News of the Force: Sunday, August 14,
2016 - Page 2
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps
U.S. Marines and sailors recently teamed
with other NATO allies during a major show of force in Ukraine amid growing
concerns about a Russian invasion of the country.
The U.S. Marine Corps wants to boost the
number of women in its ranks, officials say.
Hundreds of U.S. Marine Corps veterans
have descended on Tulsa, Okla., for their annual convention.
David Clifton has been named as the
executive deputy at the Marine Corps Logistics Command. He has been serving
as the command's "interim" executive deputy.
U.S. Marines have been
arming Iraqis and Kurds with "clever" messages to aimed at defeating the
Islamic State.
The remains of a U.S. Marine killed in a
World War II battle in the Pacific have been returned home to Chatham,
N.Y.
The first female Marine to try to become
an infantry officer has been reclassified after failing to complete the
training.
"Marine Corps Family Day" has been set
for Aug. 27th in southeastern Idaho. All active duty, reserve, former, or
retired Marines and FMF corpsmen, along with their families, are invited.
And a group of U.S. Marines are
volunteering to inspire the young men living in Detroit, Mich.
American Red Cross
After opening shelters across the state
of Louisiana to help flood victims, the American Red Cross is encouraging
people who can volunteer to staff them to do so.
The American Red Cross is looking to
overcome a need for blood after issuing a critical blood shortage alert earlier
this year.
The American Red Cross in Willmar,
Minn., handed out around 200 flood clean-up kits on Friday and yesterday to
people there affected by this past week's heavy rains.
Two adults and four children were
receiving help from the American Red Cross yesterday after a
two-alarm fire on Harris Street, in Rochester, N.Y.
And volunteers with the American Red
Cross of Central New York have handed out cold drinks and wet towels to
firefighters and 15 others who escaped a fire in Syracuse.
U.S. Air Force
The U.S. Air Force says it will exceed
its flying for parachute jumps at Ft. Bragg, N.C., this year by one-third.
New York State has started taking steps
to speed up the cleaning of a harmful chemical at Stewart Air National Guard
Base.
California Air National Guardsmen from
the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield have
successfully completed an over-water rescue mission in the Pacific
Ocean.
There are events honoring excellence at
Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Mass., this weekend.
Flying at the "Wings Over Vermont" air
show was cancelled yesterday morning. Vermont's Air National Guard and FAA
officials monitored weather conditions throughout the day yesterday with the
main concern being low clouds.
A California Air National Guard
helicopter rescue mission that Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey described as
"heroic" has extracted injured climber James Martin from Mt. Shasta.
And a NOTF reader writes:
"Ray Hayden has been reporting for some time that former
CAP national commander Major Gen. Amy Courter wants the position of CAP
COO, the top and highest paid staff position in the CAP, in charge of the CAP's
national headquarters. It has been clear that if Gen. Courter has such
ambitions, Hayden thinks there is something disqualifying about that, and about
expecting to be paid for skills, competence and more- than-full-time work. I can
tell you that the general has not been approached and has not applied
for any COO position in the CAP," the reader wrote.
"Hayden has never been concerned about the same for the recently
terminated COO Don Rowland. Hayden hasn’t accounted for that bias, nor does
Hayden appear to consider what is fair compensation for the hours Rowland had
spent on the tennis courts at Maxwell AFB. Nor does Hayden explain how the CAP
might attract good candidates if the candidate must be prepared to receive no
compensation and would probably have to relocate. Sheer logic calls into question the accuracy of Hayden’s reports:
According to Hayden, the USAF side of the BoG
wants to put a retired USAF general in the COO position, but no retired USAF general has ever been put in
that position, at least not yet, and therefore the USAF side of the BoG apparently didn't have the votes to make
that happen; According to Hayden, the CAP side of
the BoG wanted Gen. Courter to take the position. Gen. Courter is not in the position and if Gen. Courter had applied for the position, as Hayden claims, and the
CAP side of the BoG had the majority votes, then presumably Gen. Courter would
have been hired. She wasn’t. But there are some
other possibilities going forward and most boil down to the BoG appointing an
interim, John Salvador, until they can resolve some of their differences and
undertake a careful search. The one thing that doesn't make sense is to say Gen.
Courter applied for the job, the BoG majority wanted her, and it didn't happen.
Among other things, a report that Gen. Courter applied would indicate that the
BoG opened a search with an application process. If that happened, it was never
announced, and most likely, it hasn’t happened - yet. Hayden has forwarded himself as a candidate for the position with an
annual compensation of $1. That is about his worth if he cannot deal with facts
and reason better - not to mention that he was terminated from the CAP nearly
ten years ago for his own misconduct. I know for certain that Hayden
has never asked Gen. Courter to comment about this, so it is obvious that
whoever if feeding Hayden a bunch of our Iowa cow pies are getting Hayden to do
exactly what they want him to with no proof or verification." Related site
(added by NOTF): http://www.rayhayden.us/ete/cap_insights.php .
NOAA
news
NOAA forecasters
have issued an updated outlook for the 2016 hurricane season and they're
predicting more storms.
And using data from NOAA,
Zillow.com has determined which cities will be affected by climate
change. The gist? Buy a life preserver.
The parting shots
On this day in 1784, Kodiak Island
became the first Russian colony in Alaska. In 1893, France became the first
country to bring about motor vehicle registration. In 1935, with the passing of
the U.S. Social Security Act, the government created a pension system for the
retired. In 1938, the silent film "Student of Prague" became the first
feature film to air on the BBC. In 1947, after gaining
its independence from the U.K, Pakistan joined the Common-wealth of
Nations. In 1953, "Pramuka Day" was first observed in Indonesia - it honors the
Garakan Pramuka national scouting organization which now has more than
17,000,000 members. In 1971, Bahrain declared its independence from
Persia (now known as Iran). In 1973, the Pakistani Constitution of 1973 went
into effect. In 1987, Mark McGwire set the record for home runs by a rookie when
he blasted his 39th homer. And in 2001, amid rumors of a troubled
company, Enron's CEO Jeffrey Skilling resigned citing personal reasons as
the cause for his departure.
Rapper Sammy Adams is 29 years old
today. Actress Catherine Bell is 48; Actress Halle Berry is 50; Opera singer
Sarah Brightman is 56; Actress Jackee Harry is 60; Today is the birthday of Doc
Holliday, DDS (1851-1887); Basketball player Magic Johnson is
57; Wrestler Kofi Kingston is 35; Actress Mila Kunis is 33; Actor Steve
Martin is 71; Actress Susan Olson is 55; and football player Tim Tebow is
29.
And Kenny Baker, the actor who played
"R2-D2" in the Star Wars movies, has died at the age of 81.
Page 2
