Japanese Soldiers Still Fighting World War II

Tsuzuki Nakauchi, shown in this undated photo, is believed to be one of two ex-Japanese soldiers who have been hiding in the mountains of a southern Philippines island since World War II. Japanese efforts to contact two World War II soldiers reportedly hiding in the southern Philippines have created a security nightmare with the presence Saturday of dozens of Japanese journalists in a region notorious for rebel attacks and kidnappings. Japanese diplomats in General Santos city, meanwhile, waited for a second day Saturday to interview the two men, who were reportedly separated from their division and fear they would face court-martial if they returned to Japan. A Japanese trader living on the southern island of Mindanao spread the word to Japanese officials as early as January, embassy spokesman Shuhei Ogawa said. He confirmed reports that the businessman hasn't seen the men and was relying on a Filipino contact, who himself got word of the mystery men from yet another Filipino. "You should know this type of information comes in all the time," he said. "We really have no idea if these two people exist." Ogawa said the diplomats were in contact with the Japanese businessmen "trying to work out (the details of) a meeting." On Friday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's spokesman, Yu Kameoka, told The Associated Press in Tokyo the men were apparently reluctant to meet because of the large crowds, including about 100 Japanese journalists, waiting to see them. On Saturday, even more Japanese journalists showed up, some flying in from Manila on chartered planes and booking many hotels in this bustling port city 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) south of the capital. The Japanese Embassy posted a notice in Japanese warning reporters not to venture out of town in search of the men and not to follow anyone offering to guide them. Philippine police issued a similar warning, saying the area is notorious for ransom kidnappings and attacks by Muslim and communist guerrillas, who have waged war for three decades. Japan's Kyodo News agency said the two missing soldiers might be Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85, from the 30th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army.One Japanese news report claimed the two were seen by a Japanese lumber businessman in the mountains around General Santos last September, but were afraid to return home for fear of a court-martial because they had abandoned their unit. Beyond the unconfirmed reports, there was little else to suggest that the men are real. There was speculation they might have married Filipino wives and even adopted Filipino names. Years after the war, there were reports of Japanese soldiers still in the hills. A few surrendered as late as 1948, then in March 1974, intelligence officer Lt. Hiroo Onoda came out of hiding on northern Lubang island. He refused to give up until the Japanese government flew in his former commander to formally inform him the war was over. There have been rumors of other soldiers hiding out, but never substantiated and thought to be a hoax. Last September, a Japanese national in the lumber business ran into the men in the mountains, the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun (search) reported. It was learned later that they wanted to go back to Japan but were afraid of facing a court-martial for withdrawing from action, the newspaper said. Another source told the paper that there may be more than 40 other Japanese soldiers living in the mountains and that they all want to return to Japan, the Sankei said. Japan's Kyodo News agency said the two may be Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 83. But the health ministry declined to confirm the report, saying they could not disclose any information until officials have identified them.

Army Leaders Offer 2005 Memorial Day Message

To the men and women of the United States Army:
On May 30th, our country will celebrate a sacred holiday--Memorial Day. On this day we pause to reflect upon the extraordinary men and women who understood the nobility of service to country, answered the call to duty, and made the ultimate sacrifice. They came from all walks of life, from every state across America, and they pledged to cherish and protect our country from all enemies. In each conflict throughout our history, they stepped forward in the Nation's time of need, prepared to sacrifice their life in service to our Nation. Memorial Day is set aside so that one day each year we may formally give thanks to the servicemen and servicewomen who paid the price of our liberty with their blood. It is a solemn day when we recognize that we live in a great Nation where brave men and women have fought and died to preserve freedom for all of us. It is our duty to protect that freedom through our own honorable citizenship and service. American Soldiers march through time in a ghostly column from Lexington to Gettysburg, from the hedgerows of Europe to the islands of the Pacific. In cemeteries around the world, rows of white marble headstones mark the final resting place of our comrades. Their lives were cut short, and we mourn with their families. Yet we celebrate their spirit, for they placed service to our Nation above personal safety. Their sacrifices to protect freedom embody the noblest attributes of humankind. Today we are again involved in a struggle against the forces of extremism and violence. As Soldiers, you have answered the call to duty, and you are performing magnificently. America supports you as you go in harm's way. You reflect America's values as you serve our society, and are the best citizens our Nation has to offer. Remember each day as you do your duty that you stand on the shoulders of those who served before you. The legacy of our fallen comrades lives on through your actions.
God bless each and every one of you and your families, and God bless America.
Francis J. Harvey, Secretary of the Army

Petery J. Schoomaker, General, United States Army, Chief of Staff

Kenneth O Preston, Sergeant Major of the Army

Images The Media Does Not Want To Show You

Marines Run Devil Pups Through Boot Camp

The Marines of 6th Communication Battalion gave Navy Junior Recruit Officer Training Corps(NJROTC) cadets a look at life as a recruit during the this year's Mid-Hudson NJROTC Area Four Basic Leadership Training (BLT) recently. More than 200 high school cadets attended the week-long mini-boot camp, which was held at the U.S. Military Academy's Camp Natural Bridge. Marines of 6th Comm. Bn volunteered as acting drill instructors for the program and coordinated with the North Rockland High School NJROTC Unit to bring the annual program to life. According to NJROTC representatives, the goal of the program is to enhance the cadets' introduction to the military within a controlled stress environment. Under the direction of the Marines, the cadets experienced intense physical training, drill, martial arts, and uniform maintenance, among other training. "The 6th Comm. Bn Marines and cadets put forth outstanding effort, and this was reflected in the accomplishments of the NJROTC cadets and Marines. The cadets gained an understanding of active duty life," said Staff Sgt. Jeffery E. Fisher, who was the staff non-commissioned officer in charge of the program. According to Fisher, the program's benefit was two-fold, because as the cadets learned from the Marines, the Marines exercised their skills as leaders.

Air Force Seeks Bush's Approval For Space Weapons Programs

The Air Force, saying it must secure space to protect the nation from attack, is seeking President Bush's approval of a national-security directive that could move the United States closer to fielding offensive and defensive space weapons, according to White House and Air Force officials. The proposed change would be a substantial shift in American policy. It would almost certainly be opposed by many American allies and potential enemies, who have said it may create an arms race in space. A senior administration official said that a new presidential directive would replace a 1996 Clinton administration policy that emphasized a more pacific use of space, including spy satellites' support for military operations, arms control and nonproliferation pacts. Any deployment of space weapons would face financial, technological, political and diplomatic hurdles, although no treaty or law bans Washington from putting weapons in space, barring weapons of mass destruction. A presidential directive is expected within weeks, said the senior administration official, who is involved with space policy and insisted that he not be identified because the directive is still under final review and the White House has not disclosed its details. Air Force officials said yesterday that the directive, which is still in draft form, did not call for militarizing space. "The focus of the process is not putting weapons in space," said Maj. Karen Finn, an Air Force spokeswoman, who said that the White House, not the Air Force, makes national policy. "The focus is having free access in space." With little public debate, the Pentagon has already spent billions of dollars developing space weapons and preparing plans to deploy them. "We haven't reached the point of strafing and bombing from space," Pete Teets, who stepped down last month as the acting secretary of the Air Force, told a space warfare symposium last year. "Nonetheless, we are thinking about those possibilities." In January 2001, a commission led by Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the newly nominated defense secretary, recommended that the military should "ensure that the president will have the option to deploy weapons in space." It said that "explicit national security guidance and defense policy is needed to direct development of doctrine, concepts of operations and capabilities for space, including weapons systems that operate in space." The effort to develop a new policy directive reflects three years of work prompted by the report. The White House would not say if all the report's recommendations would be adopted. In 2002, after weighing the report of the Rumsfeld space commission, President Bush withdrew from the 30-year-old Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which banned space-based weapons. Ever since then, the Air Force has sought a new presidential policy officially ratifying the concept of seeking American space superiority. The Air Force believes "we must establish and maintain space superiority," Gen. Lance Lord, who leads the Air Force Space Command, told Congress recently. "Simply put, it's the American way of fighting." Air Force doctrine defines space superiority as "freedom to attack as well as freedom from attack" in space. The mission will require new weapons, new space satellites, new ways of doing battle and, by some estimates, hundreds of billions of dollars. It faces enormous technological obstacles. And many of the nation's allies object to the idea that space is an American frontier. Yet "there seems little doubt that space-basing of weapons is an accepted aspect of the Air Force" and its plans for the future, Capt. David C. Hardesty of the Naval War College faculty says in a new study. A new Air Force strategy, Global Strike, calls for a military space plane carrying precision-guided weapons armed with a half-ton of munitions. General Lord told Congress last month that Global Strike would be "an incredible capability" to destroy command centers or missile bases "anywhere in the world." Pentagon documents say the weapon, called the common aero vehicle, could strike from halfway around the world in 45 minutes. "This is the type of prompt Global Strike I have identified as a top priority for our space and missile force," General Lord said. The Air Force's drive into space has been accelerated by the Pentagon's failure to build a missile defense on earth. After spending 22 years and nearly $100 billion, Pentagon officials say they cannot reliably detect and destroy a threat today. "Are we out of the woods? No," Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, who directs the Missile Defense Agency, said in an interview. "We've got a long way to go, a lot of testing to do." While the Missile Defense Agency struggles with new technology for a space-based laser, the Air Force already has a potential weapon in space. In April, the Air Force launched the XSS-11, an experimental microsatellite with the technical ability to disrupt other nations' military reconnaissance and communications satellites. Air Force's XSS-11Another Air Force space program, nicknamed Rods From God, aims to hurl cylinders of tungsten, titanium or uranium from the edge of space to destroy targets on the ground, striking at speeds of about 7,200 miles an hour with the force of a small nuclear weapon. A third program would bounce laser beams off mirrors hung from space satellites or huge high-altitude blimps, redirecting the lethal rays down to targets around the world. A fourth seeks to turn radio waves into weapons whose powers could range "from tap on the shoulder to toast," in the words of an Air Force plan. Captain Hardesty, in the new issue of the Naval War College Review, calls for "a thorough military analysis" of these plans, followed by "a larger public debate." "To proceed with space-based weapons on any other foundation would be the height of folly," he concludes, warning that other nations not necessarily allies would follow America's lead into space. Despite objections from members of Congress who thought "space should be sanctified and no weapons ever put in space," Mr. Teets, then the Air Force under secretary, told the space-warfare symposium last June that "that policy needs to be pushed forward." Last month, Gen. James E. Cartwright, who leads the United States Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services nuclear forces subcommittee that the goal of developing space weaponry was to allow the nation to deliver an attack "very quickly, with very short time lines on the planning and delivery, any place on the face of the earth." Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama who is chairman of the subcommittee, worried that the common aero vehicle might be used in ways that would "be mistaken as some sort of attack on, for example, Russia." "They might think it would be a launch against them of maybe a nuclear warhead," Senator Sessions said. "We want to be sure that there could be no misunderstanding in that before we authorize going forward with this vehicle." General Cartwright said that the military would "provide every opportunity to ensure that it's not misunderstood" and that Global Strike simply aimed to "expand the choices that we might be able to offer to the president in crisis." Senior military and space officials of the European Union, Canada, China and Russia have objected publicly to the notion of American space superiority. They think that "the United States doesn't own space - nobody owns space," said Teresa Hitchens, vice president of the Center for Defense Information, a policy analysis group in Washington that tends to be critical of the Pentagon. "Space is a global commons under international treaty and international law." No nation will "accept the U.S. developing something they see as the death star," Ms. Hitchens told a Council on Foreign Relations meeting last month. "I don't think the United States would find it very comforting if China were to develop a death star, a 24/7 on-orbit weapon that could strike at targets on the ground anywhere in 90 minutes." International objections aside, Randy Correll, an Air Force veteran and military consultant, told the council, "the big problem now is it's too expensive." The Air Force does not put a price tag on space superiority. Published studies by leading weapons scientists, physicists and engineers say the cost of a space-based system that could defend the nation against an attack by a handful of missiles could be anywhere from $220 billion to $1 trillion. Richard Garwin, widely regarded as a dean of American weapons science, and three colleagues wrote in the March issue of IEEE Spectrum, the professional journal of electric engineering, that "a space-based laser would cost $100 million per target, compared with $600,000 for a Tomahawk missile." "The psychological impact of such a blow might rival that of such devastating attacks as Hiroshima," they wrote. "But just as the unleashing of nuclear weapons had unforeseen consequences, so, too, would the weaponization of space." Surveillance and reconnaissance satellites are a crucial component of space superiority. But the biggest new spy satellite program, Future Imagery Architecture, has tripled in price to about $25 billion while producing less than promised, military contractors say. A new space technology for detecting enemy launchings has risen to more than $10 billion from a promised $4 billion, Mr. Teets told Congress last month. But General Lord said such problems should not stand in the way of the Air Force's plans to move into space. "Space superiority is not our birthright, but it is our destiny," he told an Air Force conference in September. "Space superiority is our day-to-day mission. Space supremacy is our vision for the future."

The Push For Women Warriors

Forces entrenched at the Pentagon keep trying to push women onto the front lines of combat, despite the fact that U.S. law forbids it. The latest bid: A push to start assigning female soldiers to act as "forward support" personnel (such as mechanics), living alongside combat troops who are often in battle. Last week, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) moved to block that with an amendment to the 2006 Defense appropriations bill. The Pentagon and Democrats howled in protest. But why? Who wants more women to be shot? This is a small scene in the larger drama over the feminization of war. Another scene was Gen. Janis Karpinski's appointment in 2003 to head the 800th Military Police Brigade where she was in charge of the prison at Abu Ghraib. That appointment didn't turn out well, to put it mildly. President Bush finally signed the order last week to demote her to colonel. Which happens to be the same rank she held in 2002, when (according to the Army investigation that led to her demotion) she was caught shoplifting in a Florida department store. Why was someone like that made a general? Since 1951, a powerful Pentagon committee has been pressing the services to recruit and promote more women into high positions. It has also lobbied Congress to assign women to fighting units. Since the '60s, this group, the presidentially-appointed Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), has contained retired female officers, military family members and feminist ideologues. Using allies in Congress to pressure its Pentagon bosses, DACOWITS demanded that, rather than subjecting women to the military's tough regimens, the services must lower their standards. By the '90s, women who couldn't pass the competence exams required of men were cleared to fly jets. Other women were assigned to Army maintenance companies, though they lacked the strength to change a truck tire or carry their toolboxes. Over the decades, Pentagon brass have been so cowed by congressional liberals that they've tried to make this fantasy work, while running an actual war-fighting military at the same time. The U.S. military is now 15 percent female but with hard-core fighting units (combat infantry, armor, artillery, special forces, submarine crews) still all-male. But the Clinton administration announced in 1994 that women in non-combat jobs could be ordered to travel in high-risk zones. So now young enlisted women from National Guard units get sent all over Iraq in supply convoys exposing them to bullets, bombs and rape. On Feb. 9, a roadside bomb near Baghdad Airport blew up a truck driven by Army Sgt. Jessica M. Housby of Rock Island, Ill. She was 23 years old, with the Illinois National Guard's 1644th Transportation Company and the 31st American woman killed in Iraq. For some, this isn't enough. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) wants women put into "direct combat" units. Why? "Every time a woman is excluded from a position [in the military], she is devalued." Military women don't buy it. In polling by the Army Research Institute, 90 percent of enlisted women and 81 percent of female officers say they believe women should not be sent into combat. But feminists such as former Rep. Patricia Schroeder insist: "The only thing these [combat exclusion] laws protect women from is promotion." Apparently, women in the ranks fail to understand that the important thing is not their lives or their country's security, but that women reach the highest levels of everything. And you can't make it to, say, the Joint Chiefs of Staff without combat command experience. For a favored candidate (as Karpinski once was) to be assigned command of the 82nd Airborne, women as a class need to be allowed in combat. No, that wouldn't mean sending Gen. Karpinski crawling through the mud toward the enemy with an M-16 in her teeth. That's not for generals. That duty would go to young girls from the sticks who joined the service because they needed a job. It's a weird inversion of values: Women sent to die for the ideologues' fantasy world, instead of the nation defending and protecting its women. Among certain desk-pilots at the Pentagon, the dream of women warriors persists, like a video game they can't stay away from. It will be the job of more normal souls, both military and civilian, to keep these people locked in the arcade. Remember Rescued POW Jessica Lynch

Army Woos Recruits With 15 Month Hitch

The Army will give recruits the option to serve as little as 15 months in the active-duty force before transferring to the reserves in a program aimed at boosting recruitment. At a minimum, a typical active-duty enlistment includes four years on active duty followed by four years as an inactive member of the Individual Ready Reserve. Soldiers can opt to re-enlist or go into the Army National Guard or Army Reserve, which have a greater likelihood of being called to active duty. Under the new plan, enlistees still will sign up for an eight-year commitment. But after training, they can serve for as little as 15 months on active duty followed by two years in the National Guard or Army Reserve, according to a statement from the Army. They can serve the remainder of their eight-year commitment in the active or inactive reserves or in programs such as Americorps or the Peace Corps, the statement said. The 15-month plan is available to people signing up for 59 specialties in the Army, from infantryman to helicopter mechanic. Since 2003, the program has been run as a pilot in a few recruiting stations, but it now is going nationwide, said Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, chief of Army recruiting. He noted the plan to reporters while describing "the toughest recruiting climate we've ever faced in the all-volunteer army." The Army has said it is behind on its recruiting goals for the year.

THE LIST!

Proposed Military Base Closings

The list of military facilities the Defense Department recommended for closure Friday:

Alabama:

Abbott U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuskegee

Anderson U.S. Army Reserve Center, Troy

Armed Forces Reserve Center, Mobile

BG William P. Screws U.S. Army Reserve Center, Montgomery

Fort Ganey Army National Guard Reserve Center, Mobile

Fort Hanna Army National Guard Reserve Center, Birmingham

Gary U.S. Army Reserve Center, Enterprise

Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Montgomery

Navy Reserve Center, Tuscaloosa

The Adjutant General Bldg, AL Army National Guard, Montgomery

Wright U.S. Army Reserve Center

Alaska:

Kulis Air Guard Station

Arizona:

Air Force Research Lab, Mesa

Allen Hall Armed Forces Reserve Center, Tucson

Arkansas:

El Dorado Armed Forces Reserve Center

Stone U.S. Army Reserve Center, Pine Bluff

California:

Armed Forces Reserve Center Bell

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Oakland

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Bernardino

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Diego

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Seaside

Naval Support Activity Corona

Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Detachment Concord

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Encino

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Los Angeles

Onizuka Air Force Station

Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant

Connecticut:

Sgt. Libby U.S. Army Reserve Center, New Haven

Submarine Base New London

Turner U.S. Army Reserve Center, Fairfield

U.S. Army Reserve Center Maintenance Support Facility, Middletown

Delaware:

Kirkwood U.S. Army Reserve Center, Newark

Florida:

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Orlando

Navy Reserve Center, St. Petersburg

Georgia:

Fort Gillem

Fort McPherson

Inspector/Instructor, Rome

Naval Air Station Atlanta

Naval Supply Corps School, Athens

U.S. Army Reserve Center, Columbus

Hawaii:

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Honokaa

Idaho:

Navy Reserve Center, Pocatello

Illinois:

Armed Forces Reserve Center, Carbondale

Navy Reserve Center, Forest Park

Indiana:

Navy Marine Corps Reserve Center, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Bunker Hill

Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Indianapolis

Navy Reserve Center, Evansville

Newport Chemical Depot

U.S. Army Reserve Center, Lafayette

U.S. Army Reserve Center, Seston

Iowa:

Navy Reserve Center, Cedar Rapids

Navy Reserve Center, Sioux City

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Dubuque "

Kansas:

Kansas Army Ammunition Plant

Kentucky:

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Paducah

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Lexington

Navy Reserve Center, Lexington

U.S. Army Reserve Center, Louisville

U.S. Army Reserve Center, Maysville

Louisiana:

Baton Rouge Army National Guard Reserve Center

Naval Support Activity, New Orleans

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Baton Rouge

Roberts U.S. Army Reserve Center, Baton Rouge

Maine:

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Limestone

Naval Reserve Center, Bangor

Naval Shipyard Portsmouth

Maryland:

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Patuxent River

Navy Reserve Center, Adelphi

Pfc. Flair U.S. Army Reserve Center, Frederick

Massachusetts:

Malony U.S. Army Reserve Center

Otis Air Guard Base

Westover U.S. Army Reserve Center, Citopee

Michigan:

Navy Reserve Center Marquette

Parisan U.S. Army Reserve Center, Lansing

Selfridge Army Activity

W.K. Kellogg Airport Air Guard Station

Minnesota:

Navy Reserve Center Duluth

Mississippi:

Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant

Naval Station, Pascagoula

U.S. Army Reserve Center, Vicksburg

Missouri:

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Jefferson Barracks

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Kansas City

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, St. Louis

Marine Corps Support Center, Kansas City

Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Kansas

Navy Reserve Center, Cape Girardeau

Montana:

Galt Hall U.S. Army Reserve Center, Great Falls

Nebraska:

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Columbus

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Grand Island

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Kearny

Naval Recruiting District Headquarters, Omaha

Navy Reserve Center, Lincoln

Nevada:

Hawthorne Army Depot

New Hampshire:

Doble U.S. Army Reserve Center, Portsmouth

Naval Shipyard Portsmouth

New Jersey:

Fort Monmouth

Inspector/Instructor Center, West Trenton

Kilmer U.S. Army Reserve Center, Edison

New Mexico:

Cannon Air Force Base

Jenkins Armed Forces Reserve Center, Albuquerque

New York:

Armed Forces Reserve Center, Amityville

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Niagra Falls

Carpenter U.S. Army Reserve Center, Poughkeepsie

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Rome

Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Buffalo

Navy Reserve Center Glenn Falls

Navy Reserve Center Horsehead

Navy Reserve Center Watertown

Niagra Falls International Airport Air Guard Station

North Carolina:

Navy Reserve Center, Asheville

Niven U.S. Army Reserve Center, Albermarle

Ohio:

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Mansfield

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Westerville

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Dayton

Mansfield Lahm Municipal Airport Air Guard Station

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Akron

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Cleveland

Parrott U.S. Army Reserve Center, Kenton

U.S. Army Reserve Center, Whitehall

Oklahoma:

Armed Forces Reserve Center Broken Arrow

Armed Forces Reserve Center Muskogee

Army National Guard Reserve Center Tishomingo

Krowse U.S. Army Reserve Center, Oklahoma City

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Tulsa

Oklahoma City (95th)

Pennsylvania:

Bristol

Engineering Field Activity Northeast

Kelly Support Center

Naval Air Station Willow Grove

Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Reading

North Penn U.S. Army Reserve Center, Morristown

Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station

Serrenti U.S. Army Reserve Center, Scranton

U.S. Army Reserve Center Bloomsburg

U.S. Army Reserve Center Lewisburg

U.S. Army Reserve Center Williamsport

W. Reese U.S. Army Reserve Center/OMS, Chester

Puerto Rico:

Army National Guard Reserve Center, Humacao

Lavergne U.S. Army Reserve Center, Bayamon

Rhode Island:

Harwood U.S. Army Reserve Center, Providence

USARC Bristol

South Carolina:

Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Charleston

South Naval Facilities Engineering Command

South Dakota:

Ellsworth Air Force Base

Tennessee:

U.S. Army Reserve Area Maintenance Support Facility, Kingsport

Pentagon Rejects Calls To Slow Down Closure Of Bases Abroad

The Pentagon rejected calls by a congressionally appointed commission to slow down the withdrawal of 70,000 American troops from Europe and Asia. The proposals entail the U.S. Army withdrawing from about half of its European bases, the Pentagon confirmed. The Overseas Basing Commission said the moves were being planned without sufficient coordination with affected countries or synchronization with other security activities and needs, but the Pentagon disputed that view. In a report officially released Monday, the commission also queried the Pentagon estimate that repatriating the troops and their families would cost around $10 billion. The commission said it would cost about twice that amount. It called for more congressional oversight of the process. Among the commission's specific recommendations was one saying that a Germany-based heavy combat brigade due to return to the U.S. should remain where it is. This would provide a hedge against unexpected future security threats in the European region, demonstrate commitment to NATO, and show U.S. resolve in the Balkans. "We further decrease our presence in NATO only at risk of lessening our influence in Europe." It also said plans to withdraw U.S. Marines from Okinawa should be scaled down, calling the southern Japanese island a "strategic linchpin." The Pentagon's review of force posture abroad is aimed at making the U.S. military a leaner, more focused force capable of handling post-Cold War threats and contingencies. President Bush announced the initiative last August, citing the need for "a more agile and flexible force." According to the commission report, the plan envisages returning approximately 30 percent of al U.S. sites abroad to host nations, mostly in Germany and South Korea. The plan to bring tens of thousands of personnel home is meant to dovetail with plans to close, realign or expand military bases on U.S. soil -- a process known as Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). The panel questioned the coordination of the two, inter-related initiatives. It also noted that "the entire process will be undertaken at a time during which we will continue to fight the global war on terror and consolidate and rebuild in Iraq and Afghanistan." In its recommendations, the commission argued that "the detailed synchronization of so massive a realignment of forces requires that the pace of events be slowed and reordered." Commission chairman Al Cornella told a press conference: "We're saying slow this down, step back, take a breath." 'Deliberate, thoughtful and flexible' At a later Pentagon briefing, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Ryan Henry defended the efforts to coordinate the planned changes as well as the timing. Consultation had been underway with regional commanders, government agencies including the State Department and National Security Council, and with lawmakers, he said, adding that more than 45 briefings had been held on Capitol Hill.
The Defense and State Departments had also "gone to over 20 countries to explain to them what we're doing, why we're doing it, and get their ideas on how we could possibly do it better," Henry said. "We have had over 40 ambassadorial visits and consultations, and numerous allied and partner delegations that have come to visit us here in the Pentagon to discuss this with us." Henry also called into question the recommendation that the whole process be slowed down. "All along the way, in not one of those negotiations did anyone raise any caution about the pace with which we were moving forward," he said. "They, as we, saw it as deliberate, thoughtful and flexible." Also taking part in the briefing, acting undersecretary of the Army Ray DuBois gave an indication of the scale of the Army pullout from Europe. "The Army will cut by nearly half the number of installations that it operates and maintains in Europe, should all of these movements come to pass," he said, adding that this would allow significant amounts of money saved to be reinvested in infrastructure for the returning forces in the U.S. The Pentagon representatives declined to give details of specific returns of U.S. personnel from abroad, saying that matter was tied up with decisions about which bases in the U.S. would be closed or realigned. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is due shortly to name a list of domestic military bases to affected by the BRAC process. The list will go to the commission, which may make alterations before sending a recommendation to President Bush. The president will have until September 23 to either accept or reject the list in its entirety. The commission was established under the Military Facility Structure Review Act, legislation introduced by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and signed into law in November 2003. The panel comprises seven members with national security or foreign affairs experience. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

USS Kitty Hawk CV 63 - Navys Oldest Active Warship Turns 44

USS Kitty Hawk (the Battle Cat) (CV 63), the Navy's oldest active ship and only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, celebrated its 44th birthday with a cake-cutting ceremony on its forward mess decks. Capt. Thomas Parker - Kitty Hawk's 32nd commanding officer - and several Sailors took time out from a busy operational schedule to honor the warship. "We take a few minutes to recognize this ship's historic mark of 44 years, but the work must go on here in the forward deployed naval forces (FDNF)," Parker said. For the oldest Sailor aboard Kitty Hawk, Storekeeper 1st Class (AW) Elton Truesdale, looking back at the ship's history made him reflect on his own career - past and future. "I was here when Kitty Hawk turned 43 last year," said Truesdale of the aircraft intermediate maintenance department, who was born nine years before the ship's keel was laid. "I've seen a lot of ships, but Kitty Hawk has been around the longest. Kitty Hawk is a wonderful place to be stationed. This is my last tour as I will be retiring next year, and it was a pleasure and honor to serve on the oldest active warship." "I'm sure there are some people that didn't expect Kitty Hawk to be around this long," said Kitty Hawk's Command Master Chief (AW) Cliff Yager. "But it has been a national asset that has served its country well, and continues to do so today." Despite the carrier's age, Kitty Hawk is still battle ready, according to Parker. "The dedication and support of Sailors from construction and commissioning to her current mark of 44 years of age is what makes Kitty Hawk the great ship she is today," he said. "Kitty Hawk is in superb condition, as has been proven time and time again by an ongoing series of successful inspections throughout the ship, and a proven track record, most recently here in the high operational tempo world of the FDNF," Parker said. "We continue to be ready for any tasking." Kitty Hawk was commissioned April 29, 1961, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. With a total building cost of $265 million, it is the second U.S. Navy ship named after the town near which Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first successful, powered aircraft Dec. 17, 1903. Since then, Kitty Hawk has participated in combat operations in places such as Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, the Balkans, Afghanistan and most recently, the war in Iraq. Kitty Hawk became America's only permanently forward-deployed carrier in 1998, replacing USS Independence (CV 62), which was decommissioned that year. Highlights from Kitty Hawk's most recent year include the conventionally powered aircraft carrier's participation with USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) in the Summer 2004 training exercise Joint Air and Sea Exercises (JASEX) 04. JASEX provided a way for the United States to demonstrate its commitment to peace and stability in the western Pacific Ocean in a joint training environment. The exercise was conducted in conjunction with Summer Pulse '04, the Navy's first test of the Fleet Response Plan. The Kitty Hawk Strike Group is the largest aircraft carrier strike group in the Navy and is composed of the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, the guided-missile cruisers USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and USS Cowpens (CG 63), and Destroyer Squadron 15. HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Removing Mom's "Welcome Home Soldier" Signs Brings Scorn

People from across the United States and as far away as Nova Scotia spent Wednesday telling Cape Coral officials they're un-American, communists and Nazis — among other things. The name calling came in an onslaught of e-mail that blasted a city worker for removing signs and yellow ribbons a mother had posted to greet her U.S. Army daughter as she returned home from Iraq. After receiving more than 100 e-mails, city officials went into damage control. "We now have to try to defuse the situation and prevent an effigy of our part-time employee, an 82-year-old WWII veteran, from being burned across the country," public information officer Connie Barron e-mailed. The out-cry arose after Matt Drudge posted an Internet link on his site, the Drudge Report, to a story about the incident in The News-Press. By 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, about 300,000 viewers had read the story on The News-Press Web site, news-press.com. It's one of the most-read stories in the Web site's history. "It has all gotten too out of hand and big," said Kelly Smith, 44, the single mother of Pfc. Amanda Smith, 19, and two other children. "It just never should have happened if he used a little common sense. "All I wanted to do was welcome my daughter home and hug her." Mayor Eric Feichthaler answered the angry e-mails with an explanation. "The actions that occurred on Tuesday were not a malicious attempt to dishonor or slight a local soldier, whose service we admire and appreciate beyond what words can express," Feichthaler said. On Monday evening, the mayor will read a proclamation in Amanda's honor during the regular city council meeting. He has invited the Smiths to attend.

No Respect

To Aida Nordahl and some of her fellow parishioners, the strangers with shaved heads who showed up the past two Sundays at her church were up to no good. But according to sheriff's deputies, the men who came to St.Peter and St. Paul Catholic Church were actually U.S. Marines looking for a buddy. The confusion began April 24 during the Spanish Mass at the Banyan Avenue church. Three men walked in and sat down. Before the end of the service, they walked to the front of the congregation, stood facing parishioners in silence and then walked out of the church. "They have short Marine haircuts, and someone perceives that they're skinheads, and that they were intimidating people," San Bernardino County sheriff's Sgt. Frank Gonzales said. "It turns out that was not the case, and they were very polite." But for some members of the church who didn't know the men's military status, it was an unsettling experience, Nordahl said. "I was just upset that they went inside the church and did this to us," she said. "It was very disrespectful." Nordahl said she became more concerned when the men returned Sunday. The men sat in the church and talked to each other during the service. Nordahl, who has been a member of the church about a year and a half, said she had not seen the men at the church before April 24. Sheriff's deputies were called to the church after the men visited the second time, Gonzales said. The men explained to deputies that they had just returned from Iraq and came to the church looking for a friend. When they couldn't find their friend April 24, they returned the following week. The Rev. Patrick Kirsch said the matter has been resolved and that he explained the situation to parishioners. Between 400 to 500 people on average attend the Spanish Mass, Kirsch said. "We don't want to make it more than it is," he said. "I was reassured by the police that (the Marines) wouldn't be back."

U.S. Reminds North Korea Of Its Pacific Military Might

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reminded North Korea the United States has extensive military might in the Pacific after a suspected North Korean missile test over the weekend. "I don't think anyone is confused about the ability of the United States to deter -- both on behalf of itself and on behalf of its allies -- North Korean nuclear ambitions or gains on the (Korean) Peninsula," Rice told reporters. "The United States maintains significant -- and I want to underline 'significant' -- deterrent capability of all kinds in the Asia-Pacific region so I don't think there should be doubt about our ability to deter whatever the North Koreans are up to," she said. The United States no longer stores nuclear weapons on the volatile Korean peninsula, but has long-range missiles and other weapons within striking distance of the North. The U.S. Air Force rotates heavy bombers -- among them radar-avoiding B-2s -- onto its large base on the island of Guam in the western Pacific and maintains F-15E and other attack jets in Japan and South Korea. An American aircraft carrier is based in Japan and the Navy has made clear it can move others into the region on short notice. Asian officials played down North Korea's suspected missile test, saying it appeared to be a short-range weapon unable to carry a nuclear warhead. But they acknowledged it would strain efforts to resume six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs. The suspected test appeared to jangle nerves after North Korea's claims that it has nuclear weapons and its refusal to resume talks with the China, the United States, Russia, Japan and South Korea on its nuclear ambitions. Speaking at a news conference with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, Rice urged North Korea to come back to the negotiating table and said its missile programs would have to be discussed at some point. It was not clear whether she meant they would have to be dealt with in the six-party talks. The six nations have met for three rounds of talks since 2003. A fourth round has not materialized after North Korea demanded an end to what it calls the United States' hostile policy. The United States has repeatedly called for North Korea to resume talks and has dangled the prospect of U.S. security guarantees, improved relations and aid from other nations if North Korea abandons its suspected pursuit of nuclear arms. There have been signs lately that U.S. patience with the six-party process may be wearing thin. Washington has said if Pyongyang refuses to come back to the table, it would consider taking the matter to the U.N. Security Council, where North Korea could face sanctions. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Ceremony To Mark 13th Air Force's Move From Guam To Hawaii

Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, will host a relocation ceremony at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Hangar 1 for the 13th Air Force. During the ceremony, Gen. Paul Hester, Pacific Air Forces commander, will officially designate the move by the 13th to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. The command will operate from Hickam until it becomes the new Warfighting Headquarters in the fall, according to an Air Force news release. The 13th Air Force moved to Andersen after leaving Clark Air Base, Luzon, Philippines, in December 1991, because of Mount Pinatubo’s eruption.
GENERAL PAUL V. HESTER