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DEOMI News Highlights
DEOMI News Highlights is a weekly compilation of published items and commentary with a focus on
equal opportunity, equal employment opportunity, diversity, culture, and human relations issues. DEOMI
News Highlights is also a management tool intended to serve the informational needs of equity
professionals and senior DOD officials in the continuing assessment of defense policies, programs, and
actions. Further reproduction or redistribution for private use or gain is subject to original copyright
restrictions.
The Army offers job perks to those who help prevent sex assault [Jim Tice, Army Times, 17 March
2016]
 Active-component soldiers who serve full time in support of the Army’s Sexual
Harassment/Assault Response Prevention Program qualify for an array of assignment incentives
under a directive issued March 11 by acting Secretary of the Army Patrick J. Murphy.
 The incentives, consisting of assignment preferences and stabilization options, encourage soldiers
to serve in SHARP positions as program managers, sexual assault response coordinators, victim
advocates, and trainers.
 “The initiatives...are reflective of Army efforts to professionalize the SHARP program and to
recruit the best talent possible to serve in these positions of significant trust,” according to a
March 17 statement from human resource officials.
The Army offers job perks to those who help prevent sex assault
Female Marine officers, staff NCOs to join grunt units [Jeff Schogol, Marine Corps Times, 17
March 2016]
 Female Marine officers and staff noncommissioned officers will soon be assigned to infantry
battalions.
 With all combat arms jobs now open to women, qualified enlisted Marines could soon be moving
into infantry battalions. Since no female officer has graduated from Infantry Officer Course,
though, there currently are no women to lead them.
 To begin building that cadre of women leaders, Marine officials will soon assign female officers
and staff NCOs to infantry battalions where they will serve in support roles, officials said.
Female Marine officers, staff NCOs to join grunt units
Gen. Robinson to head NORTHCOM, will be first female to run COCOM [Stephen Losey, Air
Force Times, 18 March 2016]
 Defense Secretary Ash Carter has nominated Gen. Lori Robinson to be the next head of the U.S.
Northern Command, the Pentagon said Friday morning.
 Robinson will be the first woman to ever head a combatant command, Pentagon Press Secretary
Peter Cook said in a tweet announcing Robinson’s nomination.
 Robinson is now commander of Pacific Air Forces. Before heading PACAF, Robinson was vice
commander of Air Combat Command. She is a senior air battle manager with more than 900
flight hours in the E-3B/C and E-8C aircraft. Seen as a rising star in the Air Force, Robinson has
shot through the ranks, adding a star a year from 2012 through 2014.
Gen. Robinson to head NORTHCOM, will be first female to run COCOM
18 March 2015
Page 1
DEOMI News Highlights
Culture
Foreign language center in Germany to prep troops for diverse missions
Harvard Law School finally removed the seal of a “brutal slaveholder,” but not everyone agrees with the
decision
NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade rings in new era of inclusion
Discrimination
Promotion denied for Navy admiral accused of punishing whistleblowers
Diversity
Army sets “leader-first” approach to full gender integration
Army’s first woman cannoneer finishes top of class
Female Marine officers, staff NCOs to join grunt units
Female Marine to attempt Infantry Officer Course
Gen. Robinson to head NORTHCOM, will be first female to run COCOM
Gender integration: Reality in today’s Army
Harvard professor describes the problem with colleges trying to become more “diverse”
Marines’ new T-shirt policy could be tied to tattoo complaint
Navy vice chief, DCMA honor nation’s women
Navy’s first female admiral lined up for another 4-star post
These are the Army’s new gender neutral rules for Special Forces
Women could enter Navy SEAL training by September
Miscellaneous
Barber refuses to cut transgender Army veteran’s hair, citing religious views
Genocide and the Islamic State [OPINION]
Germany’s top Nazi hunter to keep up chase for another decade
Kerry determines IS group committing genocide in Iraq, Syria
Update: Force of the Future Reforms Move Forward
Women Guards Still Cannot Touch Male Prisoners at Gitmo
Misconduct
Air Force assistant vice chief fired over unprofessional relationship
Keesler Air Force Base ex-informant loses appeal
Marine infantry officer: Blowing off orders has become a troubling norm [OPINION]
Navy reminds sailors not to participate in pay-to-play March Madness office pools
Submarine’s enlisted leader fired for alleged drug use
Religion
New Jersey fencer to wear head covering at Rio Olympics
Sexism
Deny her 95-year-old grandma burial at Arlington National Cemetery? No way.
Women WWII pilots deserve Arlington burial, lawmakers say
Sexual Assault/Harassment
The Army offers job perks to those who help prevent sex assault
Marine general expresses regret to Okinawa governor over alleged rape
Sailor charged with raping Japanese woman in Okinawa hotel
Why sex assault reports have spiked at the Naval Academy, West Point and the Air Force Academy
18 March 2015
Page 2
Culture
http://www.stripes.com/news/foreign-language-center-in-germany-to-prep-troops-for-diverse-missions1.399163
Foreign language center in Germany to prep troops for
diverse missions
By John Vandiver
Stars and Stripes, March 14, 2016
Col. Phil Deppert, commandant of the Defense Language Institute in
California, said a new language center opening in Vilseck, Germany, in April
2016 will be a hub for troops and units wanting to study foreign languages.
(Photo: Defense Language Institute)
The problem faced by many Afghans who have come to the U.S. after
working with American forces is deceptively straightforward: The U.S.
government doesn't recognize first-name only customs or traditions where
people are referred to as belonging to a certain tribe or as the descendant of a
relative.
A Defense Department language center is opening in Germany next month at
a time when U.S. military commanders say they need more Russian linguists and speakers of Arabic and
French, reflecting the challenges emanating from Russia, Africa and the Middle East.
“All the languages we teach, those are things driven by the units and headquarters,” said Col. Phil Deppert,
commandant of the Monterrey, Calif.-based Defense Language Institute language center, during a recent
visit to installations in Germany and Italy. “We are agile and flexible enough that we will tailor it to
whatever the unit needs.”
The $800,000 facility is a joint venture between Europe-based military commands and the DLI. “From a
DLI perspective, we do not name or drive what languages we teach,” Deppert said.
The new DLI center, set to open in Vilseck, Germany in April, will offer individualized training for units,
ranging from instruction for beginner troops preparing for training missions to advanced coursework for
military intelligence analysts seeking to sharpen their skills. Several hundred students are expected to
attend the Vilseck center over the course of the year, Deppert said.
For European Command, concern about a more assertive Russia has focused attention on the need for more
Russian speakers among intelligence analysts and troops conducting training in regions where Russian is a
common second language, such as in the Baltics. Leaders have publicly lamented a loss in Russian
expertise.
“Since the end of the Cold War, our nation’s community of Russian area experts has shrunk considerably,”
EUCOM chief Gen. Philip Breedlove said during recent testimony before Congress.
Meanwhile, Africa Command operations indicate a demand for French and Arabic.
Deppert said the Vilseck center aims to support all U.S. forces in EUCOM and AFRICOM, including
linguists and nonlinguists. Adding a Europe facility also helps units avoid the need to send language
learners back to the U.S. for instruction, he said.
During the past several years, DLI has been conducting small, unit-level training across Europe, sending
instructors to installations on an as-needed basis. In 2012, a small language center was set up at EUCOM
headquarters in Stuttgart, where DLI maintains its Europe office.
[email protected]
http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-law-schools-has-the-seal-of-a-slave-owner-as-the-official-crest2016-3
Harvard Law School finally removed the seal of a “brutal
slaveholder,” but not everyone agrees with the decision
By Abby Jackson
Business Insider, March 15, 2016
Royall Must Fall Facebook
Harvard Law School is ditching its official seal, following months
of protests urging its removal because of its ties to a slave
owner, The Harvard Crimson reported.
The Royall family's coat of arms was adopted as the seal to
honor slave owner Isaac Royall Jr.'s gift to Harvard upon his death
in 1781, which allowed the formation of Harvard Law School.
"You should feel free to discontinue use of the shield as soon as you see fit, and we will look forward to
receiving your eventual recommendation for a new shield, ideally in time for it to be introduced for the
School's bicentennial in 2017," a letter from Harvard College President Drew Faust and William Lee, a
senior fellow, wrote to Law School Dean Martha Minow.
In 2015, a movement called "Royall Must Fall" formally began on campus with a rally of about 25 people.
"These symbols set the tone for the rest of the school and the fact that we hold up the Harvard crest as
something to be proud of when it represents something so ugly is a profound disappointment and should be
a source of shame for the whole school," Alexander J. Clayborne, one of the law students involved, told
The Crimson last year.
Royall Must Fall Facebook
More largely, the students aimed to draw attention to and correct the legacy of
slave-owning on Harvard's campus.
"We demand the removal of the Harvard family crest as the crest of the law school
and we demand that the Royall Chair of Law be renamed as well," Students for
Inclusion, a student group on campus, wrote on its Tumblr page.
They continued: "We also demand that systemic oppression be recognized as pervasive and endemic to the
law school and we demand that it be addressed by the faculty and by the student body at large."
But there are at least a couple of dissenting opinions on whether the school should have changed its seal.
Harvard Law School professor Annette Gordon-Reed published an opinion piece on Time.com, imploring
students not to advocate for the removal of the seal, but for it to stay as a constant reminder of the past.
"The enslaved at the Royall Plantation and the graduates of Harvard Law School should be tied together as
they have been without our knowledge for so many years, and as they always will be whether we choose to
hide that connection from the world or not," she wrote.
A visiting law-school professor, Daniel R. Coquillette, argued a similar point. While he called Royall "a
coward, and a brutal slaveholder," he told the Harvard Crimson in 2015 that he didn't think the school
should change the seal.
"As a historian ... you just deal with the fact that this guy founded the school and tell the truth about it," he
told the Crimson. "To change things is to act like [they] didn't happen, and that's a mistake."
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/10997ecceb7545f893a211b565c05dc5/gay-groups-st-patricks-parade-endsera-exclusion
NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade rings in new era of inclusion
By Jennifer Peltz
The Associated Press, March 17, 2016
Steven Menendez, of Manhattan, waves the Gay Pride flag as he
waits for the St. Patrick's Day parade to start on Fifth Ave,
Thursday, March 17, 2016, in New York. The nation's largest St.
Patrick's Day parade kicked off Thursday in New York City, and for
the first time in decades, gay activists are not decrying it as an
exercise in exclusion. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
NEW YORK (AP) — From the green line painted on Fifth Avenue
to the tartans, pipes and drums, New York's St. Patrick's Day
Parade reveled in its long traditions. But to the marchers behind a
green-and-lavender banner, it also marked a new era of inclusion at the nation's largest celebration of Irish
heritage.
A year after a limited easing of the parade's prohibition on gay groups, organizers opened the lineup more
broadly to include activists who protested the ban for years.
"I never thought I'd see the day when I could march up Fifth Avenue in the St. Patrick's Day Parade with
my husband," said Brendan Fay, chairman of the Lavender and Green Alliance. "When we started in 1991,
after getting arrested so many times for protesting the parade, wow, what a moment this is."
Roughly 200,000 marchers followed the Fifth Avenue route, flanked by onlookers forming a sea of green.
"We love New York City and the parade and being Irish for a day and having a drop," said Anna Silver,
from Nutley, New Jersey, laughing with three friends who all wore bright green T-shirts with green ties and
stovepipe hats. "I'm part Irish on my mother's side, but today I'm totally Irish."
This year's parade honored the centennial of Ireland's Easter Rising against British rule. It was also
broadcast live in Ireland and the United Kingdom for the first time. The grand marshal of the parade was
former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, who negotiated the Northern Ireland peace accord.
The parade traces its history to 1762. For years, organizers said gay people could participate but couldn't
carry signs or buttons celebrating their sexual identities. Organizers said they didn't want to divert focus
from honoring Irish heritage.
Irish gay advocates sued in the early 1990s, but judges said the parade organizers had a First Amendment
right to choose participants in their event.
Over the years, activists protested along the route, and some politicians boycotted. The pressure grew in
2014, when Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to march, and Guinness and Heineken withdrew their
sponsorships.
The sponsorships resumed when parade organizers opened a door to gay groups last year, allowing a
contingent from parade sponsor NBCUniversal. But critics saw the gesture as tokenism.
Meanwhile, Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade ended a ban on gay groups that organizers had successfully
defended at the Supreme Court. In the ensuing months, gay marriage became legal throughout the U.S. and
Ireland.
Against that backdrop, New York St. Patrick's Day Parade organizers said they'd add a second gay group
this year to the parade ranks: the Lavender and Green Alliance, which had long protested the gay-group
ban.
De Blasio said, "Today everyone is celebrating together. Today, the city is at peace, and the city is unified,
and we all feel tremendous pride in all of the people who brought us together."
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/10997ecceb7545f893a211b565c05dc5/gay-groups-st-patricks-parade-endsera-exclusion
He actually marched twice, returning at the end of the parade to join the alliance as members stepped off.
When they entered Fifth Avenue from their staging area, it was to the sound of cheers from the crowd.
But not everyone felt that way. Some longtime parade participants have balked at the arrival of gay
delegations.
"It's contemptible," said Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. The group stopped marching last year,
saying it was unfair of organizers to open the parade to a gay group but not to an anti-abortion one. Some
Catholics gathered along the route Thursday to pray in protest.
But Dillon Roger, visiting from Switzerland, thought the parade was "like a big carnival" and hadn't
realized gay groups were kept from marching until recently.
"I always thought the parade was a celebration of being Irish, not Catholic, so yes, it's a big symbol, an
important thing for gays to march in the parade today," he said.
Celebrations marking St. Patrick's Day also turned the streets of Savannah, Georgia, into a sea of green, as
revelers in gaudy green hats and T-shirts filled the sidewalks and squares.
In Ireland, record crowds celebrated the national holiday with a parade led by the country's most prominent
disabled rights activist, Joanne O'Riordan, who was born without arms or legs. She beamed joyously as she
steered her scooter past the estimated 550,000 lining the parade route in Dublin.
___
Reach Jennifer Peltz on Twitter @ jennpeltz.
___
Associated Press writers Alex Lynch in New York, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Shawn
Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.
SEE ALSO:
Gay rights issue resolved, New York mayor joins in St. Patrick's parade [Reuters, 2016-03-17]
NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade kicks off, gay groups included [The Washington Post, 2016-03-17]
Discrimination
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/03/17/promotion-denied-for-navy-admiralaccused-of-punishing-whistleblowers/
Promotion denied for Navy admiral accused of punishing
whistleblowers
By Craig Whitlock
The Washington Post, March 17, 2016
U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Brian L. Losey speaks at an event at the
Hamramba school dedication in Moroni, Comoros, (Photo by Petty
Officer 2nd Class Joshua Bruns)
The Navy has denied promotion to the admiral in charge of its elite
SEAL teams, effectively ending his military career, after multiple
investigations found that he had retaliated against whistleblowers.
Officials said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, under pressure from
Congress, decided this week to reject Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey’s
pending promotion to become a two-star admiral. Lawmakers had
threatened to hold up nominations of other high-ranking Navy
officials if they didn’t take action against the admiral, a prominent
figure in the military’s secretive Special Operations forces.
The Washington Post reported in October that the Navy was poised to promote Losey despite findings from
Pentagon investigators that he illegally demoted or punished three subordinates during a vengeful but
fruitless hunt for an anonymous whistleblower who had reported him for a minor travel-policy infraction.
Navy leaders began reconsidering Losey’s status in December after Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) blocked the
nomination of Janine Davidson, a former senior Pentagon official, to become the Navy’s second-ranking
civilian leader. Wyden said he didn’t have any problem with Davidson herself, but wanted to force the
Navy to revisit Losey’s case, adding that promoting him would send a message that retaliating against
whistleblowers was acceptable.
[Powerful admiral punishes suspected whistleblowers, still gets promotion]
Several other lawmakers pressured the Navy as well. In January, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack
Reed (D-R.I.), the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a joint
letter to Mabus saying they had “deep reservations” about Losey’s pending promotion.
Rear Adm. Dawn Cutler, the Navy’s chief spokeswoman, confirmed that Losey’s promotion had been
nixed “after further consideration” but lauded the SEAL’s long career in the military.
“The failure to promote does not diminish the achievements of a lifetime of service,” she said in a
statement. “While the full scope of his service may never be known, his brilliant leadership of special
operators in the world’s most challenging operational environments…reflected his incredible talent, energy,
and devotion to mission. There are few in this country whose contributions to national security have been
more significant.”
A combat veteran who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Bosnia and Somalia, Losey once
commanded SEAL Team 6, the clandestine unit known for killing terrorist targets such as Osama bin
Laden. He also once worked as a top military aide in the White House.
Wyden said he had been informed by the Navy this week that Losey will not be promoted. As a result, he
said, he would remove his hold on Davidson’s nomination and support her confirmation to become the
Navy’s new undersecretary.
“One of the pillars of our system of government is the rule of law; a principle that applies no less to our
military and to the vital principle of civilian control over the military,” Wyden said in a statement. “It is
illegal to retaliate against whistleblowers, whether civilian or military.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/03/17/promotion-denied-for-navy-admiralaccused-of-punishing-whistleblowers/
Despite the pressure from Congress, a promotion board consisting of Navy admirals recently recommended
in a majority vote that Losey be promoted anyway, according to a Pentagon official who spoke on
condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The recommendation was overruled by Mabus,
however, and Losey was notified Tuesday that his promotion had been rejected, the official said.
Losey did not respond to a request for comment placed through the Navy. He has previously denied
wrongdoing, telling Pentagon investigators that his staff members were poor performers and that he had
acted within his authority as a commander to demote or fire them.
The Navy announced on Feb. 29 that Losey’s tenure as leader of the Special Warfare Command would end
this spring and that he would be replaced by Rear Adm. Timothy Szymanski, the assistant commander for
operations at the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg. Navy officials said at the time that no
decision had been made about Losey’s future and held out the possibility that he would receive another
assignment.
On Thursday, Navy officials said Losey would submit an official request to retire.
Losey had originally been selected to become a two-star admiral in 2011 and was confirmed by the Senate.
But his promotion was subsequently placed on hold after the whistleblowers filed complaints in 2012.
After conducting separate, years-long investigations that involved more than 100 witnesses and 300,000
pages of email, the Defense Department Inspector General upheld complaints from three of five staff
members who asserted that Losey had illegally retaliated against them.
Craig Whitlock covers the Pentagon and national security. He has reported for The Washington Post since
1998.
Diversity
http://www.army.mil/article/164066/Army_sets__leader_first__approach_to_full_gender_integration/
Army sets “leader-first” approach to full gender integration
By Todd Lopez and Gary Sheftick
Army.mil, March 11, 2016
Pfc. Katherine Beatty fires to qualify on the
M119A3 howitzer during live-fire training,
March 1, 2016, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Beatty
is the first woman to graduate 13B training to
become a cannon crewmember. She was a
distinguished graduate, finishing with top
scores in academics, leadership and physical
performance.
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 11, 2016) -- The Army will begin training women for
infantry and armor specialties later this year, according to its Gender Integration Implementation Plan
released, March 10.
The plan will be executed in phases, first bringing female officers into combat arms this summer after they
graduate from the U.S. Military Academy, ROTC or Officer Candidate School.
Enlisted recruits are expected to begin training in infantry and armor military occupational specialties
beginning this fall. By the time they graduate Advanced Individual Training and report to their first combat
units, female officers will already be there. It's part of the Army's "leader-first" approach to integrate the
last 19 military occupational specialties that had been closed to women.
"We're not going to turn our back on 50 percent of the population," said Acting Secretary of the Army
Patrick J. Murphy. "We are opening up every occupation to women. I think that's pretty historic."
4-PHASE IMPLEMENTATION
The Army is currently in the first phase of its integration plan. It has developed gender-neutral standards
and is educating the force about its implementation policies.
"An incremental and phased approach by leaders and Soldiers who understand and enforce gender-neutral
standards will ensure successful integration of women across the breadth and depth of our formations," said
Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. Milley.
The Army has also been developing a new Occupational Physical Assessment Test. The OPAT will be
administered to recruits beginning no later than June, according to Phase II of the plan.
NEW TEST
OPAT includes physical performance tests developed by the U.S. Army Research Institute of
Environmental Medicine. These tests will measure the ability of a recruit or cadet to perform physically
demanding MOS tasks.
The new test will include a standing long jump, a dead lift, an interval run and a seated power throw to
measure strength needed for tasks such as loading ammunition.
Phase II is the initiation of gender-neutral training. It begins April 1 as the Army starts enlisting women
under the Delayed Entry Program for armor and infantry One-Station Unit Training or OSUT. Training
won't actually begin for the enlistees until fall and could be delayed for up to a year until they graduate high
school.
http://www.army.mil/article/164066/Army_sets__leader_first__approach_to_full_gender_integration/
FINAL PHASES
Phase III involves assigning women to operational units. Again, female officers will be assigned to infantry
and armor units first, to prepare the way for enlisted Soldiers to arrive at end of the year.
Phase IV is "Sustain and Optimize." In this phase the Army achieves full operational capability and revalidates MOS screening requirements. Through talent management, it continues to select the best Soldiers
for the right jobs, according to the plan.
Over the last four years, the Army has opened a substantial number of positions to female Soldiers. The
Army opened 95,216 positions and nine occupations to women between May 2012 and October 2015,
including combat engineer (12B) and artillery MOSs.
The first female cannon crew member, 13B, graduated this month from Advanced Individual Training at
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, at the top of her class.
Now under the Army's Gender Integration Implementation Plan, the final 19 MOSs will provide an
additional 220,000 job opportunities to female Soldiers, though that number may change based on end
strength reductions and ongoing force structure changes.
Following are the 19 MOSs within infantry, armor and Special Forces that will incrementally open to
women:
-- 11A (Infantry Officer)
-- 11B (Infantryman)
-- 11C (Indirect Fire Infantryman)
-- 11Z (Infantry Senior Sergeant)
-- 13F (Fire Support Specialist)
-- 19D (Cavalry Scout)
-- 19A (Armor, General)
-- 19B (Armor)
-- 19C (Cavalry)
-- 19K (Armor Crewmember)
-- 19Z (Armor Senior Sergeant)
-- 18A (Special Forces Officer)
-- 180A (Special Forces Warrant Officer)
-- 18B (Special Forces Weapons Sergeant)
-- 18C (Special Forces Engineer Sergeant)
-- 18D (Special Forces Medical Sergeant)
-- 18E (Special Forces Communications Sergeant)
-- 18F (Special Forces Assistant Operations and Intelligence Sergeant)
-- 18Z (Special Forces Senior Sergeant)
http://www.army.mil/article/163932/Army_s_first_woman_cannoneer_finishes_top_of_class/
Army’s first woman cannoneer finishes top of class
By Cindy McIntyre, Fort Sill Tribune
Army.mil, March 10, 2016
Pfc. Katherine Beatty is the U. S. military's first female to become a cannon
crewmember. New high physical demands tests were implemented for the
last seven ground combat military occupational specialties. Fort Sill is
adapting to meet the Soldier 2020 Initiative.
FORT Sill, Okla. (March 10, 2016) -- Sometimes a person is just in the
right place at the right time.
And so it was for Pfc. Katherine Beatty when she learned her chosen
military occupational specialty (MOS) in signal intelligence wasn't going to
work out. Then came an offer too good to pass up.
Why not be the Army's first female cannoneer?
"They said I could pick a different MOS," she said of her nine-week
holdover after basic combat training. The combat specialty of 13B cannon
crewmember was on the list. "They said there was a lot of heavy lifting,
and it's a pretty high speed job, and I would be the first female. I was pretty excited about it. I called my
husband (in Inverness, Fla.) He's infantry and works side by side with 13 Bravos. He told me what to
expect and I just went for it."
Not only did she pass, she excelled, earning the title of distinguished honor graduate for Class No. 12-16.
She was assistant platoon guide (APG) and helped teach her peers. She also earned the top scores in several
exams and passed her Go/No go events, including the high physical demand test, the first time.
She said none of it was easy, especially the first week.
The Army's new High Physical Demand Test (HPDT) was in place for the first time, and men and women
both need to pass it to graduate from 13B school.
She said the most difficult task was loading and unloading 15 155mm ammunition shells weighing nearly
100 pounds apiece.
"That was pretty tough," she said. "We had 15 minutes to do it." That means moving 3,000 pounds a feat
even some men couldn't do.
"I did power lifting and trained with my husband, Charles (before enlisting)," she said of her ability to pass
the test. She also went to the gym in her spare time while at Fort Sill. She said Charles is her hero because
of all the support he's given her.
Beatty earned high praise from her primary AIT instructor, Staff Sgt. Michael Prater, as well as her battle
buddies.
"She's held her own as an APG, as far as leading the Soldiers where they need to be, keeping up with who's
on sick call, who's in formation, and who's not," said Prater after her platoon's live-fire training, March 1.
"She took good notes and kept up with the training. Pfc. Beatty was an excellent Soldier."
Pvt. Marc Etinne, one of her battle buddies, said initially he wasn't sure how things were going to work out
with a female in a combat MOS.
http://www.army.mil/article/163932/Army_s_first_woman_cannoneer_finishes_top_of_class/
"At first I was like, 'oh, this is going to be interesting,'" he said. "But then the sergeant talked to us and said
anybody in Army green, we have to treat them with respect. She really surprises me with all the physical
stuff she can do. She's been treated just like everybody else. She's a great Soldier."
Pfc. Katherine Beatty's platoon fired three shells apiece to qualify
on the M119A3 howitzer during live-fire training, March 1, 2016,
at Fort Sill.
Her other battle buddy, Pvt. Jesse Hurtado, agreed. He said having a
female in his 13B class was "awesome."
"She worked a lot harder than the males did at some point," he said.
"She proved herself. She made her battle buddies push harder
because she was there pushing with them. She's an inspiration, seeing her going through what we're doing.
We all love her. She's an awesome battle buddy. We all want her to do great in her career."
Beatty's platoon specialized in the 105mm lightweight towed M119A3 howitzer. Even though those shells
weigh around 30 pounds, all 13B Soldiers need to be able to meet the physical standard with the 155mm
shells used in the M777 and the Paladin howitzers. They also need to be able to drag a casualty in combat,
so part of the HPDT is to drag a 270-pound skid 20 meters out and back.
Although the physical part of training was grueling, Beatty said she loved it. She and her husband have
taken their 2-year-old daughter hiking and lead an active life, she said. Being the first woman wasn't as
much as an obstacle as she thought.
"Everyone treats me like a Soldier, like part of the team," she said. "There was a lot of positivity from my
platoon, the instructors, the NCOs. It's been really awesome."
Week 4 of training was hands-on dry fire with the M119A3. March 1, her class fired on the equipment they
were trained on. Booms from the M777 and the Paladin interspersed with shots fired from Beatty's team.
Finally it was her turn.
She fired three rounds, then caught the next gunner's smoking cartridge when it was ejected, and spent time
on the radio and recording firing data. When the last round was called, Prater took out a marker and began
writing on the shell. Pens materialized and everyone squeezed in to leave their message on it. Beatty's read
"Miss 13B."
Then she returned to the radio and called, "last round!" The excited cannoneers echoed her, and rushed the
round into the chamber. Prater checked the round, held up his hand, and yelled, "stand by," for the
umpteenth time that day. Then he dropped his arm and yelled, "fire!" The round sped off to into the distant
hillside, and everyone cheered. Then they started tearing down and had a late lunch of meals, ready to eat.
"Everyone was excited in our platoon. I can definitely say that we had a lot of fun today. This is what we've
been waiting for," said Beatty.
Although she hoped to go to Airborne School at Fort Benning, Ga., Beatty has been assigned to Fort
Carson, Colo., following her graduation March 11.
Although she "jumped the gun" so to speak in being trained as a cannoneer, there are more than a dozen
women coming behind her. Her advice to them: "Go for it. It's an awesome job. You've got to be strong,
both physically and mentally, but there's definitely a lot of support here."
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2016/03/17/female-marine-officers-staff-ncos-join-gruntunits/81931858/
Female Marine officers, staff NCOs to join grunt units
By Jeff Schogol
Marine Corps Times, March 17, 2016
Sgt. Sheena Adams, a member of a female engagement team, stands
guard while on patrol in Afghanistan. The Marine Corps will move
female officers and staff noncommissioned into infantry units as all
combat arms jobs open to women. (Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty
Images)
Female Marine officers and staff noncommissioned officers will
soon be assigned to infantry battalions.
With all combat arms jobs now open to women, qualified enlisted
Marines could soon be moving into infantry battalions. Since no female officer has graduated from Infantry
Officer Course, though, there currently are no women to lead them.
To begin building that cadre of women leaders, Marine officials will soon assign female officers and staff
NCOs to infantry battalions where they will serve in support roles, officials said.
These female Marines or sailors will help male infantrymen adjust to the changes in their units before
female grunts join their battalions, said Col. Anne Weinberg, deputy director of manpower integration.
“I think there’s a ‘you gotta see it to believe it’ aspect in some of these units,” Weinberg said at a Thursday
media roundtable.
The female leaders’ main responsibility will be to assist the entire unit, not just the women grunts,
Weinberg said.
“We really didn’t look at them as helping the junior female Marines,” she said. “We really looked at
helping the unit writ large — as a resource to the commander, as a sounding board.”
A Marine ensures members of their unit are safe as they board a
Landing Craft Air Cushion at sea. (Photo: Lance Cpl. Alvin
Pujols/Marine Corps)
However, the female officers and staff NCOs’ secondary mission
will be to serve as a resource for any female infantrymen who join
the battalions, Weinberg said.
“If they feel like there’s something they can’t talk to their male
leader about, just to have that same gender face,” she said.
The cadre of women leaders is expected to be in place in infantry battalions at least 90 days before the first
female Marines arrive, Weinberg said. The first poolees are expected to ship to recruit training for infantry
MOSs in October, so the earliest they would join infantry battalions would be early next year.
However, 233 female Marines have already graduated from Infantry Training Battalion or other MOS
schools previously closed to women, she said. Those Marines have the ability to make lateral moves into
infantry and non-load-bearing MOSs before October.
“If we do get some lat-movers, we’ll get the female leadership in place sooner rather than later,” Weinberg
said.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2016/03/17/female-marine-officers-staff-ncos-join-gruntunits/81931858/
At least three female Marines who have qualified for combat arms jobs have told Marine Corps Times they
intend to apply for lateral moves.
About 200 female Marine leaders are already assigned to units in other MOSs that had been restricted to
men only, Weinberg said. The first poolees are expected to ship to recruit training in June for those MOSs,
such as tanks and artillery, said Stephen Wittle with Marine Corps Recruiting Command.
In May and June, all Marines will receive two days of training on the Marine Corps’ gender integration
plan, Weinberg said.
“We’re doing it for the entire Marine Corps, not just the previously closed MOSs,” she said. “[It's a] great
opportunity to take people aside and focus on this for two days and have an opportunity to talk about
institutional change, unconscious bias.”
In addition to learning about why the Marine Corps has opened all MOSs to women, Marines will have to
complete training vignettes, Weinberg said.
“Some of the scenarios are: You’re in the field; you only have this certain amount of space for billeting and
you’ve got three women and six guys; how are you going to billet?” she said. “Just some common sense
things that these units probably haven’t had to deal with.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/careers/marine-corps/officer/2016/03/14/female-marineattempt-infantry-officer-course/81758594/
Female Marine to attempt Infantry Officer Course
By Jeff Schogol
Marine Corps Times, March 14, 2016
A female lieutenant in the Infantry Officer Course hikes July 2
during the initial Combat Endurance Test at Marine Corps Base
Quantico, Va. (Photo: Staff)
A female Marine officer is slated to attend the Corps' grueling
Infantry Officer Course soon, Marine officials have confirmed.
Capt. Philip Kulczewski, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon,
declined to release any personal information about the Marine,
including her name, rank or when she is expected to attend IOC.
So far, 29 female officers have attempted the course, but no women
have graduated.
In January, the Marine Corps announced that more than 200 female
enlisted Marines who graduated from Infantry Training Battalion or
other military occupational specialty schools previously closed to
women could request a lateral move into the jobs for which they
qualified. So far, none of those Marines has submitted a lateral move package, Kulczewski said.
News of the latest female officer to attempt IOC comes days after Defense Secretary Ash Carter approved
the Marine Corps’ plan to integrate women into MOSs that had been restricted to men only.
“The Marine Corps utilized the time afforded the Services and [U.S. Special Operations Command] to
develop a comprehensive plan to fully implement the policy of the Secretary of Defense,” Kulczewski said
in a March 10 statement. “As a result of our research, the Marine Corps instituted clearly defined gender
neutral, operationally relevant, individual performance standards across the spectrum of Marine training
and military occupation system designation, which facilitates the matching of Marines to jobs for which
they are best qualified.”
Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has ordered Marine Corps Combat Development Command to prepare for
a surge of women who want to train for the newly opened jobs.
“Our systematic plan is conditions-based and event-driven, with many actions occurring in the first 12
months,” Kulczewski said. “The progress of this plan will be viewed through three lenses: (1) combat
effectiveness, (2) the health and welfare of each Marine and (3) managing the diverse talent of the Corps.”
All prospective Marines, or poolees, who want to train for a ground combat arms MOS must pass a tougher
initial strength test introduced in January. The test requires poolees to complete three pullups; a 1.5-mile
run in 13 minutes and 30 seconds; 44 crunches within 2 minutes; and 45 ammo can lifts within 2 minutes,
said 1st Lt. Matt Rojo, a spokesman for Training and Education Command.
At recruit training, both men and women training for those fields will have to complete an MOS
classification standard, which consists of six pullups; a 3-mile run within 24 minutes and 51 seconds;
completing the maneuver under fire course within 3 minutes and 12 seconds; completing the movement to
contact course within 3 minutes and 26 seconds; and 60 ammo lifts within 2 minutes, Rojo said.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2016/03/18/lori-robinson-head-northcom/81958708/
Gen. Robinson to head NORTHCOM, will be first female to
run COCOM
By Stephen Losey
Air Force Times, March 18, 2016
Gen. Lori Robinson will be the first woman to ever head a
combatant command. (Photo: Air Force)
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has nominated Gen. Lori Robinson to
be the next head of the U.S. Northern Command, the Pentagon said
Friday morning.
Robinson will be the first woman to ever head a combatant
command, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a tweet
announcing Robinson's nomination.
Robinson is now commander of Pacific Air Forces. Before heading
PACAF, Robinson was vice commander of Air Combat Command.
She is a senior air battle manager with more than 900 flight hours in
the E-3B/C and E-8C aircraft.
If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace Adm. Bill Gortney,
who held the position since December 2014.
Seen as a rising star in the Air Force, Robinson has shot through the ranks, adding a star a year from 2012
through 2014.
In June 2012, just before current Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh took office, Robinson was a
two-star serving as deputy commander, US Air Forces Central Command; less than a year later, she pinned
on her third star in May 2013 and became vice commander, Air Combat Command.
Then in October 2014, she pinned on her fourth star and took over as commander, Pacific Air Forces. With
the PACAF assignment, Robinson became the first US female four-star to command combat forces.
Aaron Mehta contributed to this story.
SEE ALSO:
USAF General Robinson Likely as Next NORTHCOM Head [Defense News, 2016-01-08]
http://www.army.mil/article/163948/Gender_integration__Reality_in_today_s_Army/
Gender integration: Reality in today’s Army
By Cindy McIntyre, Fort Sill Tribune
Army.mil, March 10, 2016
Pfc. Katherine Beatty is the U. S. military's first female to become a
cannon crewmember. New high physical demands tests were
implemented for the last seven ground combat military
occupational specialties. Fort Sill is adapting to meet the Soldier
2020 challenge.
FORT SILL, Okla. (March 10, 2016) -- It's been a long time
coming: Full-scale gender integration is now a reality in today's
military. Fort Sill is making sure the integration is as smooth as
possible.
Although Defense Secretary Ashton Carter made it official, Jan. 2, opening the last remaining ground
combat roles to women has been a hot topic for several years in what is known as the Soldier 2020
initiative to develop readiness standards.
"The Army felt like we were doing a disservice to readiness by looking only at the male population in
certain combat (military occupational specialties) MOSs," said Field Artillery Proponent Office Sgt. Maj.
Alexis Shelton. "(Women) are driving trucks in some of the most dangerous areas in the world," he said of
the types of jobs female Soldiers are already performing.
"It's about readiness," he emphasized. "It's making sure we have the right people, from all genders."
In anticipation of the elimination of the last barriers to women, the Army Medical Command's Army
Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (ARIEM) had to figure how to accommodate women in an
equitable way, and also how to reduce male injuries and washouts in advanced individual training (AIT).
It began a rigorous series of tests designed to codify the types of High Physical Demand Tests necessary to
be successful in a combat specialty such as 13B cannon crewman.
Fort Sill's subject matter experts assisted in the study at Fort Carson, Colo., to "validate the task," said
Shelton.
ARIEM personnel were also at Fort Sill at the end of February working with Soldiers in basic combat
training to help design the Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT) for potential recruits to
determine what MOS they can and can't be trained in.
Shelton said some males are suffering injuries during training, or can't meet the standards. "That gets back
to readiness," he said.
Before enlisting, recruits are given the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to measure cognitive
or mental abilities, and must meet medical standards. However, there is no meaningful physical test that
will help a potential Soldier be successful.
The OPAT would be the physical determinant of which MOS a recruit can be considered for, and is
expected to be implemented by June 1. The four tests to measure lower-body strength, lower and upper
body power, and aerobic fitness will be the standing long jump, the seated power throw, strength dead lift,
and aerobic interval run.
http://www.army.mil/article/163948/Gender_integration__Reality_in_today_s_Army/
"Once a Soldier takes the OPAT at the reception station, more than likely the Soldier would have no
problem with the high physical demands (in AIT)," said Shelton. "We'll have two assessments in place
before a Soldier even signs the contract to be sure we have the right Soldier in the right MOS."
All Soldiers in Fort Sill's 13B cannon crewmember and 13F fire support specialist military occupational
specialties need to pass specific HPDT tasks to graduate. Female Soldiers have been working with the
Multiple Launch Rocket System and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System for several years. They do
not need to pass the HPDT because their jobs are mostly automated and do not involve high physical
demands.
An AIT Soldier with C Battery, 1st Battalion, 78th Field Artillery, became the first female in the 13B
MOS. Perhaps the hardest test was being able to move a total of 3,000 pounds of ammunition in 15
minutes, an action expected of a cannon crewmember in combat.
Pfc. Katherine Beatty of Inverness, Florida, had the advantage of being a power lifter with her Army
infantryman husband, Charles, before enlisting. Beatty is a mother of a 2-year-old, and her success should
lay to rest any doubts that women are capable of being part of a ground combat team. The next group of
women scheduled for 13B training is due next month at Fort Sill.
Despite the standardization of HPDT and OPAT, there are still differences in the way men and women are
scored on physical tests in basic combat training. "There's a male and a female scale," said Shelton. Forty
sit-ups will earn a male a lower score than it does for a female, he said.
In addition to the physical requirements, the Army's Training and Doctrine Command requires "safe and
secure" housing for women.
Capt. Justin Lopez, C Battery, 1st Battalion, 78th Field Artillery commander, which is the AIT unit for
13B, said the goal is to have females housed in the same building as the rest of their team. One wing of that
barracks is being remodeled to accommodate them. TRADOC requires that female housing has fire safe
doors that lock from the inside, as well as closed circuit TV cameras in hallways and common areas.
"With fire safe doors, if an incident were to occur and they felt unsafe, they could hit a button and these
doors would lock and no one could get in," said Lopez.
When Beatty arrived as an AIT trainee a few months earlier than the expected first group of 13B women,
she was housed in a separate barracks with other females. However, the rest of her training was exactly the
same as that of the men.
"I keep going back to readiness," said Shelton. "Because that's what it's about."
http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-law-professor-randall-kennedy-discussed-the-issue-withdiversity-2016-3
Harvard professor describes the problem with colleges
trying to become more 'diverse'
By Abby Jackson
Business Insider, March 15, 2016
In December, the US Supreme Court reheard oral arguments in an
affirmative action case called Fisher v. University of Texas.
The highly anticipated case could have a far-reaching impact on the
ability of US universities to consider race in admissions as part of
their efforts to create a diverse campus.
Indeed, proponents of affirmative action cite diversity as one of its
main goals.
However, one prominent higher education expert thinks
conversations about diversity distract people from the original goal
of affirmative action: reparative justice for people who have traditionally been oppressed.
"Because affirmative action now rests on the diversity rationale, people who embrace affirmative action
have to make all sorts of claims for diversity," Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy said at a New York
University-sponsored event focused on race-based admissions at colleges.
"Some of the claims that are made in favor of diversity are very questionable," he continued.
He uses a college astronomy class as an example. "If you're in astronomy class, does coming from a certain
place with a certain background really help out that much?" he asked. "Either there is a planet up there
beyond the solar system, or not. That's a fair point," he said.
Kennedy is making a point about the evolution of affirmative action policy.
The concept of affirmative action dates back to the American civil-rights movement of the 1960s. Seeking
to expand opportunities for minorities, then-President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order in 1961
that established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and used the term "affirmative action."
The Supreme Court first heard arguments on affirmative action at US colleges in the 1978 caseRegents of
the University of California v. Bakke, which upheld the policy, as long as explicit racial quotas weren't
used.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh Abigail Fisher, the Texan involved in the
University of Texas affirmative action case, and Edward Blum, who
runs a group working to end affirmative action, walks outside the
Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012.
The court gave deeper insight into its opinions on affirmative action
in the 2003 decision Grutter v. Bollinger, which affirmed that use of
race in admissions was acceptable as long as it was used to achieve
diversity.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the court doesn't prohibit the use of race in admissions if its purpose is
"obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."
This was a departure from previous discussions of the aim of affirmative action to right historical wrongs,
according to Kennedy, and a major misstep for affirmative action policies.
The "diversity rationale," as he describes it, means that diversity must create some sort of benefit for the
school system.
http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-law-professor-randall-kennedy-discussed-the-issue-withdiversity-2016-3
"Because diversity has been made to carry this heavy burden, the Supreme Court has engineered things in
such a way that advocates are having to work overtime to come up with justifications that in some instances
they cannot bear," he said.
In his book "For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law," Kennedy elaborated on his
argument that affirmative action is necessary to right past wrongs. Here's more from his book, which
Business Insider excerpted in 2013:
Racial minorities, and blacks in particular, have long suffered from racist
mistreatment at the hands of the federal government, state governments, local
governments, and private parties.
This oppression has produced a cycle of self-perpetuating problems that will
not resolve themselves without interventions that go beyond prospective
prohibitions on intentional racial mistreatment. Past wrongs have diminished
the educational, financial, and other resources that marginalized groups can
call upon, and have thus disadvantaged them in competition with whites.
Hence, it is not enough simply to end racist mistreatment. Reasonable efforts
to rectify the negative legacy of past wrongs are also morally required.
As for Fisher v. Texas, the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February left a glimmer of
hope for proponents of affirmative action. Scalia was one of the staunchest opponents of racial
considerations in admissions on the bench. Now seven of the remaining justices — Elena Kagan has
recused herself — will issue a decision in June.
Additional reporting by Erin Fuchs.
SEE ALSO:
This top public university is getting more diverse in spite of a ban on affirmative action
Fortune 100 companies tell the Supreme Court why America still needs affirmative action
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2016/03/14/marines-new-t-shirt-policy-could-tied-tattoocomplaint/81779928/
Marines’ new T-shirt policy could be tied to tattoo
complaint
By Lance M. Bacon
Marine Corps Times, March 14, 2016
A Maine woman says she wasn't able to join the Marine Corps because
the service's tattoo rules unintentionally discriminate against female
poolees. (Photo: Portland Press Herald)
A minor change to the Marines Corps' uniform policy could be the
result of a tattooed woman's plight to join the service.
Marine administrative message 143/16 gives female Marines the option
to wear a white crew-neck T-shirt with their dress or service uniforms.
Previously, only white V-neck T-shirts were authorized for women.
The change follows complaints from a congresswoman that the Marine Corps' tattoo policy unintentionally
discriminates against women after a recruiter told her constituent, Kate Pimental, 20, that she couldn’t
enlist because of a tattoo that runs across her neckline. Her tattoo, which reads “Let your smile change the
world but never let the world change you,” is not visible with a crew-neck shirt.
The Marine Corps does not allow tattoos on the neck that are visible in a standard physical training shirt or
in the “V” portion of the short-sleeve khaki shirt without an undershirt. While men are allowed to wear
crew neck T-shirts, which cover the area, women had only two options: a V-neck option or nothing.
A recent change to the Marine Corps' uniform policy allows
women to wear a crew-neck T-shirt in some uniforms. Men
were allowed to wear that type of T-shirt while women were
required to wear V-neck versions. (Photo: Marine Corps)
When made aware of that difference, Rep. Chellie
Pingree, D-Maine, wrote a Feb. 22 letter to Commandant
Gen. Robert Neller crying foul.
The different uniform standards, Pingree wrote, were “not
right" and kept "smart, capable women like Kate from being
able to serve her country.”
Marine officials contend, however, that there was more to the decision to bar Pimental from serving in the
Corps than her tattoo — that she didn't meet other requirements.
“Applicants must meet a variety of prerequisites to enlist, including moral, mental and physical
requirements,” said Capt. Gerard Farao, a spokesman for 1st Marine Corps District. “The tattoo is only a
small piece of the ‘whole-person’ concept the Marine Corps looks at. When applying the ‘whole person’
concept to every applicant and after working with her recruiter, Ms. Pimental did not meet all the standards
required for enlistment.”
Pimental could not be reached for comment.
In asking Neller to review the policy, Pingree wrote that “several policies and regulations ... however
unintentional, directly affect female Marines’ opportunities to serve."
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2016/03/14/marines-new-t-shirt-policy-could-tied-tattoocomplaint/81779928/
"As women take more active roles in defending this country, it’s important that we address some of the
discrepancies that provide men with options unavailable to their female counterparts,” she wrote.
Whether her efforts helped drive the March 11 change is unknown. Pingree said she never heard back from
the Marine Corps. Marine uniform officials did not respond to questions submitted by Marine Corps Times
about the change.
“We are very grateful that General Neller acted so quickly, because it was an issue that was resolvable,”
Pingree told Marine Corps Times. “I don’t think anybody wants to see what could be considered a minor
issue be a point of discrimination between women and men.
“It is a good day in Washington, it is a good day in the military when you see a problem and it can be
resolved quickly.”
The new policy states that the white crew-neck and V-neck shirts are authorized with the female service
and dress uniforms and are worn at the individual’s choice, though a commander can require crew-neck
undershirts for uniformity in formations, ceremonies or parades. Marines may wear short-sleeve undershirts
of any material as long as they meet the command’s minimum safety standards and have a Marine Corps
approval identification number.
Lance M. Bacon is senior reporter for Marine Corps Times. He covers Marine Corps Combat Development
Command, Marine Corps Forces Command, personnel / career issues, Marine Corps Logistics Command,
II MEF, and Marine Forces North. He can be reached at [email protected].
SEE ALSO:
Marines Update Uniform Policy to Allow Some Tattooed Women to Enlist [Military.com, 2016-03-14]
Marines alter women's uniform policy to cover more tattoos [The Associated Press, 2016-03-14]
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/marines-alter-women-s-uniform-policy-to-cover-more-tattoos-1.399242
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/192553/navy-vice-chief-dcma-honor-nations-women
Navy vice chief, DCMA honor nation’s women
y Thomas Perry
Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, March 16, 2016
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michelle J. Howard served
as Defense Contract Management Agency’s guest speaker for its
Women’s History Month celebration March 10. During her
remarks, Howard identified many historically significant women
who she called “the bricks and foundation of forming a more
perfect union.” (Stephen Hickok)
FORT LEE, Va. - Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm.
Michelle J. Howard served as the guest speaker for Defense
Contract Management Agency’s Women’s History Month celebration, held here March 10.
The admiral, at the invitation of the agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office, made her first visit to
the agency headquarters to commemorate the month’s 2016 theme — Working to Form a More Perfect
Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.
Howard’s career has been defined by firsts. She is the Navy’s first female four-star admiral. She is the first
African-American woman to achieve both the three and four star flag officer ranks in the U.S. armed
forces, and she was the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, USS Rushmore.
“Adm. Howard’s story is one of great perseverance, a quest for excellence and opening doors for women,”
said DCMA Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Wendy Masiello. “Her story, and the stories she shared of women
in public service, were a perfect fit for Women’s History Month.”
During her speech, Howard identified many historically significant women who she called “the bricks and
foundation of forming a more perfect union.”
Mary Fields was the first African-American U.S. mail carrier, who — according to a 1959 article in Ebony
magazine written by Gary Cooper — was “Born a slave somewhere in Tennessee, some say in 1932, Mary
lived to become one of the freest souls ever to draw breath or a .38.”
Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the United States Congress in 1916 — four years
before the nation’s women received the right to vote. Frances Perkins, who served as the Secretary of Labor
from 1933 to 1945, was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet.
These were just a few of the “bricks” Howard mentioned. She also spoke about her journey and how she
was influenced early on by her mother’s wisdom.
“It’s not like you come (into the Navy) as an ensign or a second lieutenant and think one day I am going to
be the vice chief,” Howard said. “Literally for me the very first challenge was the commitment to go.”
Howard told of watching a documentary featuring the Air Force Academy when she was 12 and thinking
“that’s what I want to do.” She was disappointed however, as her brother informed her that it was against
the law for women to attend the service academies. Upset at the injustice, Howard, who was only 12-yearsold at the time, was calmed by her mother, who told her “if you get older and decide you want to apply and
you get rejected because you’re a woman, we will sue the government.”
The admiral said her mother taught her in that one conversation “the importance of going after what I
believe in and the idea of persistence to do what’s right.” That law changed in 1976 when Howard was 16.
Two years later she was accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy, and in 1982, she graduated.
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/192553/navy-vice-chief-dcma-honor-nations-women
Throughout Howard’s historic career, she has seen opportunities for women in the Navy grow dramatically.
“The playing field has been leveled in so many ways,” Howard said. “When I started the combat exclusion
law was still in effect. So literally when I was a midshipman, support ships were open to women for the
first time. When I started, women couldn’t go to sea except on hospital ships, and by the time I graduated,
women could serve on salvage ships and ships that repaired other ships — tenders and missile test
platforms.”
After Operation Desert Storm the combat exclusion law was repealed, which allowed women in the Air
Force to fly combatant air craft and women in the Navy to serve on combatant ships, Howard explained.
“So now destroyers, cruisers and amphibious ships opened to women, and I became the first woman
(executive officer) of an amphibious ship,” she said. “Those experiences allowed me to command an
amphibious ship. So it’s been a remarkable journey in terms of the law changing and proving opportunity
for women. And then, for us, just four years ago we opened up submarines for women.”
At the conclusion of Howard’s speech, Masiello thanked the admiral for her “remarkable” insight and
presented her a book featuring Sarah Edmonds, who enlisted in the Union Army as a man during the Civil
War and served honorably fighting in many historical battles. The book included the inscription:
“Adm. Howard, thank you for being a warrior leader who just happens to be a woman. You rock.
— Your DCMA Admirers.”
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/03/14/michelle-howard-naveur-naval-forces-europe-billmoran-vice-chief/81777230/
Navy’s first female admiral lined up for another 4-star post
By David Larter
Navy Times, March 14, 2016
Sources say Adm. Michelle Howard is the president's pick to
lead Naval Forces Europe, opening up other admiral moves.
(Photo: Stephen P. Kretsinger Sr./Navy)
The Navy’s highest-ranking woman may soon head to Europe.
Adm. Michelle Howard, the vice chief of naval operations, is
the president's top pick to lead Naval Forces Europe, now
commanded by Adm. Mark Ferguson, according to three
sources familiar with high-level personnel moves. Howard also
relieved Ferguson as vice chief.
In July 2014, Howard became the Navy’s first female four-star. The follow-on assignment in Naples, Italy,
would all-but guarantee she’ll retire an admiral.
If confirmed for the post, it would cement the 1982 Naval Academy graduate’s legacy as one of the most
accomplished women in the service’s history. She was the first black woman to command a ship — the
amphibious dock landing ship Rushmore in 1999 — and went on to command Amphibious Squadron 7 and
later Expeditionary Strike Group 2.
Howard is also well known for leading a counter-piracy task force that pulled off the high-seas rescue of
civilian Capt. Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in 2009, later depicted in the Tom Hanks movie
"Captain Phillips."
Replacing Howard at vice chief, sources say, will likely be Vice Adm. Bill Moran, a P-3 pilot who has
served as the chief of naval personnel since 2013.
During his time there, Moran has worked to rebuild sailors' trust in senior leadership in the wake of the
controversial 2011 enlisted retention board. He has also worked hard to fill empty billets at sea, which had
been as high as 13,000 when Moran took office, and hiked sea pay for the first time in decades and
introduced new hardship duty pay-tempo for sailors on long deployments.
Moran’s likely successor is Rear Adm. Robert Burke, the 2005 Stockdale Award winner for his tour as CO
of the attack submarine Hampton. Burke heads the chief of naval operations’ military personnel plans and
policy office at the Pentagon.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a933cb6a584d4a1ebd82630a6802b36d/only-1-woman-un-security-councilunited-states
Only 1 woman on UN Security Council—from the United
States
By Edith M. Lederer
The Associated Press, March 17, 2016
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The number of women diplomats at the United Nations has always been low
and for the last 70 years only a few have gotten seats on the Security Council. In 2014 there were a record
six, in 2015 there were four, and today there is only one woman on the council, U.S. Ambassador Samantha
Power.
With thousands of women at U.N. headquarters this week for the annual meeting of the U.N. Commission
on the Status of Women, four U.N. ambassadors who served on the 15-member council including Power
spoke about being part of the male-dominated body and the need to put more women in the front lines on
issues of international peace and security.
U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman, who moderated Wednesday's panel, said being back to just one woman
on the council shows the need for a "sustained commitment" to gender parity in dealing with world crises
and conflicts.
But he stressed it's not just the Security Council where women are outnumbered.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has increased the number of undersecretary-generals and assistant
secretary-generals serving overseas to about 20 percent, and the number of women ambassadors at the U.N.
has risen from about seven 20 years ago to about 37 today, which is also about 20 percent, "but again it's
not enough," Feltman said.
"Numbers aren't everything, but they're an important signal to the international community" of the
implementation of the U.N. goal to achieve equality for women including in leadership positions, he said.
The first woman to serve on the Security Council was Ana Figueroa Gajardo of Chile in 1952. The first
American woman with a seat on the council was Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick in 1981.
Power said the first time she felt that she was the only woman on the council was last Thursday during a
debate on sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers where she spoke out strongly.
"I felt when I was strong, very strong, I could see the little thought bubbles in some of my counterparts who
were listening to me thinking, 'This is because she's a woman. She's this fired up about this issue,'," Power
recalled. "I don't think it has anything to do with being a woman. It has to do with basic decency and
injustice and a sense of what the U.N. stands for."
She said people looking at the Security Council table in 2016 and seeing just one woman will think "that's
crazy" and will also ask why there's been no woman secretary-general and why there have only been two
women presidents of the General Assembly in over 70 years.
Other ambassadors said getting a seat at the Security Council table was harder for women than for men but
that being female also had its advantages in diplomacy.
Jordan's U.N. Ambassador Dina Kawar said "women get where we get ... because we fight more to get
where we want to get."
Luxembourg's U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas said: "I think you have to work harder, still as woman, to
make your points."
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a933cb6a584d4a1ebd82630a6802b36d/only-1-woman-un-security-councilunited-states
At Security Council meetings, Power said all 15 countries have "red lines" — but there is a lot of space
between the red lines where ambassadors can make a difference.
"I think we all navigate in no man's land, male and female," Kawar said. But "there's something in this
nature in women where we want to find solutions."
Lithuania's U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite said "the visual impact does matter — having six
women, or five women, or four women sitting at the council and debating world affairs is a very powerful
signal for those who would like to be there in the future."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/enlisted/2016/03/16/army-special-forces-genderneutral-women-qualifications/81852684/
These are the Army’s new gender neutral rules for Special
Forces
By Jim Tice
Army Times, March 16, 2016
Women will be required to complete at least 49 pushups to join
Army Special Forces under new rules. Here, Spc. Mekel
Bergschneider, with 702nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Stryker
Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, is graded on her
pushups during the 2013 Bayonet Soldier and NCO of the Year
competition.(Photo: Spc. Glen Shackley/Army)
The Army has issued its rules for opening Special Forces to women
as part of several policy revisions affecting the service's special
operations career fields.
Announced March 8, the changes apply to enlisted personnel seeking assignments in three
specialties: Special Forces, Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations.
An overview:
Special Forces
• SF is open to male and female soldiers. However, before attending Special Forces Assessment and
Selection, known as SFAS, soldiers must complete a physical assessment test that, as a minimum, includes
49 pushups, 59 situps, a 2-mile run of 15:12 minutes or less, and six pullups.
• Female soldiers must have a negative pregnancy test within 30 days before their report date to SFAS.
• Soldiers seeking entry into Special Forces must have a valid SF physical before attending SFAS.
Additionally, candidates must be able to complete a physical demonstrating they are able to endure the
speeds and stress associated with a high-altitude, low-opening parachute jump. If needed, soldiers must
also undergo corrective eye surgery before attending the SF qualification course.
• The minimum General Technical score for Special Forces has been increased from 107 to 110, and the
Army will not accept waivers.
• The maximum age for SFAS remains 36, and soldiers must have at least 36 months of obligated service
remaining when they complete the SF qualification course.
Civil Affairs
Women seeking to become civil affairs specialists in the Army must
have one to four years of service, and no more than three years in
grade as an E-4, to apply for the qualification course. Here, a civil
affairs specialist talks with local citizens of Qalat city, Afghanistan,
while on patrol in 2012. (Photo: Senior Airman Joshua Turner. Air
Force)
• Soldiers who qualify for reclassification to become a civil affairs
specialist must successfully complete Civil Affairs Assessment and
Selection and the CA qualification course.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/enlisted/2016/03/16/army-special-forces-genderneutral-women-qualifications/81852684/
• Prerequisites for reclassification include a physical profile rating of no less than 111221; a minimum GT
score of 107; a secret security clearance; no criminal convictions for any offense other than minor traffic
violations.
• Also, soldiers must achieve a score of 65 or higher on the Defense Language Aptitude Battery, and have a
valid Test of Basic Education or measuring an applicant’s abilities in reading, writing and arithmetic.
• Specialists must have one to four years of service, and no more than three years in grade as an E-4 to
apply for the CA qualification course.
• Sergeants must have two to six years of service, and no more than three years in grade as an E-5 to apply
for the qualification course.
• Staff sergeants must have three to eight years of service, and no more than three years in grade as an E-6
to apply for the qualification course.
• Promotable staff sergeants may apply with a waiver approved by the civil affairs commandant at the
Special Operations Center of Excellence.
• CA applicants must have completed the survival, evasion, resistance and escape physical within 24
months before submitting their accessions packet.
• If not already jump-qualified, soldiers must complete basic airborne training before reporting to the CA
qualification course.
• Female soldiers must have a negative pregnancy test within 30 days before their CA Assessment and
Selection report date.
Psychological Operations
• Soldiers requesting reclassification into the Psychological Operations career field must have a current
survival, evasion, resistance and escape Level C physical on record, and a minimum GT score of 107.
• Soldiers in the ranks of private first class through sergeant are eligible to apply for reclassification if they
have at least 18 months in the service, but no more than 10 years.
• Female soldiers must have a negative pregnancy test within 30 days before their report date for the PO
Assessment and Selection.
• Soldiers must successfully complete PO Assessment and Selection to attend the qualification course,
which is a prerequisite for reclassification.
All soldiers
All of these changes will be reflected in a future update to Chapter 5 of AR 614-200, the Army's principal
regulation governing enlisted assignments and personnel management. For detailed information about the
regulation changes, soldiers should access MilPer Message 16-063.
For career field specifics and application details, soldiers should access the Special Operations Recruiting
Battalion (Airborne) website.
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/03/11/women-could-enter-navy-seal-trainingseptember/81637272/
Women could enter Navy SEAL training by September
By Meghann Myers
Navy Times, March 11, 2016
Women will have a shot to enter the Navy SEALs' arduous Basic
Underwater Demolition/SEAL course by January 2017 under a new
integration plan. All SEAL candidates have to survive grueling training,
including hours of exercise and cold during the surf passage. (Photo: PH2
Eric S. Logsdon/Navy)
With the path to the elite SEAL teams opening to women, female
special operator hopefuls could be entering the military's most
arduous training by late summer.
The likeliest timeline for women would be to enter Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School on Sept.
19 and then the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL course in Coronado, Calif. early next year.
The head of the Navy SEALs said the training will be opened to women, but cautioned that this process
will yield few qualified women and could prove a distraction for his force's core competency — combat
effectiveness.
"In the near term, achieving integration, and evolving existing cultures will channel focus and energy away
from core combat readiness and effectiveness efforts," said Rear Adm. Brian Losey, the head of Naval
Special Warfare Command, in his letter summarizing the SEAL's 48-page integration plan.
The plan to integrate SEALs has been controversial, with some special operations veterans saying it was a
distraction and worrying that the drive to include women would come with lowering their legendary
standards.
In his letter released Thursday, Losey warned against lowering those standards.
"Any deviation from the validated, operationally relevant, gender-neutral standards would undermine true
integration, disrupt unit cohesion, impact combat effectiveness, and be a disservice to those exceptional
candidates willing to test and serve against the required and validated standards," he said.
The plan lays out several timeline scenarios, some of which are more feasible than others. For women to
enter BUD/S by late October, they would have had to have been screened before the SEALs' integration
plan was released, for example. Meeting those deadlines would be needed for women to report to Naval
Special Warfare Preparatory School at Great Lakes, Illinois, in May, the earliest possible date.
An NSW spokesman was unable to say Friday whether any women have screened for SEAL training.
The next enlisted panel meets in June, which would put approved women at prep school in mid-September,
then at NSW orientation in early December, an eight-week process before starting BUD/S.
Per the officer timeline, if a woman was prepared to apply first thing this year, she could be at BUD/S in
early 2017. However, not all commissioning pipelines would have been prepared for that.
For example, Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Ted Carter, who supplies 35 percent of special
warfare officers, announced in December that he would allow women into his NSW pipeline with the class
of 2017.
And once women get through BUD/S, notorious for dropping 80 percent of men, it could be up to a year
before they are assigned to SEAL or SWCC units.
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/03/11/women-could-enter-navy-seal-trainingseptember/81637272/
It's much more likely, according to their notes, that a woman who gets to boot camp in July and screens for
NSW could be at prep school on Sept. 19, and NSW orientation on Dec. 1, putting the first women at
BUD/S in late January 2017.
Combating concerns
Welcoming women to NSW's SEAL and special warfare combat crewmen specialties will take some
logistical work, which is outlined in the plan, but they must hew to their standards, Losey wrote.
"Focusing on gender-neutrality of standards is the number one effective measure to continue successful
gender integration in the force," he added.
With already low selection numbers for men, it's unlikely that special operations will see an influx of
women.
In similar communities, female participation is low: divers are 0.6 percent women, while explosive
ordnance disposal is 0.9 percent female enlisted and 2.5 percent female officers.
Only 13 percent of female enlisted EOD applicants make it through, and 18 percent of female diving
hopefuls. That's compared to men, who get through at 31 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
"Equal opportunity may not produce equal results," Losey wrote. "While there are no insurmountable
obstacles to opening all NSW positions to females, there are foreseeable impacts in achieving true
integration in NSW ground combat units."
There is also considerable worry in the force that integration will become a sideshow. Media attention is an
issue, according to the plan. Unlike coverage of the Navy's integration of the riverines, women completing
Marine Corps enlisted infantry training and the first women to graduate Army Ranger School, NSW
is committing to keeping secret the identities of all of their trainees.
Brass tacks
Adding women to NSW is more complicated than opening the training pipeline — it will also require
manning tweaks and infrastructure upgrades.
In the short-term, they're asking to multiply the number of female staff by five at the Naval Special Warfare
Center. For the long-term, they want to have eight more female billets in the training phase staff. Currently,
there are 10 women assigned to NSWCEN, including an athletic trainer, physical therapist, psychologist,
physician's assistant, EOD officer, senior chief hospital corpsman, an HM1 diving medical technician, a 1st
class master-at-arms, a 2nd glass gunner's mate and a 2nd class boatswain's mate.
It will also cost $275,000 to physically accommodate women. They'll need $175,000 of that to install
security cameras at the BUD/S barracks and another $100,000 for women's heads and showers at their San
Clemente Island facilities. The open-bay barracks will use privacy partitions and have segregated heads,
based on the Army's Ranger School. During training, there will be all-female floors and wings.
All of these changes are contingent on those gender-neutral physical standards. SEALs and SWCCs have a
grueling fitness test and candidates compete against each other for a spot, graded on a curve. Often, the
average candidate swims and runs minutes faster and can do one-and-a-half times as many push-ups, situps and pull-ups as the minimum requirement.
First Female Navy SEALs Could Get Assignments in 2017, Plans Show [Military.com, 2016-03-10]
Miscellaneous
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/03/15/barber-refuses-to-cut-transgenderarmy-veterans-hair-citing-the-bible/
Barber refuses to cut transgender Army veteran’s hair,
citing religious views
By Julie Zauzmer
The Washington Post, March 15, 2016
Army veteran Kendall Oliver, 24, poses for a picture. (Courtesy of
Lambda Legal)
Kendall Oliver’s hair looked just like that of the man who was
comfortably seated in the next chair over at the barbershop. Closely
trimmed on the sides, a little longer on top — and ready for a trim.
Oliver asked for the same cut. Yet the owner of the barbershop
turned Oliver away — telling Oliver, an Army veteran, that he
won’t cut women’s hair because he believes the Bible forbids it.
Oliver is transgender. And with that, the Army reservist in the Los
Angeles area became the latest citizen at the center of a recurring
American debate: Where does freedom of religion end and
discrimination begin?
The debate has swept up a pizza shop in Indiana, photographers in New Mexico, a baker in Colorado —
and, most recently, the Missouri Senate.
After six years serving in the Army as a woman, including a tour in Afghanistan, Oliver began identifying
as genderqueer and switched to the pronoun “they” rather than “her” or “him.”
Oliver identifies mostly as male. The Army reservist wears masculine clothing. And then there’s the haircut
— always short, ever since high school.
But when Oliver, 24, made an appointment at a new barbershop in Rancho Cucomonga, Calif., a week ago,
the first thing they saw was a woman with half her hair long and half her head shaved, asking for a trim.
Oliver saw the owner turn the woman away. Oliver said the owner told the woman that the shop doesn’t cut
women’s hair. But Oliver still thought keeping their own appointment wouldn’t be a problem. After all,
the veteran doesn’t have long hair — and doesn’t identify as a woman.
“He said, ‘We only do men’s haircuts,’ ” Oliver said. “I said, ‘I’m here for a men’s haircut, just like you’re
doing on the gentleman in the chair there.’ ”
Other customers were watching the encounter, Oliver said, and Oliver left the store with cheeks burning
from embarrassment. After thinking it over, Oliver decided to try again. “I called back to try to talk to him
and explain that I identify more male than female. He said, ‘It doesn’t matter, ma’am. We don’t cut any
type of women’s hair.’ ”
Staff at The Barbershop in Rancho Cucomonga declined to comment on Monday, and the owner, Richard
Hernandez, could not be reached on his personal phone.
But he told CBS News in Los Angeles that his religion forbids cutting women’s hair. “The Bible teaches us
that a woman’s hair is given to her for her glory, and I would not want to take away any of her glory from
her.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/03/15/barber-refuses-to-cut-transgenderarmy-veterans-hair-citing-the-bible/
Hernandez told CBS that he is Christian, but did not specify whether he belongs to one of the few small
denominations that tell women never to cut their hair. The Bible includes several stories such as that of
Samson, whose strength came from his uncut hair. But this particular idea comes from Chapter 11 of First
Corinthians, which also seems to repeat several times that men are superior to women, and women are
meant to gratify men. “Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him,
but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering,” the verses say.
Peter Renn, a lawyer at LGBT rights organization Lambda Legal, is talking to Oliver about the incident and
may pursue legal action. He said that California law that prevents discrimination on the basis of gender or
gender identity should have compelled Hernandez or one of his employees to cut Oliver’s hair.
If the shop offers a service — in this case, the haircut that the other person with Oliver’s hairstyle was
getting that day — then it must offer that same service to any person, Renn said.
“Religion can’t and shouldn’t be used as a shield for discriminatory business practices,” he added.
But Hernandez told CBS that he thinks the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion protects his right
not cut Oliver’s hair.
“It’s not our intention at all to discriminate against anyone based on their sexual orientation, based on their
gender or any such thing like that,” he said. “I value the Constitution that we have in this country and hope
that it upholds for me as well as others.”
The dispute seems bound for a fight in court — despite the warning offered by the very next verse in
First Corinthians, right after the one about hairstyles. It reads, “But if anyone is disposed to be contentious
— we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/opinion/genocide-and-the-islamic-state.html?_r=0
Genocide and the Islamic State [OPINION]
By the Editorial Board
The New York Times, March 18, 2016
Yazidis who fled their homes in Sinjar crossing back into Iraq in
2014. (Adam Ferguson for The New York Times)
Since the Holocaust, the United States has designated wide-scale
killing as genocide only four times: Cambodia in 1989, Bosnia in
1993, Rwanda in 1994 and Sudan in 2004. To those it has now
added the Islamic State’s rampage in Iraq and Syria, Secretary of
State John Kerry announced on Thursday.
Using an Arabic term for the group, Mr. Kerry said that “Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups
in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims.”
The term genocide, first specified in the 1948 United Nations Convention, refers to “acts committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The evidence against
the Islamic State is indisputable.
In 2014, the group killed hundreds of Yazidi men and older women, members of an ancient sect branded as
pagans by the militants, in the Iraqi town of Kocho. Thousands of others were trapped on Mount Sinjar
without food or water, until America intervened. As The Times reported, Islamic State fighters have used
rape as an act of war and kidnapped and imprisoned Yazidi women as sex slaves.
Mr. Kerry also accused the Islamic State of crimes against Sunni Muslims and Kurds, executing Christians
in Iraq and Coptic and Ethiopian Christians in Libya, enslaving Christian women and girls, and
systematically destroying the cultural heritage of the Armenian, Syrian Orthodox and Roman Catholic
communities.
Mr. Kerry cited evidence of the Islamic State massacring hundreds of Shiite Turkmens and Shabaks at Tal
Afar and Mosul in Iraq; besieging and starving the Turkmen town of Amerli and kidnapping and raping
Shiite Turkmen women. “The fact is that Daesh kills Christians because they are Christians; Yazidis
because they are Yazidis; Shia because they are Shia,” he said.
The Obama administration was urged to make the genocide designation by Christian groups, the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United to End Genocide and others. These groups also took their case
to the House of Representatives, which passed a separate resolution on Monday condemning the Islamic
State for trying to wipe out ethnic groups in territories it seizes.
That resolution gave more prominence to atrocities against Christians and Yazidis. Mr. Kerry made it very
clear on Thursday that Muslims, too, are endangered by the militants.
The State Department said the designation does not impose any new legal requirements on the United
States, which is already pummeling the Islamic State with airstrikes and other military operations. But it
should make Congress more willing to allow Syrian refugees who are the survivors of this genocide to find
safe harbor in the United States.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the Opinion Today
newsletter.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-nazis-idUSKCN0WI1XC
Germany's top Nazi hunter to keep up chase for another
decade
By Madeline Chambers
Reuters, March 17, 2016
Defendant Reinhold Hanning, a 94-year-old former guard at
Auschwitz death camp, is pushed in a wheelchair after a break in
his trial in Detmold, Germany, in this file picture taken February
18, 2016.
REUTERS/BERND THISSEN/POOL/FILES
Undeterred by dwindling numbers of living suspects, Germany's top
Nazi hunter is determined to keep tracking down criminals involved
in Hitler's murder machine for another decade.
As a handful of new Auschwitz-related trials get underway, Jens Rommel says his work is getting more
difficult every year and yields only modest results. But it still matters.
"We help to make sure these crimes don't disappear into history and that they have a relevance today ...
There is still a lot of work to do," said Rommel, no relation to Hitler's Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Aging suspects, most of whom deny guilt, are growing frail, making the race to prosecute them all the more
pressing.
Germany's state justice ministers last year gave Rommel's Central Office for the Investigation of Nazi
Crimes up to 10 more years to continue its investigative work, before it is turned into a documentation
center.
The 2011 conviction of Sobibor death camp guard John Demjanjuk also gave it new legal territory to
explore - it was the first time that involvement in a death camp was seen as sufficient grounds for
culpability even without proof of a specific crime.
"Even with no hard proof of a specific deed, being a wheel in the machinery of a camp is now punishable,"
said Rommel.
"NEVER TOO LATE"
Demjanjuk's conviction 70 years after the crimes did not come too late for Dutch Jew David van Huiden
whose parents and sister died in Sobibor's gas chambers.
"It's never too late because the crimes committed are so overwhelmingly heavy that even today nobody
could understand how this could happen in a civilized society," said the 84-year-old who sat through some
of the trial.
The case widened the net of possible suspects and triggered a wave of new investigations into guards,
medics and other camp workers which has led to the current trials.
The same legal argument was used to convict Oskar Groening, the "bookkeeper of Auschwitz" last year
and to charge camp guard Reinhold Hanning, on trial in Detmold.
Auschwitz guard Ernst Tremmel is to go on trial near Frankfurt in April while a case against Auschwitz
medic, Hubert Zafke, this month stalled due to his frail health. Both are over 90.
Rommel, who took over the Office in October, is also sifting through former Soviet records and chasing
leads in Argentina where many Nazis fled.
The intense activity at the organization's base in the western town of Ludwigsburg coincides with a new
zeal among young Germans to ask about their grandparents' role in the Nazi era.
PAST FAILURES
Many victims and perpetrators blocked out the traumatic experiences after the war to build new lives.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-nazis-idUSKCN0WI1XC
Now, few Germans openly oppose putting suspects on trial although some argue pictures of frail men in
their 90s shuffling into courtrooms are grotesque.
Some criticize Germany for letting many high-ranking Nazis and SS members escape justice only for their
juniors to be convicted now.
An international military tribunal put some top Nazi leaders, including Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess,
on trial soon after World War Two in the Nuremburg Trials.
But in the 1950s and 60s, a West German judiciary comprising many former Nazis had little appetite to
pursue Hitler's henchmen at a time when many Germans argued they had been held hostage by 'Der
Fuehrer'.
Between 1945 and 2005 West German courts convicted 6,656 Nazi criminals out of more than 36,000
investigations into more than 170,000 suspects, a study by historian Andreas Eichmueller showed in 2008.
The numbers, which also include prosecutions in the former Communist East since 1989, have only
increased by one or two since then, he said.
"From today's point of view and in terms of victims' need for justice, there has certainly been (a failure of
justice)," said Eichmueller, of Munich's Nazi documentation center.
But he also argued that given the scale of support for the Nazi regime among Germans, it would have been
unimaginable to put tens of thousands of people on trial.
Rommel acknowledges the past failures but is pragmatic. "It is unsatisfactory that so many were not
pursued, but today I have to pursue those who I can."
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/afff93c3c7024e6a8108864ec5cfa28f/kerry-determines-group-committinggenocide-iraq-syria
Kerry determines IS group committing genocide in Iraq,
Syria
By Matthew Lee
The Associated Press, March 17, 2016
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to reporters at the State
Department in Washington, Thursday, March 17, 2016. Kerry has
determined that the Islamic State group is committing genocide
against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, as he
acted to meet a congressional deadline. (AP Photo/J. Scott
Applewhite)
VIDEO
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday
formally concluded the Islamic State group is committing genocide against Christians and other minorities
in Iraq and Syria, a declaration long sought by Congress and human rights organizations but likely to
change little in the conflict against the extremists.
The determination, for which Congress had set a Thursday deadline, does not obligate the United States to
take additional action against IS militants and does not prejudge any potential prosecution against its
members.
Officials said the U.S. has already intensified its fight against IS and had effectively recognized the
situation as a genocide more than a year ago when it agreed to increase the number of refugees, notably
from Syria, that America accepts.
A day after the State Department said the administration would miss the deadline because it needed more
evidence, Kerry said Thursday that he had completed his review after all and determined that Christians,
Yazidis and Shiite groups are victims of genocide and crimes against humanity by the Islamic State. The
House earlier this week unanimously passed a nonbinding resolution condemning IS atrocities as genocide.
Kerry outlined a litany of atrocities that he said the militants had committed against people and religious
sites, as well as threats to eradicate what it terms apostates and infidels. Using the Arabic acronym for the
Islamic State group, he said, "Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions — in
what it says, what it believes and what it does."
However, he added that he was "neither judge nor prosecutor nor jury with respect to the allegations" and
said any potential criminal charges must result from an independent international investigation. Kerry said
the U.S. would continue to support efforts to collect evidence and document atrocities.
While his determination does not carry such legal weight, Kerry said he hoped that groups he cited as being
victimized would take some comfort in the fact that the "the United States recognizes and confirms the
despicable nature of the crimes committed against them."
Lawmakers and others who have advocated for the finding had sharply criticized the State Department's
initial disclosure Wednesday that the deadline would be missed. U.S. officials said Kerry concluded his
review just hours after that announcement and the criticism had not affected his decision.
On Thursday, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, the author of the House bill, commended Kerry's decision.
"The United States has now spoken with clarity and moral authority," Fortenberry, R-Neb., said in a
statement. "I sincerely hope that the genocide designation will raise international consciousness, end the
scandal of silence and create the preconditions for the protection and reintegration of these ancient faith
communities into their ancestral homelands."
Republican congressional leaders said President Barack Obama should use the declaration to strengthen
what they consider an inadequate plan to defeat the Islamic State.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/afff93c3c7024e6a8108864ec5cfa28f/kerry-determines-group-committinggenocide-iraq-syria
Kerry's determination marks only the second time a U.S. administration has declared that a genocide was
being committed during an ongoing conflict.
The first was in 2004, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell determined that atrocities in Sudan's
Darfur region constituted genocide. Powell reached that determination amid much lobbying from human
rights groups, but only after State Department lawyers advised him that it would not — contrary to legal
advice offered to previous administrations — obligate the United States to act to stop it.
In that case, the lawyers decided that the 1948 U.N. Convention against genocide did not require countries
to prevent genocide from taking place outside their territory. Powell instead called for the U.N. Security
Council to appoint a commission to investigate and take appropriate legal action if it agreed with the
determination.
Kerry's decision followed a similar finding.
Although the United States is involved in military strikes against IS and has helped prevent some incidents
of ethnic cleansing, notably of Yazidis, some advocates have argued that a genocide determination would
require additional U.S. action.
In making his decision, Kerry weighed whether the militants' targeting of Christians and other minorities
meets the definition of genocide, according to the U.N. Convention: "acts committed with intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."
A recent report from the Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians identified by name more than
1,100 Christians who they said the Islamic State had killed. The report detailed numerous instances of
people kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and driven from their homes, along with the destruction of
churches.
The Knights of Columbus said Kerry's decision was "correct and truly historic," and In Defense of
Christians, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Greek Orthodox Church and numerous other organizations,
including the Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum also
welcomed the move.
SEE ALSO:
As Kerry condemns ISIS genocide, calls to recognize something else: Femicide [The Washington Post,
2016-03-17]
Citing Atrocities, John Kerry Calls ISIS Actions Genocide [The New York Times, 2016-03-17]
Kerry: ISIS is committing genocide against religious sects [USA TODAY, 2016-03-17]
ISIS committing ‘genocide’ against minorities, U.S. declares [Yahoo, 2016-03-17]
Kerry to miss deadline on Islamic State genocide question [AP, 2016-03-16]
The U.S. House just voted unanimously that the Islamic State commits ‘genocide.’ Now what? [The
Washington Post, 2016-03-15]
The House just said unanimously that ISIS is committing genocide. Why hasn’t the White House? [The
Washington Post, 2016-03-15]
House passes resolution condemning IS atrocities as genocide [AP, 2016-03-14]
http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/689615/update-force-of-the-future-reforms-moveforward
Update: Force of the Future Reforms Move Forward
By Cheryl Pellerin
Defense.gov, March 17, 2016
WASHINGTON — Force of the Future reforms are aligning military and civilian personnel rules with the
21st century, one of the program’s architects said in a recent interview, noting that some revolutionary
changes already are moving into place.
Brad R. Carson, senior advisor to the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told DoD
News that one of the new family-friendly rules -- extended maternity leave -- will be effective almost
immediately and another, egg freezing, will be covered by TRICARE starting Oct. 1.
Such changes in the personnel systems account for similar employee benefit developments in the private
sector and for changing expectations of the millennial generation.
The secretary so far has announced two groups of reforms, Carson said. These are reforming practices to
recruit and retain service members, and making changes to appeal more to service members and their
families.
“Both [groups] have been wildly popular, we’ve found, [with] great support from the force, from senior
leaders, and whole Facebook page is devoted to … how this is going to revolutionize the experience of
service members,” Carson said.
Revolutionary Change
The first group of reforms included blended retirement, the establishment of a Defense Digital Service,
designating a chief recruiting officer and establishing an Office of People Analytics.
On blended retirement, Carson said today’s retirement system works only for those who have served for 20
years -- a number that includes only 10 to 17 percent of service members.
“We've tried to modernize the retirement system so that you take away something no matter how long
you've served,” he said.
Service members will have a 401K plan that they can invest in immediately on entering the service, and
after the third year the department will contribute to those plans.
On the Defense Digital Service, Carson said this is an arm of the U.S. Digital Service. The USDS is made
up of software engineers and other experts from across the country who came in at the last minute in
December 2013 to shore up the administration’s overburdened healthcare.gov website.
At the Defense Department, Carson said, such experts will come in and work for six months or two years
and have a high impact.
“That's really our vision for Force of the Future -- we want to have this kind of permeability between the
private and public sectors, he added.
Recruiting and Analysis
On the chief recruiting officer and office of people analytics, Carson said the department is moving forward
on both reforms.
The department hasn’t yet found the right person to serve as chief recruiting officer, he said. But there’s a
need to recruit executives from the private sector to “come in for a few years to help us,” he added.
http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/689615/update-force-of-the-future-reforms-moveforward
The office of people analytics will help the department learn more about its service members and civilians
and help the services and the Pentagon retain them, Carson said.
“Why do they leave? When do they really join? What do they want over the course of their careers? And
what are trends that can be identified?” he said.
“The office of people analytics [will have] three or four PhDs in data science [who will] look at these kinds
of trends,” Carson said.
Family Flexibility
In the second tranche of family reforms, he said the department is moving rapidly on extending maternity
leave, which it already has the authority to do, and asking Congress to help the department extend paternity
leave.
Another initiative within the second group of reforms seeks to allow a service member, in exchange for an
extra service obligation, to stay on a post longer than usual to stabilize their family or accommodate a
spouse’s career.
“We're not forcing the services to do this, we're giving them the tools [so that] if they want to use this as an
incentive they really can,” Carson said.
Another piece, flexible family planning, will make egg-freezing part of the TRICARE program, increase
the number of lactation rooms in DOD facilities, and keep every military childcare center open for at least
14 hours a day, he said.
“We hope that we can at least start the implementation of most of these reforms over just the next few
months,” he added.
“So for example maternity leave will be almost immediate. Egg freezing will be on Oct. 1. … It may take a
few months or even a couple of years to fully implement, but we can start immediately and get the ball
rolling,” Carson said.
The Next Reforms
Carson said the next big group of reforms, which are currently under review by the defense secretary, will
include making the up-or-out system governing officer promotions more flexible, allowing lateral entry
into the military, establishing technical tracks, and encouraging military departments to send more of their
officers and senior enlisted to advance civil schooling.
After that, he said, the department will announce reforms to the 700,000-employee civilian personnel
system.
“The challenges are that the personnel system has been around for a very long time, and so there are a lot of
rules and regulations that have been built up. Expectations and careers have been built around these rules,”
Carson said.
“You have to measure twice and cut once when you think about changing the personnel system,” he added,
“but we think we're making some real progress by looking at what the needs of the force are -- what
families need.”
SEE ALSO:
DOD to Expand “Force of the Future” Personnel Plan Despite Setback [Military.com, 2016-03-15]
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/12/women-guards-still-cannot-touch-male-prisoners-atgitmo.html
Women Guards Still Cannot Touch Male Prisoners at
Gitmo
By Carol Rosenberg, Miami Herald
Military.com, March 12, 2016
Guards at Joint Task Force Guantanamo -- both women and men -have filed 15 gender-discrimination complaints. They are outraged
by an order that bans female guards from touching male detainees.
(Navy photo/Elisha Dawkins)
The new commander of the US Southern Command told Congress
on Thursday that some of the Guantánamo prison infrastructure is
"deteriorating rapidly" but stopped short of seeking additional
funding for new construction at the downsizing detention center.
Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, who took charge Jan. 14, also disclosed for the first time that the number of gender
discrimination complaints filed by Guantánamo troops over a judge's female guard no-touch order has risen
to 15.
Army Col. James L. Pohl, the judge, has for 14 months forbidden female guards from touching the five
men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks, who argue their religion forbids contact with women
who aren't close relatives. The order has stirred outrage in Congress and among Pentagon brass. Now the
judge is deciding whether to lift the ban and let female guards resume handling the five men as they go to
and from legal meetings and court.
"Some of our female troops must continue to deal with the frustration of a temporary court order that
prevents them from performing their assigned duties, even though they are all fully trained, immensely
qualified, and embody the values of equality and diversity that our nation espouses to the world and holds
dear," the admiral said in sworn testimony presented at the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Tidd's spokeswoman, Army Col. Lisa Garcia, elaborated on Friday that eight men and seven women had
filed the sexual discrimination complaints, all soldiers. The complaints were filed between Jan. 20 and Feb.
3, 2015, she said.
On the infrastructure front, Tidd said in the written testimony that "most of the facilities constructed to
temporary standards are deteriorating rapidly because of the harsh environment, ongoing mission demands
and a chronic lack of funds for maintenance and recapitalization." He called housing for some of the 1,700
troops assigned to the 91-captive prison "dilapidated" and blamed rains from Hurricane Joaquin.
Later, elaborating during a Pentagon press conference, Tidd called the various prison buildings that house
the captives "state of the art" and invited Washington, D.C.-based reporters down to the detention center to
take a look. The problems, he said, are at "peripheral" or "support" facilities, which are shored up through
sustainment funds, and handled "in a piecemeal manner that rapidly becomes more costly than investment
in new construction."
The prison has a 2,000-member staff, from guards to lawyers to Coast Guard security units, most on ninemonth assignments. Officers typically live in townhouses but some enlisted troops live in trailer parks that
were designed as temporary accommodations for short tours of duty.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/12/women-guards-still-cannot-touch-male-prisoners-atgitmo.html
Tidd said that last year the US spent $24 million on "sustainment, restoration and modernization costs" of
detention center facilities. He added that there had been a budget proposal to spend $231 million through
2018 on military construction for the war-on-terror prison -- but 90 percent of it was canceled in January
2015.
The admiral did, however, welcome a question of whether he could make use of more resources to disrupt
the flow of illegal drugs and migrants to the United States.
"I do not have the ships, I do not have the aircraft, to be able to execute the detection-monitoring mission to
the level that has been established for us to achieve," he told Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.
Tidd testified the same day the committee confirmed Eric Fanning as Secretary of the Army.
Last year, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, placed a hold on the nomination of Fanning, the first openly gay
leader of a US military service, to protest the Obama administration's efforts to close the detention center at
Guantánamo. It was unclear when the full Senate would take up the nomination because Roberts'
spokeswoman Sarah Little told the Associated Press on Thursday that the hold remains in place.
At a press briefing later in the day, Admiral Tidd deftly ducked a series of questions on the wisdom of
closing the Guantánamo detention center and on releasing certain captives. "In the conduct of armed
conflict we have to be able to detain people some place. I have no opinion on where that should be."
Misconduct
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2016/03/17/air-force-assistant-vice-chief-fired-overunprofessional-relationship/81936772/
Air Force assistant vice chief fired over unprofessional
relationship
By Oriana Pawlyk
Air Force Times, March 17, 2016
Lt. Gen. John Hesterman, the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff and Director,
Air Staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, was removed on Thursday after
an investigation found he exchanged inappropriate emails with a female
Air Force lieutenant colonel. (Photo: Air Force)
The Air Force assistant vice-chief of staff has been removed after an
Inspector General investigation found he exchanged inappropriate
emails with a female lieutenant colonel.
The emails, sent between March 2010 and May 2011, showed that Lt.
Gen. John Hesterman and the Air Force female corresponded in what
the IG concluded was an "unprofessional relationship," according to
an Air Force statement.
Between July 2010 and June 2011, Hesterman was the deputy
commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, at a time when the
U.S. was overseeing the air war in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also
served as the deputy commander of the Combined Force Air Component and vice commander of the 9th
Air Expeditionary Task Force, Air Combat Command, in Southwest Asia, according to his biography.
Hesterman, a major general at the time of the misconduct, relinquished his duties Thursday, and filed his
paperwork for retirement.
Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, who issued the reprimand, initiated the process on
whether Hesterman will keep his stars, the release said.
An initial complaint alleges Hesterman made advances on the female lieutenant colonel while she and her
husband, an Air Force colonel at the time, were both stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England, according to
the IG report. Hesterman was the commander of the 48th Fighter Wing between June 2007 and August
2008.
The investigation notes that while there was no evidence of "physical contact" the husband believes "the
affairs and marital problems had begun during his 'Lakenheath days'."
The statement did not identify the female lieutenant colonel, nor did it specify her current whereabouts.
Hesterman made lieutenant general on Nov. 17, 2011. He and his wife of over 22 years have one daughter,
the report said.
An Air Force spokeswoman called Hesterman on behalf of Air Force Times, but he could not be reached
for comment.
The Air Force said the investigation did not uncover any additional misconduct.
SEE ALSO:
U.S. Air Force general removed for 'unprofessional relationship' [Reuters, 2016-03-17]
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/crime/article66192397.html
Keesler Air Force Base ex-informant loses appeal
By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Washington Bureau, March 15, 2016
The badge and shield of the Air Force Office of Special
Investigation, whose agents recruit informants at military
bases. (Air Force Office of Special Investigations)
A Keesler Air Force Base enlisted woman in Mississippi who was
covertly recruited as a Biloxi-area informant and then pleaded
guilty to falsifying rape claims has lost a key appeal.
Capping a knotty chapter in military law enforcement, the Air Force
Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the claims of Airman Basic
Jane M. Neubauer, while also shedding light on what happened
following her April 2013 recruitment by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
“Her primary role was to collect information regarding drug use and distribution by other airmen,” the
court noted in its decision issued March 10.
Besides highlighting the Air Force’s use of enlisted personnel as informants, Neubauer’s case illuminates,
as well, the military’s intense focus on combating sexual assault. Neubauer’s false claims sparked a severe
reaction in part because officials feared they could undermine their anti-assault campaign.
“What are all the airmen who have heard her claims, her false statements, what are they going to think the
next time they receive a report of sexual assault?” an Air Force prosecutor asked at Neubauer’s 2015 courtmartial.
The Air Force’s three-judge appellate panel rejected Neubauer’s argument that the statements by the
prosecutor – which the military calls the trial counsel – were improper. In its seven-page decision, the court
also rejected a separate challenge against one of her charges.
The court’s decision leaves intact Neubauer’s bad-conduct discharge and her guilty plea to 18
specifications of six separate charges. Her 84 days of confinement have already been served.
Neubauer in 2013 was attending weather school at Keesler, an academically rigorous training program that
lasts about eight months. The Illinois native later told The Daily Beast that she had been recruited as an
informant by the Office of Special Investigations shortly after she started training.
“They’re like, ‘Hey, how would it sound if you work for us?’ ” Neubauer told Daily Beast reporter Jacob
Siegel. “And I was like, ‘Cool, that sounds cool.’ I didn’t know any better.”
The Air Force’s law enforcement branch, the Office of Special Investigations has drawn praise for its work
as well as scrutiny for its use of informants in other locations, including at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Officials defend the practice.
“I believe that it’s necessary in many cases, because unless the OSI is able to go undercover to collect
information, they have to be able to rely on the people that are closest to the information to report it,” Air
Force Maj. Gen. Steve Lepper told Air Force investigators in 2014.
An agency representative could not be reached to comment Tuesday.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/crime/article66192397.html
Neubauer operated as a Keesler informant through at least late July 2013. On July 25 of that year,
following what the Air Force appellate court called an “unsuccessful law enforcement operation,” her OSI
handlers reportedly told her to “take the next week off.”
Neubauer subsequently had “consensual sexual intercourse” with an Air Force enlisted man, according to
the appellate court, and then she reported to the Biloxi Regional Medical Center that she had been raped.
She also “presented a falsified positive pregnancy test to support her claim of being impregnated,” the court
noted.
Though she ultimately pleaded guilty, Neubauer appealed over several issues, including what the Air Force
prosecutor said during the sentencing hearing. Her appellate attorney, Maj. Jeffrey A. Davis, called some of
the prosecutor’s statements improper.
“There was no evidence introduced that (her) false rape reports had any impact at all on any rape victims,”
Davis wrote in a court filing.
The court, in its March 10 decision, reasoned that the statements were not a legal error and that, in any
event, the trial judge was capable of ignoring any improper arguments that may have been made.
Michael Doyle: 202-383-0006, @MichaelDoyle10
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/opinion/2016/03/13/marine-infantry-officer-blowing-off-ordershas-become-troubling-norm/81489802/
Marine infantry officer: Blowing off orders has become a
troubling norm [OPINION]
By Maj. Paul Stubbs
Marine Corps Times, March 13, 2016
Marines receive a class on the effects of tobacco use from MCCS
employee Jamie Morris at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., Jan.
13th, 2015. The class was one in a series of annual Back in the
Saddle training classes. (Photo: Lance Cpl. Christian
Varney/Marine Corps)
I think I'll grow a beard.
It is increasingly apparent that more and more Marine Corps orders
are set aside because we are so busy answering higher-ups' mail
and adding new requirements and systems to track and manage training and equipment. Not out of willful
omission or belligerence, just as a matter of course.
It's unintentional selective disobedience.
Don't believe me? Then why do we take weeks or months preparing for readiness inspections? If we'd been
executing the orders, we would all just be in compliance with standards as a matter of course — any day of
the week would be a good day for an inspection.
But we don't comply until it becomes an absolute necessity.
Operations shut down and Marines are pulled to help the sections get back in compliance, like bad lance
corporals who live like pigs until Thursday afternoon field day inspections. Is that the new standard?
As Marines, we keep our eye on the ball: higher's intent. We get the items briefed at the commanding
officer's weekly meeting. Units are 100 percent Sexual Assault Prevention and Readiness-trained, but our
vehicle record jackets haven't been updated in months.
Maj. Paul Stubbs, shown in Afghanistan here, says so many competing
training requirements leave Marines not following some Corps-wide
orders. (Photo: Courtesy of Paul Stubbs)
But nobody is asking about the vehicles just now, and if our unit numbers
are in red and the other units are in green, we look bad in front of the boss.
The direction we are heading leaves us continually playing catch-up and
clean-up as the requirements that actually get noticed change.
This engenders a weapons turn-in mentality: We are busy, so only clean
where they will look. The rest can rust; we have other things to do.
I have had senior officers brush aside requirements because the unit was
too busy. When they're confronted with the actual order to which that
requirement pertained, they respond "but there is no demand signal to spend time on this." As if a
compressed schedule translated into automatic exception.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/opinion/2016/03/13/marine-infantry-officer-blowing-off-ordershas-become-troubling-norm/81489802/
But commanders set the priorities and if they add rocks to our pack and never take any out, well-meaning
career professionals have to decide for them which orders to ignore. The answer is the ones that aren’t
enforced.
Why is there never a discussion about getting rid of requirements, just adding new ones?
For example, why does a lieutenant colonel who has never used tobacco have to take the MarineNet
tobacco cessation class once a year? Is that something that could perhaps be only required for tobacco
users?
Does a Marine married for 20 years need the class on preventing sexually transmitted diseases? Is he or she
really the target audience for this information?
We preach top-down planning and bottom-up refinement, but we seem to skip that second part.
We have chosen to stay on top of the things our higher command has put on their radar. The rest is set aside
as something we pay attention to once every couple of years, when it again becomes important to
leadership's command inspection score cards.
So I think I'll grow a beard and see how long it takes someone to tell me I am out of regulation. Then if
they are not of higher rank than me or able to reach into my chain of command, I will apply what seems to
be our paradigm of ignoring it until there are actual consequences.
Or maybe I should just keep shaving every day, and we should do a sanity check on the cost in hours of
compliance, and match that up against what we want the unit to do for the actual primary mission.
But we cannot do both.
And we aren't.
Maj. Paul Stubbs is an infantry officer currently assigned to 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company. He
has deployed six times, including twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. He served as a company
commander during three of those deployments. Stubbs served as an enlisted soldier and sailor before
becoming a Marine officer. The opinions expressed are his own.
http://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/the-u-s-navy-doesn-t-want-sailors-toparticipate/article_b39ed968-4204-5477-a8dd-226ba3773591.html
Navy reminds sailors not to participate in pay-to-play
March Madness office pools
By Brock Vergakis
The Virginian-Pilot, March 15, 2016
2016 NCAA bracket
NORFOLK — It’s a rite of spring.
Employees in workplaces throughout Hampton Roads are filling
out NCAA men’s basketball tournament brackets with dreams of
winning large cash prizes funded by relatively modest entry fees.
And the Navy, for one, is renewing its warnings against it.
Paying to play in an office pool is typically illegal in most states. Yet the laws are openly flouted in offices,
factories and dormitories across the country every year as March Madness comes around.
Of the $9.2 billion that will be wagered on the tournament this year, only about $262 million will be bet
legally at Nevada sports books, according to the American Gaming Association, which represents the U.S.
casino industry. Those wagers typically come without consequence.
“Laws on office pools vary by state, but even where it’s illegal, it’s hardly ever prosecuted,” Gaming
Association spokesman Chris Moyer wrote in an email.
The pools differ from daily and season-long fantasy contests in which players pick rosters of athletes,
winning if their teams earn the most points based on performance, not the outcomes of games. Virginia
recently passed a law regulating fantasy sports, defining them as contests in which “no winning outcome is
based on the score, point spread, or any performance of any single actual team or combination of teams.”
Virginia’s gambling law doesn’t specifically mention office pools, but it does forbid betting on a game or
contest in which the outcome is uncertain. Michael Kelly, a spokesman for Attorney General Mark Herring,
said that how the law is interpreted is up to each commonwealth’s attorney, but he’s not aware of anyone
ever being prosecuted in Virginia for participating in an office pool.
The issue becomes more complicated for members of the military. They might be stationed in a state where
office pools are legal, but they’re still off limits in federal facilities, including naval vessels. Navy officials
this year are warning sailors of the consequences of filling out brackets and paying entry fees in the
workplace, regardless of where they’re based or where their ships might be.
“As service members, we are prohibited from engaging in most gambling activities, which could include a
March Madness office pool, while on federal property or onboard naval units,” Lt. Kathy Paradis, a
member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, wrote on an official Navy blog.
“Violations of the regulation could result in adverse administrative action, or even disciplinary action”
under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
But even in the Navy, such disciplinary action appears to be rare. Jennifer Zeldis, a JAG spokeswoman,
said her office is not aware of anyone who has been prosecuted in military court for entering an office pool.
Sailors who pay to participate in such pools could be prosecuted in a variety of ways, she said.
They could be charged with violation of a lawful general order, conduct unbecoming an officer or
fraternization if enlisted personnel were involved. The maximum penalties for those charges are one to two
years’ confinement, along with dismissal and forfeiture of pay.
Zeldis said her office would not know whether someone was disciplined administratively for running or
participating in an office pool.
http://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/the-u-s-navy-doesn-t-want-sailors-toparticipate/article_b39ed968-4204-5477-a8dd-226ba3773591.html
Officials at U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Submarine Force Atlantic and Navy Expeditionary Combat
Command said Monday they were not aware of sailors who had been punished for participating in an office
pool for cash prizes.
“So now you’re probably thinking, ‘But we always do March Madness brackets at work!’ As long as it
doesn’t violate your office policy on the use of government computers, filling out a March Madness bracket
and following along to see who wins is not a problem on its own,” Paradis wrote.
“It becomes a problem, however, once people start putting money into a pool or otherwise betting on who
wins in hopes of winning the pool (and the cash) at the end of the tournament. If the winner of your office
pool only gets ‘bragging rights,’ that is okay.”
The first tournament games tipped off Tuesday.
Pilot writer Kimberly Pierceall contributed to this report.
Brock Vergakis, 757-222-5846, [email protected]
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/03/17/submarines-enlisted-leader-fired-alleged-druguse/81906418/
Submarine’s enlisted leader fired for alleged drug use
By Mark D. Faram
Navy Times, March 17, 2016
Senior Chief Dwight Newton had been chief of the boat of attack submarine
Albany before he was fired in March. (Photo: DOD)
Alleged drug use has cost a submarine's top enlisted leader his job— and
most likely his career.
Senior Chief Sonar Technician (Submarines) (SS) Dwight Newton was
removed from his post as the top enlisted on the attack submarine Albany
March 16 by Cmdr. Wade Landis, Albany's skipper, after Newton was
charged with use of a controlled substance and making a false official
statement.
Newton, who has been Albany’s chief of the boat since October 2013, has
been reassigned to Submarine Squadron 6 while awaiting disciplinary and
administrative proceedings that will most likely end his nearly 24-year career for violating the Navy’s zerotolerance drug policy, sources tell Navy Times. It is highly unusual for such a senior sailor who has been
screened for their post to fail a drug test.
Master Chief Fire Control Technician (SS) Edward Brennan has been assigned as the Albany's new senior
enlisted adviser in the wake of the firing. Newton is the fourth submarine leader fired this year.
Newton is a native of Charleston, S.C., and joined the Navy in March 1992. During his career, he’s served
on the attack submarines Montpelier, Philadelphia, Memphis and San Juan. He could not be immediately
reached for comment Thursday.
Religion
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4a637cc3cf024338a8f3e89440150697/fencer-ibtihaj-muhammad-makehistory-muslim-americans
New Jersey fencer to wear head covering at Rio Olympics
By Luke Meredith
The Associated Press, March 14, 2016
In this March 8, 2016, file photo, Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad poses
for photos at the 2016 Olympic Team USA media summit in Beverly
Hills, Calif. Muhammad would be the first American to compete in
the Olympics wearing a hijab. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Ibtihaj Muhammad stood beaming on the podium in Budapest in
2013, flashing a bright smile, a world championship bronze medal
and the red, white and blue hijab that perfectly encapsulated who
she is as an athlete and a person.
Muhammad, a New Jersey-born fencer, is a proud Muslim and an equally proud American. And this
summer at the Rio Olympics, Muhammad will seek to stand up for her community by fighting for a country
that hasn't always fought for those who share her faith.
Muhammad, the middle daughter of a retired detective and special education teacher, will become the first
U.S. athlete to compete in the Olympics while wearing a hijab, the head scarf she wears in accordance with
her beliefs.
Those circumstances have put the 30-year-old Muhammad on a platform well beyond sports.
She earned her Olympic spot in January and is hoping her presence can help counter the recent wave of
anti-Islamic sentiment in the U.S., triggered in part by Donald Trump's comments about banning Muslims
from the U.S.
"I feel like I've been blessed to be in this position, to be given this platform. When I think of my
predecessors, and people who've spoken out against bigotry and hate, I feel like I owe it not just to myself
but to my community to try to fight it," said Muhammad, who is ranked seventh in the world in the
women's saber. "There are people who don't feel safe going to work every day, that don't feel safe being
themselves. I think that's a problem."
The irony of Muhammad's rise to international fencing success is that it was about as American as one
might imagine.
Well, almost.
Muhammad tried nearly every sport as a kid, from softball and track to tennis. But the constant
modifications Muhammad would have to make to her uniform — like adding sleeves or wearing pants
when her teammates had on shorts — were growing tiresome.
Then one day while in the car with her mother, a 12-year-old Muhammad noticed a fencing practice
through the windows of a local high school. Since fencers are covered from head to toe for protection,
Muhammad knew right away she had found her calling — and perhaps even a way to help pay for college.
Muhammad soon hooked up with the Westbrook Foundation, an organization run by former Olympian
Peter Westbrook to teach fencing to underserved communities in metro New York. She later earned a
scholarship from Duke, where she was a three-time All-American.
"Don't be fooled by that pretty face. She has something in her that it takes in real champions, that
unbelievable will to win," said Westbrook, who in 1984 became the first African-American to win an
Olympic medal. "She is able to dig five stories deep to pull something out. And when she loses? Oh my
God."
Still, Muhammad put fencing largely aside after college, turning to teaching while she considered applying
to law school. But she was still curious enough about her fencing to turn to a new coach, Akhi Spencer-El,
who is also connected with the Westbrook Foundation.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4a637cc3cf024338a8f3e89440150697/fencer-ibtihaj-muhammad-makehistory-muslim-americans
Muhammad was Spencer-El's first protégé. Muhammad said she found in him someone who believed in her
abilities as much as she did. That was enough to give Muhammad the push she needed to rededicate herself
to the sport.
"I noticed she was something different. There was so much competitiveness," Spencer-El said. "I knew I
could get her to be on a level with the best in the world."
It took a while, but Muhammad got there.
Muhammad made her first world championship in 2010, and she helped the Americans win a team bronze a
year later. Two years ago, Muhammad was part of her first gold medal-winning senior world team.
Athletes have had to fight for the right to wear religious head coverings in sports like basketball and soccer,
where FIFA changed its rules to allow hijabs in 2012.
But Muhammad has never had to downplay her faith in competition or in life. She often sports multicolored
hijabs on and off the strip and has even started a clothing website with her siblings, Louella.com, for
Muslim women seeking more colorful options while still adhering to their religion.
Muhammad has suffered her share of backlash, though. On Saturday at the South by Southwest festival in
Austin, Texas, Muhammad was asked by a volunteer to remove her hijab for a security photo and later
tweeted that she couldn't "make this stuff up."
But Muhammad is intent on using her time in the spotlight to show the U.S. and the rest of the world that
Muslim-Americans should be embraced, not shunned.
"I've never questioned myself as an American and my position here," Muhammad said. "This is my home.
This is who I am. My family has always been here. We're American by birth, and it's a part of who I am
and this is all that I know.
"So when I hear someone say something like, 'We're going to send Muslims back to their country,' it's like,
"Well, where am I going to go? I'm an American."
___
AP Sports Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
___
Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP and on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/LukeMeredithAP
SEE ALSO:
Meet the first Muslim-American to compete at Olympics in hijab [Christian Science Monitor, 2016-03-14]
Sexism
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/deny-her-95-year-old-grandma-burial-at-arlington-nationalcemetery-no-way/2016/03/14/09f5d3a2-ea04-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html
Deny her 95-year-old grandma burial at Arlington National
Cemetery? No way.
By Petula Dvorak
The Washington Post, March 14, 2016
During World War II, Elaine Harmon served with the Women Airforce
Service Pilots (WASPs). Her family wants her ashes buried at Arlington
National Cemetery. (AP)
Oh, they’ve made exceptions. The men in charge of approving coveted plots
at Arlington National Cemetery have made hundreds of exceptions to the
strict military rules about who gets buried there.
A chief White House usher was an exception. As were a doctor who
developed an oral vaccine against polio, an ambassador and a national
security advisor. And don’t forget the retired brigadier general, Charles F.
Blair Jr., who didn’t meet the military requirements, but was married to a
famous Hollywood actress, Maureen O’Hara. Right here, sir, we have a spot.
But when it comes to a World War II pilot who happens to be a woman?
Nope. No exception available. No space in Arlington for you, Second Lt. Elaine Danfort Harmon.
This isn’t some long-standing, sexist rule that’s keeping Harmon, who died at 95 a year ago, from being
given full military honors at Arlington. This is last year’s reversal of the eligibility that female pilots were
granted in 2002.
President Barack Obama with WASP pilots Elaine Harmon, left,
and Lorraine Rodgers, right, after signing a bill to award a
Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots in
2009. (Pete Souza/The White House)
Still think women’s rights aren’t seeing a backslide?
Harmon and her fellow Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs)
risked their lives just like their male counterparts did. They ferried
planes, tested repaired aircraft, instructed male pilots and towed targets for air combat training.
In fact, 38 of them did die while serving their country. And Harmon often told the story of other WASPs
passing a hat to cover the cost of sending one of the killed female pilot’s body home. The military wouldn’t
pay for that.
For 50 years, the women who stepped forward to serve when so few welcomed their service have been
fighting for recognition.
Back when they were risking their lives, they fought for equal pay, for flight insurance, they fought to get
their room and board paid for.
Three decades later, in 1975, Harmon testified before Congress, lobbying for full veteran’s rights. That
finally came in 1977. And in 2002, the WASPs were granted eligibility for Arlington honors.
But that changed last year when then-Secretary of the Army John McHugh reversed their eligibility for
burial or even simple inurnment — to have their ashes placed in the niche wall in the cemetery.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/deny-her-95-year-old-grandma-burial-at-arlington-nationalcemetery-no-way/2016/03/14/09f5d3a2-ea04-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html
Elaine Harmon at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on
Capitol Hill in Washington in 2010. Harmon died at 95 last spring.
Her final wish was to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
(Bill Harmon /AP)
The Army picked the wrong WASP to shut out.
Harmon raised a family of fighters. Don’t forget, this was a
grandma who continued flying small airplanes most of her life. She
went bungee jumping in New Zealand when she turned 80. Her
photos and memories are in aviation and war museums across America.
So after her family mourned her death last spring and were unable to lay her cremated remains to rest at
Arlington without seeking an exception, the fight became a three-generation affair.
“This is a family that’s not going to let it go,” said Erin Miller, Harmon’s 39-year-old granddaughter. “My
sister was a lobbyist, I’m an attorney, and we grew up watching her talking at conferences, testifying,
talking to people about what she did. We’re the family to do this.”
The campaign to get grandma into Arlington began when one of her daughters, Terry Harmon, 69, started
writing letters.
Miller, one of her 11 grandchildren, knew that tactic wouldn’t work. “Mom, you can write letters,” she
said, “but that’s not going to accomplish much.”
And that’s when Miller launched her social media campaign. She posted the picture of her grandma’s ashes
on the shelf in her mom’s closet. She followed that with photos of grandma in her bomber jacket and by her
airplanes. Grandma testifying before Congress. Grandma and other WASPs receiving the Congressional
Gold Medal in 2009.
Miller‘s lobbying got two bills into the pipeline to get WASPs back into Arlington.
“We don’t want to just make one exception for her. This has to be a change in the law,” Miller said.
The House bill, introduced by Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz), a retired Air Force pilot, has 174 co-sponsors
as of this week, Miller said.
And last week, Miller visited 31 Senate offices to lobby for support of the Senate bill, introduced by Sen.
Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland).
They have more than 170,000 supporters on a Change.Org petition. All of this, really, is a pretty ridiculous
for her to have to do. There are lots and lots of women buried in Arlington. Wives, most of them.
When you look at all the exception requests, you see wives, ex-wives, first wives. Usually, the military is
fine with them. There are also plenty of women buried with their parents on something once called the
“spinster policy” — women who were “never married” and “childless.”
Those exceptions, in official military documents, are usually explained as “humanitarian.”
“The ridiculous thing is that if her husband was buried there, then she could be buried there, too,” Miller
said. “There are 15 WASPs there buried with their husbands.” But each of those women deserved to be
there on her own merits.
Humanitarian? How about moral. And just. And right.
Twitter: @petulad
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/capitol-hill/2016/03/16/wasps-arlington-cemeteryfight/81869962/
Women WWII pilots deserve Arlington burial, lawmakers
say
By Leo Shane III
Military Times, March 16, 2016
Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., speaks at a Capitol Hill press
conference Wednesday on legislation that would allow Women
Airforce Service Pilots to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery
once again.
(Photo: Leo Shane III/Military Times)
Elaine Harmon’s ashes have been sitting in her family’s home for
almost a year, waiting to be interred at Arlington National
Cemetery.
Her relatives don’t know when that will happen, if at all.
Harmon — one of more than 1,000 female pilots who served in non-combat roles during World War II —
has become the impetus for a new congressional push to overturn a decision in 2015 to block certain
women veterans from the nation’s best known cemetery.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers demanded the White House intervene on the issue and
promised legislative action in coming weeks to honor the service of Women Airforce Service Pilots, who
they called military pioneers.
“We need to allow the WASPs to be laid to rest as the heroes they are,” said Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz.,
sponsor of a bill to force a change in policy.
“It’s ironic and cruel that at a time when the administration is trying to open up combat positions to women
… they are closing the gates to Arlington to these women.”
Members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots are seen on a
runway in Laredo, Texas, in 1944. (Photo: Air Force)
In 1977, Congress passed legislation retroactively granting activeduty status to WASP pilots, allowing them to be officially
considered veterans for the first time. Advocates have said if not for
sexist attitudes at the time of their service, the women would have
been considered the same as any other service member.
Following that law’s passage, WASPs and their supporters fought
for a variety of benefits and recognition. In 2002, Arlington
National Cemetery approved group members for military honors and burial there.
But last year, then-Army Secretary John McHugh said cemetery officials erred in that approval, since the
site’s qualifications follow Army policies, not Veterans Affairs rules. Since then, WASPs have been
blocked.
Earlier on Wednesday, acting Army Secretary Patrick Murphy testified before the House Armed Services
Committee that he believes the WASPs should be allowed to be buried at Arlington Cemetery, but that he
lacks to authority to allow it. He offered support for McSally’s measure.
But when challenged by the lawmaker — “you really think an act of Congress is the fastest way to address
the problem?” — Murphy became visibly frustrated, blaming the confusion on problematic language in the
1977 law.
“Congress needs to change what Congress changed back in 1977,” he said. “I can’t do that. The secretary
of defense can’t do that. The commander in chief can’t.”
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/capitol-hill/2016/03/16/wasps-arlington-cemeteryfight/81869962/
McSally said she still believes the administration could do more to intervene on the issue, but is pushing
ahead with legislation while trying to sort out that confusion. The measure has more than 177 co-sponsors
in the House and recently advanced out of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa — who with McSally is one of four Iraq War veterans in Congress — has offered
similar legislation in the Senate.
“There is no doubt these women are heroes,” she said. “The Pentagon should do the right thing and honor
these women.”
Until then, Harmon’s ashes will be in her family’s home. Her granddaughter, Erin Miller, told reporters that
her grandmother would probably be embarrassed by all the attention given to her case.
“But for the WASPs as a whole, she would want them recognized,” she said. “To her, Arlington was not
just a cemetery, but a memorial to all who have served.”
Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be
reached at [email protected].
SEE ALSO:
Army backs bill to allow female pilots' ashes at Arlington [AP, 2016-03-16]
Army, lawmaker clash over Arlington exclusion of female WWII pilots [Stars and Stripes, 2016-03-16]
Veterans fight for Arlington rights [VIDEO][Yahoo, 2016-03-16]
Deny her 95-year-old grandma burial at Arlington National Cemetery? No way. [The Washington Post,
2016-03-14]
Sexual Assault /
Harassment
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/2016/03/17/army-offers-job-perks-those-who-helpprevent-sex-asssault/81925724/
The Army offers job perks to those who help prevent sex
assault
By Jim Tice
Army Times, March 17, 2016
The Army is offering incentives to entice soldiers to take sexual
harassment/ assault prevention assignments. Here, Maj. Gen.
Margaret W. Boor, commanding general of the Army Reserve's
99th Regional Support Command, presents a certificate to 1st Sgt.
Trevor Sanders, 78th Army Band, during a victim advocate course
graduation at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., in
December 2013. (Photo: Staff Sgt. Shawn Morris/Army)
Active-component soldiers who serve full-time in support of the
Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response Prevention Program
qualify for an array of assignment incentives under a directive issued March 11 by acting Secretary of the
Army Patrick J. Murphy.
The incentives, consisting of assignment preferences and stabilization options, encourage soldiers to serve
in SHARP positions as program managers, sexual assault response coordinators, victim advocates and
trainers.
Information provided by the Army's human resources office at the Pentagon indicates there are 188
openings for coordinators, and 46 for military victim advocates. Officials did not provide totals for the
program managers who head SHARP efforts in large commands or the trainers who work with units.
"The initiatives captured in (Murphy’s directive) are reflective of Army efforts to professionalize the
SHARP program, and to recruit the best talent possible to serve in these positions of significant trust,”
according to a March 17 statement from human resource officials.
Under the provisions of the directive, soldiers who serve in the designated positions may request a followon assignment location, or stabilization at their current location, but not both.
Assignment preference option
Full-time program managers, response coordinators, victim advocates and trainers may request assignment
to one of three location preferences after successfully completing a two-year tour in a SHARP position.
If the requested locations do not have a valid requirement for the soldier’s MOS, the assignment manager
will provide the soldier with three location choices that can be supported.
To qualify, soldiers must:
• Request assignment to three locations with a valid manning requirement for their military occupational
specialty and grade.
• Submit a DA Form 4187, personnel action request, through the first lieutenant colonel commander in their
chain of command, to their assignment manager at Human Resources Command.
• If serving stateside, submit requests 12 months in advance of the end of their 24-month SHARP
assignment.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/2016/03/17/army-offers-job-perks-those-who-helpprevent-sex-asssault/81925724/
• If serving overseas, submit requests 12 months before the end of the SHARP assignment or their DEROS
(date eligible for return from overseas), whichever occurs first.
• If serving in an overseas short-tour area, use the Homebase/Advance Assignment Program to request a
follow-on assignment location. Such requests should be submitted no later than nine months before the end
of their 12-month tour or DEROS, whichever occurs first.
Stabilization option
Soldiers may request stabilization at their current location for 12 months following completion of a fulltime 24-month SHARP assignment.
To qualify for the incentive program, soldiers must:
• Request stabilization in a position for their primary MOS and grade at their current location. Requests
should be submitted on DA Form 4187, through their first lieutenant colonel commander, to their HRC
assignment manager.
• Submit requests within the time lines described above for the assignment preference option
The new incentive policies will be incorporated into future revisions of Army Regulations 614-100 (Officer
Assignment Policies, Details and Transfers) and 614-200 (Enlisted Assignments and Utilization
Management).
http://www.stripes.com/news/marine-general-expresses-regret-to-okinawa-governor-over-alleged-rape1.399461
Marine general expresses regret to Okinawa governor over
alleged rape
By Chiymoi Sumida
Stars and Stripes, March 16, 2016
Lt. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, Marine Forces Japan
commander, meets with Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga Wednesday,
March 16, 2016, in response to the arrest of a U.S. sailor who
allegedly raped a Japanese tourist in Naha early Sunday.
Nicholson expressed regret for the alleged incident and offered the
military's full cooperation for the investigation. (Chiyomi
Sumida/Stars and Stripes)
A U.S. Navy sailor assigned to Camp Schwab has been charged
with raping a Japanese woman in an Okinawa hotel, a case that could enflame tensions on the tiny island
prefecture, if history is any indication.
NAHA, Okinawa — The head of U.S. Marines in Japan apologized Wednesday to Okinawa’s governor for
the alleged rape of a Japanese woman by an American sailor and ensured him the military will cooperate
thoroughly with the investigation.
Lt. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, III Marine Expeditionary Forces commander, visited Gov. Takeshi Onaga
at his Naha office Wednesday in response to the arrest of Seaman Apprentice Justin Castellanos, 24, who is
assigned to Camp Schwab.
Police say Castellanos found the tourist intoxicated and asleep in a hotel hallway, took her into his room
and raped her between 1 and 4 a.m. Sunday.
A friend of the victim, who is in her 40s, called police after she heard the woman screaming for help and
found her in Castellanos’ room with the suspect, who was a stranger to them, police said.
Castellanos reportedly told investigators he was not in his room when the alleged assault occurred and was
drinking in a bar instead, police said.
“I express my deepest regret and remorse at the incident,” Nicholson told Onaga at the beginning of their
half-hour meeting. “Today, I came here to represent 27,000 uniformed members, 17,000 families, 4,000
civilians, 50,000 Americans. The allegation against the specific individual is a great shame and dishonor of
us all.”
Onaga urged Nicholson to enforce stricter discipline over servicemembers on the island and to take
preventive measures as quickly as possible.
“The incident this time is a heinous nature that brings back people of Okinawa memories of unfortunate
incidents in the past,” Onaga said, adding that U.S. servicemembers on Okinawa have committed similar
crimes over the years.
Nicholson told Onaga the military has already started training this week for servicemembers stationed on
Okinawa.
On Monday, Vice Gov. Mitsuo Ageda filed a protest over the incident with the Okinawa Liaison Office of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Okinawa Defense Bureau.
http://www.stripes.com/news/marine-general-expresses-regret-to-okinawa-governor-over-alleged-rape1.399461
Lt. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, Marine Forces Japan
commander, visits Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, right,
Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in response to the arrest of a U.S.
sailor who allegedly raped a Japanese tourist in Naha early
Sunday. (Chiyomi Sumida/Stars and Stripes)
Okinawa City Mayor Sachio Kuwae, who represents
municipalities that host military bases on Okinawa, lodged a
protest Tuesday with the Okinawa Area Coordinator’s Office
and American Consulate Naha. Naha City Council is expected
to adopt a protest resolution Thursday.
An Okinawa women’s group, organized after the 1995 rape of a school girl by three U.S. servicemembers,
demanded on Tuesday the enforcement of the existing curfew for all servicemembers on the island that was
imposed after the rape of a woman by two Navy sailors in 2012.
While crimes committed by American servicemembers have been on the decline in recent years, sexual
assaults continue to evoke resentments over concentration of military bases on Okinawa, which hosts about
half of the troops stationed in Japan.
[email protected]
SEE ALSO:
Marines, sailors can't stay overnight in Okinawa capital [Military Times, 2016-03-17]
Sailor Charged With Raping Japanese Woman in Okinawa Hotel [Stars and Stripes, 2016-03-14]
U.S. sailor accused of rape in Okinawa [USA TODAY, 2016-03-13]
Japan protests alleged rape case by US sailor on Okinawa [AP, 2016-03-14]
http://www.stripes.com/news/sailor-charged-with-raping-japanese-woman-in-okinawa-hotel-1.399138
Sailor charged with raping Japanese woman in Okinawa
hotel
By Matthew M. Burke and Chiyomi Sumida
Stars and Stripes, March 14, 2016
Demonstrators stand outside the Headquarters Gate of Camp
Foster protesting the alleged rape Sunday of a 14-year-old
Okinawa girl by a Marine Corps staff sergeant in 2008. On
Monday, a U.S. sailor assigned to Camp Schwab was officially
charged with a sexual assault against a Japanese national. (Photo:
Chiyomi Sumida/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A U.S. Navy sailor assigned to
Camp Schwab has been charged with raping a Japanese woman in
an Okinawa hotel, a case that could enflame tensions on the tiny
island prefecture, if history is any indication.
Japanese police say Seaman Apprentice Justin Castellanos, 24, found the female tourist, from the mainland
city of Fukuoka, intoxicated and asleep in the hotel’s hallway, took her into his room and raped her
between 1 and 4 a.m. Sunday.
A friend of the woman, who is in her 40s, reported the alleged incident, and police took in Castellanos for
questioning. He was placed under arrest at the police station, and the case was referred to prosecutors
Monday afternoon. Police say Castellanos denies the allegations.
Okinawa has been the site of several high-profile sexual assaults over the years, including a case involving
two Navy reservists in late 2012 that led to a curfew for all U.S. servicemembers in Japan. The curfew,
slightly relaxed in 2014, remains in effect.
“The incident is extremely deplorable,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news
conference Monday. “Japan filed a strong protest with the U.S. Embassy. At the same time, we called for
enforcement of strict discipline and preventive measures.”
Capt. Jeff Davis, spokesman for the Pentagon, said Monday that Castellanos is in Naha police custody.
"U.S. Forces Japan, the Marine Corps, the Navy and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are
cooperating fully with the Naha city police department and their investigation," he said.
Davis was unaware whether the incident has sparked changes to off-base privileges.
"That would be the purview of the commanders on the ground," he said.
Suga deflected questions at the news conference on whether the incident would affect the planned
relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which has been the target of small but vocal protests. But
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, who has been openly critical of the relocation plan, condemned the incident
Monday.
“It was a serious crime that violated women’s human rights, which is never to be tolerated,” Onaga was
quoted as saying by a spokesman. “I am indignant.”
Onaga said the incident, if true, could hurt the island prefecture’s important tourism industry.
A protest was filed Monday with the Okinawa Liaison Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Okinawa Defense Bureau, his spokesman said. A protest will also be lodged with U.S. military officials.
http://www.stripes.com/news/sailor-charged-with-raping-japanese-woman-in-okinawa-hotel-1.399138
Some Okinawans have bristled at hosting more than half of the U.S. troops stationed in Japan even though
the island accounts for less than 1 percent of its total land mass.
Crimes committed by American servicemembers have been on the decline in recent years, but sexual
assaults continue to draw the ire of local residents.
In the most high-profile case, three U.S. servicemembers abducted and raped a 12-year-old schoolgirl in
1995. That led to mass protests and plans to reduce the U.S. military footprint on the island and relocate
Futenma from a densely populated area.
Stars and Stripes reporter Tara Copp contributed to this story.
[email protected]; [email protected]
SEE ALSO:
U.S. sailor accused of rape in Okinawa [USA TODAY, 2016-03-13]
Japan protests alleged rape case by US sailor on Okinawa [The Associated Press, 2016-03-14]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/03/11/why-sex-assault-reports-have-spiked-atthe-naval-academy-west-point-and-the-air-force-academy/
Why sex assault reports have spiked at the Naval Academy,
West Point and the Air Force Academy
By John Woodrow Cox
The Washington Post, March 11, 2016
Marine Maj. Mark Thompson and former U.S.
Naval Academy student Sarah Stadler, who
accused him of sexual misconduct.
It’s been four years since two female students
accused a U.S. Naval Academy teacher, Marine
Maj. Mark Thompson, of having sex with them
amid a drunken night of strip poker at his
Annapolis home.
The flawed investigation that followed — closely examined in a story this week by The Washington Post
— shined light on one incident among several that have deeply embarrassed the nation’s service
academies in the past two decades. In 2003, a survey revealed that one in 10 women at the U.S. Air Force
Academy had been sexually assaulted while attending the school. In 2006 and again in 2014, members of
the U.S. Naval Academy football team were acquitted of rape charges. In 2013, the U.S. Military Academy
was humiliated by its rugby team after leaked emails revealed rampant misogyny.
But military leaders have in recent years tried to address problems of sexual misconduct at the three
prestigious academies, and new government data indicates they may have made progress. The total number
of reported sexual assaults, according to the Department of Defense, nearly tripled in the past seven years,
peaking at 91 during the 2014-2015 school year. Women made 80 of those reports and men made 11.
Though the spike could imply to some that the number of assaults has increased, the department said in a
January report that the figures indicate a “growing trust in the reporting system.”
“We’ve seen a lot of the progress we expected to see when [then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel] last year
ordered the superintendents to take sexual assault prevention and response programs under their direct
supervision,” said Nathan W. Galbreath, senior executive advisor for the department program created to
address the problem military-wide.
Each of the academies saw an increased number of reports in the most recent school year: the Naval
Academy had 25 (up 9 percent over the previous year); the Military Academy had 17 (up 55 percent); and
the Air Force Academy had 49 (up 96 percent).
A Defense Department review pointed to a number of specific tactics that officials believe has contributed
to the apparent progress:
• The Naval Academy obligates coaches and members of its athletic teams and clubs to sign a code of
conduct contract that requires them to abide by “expected behavior standards and to represent the Academy
in the best possible manner.”
• The Military Academy’s superintendent meets with cadets once a month in an open forum to get feedback
on the school’s climate, discuss its sexual assault-prevention program and listen to concerns.
• The Air Force Academy hosts regular sessions with members of its sports teams, where they can discuss
dating and relationship issues with mentors and experts trained in dealing with sexual assault.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/03/11/why-sex-assault-reports-have-spiked-atthe-naval-academy-west-point-and-the-air-force-academy/
Still, the government report made clear that problems persist.
Nearly 300 cadets, midshipmen and academy staff members participated in a series of focus groups, and
those involved indicated that students sometimes “react negatively” when they learn that a classmate has
reported a sexual assault.
“Participants suggested that sometimes,” the report said, “those who report can be excluded from social
acceptance, criticized both publicly and privately, and have their credibility challenged.”
The accuser in the 2013 Naval Academy case described being treated like a pariah by classmates as she
was left in “complete and total isolation” on campus.
Those comments echo ones made by the student who accused Maj. Mark Thompson of raping her in 2011.
(He was acquitted of the assault charge but convicted of five lesser offenses.)
At his court-martial, the woman told jurors she didn’t immediately report the alleged incident because she
feared it would jeopardize her career in the military and her reputation at the academy.
“I didn’t really want to talk about it,” she said. “I just wanted to leave it alone.”
John Woodrow Cox is a reporter on the local enterprise team. Prior to joining the Post, he worked at the
Tampa Bay Times in Florida and at the Valley News in New Hampshire. He attended the University of
Florida, earning degrees in journalism and business.