DoD monitoring pandemic influenza

The Defense Department has an official "watchboard" for the flu pandemic.

According to a DoD statement:

"In an influenza pandemic, the DoD's mission is to preserve the U.S. combat capabilities and readiness and to support U.S. government efforts to save lives, reduce human suffering and slow the spread of infection. "

The Associated Press on Sunday reported that Spc. Christopher Hogg, 23, of Deltona, Fla., died Sept. 10 from “pneumonia due to H1N1 influenza,” according to Fort Jackson, S.C. commander Brig. Gen. Bradley May. Fort Jackson is the Army’s largest basic training camp.

In its public health guidelines regarding H1N1 swine flu, the DoD says one concern is of the flu spreading among the nations 1.3 men and women in uniform, and their families, affecting readiness:

"The Military Health System must be prepared to rapidly evaluate and effectively manage patients with suspected or confirmed pandemic influenza throughout the entire range of military operations and health care settings. In addition to providing health care, efforts must limit the spread of disease among Service members, their families, local communities, and the workplace."

Green Marines test their Mojo

I remember a line from a marching chant our drill instructor used to sound out:

"My Marine Corps color is green...."

Is it ever.

With the Defense Department alone accounting for 93 perecent of all government fuel consumed, the services have been looking for ways to reduce dependency on the grid and fossil fuels.

As usual, the Marines are in the lead.

Some years back, Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Mattis, who had commanded 1st Marine Division in Iraq where he saw fuel convoys become ripe targets for sabotage, and later Marine Corps Combat Development Command, issued a challenge:

"Unleash us from this tether of fuel," Mattis said, calling for a 50 percent reduction in Defense Department fuel use.

Just this August, Commandant of the Marines, Gen. James T. Conway, hosted a defense energy summit.

One of the interesting field innovations the Marines are looking at is a tower of power called Mojo. Back in April, the Corps' 8th Communications Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C., wanted to see the devices developed by Critical Power Solutions Internationl Inc. of Ashburn, Va.

Like the Army's caissons, Mojos, along with larger, double-axled Titans made by Critical Solutions, are wheeled, road-ready, rapidly deployable trailers. They include a 26-foot telescoping tower, battery box and complex set of electronics as well as four solar panels and a wind generator.

Mojos typically produce approximately 520 watts of sustained solar power, and the wind turbines generate 350 to 600 watts of sustained power, Critical Solutions says.

Why the interest? The Marines want another tool in the big toolbox the bring to the battlefield. Renewable power sources in remote environments, as in combat or border patrol situations, come with reduced heat and noise signatures. They could cut down on fuel convoys and save lives by reducing exposure to the risk of roadside and suicide bombers.

In short, they're a stealthier source of power. Marines with Mojos, for instance, could place a remote team at sites where refueling is dangerous or difficult, retaining communication capabilities without traditional power logistics.

In addition to the military, Critical Solutions alternative energy towers have been demonstrated for emergency preparedness agencies. They were at the center of critical response exercises last December at the Center for National Response in West Virginia.

Of the 93 percent of all government fuel that the Defense Department alone consumes, 52 percent is used by the Air Force, 33 percent by the Navy. The Army uses around seven percent, according to figures cited in a Brookings Institution study.

In an August 2007 study for the Brookings Institution, Col. Gregory Lengyel wrote:

The United States has a National Security problem, energy security, in which the Department of Defense has a unique interest. The United States imports 26% of its total energy supply and 56% of the oil it consumes. The DOD is the largest single consumer of energy in the United States and energy is the key enabler of US military combat power.

Huge energy consumption, increased competition for limited energy supplies, ever increasing energy costs, and no comprehensive Energy Strategy or oversight of energy issues in the DOD have created vulnerabilities. These include potential fuel and electricity supply disruptions as well as foreign policy and economic vulnerability. The DOD needs a comprehensive Energy Strategy and organizational structure to implement a strategy to improve National Security by decreasing US dependence on foreign oil, ensure access to critical energy requirements, maintain or improve combat capability, promote research for future energy security, be fiscally responsible to the American tax payer, and protect the environment.

This strategy can be implemented through leadership and culture change, innovation and process efficiencies, reduced demand, and increased/diversified energy sources.

Meanwhile, in his excellent "DoD Energy Blog," Andy Bochman last September mentioned a Marine general in Iraq who wanted solar panels in order to "outgreen al Qaeda." Instead of trucking fuel from Kuwait, creating targets for improvised bombers, the general wanted to "beat al Qaeda at its own game," Bochman wrote, taking away those targets by using solar power.

Bremerton rear admiral earns second star and new job

The Defense Department announced Friday that the commander of Carrier Strike Group Three and the USS John C. Stennis Strike Group based in Bremerton, will be assigned to direct theProgramming Division, N80, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Mark A. Vance already is slated for promotion to a two-star rear admiral.

Vance, a Naval aviator, is a Billings, Mont. native and University of Idaho graduate, with graduate degrees from the University of Southern California and the U.S. Naval War College.

Vance’s biography includes fleet assignments with fighter squadron deployments -- including to Iraq -- from both coasts,with squadrons from the aircraft carriers USS Nimitz, USS Independence, USS Carl Vinson, and USS Harry Truman.

Vance's 4,000 accident-free hours in various Navy jets include 3,500 in F-14 Tomcats.

Vance also has previously served as deputy director and acting director of "Deep Blue," then the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the Navy has established an operations group, informally known as "Deep Blue," an operations group established after 9/11 to provide intellectual support for the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and regional warfighting commanders-in-chief in the global war on terrorism, according to Navy officials.

According to Defense Daily International, Deep Blue is akin to the Air Force's"Checkmate"strategic planning organization.

Both organizations reportedly explore new concepts for platforms, weapons systems, sensors, and tactics, techniques and procedures to improve U.S. capabilities in a "network-versus-network" war with Al-Qaeda and other internationally dispersed terror groups, a Naval official told DDI.

VA simplifying PTSD compensation process

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki on Monday said the VA is moving to help veterans seeking compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder by simplifying the process.

Shinseki, a retired general and highly regarded Army chief of staff in the 1990s who oversaw Army "transformation" to 21st century warfare through the creation of Fort Lewis's Stryker brigades, was appointed by President Obama to do the same for the VA.

“The hidden wounds of war are being addressed vigorously and comprehensively by this administration as we move VA forward in its transformation to the 21st century,” Shinseki said in a press release Monday.

The VA published a proposed regulation in the Federal Register make it easier for veterans to claim service connection for PTSD by reducing the amount of evidence required if the stressors in the claim are related to a fear of military or terrorist hostilities.

Public comment regarding the proposed rule will be taken over the next 60 days, with a final regulation to be published once all comments are considered.

According to the VA news release, under the new rule, the VA would not require corroboration of a stressor related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity if a VA psychiatrist or psychologist confirms that the stressful experience recalled by a veteran adequately supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed stressor.

Previously, claims adjudicators were required to corroborate that a noncombat veteran actually experienced a stressor related to hostile military activity. This rule would simplify the development that is required for these cases, officials explained.

According to mental health experts, PTSD is a recognized anxiety disorder that can follow seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror, and is not uncommon in war. Feelings of fear, confusion or anger often subside, officials noted, but if the feelings don't go away or get worse, a veteran may have PTSD.

The VA has been beefing up its mental health service for combat veterans, adding thousands of new professionals in the last four years.

The department also has established a toll-free suicide prevention helpline -- 1-800-273-TALK -- and has a Web site available for online chat in the evenings.

At the Pentagon, meanwhile, Army vice chief of staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli last month announced the launch of the largest study of behavioral health ever undertaken by the Army.

Chiarelli, originally from Seattle, is actively spearheading the study that will be conducted by a dream team from the military, National Institute of Mental Health, academia and other members in hopes of better understanding the underlying causes of suicide.

I found out about Chiarelli's sincere passion for soldiers' welfare when I profiled him while I was working for the now defunct Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper in March 2008. At the time he was Defense Secretary Robert Gates' senior military advisor.

Chiarelli in a Pentagon news release said the $50 million study will examine behavioral health, psychological resilience, suicide risk, suicide-related behaviors and suicide deaths across the active and reserve components over all phases of a soldier’s career.

Findings will be presented quarterly with preliminary results due in November.

Chiarelli said the findings could be incorporated in real time into treatment programs. The Army had a record number of suicides in 2007 with 115, and again in 2008 with 139.

“[The study group] realizes this is not business as usual. We’re not going to wait for the final results of the study,” the general said, referring to the project’s five-year timeline.

“We feel that this could be huge -- huge for the Army, the Department of Defense and quite frankly, for America.”

The general predicted that an early recommendation will be to relieve stress on the force by increasing the amount of time troops spend at home relative to the length of time deployed. Chiarelli said deployment stress has shown to manifest itself in high-risk behaviors in soldiers.

“Unfortunately, in a growing segment of the Army’s population, we’ve seen increased stress and anxiety manifest itself through high-risk behaviors, including acts of violence, excess use of alcohol, drug abuse and reckless driving,” he said.

Chiarelli, a Seattle University and University of Washington graduate who maintains connections here, knows the stresses of war, having commanded every unit from platoon to corps level. Chiarelli, who grew up in Magnolia's neighborhood and entered the Army during the Vietnam war after completing ROTC at the UW, served two tours in Iraq.

He first commanded the famed 1st Cavalry Division and later Multi-National Forces-Iraq.

Now a four-star and second in command overall of the Army, Chiarelli is determined to get to the bottom of military suicides and prevent them.

"It rips your heart out," Chiarelli told a group of soldiers in June while on a week-long tour of Army installations to look for clues, a Pentagon news report said.

The soldier no one knows

The words in "War Dogs," a 2006 song by Murray Weinstock, are on the Pentagon's web page devoted to what are now called military working dogs, but which have always been known as war dogs.

When I left my home in the USA.

I was one of many trained a special way.

There was a war going on.

And I was sent to help.

Never did I complain,never whine, never yelp.

The Air Force photo above was taken in April 2007 of Army Staff Sgt. Kevin Reese of the 20th Infantry Regiment, 20th Infantry Division, and his military working dog Grek at a safe house before beginning an assault against insurgents in Bahriz, Iraq.

The training hours were long

They worked you to the bone.

When youre part of a team

You got to hold your own.

Military working dogs as they're now called are respected as fellow soldiers and honored veterans especially for the lives they saved.

But while revered, especially by former handlers, as recently as Vietnam it wasn't always that way. Over the last few years, former handlers and non-profit advocates have been working to do justice to their service and memories by finding them homes after their working years, and since 2005 have been working on a war dog memorial.

Sniffing out the bad guys,

sniffing out the mines,

scouting up ahead,

I’m the point man on the line.

Especially in Vietnam. But from that war in which homecomings left scars, war dogs had no homecomings.

According to the US War Dogs Association, Dr. Howard Hayes, a retired National Institute of Health veterinarian in 1994 counted 3,747 dogs served in Vietnam, determined from records of "brand numbers" tattoed on the dogs' left ears.

However, more likely 4,900 dogs were used between 1964 and 1975 as records of dogs in Vietnam were not maintained before 1968, the association says.

The military working dog association says on its Web site:

"Only 204 dogs exited Vietnam during the 10-year period. Some remained in the Pacific, and some returned to the United States. None returned to
civilian life. So what happened to the dogs that remained? Most where euthanized and the others where turned over to the ARVN (South Vietnamese Army)."

War dogs, never lose their way.

War dogs, saving night and day.

War dogs, we’ve been led astray.

War dogs. Left behind, where we stayed.

Long before the current wars, man's best friend was at his side in defense of home and trained to help in the work of survival. They were transformed into military working dogs and used in larger scales in wars since ancient times.

While Egyptians and Greeks used the dogs as sentry and attack dogs, the Romans took them to new levels, used large mastiffs from Brittannia in actual battalion sized battle formations.
Over the centuries their duties grew, including messenger dogs, search and rescue, scouts and explosive detectors. In Iraq, they also were infamously misused to intimidate prisoners during interrogations. During WW II the Soviet Union made suicide bombers of them, strapping explosives to them then remotely blowing them up as she searched under German tanks for food.

(Not everyone realizes, too, that dogs like the cuddly Portuguese Water Dogs made famous now by President Barack Obama's family, were once the messenger dogs of the Spanish Armada. Bred as fishermen's dogs, these original sea dogs are extremely intelligent, have big lungs and webbed feet, can dive 30 feet for nets, herd fish and swim between boats. Some who didn/t drown as the Armada's ships sank, it is believed, made it to Ireland and are the ancestors of Wheaton terriers.)

In Vietnam alone, according to the Pentagon, nearly 4,000 dogs served, 281 officially reported as killed in action. But those are only what is known since records were kept.

A bond is built forever,

forever and a day.

Built on love, built on trust,

that’s the K-9 way.

Out on a mission

we pray for all our friends

that the shepherd will lead his flock

back to safety once again

So what is being done with U.S. dogs when they retire?

Military Working Dogs Adoptions, an informal group that wants to find homes for retired four-legged veterans, has a site that features heartwarming remembrances of modern success stories, and tells how people can contact the military, without being too much of a pest, to adopt one.

One story involves the adoption by a former military K-9 handler in Vietnam, whose working partner in that war was a German shepherd named Smoke, who 40 years later adopted a modern day working dog.

Despite their military duties, the military working dogs were screened prior for their acceptance by the military and are known for their tremendous temperaments.

The U.S. military has used several breeds of dogs in an war dog capacity since World War II. At first primarily German Shepherds and Doberman Pinschers, though the Doberman's have been replaced by Labrador Retrievers, with Belgian Malinois in the mix, according to U.S. Military Working Dogs Association.

Those who worked with, loved and respect these four-legged veterans also, since 2005, have been working to recognize and remember them through the U.S. War Dog Memorial Fund for a monument to be built in New Jersey.

There's already a recognition at the Air Force Armament Museum in Florida in a sculpture, "Faithful Partner - Guardian of the Night" was sculpted by Susan Bahary to honor and remember all working dogs, their handlers, trainers and veterinary staff.

Those who served with or admire these canine veterans make a promise echoing a conscience-pricking one made by the human troops who returned from Vietnam, ignored or forgotten:

Never again.

As Weinstock's song concludes:

My heart and will’s been broken

lying in this cage.

This war has left me

just another on the page

I’ll never understand

why I’ve been left here to die.

A hero forgotten

but that’s the way it goes.

War dogs. The soldier no one knows.

Spanaway soldier is oldest to die in Afghanistan war

For the second time in three months, war has claimed the life of a U.S. soldier who served in Vietnam and was old enough to carry an AARP card.

This one was close to home, a senior NCO from Spanaway, First Sgt. Jose "Joe" San Nicolas Crisostomo, 59, who on Tuesday became the oldest member of the U.S. armed forces to perish in Afghanistan.

After retiring with 24 years of service in the Army in 1993, Crisostomo voluntarily returned to help out the Army in April 2008, deploying to Kabul two months later, the Pacific Daily News of Guam reported.

Crisostomo, a leader of South Seattle's Chamorro community from Guam, was a Vietnam war veteran, 1991 Gulf War veteran, and received two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart during his previous 24 years of service.

A husband, father of three and grandfather of 10, Crisostomo would have turned 60 on Aug. 29th.

The News Tribune of Tacoma has a story that the Seattle Times picked up that says dozens of people, many from South Sound's Chamorro community of which Crisostomo was a leader, have gathered daily at his home since then to support his wife, Patricia, and his family and to participate in a nine day rosary. The paper said Crisostomo was also nicknamed Sinbad.

Julian Leon Guerrero Mendiola, a fellow veteran who helped found Grupun Minagof, a community group of Chamorro families in the Pacific Northwest, said Cristosomo was most often called "Joe."

"He was one hell of a guy. He was very family-oriented. And he went above and beyond himself to help other people," the Pacific Daily News quoted Mendiola as saying.

Crisostomo died when a roadside bomb tore through the armored Humvee in which he was riding outside of Kabul on Tuesday. The Defense Department said Crisostomo served with International Security Assistance Force Kabul, but did not specify a unit within it or from what U.S. Army post he was based.

In May, Maj. Steven Hutchison of Scottsdale, Ariz., another Vietnam veteran, was killed in Iraq, become the oldest member of the U.S. armed forces killed in either war.

Hutchison wanted to reenlist after 9/11 but his wife was against it, his brother told the Associated press.

After Hutchison's wife died "a part of him died and he rejoined the Army in July 2007 at age 59, his brother, Richard, told the AP in May.

Hutchison served in Afghanistan for a year before deploying to Iraq last October to lead a team of a dozen soldiers training the Iraq military.

Hutchison, who taught psychology at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles in the 1990s, served with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division based at Fort Riley, Kan.

Army to require mental health training for all soldiers

Benedict Carey of the New York Times on Monday reported:

"The Army plans to require that all 1.1 million of its soldiers take intensive training in emotional resiliency, military officials say.

"The training, the first of its kind in the military, is meant to improve performance in combat and head off the mental health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, that plague about one-fifth of troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Active-duty soldiers, reservists and members of the National Guard will receive the training, which will also be available to their family members and to civilian employees.

Read more here.

A call to address growing mental health problems in and out of the miltary

Men and women serving in our armed forces are returning home with not only broken bodies, but broken brains from significant mental health problems, says Dr. Mark M. Rasenick, a professor of physiology, biophysics and psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine.

Rasenick discussed the issue in the Chicago Tribune last weekend, pegged to a recent Army announcement that it will fund the largest study ever to look into mental health problems, including suicide, among military personnel, and try to identify the factors needed to protect soldiers.

A recent Pentagon health survey said 49 percent of the nation's National Guard members, 38 percent of Army soldiers, and 31 percent of the Marines suffer from anger, depression or alcohol abuse after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rasenick noted the military mental health concerns in a larger article calling for a global approach to understand the causes of depression and ways to treat it.

Rasenick reports that the problem is becoming increasingly serious and costly, and the U.S. ought to take the lead in acquiring a more thorough understanding of the biological causes behind mental health problems.

"There's evidence this problem is growing. Insurance providers report 10 percent to 20 percent increases in demand for mental health services in 2008 compared with the previous year. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020 depression will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease," Rasenick writes.

A new generation of ceramic armor aims to reduce casualties

A 26,000 year old invention is being reworked into newer and newer composites aiming to create light but impenetrable body armor for the battlefield, one that can be upgraded immediately to match the latest weapons, Chemical & Engineering News magazine reports in its current issue.

While ceramic was invented way back in 24,000 B.C., it wasn't deployed on the battlefield until WW II, on a Sherman tank. It was used again in the Korean and Vietnam wars but not in significant numbers until the 1991 Persian Gulf War, C&NS reports.

Today it is widely used in troops' body armor and on some vehicles, including Stryker light armored infantry carriers, and the Armored Security Vehicle.

The biggest plus is that ceramic composites weigh about 50 percent less than traditional steel armor and has a high hardness strength.

Negatives include greater difficulties making complex shapes from ceramic than from steel, problems with brittleness, and 50 percent to 200 percent more costly.

But because of ceramics potential, researchers are bearing down on improving its properties and bring down its cost.

Among the efforts are experiments at the nanoscale with additives to enhance plasticity, as well as developing cover layers to improve damage tolerance and creating ceramic and reduce loads on the ceramics, and creation of ceramic composites, the article says.

Some of those composites being studied include the use of titanium diboride with aluminum oxide, or silicon carbide with either boron carbide or aluminum nitride, said Michael J. Normandia, chief scientist for armor development at Ceradyne, a company based in Costa Mesa, Calif., that produces millions of pounds of armor ceramic each year.

Another hot research area involves transparent ceramic armor, aimed at boosting the hardness of armored windows.

Richard A. Haber, a Rutgers University materials scientist whose research focuses on armor ceramics, told the magazine that while modern ceramists and armor manufacturers have made exponential progress, the bar keeps getting higher for ceramic armor -- as does just about every other military advance.

"You come out with a new piece of armor," Haber told the magazine, "then the bad guys come out with a new weapon. So armor has to constantly be improved to match the next type of weapon."

DARPA and nanotech liquid metal Terminators

Anyone out there heard anything more about the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's request in April for proposals to created a "chemical robot?" Any takers for the ChemBots project?

It sparked lots of discussion and comparisons to the T1000 in the Terminator movies that could morph into whatever it wanted and shapeshift between liquid and solid metal.

The Defense Department via DARPA in April suggested it wanted to develop a robot made of flexible materials that could slip through small openings -- imagine under doors -- and reconstitute itself. The military currently uses robots in ordnance detachments to disarm bombs, IEDs and otherwise, but their size and shape limits where they can go.

In its solicitation DARPA explained:

Often the only available points of entry are small openings in buildings, walls, under doors, etc. In these cases, a robot must be soft enough to squeeze or traverse through small openings, yet large enough to carry an operationally meaningful payload. ChemBots represent the convergence of soft materials chemistry and robotics to create a fundamentally new class of soft meso-scale robots.

I'll ask my friend and former Post-Intelligencer colleague Andy Schneider, who has coldtruth.com up and running. In addition to investigating food safety and what we ingest, including toxins we eat and breathe, Schneider expanding his coverage into nanotechnology.