CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS VISITS TROOPS IN ESTONIA

 FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, second from left, and Estonian Lt. Gen. Riho Terras, commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, hold a news conference in Tallinn, Estonia, Sept. 14, 2015. DoD photo by D. Myles Cullen.

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, September 15, 2015 — The highest-ranking U.S. military officer today took part in his final official overseas troop event while visiting with U.S. rotational forces in Estonia.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff greeted soldiers and U.S. personnel during a visit to the headquarters of the Estonian 1st Brigade in Tapa, about 60 miles east of Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn.

"I was especially proud to see those young men and women I met out in Tapa wearing the uniform of our country with the flag on their right shoulder," said U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who retires at the end of this month.

Dempsey said there's no "greater symbol of commitment" than the presence of U.S. troops, America's sons and daughters, on the ground in the region.

The U.S. soldiers are with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based in Vicenza, Italy, and are on a six-month deployment to the Baltic nation to train alongside Estonian forces as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

The operation is a demonstration of continued U.S. commitment to the collective security of NATO and to enduring peace and stability in the region in light of Russia's illegal actions in Ukraine.. About 5,000 U.S. troops have rotated through Estonia since April 2014, with other rotations taking place in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

In a talk with the U.S. troops, the chairman thanked them for their service and their commitment to the mission and peace and security in the region.

"The United States in particular, but also several other of our NATO allies, responded quickly and effectively to create a new baseline of activity in Estonia and some of the other nations in the Baltics and in Eastern Europe," he said.

U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Porter, who was manning a gun on a Humvee during Dempsey's visit, said he welcomed the joint training because it allows for the two nations to learn from each other.

"We get a lot of valuable feedback on the way we handle different situations," Porter said. "It's kind of nice to see the way they do things and then we can compare and change things up and make it better."

Sending U.S. troops to Estonia is a "strong gesture" in reassuring the people of the small Baltic nation, said Estonian Land Forces 1st Sgt. Pirger Laur, whose face was painted in camouflage and was manning a jeep disguised in leafy greens.

"One key factor I think [the training] brings here, if you do it on your own, sometimes you go in the wrong path," Laur said. "But if you exchange information, it improves the training."

Dempsey said he and his host nation partners, including Estonia, are assessing what worked and what needs improvement in the operation and looking at long-term strategy for the mission.

After his visit with the troops, Dempsey returned to Tallinn to meet with Estonian President, Toomas Hendrik Iles. He also held a press conference at the Tallinn airport with his counterpart in the Estonian defense forces before departing for Washington and bringing an end the weeklong tour that also took him to Germany and Turkey to close out his final foreign voyage as chairman.

DOD VIDEO: TROOPS TO IRAQ, PLANES TO POLAND

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL FINISHES VISITS WITH TROOPS, NATIONS

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Hagel Concludes Six-day Troop, Partner Nation Visits
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

DOHA, Qatar, Dec. 10, 2013 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wrapped up a dual-purpose six-day trip to the Middle East and Southwest Asia here today.
As the secretary told troops at his last stop here, “The first priority and the real reason I was out here and spent time was to thank our troops, thank our men and women who do so much for all of us.”

Hagel also spent time engaging with allies and partners to assure them of the United States’ commitment to the region. He delivered a speech on the U.S. regional force posture in Manama, Bahrain. Hagel also spent two days in Afghanistan talking with Afghan military leaders and U.S. troops and ground commanders. And, he attended high-level meetings in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and here.

The secretary’s day in Qatar started at a palace and concluded at a semi-secret military facility. In the interim, Hagel and Qatari Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah formally renewed the U.S.-Qatar Defense Cooperation Agreement. The agreement governs training, exercises and other cooperative interactions between U.S. and Qatari forces.

“This agreement promotes cooperation and is a testament to the longstanding security partnership enjoyed by the United States and Qatar,” Assistant Pentagon Press Secretary Carl Woog said in a written statement.

Woog added that the accord “underscores the close partnership between the United States and its [Gulf Cooperation Council] partners, which Secretary Hagel highlighted in his remarks at the Manama Dialogue this past weekend.”
The secretary’s first stop today was the Sea Palace, where he met with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, Qatar’s emir. He then moved on to the signing ceremony at Qatar’s government headquarters, and then paid a visit to U.S. and coalition forces at the Combined Air and Space Operations Center, located at Al Udeid Airbase, a Qatari base that hosts the U.S. command-and-control facility.

Addressing service members there -- his fourth troop talk this week -- Hagel thanked them and their families, offering his and President Barack Obama’s best wishes for the holiday season.

“I know occasionally you’re stuck in remote places and you wonder if anybody even knows where you are or who you are or what you’re doing,” the secretary said. “Let me assure you, we do.”

The center where they work coordinates military air operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility by integrating nearly 30 nations’ capabilities into a complete, real-time overview of mission execution. Hagel told troops that multinational approach is “where the world’s going.”

A senior defense official traveling with the secretary told reporters on background that the center might be unique in the degree of talent it brings together.
“[There’s] probably no other facility where you can go and see so many partners operating together at once,” the official said. “So that’s a story that is important, to reassure our allies and our partners.”

The official added that the center, which military leaders have in the past been reluctant to publicize because of regional sensitivities, makes it “visible to the world that we’re working together on common defense.”

Hagel told the airmen, sailors, soldiers and Marines at Al Udeid that the experience and training Gulf nation representatives receive there, along with integrated allied participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, furthers U.S. aims to build partner capacity.

“Our partners are going to be as important, and probably more so, than they’ve ever been, for our own national security [and] for their national security,” the secretary said, emphasizing a message he has delivered throughout his time in office.

“The more we can understand each other [and] work with each other, the better the world is going to be,” Hagel told the troops. “I’m particularly impressed with that part of what you’re doing here.”

The secretary began his trip telling delegates to the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that the United States will maintain its troop posture in the region and that it seeks to strengthen coalitions there. He repeated that message today.
“We’re not going to get disconnected from our allies in this region,” he told reporters traveling with him before boarding the plane for Washington. “Our common interests are very clear here.”

CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS GIVES INTERVIEW TO CNN

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Dempsey Discusses Middle East, U.S. Troop Issues
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2013 - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed events in the Middle East and U.S. troop issues during an interview broadcast today but recorded July 3 with Candy Crowley for CNN's State of the Union news program.

Dempsey answered questions about recent events in Egypt, the ongoing civil war in Syria and the situation in Afghanistan.

Dempsey, who has served at length in the Middle East during his military career, called Egypt a great country and a cornerstone of the region.

"It's got an incredible history and culture and the world needs Egypt to be stable," the chairman said, adding that what the Egyptians want to do with their government "is for them to decide, and I mean that sincerely."

He added, "As a student of that part of the world and someone who lived in the region for most of the last 10 years -- what we're seeing is that democracy takes a while to stick."

Turning to Syria, where civil war has raged since March 2011, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions, Dempsey said the United States is contributing hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance and working closely with partners in the region.

Dempsey said he tries to see the broader picture with regard to the situation in Syria.

"This is an issue that extends from Beirut to Damascus to Baghdad, and in fact over the last six months the levels of violence in both Lebanon and Baghdad have been alarmingly high," he explained.

Events in Syria reflect a regional issue, Dempsey added, that's related "to a competition at best and a conflict at worst between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam, and it's been hijacked at some level on both sides by extremists -- al-Qaida on one side and Lebanese Hezbollah and others on the other side."

It's not a simple matter of stopping the fighting in Syria by introducing any particular U.S. capability, the chairman said, pointing out that "this is about a 10-year issue and if we fail to think about it as a 10-year regional issue we could make some mistakes."

Dempsey said he's not making predictions about how long President Bashar al-Assad will stay or not stay in Syria.

"I'm suggesting that the underlying causes of the conflict as I have just described them will persist for 10 years," he said.

Turning to Afghanistan, Dempsey said the International Security Assistance Force has another 18 months to get Afghanistan's security forces where they need to be to maintain a stable security platform.

The ISAF is slated to disband at the end of 2014 when its combat mission in Afghanistan ends. NATO will then train, advise and assist Afghanistan's security forces.

"I think that we will get the Afghan security forces to a point where they will be able to provide security generally across the country. But there will be pockets of resistance," Dempsey said.

"The problem," he added, "is that I can't speak with much optimism at this point about the other factors of governance, be they economic or political. They have to keep pace. And we will know because ... there are elections scheduled for early '14."

Asked about whether it will be difficult to bring adversaries like the Taliban into the Afghanistan peace process, Dempsey answered with an example from another war.

"It is always difficult to think about the losses that we've suffered and the idea that at some point we would find reconciliation with [the Taliban], but I'm mindful of the fact that all wars end with some level of political reconciliation," he said.
Dempsey recalled that his Vietnamese counterpart joined him for dinner in his quarters last week.

"Outside we flew their flag next to our flag. I was almost unnerved by it because I went into West Point during the Vietnam War preparing to go fight in Vietnam. And here we are now, some years later, and they are seeking to become much closer partners with us," the chairman said.

"I think there are several flavors of Taliban," he continued. "I think there are some who are reconcilable and undoubtedly some who are not. So long as we can have enough precision in the way we reach out to them, then I won't have ... concerns about whether our sacrifices would somehow be undermined."

Turning to issues facing U.S. troops, Dempsey said the American people have been extraordinary in their appreciation of the military's contribution to the nation over the past decade.

"After every conflict there's a period of time when the nation decides what it will think of the veterans of that conflict," the chairman said, adding that now is the time to start thinking about the image this generation's men and women warriors deserve.

"If I do have a worry," Dempsey said, "it's that this generation of veterans may be seen as somehow victims because a great many things have manifested themselves -- post-traumatic stress syndrome, rising rates of suicide, rising divorce rates, sexual assault.

"So I don't want to have this generation's young men and women, the warriors, seen as victims somehow," he continued. "This conflict has been a source of strength as well for many veterans."

Dempsey also said he'd "like the American people to give veterans opportunities -- not as a handout but rather to recognize what they might bring to the workplace, what they might bring to their communities."