Terror platoon finds a supposed IED in Mizan
March 16th, 2010 | Afghanistan | Posted by Mike Hoffman
What you can’t see in this photo is the reporter behind the lens trying to keep his shorts dry after the platoon sergeant didn’t give much of a warning before he started digging around the supposed rocket.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MIZAN, Afghanistan — Staff Sgt. Timothy Mitchum’s eyes got wide as he watched his platoon sergeant start digging around what the soldiers thought was a Chinese rocket.
The day before, Afghan National Police officers received a tip that the Taliban was trying to hide an improvised explosive device in the orchard two miles outside the FOB. A villager led Sgt. 1st Class Victor Delvalle and Mizan Police Chief Badamgul Qalamyar to what he thought was a rocket.
“It looks like a Chinese rocket to me,” said Delvalle, the 1-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment’s Terror Platoon sergeant.
A rocket had exploded about 800 meters outside the FOB four nights earlier. When Delvalle approached the supposed rocket, all that could be seen was a green tube buried underneath loose soil.
The closer Delvalle looked he didn’t see any wires. He also noticed the green tube was buried next to a wall, which few people would walk past.
“It looks like it is being cached,” Delvalle told Pvt. 1st Class Alan Nutt, his radio operator, who reported it to the tactical operations center.
The green paint on the tube made the soldiers believe at first it was a Chinese rocket.
Delvalle then walked back to the green tube. He set down his M4 and started digging around the tube. “This is too long to be a rocket,” Delvalle said to a couple soldiers huddled near their platoon sergeant.
In one motion he lifted the tube out of the ground. Delvalle then looked down at the five-foot tube smelling for any powders.
“Something was fired out of this. Smell it,” Delvalle said to Sgt. Jonathan Dean. He smelled it and nodded.
When asked why he started digging rather then waiting for an explosive ordnance disposal team, Delvalle shrugged.
“What EOD team? We’d be waiting here for two hours or more if we had to blow it ourselves. I didn’t see any wires and it wasn’t near any traffic areas so if it was an IED, it wasn’t going to explode,” Delvalle said.
This was the second time Delvalle started digging around what was thought to be an IED site. Two days earlier, the platoon sergeant showed Afghan National Army soldiers where the pressure plate would be connected to a wire if the IED was planted in the road.
“That’s the second time this week sergeant,” Mitchum said.
“Don’t worry I’m not trying to get blown up before I go on R-and-R,” Delvalle said.
Sgt. 1st Class Victor Delvalle inspects the inside of the tube to check if it was used to fire rockets or mortars.
Delvalle and Sgt. Jonathan Dean have a laugh about the platoon sergeant's EOD skills.
Terror Platoon soldiers leave the orchard where they found the green tube that was a suspected IED.
Dogs of war
March 16th, 2010 | Afghanistan | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Snuff (left) and Longcut (right) take a break on their way back to FOB Mizan.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE, Mizan — Snuff and Longcut trot around FOB Mizan like they own the place.
Terror Platoon’s two Afghan mutts try to follow the soldiers on their patrols outside the wire. The platoon sergeant keeps them on base for the higher risk missions, but he let Snuff and Longcut follow the platoon on March 12.
The soldiers with the 1-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment brought Snuff with them from a previous base, FOB Al Mask. Longcut was found at Mizan.
Snuff and Longcut live off scraps from the soldiers. As for their names, lets just say Copenhagen has a few fans here at Mizan. Those cheesy anti-smokeless tobacco AFN commercials don’t seem to be getting through.
See more photos of Snuff and Longcut with the soldiers after the jump.
82nd Chinooks keep Afghan FOBs supplied
March 10th, 2010 | Afghanistan | Posted by Mike Hoffman
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Chinooks serve as the lifeline to the forward operating bases throughout Afghanistan. They fly everything from the basics such as drinkable water to generators to ammunition.
The 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade flies 15 CH-47F Chinooks out of Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. On Tuesday, one of their crews invited me to fly with them. I am working on a more in-depth story for the print edition, but I wanted to share some photos I took during the mission.
Northrop/EADS tanker decision fuels rage
March 9th, 2010 | Air Force tanker | Posted by Tom Spoth
The outcry over the Northrop Grumman/EADS team’s decision to drop out of the KC-X tanker competition is reverberating through the Deep South, and even across the pond in Europe.
It appears Boeing will be handed the $35 billion contract on a silver platter, and Northrop/EADS supporters aren’t happy about it. Politicians in Alabama and Mississippi backed the Northrop/EADS team because they would’ve brought jobs to the region, and Europeans lament that fact that EADS, a Dutch company, will be shut out.
Here are a few of their statements, culled from news reports:
German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle: “Boeing receives considerable economic and financial advantages as a sole bidder, and the Air Force will not receive the best product based on the usual value for money criteria.”
European Commission Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht: “It is highly regrettable that a major potential supplier would feel unable to bid for a contract of this type. Open procurement markets guarantee better competition and better value for money for the taxpayer.”
Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions: “This is truly a dark day for the American war fighter and for the Pentagon. Tasked by Congress to conduct a fair competition, the Obama Defense Department rewrote the bid rules in such a biased fashion that only one team felt it could win. … There is no way the Defense Department will be able to get the best price without competition.”
Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.): “Apparently, the Pentagon didn’t get the word and has handed the president a $35 billion sole-source hot potato, under circumstances that are highly suspect. The president must now intervene to protect the interests of the taxpayer and the men and women of our military.”
EADS president Louis Gallois: “We deeply regret that the U.S. Air Force will not get the best available airplane.”
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour: “It’s a shame Northrop Grumman was compelled to pull out of the bidding on the Air Force tanker contract. The process used to choose the companies that build for the military should encourage competition instead of discouraging it. Sole-sourcing is not fair to America’s war fighters, the Air Force or the American taxpayer.”
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called the process a “charade” and added that “the final RFP clearly stacked the deck for Boeing’s smaller, less capable plane.”
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.: “The Air Force had a chance to deliver the most capable tanker possible to our war fighters and blew it. This so-called competition was not structured to produce the best outcome for our men and women in uniform; it was structured to produce the best outcome for Boeing.”
Hurrying, then waiting outside ‘BX/PX Maximus’
March 5th, 2010 | Afghanistan Air Force | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Yesterday marked the beginning of a month in Afghanistan. I will be reporting out of Kandahar for the rest of March covering everything from provincial reconstruction teams to rescue squadrons to training units working with the Afghan Army and Air Force.
For now, though, I’m holed up at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. There are certainly worse places to get stuck in the “hurry up and wait” game most airmen experience on their way out to a deployment.
I flew aboard a C-17 piloted by Maj. Brian Mortiz and Capt. Jessica Peartson, both with the 16th Airlift Squadron at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. Flying is not one of my fears, but something still doesn’t sit right when the wheels of such a massive aircraft lift off the runway.
The 96th Civil Affairs Battalion gets some rest before landing at Ramstein.
About 30 soldiers with the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., piled onto the flight during a short stop at Pope Air Force Base, N.C. to load supplies and the soldiers who are headed to Balad Air Base in Iraq. When the pilot sent word that seat belts can come off and the overhead lights turned green, I was reminded how the battle begins. Sleeping bags get rolled out and any bit of available floor space is staked out like a California creek bed in 1849.
Back to Ramstein, though. The base opened the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center over this past summer. One major has come to call the high rise hotel/shopping mall “BX/PX Maximus.” And he’s not exaggerating. It’s unlike an BX/PX complex on any other Air Force base. Packed with shopping, billeting rooms, a food court and even a Macaroni Grill, the 844,000-square foot complex is convenient to the thousands of servicemen who pass through the terminal on their way or coming back from a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
If you have time and a rental car to get off base, I’d recommend Restaurant Burgschanke. Dating back to the 1800’s this genuine German hotel/restaurant serves up Deutsch favorites and cool brews.
For the rest of month, e-mail me any questions you might have or story ideas from your time at Kandahar. My email is mhoffman@atpco.com. Look forward to hearing from you. Until then I will continue circling the mall that doubles as BX out here.
Leftover news from yesterday’s Senate hearing
March 5th, 2010 | Air Force Chief of Staff tanker | Posted by Tom Spoth
The main news out of yesterday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was Air Force Secretary Michael Donley’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” comments, but there were a few other tidbits I found intriguing.
Here are a few bullet points left over from Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz’s conversation with the senators:
* Committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., lamented the fact that Alabama senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, both Republicans, had been blocking the confirmation of Air Force nominees for months.
“It’s unconscionable what these holds are doing,” Levin said. (“Unconscionable” seems to be Levin’s favorite word; he also used it several times while talking about “don’t ask, don’t tell.”)
Donley said both nominees, Erin Conaton (undersecretary of the Air Force) and Terry Yonkers to be assistant secretary of the Air Force, “deserve a vote.” Shelby had placed holds on both nominees, as well as Frank Kendall, who was nominated to be principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Sessions had holds on Conaton and Kendall.
Schwartz’s thoughts on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal
February 26th, 2010 | Chief of Staff | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz addresses the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
I caught up with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz after he and Air Force Secretary Michael Donley were grilled by the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 23. It was the first time Schwartz was asked point blank what he thought about President Obama’s pledge to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy during his State of the Union. We have a story this week summing up what all the service chiefs said on the subject, but I wanted to provide some of Schwartz’s comments during and after the hearing that didn’t make it into this week’s story.
His first comments followed a direct question from Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif:
Schwartz: “Congressman McKeon, in my — in this instance my personal opinion is my professional opinion. The president has clearly articulated his intent, and should the law change the Air Force will implement statute and policy faithfully.
Nonetheless, I am concerned that there’s little current scholarship on this issue and little current and reliable survey data of our airmen and their families.
Secretary Gates’ study effort is therefore essential, in my view, to thoroughly understanding and properly evaluating the associated facts and circumstances, the potential implications, the potential complications.
I have two strong convictions on this, sir. One is that this is not the time to perturb the force that is at the moment stretched by demands in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere without careful deliberation. And two, should the law change, our standards of conduct will continue to apply to all airmen.”
Christian leader ousted at Andrews for ‘don’t ask’ views
February 25th, 2010 | Air Force Andrews gay religion | Posted by Tom Spoth
In the topsy-turvy world of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a prominent conservative Christian leader is turned away from a prayer luncheon because he doesn’t support giving homosexuals equal rights.
That’s what happened in January at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., the Washington Post and other media outlets are reporting.
The story goes like this: Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council was invited in October to speak at a National Prayer Luncheon on February 25 at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C. on the theme “Getting Back to the Basics.”
Everything was hunky-dory until President Obama called for a repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in his State of the Union speech on Jan. 27. Two days later, the FRC says, Perkins received a letter from the Andrews chaplain’s office rescinding the invitation to speak, citing FRC statements “which are incompatible in our role as military members who serve our elected officials and our Commander in Chief.”
This was in response to the FRC advocating for keeping “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which, by the way, remains official government policy.
When asked for comment, Andrews said in a statement that “the Chaplain’s Office retracted Mr. Perkins’ invitation after his recent public comments made many who planned to attend the event uncomfortable.”
If Andrews had just let Perkins speak as planned, nobody would’ve batted an eye. Overall discomfort levels are probably much higher at the base now that it’s getting negative press in the national media.
hristian leader rejected for supporting “don’t ask, don’t tell”
By William Wan
U.S. military officials rescinded their invitation to prominent conservative Christian leader Tony Perkins to speak at prayer luncheon Thursday at Andrews Air Force Base because of Perkins’s outspoken views on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuality.
Perkins and other conservatives say the action sends a dangerous message and could have a chilling effect on ministers and military chaplains.
The brouhaha was first reported Wednesday by CBN. The prayer luncheon was scheduled for Thursday at Andrews Air Force Base. Perkins — a Marine veteran and ordained minister — has been on the invitation list since October. According to a letter sent to Perkins at his office at the conservative Family Research Council by Chaplain Lt. Col. Gary J. Bertsch, the military saw statements on FCC’s Web site advocating for keeping the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
“As military members we are sworn to support our Commander in Chief, and are forbidden to make or support statements which run counter to our roles as members of the Armed Forces,” Bertsch said in the letter, referring to Obama’s promise to repeal the policy.
In response, Perkins issued this statement:
“I am very concerned, however, that this merely foreshadows the serious threat to religious liberty that would result from repeal of the current military eligibility law. Such legislation would not merely open the military to homosexuals. It would result in a zero-tolerance policy toward those who disapprove of homosexual conduct.”Military chaplains would bear the heaviest burden. Would their sermons be censored to prevent them from preaching on biblical passages which describe homosexual conduct as a sin? Would they remain free to counsel soldiers troubled by same-sex attractions about the spiritual and psychological resources available to overcome those attractions?”
Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League, also chimed in this morning: “There are legitimate reasons to accept and reject the current policy regarding gays in the military. No one, therefore, should be censored from speaking at any private or public forum–much less a military instillation–because of his or her views on this subject. While the most immediate issue is the blacklisting of Perkins, the larger issue is the “chilling effect” this decision will have on the free speech and religious liberty rights of all those who serve in the military, especially clergymen.”
An Andrews Air Force spokesman said officials there are preparing a statement to send out this afternoon in response.
Update: Andrews Air Force Base just issued this statement in response, “The Chaplain’s Office retracted Mr. Perkins’ invitation after his recent public comments made many who planned to attend the event uncomfortable. This was a local decision made by the Chaplain’s Office who wanted the luncheon to be inclusive for the entire base community. The Chaplain’s Office respects and defends Mr. Perkins right to express his opinions, and regrets any inconvenience to him. We thank and respect him for his prior military service.”
‘Bat-signal’ for religious intolerance
February 22nd, 2010 | Air Force Academy religion | Posted by Tom Spoth
According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Air Force Academy superintendent and the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation have come up with a secret code word to be used in emergencies.
“We have our own bat-signal,” Mikey Weinstein of the MRFF told the paper.
Weinstein said that if he needs to reach Lt. Gen. Mike Gould with concerns about religious liberty on campus, he will use the code word.
It’s unclear why exactly this specific step is necessary, but Weinstein seems satisfied that the academy is now taking seriously a recent incident that was labeled a “hate crime.”
Speaking of religion, though, Batman’s nickname is “The Caped Crusader” and his sidekick’s catchphrase includes the word “holy.”
A poor choice of superheroes to demonstrate religious tolerance? Maybe not.
According to the Web site Adherents.com, Batman is not the churchgoing type. The site’s founder, Preston Hunter, speculates that Bruce Wayne is either a lapsed Roman Catholic or a disaffected Episcopalian.
For a full rundown of comic book characters’ religious affiliations, go here. And you’re welcome.
Congratulations are in order
February 18th, 2010 | Air Force Air Force Reserve | Posted by Michelle Tan
In honor of Black History Month, two airmen – an officer and an enlisted member – will receive the 2010 Department of Defense African-American History Month Recognition Award.
Maj. Timothy W. Porter, of Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., and Senior Master Sgt. Gina P. Rogers, of Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., will be recognized during an event Feb. 17 and 18 at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Porter, a chief space control test analyst for detachment test support at AFOTEC’s Detachment 4, led the development, execution and analysis of the first-ever Iraqi public opinion survey that was used by the Iraqi prime minister. After deploying three times, Porter served as a role model by speaking to first-term airmen and at national events about the importance and rigors associated with defending the nation.
Porter also was recognized by Air Force leaders as the 2009 Field Grade analyst of the year.
Rogers, a senior executive assistant at AFRC, is responsible for 14 wing programs and ensured uninterrupted operations in the combat zone’s busiest wing. She managed and maintained the largest automated data processing equipment account for the 379th Wing, totaling $240,000 and resulting in 100 percent accountability with no deficiencies.
Her management and leadership was a factor in the wing receiving the 2009 Air Force Organizational Excellence Award.
The award Porter and Rogers will receive from the Defense Department honors service members who have supported the global war on terrorism and who have demonstrated role model qualities and the core values of their respective military service. Candidates were considered based on actions performed between February 2008 and February 2009.