Posts Tagged ‘ summer ’

The Army has found a new way to transport its MRAP-All Terrain Vehicles to Afghanistan, according to the service’s top logistician. Up until a week ago, the Army had been flying the vehicles directly from its integration facility in Charleston, S.C., said Lt. Gen. Mitchell Stevenson, deputy chief of staff for logistics. On March 8, the Army began a “multimodal concept of operations,” dividing the long trip up using ships and aircraft, Stevenson said. “We sent 130 M-ATVs by ship,” to a U.S. ally in southwest Asia, said Stevenson, who declined to name the country. Once the vehicles arrive, they will be loaded onto a C-17 aircraft and flown six hours to Afghanistan. The whole trip takes about three weeks and is less expensive, he said. “The nice part about that concept of operations is that the C-17s can make multiple turns in a day and it’s a lot easier than flying that one leg all the way from the United States,” he said. Another 170 vehicles will be shipped this way later in March, according to Stevenson. “We want to get up to 1,000 per month,” he said. Oshkosh, the vehicle manufacturer, produces about 1,000 M-ATVs a month. “The problem right now is not that we can’t ship 1,000 a month, the problem is they can’t absorb 1,000 a month there,” Stevenson said. “You get the M-ATV into a place like Bagram or Kandahar, that’s fine, but then you’ve got to get it to the soldier who needs it and that takes a little bit of effort.” It’s also a brand-new vehicle that requires troops to be trained to use and maintain it, he said. Army logisticians now deliver 500 of the vehicles per month, Stevenson said, and aim to reach 1,000 per month by this summer. In February, the Army tried shipping 10 M-ATVs through the Pakistani port of Karachi. Many of the supplies needed by forces in Afghanistan come through that port and then travel over land into Afghanistan. The vehicles arrived without a problem, but because of the speed with which the forces in Afghanistan need M-ATVs, the Army is going to continue flying them in, he said. The Army has also fitted about 600 of the Cougar variant MRAPs with new suspension systems designed for Afghanistan. The Cougars were pulled out of Afghanistan and brought to Kuwait where there is a maintenance facility, Stevenson said. They have since been shipped back to Afghanistan by air.

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The Navy will roll out a new fitness and nutrition program this summer designed for shipboard sailors. The exercises are designed to be done in the confined spaces of Navy ships, and keep sailors fit in 30 to 60 minutes a day, depending on the workout. Individually tailored to specific types of warships, the Navy Operational Fitness and Fueling Series aims to change the way sailors stay fit and eat. It’s supposed to hit the fleet in June, but you can get all the details now — including a four-page illustrated exercise pullout — in an exclusive report in this week’s Navy Times. To see what the workouts include, pick up this week’s issue of Navy Times on newsstands now. To read it online, login here or subscribe now .

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The Army is finally going to give soldiers the green light to paint their black weapons so they blend in with the terrain on the battlefield. Soldiers have been using commercially available, spray-on camouflage paint since the beginning of the war — despite an unenforced Army policy prohibiting the practice. Army weapons officials announced March 2 they will soon release guidelines on the proper way to paint M4 Carbines and other weapons so paint doesn’t interfere with the weapon’s operation. “The soldiers are doing it anyway; if you go to theater, you will see that units have their weapons sprayed,” said Col. Doug Tamilio, head of Project Manager Soldier Weapons. The reversal of the policy follows the Army’s Feb. 19 decision to start issuing MultiCam camouflage uniforms and equipment to soldiers deploying to Afghanistan this summer in an effort to help soldiers blend more effectively with the Afghan terrain. Most Army infantry weapons are black. “It sticks out, and we need to give them that ability,” Tamilio said. “We should issue out in the next couple of months an advisory message … to say, ‘It’s OK to spray paint your weapons, but here is how to do it.’Ÿ” The guidelines will identify parts of the weapons that should not be painted, such as inside the chamber and accessories such as optics. “If you get any spray on these optics, you reduce the capability of that optic,” Tamilio said. The guidelines will also recommend the safest paints to use. Weapons officials stressed that soldiers will have to get approval from their unit commanders before they paint their weapons. “It will be up to the commander to say we are going to do it or we are not going to do it,” Tamilio said.

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MIAMI — The training schedule for U.S. military operations in Latin American and the Caribbean is changing because of ongoing relief efforts in Haiti. U.S. Southern Command announced a revamped training schedule Friday. Typically, SouthCom runs nearly a dozen multinational exercises focused on security and humanitarian assistance in the region. Three exercises were canceled. One new humanitarian exercise in Haiti is scheduled this summer. A dozen medical training exercises will provide medical support in Haiti through September. SouthCom officials say the training schedule was adjusted in response to the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, and could be changed again if their operational needs change.

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Air Force doctors at the San Antonio Military Medical Center think they have found a way to help service members who sustain suffer traumatic brain injuries: time in the hyperbaric chambers used to treat patients who suffer carbon monoxide poisoning and scuba divers who get “the bends.”In a study expected to wrap up this summer, Col. (Dr.) Robert Michaelson, the chief of hyperbaric medicine at the San Antonio Military Medical Center, and Dr. E. George Wolf, a staff physician there, are testing the theory that hyperbaric oxygen can repair damage to brain cells after mild or moderate head injuries.“There has been a considerable amount of anecdotal information and case reports that it became evident that something needed to be looked at for hyperbaric oxygen and TBI,” Wolf said.Inside a hyperbaric chamber, a patient breathes 100 percent oxygen under different amounts of pressure. The pressure created inside the chamber causes the oxygen inside the blood to dissolve, allowing more oxygen to flow throughout the body.Michaelson and Wolf said they hope their study will show that the extra oxygen re-energizes dead or damaged brain cells. Research shows that extra oxygen could also help recruit stem cells to repair brain cell damage, Michaelson said. Repairing those cells could improve a service member’s ability to concentrate, recognize and remember.Doctors will survey 50 service members with TBI. Each service member will receive 30 treatments inside the hyperbaric chamber over six weeks. Half of the service members will actually receive the hyperbaric oxygen treatments; the other half will be the control group.Last March, the Air Force bought two new hyperbaric chambers for the hyperbaric center at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. One is a multiplace — accommodating up to six patients — and the other is for one stabilized patient.The multiplace is used for “more acute and critical patients requiring constant hands-on care,” said Senior Master Sgt. Darryl Swartz, superintendent of the hospital’s Hyperbaric Medicine Division.Dr. Gaylan Rockswold, chief of neurosurgical services at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minnesota, has treated TBI patients with hyperbaric oxygen therapy since the 1980s. He just completed his fourth study on the treatment with his daughter, who also is a neurosurgeon. The two focused on life-threatening TBI cases.The study, published in the Journal of Neurosurgery, found that hyperbaric oxygen therapy reduced the death rate on serious TBI cases from 33 percent to 17 percent.Related reading• Faster screening, treatment for TBI ahead

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About 3,200 soldiers from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, of Fort Campbell, Ky., will deploy late this summer as part of President Obama’s 30,000-troop build-up in Afghanistan, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.This means that by late summer, almost the entire 101st Airborne Division – headquarters, four brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade – will be serving in Afghanistan.The 4th BCT returned from its most recent deployment, also to Afghanistan, in March 2009.In addition to 4th BCT, 101st Airborne, officials also announced Tuesday that about 900 soldiers from several units will deploy to Afghanistan throughout the summer.This most recent announcement brings the number of troops who have received orders to deploy as part of the build-up to about 29,200.They include 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division, of Fort Drum, N.Y.; 2nd BCT, 101st Airborne Division, of Fort Campbell; 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, of Fort Hood, Texas; at least 6,700 support forces; and 8,500 Marines.

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The Air Force announced Monday that its cyber fighting arm, the 24th Air Force, reached its initial operating capability less than one year after its stand-up at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.“This milestone designation means that 24 AF is capable of performing critical elements of its mission,” a service announcement said.The 24th Air Force’s IOC is the culmination of years of sometimes controversial work by the service to establish an effective cyber fighting command. In 2007, the service announced that it was aiming to establish a full major command dedicated to cyberwarfare, even releasing television ads depicting the service as the country’s only line of defense from cyber attack. Many saw this move as a turf grab by the air service and its former leaders, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley.However, soon after Wynne and Moseley were fired by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the summer of 2008, new Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz announced that the service was suspending its pursuit of establishing a cyber MAJCOM. That fall, Schwartz announced that the Air Force would instead establish a numbered air force reporting to Air Force Space Command that would focus on cyber warfare. In August 2009, the service stood up 24th Air Force.Service leaders say that the numbered air force will serve as the air service’s contribution to U.S. Cyber Command when that organization is stood up. For now, however, 24th Air Force reports to AFSPACE.Although Air Force officials have long acknowledged that 24th Air Force’s mission will be to operate and defend Air Force computer networks, they remain cryptic about the unit’s offensive mission, saying only that it will “provide full spectrum capabilities for the joint war fighter.”

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TOKYO — Japan’s prime minister pledged Monday to “start from scratch” in re-examining a key military deal with Washington on relocating American troops, risking the ire of its key ally after a local election in Okinawa showed that residents oppose any new Marine base in their region.After the small Okinawan city of Nago elected a mayor opposed to moving the facility there, Japan will be hard pressed to honor its 2006 agreement to relocate a U.S. military base on the southern island. Sunday’s vote is reverberating to Tokyo and beyond, widening an already growing rift with Washington.Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appears to be caught in a no-win situation of either antagonizing local citizens or Japan’s main alliance partner. With upper house elections this summer, he can’t run roughshod over voters’ voices.“He can’t make a decision now that’s going to make both the Americans and Okinawans happy,” said Jeff Kingston, Temple University Director of Asian Studies in Tokyo.“It does give Hatoyama a bit of cover: ‘Hey, I have to listen to the voice of the people.’ But I don’t think that’s going to cut much weight with Washington,” Kingston added.At issue is a 2006 plan to reorganize U.S. troops in Japan. A key sticking point in that agreement forged between Washington and Tokyo’s previous conservative government involves moving Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the crowded, southern part of the island to a coastal area near Nago — a move that many locals oppose.Hatoyama, who swept into power in September, has frustrated Washington by refusing to commit to the move to Nago at a time of rising Asia security concerns from North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s growing military strength. One member of his Cabinet, the left-leaning Mizuho Fukushima, has flatly said she wants Futenma moved off Japanese territory altogether.U.S. officials have insisted the agreement must be kept. Backing out could scrap the whole realignment plan, which would lighten the burden on Okinawa — where more than half the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan are based — by sending 8,000 Marines to the U.S. territory of Guam.Reacting Monday to the Nago vote, Hatoyama said the election reflected the will of the people and that Tokyo would re-examine its options on the Futenma issue.“The country will start from scratch on this issue and take responsibility to reach a conclusion by the end of May,” he told reporters.The U.S. State Department refrained from criticizing Hatoyama or pushing its stance in a statement issued Monday.“We are consulting closely with the Japanese government on the Futenma relocation issue,” the statement said. “Decisions related to national security, including base realignment, are typically made by central governments, after taking into account relevant factors, including the interests of base-hosting communities.Japanese officials have examined other possible locations on Okinawa, and some have even traveled to Guam to look for alternative relocation sites, but none have fit the bill. Washington has insisted on sticking with Nago, saying it is the best option.Ever since winning August’s elections, ending the conservatives’ five decades of nearly uninterrupted rule, Hatoyama has said he wants a more independent relationship with Washington and has suggested he wants revisions in the 2006 military realignment plan.Still, he has said the U.S.-Japan security pact — now in its 50th year and one which obligates the U.S. to respond to attacks on Japan — is the cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy.Nago’s mayor-elect, independent Susumu Inamine, ran with the support of Hatoyama’s ruling Democratic Party. He won 52.3 percent of the vote after campaigning against any expansion of U.S. military presence in the area, while the incumbent argued that the base would bring jobs and investment.Meanwhile, China is probably watching the widening rift between Washington and Tokyo with interest, experts say — even as it welcomes Hatoyama’s overtures to build stronger ties with Beijing and other Asian neighbors.“From the Chinese side, the debate about Okinawa and what to do with bases in the framework of the security pact has been looked at very favorably, that Japan is not simply following old contracts,” said Martin Schulz, a research fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo.Domestically, perceptions of Hatoyama’s indecisiveness on Futenma — and alienating the United States — could undermine his party’s performance in this summer’s elections. Already, the government’s approval ratings have fallen amid a potential scandal involving a key party power-broker and persistent weakness in the economy.“Prime Minister Hatoyama is responsible for a delayed decision [on Futenma] due to his wishy-washiness and lack of determination,” the Yomiuri newspaper said in an editorial Monday. “Without a relocation site … Japan-U.S. relations would worsen and fall into a critical situation. Is that what the Hatoyama government wants?”———Associated Press Writers Mari Yamaguchi and Jay Alabaster contributed to this report.

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Starting late next year, chiefs and officers will have the opportunity to buy a more professional summer uniform for the office.Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead has approved the main design of the service dress khaki uniform, a World War II-style uniform that began development in 2006.The uniform — which will be optional and can be worn in place of the summer white uniform or the service khakis — sports a contemporary design that includes an unbelted waist and peaked lapels. The shirt will have a black tie and come in short- and long-sleeve versions.The uniform is largely the result of feedback from the fleet, including 125 wear-testers in six diverse locations, said Capt. Vince Drouillard, branch head within the Navy’s personnel, plans and policy division.“We really relied heavily on the testers,” he said, adding that preferences for look, styling and comfort drove most decisions. “This uniform will be designed well.”———To read the rest of the story, please see the next issue out on newsstands Monday.

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Updated WWII service dress khakis approved

NEW YORK — An Army interpreter recounted Wednesday how he subdued a U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist prosecutors say tried to kill Americans during a chaotic shootout in an Afghan police station in the summer of 2008.Ahmad Gul told a jury in federal court in Manhattan that he heard someone shout, “She got the gun!” before turning to see Aafit Siddiqui pointing an assault rifle at U.S. soldiers and FBI agents in a tiny office.“I right away lunged toward her and I pushed her toward the wall … and I pushed the [gun barrel] toward the ceiling,” he said on the second day of Siddiqui’s attempted murder trial.Authorities allege Siddiqui, 37, is an al-Qaida supporter who was detained on July 18, 2008, after being caught carrying handwritten notes referencing a “mass casualty attack” and listing the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and other New York City landmarks. They say before she could be interrogated, she managed to grab an M4 rifle set down by a chief warrant officer and open fire.As Gul said Siddiqui struggled, she fired the weapon twice, he said. The chief warrant officer pulled a pistol and shot her in the stomach.“When she got shot … she jerked and I snatched the gun away from her,” Gul said.Siddiqui, a specialist in neuroscience who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, has insisted in courtroom rants that she’s innocent. She also has refused to work with her defense attorneys, including some paid for by the Pakistani government.U.S. District Judge Richard Berman warned her Wednesday that no more outbursts would be tolerated.“I’m just going to be quiet, but it doesn’t mean I agree,” she said before draping herself across the defense table.FBI agent John Jefferson testified Wednesday that he heard her yelling, “I’m going to kill all you Americans” after she was shot. He said he surprised it was in “perfect English.”Jurors have heard another eyewitness, Army Capt. Robert Snyder, criticize the unnamed chief warrant officer for not securing his weapon.The officer “felt he had saved the day,” the captain said. “He had returned fire, so to speak. … I felt that some of the actions or inactions he took contributed to the situation.”As for the interpreter, “I expressed my overwhelming gratitude for what he did,” he said.

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