Stars & Stripes - 02.23.18

Volume 10, No. 11 ©SS 2018

Wintry mission Guardsmen deploy on cold weather assignment in Baltics Page 2

Ohio Air National Guardsmen deice an F-16 at the Amari Air Base in Amari, Estonia, on Feb. 13.

M ARTIN EGNASH /Stars and Stripes

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Ohio Guardsmen deploy on mission in Baltics

BY M ARTIN EGNASH Stars and Stripes

TALLINN, Estonia — Most people wouldn’t leave a $40 million vehicle outside under a foot of snow, but most people don’t have to.

The Ohio Air National Guardsmen maintaining their F-16 fighter jets amid a northern Baltic winter do have one small, Soviet-era hangar, scheduled for demolition, that they use sparingly. Normally, they keep their planes out on the flight line.

“You have to work a little slower and make sure everything is ready and safe, but it hasn’t taken away from our training,” said Senior Master Sgt. Tim Golden.

Seven fresh pilots have joined the 300 Air Force personnel who are midway through their busy deployment practicing dogfighting above the Baltic Sea as part of the U.S. Theater Security Package. The mission brought 12 F-16 fighter jets to Estonia’s Amari Air Base to train with NATO allies and partner nations in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

The jets have been flying an average of about 60 missions every week.

NATO has had an air-policing mission over the three small Baltic nations — which don’t have fighter jets — since 2004.

The Midwestern men and women working here are no strangers to wintry weather missions, though they say Estonia is significantly icier than back home. One reason the weather hasn’t been too bad for them is the Estonian de-icing equipment, which is hailed as the “best in NATO” by the airmen.

“It’s really impressive to watch them clear away ice and snow,” said Golden, who described the synchronized movements of the de-icing vehicles as “watching an opera.”

The deployment is not all work and cold, though. Due to the lack of facilities at Amari Air Base, the airmen are staying in swank but affordable hotels in downtown Tallinn, where they get the opportunity to see the old town, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

“The old town is the main place where everyone goes after work,” Staff Sgt. Devon Childress said. “It’s just a few minutes away and has some amazing sights, great food and a lot to do.”

So far, several of them have thoroughly enjoyed the local delicacies, such as freshly caught salmon, beet and apple salad, and the heavy use of dill seasoning, he said.

The local drink of choice, Vana Tal-

PHOTOS

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M ARTIN EGNASH /Stars and Stripes

The flight line at Amari Air Base in Amari, Estonia, on Feb. 13. Ohio Air National Guardsmen are training with NATO allies in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

Ohio Air National Guardsmen clear snow from the flight line. linn, a rum-based liqueur that tastes like cinnamon, has gone down less smoothly for the Americans, Childress

said. “It’s too sweet for American taste buds, but it’s something you have to try when you come here.”

The Americans have also seen the former Soviet submarine base nearby and medieval castles that belonged to Teutonic Knights from the 13th century.

“It’s important that the airmen get out and explore the area,” Golden said. “The one thing you don’t want is to have 300 (airmen) sitting around bored with nothing to do. That’s when something (bad) happens.”

Theater Security packages like this took shape after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Since then, contingents of airmen have spent similar quick deployments elsewhere in Eastern Europe. This is the first security package to bring F-16s to Estonia.

The local servicemembers are happy to see the U.S. airmen bringing so much firepower to aid their defense, Golden said.

“You can tell they are very supportive of us being here,” Golden said.

“They know why we are here and why it’s so important that we have a forward presence in the region.” egnash.martin@stripes.com Twitter: @Marty_Stripes

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M ARTIN EGNASH /Stars and Stripes

Tech. Sgt. Bryan Burvis, third from left, spends some time with his Latvian relatives in Riga, Latvia.

Guardsman rekindles ties with Latvian relatives

BY M ARTIN EGNASH Stars and stripes

TALLINN, Estonia — For U.S. airman Tech. Sgt. Bryan Burvis, deploying to the Baltics for the Atlantic Resolve operation is a homecoming and a reckoning with history.

Burvis’ family fled Soviet-occupied Latvia during World War II and suffered many hardships on their way through several war-torn countries. Now, almost 80 years later, Burvis is in the region of his forefathers, helping to reassure independent Baltic states that fear a resurgent Russia.

Burvis, with the Ohio Air National Guard, began his deployment to the region last month as part of the Theater Security Package in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the U.S. effort to deter aggression in Eastern Europe, launched after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

“It’s so cool to be part of something bigger, and to be protecting this area in particular, that’s home to my culture and my ancestors,” Burvis

A family photo shows the Burvis family in Germany before they immigrated to the United States in the 1940s. said. “My family thinks it’s great that I’m here, and in their eyes, I’m protecting the region.”

Burvis, who works as a munitions specialist, is now helping create the training armaments the planes use when practicing dogfighting in the area.

When he is not “building things that go boom,” he takes time to visit his relatives in

nearby Latvia.

“I didn’t expect to get deployed to Estonia,” Burvis said.

“When I found out I would be so close to Latvia, I told my dad I wanted to visit our Latvian family, and he teared up. It means so much to him that I’m doing this on my own.”

Burvis’ grandfather, Fricis, fled his hometown of Priekule with Burvis’ grandmother and uncles in the 1940s, originally

to avoid deportation to Siberia after the Soviet Union occupied Latvia. They then traveled farther west as the front lines between Germany and Latvia moved closer to their home each day.

“Our family is extremely proud of our Latvian roots.

And everything our family went though.” Burvis said.

“We grew up hearing stories about where our family came from.”

His family’s exodus took them through a ravaged Poland, where his family briefly stayed in a concentration camp, as German soldiers evacuated hordes of refugees to safer areas and eventually to Nazi Germany.

Exactly how his family made it through safely, they don’t know, but Burvis attributes some of their luck to the fact that their appearance is similar to that of Germans.

One day the family was excited to see American tanks rolling through the village where they were staying.

Fricis subsequently got work interpreting for the U.S. Army, helping the Americans whenever he could. Eventu-

ally, the Burvises made their way to the United States and found a Latvian community in Ohio, where the family lives to this day.

His father never returned to the old country.

“It’s amazing to be here, for me,” Burvis said. “This is where my ancestors are from.

And where my family almost didn’t make it out alive. It’s a miracle that my father was even born, and that I’m able to be here today.”

His command authorized him to visit his cousins in Riga, several hours south of Amari Air Base, where they are stationed.

“I talked to my command, and they let me go. Now we’ve really reconnected, and we talk almost every day,” Burvis said. “Family is really important to Latvian culture. Even though we live so far away from each other, we’re still close. They’re my cousins.”

He plans on making several more trips to Latvia while on his deployment to continue rekindling his ties with his father’s side of the family. egnash.martin@stripes.com Twitter: @Marty_Stripes

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MILITARY

Marines to use quadcopters on battlefield

BY SETH ROBSON Stars and Stripes

Eight hundred quadcopter drones will soon hover over Marine Corps infantry squads, giving them new high-tech tools to survey the battlefield.

Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, who leads Marine Corps Combat Development Command, spoke about the new equipment at an event run by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems in Maryland on Feb. 6.

“We need new unmanned systems, fast,” he said, according to the association’s website.

The remote-controlled drones will be fielded at a rate of 200 per month with priority given to deploying units, according to the Defense One news site.

The Marines are going back to their early days of being a highly experimental com-

mand, Walsh told the drone experts. In May, for example, the service brought more than 100 unmanned systems to a beach at Camp Pendleton, Calif., to explore new ways of getting ashore. The arsenal included quadcopters, ground robots and maritime systems, according to the association’s website. Some were for reconnaissance and others were armed.

“The first 20 minutes of what we were seeing was all unmanned,” Walsh said.

“When we started with the project, I never would have dreamed any of that, at all. …

This is happening so fast; it’s changing our ideas.”

The Marines already fly a small, hand-launched, fixed-wing surveillance drone called the RQ-12 Wasp III. Marines have never had quadcopters, even at the company level, but now there will be one for every squad, Walsh

TOJYEA M ATALLY/Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Lance Cpl. James R. Fiers Jr. launches a drone during live-fire training at Camp Lejeune, N.C. said.

To make sure the Marines flying and maintaining the drones don’t get diverted from other tasks, the service is looking at adding technology leaders to squads to work with the systems, he said, according to National Defense magazine.

Last year, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said he didn’t see machines replacing front-line Marines anytime soon.

“I don’t see there’s going to be a battle of the robots in the near future … maybe one day,” he said.

However, he said any new

technology that can make Marines more lethal is helpful.

“We need some of these capabilities, and we need them now, not 10 years from now,” he said of the devices the service has been testing.

The Marines may be figuring out how to deploy “technohuman” squads, where each unit consists of networked machines, Arizona State engineering professor Braden Allenby said in an email Feb. 16.

That could soon include a variety of robots, both large and small, working alongside warriors, he said.

Artificial intelligence will also be a factor, analyzing

threats and opportunities on the battlefield, Allenby said.

“What you end up with is a flexible mixed force that, ideally, is drawing on the different but integrated capabilities of both warriors and machines,” he said.

America’s adversaries are trying to do the same thing, Allenby warned.

“The Chinese and the Russians in particular are both better at some forms of asymmetric warfare than we are … and less concerned about certain ethical aspects of technology,” he said. robson.seth@stripes.com Twitter: @SethRobson1

Actor Tom Hanks joins Marine vet’s effort to make movie

BY M ATTHEW M. BURKE Stars and Stripes

Tom Hanks, who portrayed a dogged Ranger captain who hit the beach on D-Day in “Saving Private Ryan,” is giving a major boost to a former Marine’s efforts to make a film about another engagement during that bloody World War II battle.

Hanks has signed on as executive producer of “No Better Place to Die” by Dale Dye, 73, a combat veteran whose acting and technical assistance added authenticity and gravitas to film and televi-

sion vehicles such as “Saving Private Ryan,” “Band of Brothers” and “Platoon.”

Dye’s film will tell the story of Able Company, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, which parachuted into France with its British counterparts ahead of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. Troops were tasked with taking and holding the vital La Fière bridge over the Merderet River and an adjacent causeway, reinforced by glider-borne infantry.

Their objectives were critical to the invasion’s success as they connected the Normandy

beachheads with the rest of the countryside. If they failed to hold the bridges against a vicious German counterattack that was guaranteed to come, the Allies hitting the beaches would be cut to pieces.

Their attack started in the morning. By nightfall, they had suffered 50 percent casualties.

Dye hopes to start shooting the film this summer so it’s ready for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day in 2019.

Dye had struggled to find backers to produce “No Better Place to Die,” which he wrote in 2011 and hoped to direct,

using as many veterans as possible in acting and production roles. He began by turning to his fellow veterans to generate buzz and raised an initial $100,000 to get the project off the ground.

“I’m fairly confident we can get this done now,” Dye said in an email. “I’m still committed to using as many real veterans in front of and behind the cameras as possible.”

Two Hollywood agencies — Creative Artists Agency and Gersh — are arranging financing, Dye said. They will also represent its domestic distribution rights.

Dye has said his film will serve as a prequel of sorts to “Saving Private Ryan,” which was directed by Steven Spielberg and took home five Academy Awards.

“This is such an important and dramatic story that I’ve always wondered why no one has made a movie about it,” he said. “It’s a thrilling and inspiring look at how our American soldiers — back then and right now today — can overcome long odds with guts and determination.” burke.matt@stripes.com

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MILITARY

Navy program aims for intelligence in prosthetics

BY M ATTHEW M. BURKE Stars and Stripes

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — It seemed like science fiction when the first prosthetic leg was surgically implanted in a post-9/11 veteran two years ago in Utah. Now, thanks to a program led by the U.S. Navy, scientists are on the verge of bringing those prostheses to life.

In 2016, the Office of Naval Research partnered with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Naval Research Laboratory and several universities to launch Monitoring Osseointegrated Prostheses, a program whose mission is to “advance prosthetics into the 21st century” using the latest biomedical and engineering technologies. MOIP focuses on improving socketstyle devices and implanted percutaneous osseointegrated prostheses, which feature a titanium rod that is surgically implanted into the bottom of the femur and exits the body where it can be attached to a prosthetic device.

The program’s charge is broad, and progress is being seen in a multitude of areas, from synthetic immune systems that search for and destroy infections to sensors inside the body that measure healing, prosthetic strength, stress and walking gait and upload the information to doctors.

Researchers have seen success in labs across the U.S. and could be less than a year away from a polished prototype, though additional advances may be announced soon. They say that the technology will revolutionize prosthetics for injured warfighters and civilian amputees around the globe.

“It is in the early development stage, but this is an intelligent prosthetic system,” said Liming Salvino, a program officer in ONR’s Warfighter Performance Department.

“MOIP not only can improve quality of life but also usher in the next generation of pros-

JOSEPH XU/Courtesy of the University of Michigan

Jerome Lynch, right, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan, discusses an experiment with research fellow Wentao Wang on Sept. 27. The Office of Naval Research is sponsoring Lynch’s work as part of the Monitoring OsseoIntegrated Prostheses program, whose aim is to create a “smart” artificial leg equipped with specially designed sensors to monitor walking gait, to alert users to prosthetic wear and tear and to warn of potential infection risk. thetic limbs.”

Most of today’s modern prosthetics are socket-style, where the soft tissue of the amputated area is placed within a cradle of sorts and fastened.

Veterans often complain that these cause friction and can be painful to wear, which can lead to sores and blisters or an awkward walking motion. Sockets can also lead to skin infections.

In addition, the sockets need to be constantly adjusted, which can be costly. Navy researchers said that for those reasons, a lot of amputees give up prostheses for wheelchairs.

Two years ago, two Iraq War amputees received the first implantable prosthetic legs through a Food and Drug Administration trial at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City. The trial is ongoing and has been expanded to include more veteran amputees.

The osseointegrated prosthesis is a vast improvement, yet challenges remain. The rod fuses with the bone, but there is still space where it exits the body that was susceptible to bacteria.

“Osseointegrated prosthetics have lots of advantages, but they are more complex and

‘ We’re all rolling together to make a

real difference in the way people can live their lives.

’

Timothy Bentley health protection program officer involved with MOIP

more expensive and they don’t work for everybody, so it’s kind of a choice,” said Timothy Bentley, a force health protection program officer involved with MOIP. “The right person should get an (osseointegrated) prosthetic, but other people will have sockets and they can be improved, too, and our efforts are looking to support both of those.”

Structural health The MOIP team began brainstorming in late 2015, then divided responsibilities among team members. The actual work began in early 2016, Salvino said.

One of the major focuses of the program is structural health, a field in which Salvino has expertise. Modern bridges and airplanes have sensors built into their construction that monitor stress and collect data on use and behavior to better inform maintenance

crews and engineers aiming to improve construction techniques. Salvino wanted to bring these technologies to prosthetics. The team is developing a way to put sensors in sockets and inside the implantable prostheses themselves or in a nanosensor skin that would adhere to the implantable prosthesis inside and outside the body.

Bentley said they can use 3-D printers to make sensors and better-fitting sockets.

The team also is working to develop a skin to help close gaps between the soft tissue and the implantable prosthesis, and to find a way to relay data from within the body to the outside, which would likely mean a hand-held scanner or device.

Perhaps most exciting, Bentley said, is the primitive synthetic immune system they are developing for the implantable prosthesis inside the body. Sensors inside or on the prosthesis would detect bacteria, infection or dead tissue.

They would then alert doctors before it became a major issue, release a chemical response or kill the bacteria with small volts of electricity.

“The eventual goal is to have the sensor itself sense bacterial growth and then respond with an electrical stimulation that either kills or drives away the bacteria,” Bentley said.

So far, there are eight projects that will be rolled out in stages, Salvino said. MOIP is working with a medical device company to create a polished prototype while researchers continue to tweak their projects. The next step, Salvino said, is to reproduce results from the lab testing with a device that can be put on an amputee.

“We’re all rolling together to make a real difference in the way people can live their lives,” Bentley said. burke.matt@stripes.com

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PACIFIC

Troops take in the Olympic experience

BY M ARCUS FICHTL Stars and Stripes

PHOTOS

BY

M ARCUS FICHTL /Stars and Stripes

Spc. Philip Brown records the luge event Feb. 13 during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Michele Carkhuff and Capt. Michael Carkhuff prepare for the long journey home to Camp Humphreys, South Korea, after attending the Winter Games on Feb. 13.

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Many American troops and their families on the Korean Peninsula took a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to attend the Winter Olympics this month.

Dozens of military personnel lined the luge track in Pyeongchang on Feb. 13 to cheer on Olympian and Army Sgt. Emily Sweeney as she zoomed down the ice.

The gutsy slider crashed out of medal contention in spectacular fashion on her final run but managed to walk off the track while her comrades cheered, “Go Emily!” and “Go Sgt. Sweeney!”

Most of the troops watching the luge were from Camp Humphreys, the Eighth Army’s sprawling new home south of Seoul. They got a free trip to the games with the help of a donation from the Association of the U.S. Army.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don’t think I’ll ever be around a future Olympics,” said Spc. Joshua Dorsey, 25, of Indianapolis, who made the trek to Pyeongchang with co-workers from the Eighth Army motor pool.

Spc. Philip Brown took a selfie in front of the luge track with a competitor in the background, barreling down the ice at 80 mph.

“I don’t really leave post, so this was a good experience to get out and go do something,” said the 23-year-old from Massachusetts.

The engineer, who normally trains to counter North Korean aggression, was hopeful but skeptical of the North’s involvement, proudly pronouncing where his loyalties lie.

“I’m a soldier; I stand for my country,” Brown said.

Before the race the troops explored the Olympic village, checked out virtual-reality versions of some of the events and took more photos with

Sgt. Emily Sweeney waves as she walks from a crash on the luge track Feb. 13.

Korean pop stars who made their virtual likenesses available to visitors.

As they walked around, local kids swarmed the troops, asking who they were and where they came from.

Sporting Team USA gear, military spouse Michele Carkhuff and her husband were a popular target for local photographers. The 38year-old Honolulu native was impressed by unification flags at the event that depict a blue Korean Peninsula against a white background.

“We saw the unification flag — that stood out as a poignant moment for us,” Carkhuff said. “It was like, ‘Wow they’re coming together for something greater than their differences.’ That was surreal for us.” fichtl.marcus@stripes.com Twitter: @marcusfichtl

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PACIFIC

Olympians celebrate troops, families in Seoul

BY K IM GAMEL Stars and Stripes

YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — Olympians past and present joined several entertainers to celebrate U.S. troops and their families during a festival at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 19 as the 2018 Winter Games being held nearby were in their second week.

“Getting to come here and meet the families and the men and women who are serving was a tremendous honor,” said Sasha Cohen, who Cohen won a silver medal in figure skating during the 2006 Olympics.

She noted the similarities between Olympians and soldiers, both of whom spend many years training for a singular moment. “I think that the sacrifice and dedication are definitely appreciated,” she said.

Cohen and other athletes appeared at the Winterfest, which was held at Yongsan’s Collier Community Fitness Center. Singer Rachel Platten, of “Fight Song” fame, TV per-

PHOTOS

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K IM G AMEL /Stars and Stripes

From left, Sgt. Matt Mortensen and his teammate, Jayson Terdiman, who finished 10th in the doubles luge competition during the Pyeongchang Olympics, and former bobsledder and silver medalist Lt. Col. Garrett Hines sign autographs during Winterfest at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 19. sonality Al Roker and Cedric the Entertainer were among the other headliners.

The athletes included American soldiers who competed in the Olympics as part of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program.

Sgt. Matt Mortensen and his civilian teammate, Jayson Terdiman, signed autographs

after finishing a disappointing 10th in the doubles luge competition and missing a medal in the team relay by just about a tenth of a second last week in Pyeongchang.

“It was a little bit of a heartbreaker, but everybody put forth their best effort,” Terdiman told reporters at the festival.

Mortensen, 32, a National Guardsman from Huntington Station, N.Y., said he had a great time talking to his fellow soldiers and others on Yongsan.

“Always a pleasure to give back to those that have sacrificed for our country,” he tweeted.

The athletes welcomed

North Korea’s participation in the Feb. 9-25 Pyeongchang Games, which helped ease security concerns amid tensions over the country’s nuclear weapons program.

“The ideals of the games are peace through sport, and it’s a powerful thing,” said Lt. Col. Garrett Hines, who won the silver medal in the four-man bobsled event in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2002. “There has been … some level of peace during these games and that’s what you want to see.”

Willie Banks, a two-time Olympian in track and field who was the master of ceremonies at the festival, recalled people had similar concerns when the 1988 Summer Games were held in Seoul, reflecting the ebb and flow of tensions on the divided peninsula.

“I was often asked by the media then, ‘How does it feel to be in this tense time during the Olympic Games?’ ” he said.

“My response was always that the Olympic movement I believe is above all that, and it brings people together.”

Banks, whose father was a Marine, said he was enjoying the opportunity to talk to the troops, saying he hopes it “will give them encouragement and to let them know that we stand behind them just as they stand behind us.” gamel.kim@stripes.com Twitter: @kimgamel

Navy maps wreckage of Greyhound that crashed in Philippine Sea

BY T YLER HLAVAC Stars and Stripes

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Navy has mapped the undersea wreckage of a cargo plane that crashed into the Philippine Sea in November, killing three sailors.

Personnel aboard the research ship RV Petrel surveyed the wreck of the C-2A Greyhound on Feb. 3-5 and determined that its cockpit and fuselage are resting in two sections on the ocean floor, the Navy said in a statement recently.

The aircraft’s flight recorder appears to be intact, and planning for a

salvage mission continues, the statement said.

Deepwater salvage experts found the aircraft Dec. 29 by tracking its emergency beacon 18,500 feet below the surface. A recovery operation would be the deepest ever attempted.

“Despite very challenging conditions, every effort will be made to recover the aircraft and our fallen sailors,” the Navy statement said.

The Greyhound was carrying 11 passengers and cargo from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when it crashed on Nov. 22. It was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 5, the aviation com-

ponent of the carrier’s strike group.

Shortly after the crash, eight people were rescued by Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 12. U.S. and Japanese ships and aircraft spent two days searching for the three missing sailors — Lt. Steven Combs, Seaman Matthew Chialastri and Seaman Apprentice Bryan Grosso — over an area of nearly 1,000 square nautical miles.

The Navy has yet to announce the official cause of the crash. It appears the Greyhound suffered a rare double engine failure, two Navy officials previously told Stars and Stripes on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing

investigation. They said it was unclear what would have caused both engines to fail.

The crash capped off a deadly year for the Navy’s Japan-based 7th Fleet that included a series of high-profile accidents and mishaps. In January, the USS Antietam ran aground and spilled roughly 1,100 gallons of hydraulic fluid into Tokyo Bay; in June, a collision between the USS Fitzgerald and a merchant ship killed seven sailors; and in August, the USS John S. McCain ran into an oil tanker, killing 10 more. hlavac.tyler@stripes.com

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PACIFIC

Navy: Actor-based training to battle assault is effective

BY T YLER HLAVAC Stars and Stripes

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Theater-based training that reinforces positive behaviors and encourages discussion remains one of the Navy’s top tools for battling sexual assault, a Navy official said Feb. 14.

Jill Loftus, director of the Navy’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, said the service has seen a substantial drop in sexual assaults over the past few years. She credits some of that to Pure Praxis, a Department of Navycontracted theater group whose performances address themes such as victim retaliation and male-on-male sexual assault.

“From 2014 to 2016, the Navy reduced their sexual incidents by 30 percent,” Loftus said.

“Reporting went up 114 percent at the same time. So, both numbers in the right direction.

“What that tells me is people are getting the training. People understand what is acceptable behavior and what is not. People understand they can report unacceptable behavior.”

The California-based theater group, which performs regularly at Navy and Marine Corps bases worldwide, is at Yokosuka this week for a series of shows addressing sexual assault and harassment. Scenarios include a sailor being ostracized by friends and peers for reporting a rape and a sailor struggling to reconcile a childhood sexual assault with his ideas of traditional

masculinity.

Half of the performances center on victim retaliation, with servicemembers being asked to analyze the scenarios acted out in front of them.

Loftus said 130,000 sailors and Marines have attended a Pure Praxis event and that the training is effective because the performances center on group discussion and reinforcing positive behaviors.

“We are convinced that small-groups, interactive training that’s innovative and new is what you need to teach a subject like this,” she said.

“We’re trying to shift our training to emphasize the positive behaviors and what’s the positive thing to do rather than harping on the negative.

I’m not convinced that telling people not to do something will ever solve any problem.”

Chief Miguel Garcia, a cryptologic technician with Task Force 70, attended a performance Feb. 14 and participated in a skit onstage. He said the Navy’s approach to sexual assault training has changed during his 13 years in the service and that Pure Praxis effectively targets junior sailors. “[The actors’] attitude and demeanor onstage is really on point with what’s going on,” he said.

“Definitely over the past three or four years it’s really changed to be more interactive. Before it was always PowerPoints. Now it’s scenarios and things people can take more from.” hlavac.tyler@stripes.com

‘ We’re trying to shift our training to emphasize the positive behaviors ... rather than harping on the negative. I’m not convinced that telling people not to do something will ever solve any problem.

’

Jill Loftus director of the Navy’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher Terry Leonard, Editor Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editor Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Content Doreen Wright, 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) 761-0900 Advertising: (202) 761-0910 Michael Davidson, Weekly Partnership Director: davidson.michael@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com

This publication is a compilation of stories from Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent newspaper authorized by the Department of Defense for members of the military community. The contents of Stars and Stripes are unofficial, and are not to be considered as the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, including the Defense Department or the military services. The U.S. Edition of Stars and Stripes is published jointly by Stars and Stripes and this newspaper.

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© Stars and Stripes, 2018

K ELCEY SEYMOUR /Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Lance Cpl. Jarrid Young donates blood at Camp Foster, Okinawa, on Jan. 11 during a blood drive ahead of Cobra Gold drills in Thailand.

Troops give blood for Cobra Gold drills

BY LEON COOK Stars and Stripes

American servicemembers stationed around Okinawa have donated 55 pints of blood and 15 pints of blood plasma for Cobra Gold drills underway in Thailand.

The vital body fluids — collected during recent donation drives at bases on Japan’s southern island prefecture — are intended for U.S. troops in case of emergencies during the largest multinational military exercise in Southeast Asia, which runs through Feb. 23.

“Blood is the same as any other medical supplies,” Navy Lt. Nii Adjei Oninku, a III Marine Expeditionary Force health service support officer, said in a Marine Corps statement. “We bring our own bandages, gauze, and tongue suppressors. So, we bring our own blood too.”

The Armed Services Blood Program is storing the fluids at two civilian hospitals in Bangkok for the duration of the exercise. Any unused blood or plasma will be donated to the facilities.

“Every time there is a blood drive I try to donate,” Marine Corps Pfc. Melvin Barnard, a defense clerk with Legal Services Support Section at Camp

Foster, Okinawa, said in the statement. “I started donating because I figured it could help someone. So, why not do it?”

Now in its 37th iteration, Cobra Gold is aimed at improving coordination between U.S. forces and key allies in the region. More than 11,000 servicemembers from 29 nations are participating in the exercise, which will include evacuation drills, disasterrelief missions and traditional military drills such as amphibious landings. Participants include host Thailand, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and representatives from 22 other nations either observing or participating in a limited manner.

The exercise spurred controversy Feb. 13 after an officer from Myanmar was present at the opening ceremony at U-Tapao Air Base, Thailand. Myanmar, accused of human rights violations against its Rohingya Muslim population, is not participating in this year’s drills, although observers were originally invited to view humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief drills, a Pentagon spokesman said recently. cook.leon@stripes.com Twitter: @LeonCook12

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Fri Feb 23 10am - 5pm Big Book Sale

Columbia County Library Both fiction and non-fiction books will be available in the foyer during this Friends of the Columbia County Libraries event. Continues 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 24, and Sunday, Feb. 25. Call 706-863-1946 or visit gchrl.org.

2pm - 6pm Augusta Home and Garden Show

James Brown Arena Continues from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 24 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 25. $8, general $7, seniors and retired military; free, those 16 and under and active-duty military. Visit augustahomeandgardenshow. com.

Sat Feb 24

8:30am - 8:30pm The Battle of Aiken

If you would like to place an ad in the Marketplace, contact james@themetrospirit.com

1210 Powell Pond Road, Aiken In addition to battle reenactments, there will be living history presentations, reproductions of medical facilities, an engineer and signal service and civilian portrayals.

Food vendors will be available.

Continues all day Feb. 25. $12, adults; $6, ages 6-12; free, under 5. Visit battleofaiken.org or call 888-378-7623.

11am - 3pm Vet Fest 2018

Evans Towne Center Park Presented by Veterans K9 Solutions, this event to support the military features live music, raffles,

Friday, February 23, 2018

silent auctions, inflatables, food, vendors, service dog demonstrations, motorcycles and more. Visit facebook.com/ events/103309907145850 or call 706-832-4144.

Sun Feb 25

7pm The Illusionists Live from Broadway

Bell Auditorium $54-$76. Call 877-4AUGTIX or visit georgialinatix.com.

8pm Gordon Lightfoot

Miller Theater $35-$70. Visit millertheateraugusta.com or call 800-514-3849.

Thu Mar 1

8am - 5pm American Military University Information Session and Career Counseling

4081 Jimmie Dyes Parkway (Hampton Inn & Suites, Main Business Conference Room) This free event will provide information about Academic Strategy of Career Development, Financial Assistance, Credit Transfers and Admissions. Light refreshments will be served. Call 540-336-2872 or email ebrown@ apus.edu.

7pm - 10pm Attic Sale Preview Party

Augusta Exchange Club Fairgrounds An event that includes dinner, live music, raffles and a chance to see and purchase attic sale merchandise before the sale on Saturday. $20. Call 706-7360033 or visit jlaugusta.org.

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