News of the Force: Friday, April 14, 2017 - Page 1

[Newsoft...@aol.com]

Friday, April 14, 2017 - Today is Good Friday

---

 

President Trump ready to end North Korea's nuclear menace

    

    "We are sending an armada," President Trump said. The U.S. is looking forward to working with China to solve the North Korean nuclear threat, but while Washington is mustering its forces on the Korean Peninsula, Beijing insists on finding a peaceful solution to Pyongyang's “denuclearization."

    The U.S. is prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test, multiple senior U.S. officials have said.

    Han Song Ryol, North Korea's vice foreign minister, today blamed President Donald Trump for building up a "vicious cycle" of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, saying that his "aggressive" tweets were "making trouble."

    Amid increasing tension with North Korea, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to South Korea tomorrow on a scheduled trip as part of his first official visit to the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Military strikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Iraq

     

    U.S. and Coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

    In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of 54 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government: Near Mosul, the five strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units, destroyed four fighting positions, a vehicle bomb, a command-and-control node and a tunnel, and damaged five fighting positions and four ISIS supply routes.

 

Ninety-seven missing after migrants' boat sinks

    At least 97 African migrants are missing and believed drowned after their Europe-bound boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea yesterday, Libya's Coast Guard has reported.

 

Istanbul: A city divided

     

    Turkish voters will cast their ballots on Sunday in a referendum that could radically alter the way the country is governed. A billboard in Malatya, Turkey, features the nation's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the “Evet” (Yes) campaign to expand the constitutional powers of the president.

    Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık discussed their nations’ bilateral defense relationship and the threats posed by terrorism during a meeting at the Pentagon yesterday. Before the meeting, Mattis noted that the United States and Turkey have an enduring security relationship that dates back to 1952, when Turkey became a member of NATO and the two nations fought alongside each other in the Korean War. "This relationship continues today, with United States and Turkish military forces working together to counter a wide range of threats to our common security," the secretary said. Mattis called Turkey an essential NATO ally and a vital member of the Coalition to defeat ISIS. Integrated Coalition air operations from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey and Turkish soldiers who fought ISIS close to the Turkish border in Operation Euphrates Shield have shown the high priority both nations place on the campaign, he added. "I also recognize and salute the humanity of the Turkish government and the Turkish people in managing the Syrian refugee flow and the associated humanitarian challenges," the secretary said. "And I commend Turkey for its fast response to ensure the victims of the Assad regime's hateful chloric gas attack received treatment in Turkish hospitals. Işık expressed Turkey’s "support and appreciation" for the U.S. operation launched in response to the Assad regime’s chemical attack, adding that he hopes it will "deter the regime from its barbaric attacks with or without chemical weapons. Today, we will discuss ways and means to eliminate threats emanating from terrorism in our region," he said yesterday. "In this regard, we will address outstanding issues an all challenges to regional and into national security, which requires determined and necessary actions from us." After the meeting, Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, issued a statement summarizing the discussion between the defense leaders. "The secretary thanked Turkey, our NATO ally, for its critical contributions to global security in Afghanistan, the Balkans, and the fight to defeat ISIS," she said. Mattis reaffirmed the close and enduring U.S.-Turkish defense relationship and committed to stand with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, both from ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers Party terrorist group, known as the PKK, White said. Mattis and Işık agreed to continue their full range of bilateral defense activities and consultations, and to look for ways to further strengthen defense cooperation in the future, she added.

 

Cyclone Cook visits New Zealand

    

    New Zealand's North Island is set to be battered by the remnants of Cyclone Cook, with residents in low-lying areas evacuating to higher ground.

 

U.S. senators say Assad must go

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Ben Cardin have said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be removed from power following a chemical attack by his military forces on his own nation's civilians.

    A U.S. drone struck and killed at least 18 members of an allied Syrian force this week, the Pentagon said, in the worst friendly fire incident of the war against the Islamic State.

    In Syria yesterday, Coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets: Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes damaged three ISIS supply routes. Near Raqqa, four strikes engaged nine ISIS tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions. And near Tabqah, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units, destroyed a fighting position and damaged a supply route.

    An MIT professor who challenged the 2013 claims of a chemical attack in Syria is now questioning the Trump administration's narrative blaming the Assad government for the April 4th attack in the Idlib Province town of Khan Shaykhun.

    And a horrifying Passover stabbing attack occurred in Jerusalem this afternoon. A British woman was killed and two others were wounded before the terrorist attacker was shot dead by the IDF.

 

---

    Couzin Gym's Thought for the Day: Your insurance will cover everything except what has happened.

---

 

The DOD claims it's short of money for everything, but...

    

    The Department of Defense (DOD) will issue 23 awards totaling $163 million to academic institutions to perform multidisciplinary basic research. The awards are for a five year period, subject to satisfactory research progress and the availability of funds. The list of awards is available here.

 

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps

    

    William James Harlan, the founder of the Baylor University Student Foundation, died on April 7th in Waco, Texas, at the age of 84. Harlan enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1953, in the 420th Engineer Brigade, ad entered on active duty in 1955. He was discharged from the Army Reserve after nine years and entered the U.S. Navy on the following day, serving as a chief petty officer at numerous Naval air stations until 1978.

    The leaders of the U.S. Marine Corps are still trying to cope with the wide-spread "Marines United" scandal that came to light last month.

    The U.S. Marines now have their first female tank officer.

    The southern Mojave Desert is known by most as a serene landscape, freckled with lizards, coyotes, jack rabbits as well as a cornucopia of other wildlife and desert vegetation. But starting on April 8th, the landscape was temporarily adorned with trucks, biologists and a helicopter all in support of one being: the desert tortoise. The translocation, in accordance with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-signed biological opinion, serves as a negotiated mitigation to support the mandated land expansion, which will enable the installation to conduct large-scale exercise training with up to a Marine Expeditionary Brigade-sized force. During this two-week long translocation, approximately 1,100 desert tortoises will be located, assessed for health concerns or disease, and carefully translocated to their new homes. Animals deemed too small for translocation will be admitted to the Combat Center’s Tortoise Research and Captive Rearing Site where they will be safeguarded until they are large enough to adequately fend off predation. During this initial translocation effort, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.,  anticipates being able to locate and move approximately 93 percent of the total population from the pre-identified areas. Additionally they will conduct post-translocation clearance surveys for approximately five years. These surveys will require NREA to periodically scout for any remaining desert tortoises.

    The Moog Space and Defense Group has garnered contracts with both Northrop Grumman and Saab Defense to support the U.S. Marine Corps.

    And Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford accepted the Eisenhower Award from the Business Executives for National Security on behalf of the more than two million members of the Defense Department yesterday. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff thanked the organization for its recognition of the DOD’s people, stressing that thanks to them, the United States military "can protect the homeland and our way of life, we can meet our alliance commitments and I am confident that we have a competitive advantage over any single adversary in the world right now." With more than 300,000 American service members deployed in 177 countries, "the sun never sets on your soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines," Dunford said.

 

Homeland insecurity

    

    The New Jersey Department of Homeland Security is urging malls across the state to increase their security after a series of threats and attacks.

    And U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois), has met with Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to discuss an alarming uptick in hate crimes in the U.S.

 

U.S. Army

    

    "The International Space Station is a great model for society," said NASA astronaut and retired Army Col. Robert S. "Shane" Kimbrough, who returned to Earth on April 10th after 173 days in space. "It's a study of how six Russian, American, French and Japanese crew members can work together in confined spaces to do some really incredible science and research that will benefit all of society," said Kimbrough, who was the Expedition 50 commander on the International Space Station. The experience on the ISS demonstrates that none of the countries could have done it alone, Kimbrough said. “'It takes all the international partners working together to make that space station program happen," he added. "As space station commander, you've got to integrate all those different types of people, personalities and culture to make an effective team," he said, adding that integrating the team wasn't much of a challenge because he had a great crew. "I was just fortunate enough to be up there with the people I was," he said. The crew communicated well despite the variety of native languages, the astronaut said. He and another American, along with a Japanese and French astronaut, spoke to the three cosmonauts in Russian, and in turn, the Russians spoke English to them. "We were constantly working on the language and always learning more vocabulary and different terms, and even slang," he said. The challenging he said, part was translating the technical jargon. Overall, he said, it was great working with the crew amid the differences in language, culture and cuisine, Kimbrough said. "It's always interesting learning different cultures," he added. Besides sharing languages, the crew also shared food, Kimbrough said. The Russians would partake of the American, French and Japanese food, and they, in turn, would be offered Russian meals, particularly on weekends. "They seemed to enjoy our food, and we enjoyed theirs," he said. After 173 days in space, living in a confined area, it might seem easy to get on each other's nerves after a while. Not so, Kimbrough said. "We had a lot of training before the mission in learning ways and techniques on how to not annoy people," he said. "When they pick astronauts, one of the criteria is, 'Are you going to annoy somebody if you are in a small area for a long time? Because if so, we don't want you here doing this job. You can do something else.'" Kimbrough said the crew did a lot of important scientific experiments in biology and the physical sciences. Some of the biology experiments could lead to advances in medical treatment, he noted. But besides all the work, the crew had a lot of fun, too. "Every day is fun," he said. "Everything is floating around, and you're floating around instead of walking. Eating is especially fun. You can eat upside down, right-side up, toss an M&M to your buddy across the room or send him a drink. We played around a lot with our food. We tell our kids at home not to do that, but we do it in space." Another type of fun, he said, was "looking out the window at our beautiful planet Earth. That was really special." Kimbrough credits the Army with giving him many opportunities for operational experience and leadership training, beginning at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and all of the follow-on leadership courses throughout his career. NASA is looking for astronauts with that type of experience, along with the education. Kimbrough graduated from West Point in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering, and he later graduated from Georgia Tech in 1998 with a Master of Science degree in operations research. His operational experience includes piloting an Apache helicopter during the Gulf War. Besides education and leadership experience, NASA is looking for someone who has been exposed to unique and austere environments, something "we as soldiers experience on deployments," Kimbrough said. NASA also is interested in someone who can thrive on a team and deal with stress, he added. "We're good at memorizing responses in critical situations," he said. "My brain was set in that mode from all of the Army training. So we're always preparing for worst-case situations and hoping we never have to go there, but if something bad would happen, we're ready to go and respond in those situations." Is a manned mission to Mars in the cards for the future? "I absolutely think having a manned mission to Mars and other places is where we need to go. That is the next frontier for humanity," Kimbrough said. In a couple of decades, a human will land on Mars, he predicted, "but I'll certainly be too old to do that when the time comes around." The school children he talks to today will be the generation that gets to Mars, he said. "Hopefully, we can inspire them to go down that road," he added. It's an honor to be a soldier for life, Kimbrough said, noting that the Army instilled in him "this incredible sense of service ever since going to West Point." Working for NASA as a civil servant also is a wonderful experience, he said. No matter where he goes or who he meets, Kimbrough said, he feels that he's representing the Army, and "that's a great feeling." Kimbrough added that he couldn't have ever been successful in the Army or NASA without the support of his friends and family, particularly during long deployments or in space on this mission and a previous one in 2008 aboard the space shuttle Endeavour to the ISS.

    Portland, Oregon-based Radio Hill Technologies (RHT) has recently completed a sale of Block 3 Dronebuster hand-held counter-drone detection and destruction device to the U.S. Army.

    The U.S. Army expects to receive recapitalized Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks from Oshkosh in 2018.

    Maj. Gen. Anthony C. Funkhouser, commanding general, U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., is being reassigned to deputy commanding general for military and international operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.; Maj. Gen. Richard G. Kaiser, commander, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, Afghanistan, is being reassigned to commanding general, Mississippi Valley Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Miss.; Maj. Gen. Michael C. Wehr, commanding general, Mississippi Valley Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Miss., is being reassigned to deputy chief of engineers and deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.; Brig. Gen. Peter B. Andrysiak, Jr., commanding general, Pacific Ocean Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, is being reassigned to deputy commanding general, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; Brig. Gen. Robin L. Fontes, deputy director, strategy, plans and policy, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C., is being reassigned to commander, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, Afghanistan; Brig. Gen. David C. Hill, commanding general, Southwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dallas, Texas, is being reassigned to commanding general, Transatlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Winchester, Va.; Brig. Gen. Diana M. Holland, commandant of cadets, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., is being reassigned to commanding general, South Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Atlanta, Ga.; Brig. Gen. James H. Raymer, commandant, U.S. Army Engineer School, U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., is being reassigned to chief of staff, U.S. Army Central, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.; and Brig. Gen. Robert F. Whittle, Jr., deputy commanding general, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, is being reassigned to commandant, U.S. Army Engineer School, U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. 
    Those driving on the Fairfax County Parkway past Fort Belvoir, Va., will see the National Museum of the United States Army finally taking shape.

    The U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team has performed during the Special Olympics.

    The Army has announced it has successfully tested a new laser, which mounted on top of a Stryker combat vehicle, destroyed an airborne unmanned aerial vehicle. The Stryker combat vehicle equipped with a 5kW laser and an array of sensors destroyed about 50 enemy drones during the 10-day Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment.

    The U.S. Army's tanks are being painted green again, but it wasn't until they had settled into the U.S. Army's Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany that the tanks began receiving a fresh paint job.

    Soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve Legal Command recently tested their strength, knowledge and endurance during the "Best Warrior" competition at Bowling Green, Va.

    The Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, along with 25 other senior officers and the sergeant major of the Army, met on Monday with 50 Atlanta, Ga.-area corporate and civic leaders at the Atlanta CEO Symposium.

    The Nevada Army National Guard is looking for locals who'd like to help them with a disaster training exercises next week.

    The Tennessee Army National Guard has rescued a sick individual from the Silers Bald Shelter, near the Tennessee state line.

    And the blood-spattered, worn combat boots with a medical syringe lying alongside them portray a healing image for retired Army Sgt. Timothy “Mike” Goodrich. Goodrich, who was introduced to healing arts therapy last year at Fort Belvoir, Va., has found his way through art to express feelings of war that he cannot put into words because of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Following retirement after an injury when he was deployed to Afghanistan, the psychological operations team sergeant was at first leery about his treatment plan, which included art therapy, he said yesterday during the opening of a Pentagon exhibit of therapeutic art produced by wounded warriors. But it didn't take long for him to become hooked on expressing himself through his art, he added, and it replaced his longtime coping mechanism of internalizing his thoughts. "I didn't have to talk. I didn't have to say a word," he said of working on art project. "I could just work on something that was bothering me, something I didn't understand or felt I couldn’t remember correctly. I could work on the art till I understood what I was feeling." His artwork gives him something tangible that symbolizes what he felt while at war, he said. Goodrich said using his blood-stained boots as art gave him the emotional attachment he needed. The boots were stained from the surgery he underwent after taking a direct hit from shrapnel to his head, which shattered his jaw. "It’s a snapshot of what the ground looks like at any combat surgical hospital in Afghanistan or Iraq," he said. His well-worn combat boots are authentic, and using them in an art piece that displays something meaningful to him is helpful in coping with his trauma, Goodrich said. "It’s not a pretty thing, but it’s real," he said. "It’s something I’ve experienced after being wounded in combat." Healing arts therapy is spreading across the nation in military hospitals as a coping mechanism for service members to open up when they cannot discuss battle experiences in talk therapy, Goodrich said. Relief from PTSD might not bring an instant feeling of well-being, he said, noting that art therapy is a process. "It’s a journey from the beginning to the end for me," he explained. "I get something out of it at different steps, and I don’t get to determine what that is. It just happens, and at the end of it, I usually end up where I feel better about something." While the bad feelings might not go away entirely, he conceded, he is grateful for finally having the tools to keep his symptoms at bay, bringing time to adjust and fight back. For Goodrich, using a variety of media - painting and working with metal and wood - provides the outlet for him to create tangible artwork he can look at every day so he can recall the emotions attached to it when he feels he wants to. "It’s important to me, and I think it should be important to the Defense Department to continue these programs," he said. "You can't predict conflict. But you can predict that if you're going to have conflict, you're going to have casualties and service members are going to need access to the same kind of care we have right now." Goodrich and numerous other artists who have found outlets through creating art to quell the symptoms of PTSD and TBI were selected to have their art on display in the Pentagon for a year as part of the 2017 Pentagon Patriotic Art Program‘s Wounded Warrior Healing Arts Exhibit. The hallway display is on the second floor of Apex 1 and 2. Goodrich said he is pleased with the exhibit. "People are going to be able to see these every day, and repetition is important," he said. "So now people are going to walk by and see how important it is - at least to the people who have their pictures on the wall - and it’s going to be important to hundreds of other people just like us." His artwork is a reminder of where he came from, albeit a bad day, Goodrich said. "But that’s not where my story ended," he said. "I didn't die on the battlefield, I didn't die in the surgical hospital, I didn't die en route to the states. All those times when I could have died, I didn't, and my art reminds me of that."

 

News from the U.S. Marshals Service

    

    Police and U.S. Marshals apprehended a man in Dunmore, Pa., yesterday who was wanted on a second-degree murder warrant in Albany, N.Y.

    And a coordinated investigation yesterday by three police agencies and the U.S. Marshals Service led to the arrest of a man in Canton accused of firing on a Stark County, Ohio, deputy sheriff.

 

Today's Trumpet: British spies first spotted Trump-Russia links in 2015

    

    Britain's spy agencies helped alert U.S. intelligence officials to possible links between President Trump's campaign and Russia after first noticing interactions in late 2015, The Guardian reported yesterday. British and other European intelligence agencies intercepted communications between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and other Russian individuals during the campaign and passed on those communications to their American counterparts.

    President Donald Trump has a new best frenemy. Once upon a time, Trump mused about how well he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would get along, but now the president is wooing China instead.

    New York City, as always, needs Washington. But Republicans control both Congress and the White House, at least for the next two years - and the city is heavily Democratic.

    Florida restaurant inspectors found numerous violations in the kitchen at President Trump's private club, Mar-a-Lago. Inspectors from the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation cited more than a dozen violations in reports since January.

    President Donald Trump took credit Wednesday for steering NATO's focus toward terrorism, declaring the military alliance is no longer outdated after castigating its focus and financing on the campaign trail last year.

    CNN political commentator and President Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord yesterday called the president the "Martin Luther King of healthcare," arguing that Trump has worked to rally support around healthcare reform like King rallied support around the civil rights movement.

    President Trump promised that he would put in place common sense reforms to eliminate waste so that the government better serves all Americans.
There is duplication and redundancy everywhere. Billions and billions of dollars are being wasted on activities that are not delivering results for hard-working American taxpayers. We must make our government leaner and more accountable. We must do a lot more with less. President Trump will ensure that huge savings will be accomplished through common sense reforms that eliminate government waste and end budget gimmicks. 
    Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s pick to fill the vacant seat on the United States Supreme Court, was formally sworn in on Monday. Justice Gorsuch is a man of unquestioned integrity and deep faith in the Constitution of the United States. It is critical to have a strong defender of the Constitution like Justice Gorsuch sitting on the United States Supreme Court.

    The White House has hosted the Wounded Warriors Project's Soldier Ride to pay tribute to the men and women who have fought for and protected our country. President Trump delivered remarks to honor the brave men and women who have served this nation at an event in the East Room of the White House.

    President Trump gathered with a group of world-class business leaders this week at the White House to discuss the creation of great, high-paying jobs for American workers. Since the President took office, over 600,000 jobs already have been created. This week, Toyota announced that it will invest more than $1.3 billion into its Georgetown, Ky., plant that will result many more jobs in the future.

    President Trump welcomed NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg to the White House this week. NATO allies defeated communism and liberated captive nations during the Cold War. They have secured the longest period of unbroken peace that Europe has ever known. This enduring partnership is rooted in many different things, but our nations' security is the priority, as is our common devotion to human dignity and freedom. In the coming months and years, President Trump will work closely with all of our NATO allies to enhance this partnership and to adapt to the challenges of the future. This includes upgrading NATO to focus on today’s most pressing security issues including migration and terrorism.

    For too long, we've punished production in America and rewarded companies for leaving our country - it’s time to reverse that. President Trump has already taken historic action to unleash job creation, signing dozens of bills and executive actions to reduce federal overreach and expand domestic production. The President is also simultaneously working to modernize our economy and harness the full potential of women in the workforce. Economic confidence is sweeping the nation.

 

 

 

Page 1