Archive for September, 2011
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Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/36368/
WASHINGTON — The soundboard lights went dark for the last time when American Forces Network Radio–Iraq “Freedom Radio” went off the air at midnight Sept. 23, after an eight-year run in Baghdad.
The station’s ending closed a chapter in the final 100 days of the U.S. drawdown of Operation New Dawn in Iraq.
Operated by Army Reserve broadcasters, AFN-Iraq hit the airwaves in March 2003, when a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq to oust dictator Saddam Hussein.
Since that time, the team of Army announcers kept service members entertained and informed with a variety of music, chat and news.
“It’s … a morale boost for the troops,” Army Staff Sgt. Brad Ruffin, an AFN-Iraq announcer, said of the broadcasts. “That’s why we’re here. We do it for them.”
Army Sgt. Adam Prickel called entertainment an important factor in AFN-Iraq programming, “to get (the troops’) minds off something that might be stressing them out a little too much.”
Emails from listeners came in every day to say they enjoyed the music AFN-Iraq played, announcer Army Staff Sgt. Jay Townsend said.
The final broadcast that began at 6 a.m. Sept. 23 was filled with listener requests, entertainment and special interviews.
“We had shout-outs from celebrities, interviews with military leaders and the famed Adrian Cronauer,” Sgt. 1st Class Don Dees said during his on-air shift.
Cronauer is the former AFN radio broadcaster who was the inspiration for the 1987 Hollywood film, “Good Morning, Vietnam.”
Coming up on midnight for the final time, AFN-Iraq Freedom Radio played its most-requested song: “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” by Toby Keith, Dees said.
Radio programming now gives way to AFN signals from other locations, he said.
AFN-Iraq, an Army Reserve 206th Broadcast Operation Detachment in Texas, will become AFN-Europe out of Germany, officials said.
“We lived by the motto, ‘Always there, on the air,’” Dees said.
The station also plans to keep its Facebook page, which has 5,400 “friends,” active. “We have decided to keep this page running indefinitely,” according to a post on its wall.
Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/36330/
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Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/36286/
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Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/36174/
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Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/36052/
The Army recently released suicide data for the month of August.
Among active-duty soldiers, there were 19 potential suicides: three have been confirmed as suicides and 16 remain under investigation.
For July, the Army reported 22 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, five cases have been confirmed as suicide, and 17 cases remain under investigation.
During August, among reserve-component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were nine potential suicides: none have been confirmed as suicide and nine remain under investigation.
For July, the Army reported 10 potential suicides among not-on-active-
duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, one case has been added for a total of 11 cases. Three cases have been confirmed as suicide and eight cases remain under investigation.
“Suicide prevention training and awareness are vital components of the Army’s health promotion and risk-reduction efforts against the tragic occurrence of suicide within our ranks,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1.
“It is a priority that deserves our full attention and continued emphasis by all leaders. Junior leaders and first-line supervisors can be especially effective in assisting those in a moment of crisis. We collaborate extensively with other federal and national programs to assure we remain abreast of the very latest research and best practices.
“To date, our focused efforts have resulted in thousands of trained individuals throughout the Army who now have the skills to recognize the signs of suicide, exercise appropriate intervention techniques and engage the numerous organizations within the Army and DoD that stand ready to help at any hour of the day or night.
“These skills are invaluable and have equipped many in our Army to lend a hand to fellow soldiers, Department of the Army civilians and their families in their daily encounters.”
Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/35985/
WASHINGTON — After years of debate and months of final preparations, the military can no longer prevent gays from serving openly in its ranks.
Repeal of a 1993 law that allowed gays to serve only so long as they kept their sexual orientation private took effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT.
Some in Congress still oppose the change, but top Pentagon leaders have certified that it will not undermine the military’s ability to recruit or to fight wars.
The Army was distributing a business-as-usual statement Tuesday saying simply, “The law is repealed,” and reminding soldiers to treat each other fairly.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, scheduled a Pentagon news conference to field questions about the repeal. And a bipartisan group of congressional supporters of allowing openly gay service planned a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Gay advocacy groups planned a series of celebrations across the country.
At a San Diego bar, current and former troops danced and counted down to midnight. “You are all heroes,” Sean Sala, a former Navy operations specialist, said. “The days of your faces being blacked out on the news — no more.”
The head of Pentagon personnel put out a memo to the work force at 12:01 a.m. EDT. “All service members are to treat one another with dignity and respect regardless of sexual orientation,” the memo from Clifford Stanley said.
“The Department of Defense is committed to promoting an environment free from personal, social or institutional barriers that prevent service members from rising to the highest level of responsibility possible regardless of sexual orientation.”
In Iraq, a spokesman for U.S forces put out a statement Tuesday morning noting that all troops there had been trained for the change.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said Monday that the military is adequately prepared for the end of the current policy, commonly known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” under which gays can serve as long as they don’t openly acknowledge their sexual orientation and commanders are not allowed to ask.
“No one should be left with the impression that we are unprepared. We are prepared for repeal,” Little said.
Last week, the Pentagon said 97 percent of the military has undergone training in the new law.
For weeks the military services have accepted applications from openly gay recruits, while waiting for repeal to take effect before processing the applications.
With the lifting of the ban, the Defense Department will publish revised regulations to reflect the new law allowing gays to serve openly. The revisions, such as eliminating references to banned homosexual service, are in line with policy guidance that was issued by top Pentagon officials in January, after Obama signed the legislation that did away with the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The lifting of the 18-year-old ban also brings a halt to all pending investigations, discharges and other administrative proceedings that were begun under the Clinton-era law.
Existing standards of personal conduct, such as those pertaining to public displays of affection, will continue regardless of sexual orientation.
There also will be no immediate changes to eligibility standards for military benefits. All service members already are entitled to certain benefits and entitlements, such as designating a partner as one’s life insurance beneficiary or as designated caregiver in the Wounded Warrior program.
Gay marriage is one of the thornier issues. An initial move by the Navy earlier this year to train chaplains about same-sex civil unions in states where they are legal was halted after more than five dozen lawmakers objected. The Pentagon is reviewing the issue.
Service members who were discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law will be allowed to re-enlist, but their applications will not be given priority over those of any others with prior military experience who are seeking to re-enlist.
Some in Congress remain opposed to repeal, arguing that it may undermine order and discipline.
A leading advocate, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said Monday the repeal is overdue.
“Our nation will finally close the door on a fundamental unfairness for gays and lesbians, and indeed affirm equality for all Americans,” the California Democrat said.
Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/36037/
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Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/35973/
NEW YORK — For a U.S. military leader trying to reach a different audience, it doesn’t get much more different than “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was Stewart’s guest for the third time on the popular Comedy Central show Monday.
Mullen joked with the satirist about his plans for retirement and his decision to join the Navy in 1964. And on a more serious note, he stressed the need for military leaders to hear a range of opinions before making decisions.
Stewart has been spending a lot of time with the chairman. He traveled to Afghanistan with Mullen this summer to thank troops in remote combat outposts and forward operating bases for their service. Stewart called it his “summer vacation.”
Mullen, whose father was a Hollywood publicist, joked about escaping Los Angeles in 1964 when he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Stewart asked about the chairman’s plans after his retirement at the end of the month. “A long winter’s nap,” Mullen responded.
The discussion turned to weightier matters, and the chairman praised the men and women who are serving today. They have served multiple deployments, he noted, and have done everything the country has asked them to do.
“I’ve been doing this a long time — since 1968 — and unquestionably, they are superb,” he said.
Mullen said he and his wife, Deborah, who accompanied the chairman to the taping, try to represent the needs of service members and their families.
“We try to stay in touch with them, so we understand what they are doing and what we are asking them to do, including the ultimate sacrifice,” the chairman told Stewart. “I tell them … there isn’t a decision I make or recommendation I make that doesn’t take their needs … into account. The strength of our military is those men and women and their families.”
During last month’s trip, Stewart said, he was surprised that Mullen had surrounded himself with people whose jobs were to challenge him and his thinking.
“What I’ve found over the years as I’ve gotten into jobs with more responsibility is the diversity of opinions and views is absolutely critical,” the chairman said. “It allows me, in the end, to make the best decision.”
Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/35995/
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama Thursday draped the pale blue ribbon suspending the Medal of Honor around the neck of Marine Corps Sgt. Dakota L. Meyer, the first living Marine to receive the award for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. “It’s been said that where there is a brave man, in the thickest of the fight, there is the post of honor,” the commander in chief said. “Today we pay tribute to an American who placed himself in the thick of the fight again, and again, and again.” Obama said Meyer, who is now 23 and was just 21 that day in Afghanistan, is “one of the most down-to-earth guys you will ever meet.” When the president’s staff called the young Marine so the commander in chief could officially notify him of the medal, Obama said, Meyer was at work on his new civilian job at a construction site. “He felt he couldn’t take the call right then because, he said, ‘If I don’t work, I don’t get paid,’” Obama said. “So we arranged to make sure he got the call during his lunch break,” the president added. Obama then turned to the events of Sept. 8, 2009, the day Meyer earned the medal as a corporal serving with Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar province, Afghanistan. Just before dawn, a patrol of Afghan forces and their American trainers, on foot and making their way through a narrow valley, was planning to meet with a group of village elders, the president said. “Suddenly, all over the valley, the lights go out – and that’s when it happens,” Obama said. About a mile away, Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez could hear the ambush over the radio. Gunfire poured from houses, the hillsides, and even the local school, Obama said. Soon, the patrol was pinned down, taking ferocious fire from three sides. “Men were being wounded and killed, and four Americans – Dakota’s friends – were surrounded,” he said. After asking four times to go closer to the fight and help, and hearing each time that it was too dangerous, the two Marines got inside a nearby Humvee and headed into the fight, Rodriguez-Chavez at the wheel and Meyer manning the gun turret. “They were defying orders, but they were doing what they thought was right,” the president said. On two solo trips into the ambush area, Meyer repeatedly got out of the Humvee to help Afghan troops, many wounded, inside the vehicle and back to safety. “A third time they went back, insurgents running right up to the front of the Humvee, Dakota fighting them off,” Obama said. This time, the men drove right up to the line of fire, and helped a group of wounded Americans battle their way to safety. They then headed back on the fourth trip with Meyer wounded in the arm and the vehicle riddled with bullets and shrapnel, the president said. “Dakota later confessed, ‘I didn’t think I was going to die, I knew I was.’ But still, they pushed on, finding the wounded [and] delivering them to safety,” Obama said. On the fifth trip, the two Marines drove through fire “that seemed to come from every window, every doorway, every alley,” he said. Finally, the two reached the four Americans who had been surrounded. “Dakota jumped out and he ran toward them, drawing all those enemy guns toward himself; bullets kicking up the dirt all around him,” Obama said. Meyer and others who had joined him picked up the fallen Marines and, “through all those bullets, all the smoke, all the chaos, carried them out one by one – because as Dakota says, that’s what you do for a brother,” the commander in chief said. “Dakota says he’ll accept this medal in their name,” the president said. “So today, we remember the husband who loved the outdoors, Lt. Michael Johnson; the husband and father they called ‘Gunny J,’ Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson; the determined Marine who fought to get on that team, Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick; the medic who gave his life tending to his teammates, Hospitalman 3rd Class James Layton; and a soldier wounded in that battle who was never recovered: Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook.” Obama said while he knows Meyer has thought of himself as a failure because some of his teammates didn’t come home, “as your commander in chief, and on behalf of everyone here today and all Americans, I want you to know it’s quite the opposite.” “Because of your honor, 36 men are alive today,” the president said. “Because of your courage, four fallen American heroes came home, and in the words of James Layton’s mom, [their families] could lay their sons to rest with dignity.” Meyer’s father, Mike, grandparents, and more than a hundred friends and family members attended today’s ceremony. Because of Meyer’s humble example, children all across America will know that “no matter who you are or where you come from, you can do great things as a citizen and a member of the American family,” the president said. The commander in chief then asked Rodriguez-Chavez, now a gunnery sergeant, and all those present at the ceremony who served with Meyer, to stand “and accept the thanks of a grateful nation.” Meyer joined in the applause. Just before the citation reading and medal presentation, Obama said, “Every member of our team is as important as the other – that’s a lesson that we all have to remember, as citizens and as a nation, as we meet the tests of our time here at home and around the world. To our Marines, to all our men and women in uniform, to our fellow Americans, let us always be faithful.” Meyer, who has left the active Marine Corps, and is a sergeant in the Inactive Reserve, is the 298th Marine ever to have received the medal, created during the Civil War. The nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor is awarded for risk of life in combat beyond the call of duty. Meyer is the third living service member to receive the Medal of Honor for actions during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, following Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore A. Giunta, who received the medal Nov. 16, 2010, and Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry, who accepted the award July 12. Of ten Medal of Honor recipients for actions during the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, the only other Marine is Cpl. Jason E. Dunham, who died April 22, 2004, of wounds received when he covered a live grenade with his own body to save the lives of fellow Marines in Iraq. Dunham’s parents accepted his posthumous Medal of Honor Jan. 11, 2007.
Article source: http://beta.coastalcourier.com/section/35/article/35955/
