Monday, September 24, 2012
FEMALE BODY ARMOR
Army Spc. Gilliann Campbell gets strapped into her female body armor for prototype testing at Fort Campbell, Ky. U.S. Army photo by Megan Locke Simpson
Deploying Soldiers Test New Female Body Armor Prototype
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
NATICK, Mass., Sept. 17, 2012 - Female soldiers at Fort Campbell, Ky., preparing for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan are getting a chance to weigh in on the latest innovation in personal protective equipment: body armor designed specifically to fit them.
Any woman who has deployed to the combat zone can tell you what's wrong with wearing the improved outer tactical vest – military-speak for body armor –it's designed for a man's body.
"Women were having a real problem with the fit of the IOTV," said Lynn Hennessey, lead designer for the female body armor prototype being tested at Fort Campbell. "The size extra-small was too large for 85 percent of the females, so they weren't getting a good fit. It was too loose and too long."
That left vulnerabilities where the body armor left gaps, particularly under the arms. But it also made the vests uncomfortable enough to affect performance, Hennessey explained.
In some cases, women were reporting bruising on their hip bones because the side plates dragged down to their hips, she said. "And when they were sitting down, it was riding up to their chins, because the torso was so long."
This kind of feedback, both anecdotal and through a formal process of surveys and focus groups, led the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center here to launch a program to design female-specific body armor.
The program kicked off in January 2011, with prototypes now undergoing testing by members of the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team.
To design the new vests, the design team studied anthropometric data – a series of measurements to reflect the size and shape of female soldiers' bodies, with a particular focus on the bust, torso length and shoulders.
"Females are not small males," said Beverly Kimball, project engineer for female Army aviation combat uniforms also being developed at Natick. "We have specific proportions that require designs for fit and function for uniforms as well as equipment."
The Natick team came up with eight different sizes of female body armor, in two different lengths, to accommodate the force. Although the vests use the same protective plates as the generic body armor, the side plates are slightly scaled down to fit the new contours.
During the initial fit tests, 120 female soldiers at Fort Campbell, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.; Fort Benning, Ga.; and an Army Reserve Center in Milford, Mass., gave the prototypes a resounding thumbs-up.
"It was immediate love," Hennessey said. "As soon as they put them on, they would say, 'I can't believe this is the same body armor. Because of the fit, it felt so much lighter and so much better balanced."
But even before those first 24 prototypes were fielded, Hennessey and her team already were at work improving them. She added darts to the side and bottom of the vest to draw it closer to the body and provide better coverage. She made minor improvements to the buckles to make them fit together better, and incorporated some of the improvements from the third-generation unisex body armor.
Of the 100 second-generation female body armor prototypes, 19 were issued to Fort Campbell soldiers in mid-August.
Soldiers who participated in the test are assigned to a female engagement team that will interact closely with the Afghan population, particularly women, when they deploy later this year. The plan, Hennessey explained, was to let the soldiers get accustomed to wearing the new body armor and then to train in it for about five weeks. This week, they are wrapping up a human factors evaluation that includes such things as weapons firing and climbing in and out of vehicles – all of the things the soldiers are likely to do in combat.
The project team will assess the feedback to determine if the female body armor is ready for fielding throughout the Army.
Army officials hope to produce 3,000 of the new vests and to field them to an Army brigade to be selected next year as a major step in that direction.
"This is a project that will have a direct impact on the soldiers who wear this," Hennessey said. "It will make them a lot more comfortable – but even more important, safer and more effective."
MANAGING MILITARY CHANGE
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2012 - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey thinks one of the most important questions military leaders need to answer is how to best adapt changes to strategy to match changes in the world.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke today at the inaugural Gen. Bernard W. Rogers Strategic Issues Forum here, sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army.
Dempsey said it seems change is happening more quickly now. "Therefore, we've got to be quicker on our feet, and we've got to be more willing to make changes that provide what the nation needs in its military dimension and power," he said.
The general noted the changes in the military over the past decade. The biggest, from the Army's standpoint, was the change from deploying divisions to deploying brigade combat teams. The service did this "to meet the needs of the combatant commanders," he said. "The point is (this change) showed a level of adaptability that we began to think about right after Desert Storm and culminating in the experience in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The Army is proving adaptable in being able to deploy exceedingly smaller pieces of itself, the chairman said. He posited that for now the smallest unit deployed is a brigade, but in the future it may be smaller.
The other change is the proficiency of integration of kinetic and non-kinetic effects. There has been an explosion in the capabilities of information operations since 2001, he said. This includes building provincial reconstruction teams, partnering with Department of State, working with the U.S. Agency for International Development and working with international organizations.
All services "need to understand what we need, how do we measure it, and then how do we ensure it is integrated so we don't have a thousands flowers of information operations blooming out there that could, in some cases, create information fratricide," he said. "We're keen to understand and learn for the last 10 year's application of soft power."
Change has also occurred in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance world. The chairman praised the Air Force for its work on this, noting that the service now has trained more pilots for unmanned aircraft than for piloted ones. Unmanned aircraft capability was miniscule in 2001, and today there is an insatiable appetite for it.
The cyber domain has also grown to be a key capability and a glaring vulnerability for the military, Dempsey said.
Finally, there are changes in special operating forces. This capability has grown from roughly 33,000 in 2001 to up around 70,000 in the near future.
All these changes form a cornerstone for the Joint Force in 2020.
Dempsey made the point that many of the capabilities of the Joint Force of 2020 are around today. "We have to recognize that about 80 percent of the force of 2020 already exists," he said. Part of this is because of budget cycles and program duration.
"It's that other 20 percent that I want to focus our attention on," he said. "In so doing, if we can get that 20 percent to be dramatically different and allow that to wash back over the other 80 percent, then the whole force becomes better."
The military must think about integrating command and control architectures, cyber-capabilities, ISR and special operations forces.
"We've got this agreement that the best information and the most important intelligence comes from the bottom up, not from the top down," he said. "The mindset that we build these structures around the soldier (and go) up is beginning to pay benefits to us by enabling (those occupying) the edge."
And that falls right in with changes in strategy. Dempsey said in the first 25 years of his service the idea was to mass the force and "disaggregate" it as necessary. "I think we will see in the future that we will build the force intending for it to be disaggregated and then only massing it as necessary," he said. "It's a reversal of the paradigm in which I grew up."
Sunday, September 23, 2012
RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS
FROM: U.S. NAVY
Sailors assigned to the Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) man the rails during her commissioning in Galveston, Texas. Fort Worth will proceed to her homeport in San Diego next week. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mike James (Released) 120922-N-MM874-005
Aviation boatswain's mates refuel an AV-8B Harrier jet aircraft assigned to Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 542 on the flight deck aboard the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) during flight operations. The Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is participating in a certification exercise. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Russell (Released) 120920-N-KB563-091
FORMER CIO OF STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Former Chief Investment Officer of Stanford Financial Group Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Obstruction of Justice
WASHINGTON – Laura Pendergest-Holt, 39, the former chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for her role in obstructing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into Stanford International Bank (SIB), the Antiguan offshore bank owned by convicted financier Robert Allen Stanford.
Today’s sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas; FBI Assistant Director Ronald T. Hosko of the Criminal Investigative Division; Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration Phyllis C. Borzi; Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and Chief Richard Weber, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge David Hittner in the Southern District of Texas. In addition to her prison term, Holt was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Judge Hittner noted that Holt did not have the ability to pay a fine.
In January 2009, the SEC sought testimony and documents related to SIB’s entire investment portfolio. Although she was incapable of testifying about the vast majority of that portfolio, Holt nevertheless agreed to testify before the SEC. In her guilty plea, Holt acknowledged that her eventual appearance and sworn testimony before the SEC was a stall tactic designed to frustrate the SEC’s efforts to obtain important information about SIB’s investment portfolio. Holt admitted she took this action intentionally and corruptly, knowing that her testimony would impede the SEC’s investigation and help SIB continue operating.
Holt was remanded into custody today.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Houston Field Office, USPIS, IRS-CI and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. The case against Holt is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Varnado of the Southern District of Texas, Deputy Chief Jeffrey Goldberg of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Fraud Section Trial Attorney Andrew Warren. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Costa of the Southern District of Texas and Fraud Section Deputy Chief William Stellmach were also involved in this case.
The Justice Department thanks the SEC for their assistance and cooperation in this matter.
U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTOS
FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
ANG, USAFE Leaders visit Safe Skies 2011
Air National Guard F-16C Fighting Falcons fly in formation with a Ukrainian SU-27 over Mirgorod Air Base, Ukraine, July 22, during Safe Skies 2011. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Charles Vaughn)
C-37
The C-37A is a twin-engine, turbofan aircraft acquired to fill the worldwide special air missions for high-ranking government and Defense Department officials. There are nine C-37s in the Air Force inventory, of which one is assigned to the 86th Airlift Wing, 309th Airlift Squadron, at Chievres Air Base, Belgium, to support the U.S. Air Forces in Europe mission.
MALI NATIONAL DAY
Mali National DayU.S. STATE DEPTRTMENT
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
September 22, 2012
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of Mali as you celebrate the 52nd anniversary of your independence this September 22. The United States stands with you as you work for peace and security, restoration of Mali's territorial integrity, and a return to democratically-elected government. The United States looks forward to many years of continued friendship.
ADDITIONAL: FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATEPROFILE
Geography
Area: 1,240,278 sq. km. (474,764 sq. mi.); about the size of Texas and California combined.
Cities: Capital--Bamako (pop. 1,728,444). Other cities--Segou (200,000), Sikasso (192,000), Mopti (103,428), Gao (65,000), Kayes (65,000), Timbuktu (38,000).
Terrain: Savannah and desert.
Climate: Semitropical in the south; arid in the north.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Malian(s).
Population (2011 est.): 14.1 million.
Annual population growth rate (2011 est.): 2.61%.
Ethnic groups: Manding (Bambara or Bamana, Malinke) 52%, Fulani 11%, Saracole 7%, Mianka 4%, Songhai 7%, Tuareg and Maur 5%, other 14%.
Religions: Islam 90%, indigenous 6%, Christian 4%.
Languages: French (official) and Bambara (spoken by about 80% of the population).
Education: Enrollment--91% (primary, 2008). Literacy--26%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--111/1,000. Life expectancy (2011 est.)--52 years.
Work force (4 million): Agriculture 70%; services 15%; industry and commerce 15%.
Government
Type: Republic.
Independence: September 22, 1960.
Constitution: Approved by referendum January 12, 1992.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state and commander in chief of the armed forces), prime minister (head of government). Legislative--National Assembly is the sole legislative arm of the government; currently consisting of 147 members. Judicial--Supreme Court with both judicial and administrative powers.
Political parties: Mali is a multiparty democracy. Sixteen political parties are represented in the National Assembly; others are active in local government.
Suffrage: Universal at 18.
Administrative subdivisions: Eight regions and capital district.
Central government budget (2009): Revenues--$1.451 billion; expenditures--$2.232 billion; $781 million deficit.
Economy
GDP (2010 est.): $9 billion.
Avg. annual growth rate (2010 est.): 4.5%.
Per capita income (2010 est.): $691.
Annual skilled worker's salary: $1,560.
Avg. consumer price inflation rate (2009): 2.2%.
Natural resources: Gold, phosphate, kaolin, salt, and limestone currently mined; deposits of oil, bauxite, iron ore, manganese, lithium, and uranium are known or suspected.
Agriculture, livestock, and fishery (32.9% of GDP): Products--millet, sorghum, corn, rice, livestock, sugar, cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), and tobacco.
Industry (21.3% of GDP): Types--food processing, textiles, cigarettes, fish processing, metalworking, light manufacturing, plastics, and beverage bottling.
Services (45.8% of GDP): Telecommunications, construction.
Trade (2009): Exports--$2.079 billion: cotton and cotton products, gold, livestock, fish, tannery products, groundnuts. Major markets--France, Switzerland, Italy, Thailand, Cote d'Ivoire, and Algeria. Imports--$2.292 billion: petroleum products, foodstuffs, machinery and spare parts, vehicles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, textiles. Major suppliers--France, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, China, U.S. ($31 million), Germany, and Japan.
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| Coursing through parched, landlocked Mali, the Niger River flows north through an ancient sand sea before turning sharply east to skirt the edge of the dune-striped Sahara; it then heads south, through Niger, Benin, and Nigeria, to the Gulf of Guinea. At the confluence of the Bani and Niger Rivers in Mali lies a vast Inner Niger Delta the size of Belgium and composed of narrows, twisting waterways, lagoons, and tiny islands (some of which are shown here). |
HISTORY
Malians express great pride in their ancestry and pride themselves on a long history of peaceful coexistence among ethnic groups. Mali is the cultural heir to the succession of ancient African empires--Ghana, Malinke, and Songhai--that occupied the West African savannah. These empires controlled Saharan trade and were in touch with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern centers of civilization.
The Ghana Empire, dominated by the Soninke or Saracole people and centered in the area along the Malian-Mauritanian frontier, was a powerful trading state from about A.D. 700 to 1075. The Malinke Kingdom of Mali had its origins on the upper Niger River in the 11th century. Expanding rapidly in the 13th century under the leadership of Soundiata Keita, it reached its height about 1325, when it conquered Timbuktu and Gao. Thereafter, the kingdom began to decline, and by the 15th century, it controlled only a small fraction of its former domain.
The Songhai Empire expanded its power from its center in Gao during the period 1465-1530. At its peak under Askia Mohammad I, it encompassed the Hausa states as far as Kano (in present-day Nigeria) and much of the territory that had belonged to the Mali Empire in the west. It was destroyed by a Moroccan invasion in 1591. Timbuktu was a center of commerce and of the Islamic faith throughout this period, and priceless manuscripts from this epoch are still preserved in Timbuktu. The United States and other donors are making efforts to help preserve these priceless manuscripts as part of Mali's cultural heritage.
French military penetration of the Soudan (the French name for the area) began around 1880. Ten years later, the French made a concerted effort to occupy the interior. The timing and resident military governors determined methods of their advances. A French civilian governor of Soudan was appointed in 1893, but resistance to French control did not end until 1898, when the Malinke warrior Samory Toure was defeated after 7 years of war. The French attempted to rule indirectly, but in many areas they disregarded traditional authorities and governed through appointed chiefs. As the colony of French Soudan, Mali was administered with other French colonial territories as the Federation of French West Africa.
In 1956, with the passing of France's Fundamental Law (Loi Cadre), the Territorial Assembly obtained extensive powers over internal affairs and was permitted to form a cabinet with executive authority over matters within the Assembly's competence. After the 1958 French constitutional referendum, the Republique Soudanaise became a member of the French Community and enjoyed complete internal autonomy.
In January 1959, Soudan joined Senegal to form the Mali Federation, which became fully independent within the French Community on June 20, 1960. The federation collapsed on August 20, 1960, when Senegal seceded. On September 22, Soudan proclaimed itself the Republic of Mali and withdrew from the French Community.
President Modibo Keita--whose party Union Soudanaise du Rassemblement Democratique Africain (US/RDA) had dominated preindependence politics--moved quickly to declare a single-party state and to pursue a socialist policy based on extensive nationalization. A continuously deteriorating economy led to a decision to rejoin the Franc Zone in 1967 and modify some of the economic excesses.
On November 19, 1968, a group of young officers staged a bloodless coup and set up a 14-member Military Committee for National Liberation (CMLN), with Lt. Moussa Traore as President. The military leaders attempted to pursue economic reforms but for several years faced debilitating internal political struggles and the disastrous Sahelian drought.
A new constitution, approved in 1974, created a one-party state and was designed to move Mali toward civilian rule. However, the military leaders remained in power. In September 1976, a new political party was established, the Democratic Union of the Malian People (UDPM), based on the concept of democratic centralism. Single-party presidential and legislative elections were held in June 1979, and Gen. Moussa Traore received 99% of the votes. His efforts at consolidating the single-party government were challenged in 1980 by student-led, anti-government demonstrations, which were brutally put down, and by three coup attempts.
The political situation stabilized during 1981 and 1982 and remained generally calm throughout the 1980s. The UDPM spread its structure to cercles and arrondissements (administrative subdivisions) across the land. Shifting its attention to Mali's economic difficulties, the government approved plans for cereal marketing liberalization, reform in the state enterprise system, and new incentives to private enterprise, and worked out a new structural adjustment agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, by 1990, there was growing dissatisfaction with the demands for austerity imposed by the IMF's economic reform programs and the perception that the President and his close associates were not themselves adhering to those demands.
As in other African countries, demands for multiparty democracy increased. The Traore government allowed some opening of the system, including the establishment of an independent press and independent political associations, but insisted that Mali was not ready for democracy. In early 1991, student-led, anti-government rioting broke out again, but this time government workers and others supported it. On March 26, 1991, after 4 days of intense anti-government rioting, a group of 17 military officers arrested President Traore and suspended the constitution. Within days, these officers joined with the Coordinating Committee of Democratic Associations to form a predominantly civilian, 25-member ruling body, the Transitional Committee for the Salvation of the People (CTSP). The CTSP then appointed a civilian-led government. A national conference held in August 1991 produced a draft constitution (approved in a referendum January 12, 1992), a charter for political parties, and an electoral code. Political parties were allowed to form freely. Between January and April 1992, a president, National Assembly, and municipal councils were elected. On June 8, 1992, Alpha Oumar Konare, the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA), was inaugurated as the President of Mali's Third Republic.
STORY OF WWII AIRMAN AND POW
FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE1940s -- The vapor trails from two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft light up the night sky. The B-17 prototype first flew on July 28, 1935. (U.S. Air Force file photo)FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
Never forget: World War II Airman, POW shares story of resiliency.
Posted 9/21/2012
by Airman 1st Class Tom Brading
Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs
9/21/2012 - JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. (AFNS) -- Two flags wave in the wind of his front yard. The first is the U.S. flag, the symbol of his country. The second is the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag, the symbol of his sacrifice.
His living room is decorated in combat medals, including the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medal. They are relics of his military service, sacrifice and dedication.
Today, Charleston, S.C., native Jim Gatch, an 89-year-old Army Air Corps veteran and POW survivor of World War II, sits in his home safe and sound, but it hasn't always been this way.
In November of 1942, Gatch enlisted into the Army Air Corps, the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force. After training, he was assigned to the 379th Bomb Group and deployed to Europe as a waist-gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft.
During a bombing mission on May 5, 1944, the group was bombing a German ball-bearing plant when they started taking heavy fire from German fighter jets.
The Germans eventually shot down his aircraft, but luckily Gatch was able to safely parachute to the ground. According to Gatch, all of the aircrew, with the exception of two, survived the crash.
"It was the first and last time I've jumped out of an airplane," said Gatch. "I had a feeling I could be captured, but it was all happening so fast that I didn't even have a chance to process the variables."
Gatch was captured by German forces after parachuting deep into a French forest near the town of Dunkirk. The rest of the surviving aircrew were captured as well and sent to other prison camps.
"I was on my own," said Gatch, thinking back to the moment he was captured.
The weeks following his abduction, Gatch was sent to a POW camp near Belgard, Germany, and subjected to hours of non-stop interrogation by German officers. Gatch remained resilient in the face of his enemy captors.
"I told them my name, rank and serial number," said Gatch. "Other than that, I didn't say anything. They roughed me up by knocking the side of my head with the stocks of their rifles."
Although Gatch never mentioned his hometown of Charleston, one of his interrogators had visited the U.S and was familiar with southern accents.
The German officer just looked at me and said, 'I know you're from around the Charleston, South Carolina, area,'" said Gatch. "He said my accent gave it away, but I still denied it."
Gatch survived as a prisoner of war for the next 12 months. His diet consisted mainly of dehydrated cabbage and potatoes. Each morning, he was given a cup of hot water to make coffee. According to Gatch, it tasted "awful" and was nothing like any coffee he had before.
"I knew I would make it out of the camp eventually," said Gatch. "Some of the other prisoners began losing hope, so I would encourage them to stay strong."
Gatch's hope was pushed to its limit during the winter of 1944. Due to the Soviet forces pushing the German soldiers east, Gatch, along with more than 6,000 Allied POWs, were forced to march for nearly three months through Germany during one of Europe's most severe winters.
"The conditions during the march were disturbing," said Gatch. "The lack of sanitary facilities, along with an inadequate diet (about 700 calories a day), left many of us near starvation. Diseases such as typhus fever were spread by body lice. Other sicknesses, such as dysentery, pneumonia, pellagra and other diseases were felt by everyone to a certain degree."
But it was the sub-zero weather that was the major problem for the POWs. Frost bite was common for the Allied soldiers forced to march, and in many cases, it resulted in the amputation of fingers, toes, feet and hands.
"During those frigid nights, we slept on the frozen ground," said Gatch. "If we were lucky, we'd rest in old barns or any other shelter that was available."
According to Gatch, it was random acts of heroism that motivated the men to continue marching. Wagons were sometimes provided to the POWs unable to walk, and when horses weren't available to pull the wagons, teams of POWs would pull the wagons by using every ounce of strength they had to ensure they didn't leave anyone behind. Other times, POWs would share their warm clothing with less fortunate POWs.
"I didn't mind doing my part," said Gatch. "I don't think any of us did mind. The strong helped the weak. We knew it was our duty."
In the midst of darkness and chaos during the march, the compassion shown by the prisoners to each other was universal, he said. It bonded them. It reminded the POWs of what they were fighting for and it motivated them to not only keep fighting, but to believe in a brighter tomorrow.
The march came to an end after more than 600 miles traveled by foot in the dead of winter. But the war wasn't over for Gatch. He would remain a POW until he was liberated by British forces on May 5, 1945.
He was a POW for 358 days. His body weight went from more than 160 to 112 pounds during his time in captivity.
Although nearly 70 years have passed since Gatch was a POW, he said he remembers it like it was yesterday.
He can remember the frostbitten extremities during the march, the men who died at the hands of enemy captors and even the bugs crawling through the tents he spent so many nights in.
He sacrificed a year of his life, was subjected to torture, disease and starvation. He didn't know if he'd ever make it home to the United States, but he remained, and still remains, proud of his sacrifice and his dedication to the place he calls home.
"America is worth every bit of the sacrifices I made to preserve its freedom," said Gatch. "Freedom is worth fighting, dying and sacrificing for."
EPA ANNOUNCES $1.3 MILLION TO BE USED TO CLEAN-UP MILWAUKEE
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| Photo: Milwaukee River. Credit: Wikmedia. |
EPA Announces $1.3 Million for Brownfield Cleanups and Job Training in Milwaukee
(MILWAUKEE – September 20, 2012) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Susan Hedman today joined Mayor Tom Barrett at the Century City business park on the west side of Milwaukee to announce brownfield grants totaling $1.3 million to redevelop contaminated properties, create employment opportunities and provide job training.
"These EPA grants are an investment in Milwaukee's future," said Hedman. "They will be used to make the environment healthier and the economy stronger."
"A century of industrial work left this land with real issues that had to be addressed before we could bring new jobs to this location," Mayor Tom Barrett said. "The EPA has been a strong partner in our efforts."
"We take pride in our success helping Wisconsin communities revitalize old brownfield properties," said DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp. "So it’s very exciting to see the progress at Century City and we look forward to a future for Milwaukee that includes a renewed and economically vibrant 30th Street Corridor."
Century City is the 84-acre city-owned business park where Tower Automotive once produced auto frames, military equipment and electric motors. The City's redevelopment authority will receive a $400,000 brownfield grant to clean up petroleum contamination at Century City, bringing the total of EPA brownfield funding for this site to $2.35 million.
In addition EPA is awarding the City of Milwaukee:
•$200,000 for environmental job training. The City will use this funding to train at least 80 Milwaukee residents for environmental remediation work and other green jobs.
•$200,000 to clean up hazardous substances at the Esser Paint site at 1542-46 North 32nd St. and 3131 W. Galena St. The former paint and stained glass manufacturing complex has been vacant since 1999 and is contaminated with heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and other substances. The Esser Paint site is part of the 30th St. Industrial Corridor, a historic industrial and residential area on the near west side that includes Century City.
•$500,000 for a Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund to provide loans to clean up contaminated sites in Milwaukee. When borrowers repay these loans, funds will be available to clean up other sites. This will provide an ongoing source of capital to reduce contamination and blight in Milwaukee.
In 2012, EPA brownfield grants totaled approximately $69 million nationwide. Since 1998, EPA has awarded over $15 million in brownfield grants to Milwaukee.
BIG BANK PAYS FINE FOR VIOLATING WHEAT FUTURES SPECULATIVE POSITION LIMITS
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| Photo From: Wikimedia |
FROM: U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
September 21, 2012 CFTC Orders Citigroup Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. to Pay $525,000 Penalty for Violating Wheat Futures Speculative Position Limits
Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an order filing and settling charges that Citigroup Inc. (Citigroup) of New York, N.Y., and Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. (CGML) of London, England, exceeded speculative position limits in wheat futures contracts in trading on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), which is part of CME Group, Inc. The CFTC order requires Citigroup and CGML to pay a $525,000 civil monetary penalty and cease and desist from further violations of section 4a(b)(2) of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulation 150.2, as charged.
The CFTC order finds that on several occasions in December 2009, Citigroup, via two of its wholly owned subsidiaries, including CGML, held aggregate net long positions in the wheat contract traded on the CBOT in excess of the CFTC’s all months speculative position limits. Additionally, on one or more days in December 2009, CGML individually held net long positions in wheat contracts that exceeded the all months speculative position limits established by the CFTC, the order finds. The position limit for CBOT wheat was 6,500 contracts for all months combined.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Michael R. Berlowitz, Trevor Kokal, David Acevedo, Jeremy Cusimano, Lenel Hickson, Jr., Stephen J. Obie, and Vincent A. McGonagle.
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C-130 FIREFIGHTING OPERATIONS DEACTIVATED
CHEYENNE, Wyo., Sept. 17, 2012 - The U.S. Forest Service has deactivated the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped military C-130s as fire conditions in the West have improved.
The 153rd Air Expeditionary Group received the notification late Sept. 14, releasing the two MAFFS planes and crews that were still operating, as well as the associated support and maintenance staff. All crews have reported back to their home stations.
The California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing, and the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing each had a C-130 operating out of McClellan Air Tanker Base, Calif., for the last few weeks.
On Sept. 2, two C-130s from the Wyoming Air National Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing were released from MAFFS operations in Boise, Idaho. Two C-130s from the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing were released from duty Sept. 7.
"Although our planes and crews have returned home, we all know MAFFS can still be reactivated well into the fall," said Air Force Lt. Col. Donald Taylor, 153rd Air Expeditionary Group acting commander. "We have had a very busy season and know it's still too early to say the season is over for good."
According to 153rd Air Expeditionary Group officials based in Boise, Idaho, this season has become the second-highest in MAFFS history for gallons of fire retardant dropped, surpassed only by the MAFFS season of 1994 when about 5 million gallons were dropped. This season, through Sept. 14, the MAFFS fleet released almost 2.5 million gallons of fire retardant during 1,011 drops on fires in 10 states.
MAFFS is a joint Defense Department and U.S. Forest Service program designed to provide additional aerial firefighting resources when commercial and private air tankers are no longer able to meet the Forest Service's needs.
This is the first year since 2008 that all four MAFFS wings had been activated simultaneously, officials said.
As a self-contained aerial firefighting system owned by the U.S. Forest Service, MAFFS can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area a quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.
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| Air National Guard C-130 Hercules equipped with modular airborne firefighting systems, similar to this one, are dropping thousands of gallons of retardant on the wildfires in Southern California. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Daryl McKamey) |
FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
Forest Service Deactivates C-130 Firefighting Operations From a 153rd Air Expeditionary Group News Release
CHEYENNE, Wyo., Sept. 17, 2012 - The U.S. Forest Service has deactivated the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped military C-130s as fire conditions in the West have improved.
The 153rd Air Expeditionary Group received the notification late Sept. 14, releasing the two MAFFS planes and crews that were still operating, as well as the associated support and maintenance staff. All crews have reported back to their home stations.
The California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing, and the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing each had a C-130 operating out of McClellan Air Tanker Base, Calif., for the last few weeks.
On Sept. 2, two C-130s from the Wyoming Air National Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing were released from MAFFS operations in Boise, Idaho. Two C-130s from the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing were released from duty Sept. 7.
"Although our planes and crews have returned home, we all know MAFFS can still be reactivated well into the fall," said Air Force Lt. Col. Donald Taylor, 153rd Air Expeditionary Group acting commander. "We have had a very busy season and know it's still too early to say the season is over for good."
According to 153rd Air Expeditionary Group officials based in Boise, Idaho, this season has become the second-highest in MAFFS history for gallons of fire retardant dropped, surpassed only by the MAFFS season of 1994 when about 5 million gallons were dropped. This season, through Sept. 14, the MAFFS fleet released almost 2.5 million gallons of fire retardant during 1,011 drops on fires in 10 states.
MAFFS is a joint Defense Department and U.S. Forest Service program designed to provide additional aerial firefighting resources when commercial and private air tankers are no longer able to meet the Forest Service's needs.
This is the first year since 2008 that all four MAFFS wings had been activated simultaneously, officials said.
As a self-contained aerial firefighting system owned by the U.S. Forest Service, MAFFS can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area a quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.
ATLAS V ROCKET LAUNCHED
FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
Team Vandenberg launched a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying a National Reconnaissance Office payload from Space Launch Complex-3 here Sept. 13 at 2:39 p.m. It was the fifth Atlas V processed at Vandenberg and the 606th Atlas mission in U.S.
history. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Lael Huss)
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| (U.S. Air Force photo/ Lael Huss |
Vandenberg's 5th Atlas V lifts off
9/14/2012 - VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Team Vandenberg launched a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-3 here Sept. 13 at 2:39 p.m.
It was the fifth Atlas V processed at Vandenberg and the 606th Atlas mission in U.S. history.
"It's an honor to work alongside the men and women of Team Vandenberg, United Launch Alliance, the National Reconnaissance Office and our mission partners," said Col. Nina Armagno, 30th Space Wing commander. "These synergistic relationships are what guide Vandenberg to continual mission success and lead us into the next generation of spaceport excellence."
Western range launch operations were executed without incident.
The rocket carried a national security payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.
Vandenberg's next launch is a Minuteman III scheduled for Nov. 14.
VESTA: THE WATER OASIS IN SPACE
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| Capturing the Surface of Asteroid Vesta |
This full view of the giant asteroid Vesta was taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, as part of a rotation characterization sequence on July 24, 2011, at a distance of 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). A rotation characterization sequence helps the scientists and engineers by giving an initial overview of the character of the surface as Vesta rotated underneath the spacecraft. This view of Vesta shows impact craters of various sizes and grooves parallel to the equator. The resolution of this image is about 500 meters per pixel.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
FROM: NASA
Dawn Spacecraft Sees Hydrated Minerals on Giant Asteroid
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft has revealed the giant asteroid Vesta has its own version of ring around the collar. Two new papers, based on observations from the low-altitude mapping orbit of the Dawn mission, show volatile, or easily evaporated, materials have colored Vesta's surface in a broad swath around its equator.
The volatiles were released from minerals likely containing water. Pothole-like features mark some of the asteroid's surface where the volatiles boiled off. Dawn did not find actual water ice at Vesta. However, it found evidence of hydrated minerals delivered by meteorites and dust in the giant asteroid's chemistry and geology. The findings appear Thursday in the journal Science.
One paper, led by Thomas Prettyman, the lead scientist for Dawn's gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., describes how the instrument found signatures of hydrogen, likely in the form of hydroxyl or water bound to minerals in Vesta's surface.
"The source of the hydrogen within Vesta's surface appears to be hydrated minerals delivered by carbon-rich space rocks that collided with Vesta at speeds slow enough to preserve their volatile content," said Prettyman.
A complementary paper, led by Brett Denevi, a Dawn participating scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., describes the presence of pitted terrain created by the release of the volatiles.
Vesta is the second most massive member of our solar system's main asteroid belt. Dawn was orbiting at an average altitude of about 130 miles (210 kilometers) above the surface when it obtained the data. Dawn left Vesta on Sept. 5 EDT (Sept. 4) and is on its way to a second target, the dwarf planet Ceres.
Scientists thought it might be possible for water ice to survive near the surface around the giant asteroid's poles. Unlike Earth's moon, however, Vesta has no permanently shadowed polar regions where ice might survive. The strongest signature for hydrogen in the latest data came from regions near the equator, where water ice is not stable.
In some cases, space rocks crashed into these deposits at high speed. The heat from the collisions converted the hydrogen bound to the minerals into water, which evaporated. Escaping water left holes as much as six-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) wide and as deep as 700 feet (200 meters). Seen in images from Dawn's framing camera, this pitted terrain is best preserved in sections of Marcia crater.
"The pits look just like features seen on Mars, and while water was common on Mars, it was totally unexpected on Vesta in these high abundances," said Denevi. "These results provide evidence that not only were hydrated materials present, but they played an important role in shaping the asteroid's geology and the surface we see today."
GRaND's data are the first direct measurements describing the elemental composition of Vesta's surface. Dawn's elemental investigation by the instrument determined the ratios of iron to oxygen and iron to silicon in the surface materials. The new findings solidly confirm the connection between Vesta and a class of meteorites found on Earth called the Howardite, Eucrite and Diogenite meteorites, which have the same ratios for these elements. In addition, more volatile-rich fragments of other objects have been identified in these meteorites, which supports the idea the volatile-rich material was deposited on Vesta.
The Dawn mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The spacecraft is as a project of the Discovery Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for overall mission science. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., designed and built the spacecraft.
The framing cameras that saw the pitted terrain were developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, with contributions by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering, Braunschweig. The framing camera project is funded by NASA, the Max Planck Society and DLR. The gamma ray and neutron detector instrument was built by Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M., and is operated by the Planetary Science Institute.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
USDA-COLORADO AGREE ON RIO GRANDE BASIN WATER CONSERVATION PROJECT
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| Rio Grande National Forest. Credit: Wikimedia. |
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
USDA and Colorado Announce Rio Grande Basin Water Conservation Project Agreement
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2012— Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John Salazar today announced that Colorado and USDA have agreed to the terms of a new Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to help conserve irrigation water and reduce ground water withdrawal from the Rio Grande Basin. The project will enhance water quality, reduce erosion, improve wildlife habitat and conserve energy in portions of the Rio Grande watershed in Colorado. Vilsack and Salazar made the joint announcement at the 2012 Colorado Water Conservation Board Statewide Drought Conference.
"USDA is proud to work with the state of Colorado to enroll up to 40,000 acres of eligible irrigated cropland in an effort to address critical water conservation and other natural resource issues within portions of the Rio Grande watershed," said Vilsack. "USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program continues to be one of our nation’s most successful voluntary efforts to conserve land, improve our soil, water, air and wildlife habitat resources—and now producers in Colorado have even greater incentives to enroll in efforts to protect the Rio Grande Basin."
This agreement is for the establishment of permanent native grasses, permanent wildlife habitat, shallow areas for wildlife and wetland restoration on up to 40,000 acres of eligible irrigated cropland with a primary goal of reducing annual irrigation water use by approximately 60,000 acre-feet.
The sign-up date for this voluntary conservation program is expected to be announced soon after an agreement is formalized later this year.Farmers and ranchers in portions of Alamosa, Rio Grande and Saguache counties will then be able to apply for this program at their Farm Service Agency (FSA) service center. FSA will administer the Colorado Rio Grande CREP within these counties, working with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the state of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources through the Division of Water Resources, Subdistrict Number 1 of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, and other state and local CREP partners.
After the agreement is formalized, participants will (1) voluntarily enroll irrigated cropland into specialized 14-15 year Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts, and (2) enter into water use agreements with Subdistrict Number 1 of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District. An additional perpetual irrigation water retirement agreement also will be an option for producers to help achieve long-term water savings.
The following national CRP conservation practices will be made available for eligible land focusing on water resource conservation:
Establishment of Native Grasses and Forbs – CP2 Establishment of Permanent Wildlife Habitat, Non-easement – CP4D Establishment of Shallow Water Areas for Wildlife – CP9 Restoration of Wetland Habitat – CP23 and CP23A
CREP is an option under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that agricultural producers may use to voluntarily establish conservation practices on their land. The project will provide land owners and operators financial and technical assistance. Under this CREP, participants will receive annual irrigated rental payments, cost share and incentive payments for voluntarily enrolling irrigated cropland into contracts and installing the approved conservation practices. USDA also will pay up to 50 percent of the cost of installing the conservation practices. Additional special incentives and cost share will be provided by the WAE for land enrolled within a designated focus area within the project area. Additional incentives will be provided by the subdistrict’s WAE to producers who elect to retire water permanently. Participants will establish permanent vegetative covers on enrolled land according to CRP conservation plans developed by NRCS.
To be eligible, cropland must meet CRP’s cropping history criteria, which includes cropping history provisions, one-year ownership requirement, and physical and legal cropping requirements. Marginal pastureland is also eligible for enrollment provided it is suitable for use as a needed and eligible riparian buffer. Producers who have an existing CRP contract are not eligible for CREP until that contract expires. Producers with expiring CRP contracts who are interested in CREP should submit offers for re-enrolling their land into CREP during the last year of their existing CRP contract.
In 2011, as a result of CRP, nitrogen and phosphorous losses from farm fields were reduced by 623 million pounds and 124 million pounds respectively. The CRP has restored more than two million acres of wetlands and associated buffers and reduces soil erosion by more than 300 million tons per year. CRP also provides $1.8 billion annually to landowners—dollars that make their way into local economies, supporting small businesses and creating jobs. In addition, CRP is the largest private lands carbon sequestration program in the country. By placing vulnerable cropland into conservation, CRP sequesters carbon in plants and soil, and reduces both fuel and fertilizer usage. In 2010, CRP resulted in carbon sequestration equal to taking almost 10 million cars off the road.
HHS SAYS AFFORDABLE CARE ACT WILL SAVE SENIORS $5000 OVER 12 YEARS
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| Photo: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius |
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Through the Affordable Care Act, Americans with Medicare will save $5,000 through 2022
5.5 million seniors saved money on prescription drugs and 19 million got free preventive care in 2012
Because of the health care law – the Affordable Care Act – the average person with traditional Medicare will save $5,000 from 2010 to 2022, according to a report today from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. People with Medicare who have high prescription drug costs will save much more – more than $18,000 – over the same period.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced that, because of the health care law, more than 5.5 million seniors and people with disabilities saved nearly $4.5 billion on prescription drugs since the law was enacted. Seniors in the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole have saved an average of $641 in the first eight months of 2012 alone. This includes $195 million in savings on prescriptions for diabetes, over $140 million on drugs to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and $75 million on cancer drugs so far this year. Also in the first eight months of 2012, more than 19 million people with original Medicare received at least one preventive service at no cost to them.
"I am pleased that the health care law is helping so many seniors save money on their prescription drug costs," Secretary Sebelius said. "A $5,000 savings will go a long way for many beneficiaries on fixed incomes and tight budgets."
The health care law includes benefits to make Medicare prescription drug coverage more affordable. In 2010, anyone with Medicare who hit the prescription drug donut hole received a $250 rebate. In 2011, people with Medicare who hit the donut hole began receiving a 50 percent discount on covered brand-name drugs and a discount on generic drugs. These discounts and Medicare coverage gradually increase until 2020, when the donut hole will be closed.
The health care law also makes it easier for people with Medicare to stay healthy. Prior to 2011, people with Medicare had to pay for many preventive health services. These costs made it difficult for people to get the health care they needed. For example, before the health care law passed, a person with Medicare could pay as much as $160 for a colorectal cancer screening. Because of the Affordable Care Act, many preventive services are now offered free to beneficiaries (with no deductible or co-pay) so the cost is no longer a barrier for seniors who want to stay healthy and treat problems early.
In 2012 alone, 19 million people with traditional Medicare have received at least one preventive service at no cost to them. This includes 1.9 million who have taken advantage of the Annual Wellness Visit provided by the Affordable Care Act – almost 600,000 more than had used this service by this point in the year in 2011. In 2011, an estimated 32.5 million people with traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage received one or more preventive benefits free of charge.
AIR FORCE COMBAT SIMULATOR
FROM: U.S. AIRFORCE
The MC-130E Combat Talon I simulator sits in one of the simulator bays Sept. 20, 2012 at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Since all of the simulators look the same from the outside, they are identified by a specific emblem. For example, this simulator is marked with a pterodactyl dinosaur. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Melanie Holochwost)
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