Stars & Stripes - 12.29.17

Volume 10, No. 3 ©SS 2017

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2017

SNOW MEN

US Marines train, compete with S. Koreans in exercise Page 2 A Marine slides under a snowy obstacle during cold weather training that included friendly competition with the Americans’ South Korean counterparts Dec. 19 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

M ARCUS FICHTL /Stars and Stripes

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COVER STORY

PHOTOS

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M ARCUS FICHTL /Stars and Stripes

Guns in hand, South Korean troops ski down a slope at Pyeongchang, South Korea, during training with U.S. Marines on Dec. 19.

Marines show off skills in S. Korean snow

BY M ARCUS FICHTL Stars and Stripes

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — About 400 U.S. and South Korean Marines took a break from honing their winter warfare skills Dec. 19 for some friendly competition in the city that will host the upcoming Winter Olympics.

After doffing their shirts and yelling half-naked in the snow, the allies teamed up to battle each other in chicken fights, relay races and a freefor-all wrestling match.

It was a bit of levity to wrap up a tense year on the Korean Peninsula that saw more than 20 North Korean ballistic missile tests, two underground nuclear blasts and an ongoing bitter war of words between Washington and Pyongyang.

But the event wasn’t all fun and games. The Marines also used the time to show off some of the skills they’ve been practicing over the past 20 days in the harsh mountainous area.

Snipers popped targets from

A U.S. Marine psyches himself up for a competition against South Korean troops at Pyeongchang.

A South Korean marine adjusts his hat at Pyeongchang.

snowy perches and skiers barreled James Bond-like down the slopes with guns in hand.

More choreographed than tactical, the troops performed for a horde of media, which at times seemed to outnumber the North Carolina-based Marines and their Korean

the harsh locale to focus on cold weather squad tactics and decision-making skills.

Rigby said historic fights like the Korean War’s Battle of Chosin Reservoir, in which Marines fought off and escaped a massive Chinese assault in 1950, have cemented

counterparts during this annual photo op.

“An environment like this is unforgiving,” said Capt. Thomas Rigby, 33, of Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. The company commander from Red Bank, N.J., said his Marines used

the service’s can-do, go-anywhere attitude.

“We’re a jack of all trades,” he said. “We fancy ourselves to be able to fight in any clime and place.” fichtl.marcus@stripes.com Twitter: @marcusfichtl

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MILITARY

CNO urges bigger, upgraded Navy to face global threats

BY T YLER HLAVAC Stars and Stripes

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A bigger, more networked Navy equipped with the latest weapons systems is needed to deal with security threats like North Korea, the Navy’s top officer told sailors during an all-hands call in Japan.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson visited sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan at Yokosuka Naval Base on Dec. 19, wrapping up a tour that included visits to Hawaii, South Korea and other bases in Japan.

The threat from North Korea — which has conducted a pair of underground nuclear tests and has fired more than 20 missiles so far this year — was a popular topic as Richardson answered sailors’ questions.

“This is an unprecedented and urgent threat we are seeing from North Korea,” he said, adding that the region’s security situation has worsened over the past five years.

“The approach to addressing that right now is primarily through a diplomatic and economic pressure campaign. The backstop to that has got to be a firm set of military options.”

North Korea recently declared it has achieved its long-sought goal of becoming a nuclear power after testing a powerful new weapon it claims can hit any point in the United States. The intercontinental ballistic missile, which was fired at a steep angle from an area north of Pyongyang, flew for more than 50 minutes. It traveled nearly 600 miles and reached an altitude of up to 2,800 miles before crashing into the sea off the coast of Japan, military officials said.

Richardson met Dec. 18 with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.

Japanese media outlet Kyodo News reported that Onodera told Richardson that naval forces from both countries would be needed to counter North Korean threats.

“We cannot tolerate repeated provocative acts by

TYLER HLAVAC /Stars and Stripes

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson speaks to sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan during an all-hands call at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Dec. 19.

North Korea,” Onodera said.

“It is necessary for the (Japan) Maritime Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Navy to cooperate with each other.”

Last month, JMSDF ships participated in a rare tricarrier exercise off the Korean Peninsula that involved the Ronald Reagan, USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt strike groups.

Richardson said the service is undertaking several key steps to increase naval power, including building more ships.

The Navy has a long-term goal of expanding to about 350,000 sailors to meet a 355-ship goal set by President Donald Trump. The service now has about 322,000 sailors and 277

commissioned vessels.

“Increasing the number of platforms is a very important part of naval power,” he said. “The [National Defense Authorization Act for 2018] talks about 355 ships as the target, and we’re going to do everything we can to get there.

There is a near-unanimous consensus that we need more naval power than we have now.”

Richardson added that he wants to expand the capabilities of ships as well, with better networking between weapons systems, aircraft, ships and sensors. He also said the service is exploring newer weapons systems to make ships more lethal.

“We are looking at a lot of different systems that we can put on those ships to make them more deadly, more capable, more lethal against our enemies,” he said. “Things like directed energy. Things like high-powered microwave … a lot of systems that are right around the corner.”

The Navy’s position as the region’s premier naval power is being challenged, Richardson said.

“We go out and every single day earn our position as the world’s best Navy,” he said.

“They’re not going to hand that to us.” hlavac.tyler@stripes.com

2 Colorado units tapped to go to Afghanistan

BY COREY DICKSTEIN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Two combat brigades from Fort Carson, Colo., will deploy to Afghanistan early next year, the Army announced Dec. 21, describing the deployments as regular troop rotations.

The 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team and 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team will leave the Colorado post in the spring for nine-month tours in the country where U.S. forces have been at war for more than 16 years, according to the Army.

Senior U.S. defense officials have said some American troops will operate closer to the front lines in 2018 and will assume greater risk as they advise Afghan forces expected to conduct simultaneous offensive operations across the nation designed to drive the Taliban toward peace negotiations.

The U.S. military’s primary role in Afghanistan is training, advising and assisting Afghan forces; however, American troops also carry out some counterterrorism operations against groups including Islamic State and al-Qaida.

The 1st Brigade will replace the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry

Division, which deployed to Afghanistan in September from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. The 2nd Brigade will replace Fort Bragg, N.C.’s 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, which also arrived in Afghanistan in September.

Army officials did not disclose the number of troops deploying from the two Fort Carson brigades. The Pentagon has vowed not to disclose such details, which it used to provide regularly to the public.

However, former Army Undersecretary Patrick Murphy said publicly in September that about 6,000 4th ID

soldiers were slated to deploy. Army brigade combat teams usually include 3,000 to 4,500 soldiers, according to the service.

Both Fort Carson brigades will have conducted rotations at the Army’s primary training facilities in the U.S. by the time they deploy, according to Army officials. The 1st Brigade is preparing to train in January at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. The 2nd Brigade completed a training deployment last month at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La. dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

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MILITARY

Navy fitness-test policy on failures is changing

BY COREY DICKSTEIN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — The Navy will forgive past fitness-test failures for all its sailors in the new year and will end its policy mandating discharges for those who fail two Physical Fitness Assessments in a three-year period, the service announced Dec. 21.

The Navy will no longer boot most sailors from the force solely for failing fitness tests, the service said in a Navy-wide message amending its threeyear-old fitness regulations.

The changes come as the Navy looks to increase the service by more than 4,000 sailors by the end of fiscal year 2018 on Sept. 30.

Vice Adm. Robert Burke, the chief of naval personal, wrote in a memorandum that the changes were designed to ensure the minimum fitness levels were met across the force while retaining otherwise qualified sailors to ensure the service grows as ordered by Congress in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act signed this month by President Donald Trump.

“My Number One priority is to keep the fleet properly manned,” Burke wrote. “Retention of every capable sailor is critical to the operational readiness of the Navy while ensuring every sailor has the

A LEX PERLMAN /Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

Sailors lift weights during a fitness class in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. opportunity to safely achieve and maintain fitness and body composition standards.”

The Navy’s PFA consists of an assessment of a sailor’s weight and body fat content as well as a physical fitness test that grades them on their ability to perform pushups, situps and a 1.5-mile run based on their age.

In 2015, the Navy adjusted its fitness standards, altering its policy at the time from

discharging sailors who failed three PFAs in four years to kicking out sailors who failed two in three years. Senior officials said at the time they hoped the changes would instill a greater culture of fitness in the Navy as the service reduced its force due to budget cuts.

In 2016, the Navy automatically discharged nearly 1,700 sailors for fitness-test failures, officials said. More than 43,000

sailors now have a fitness failure in the past three years on their record, and another nearly 5,500 have two such failures, which will be forgiven, according to Navy data.

Those sailors who had been slated to be discharged for fitness-test failures after March 31 will remain in the service, according to Burke’s guidance.

Officers who were to be separated from the service before March 1 for such failures can

request to remain on active duty, the memo reads.

The new regulations do include consequences for sailor’s failing to meet physical fitness standards. Enlisted sailors who fail two or more consecutive PFAs will be ineligible for promotion or re-enlistment until they successfully pass a fitness test.

Officers who fail one fitness test will not be promoted until they pass the PFA, but they will be recommended for separation or retirement upon completion of their current assignment if they fail two consecutive tests, according to the new regulations. However, they can remain in the service if they pass an official PFA before they are separated from the service.

The new regulations additionally require all sailors to receive a body content assessment upon arrival at a new assignment. Sailors who fail to maintain the proper weight and body fat content for their height will be automatically be placed in their command’s Fitness Enhancement Program.

That program includes nutrition counseling, exercise programs and monthly fitness practice tests. Sailors can be relieved from the program only by passing a fitness test, the regulations state. dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

S. Korea urges US to curb war games during Winter Olympics

BY M ATTHEW M. BURKE Stars and Stripes

The United States is considering a proposal that would postpone its largest joint military exercises with South Korea until after the Winter Olympics, South Korean officials said last week.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in confirmed Dec. 19 during an interview with NBC News that he has asked U.S. officials to delay the massive springtime joint drills Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, which involve tens of thousands of troops and have been a point of contention with North Korea.

The 2018 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place Feb. 9-25 in

Pyeongchang, which is approximately 100 miles east of Seoul, with the 2018 Winter Paralympics to follow March 9-18.

The start date for the drills has not yet been announced, though they generally begin in late February or early March.

Moon said any agreement would be contingent upon North Korea’s willingness to refrain from provocations. The communist state conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear blast and test-fired more than 20 ballistic missiles so far this year.

Key Resolve and Foal Eagle have long been a point of contention between North and South Korea and its

American allies. Pyongyang views the exercises as a rehearsal for invasion and a threat to the Kim dynasty, while South Korea and the U.S. say they are defensive in nature and necessary to maintain readiness and provide deterrence.

South Korean officials have been joined by other world leaders in expressing concern over the Olympic Games potentially being interrupted by its nuclear-driven neighbor. There have also been reports of lagging ticket sales over safety concerns.

The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a resolution urging all countries to stop fighting and observe a

truce during the games. South Korea has urged the North to participate in the events, though Pyongyang has not responded.

A meeting is slated for Jan. 16 in Canada between the U.S., Canada and other invested nations to stand in “solidarity” against North Korea’s nuclear threat. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the meeting’s goals include advancing the pressure campaign on Pyongyang and sending a unified message that the global community will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report. burke.matt@stripes.com

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MILITARY

US issues alert over N. Korean propaganda

BY SETH ROBSON Stars and Stripes

U.S. Forces Korea is warning servicemembers on the Korean Peninsula to stay alert to potential insider threats after North Korean propaganda appeared on American bases.

The 8th Army reported that propaganda leaflets were discovered at Seoul’s Yongsan Garrison on Dec. 21, shortly after a North Korean soldier defected across the heavily fortified border just north of the South Korean capital.

In an alert posted later that day on USFK’s Facebook page, officials said a significant number of North Korean propaganda leaflets and CDs had been placed at strategic locations on multiple U.S. military installations in South Korea.

“Given the number of foreign nationals with access

to our military installations via employment, sponsorship and partnership programs, the potential for insider threats is always a reality,” the alert said. “It is essential for our personnel to report all [propaganda] and suspicious individuals to the appropriate authorities to help mitigate potential threats.”

Propaganda is used to influence people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and those distributing it seek to disrupt operations and to degrade readiness, the alert added.

It also warned personnel not to post propaganda on social media and to beware of unfamiliar CDs that could contain malware or viruses.

USFK advised personnel to report propaganda, people distributing it or suspicious individuals to security forces. robson.seth@stripes.com Twitter: @SethRobson1

Ala., Wis. National Guard fields picked to host F-35As Stars and Stripes

The futures of Air National Guard bases in Alabama and Wisconsin were bolstered Dec. 21 by news that they’ll be receiving some of America’s most advanced multirole stealth fighters.

Dannelly Field in Montgomery, Ala., and Truax Field in Madison, Wis., have been chosen as “preferred locations” to host F-35A Lightning II squadrons, an Air Force statement said.

“Selecting Truax Field and Dannelly Field will increase Air National Guard F-35A units providing 5th Gen-

eration airpower around the world,” Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said in the statement.

If the sites pass environmental analyses, the F-35As — which lack the short-takeoff, vertical-landing capabilities of the F-35B used by the Marine Corps — are expected to begin arriving at Truax in early 2023 and at Dannelly later that year.

The service also considered Gowen Field in Idaho, Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan and Jacksonville Air Guard Station in Florida. news@stripes.com

STEPHEN CAMPBELL /Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Japan Air Self-Defense Force personnel study an F-35B Lightning II in September at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.

Japan’s Cabinet OKs $46B defense budget in wake of N. Korean threats

BY H ANA KUSUMOTO Stars and Stripes

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet on Dec. 22 approved a record $45.8 billion defense budget for next fiscal year to help cope with growing ballistic missile threats from North Korea.

The budget — expected to pass both houses of the Diet — is a 1.3 percent increase over fiscal year 2017 and the seventh consecutive increase since Abe took office in 2012, Defense Ministry officials said.

“Japan will build up its defense capabilities while focusing on the further enhancement of joint functions in order to seamlessly and dynamically fulfill its defense responsibilities,” the budget proposal said.

It goes on to explain how the government wants to respond to intrusions on remote islands, ballistic missile attacks and threats from outer space and cyberspace.

North Korea has escalated

its missile program during the past year, test-firing more than 20 missiles over and around Japan. Last month, it launched a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile toward the northern island of Hokkaido that experts believe is capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

The budget allocates $1.2 billion for costs related to missile defense, including $6.2 million for the land-based Aegis Ashore system and $41.5 million for upgrades to the Japan Aerospace Defense Ground Environment, or JADGE. Japan recently announced plans to purchase Aegis Ashore to strengthen its ability to intercept incoming missiles alongside its Aegis-equipped ships and land-based Patriot batteries. JADGE will be used to respond to missiles with lofted trajectories or to any attack that is difficult to foresee.

The budget also includes $19.4 million for standoff missiles requested after the original proposal was made

in August. This includes the implementation of Joint Strike Missiles to be installed on advanced F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters. Japan is scheduled to field a new F-35A squadron in Misawa by March 2018.

“It will become possible to execute various operations more effectively and safely by dealing with sea-surface and landing units invading into Japan from outside the enemy’s search and attack ranges without approaching the enemy,” Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters earlier this month.

To respond to China’s expanding naval activities, $813.4 million has been allocated to build two escort ships along with $614.9 million for a submarine with improved monitoring capabilities.

Japan also budgeted $1.74 billion for hosting U.S. forces in Japan and $2 billion to pay for U.S. troop realignment. kusumoto.hana@stripes.com

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PACIFIC

CLEARING THE WAY Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, move into the underground facility at Camp Stanley, South Korea, on Dec. 15.

PHOTOS

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M ARCUS FICHTL /Stars and Stripes

US, S. Korea hold joint exercise to identify, destroy N. Korea’s weapons of mass destruction

BY M ARCUS FICHTL Stars and Stripes

CAMP STANLEY, South Korea — Soldiers recently used high-tech communications and night-vision gear to infiltrate a bunker standing in for a chemical weapons lab at a semiabandoned base north of Seoul, South Korea.

On Dec. 15, the Texas-based “Black Knights” from the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, air-assaulted from Black Hawk helicopters to Camp Stanley in predawn darkness, linked up with South Korean forces and entered the bunker in an exercise dubbed Warrior Strike.

The soldiers negotiated a half-mile-long, horseshoe-shaped tunnel and numerous alcoves that look like the sort of place an enemy might hide chemical weapons.

North Korea’s affinity for digging is clear to anyone who has visited the third infiltration tunnel near the Demilitarized Zone that marks the border between the two Koreas. Now a tourist attraction, it’s one of several discovered in the area. It’s estimated that these tunnels could have moved tens of thousands of North Korean

troops under the border each hour during an invasion.

South Korea’s defense ministry estimates there are 6,000 to 8,000 underground facilities in the North, ranging from shelters to storage sites for artillery and nuclear weapons.

During the Camp Stanley training, troops were equipped with gear that the Korea-based 2nd Infantry Division has on hand to boost tunnel-warfare capabilities.

These include a new radio device — the Mobile Ad Hoc Networking Unit, or MPU5 — which acts as a WiFi node and creates a peer-to-peer radio relay, allowing the transmission of text and imagery between troops in the tunnel and to a commander on the surface.

1st Lt. Norman Holcomb, a Company B platoon leader, said the device outperformed the radio system currently being used. It also communicates with trackers that attach to soldiers’ heels like spurs.

Troops in the tunnel wore AN/PSQ-20 night-vision goggles that use thermal detection when ambient light wanes. The goggles were fielded in 2009, but their $18,000 price tag and 2-pound weight mean they

haven’t seen much use in the force.

The Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group evaluated the technology, while U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Vincent Brooks and the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff observed.

Holcomb said the WiFi worked well but that the tablet he carried during the raid was hard to operate with gloves on. He didn’t like the night-vision goggles but said thermal capability was useful deep in the tunnel.

The new gear gives troops an edge in a battle space that could extend underground, said Lt. Col. John Moris, the Black Knights’ battalion commander.

“We can’t just look at military operations in two dimensions; we have to look at three dimensions and the subterranean component,” he said.

The soldiers will apply the training to other battlefields if called upon, Moris said.

“We try to prepare and train for any and all contingencies,” he said. “This is just another aspect — another facet of what we can see in operations.” fichtl.marcus@stripes.com Twitter: @marcusfichtl

A soldier is equipped with the MPU5 radio system and tablet.

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MILITARY

US: ISIS remains a significant security threat

BY COREY DICKSTEIN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Americanbacked forces have cleared Islamic State from more than 97 percent of the land that it once controlled across Iraq and Syria, yet the terrorist group remains a significant security threat in both nations, a U.S. military spokesman said Dec. 19.

The United States estimates fewer than 3,000 ISIS fighters remain in Syria and Iraq, with the majority confined to small chunks of land that the group still occupies along the Euphrates River, south of Raqqa in eastern Syria. In Iraq, small groups of the militants remain in several areas of the country, launching occasional attacks on Iraqi security forces, said Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition.

“There is still work to do,” Dillon told reporters at the Pentagon. “When they are defeated, we have to make sure they cannot come back.”

In the Middle Euphrates River Valley, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces remain on the offensive, engaged in violent clashes with remain-

ing hardline ISIS fighters, he said.

Recent fighting in Syria has centered on the village of Abu Hamam about 30 miles from the country’s border with Iraq along the Euphrates, Dillon said.

ISIS continues to provide a challenge to SDF fighters in that area with vehicle bombs, rocket and mortar fire and counterattacks, he said.

“There has been some fierce fighting,” Dillon said. “This specific area is not just a pocket of two or three or five to seven [ISIS fighters]; it is much more formidable.”

ISIS’ resistance has required the continued assistance of U.S. military advisers who remain embedded with the SDF forces to assist them as they battle the terrorist group. That is the reason the Pentagon has yet to pull out much of its 2,000 or so forces inside Syria, Dillon said.

“What we were doing a month ago, two months ago is still what we are doing in Syria,” Dillon said of the U.S. troops. “Those coalition members and advisers are doing all those things they were doing in Raqqa … there has not been a downtick in what those advisers are doing.”

The United States pulled out about

400 Marine artillerymen from Syria earlier this month once commanders determined they were no longer needed. Dillon said he expected similar decisions could come as ISIS loses more territory.

Nonetheless, like in neighboring Iraq, the United States intends to leave some troops in Syria for the foreseeable future, he said.

The roughly 5,200 troops in Iraq have shifted their mission somewhat in recent weeks, since Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared “total victory” Dec. 9 over ISIS in his nation.

Dillon said U.S. troops continue to train Iraqi security forces at dedicated facilities throughout the nation, but they have largely ceased advise-andassist operations with combat units.

Still, the American troops will remain in Iraq as long as they are welcomed by the country’s leadership, Dillon said.

The terrorist group still poses a threat to Iraq’s security, which it demonstrated Dec. 19 when a small band of ISIS fighters launched an attack on Kurdish peshmerga forces in northern Iraq.

Local reports indicated a group of about 25 ISIS militants attacked

peshmerga troops in Mahkmour, a small town about 60 miles southeast of Mosul. The reports said at least five ISIS fighters were killed and a peshmerga fighter also died in the skirmish. Dillon confirmed the attack occurred but could not confirm the casualties.

He said American personnel were not involved in the fighting.

It was at least the second similar attack of a small band of ISIS fighters against peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq in the last two weeks.

Pentagon officials believe ISIS could devolve into a less centralized organization of terrorist cells spread through Iraq and Syria as it loses the last bits of its caliphate, some 34,000 square miles that it controlled across Syria and Iraq at its height in 2014.

Dillon declined to estimate when ISIS would be expelled from the final portions of territory it holds in Syria.

He vowed the United States would continue to back its partner forces in Iraq and Syria until ISIS is removed from that territory and its remnants have been “hunted down.” dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

S. Koreans decry stray rounds, noise from range

BY M ARCUS FICHTL AND YOO KYONG CHANG Stars and Stripes

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — A U.S. general has apologized to South Koreans for a machine-gun round that strayed out of a training area and ended up at a local’s home last month.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, 8th Army commander, spoke to people living near the Rodriguez Live Fire Range — a U.S. training area near the heavily fortified border with North Korea — last week about the incident, according to the Shina Ilbo newspaper.

During a meeting Dec. 14 in Pocheon City, Vandal apologized to residents and said the .50-caliber round most likely came from a training event between August and November,

the newspaper reported.

The 8th Army told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday that it plans to improve safety at the range but did not provide specifics.

A report obtained from Pocheon City Hall shows there have been three incidents involving range safety at Rodriguez this year, including a stray 30 mm round and a brush fire. That’s down from eight incidents last year and five in 2015, according to the report.

Lee Gilyeon, 61, chief of the Youngpyeong Firing Range Task Force who regularly protests the use of the range, said there are more incidents than those listed in the report.

“They usually say to us, ‘please wait,’ ” said Lee, referring to official statements from

M ARCUS FICHTL /Stars and Stripes

M1A2 Abrams tanks from Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, train Nov. 28 at Rodriguez Live Fire Range, South Korea. previous town-hall meetings.

He also complained about noise pollution from the range, where troops train with everything from small arms to tanks and mortars.

A University of Seoul study has recorded up to 115 decibels, similar to what you would hear at a rock concert or from a leaf blower, near the range.

“U.S. forces have been making our land of Pocheon as the land of darkness,” local farmer Kim Kwang Deuk told Stars and Stripes on Monday.

Kim and Lee want Rodriguez shut down.

But while many U.S. bases north of Seoul are closing as the Army relocates to the sprawling Camp Humphreys

40 miles to the south, officials say Rodriquez will remain open.

The 3,390-acre complex is the Army’s premier training site on the Korean Peninsula, and is one of the few places troops have space to maneuver and train with live munitions. fichtl.marcus@stripes.com chang.yookyong@stripes.com

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MILITARY

Galaxy far away brings slice of home for holidays

BY CHAD GARLAND Stars and Stripes

KABUL, Afghanistan — Pirated copies of the latest Star Wars installment were available here more than two weeks ago, but for die-hard fans at a coalition base at Kabul’s airport, it wouldn’t be the same as seeing it on the big screen — even if that big screen is the size of a chapel altar.

A crowd of servicemembers stood in line for nearly two hours on the eve of Christmas Eve to see the first evening showing of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” on Dec. 23. The film played at the base community center, which is also a chapel.

“A fitting place for an epic battle between good and evil,” said Lt. j.g. Ryan Slattery, a member of the base’s psychological operations task force, on the way to the chapel.

Air Force Capt. Madison Scaccia was first in line for the show, dressed as Rey, the female hero of the latest episodes. Her costume was pulled together from issued gear — long johns, boots, a rigger’s belt — plus a handsewn swatch of cloth she picked up at the base bazaar.

“I’m always fighting the Sith,” she said, referring to the Star Wars galaxy’s villains.

Scaccia, a logistics adviser to the Afghan military, said she hoped the film would portray Carrie Fisher as a “badass” in her final performance as princess-turned-general Leia Organa.

“She’s been a strong woman for the last 40 years, and I want to [see] that in her last movie she stays that way.”

Maj. Patrick Currie, who was fifth in line, dressed as Han Solo’s copilot in a Chewbacca outfit his wife sent

him for his birthday. A C-208 instructor pilot, he came to the show after copiloting a flight earlier that day. He hoped the new episode would answer questions such as “who she really is,” he said, pointing to Scaccia-as-Rey. True fans like Scaccia and Currie began queuing nearly two hours before the evening show. Demand was so high, AAFES officials added extra showtimes and the chapel added 50 extra seats to the auditorium.

Bill Ripley, general manager for AAFES in Afghanistan, and Sean Childers, the exchange manager at Bagram, had escorted the Disney-provided Star Wars screener disc “like the nuclear codes,” said Chaplain Chris Conklin, who was wearing a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer onesie with a Star Wars-themed Christmas sweater over it. A special code was needed to unlock the disc.

Ripley and Childers kept audiences entertained before each showing with Star Wars trivia questions — a right answer earned a limited-edition challenge coin.

Unlike last year’s screening of the Star Wars movie “Rogue One,” which was only shown in Bagram, Disney allowed enough time for the latest film to be screened at forward operating bases Bagram, Fenty, Kandahar and Dwyer, with packed houses at each. After the screenings at the airport base, there was a Christmas Eve screening set for another Kabul base.

“The smaller camps are more appreciative,” Ripley said. “They have few options for entertainment.”

In the back of the room, Chief Master Sgt. Orin Johnson popped popcorn, adding a dash of minced jalapeno to

PHOTOS

BY

C HAD G ARLAND/Stars and Stripes

Air Force Maj. Patrick Currie, left, wears a Chewbacca outfit his wife sent him, and Capt.

Madison Scaccia wears a Rey costume that she made out of issued gear and a swatch of cloth from the base bazaar as they waited in line Dec. 23 for a for a screening of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” at a coalition base in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Chief Master Sgt. Orin Johnson serves up popcorn for the troops at the “Star Wars” screening. the kernels for kick, and filled bowls for moviegoers, as he does for every movie night.

“I’m passing out a little goodwill,” he said.

The chapel provided pizza, candy and sodas for the troops, too.

“It gets their minds off being here for Christmas,”

said Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher O’Neil, the chaplain’s assistant. garland.chad@stripes.com Twitter: @chadgarland

Friday, December 29, 2017

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MILITARY

Lawmakers face defense funding fight in new year ‘ This sort of governing-by-crisis that harms our national

BY CLAUDIA GRISALES Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — The budget instabilities that plagued a challenged military in 2017 won’t end with New Year’s celebrations.

Instead, lawmakers have delayed a defense funding fight to January after averting a government shutdown by passing a short-term budget deal just ahead of a Dec. 22 deadline.

The new, four-week funding measure approved Dec. 21 has drawn the ire of several military veterans on Capitol Hill who voiced concerns ahead of the Christmas holiday. The new stopgap funding will run out Jan. 19.

“This sort of governing-bycrisis that harms our national security and hurts veterans has to stop. I didn’t spend 23 years in the military, going through multiple deployments, just to weaken our nation so that a bunch of politicians can go home early for the holidays,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost both legs in the war in Iraq. “Our servicemembers in danger overseas today don’t get to go home for Christmas — they have to do their jobs protecting our nation.”

The military, along with the rest of the government, will operate off the temporary funding measure until Jan. 19 and then again will face the risk of a government shutdown. It’s become common practice for Congress to rely on the temporary spending

security and hurts veterans has to stop. I didn’t spend 23 years in the military, going through multiple deployments, just to weaken our nation so that a bunch of politicians can go home early for the holidays.

’

A NDREW H ARNIK /AP

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attends a news conference Dec. 21 on Capitol Hill in Washington. measures, known as continuing resolutions, that are used until a full budget is approved.

The government is operating on its third continuing resolution for the 2018 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

In a decade plagued by such budget instabilities, the trend has brought bad news for the military, according to industry experts, Pentagon leaders and defense hawks on Capitol Hill.

“This defense budgetary instability is national self-harm on an epic scale,” Susanna Blume and Lauren Fish, defense analysts for Washington think tank Center for New American Security, wrote in a recent look at the flood of continuing resolutions in the last decade. “Congress’s inability to pass budgets, let

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alone on time, has severely handicapped the [Defense Department] in fulfilling its sacred mission — to ensure the safety of the nation and protect U.S. citizens and interests at home and abroad.”

And with plenty of partisan turmoil on Capitol Hill, congressional members could have a tough time reaching a bipartisan funding deal come January. Though Republicans control the House and the Senate, they will need Democrats to pass any sort of omnibus spending plan that includes military spending.

More so, Democratic leadership has warned there won’t be a spending plan until there’s a deal on the Child Health Insurance Program and immigration.

“It has to be a truly global deal,” Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned Dec. 20. “We can’t leave any of those issues behind.”

Already, the 2018 defense policy plan, which surpassed President Donald Trump’s funding request, got off to a tough start earlier this year.

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, 2017

Trump’s plan, which kicks off the overall budgeting process, was issued in late May, marking the latest a president’s budget has been submitted to Congress, according to Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Now, lawmakers must reach a deal to pay for the $700 billion plan. The National Defense Authorization Act, which was approved Dec. 12, busts budgetary caps and requires special legislative action to fund all its new priorities.

Without it, the defense bill would trigger so-called sequestration, automatic, acrossthe-board spending cuts.

In the meantime, as Dec. 22’s continuing resolution directs funding to the military until Jan. 19, it also includes additional monies for more than $4 billion for missile defense efforts and nearly $674 million to address costly repairs to the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain.

Both Navy warships were involved in deadly crashes in the summer that left 17 sailors dead.

Some lawmakers, such as Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., have blamed those deaths and others on the funding shortfalls. McCain has railed that as a result of Washington’s decisions, or the lack thereof, “America’s military advantage is eroding.”

“As we wait another four weeks in hopes that congressional leaders negotiate a compromise, the military will work overtime to keep an already dire situation from getting worse. Readiness will continue to decline,” McCain said following the congressio-

Sen. Tammy Duckworth D-Ill.

nal approval of the temporary funding bill. “In a time when more servicemembers are dying in routine accidents than in combat, and our sailors are working 100-hour weeks, asking the military to wait another four weeks for adequate funding is unacceptable — and it is a dereliction of the first and foremost duty of Congress to provide for the common defense.”

Congress has been here before. A $1.1 trillion omnibus government spending plan that included the 2017 defense budget that began Oct. 1, 2016, wasn’t approved until May 2017.

The 2018 fiscal year defense plan includes a 2.4 percent pay raise for servicemembers, increases the size of the military, funds new ships and aircraft and authorizes new spending on missile defense. The budget also includes necessary retention pay and bonuses. The bill comprises a base budget of more than $620 billion, with $66 billion in a warfighting account not subject to budget caps called the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, and another $8 billion for other defense activities.

The defense budget also directs $26.2 billion for 14 new ships and $10.1 billion for the purchase of 90 joint strike fighters. It directs another $5.9 billion for Virginia-class submarines, $5.6 billion for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, $4.4 billion for aircraft carriers, $3.1 billion for Army helicopters and $1.9 billion for procuring 24 F/A-18 Super Hornets. grisales.claudia@stripes.com Twitter: @cgrisales

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MILITARY

Corps’ video: Log off, focus on loved ones

BY CHAD GARLAND Stars and Stripes

T

ake a break from social media for the holidays and focus on time spent with loved ones in the real world.

That’s the message the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., wants Marines to take from its latest video posted Dec. 21 on — what else? — Facebook.

The video is one of the latest attempts to reach Marines through social media as the Corps’ leaders embrace the humor that’s often the coin of the digital realm.

The light-hearted efforts come as the service confronted a social media scandal this year when an investigation found thousands of activeduty Marines and veterans had belonged to a Facebook group in which members had posted degrading messages about their fellow servicemembers.

In the video, base commanding general Maj. Gen. William F. Mullen III and senior enlisted leader Sgt. Maj. Michael J. Hendges sit down for chow with a group of junior Marines, who scroll through social media feeds on their phones as they eat and chat.

The leaders reprise their respective roles, as the thoughtful and articulate general and his gruff, laconic heavy. These are parts the two played to comic effect in a widely shared video this past fall.

As an instrumental version of “The Carol of the Bells” builds to a crescendo, the millennial Marines become increasingly wrapped up in their digital worlds, frustrating the imposing and clearly old-school Hendges.

Like a modern take on Linus from “Charlie Brown Christmas” special, one Marine stretches, cracks her knuckles and bends her head down over a laptop keyboard,

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Maj. Gen. William F. Mullen III, center, commander of Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., performs in a Marine Corps video.

See Marine Corps leaders’ video on social media at: stripes.com/go/USM Christmas her fingers rapidly tapping.

Hendges can take no more and orders the Marines to stop, before Mullen offers sage advice.

“Hey Marines … take time over the holidays to disconnect from your phones, talk to the people around you, especially your friends and family,” he says. “The most important people are the people you’re with, not the people on social media.”

There’s a real-life irony in that Mullen knows embracing social media helps amplify his command message.

“He understands the power of social media, yet wanted to get a message across to our Marines,” Capt. Karen Holliday, director of the base’s communications strategy and operations, said via email.

The command experienced that power in September with a video that offered a humorous take on the standard safety briefing given by many commanders before the long

Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, left, and Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Ronald Green appear in the video.

Labor Day weekend. At the time, Holliday said it “was (a) tough sell to senior leadership, but they loved the final product.”

Produced by a lance corporal and directed by a Marine veteran, the two-minute video reached 2.5 million view-

ers, Holliday said Dec. 22.

Commanders throughout the service are turning to digital platforms to engage their Marines, she said.

“We are extremely lucky in the [Marine Corps] in that many of our leaders have realized the benefit of this type

of communication,” Holliday said.

And yet the Marine Corps has also been burned by the harmful power of social media this year.

In March, Marine veteran and investigative reporter Thomas Brennan with The War Horse exposed the existence of a 30,000-member Facebook group called Marines United, where active-duty and veteran Marines shared nude photos of female servicemembers and others, made derogatory comments about them and threatened some of the women.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller took to YouTube in March to respond to the scandal, telling Marines to focus on training to fight adversaries and not “hiding on social media” and participating in or allowing online activities that disrespect or harm their fellow servicemembers.

In the holiday video, Mullen reminds Marines to take care of one another, a central theme of the Marine Corps’ ethos and its motto of “Semper Fidelis,” always faithful.

“The sergeant major and I look forward to seeing you back in the new year, ready to train,” the general says. The combat center is home to one of the country’s largest combined-arms training areas.

The spot posted last week, a little over a minute long, was produced under the leadership of Sgt. Eric Laclair, with corporals Dave Flores, Francisco Britoramirez, Devin Andrews and Medina AyalaLo; lance corporals Ashlee Conover, Isaac Cantrell and Jeremiah Naranjo; and Pfc. Raychel Porter.

For his part, Mullen has pushed the Marines to “outdo each other” in their efforts to produce positive, shareable content for the base, Holliday said.

“They are absolutely up to the challenge.” garland.chad@stripes.com

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Fri Dec 22

7pm “The Nutcracker”

6pm “Mystery of the Christmas Star”

USC Aiken’s Etherredge Center A presentation of the Aiken Civic Ballet. Also showing at 2 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 23. $25, general; $20, students and seniors (must buy at box office for the discount). Call 803-6413305.

Dupont Planetarium, Aiken Also showing at 7 and 8 p.m. Dec. 23.

Weather permitting, the observatory, housing the Bechtel Telescope, will be available for viewing after each show. $2-$6.50. Call 803- 641-3654 or visit rpsec.usca.edu.

Sat Dec 23

Sun Dec 24

Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site An event that brings to life the holiday experience of enslaved families at Redcliffe Plantation during the Civil War. Centered on the site’s historic slave cabin, visitors will enjoy special tours, demonstrations and games. The Dec. 23 theme is song and celebration and features a spiritual sing-along. $7.50, adults; $5, S.C. seniors and those ages 6-16; free, 5 and under. Call 803-8271473 or visit southcarolinaparks.com/ redcliffe.

Saint John United Methodist Church Part of the Concerts with a Cause series, this one benefiting Methodist Family Services and featuring the Saint John Choirs and orchestra. Call 706-724-9641 or visit stjohnaugusta.org.

11am Christmas in the Quarters

3pm Come and Listen to “A Christmas Carol”

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church Internationally known storyteller Tim Lowry from Summerville, S.C., will be telling the story of “A Christmas Carol” as Charles Dickens. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the church office or online at standrewpc.com. Show is intended for ages 10 and up. Child care will be provided for kids 5 and under, but call 706-736-4575 to make a reservation.

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Lights of the South

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Friday, December 29, 2017

Friday, December 29, 2017

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