstjerna He poured money into his new company, buying tools, obtaining certifications and training staff. His parents urged him to start taking jobs so he could support himself, but Krusenstjerna wanted to be absolutely sure he was ready. In 2009, police fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at them as they served a search warrant. Krusenstjerna got the call to clean up blood at the scene after marketing his company for only six days. About 20 jobs followed in the next year. Now he fields more than 100 per year — including deaths of all kinds. There also have been spray-happy skunks, rodent infestations and a deer that flung itself through a glass door. Then there are meth lab explosions and fires, which he needed a special certification to detect and clean. “Basically, we clean the messes that people never think about happening or the ones they don’t want to,” he said. “You can do more than you think you can.” Krusenstjerna approaches them all the same way. He arrives with his crew and gear, which includes protective clothing, a respirator, air scrubbers, power tools and a massive array of scrapers and chemicals. He meets with the homeowners and often consoles them, sometimes for hours, as they mourn the loss of a close family member to suicide or murder. Then his team gets to work, cleaning, ripping out blood-soaked carpets,
floors and subfloors, repairing and deodorizing the home. He works out a payment plan with the families, sometimes losing money to ease their pain. “That’s his biggest thing: He’s willing to help,” said Kyle Dumermuth, operations manager at Iowa CTS Cleaners. “He’s taken big hits to help people out. … The military bestowed some great values in him.” There have been some particularly rough jobs, Krusenstjerna admitted. In a way, he said he feels he’s reliving his service, performing a trying task and taking pride in doing it right. Instead of pleasing Marine leadership, he is easing the suffering of grieving families. Insulated from the crime scene by their gear, his team usually turns on the radio and keeps things light if the family is not at home. It is tougher when they can hear grieving family members, and they work in silence out of respect. “There are a few things I like about it,” Krusenstjerna said. “You get to help people in a time of need. You get a good feeling when you go in and help someone that has nowhere else to turn. Then there is that feeling of accomplishment; you can see the results. And every day is different. You never know what you’re going to encounter.” Krusenstjerna has built close relationships with law enforcement personnel who enjoy working with a professional, veteran-owned and -operated business. He now has more work than he can handle as his team’s reputation has spread. He is now in charge of seven employees who have cleaned more than 900 trauma scenes since the company’s inception. “He started from nothing and built it into something,” Dumermuth said. “He provides a great service.”
‘Get out and do something’ Krusenstjerna knows the problem of veteran unemployment is real for the 2.8 million who have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan. He has heard the horror stories and while he sympathizes with some, he has seen others fall into bad habits. “I wish guys could see, when they get out, there is stuff out there they can do,” Jay Krusenstjerna added. “Be creative. Don’t just sit back. There is life after the military.” Krusenstjerna’s advice is to hit the ground running, be creative when entering the job market and embrace a soldier’s unique work ethic and skills. Keeping up his physical training regimen three times a week also helped, he said. “Don’t sit there and do nothing and rot,” he said. “Get out and do something.” burke.matt@stripes.com
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July 18, 2014
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Friday, July 18, 2014
COVER STORY BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — Retired from the military and want to light up in a state that has legalized pot? Getting high will put you in a legal gray area, but no need to be paranoid. The chances of being charged with a crime are practically nil, legal experts say, even though retirees are technically still subject to military law that forbids pot smoking anywhere, including Washington state and Colorado where recreational marijuana use is now allowed. Cities and states around the country have adopted liberalized pot laws in recent years as American views on the drug have mellowed. But the Department of Defense has said unequivocally that servicemembers and civilian employees can never use marijuana due to prohibition by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and federal law, which still considers it an illegal street drug. The long arm of military law also extends to retired servicemembers who draw pension payments. In rare cases, the services have recalled retirees to charge them with crimes. “As a practical matter, they can,” said Eugene Fidell, a Yale University law professor and former president of the National Institute of Military Justice. “But the chances that a retiree would get charged under the UCMJ for marijuana use are so close to zero, I don’t think anyone should lose sleep over it.” Greg Rinckey, a former military prosecutor and partner in the Tully Rinckey law firm in Washington, D.C., also said pot charges are extremely unlikely. “I just don’t see them court-martialing any retirees for smoking pot,” he said. Last week, Washington became the second state to open a regulated, recreational marijuana market, following suit with Colorado. The District of Columbia has made strong moves this summer toward decriminalizing use and possession, though Congress must approve. A total of 21 states have legalized marijuana use in some form. Recent changes to pot laws caused the DOD to underscore its position — pot remains a big no-no. In a memo to the services last year, the assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management underscored the department’s prohibition on marijuana use among military personnel “at all locations.” The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force base in Alaska, a state where growing and using small quantities of pot has been legal since 2012, warned airmen earlier this year that “all servicemembers, including retirees, cadets and reserve members entitled to pay” can be charged for pot under the UCMJ.
VETERANS & LEGALIZED MARIJUANA:
A STICKY SITUATION BY LAW, RETIREES ARE STILL PROHIBITED FROM LIGHTING UP. CHANCES OF BEING PROSECUTED? ‘CLOSE TO ZERO.’
THE O REGONIAN /AP
At Main Street Marijuana in Vancouver, Wash., a customer buys marijuana on the first day of sales at the store on July 9.
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Under military law, possessing more than an ounce can be punished with a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and five years in the brig. Those caught with less than an ounce face the same discharge and pay punishments but only two years confinement, according to the Air Force. Courts-martial for retirees are few and far between, but they do happen. In 2012, retired Gen. David Petraeus was found to be having an affair while working as CIA director. The case blew up into a nationwide scandal and talk ensued about criminal charges for adultery, which is illegal under the UCMJ. Petraeus was never charged, but in 1999 Army Maj. Gen. David Hale faced a similar situation and was recalled from retirement, then found guilty by a court martial for having affairs with the wives of four of his subordinates. The Army reduced his rank and cut back his pension payments as punishment. In Hale’s case, the offenses were committed while he was still serving and happened during a time when the military was being hammered publicly for misconduct among top officers and feeling pressured to send a message. Recreational pot use among retirees does not rise to that level, they said. Charging a 70-year-old veteran for smoking a joint “just wouldn’t look good for the military,” Rinckey said. Retirees also do not need to worry about being reported to the military by their VA doctor. Those who smoke legal marijuana and receive treatment through the Department of Veterans Affairs may be asked for blood or urine in the course of routine care — that is for diagnosis purposes and not drug testing in any legal sense. The VA told Stars and Stripes it cannot prescribe medical marijuana to patients due to federal law but it does not care if veterans use pot in states where that is allowed. “VA is aware that some veterans who reside in states with marijuana programs and who also receive care in VA, do indeed participate in marijuana programs,” spokeswoman Gina Jackson wrote in a statement. “Given the differences between state and federal laws regarding marijuana, a veteran’s decision to participate in a state marijuana program is a personal one and not one dictated administratively by VA.” Overall, retirees are likely in the clear when it comes to legal pot but there may be only one option for those who want complete peace of mind. Rinckey said those looking for zero legal risk should just not smoke it. Reporter Chris Carroll contributed to this story. tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten
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July 18, 2014
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crossword QUIET! By Mason Lorry ACROSS 1
With “contendere,” it’s a court term
5 ___ Major (southern constellation) 10 Royal domain 15 Cleanliness eschewer 19 Got an A-plus on 20 What Santa Claus is 21 Not docked 22 Super apparel item
57 Distinctive air 58 Bother 60 Arctic, for one 61 Set, as cement 63 He deals in sails and ropes
111 Nitrous ___ (laughing gas)
24 Use Twitter
74 Overly eager
112 Place with crude dwellings
29 Source of fries 30 “Enigma Variations” composer Edward
75 “Flash Gordon” villain ___ the Merciless
114 Excessively dry 115 Furnace button
67 South American cowboy
116 Door-hanging device
71 Adds liquor discreetly
118 Ashcroft’s predecessor
72 Paper pastime 77 Eugene O’Neill’s “___ Christie” 78 Large-eyed Madagascar native
117 April 13, e.g.
119 Spreadsheet jotting 120 Ham-and-___ (average Joe) 121 Animal hide
32 Avenue crosser 33 Aid partner 36 Make a cardigan 37 Public scenes 38 Dispatch again 39 “Once ___ a time ...” 40 Roe source 41 Sound system 42 Scraps on the table 43 Excuse that holds up
23 Piano-piece pages
79 Hold up
25 Office worker’s necessity
81 Mr. Spock’s forte
DOWN
44 Enclosed car
82 Kind of remark
1
45 Poker variety
26 Bakery appliance
84 Annoying smell
46 Dublin’s isle
27 Vessel for couples?
85 Heroic tales
2 British version of 56-Down
28 Light figures
87 Not even one
3 Scallion relatives
50 Courtroom responses
29 Boss in a plant, often
88 Witch’s curse
4
52 Auditory organ
31 Diminishes
89 Friendly Islands, formally
33 Chimps and baboons 34 “Ain’t it the truth!” 35 Old-time gumshoe 36 Afghan capital 38 Ladder steps 40 Needing more help 44 Brown-tinted photo 45 Put in stitches
91 Chef’s breakfast creation, perhaps 93 Thrust 94 Fur wrap 95 “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” sound 96 Eightsomes 99 Miscellany
Sounding stuffy
Poem of homage
47 Withdraw by degrees
5 War chief Black Horse’s tribe
54 Run with the football
6 Lies adjacent to another
59 Density symbol, in mechanics
7
Home for hatchlings
8 Sister and wife of Osiris 9 “Wait a ___!” 10 “Friends” female 11 Community spirit
56 Earth tone
60 Come to pass 61 That LPGA player 62 Nutmeg cover 64 Public TV request 65 Margaret Mead study venue
76 Italian desserts 78 Extended 79 Exemplar of thinness 80 Cruel person 83 Practice piece for one instrument 85 “Fly away!” 86 Academic session 90 Beached 91 Mix with a spoon 92 Nerdish 93 City on the Rio Grande 94 Hazardous, travelwise 96 Trash-talking Muppet? 97 House work 98 “___ Care of Business” (1974 hit) 99 More strange 100 Bit of color 101 Jumper-cable target 102 Throw in the ___ (admit defeat) 103 Surrealist artist Max 105 Beasts of burden
100 Having three leaflets
12 Sans delay
104 One receiving dividends
66 Pertaining to the lungs, e.g.
106 Agenda
13 Honolulu keepsakes 14 Bar order
67 More than a scrape
108 Put on the wall
107 Type of broom
15 Dirty looks
68 Actress Hathaway
112 The woman
16 Volcanic outflows
69 Operating system
113 Server’s reward
53 Following
109 Postal creed conjunction
55 Tag antagonists
110 Soft-drink trademark
17 Lincoln Center production
70 Ungentlemanly gentleman
18 Highly flexible
73 Been happening
48 Bring on new employees 49 Al Capone foe Ness 50 Cancun cash 51 Bind again
56 Antiquated
107 Tory’s opponent
Last week’s answers
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July 18, 2014
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Friday, July 18, 2014
VETERANS AFFAIRS
IG: VA lied about benefits backlog House hears testimony that agency wrote off thousands of disability, pension claims BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN
dealing with the oldest cases might go against their professional values but that “there will be no negative consequences for you the employees.” The only negative effects would come from not meeting VA goals of reducing the backlog, according to excerpts from the emails. Investigators also are looking at allegations that 40,000 pieces of mail, much of it related to claims, has been shredded or hidden at VA benefits offices in Philadelphia and Baltimore. The VA considers any disability or pension benefit claims unresolved after four and a half months part of its backlog. This month, the department reported its backlog is now 270,913 cases, down from 588,000 reported a year ago when the special initiative to reduce the oldest cases began. Allison Hickey, the VA undersecretary for benefits, told the House she was “saddened and offended” by revelations that the department’s health care system manipulated data and understands that lawmakers may be skeptical of benefits statistics.
a preliminary decision based on incomplete or outdated medical information in a claims file. It is a classification that requires additional work by VA staff to become a final disability or pension rating and cannot be appealed by veterans, the IG found. The department practice overstated the reduction in pending claims and progress toward eliminating the overall claims backlog, Linda Halliday, the assistant VA inspector general for audits and evaluations, testified to the House committee. “They were working hard — they had to try something to clear the backlog — but we feel it misrepresented the workload,” she said. Furthermore, the VA then “lost control” of the provisional ratings cases, which were pushed further to the back burner, where they were ignored. Some veterans might never have received final rating decisions if not for the IG investigation, according to Halliday. Miller showed internal VA emails from last year showing managers told employees that the method of
Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs overstated progress in reducing its massive benefits backlog by improperly scrubbing thousands of the oldest veterans claims from estimates, the department inspector general said on July 15. The VA claimed last year it drastically cut the number of disability and pension claims languishing for more than two years, but in reality the department wrote off thousands of cases without making final decisions on granting benefits, the IG found. The VA has struggled for years with its benefits backlog, but the manipulation disclosed by investigators before the House Veterans Affairs’ Committee suggests new depths of dysfunction and wrongdoing in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which accounts for half of the VA’s responsibilities. The other major mission of the VA comprises a nationwide health care system now embroiled in scandal for manipulating data and covering up long delays in treatment at hundreds of hospitals and clinics. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the committee, said the VA manipulation of its backlog of veterans seeking disability and pension ratings by writing off thousands of unresolved cases is analogous to its health care facilities keeping secret patient wait lists to hide monthslong waits. It “created the appearance of success just like cooking the books on scheduling times,” he said. The VA announced last year that it had reduced its oldest benefit claims from 43,000 to 1,258 in just two months as part of a special initiative to chip away at the backlog, according to the IG report released July 15. Over 7,800 of the unresolved benefit claims disappeared from the backlog after the VA issued what it called a “provisional rating,”
“I know the No. 1 question on your minds is whether the accuracy of data in [Veterans Benefits Administration] can be trusted,” Hickey said. Still, the overall claims backlog shrank by more than 56 percent from last year and veterans are waiting an average of 128 days less for a claims decision, she said. “We have done 300,000 claims in backlog last year. We don’t have that many left in backlog this year,” Hickey said. “I think we will [eliminate the backlog] and I think we have the data to say we can.” She said the disability and pension claims are filtered through 11 levels of review to catch errors, and benefits records are kept on a national database that allows changes to be audited to discourage manipulation, but there will always be employees in any organization that commit wrongdoing. “When we find these individuals, you can rest assured I will respond quickly and take necessary actions,” Hickey said. Miller and other members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee have said they are skeptical of such reassurances. Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Mich., said repeated VA claims about the backlog are “baloney” designed to make the department look good while staff was actually hiding the true numbers. “They are all concerned about numbers and not veterans,” Benishek said. “It is absolutely unbelievable to me that this is going on and nobody seems responsible for it.” Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., asked Halliday if she trusts the VA claim that it has reduced the overall claims backlog by 56 percent. “At this point, I can say, ‘No, I do not trust those numbers,’ ” Halliday said. “They need to be looked at very carefully, so I don’t want to say I trust them.” tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten
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
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Hint: Nicknamed “Jemmy”, this person was the oldest of twelve children in a family of local and national leaders. Last week’s answer: “There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.” John Adams
July 18, 2014
7
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MILITARY
‘The whole tone ... has changed’
A RMANDO R. LIMON /Stars and Stripes
A banner advertising space for rent hangs over a shuttered bar in the Sinjang-dong Shopping Mall outside the Osan Air Base main gate on April 6. It was one of several bars that went out of business after the area was placed off-limits for three weeks in June 2013.
AF: Juicy bar crackdown at Osan keeps human trafficking in check BY AND
A SHLEY ROWLAND YOO KYONG CHANG Stars and Stripes
SEOUL, South Korea — A year after protests by bar owners brought the popular Songtan entertainment area outside Osan Air Base to a near-standstill, the 7th Air Force says its efforts to put juicy bars off-limits to U.S. servicemembers have helped dramatically lower the clusters of establishments believed to be involved with prostitution and human trafficking. However, keeping the socalled “juicy bars” in check requires constant vigilance. For instance, while the number of juicy bars outside Osan Air Base has dropped pre-
cipitously in the wake of the 7AF’s crackdown on the bars — from a few dozen last year to nine in May — the number of establishments off-limits for suspected human trafficking has held steady at nine since August 2013. One bar was dropped from that list in December, while another was added in April. Outside Kunsan Air Base, the number of juicy bars has dropped from eight a year ago to five today. Four of those bars are off-limits, and the 8th Fighter Wing is in the process of placing the fifth bar off-limits after it was recently found to be “participating in the selling of companionship,” according to the 7AF. The difference in atmo-
sphere is obvious outside Osan, where juicy bars numbered 44 about a year and a half ago. “The whole tone outside the (Osan) gate has changed,” said 7th Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Jan-Marc Jouas. “I’ve had many airmen that have just come out and said that in conversation. A lot of them didn’t like going outside the gate because of the seediness of the environment, and now that’s been turned around.” Recent visits to the Songtan juicy bar district showed that the area has, at least on the surface, noticeably changed. Most of the scantily clad women who used to be seen smoking and waiting for male customers have disappeared,
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though two female employees in separate bars approached a reporter and asked him to buy them drinks.
Cracking down The shuttering of the establishments follows a yearslong international effort to link the sale of “juice” — highly priced nonalcoholic drinks that servicemembers buy in exchange for a few minutes of conversation with a pretty bar girl — to human trafficking. In 2009, Stars and Stripes first reported that prostitution and indentured servitude were everyday realities at many of these popular hangouts for American soldiers. Bar girls were often enticed from the
Philippines to work in the South Korean bars with false promises that they could earn legitimate incomes as singers and entertainers. The issue received international attention again in December 2013 when CNN aired a report about the link between U.S. servicemembers and South Korean juicy bars as part of a series on modernday slavery. Now, the South Korean government says it is beginning its own crackdown on human trafficking through inspections of businesses that employ foreign entertainers, and has inspected bars near SEE CRACKDOWN ON PAGE 12
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Crackdown: 7AF officials praise South Korean government FROM PAGE 11
Accurate picture? Inspections officially began in March with checks of 16 establishments in Dongducheon, some of them near Camp Casey. An undisclosed number of establishments near Kunsan Air Base were inspected in April, ministry officials said. The ministry said it will not release the results of inspections conducted this year until December of this year or January 2015, in part because the government believes that releasing the results would tip off businesses that have yet to be checked about what inspectors are looking for, a MOGEF official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
A RMANDO R. LIMON /Stars and Stripes
Bars are commonly found in the basement, first and second floors of many buildings in the Sinjang-dong Shopping Mall outside Osan Air Base, South Korea. However, at the insistence of the U.S. military, the juicy bars that once dotted the landscapes are gone. The official said businesses could then make temporary fixes to pass the checks, including telling their employees what to say during the inspections. “In that case, accurate inspections could not be done,” he said. Details that have been announced about the checks raise doubts about whether they present an accurate picture of what really happens inside the inspected establishments. Businesses will be notified before the checks take place. And, inspections will take place during the day, not during the prime nighttime operating hours for juicy bars. Hong said government employees typically do not work at night and they do not want to disrupt work at any establishments, where owners fear the inspections will harm their business. “We are not trying to find them doing illegal acts through sudden spot checks,” Hong said. He said owners need time to prepare documentation for inspections about employee pay. “We believe that those business owners are going to fully
cooperate with us because we are trying to protect foreign women workers’ human rights,” he said. Interviews will be conducted with female workers outside the presence of their employers, he said. However, he acknowledged that the women might be coached by their bosses to lie to inspectors, and conceded that “maybe we should think about that part more carefully.” The ministry conducted initial checks of eight bars near Osan in December but found no evidence of human rights violations, Hong said. The inspections included interviews with 51 Filipina employees, most in their 20s or early 30s. An association representing the bars had been notified in advance that the inspections would take place.
A ‘gut feeling’ U.S. Forces Korea has for years employed a “zero tolerance policy” toward prostitution and human trafficking, and has said unequivocally that “buying overpriced drinks in a juicy bar supports the human trafficking industry, a form of modern-day slavery.”
Yet USFK continued to allow servicemembers to patronize the juicy bars outside its bases with the exception of businesses caught promoting prostitution or human trafficking. Col. Michael Strunk, 51st Fighter Wing Mission Support Group commander at Osan, said officials had a “gut feeling” that illegal activity was taking place. But establishing the link to human trafficking and proving that the female hostesses were working against their wills was almost impossible. “We knew certain things were going on, but we didn’t have the proof necessarily,” he said. Putting all the bars offlimits to servicemembers was not the answer. In 2010, then-USFK commander Gen. Walter Sharp said it would be unfair to punish all juicy bar owners for the actions of a few. “The bottom line is that juicy bars have women that are there to talk to soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines,” he said. “You can’t presume that things go beyond that, which is what you would have to do if you want to put them (all) off-limits.” Still, business owners
resented any efforts to place suspected juicy bars off-limits or force them to change the nature of their operations. Last summer, when the 7AF put a number of bars outside Osan off-limits, owners staged protests for three weeks, saying the military was trying to shut them down. They abandoned the demonstrations after Osan placed all 500 businesses in the Songtan area off-limits because of fears of confrontations between servicemembers and protestors. Strunk said Air Force officials, working with various arms of the South Korean, U.S. and Philippine governments, have determined that juicy bar promoters were bringing the women into the country illegally on E-6 entertainer visas. While the Philippine government had denied most of those visa applications, the promoters were skirting the law by sending the women to other countries before they went on to South Korea.
Keeping watch 7AF officials said the Korean government was crucial in pushing the juicy bars to close. “There’s only so much we can do as far as our folks being down there and seeing things,” said Strunk, who received a commendation from the ministry last fall for his efforts at stopping prostitution and human trafficking. “When it actually crosses the line and we no longer have authority, like checking on immigration status, that’s where the Korean government becomes very important, and they’ve been very supporting in continuing partnering with us and working those issues.” Some of the businesses have reopened as dance clubs and sports bars, and the military continues to monitor them through patrols and feedback from airmen. “To a certain degree, I think a lot of them thought that we would scale back” on monitoring, he said, “but we haven’t at all.” Stars and Stripes reporter Armando Limon contributed to this story. rowland.ashley@stripes.com chang.yookyong@stripes.com
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at least three U.S. military installations. Last October, South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, or MOGEF, met with representatives from the U.S. and Philippine embassies, Osan officials and military police to discuss “protection measures” for women working on entertainer visas outside USFK installations. Afterward, the ministry announced that it would increase its oversight of businesses that hire foreign entertainers through checks that include site visits, interviews with workers and business owners and documentation reviews. Four ministries, including the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, are taking part in the inspections. Nearly 4,900 foreigners were living in South Korea on entertainer visas as of July 2013. Of those, almost 85 percent were working at tourist or foreigner-only venues, according to the ministry. South Korea has 265 businesses designated as entertainment venues for foreigners, though it was unclear how many of those are juicy bars that cater solely to the U.S. military community. All of those venues will be subject to inspections, though Hong Hyeonjoo, a MOGEF official, said the government does not have the authority to inspect those that are not registered and may be operating illegally.
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Bergdahl reports for admin job after completing ‘reintegration’ BY CHRIS CARROLL Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has reported for duty at a new command after finishing the “reintegration” treatment designed to help him recover from nearly five years in Taliban captivity, the Army announced July 14. Although precisely what his new job will be hasn’t been announced, a spokesman for U.S. Army North said he’d be doing the type of normal administrative duty that would generally be given to a junior noncommissioned officer. Bergdahl, who was captured as a private first class but promoted to sergeant before his May 31 release, will be moving into junior NCO quarters, said Don Manuszewski, a spokesman for Army North. He’ll serve alongside other soldiers in the command and will be able to move on and off base freely, Manuszewski said. “Our goal really is to ensure a smooth transition for him as he returns to duty in this command,” he said. “We value every soldier.” Army North provides land forces to U.S. Northern Command for homeland defense, disaster relief and other operations. Its headquarters, where Bergdahl will work, are at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas — the same base where Bergdahl underwent outpatient treatment to help him transition back from captivity. How smoothly Bergdahl integrates into daily life with other soldiers remains to be seen. Members of his former unit, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska, have blasted him for deserting his remote outpost in Paktika province in June 2009. A number of them have said his actions led to deaths and injuries of other soldiers in searches and other operations resulting from his disappearance. In defending the deal to trade five senior Taliban captives at the Guantanamo Bay prison for Bergdahl, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Congress he’d seen no evidence linking U.S. combat deaths to the search for the missing American. The circumstances surrounding the 2009 disappearance are the subject of an investigation by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl. Now that
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Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was a Taliban prisoner for nearly five years, has reported for duty at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where he also underwent outpatient treatment to help him transition back from captivity. he has completed the reintegration process, Bergdahl can be interviewed by Army investigators, but Pentagon officials said Monday that an interview hadn’t yet taken place. If found to have intentionally left his post, Bergdahl could face administrative or criminal punishments and could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay and potential prisoner of war benefits. carroll.chris@stripes.com Twitter: @ChrisCarroll_
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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Going the extra mile to take care of family
J
ust a couple of weeks the funeral, we went to my ago my mom called to grandmother’s home for tell me that her brother, another kind of ceremony, an my Uncle Cecil, had unofficial one marking the end died. She told me the funeral of her independent life. date had not been set yet, and I’ve seen plenty of homes then added, “I know you can’t being disassembled, but this come … .” one was different. Throughout She didn’t mean it to sting, my life I’ve moved from place but I felt it. In our military to place, but my grandparents’ life it seems we are often too home was a constant, tranfar away at significant times. scendent when the rest of my I know the strain of being life was transient. distant when my family needs The house was filled with me closer, or when I need to be family, like holidays past, but closer to them. this was a work day. Meemaw My grandfather died 20 sat quietly in her chair as we years ago when we were began taking apart the home stationed on the other side where she had lived for 61 of the world in Guam. At the years, after burying her son time, I had a 6-month-old, a on the same day. My uncle’s 3-year-old and a husband who funeral and SPOUSE CALLS my grandwas TDY on another continent. I didn’t make it home mother’s then to grieve with my family, move didn’t nor four months later when seem like my Aunt Marie succumbed the events to cancer, leaving behind her of just one husband, Cecil, and three day. They young daughters. were like This month, when my mom life flashing told me that those daughters, before my now grown up, had lost their eyes, not just Terri Barnes father too, my life but she figured the lives of Join the conversation with Terri at I couldn’t my family. stripes.com/go/spousecalls be there. I wondered However, our how it felt to latest home is Meemaw. only 600 miles or so from my She watched, saying little, extended family. By military as her children and grandchilfamily standards, that’s close. dren packed up furniture and “Mom, of course I can clothes for her move. Some come,” I said. “I can drive things she had chosen, and there in one day.” others were chosen for her: a I had already been considbed, her favorite chair, a shelf ering a trip because another my grandfather made, family change was on the horizon. photos. My 94-year-old grandmother “I want that picture to go was moving. Health challenges with me,” she said, gesturing made it impossible for her to to a painting, done by a friend remain in her rural home and many years ago, depicting the drive herself back and forth to house she was about to leave town, as she had always done. I behind. wanted to go and help with her My cousin removed the transition to assisted living. painting it from its nail. I For various reasons, dusted it off and carried it out Meemaw’s moving day and to my car as a sacred charge. the funeral had to be the same I was part of the caravan that day, so I arrived at my mom’s would transport Meemaw’s house the day before. life to her new home. I carried The morning of the funeral, the picture of her old home we got up before dark, dressed and hung it on the wall in her and tried to prepare ourselves new one. It wasn’t a big job, for the difficult day ahead. My but it was important to me. sisters met us at the cemetery. I have missed some crucial At the graveside service, days with my family, but I was we reunited with cousins and there that day. I’ll be there for friends, hugged each other, as many as I can, and wherlaughed and cried over good ever I go I’ll carry the image times remembered. After of Meemaw’s house with me.
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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.
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