Stars & Stripes - 11.24.17

Volume 9, No. 50 ©SS 2017

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2017

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Japan joins 3 US carriers for naval drills in western Pacific

Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships take part in a three-carrier strike force exercise east of the Korean Peninsula on Nov. 12.

MICHAEL RUSSELL /Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

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MILITARY

A ARON HICKS/Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

Three F/A-18E Super Hornets, foreground, fly in formation over the U.S. aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan, USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Nimitz and their strike groups, along with ships from the South Korean navy, east of the Korean Peninsula on Nov. 12 as part of a rare, three-aircraft carrier exercise.

Navy shows off air power during rare drills

BY LEON COOK T YLER HLAVAC

AND

Stars and Stripes

USS NIMITZ, Sea of Japan — The Navy put its air power on display as a rare, three-aircraft carrier exercise entered its final stretch Nov. 13 in waters east of the Korean Peninsula.

The four-day drills involved the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Nimitz and are aimed at demonstrating the Navy’s “unique capability to operate multiple carrier strike groups as a coordinated strike force effort,” the service said.

The exercise included air-defense drills, sea surveillance, defensive air combat training and close-in coordinated maneuvers.

The Nimitz’s flight deck was a hive of activity Nov. 13 as crewmembers readied steam catapults that would send 23-ton F/A-18E and 18F Super Hornets soaring skyward. Moments later, the hook runners would ready the arresting cable to catch another jet in the “controlled crash” of a carrier landing.

Elsewhere on the flight deck — and in hangars below — ground crewmen readied aircraft that would soon take to the skies above the sea to engage in mock dogfights, while others inspected

To view a photo gallery and video of the rare U.S. Navy display, go to: stripes.com/go/nimitz

jets that had recently landed.

“This is a unique opportunity. It’s rare that you can aggregate a force the way we did here,” Rear Adm. Greg Harris, commander of the Nimitz strike group, told Stars and Stripes from a hangar aboard the carrier. His group included the Nimitz, Carrier Air Wing 11, Destroyer Squadron 9, and several other support ships.

The air wing flew an average of 80 sorties per day during the drills, according to its commander, Capt. Mike Spencer. The Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan strike groups flew a similar number.

The last tri-carrier drills took place in 2007 off the coast of Guam during exercise Valiant Shield. The Navy has

in recent years conducted dual-carrier operations in the South China, East China and Philippine seas.

Navy officials told Stars and Stripes the drills are not part of a planned multinational exercise, although imagery released last weekend shows Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the South Korean warships sailing in formation alongside U.S. vessels.

The Japanese destroyers JS Inazuma, JS Makimise and JS Ise conducted a drill alongside the three U.S. carriers to “improve tactics and skills” and “strengthen cooperation” with the Navy,” said a JMSDF statement.

Seven South Korean vessels, including two destroyers, trained alongside the carriers for the “purpose of coping with [North Korean] provocations and threats,” according to a statement issued

by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The drills will “restrain [North

‘ This is a unique opportunity. It’s rare that you can aggregate a force the way we did here. ’

Rear Adm. Greg Harris commander, USS Nimitz strike group

Korea] from doing nuclear and missile provocations,” it added.

Navy officials told Stars and Stripes the exercise “is just another example of the service’s regular and routine presence” in the region and is not directed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime.

The communist state has test-fired dozens of ballistic missiles in recent months and conducted its sixth and most powerful underground nuclear blast on Sept. 3. However, Pyongyang has been unusually quiet since a Hwasong-12 missile launched on Sept. 15 flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific Ocean.

President Donald Trump has warned that the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” and has threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it continues to threaten the U.S. Aboard his carrier on Nov. 13, the Nimitz strike group commander suggested the exercise was aimed at reassuring America’s allies in the tension-filled region.

“We want to very clearly show our allies and partners, ‘We have been here for 70 years for you, and we are going to be here for 70 more,’ ” Harris said. cook.leon@stripes.com hlavac.tyler@stripes.com

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MILITARY

Navy to require passing of run test to enter boot camp

BY JASON BEHNKE Stars and Stripes

The Navy will require recruits to pass a running fitness test prior to beginning basic training as of Jan. 1, the service said Nov. 15.

Recruits will have to run 1.5 miles in no more than 16 minutes, 10 seconds for men and 18 minutes, 7 seconds for female recruits, the service said. That is about the same run time the Navy requires active-duty sailors 50 and older to meet during semiannual physical fitness tests.

The Navy is the last of the Defense Department services to require an initial fitness test.

While the Air Force requires a

somewhat easier run test, the Army and Marine Corps also require a basic strength test before training begins.

Navy recruits who fail to meet the requirement will have 48 hours to retest. If they fail a second time, they will be sent home. They may be able to reapply with waivers from Navy Recruiting Command.

“It is the responsibility of each recruit to work hard and maintain all Navy standards,” Capt. Mike Garrick, the training command’s top officer, said in a statement. “Physical fitness is one of the greatest predictors of sailor success.

Before they arrive to boot camp, recruits are expected to train to meet the physical fit-

ness standards.”

Recruits who pass will be grouped on the basis of their initial fitness tests. Throughout their eight weeks of training, they will be retested and can be put in higher fitness groups.

Ultimately, they must pass a much more difficult test that, in addition to a 1.5-mile run, includes pushups and situps to graduate training. Those who achieve the highest level on the fitness test will be advanced to their next pay grade.

The Navy hopes the policy will reduce the number of recruits dropping out of training due to fitness failures, according to a statement. behnke.jason@stripes.com

PERLA L ANDA / Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

PE TTY OFFICE R 1ST CLASS DANNY MARTINE Z , RIGHT, M OTIVATE S A RE CRUIT W HILE RUNNING SE P T. 19 AT THE NAVY ’S RE CRUIT TRAINING COM M AND IN GRE AT LAKE S, ILL.

NATO exercise seeks to display unity amid US-Turkey tensions

BY SCOTT WYLAND Stars and Stripes

The U.S. and its allies finished a 10-day naval exercise led by NATO ally Turkey, whose relations with Washington have grown increasingly tense.

Turkey hosted the biennial exercise in the eastern Mediterranean dubbed Dogu Akdeniz, which ended Nov. 16.

The destroyer USS Donald Cook and a submarine-tracking P-8A Poseidon took part in the drills, designed to improve teamwork at sea between the navies of the U.S., Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Britain.

“Participating in exercises like Dogu Akdeniz helps to enhance the professional relationships between everyone involved,” said ship Command Master Chief Petty Officer Jeremy Douglas. “(It) helps to improve the communication and coordination between allies and partner militaries.”

The naval forces worked to mesh their skills, technology and tactics to defend against hostile submarines, aircraft and ships. Sailors also took part in live-fire training.

The Poseidon played a key role because of its ability to hunt and destroy submarines and to attack planes and ships.

The show of solidarity at sea came

THERON J. GODBOLD/Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

Petty Officer 3rd Class Stephen Clulee removes a torpedo from a holding tube aboard the destroyer USS Donald Cook on Nov. 11 during Dogu Akdeniz. amid friction between Ankara and other NATO members.

Diplomatic relations between Turkey and the U.S. strained last month after Turkey arrested a U.S. consulate staffer it accused of taking part in last year’s failed coup. The spat led to the U.S. and Turkey freezing nonimmigrant visas required for travel between the two countries. On Nov. 6, they both resumed issuing a limited number of visas.

Turkey also has condemned the U.S. for arming Kurdish fighters in the war against Islamic State militants in Syria.

Ankara believes the Kurds are part of a terrorist group that could threaten Turkey’s southern border once ISIS is driven out.

And in September, Turkey concluded a controversial deal with Moscow to buy Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles.

Analysts say such Turkish military policies don’t align with NATO’s needs and show a pivot toward Russia since the aborted coup. Recent actions display “potentially problematic tendencies” that run counter to NATO’s interests, said Bob Rook, a history professor at Towson University in Maryland.

Turkey’s naval capability is seen as a NATO asset but also can be viewed as an instrument for a foreign policy independent of NATO, Rook said.

“Where that matters a great deal is the eastern Mediterranean,” Rook said.

Turkey also has used its navy to harass research vessels from neighboring Cyprus in its dispute over offshore oil and gas exploration, Rook said.

Greek Cypriots claim drilling rights in waters around the entire island under maritime law. Turkey refuses to recognize those rights and contends that it is entitled to some of the deposits.

As the allies conduct exercises with Turkey as a NATO partner, they should think about how Turkey might use the skills it gains, Rook said.

“Turkey’s regional strategic agenda should be taken into consideration,” he said. wyland.scott@stripes.com Twitter: @wylandstripes

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PACIFIC

‘IT BLEW MY MIND’

Servicemembers look WWII history in the eye during a trip to Iwo Jima Stars and Stripes

Marines from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, collect sand on Iwo Jima during a Nov. 7 daytrip.

PHOTOS

BY

M ASON ROY/Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Clockwise from above: Servicemembers hike up Mount Suribachi; a Marine looks at the Marine Corps Memorial atop the mountain; a Marine inspects an old machine-gun nest used in the Battle of Iwo Jima; a servicemember pins chevrons onto a memorial made by visitors to Suribachi.

A group of Japan-based U.S. servicemembers came face to face with history during a recent daytrip to the site of one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of World War II. The Nov. 7 jaunt to Iwo Jima — known in Japan as Iwo To — was part of a historical, professional military education outing organized by Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni’s Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152, a service statement said.

Servicemembers soaked in the surroundings of the FebruaryMarch 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima during a demanding hike that took them past old Japanese cave positions, memorials and machine-gun nests on the way to the summit of Mount Suribachi, where six Marines famously raised a U.S. flag at the height of the bloody campaign.

An image of the flag-raising, captured by The Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, is considered one of the most iconic and recognizable images of the war.

“Never in my entire life did I think I’d ever be in Iwo Jima,” Seaman Anthony Adams, a corpsman with VMGR-152, said in the statement. “It blew my mind. The best part of the day was being able to place my shield at the top of Mount Suribachi.

Down on the beaches — where Marines conducting amphibious landings faced what war correspondent Robert Sherrod described as “a nightmare in hell” as the Japanese bombarded them with everything from machine-gun fire and mortars to heavy artillery — servicemembers collected volcanic sand to take a piece of history back home with them.

Sgt. Gregory Voss, an aviation ordnance technician with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12, said the visit tugged at his heart.

“This is a huge piece of Marine Corps history,” he said. “Marines shed blood, sweat and tears here. …

This is the most exciting thing that I’ve done in my career. I’m honored that I could be here.” news@stripes.com

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MILITARY

16 high-tech F-35B stealth fighters now deployed in Japan

Air Force: Airman did not protest; he felt faint

BY WILLIAM HOWARD Stars and Stripes

RAF MILDENHALL, England — An airman attacked on social media for appearing to take a knee in protest during a Remembrance Day service near the Mildenhall War Memorial on Nov. 12 was just feeling faint, Air Force officials said.

The airman first class from RAF Mildenhall, while participating in a ceremony detail in dress uniform, stood and saluted during the U.S. and British national anthems, according to photos contributed to Stars and Stripes. He stepped backward out of the formation and fell to a knee when the music to reveille began playing.

Feeling faint after locking the knees during formation “can be a common occurrence for airmen participating in these types of events and at no time did this airman display or intend any disrespect to either the U.S. or U.K. servicemembers the event was honoring,” the base said in a statement Nov. 13.

The airman’s name is being withheld because of threats he received and concerns about his safety, the base said.

Joy Bush, a British civilian, said she watched it happen and was confused by why anyone would leave a formation.

A friend of the airman, possibly trying to be humorous, told Bush that he was mimicking football player Colin Kaepernick’s protest movement against police brutality.

“I waited till the music had finished and went around to the area,” Bush told Stars and Stripes. “His friend was standing behind him at this point and he was sitting on a small wall. I asked if he was ill or if he took a knee in protest and his friend clearly said he took a knee in protest.

“If his friend was joking, then he has opened a can of worms for the guy that took a knee,” she said.

Soon after the event, a photo

BY LEON COOK Stars and Stripes

Courtesy photo

An airman stepped backward and took a knee when reveille began to play during a Remembrance Day ceremony Nov. 12 in Mildenhall, England. Air Force officials said he felt faint, but others on social media interpreted the photo as a protest. of the airman taking a knee was shared on the Facebook Traditional British Group.

The site also includes multiple posts attacking immigration, left-wing politics, the media and the influence of minority groups.

The photo was “sent in by a page reader,” according to the site, and was later posted in other Facebook groups and the popular site Reddit.

After 20 hours, the initial Facebook post received almost 700 shares and 400 comments.

Some called for punishment against the airman and a few commenters threatened his safety.

A screenshot posted of a comment by someone identified on Facebook as a crew chief at Mildenhall stated that the airman, whom he said he worked with, kneeled because he was about to pass out.

Other users argued that he had locked his knees and stepped out so he wouldn’t collapse. According to the formation leader, that is what happened.

“It can happen that airmen begin to feel unwell or faint during a formation, so I briefed them all ahead of time that they should step out

and take a seat for their own safety if they began to feel at all lightheaded, which is exactly what happened in this particular case,” said Maj. Michael Opich, maintenance operations flight commander for the 100th Maintenance Group. “I am glad that he was able to avoid any potential injury.”

Since the formation wasn’t part of a parade, the airmen had to stand at attention for the duration of the ceremony.

“Locking your knees in conjunction with prolonged standing can trigger vasovagal syncope,” according to a statement from the 48th Medical Group at RAF Lakenheath.

“The trigger causes a neural reflex which can lower your heart rate and cause your blood pressure to drop suddenly.

“This sudden change in blood pressure can result in reduced blood flow to the brain causing you to briefly lose consciousness.”

Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations member states since the end of the World War I to honor servicemembers who died in the line of duty. howard.william@stripes.com Twitter: @Howard_Stripes

The Marine Corps finished deploying a squadron of stateof-the-art stealth fighters to Japan on Nov. 15 with the arrival of three F-35B Lighting IIs at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, which began flying its F-35Bs to the air station in January, now has a full complement of 16 aircraft.

The squadron — which five years ago became the first in the Marine Corps to receive the high-tech, single-engine, single-seat, multirole jets — also became the first forward-deployed F-35 squadron when it moved to Iwakuni from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.

The fighters bring strategic agility, operational flexibility and tactical supremacy to III Marine Expeditionary Force, a Marine Corps statement said.

The F-35B used by the Marines is a short-takeoff,

vertical-landing aircraft meant to replace the F/A-18 Hornet, the AV-8B Harrier and the EA-6B Prowler. The Marines’ version of the jet recently was joined in Japan by the Air Force’s F-35A, which lacks the helicopter-like capabilities of the B variant.

A dozen F-35As from Utah’s 34th Fighter Squadron will work out of Kadena Air Base for six months to help “demonstrate the continuing U.S. commitment to stability and security in the region,” the Air Force said in a statement.

Like with most new platforms, the fighter’s development was plagued with issues, and at one point President Donald Trump indicated he might scrap the program.

Last week, Congress approved a $700 billion defense bill that authorizes 90 F-35s.

Japan’s Defense Ministry included a $797 million request for six F-35As in this year’s budget. cook.leon@stripes.com

CARLOS JIMENEZ /Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters are seen Nov. 9 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.

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MILITARY

Marine veteran and his Harrier star in air show business

PHOTOS

MICHAEL S. DARNELL /Stars and Stripes

Art Nalls, a retired Marine Corps test pilot, stands in front of his Sea Harrier FA.2. Nalls is the owner of several aircraft, including a rare Sea Harrier TMk 8.

BY M ICHAEL S. DARNELL Stars and Stripes

M

ilitary retirees get involved in some relatively interesting hobbies. Hunting is popular among former servicemembers, along with fishing, hiking, camping, gaming and even historic battle re-enactments.

Less common is casually flying around in a multimillion-dollar war machine. Leave it to a Marine — retired pilot Art Nalls — to change the definition of “retiree hobby.”

Nalls, 65, is the proud owner of several aircraft. He and his crew at Nalls Aviation own and maintain a tiny BD5J, a Piper Cub Mk-104 and a Czechmade L-39C Albatros jet trainer.

Impressive machines, to be sure. But the pride and joy of Nalls’ fleet are two British Sea Harrier jets — a single-seat FA.2 and a much rarer two-seater TMk 8. According to Nalls, his is one of 46 of the vertical takeoff and landing craft ever made, and it’s the only one left flying.

“I’ve flown lots of different aircraft,” he said. “But the Harrier has been my absolute favorite airplane.”

Nalls, a Naval Academy graduate, received his pilot’s wings in 1979. He was assigned to the Marine air station at Cherry Point, N.C., where he would become part of the team of pilots training on the relatively new Harrier jet.

“At that time — the late ’70s — the Harrier didn’t have a very good reputation,” he said, referring to its record for crashing. “In fact, when they read my orders out loud, a lot of the other pilots that were going to A-4s and various

BY

Nalls flies his Sea Harrier FA.2 during a performance in 2017. other fleet airplanes started making ‘dead bug’ jokes about it.”

Harrier AV-8A squadrons were put into action by the Marine Corps in early 1971. The VTOL capabilities made the craft a natural addition to air wings and it remains in action to this day, although its days are numbered, thanks to the introduction of the F-35.

Nalls spent five years flying the Harrier in conditions ranging from the austere to what passes as everyday for a fighter pilot. He said he has landed the jet on everything from grass to roadways to ships.

“I had a chance to do all of that, whereas some of my contemporaries were probably getting more flight time but they weren’t getting as much experience at being what a real Marine is — where you’re using this thing as a combat weapons system,” he said.

He became a test pilot in 1985, working as a Marine pilot for the Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base in

California. He flew 63 aircraft over a year, everything from bombers to cargo planes. When his tour of duty was up, he was assigned to be part of the initial cadre for the new AV-8B Harrier II. “As a young test pilot, being thrown into that environment, I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Nalls said. “I thoroughly enjoyed that work.”

It came to an abrupt end when one morning he woke up with a medical condition that kept him from flying. He said he preferred to keep that condition private, but it was a real blow to a man who had spent his entire career among the clouds.

“My entire life had been as a Marine pilot, and now, in the blink of an eye, I’m grounded,” he said. Nalls spent the remainder of career in different jobs, including one working out a protocol to standardize investigation into Gulf War Syndrome.

But his heart was in flying. “Obviously, I wasn’t flying at that time and that was the real love of my life,” Nalls said.

He retired as a lieutenant colonel and soon found his way back into a cockpit.

“I went to an air show and saw people flying and thought, ‘Well, I can do that,’ ” he said.

The medical condition that kept him from flying was cleared up by a civilian surgeon.

“After I healed, the problems were gone, and I was able to pass a FAA flight physical and began flying again,” he said. “So now I’m a student with a couple thousand hours in different types of airplanes and I’ve enjoyed that ever since.”

Nalls, with his extensive flight time, moved into the air show business.

Eventually, he was able to purchase his own aircraft, the first being a Russian-

made YAK-3. The problem was that producers of the shows weren’t too keen on having a Russian aircraft at American events. That wasn’t as much of a problem for his next craft, the L-39, he said. That had dual controls, meaning he could take others up in the craft.

That was more attractive to air show runners, but still not as popular as the craft he spent years flying for the Marine Corps. The Harrier was extremely popular.

“It steals the show,” Nalls said. “Everybody remembers where they were the first time they saw a Harrier come to a stop at about 100 feet, back up, turn around and either take off or land.”

So, he went on the search for a Harrier of his own. Nalls got a hit in 2006.

The British military was selling off surplus Sea Harriers at the time. Nalls went to what was then RAF Bentwaters, near Suffolk, England. He signed a onepage contract and was soon on his way back to the states with a mostly intact Harrier jet. He and his team of volunteer crewmembers spent thousands of hours — one estimate puts it at 5,000 hours — getting it in working order.

Nalls has a team of five other pilots and mechanics who volunteer to help with his air show business. Nalls Aviation and Team SHAR — British shorthand for Sea Harrier — perform at air shows across the U.S. He’s a popular guy. AARP recently released the first episode of an ongoing documentary on Nalls and his crew.

YouTube is full of clips of him wowing audiences with what he says is the only civilian-owned Harrier. He said he plans on flying for as long as he can.

Not a bad way to spend a retirement. darnell.michael@stripes.com

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MILITARY

Data detail sex assaults at US bases worldwide

BY COREY DICKSTEIN Stars and Stripes

MICHAEL A BRAMS/Stars and Stripes

Staff Sgt. Joshua Boguslofski, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, out of Vicenza, Italy, gets ready to jump out of a C-130 Hercules of the Ramstein, Germany-based 37th Airlift Squadron over Serbia.

US, Serbian paratroopers train together for first time

BY JENNIFER H. SVAN Stars and Stripes

LISICJI JARAK AIRPORT, Serbia — About 120 U.S. Army and Serbian paratroopers dropped side by side from the gray sky outside Belgrade on Nov. 17, wrapping up four days of drills aimed at building military capabilities and a partnership between two countries with a troubled past.

Exercise Double Eagle brought the 173rd Airborne Brigade from Vicenza, Italy, and the 63rd Serbian Paratrooper Battalion together for the first time for training jumps.

Two C-130J aircraft from the 37th Airlift Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, transported the paratroopers, who jumped together Nov. 16-17. The Nov. 17 jump was a demonstration in front of U.S. and Serbian officials, including Serbian President Alek-

sandar Vucic, and journalists.

The ceremony next to a muddy field where the paratroopers landed concluded with a symbolic exchange of wings.

U.S. officials touted the importance of working with Serbia, an important partner in the Balkans but a country that has pledged military neutrality.

Relations between the United States and Serbia have greatly improved since the Kosovo War, when NATO carried out an air campaign in 1999 against Serb forces to stop ethnic cleansing of the Albanian majority. The Serbian military now frequently conducts exercises with NATO nations.

Maj. Gen. John Gronski, U.S. Army Europe deputy commanding general for the Army National Guard, said the purpose of the airborne insertion exercise was “to build

capacity and really strengthen the relationship between the United States military and Serbia. … The exercise has gone great,” he said.

The final day of jumps went off without a hitch. Serbian and U.S. paratroopers leapt from the side door of the aircraft, one after the other, while only about 300 meters above the ground. The soldiers were dropped from a pair of C-130s that made two passes over the drop zone.

“It was an easy jump,” said Spec. Uros Dzelebdzic, 30, a native Serbian and combat medic and paratrooper with the 173rd. “We were kind of afraid that we would not get a chance to jump because of the winds and rain, but it ended up being perfect weather conditions and the landing was very soft, which is the most important thing.” svan.jennifer@stripes.com

WASHINGTON — Newly released Pentagon data show Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia has received the most reports of sexual assaults among U.S. military installations worldwide for the past three years.

The Defense Department for the first time Nov. 17 made public the number of sexual assault reports taken at each of its installations from 2013 through 2016. The new data show a consistency among the installations handling the most sexual assault cases year-toyear, which include some of the military’s largest posts.

In addition to Naval Station Norfolk, the Navy’s largest base, the Army’s Fort Hood, Texas; Joint Base San Antonio, Texas; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; Naval Base San Diego; the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Camp Pendleton, Calif., have regularly received the highest tally of sexual assault reports in recent years.

The Pentagon cautioned that the numbers do not necessarily indicate the reported sexual assaults occurred at those facilities nor do they indicate crimes actually were committed. For example, sexual assaults that occur during an overseas deployment are often reported only after servicemembers have returned to their home installations, the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office wrote in a report detailing the new data.

“One of the features of the department’s reporting program is that servicemembers can report allegations of sexual assault at any time and at any place,” Nate Galbreath, that office’s deputy director, said in a statement. “… This kind of flexibility allows the department to better meet the department’s goals to increase reporting of sexual assault and decrease the occurrence of the crime through prevention.”

Sexual misbehavior has exploded into a major issue

throughout American society following a surge in complaints by women against powerful figures in Hollywood, politics and journalism.

Stamping out sexual assault has been among the chief priorities for top Pentagon officials for years. In fiscal 2016, the Pentagon reported that more servicemembers were reporting incidents of sexual assault while the total number of those assaults was believed to have fallen slightly.

Servicemembers reported 6,172 cases of sexual assault in 2016, compared to 6,083 the year before, according to data the Pentagon released in May. However, reported cases in 2016 were less than half of the DOD-estimated 14,900 incidents among military members last year. The estimated numbers are the result of anonymous surveys taken each year by the force.

Naval Station Norfolk last year received 270 reports of sexual assaults, down from 291 the prior year. Joint Base San Antonio received the second highest number of reports in 2016 with 211, an increase from 198 in fiscal year 2015.

The data also show Army installations took the most reports in each of the last four years. The Army is the largest of the services. In 2016, Army posts received 2,205 sexual assault reports. Navy installations received 1,285, Air Force bases received 1,043 and Marine bases received 825 in 2016. The remainder of cases occurred at joint bases or in combat zones.

Reports of sexual assaults in combat zones have decreased dramatically since 2013, although they increased slightly last year, the data show. The Pentagon received 125 reports of sexual assaults in combat theaters in 2016, up from 118 in 2015. In 2013, there were 305 reports of sexual assaults in those locations. These changes correspond with the drawdown and then buildup of forces in combat zones. dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

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MILITARY

American legionnaires Many former US soldiers still drawn to promise of adventure offered by French Foreign Legion

BY SLOBODAN LEKIC Stars and Stripes

CAMP DE CARPIAGNE, France — For almost 200 years, the French Foreign Legion has prided itself on offering a haven for men yearning for adventure and a new start in life.

It was just what “Edward,” a 24-year-old Californian, was looking for after he was booted out of the U.S. Marine Corps in 2015 for a disciplinary infraction.

“I can’t go into too much detail about what I did, but I was young and very stupid, and that’s why I’m no longer in the Marines,” Edward said.

Edward — who has a new identity given to him by the legion — is now an anti-tank missile operator in the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment based near Marseille on the Mediterranean coast.

He is one of what he said are “several dozen” Americans in the elite formation that is still the hard core of the French army. Though many Americans have served with distinction in the legion’s many wars, their numbers have fallen in recent years.

After drifting through several civilian jobs in southern California, Edward decided he missed the comradeship of military life. He traveled to France, where he reported to a legion recruitment center in Paris.

“Everyone in the U.S. military knows about the Foreign Legion, but in a general, mythical way, without much solid information,” he said in an interview with Stars and Stripes arranged by the

legion. “So I decided to give it a try.”

Soon after it was formed in 1831 to participate in France’s occupation of Algeria, the Foreign Legion acquired a reputation as a refuge for criminals and fugitives from justice. But today’s recruits in the 8,900-man unit undergo rigorous background checks

by Interpol and France’s own intelligence services to ensure that no one with major criminal convictions makes it into the ranks. Still, those seeking “to put some distance between themselves and the law” for less serious offenses are accepted and encouraged to assume new identities.

Making the grade Recruiters can afford to be discriminating. Every day, several dozen men hoping to enlist arrive in Aubagne and in other recruitment centers throughout France, officers say.

The selection process is notoriously harsh, and only one in nine candidates will ever don the legion’s trademark white kepi. Applicants must be between 17 and 40 years old.

They must be foreign, though that rule is often glossed over.

About 16 percent are French nationals who join posing as citizens of other French-speaking countries, such as Belgium or Canada.

SLOBODAN LEKIC /Stars and Stripes

A legionnaire stands in front of the Foreign Legion’s monument to the dead on the parade ground at Aubagne, France, the unit’s headquarters and its main recruitment base.

Legionnaires can apply for French citizenship after their first three years of service, and about 80 percent do so eventually.

Edward said he immediately “fell in love with the legion” and wanted to make it a career. While boot camp was extremely tough, both physically and psychologically, the longer one remained, the easier life became. Promotions come relatively quickly for those committed to a military career, he said.

“I am totally satisfied, and I hope to make corporal next year and then be promoted to a noncommissioned officer,” Edward said, adding that his goal is to become an officer.

Most of the legion’s officers are graduates of France’s prestigious Saint-Cyr military academy, but about 10 percent of them are promoted from the ranks.

The world’s most cosmopolitan military force comprises soldiers from about 140 countries. Recruits tend to come in waves — Germans in the 1940s and ’50s and English-speakers in the 1980s. After the Cold War ended, many volunteers came from Russia and Eastern Europe. They have now been replaced by a surge of applicants from Latin American and Asian nations, such as Nepal.

Edward said Americans still regularly apply but that many — even former servicemembers — fail the recruitment tests and the four-month basic training. Others drop out during the first year.

“I’m surprised by that because being here is very similar to military service in the States,” Edward said. Even pay rates are broadly similar, he added.

“But there are some differ-

‘ Everyone in the U.S. military knows about the Foreign Legion, but in a general, mythical way. ’

“Edward” former Marine, now a French Foreign Legion anti-tank missile operator

ences, including the fact that when you sign a contract in the U.S., you belong to the Army for the next several years.

But here, you can ask to be released and they’ll let you go without too much hassle,” he said.

The Americans tend to have trouble learning French, Edward said, acknowledging that it wasn’t easy for him, either. Language lessons are a daily requirement, and struggling candidates are assigned “binomes” — or legionnaires from French-speaking countries who make sure their charges learn the rudimentary 400 words needed to complete basic training.

Unlike France’s regular armed forces, the Foreign Legion is a male-only unit.

During the first five years of service, a legionnaire is banned from marrying. “They make sure there are no problems with adultery, jealousy and/or divorce,” Edward said.

The legion recently received some unwanted publicity in the United States after being linked to two military court cases involving Americans.

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Army 2nd Lt. Lawrence Franks left his unit at Fort Drum, N.Y., in 2009. He flew to France and joined the legion, where he was given a new name and a new rank — legionnaire second class, the equivalent of a private.

Despite being promoted several times, Franks surrendered to U.S. authorities one day after he completed his five-year legion contract. In 2014, the West Point graduate was convicted of desertion and sentenced to four years in prison.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was sentenced Nov. 3 to no jail time and dishonorable discharge on desertion charges after slipping away from his base in Afghanistan, also tried to enlist in the legion but was turned down for poor eyesight — after being rejected by the Coast Guard.

Expanding ranks The elite unit, whose numbers sank to under 7,200 men in the past decade, is now expanding, said Lt. Col. JeanPhilippe Bourban, head of the legion’s media section. He declined to discuss numbers of troops from various nations, saying the legion evaluated its troops by individual performance, not nationality.

Scheduled interviews with two other Americans were canceled when they were assigned to guard duties in Marseilles. Since the terrorist attacks in Paris and Nice, legionnaires have joined French troops guarding public buildings and tourist sites around the country.

The French army’s current plans call for the legion’s combat regiments to have more

SLOBODAN LEKIC /Stars and Stripes

“Edward,” an American member of the French Foreign Legion, is seen in September at Camp de Carpiagne, France, home of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment. than 9,000 troops by the end of 2018, he said.

“There is no lack of candidates, but Americans don’t make up a large part of our recruitment and they don’t normally stay after their first contract,” Bourban said. “Recruitment has always depended heavily on candidates from regions in turmoil, and North America and Europe are very stable and prosperous.”

Bourban pointed out that the legion has a long history of working closely with the U.S.

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military in training exercises and in combat operations in the Middle East and Africa. Its units have regularly participated in exercises with the U.S. Marine Corps in France, the United States and Africa.

One such joint exercise, Bold Alligator 2017, a Navy and Marine Corps amphibious exercise, wrapped up last month in North Carolina.

A storied past During a recent visit to the legion’s main recruitment

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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center at Aubagne in southern France, 10 young men in civilian clothes sat listlessly on benches outside, waiting to be invited into the main reception room.

Many of those applicants are drawn to the legion’s storied past, which includes fighting in some of the world’s fiercest wars, officers say. British spy novelist Len Deighton once wrote, “In our far-travelled, communication-lated, permissive society, there are few remaining conversation stoppers. But any man who can say ‘I served with the legion’ is guaranteed an audience.’”

Timothy Cool, 27, a corporal from Menash, Wis., said the mystique was one of the reasons he decided to give it a try.

“Back home, I tried to join the U.S. Navy but was turned down for having had eczema when I was in elementary school,” he said.

“Both my father and grandfather had served (in the U.S. military), so when I told my dad I was considering the French Foreign Legion, he was very supportive,” he said, standing near a wall bearing

the legion’s motto: “Legion, Patria Nostra” (The Legion, Our Homeland).

Cool, who joined in 2013, had just re-upped for a new threeyear contract. He said he plans to ask for permission to marry his girlfriend in Marseilles as soon as his five-year tour of duty is up in February. He also plans to apply for French citizenship.

Cool — who did not change his name after joining — was first assigned to a combat engineer unit. After it was discovered that he had played the French horn in high school, he was transferred to the legion’s marching band, based in Aubagne.

The band is in high demand in France and in other allied countries, and Cool has twice marched in France’s Bastille Day military parade in Paris.

“I enjoy the work and the people around me,” Cool said. “And I like living on the French Riviera. What’s there not to like?”

Since many of the band’s musicians are Russian, Cool tends to avoid discussing politics with his buddies.

“They all follow the Russian news, so any criticism of Czar Putin is a sure way to lose good friends,” he said.

Cool said that although the French and American militaries are very similar in many ways, cross-cultural differences do crop up, especially among those who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

For instance, a legion breakfast usually consists of just a cup of black coffee, “so none of the bacon and eggs that U.S. soldiers are used to,” he said.

A welcome difference is the availability of booze in the French military, although nothing stronger than wine or beer is allowed in the base canteen, he said. The wine comes from the legion’s own vineyards in Provence, which are tended by former legionnaires living in a veterans home on the property. Activeduty legionnaires are occasionally brought in to help with the harvest.

Switching to watching soccer on television instead of American football or baseball has been difficult, Cool said. “I now follow European soccer and I play it all the time, but I’m still a die-hard Packers fan,” he said. lekic.slobodan@stripes.com

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$10, day of show. Call 762-233-5299 or visit jazzsoiree.com.

Edgar’s Grille Black Friday Brunch paired with baked-potato bar, $22. Bloody Mary bar or bottomless mimosas, $15.

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Tue Nov 28

10:30am - 3pm Black Friday Brunch

7pm “The Nutcracker”

Imperial Theatre A Colton Ballet Company of Augusta production. Also showing at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25, and Sunday, Nov. 26. $17-$40. Call 706722-8341 or visit imperialtheatre.com.

Sat Nov 25

All day Christmas in the Backcountry

North Augusta’s Living History Park Participants will learn how colonists observed Christmas in an event that will also include gift items for sale and a visit from Father Christmas. Call 803-279-7560 or visit colonialtimes.us.

7:30pm - 10pm Soiree: Jazz + Wine

Jessye Norman School of the Arts Featuring classic live jazz and wines selected by the host. $7, advance;

5pm - 7pm Christmas Tree Lighting

Calhoun Park and Lookaway Hall This North Augusta event includes marshmallow roasting, Christmas music and a visit from Santa. Email mnelson@northaugusta.net or call 803-441-4310.

Thu Nov 30

7pm “The Nutcracker” by Columbia County Ballet

Imperial Theatre Shows again at 7 p.m. Dec. 1. $15$35. Call 706-722-8341 or visit imperialtheatre.com.

Sat Dec 2

2pm - 7pm Christmas Light-Up Spectacular & Parade

Augusta Common A free event that includes live entertainment, children’s activities, a parade at 2 p.m., a fireworks display, tree lighting and more. Call 706-8211754 or visit augustaga.gov.

Sun Dec 3

2pm Columbia County Christmas Parade

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