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GULF OF THAILAND (Oct. 29, 2014) - The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89), front, steams in formation with the Royal Cambodian Navy Stenka-class patrol fast-attack craft 1131 and 1134 during the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Cambodia 2014 exercise. In its 20th year, CARAT is a series of bilateral naval exercises between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the armed forces of nine partner nations in South and Southeast Asia. (U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Declan Barnes) 141029-N-TG831-720
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I work on a MacBook Pro laptop that plugs into the Apple Cinema Display monitor. Next to that is a Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner for digitizing everything. Apple keyboard and basic Logitech mouse (I had a MagicMouse but it just plain hurt my hand). Also featured: World of Warcraft stuffed gryphon, Kindle, iPad, ubiquitous moleskine (Pac Man edition).
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz visits the Coast Guard Academy, Sept. 18, 2020.
U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Laughlin
USMA receives Colonel (P) Buzzard as the new Commandant for the Corps of Cadets at West Point New York on June 28, 2019. (US Army photo by Tarnish Pride).
The EC-121 was designed primarily as an early warning aircraft protecting against Soviet air attack over the oceans. It was an aerial extension of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line. The aircraft has two large radomes, a vertical dome above and a horizontal one below the fuselage. As the Soviets developed ballistic missiles, the EC-121 role as an early warning aircraft became less important. However, it was used in a variety of strategic, tactical and special missions such as space capsule recovery, control of nuclear test areas, search and rescue, and command and control. The aircraft on display flew many combat missions during the Vietnam War. It was the last EC-121 radar surveillance and control aircraft to serve.
SOUTH CHINA SEA (June 24, 2014) - Ships from the George Washington Carrier Strike Group (GWCSG) and Royal Malaysian Navy steam in formation during an engagement between the two navies that also included a visit to USS George Washington (CVN 73) by Malaysia's Deputy Defense Minister Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri, and the Royal Malaysian Navy's Rear Adm. Dato’ Pahlawan Mior Rosdi, The GWCSG is on patrol in the 7th Fleet area of operations supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Trevor Welsh) 140624-N-ZS026-089
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DoD photo by Cherie Cullen
Gen. Carter F. Ham assumes command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) this morning in a ceremony at the Stadthalle in Sindelfingen, Germany.
Africa is important to U.S. national security interests, Army General Carter F. Ham told committee members, Nov. 18, 2010, during a confirmation hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"These interests," Ham said, "include concerns over violent extremist activities, piracy, illicit trafficking, Africa's many humanitarian crises, armed conflict, and more general challenges such as the effect of HIV/AIDS."
AFRICOM has a role in addressing each of these issues, Ham said, as the military component of a U.S. whole-of-government approach.
However, "the key remains that Africa's future is up to Africans," the general said.
U.S. AFRICOM was established in October 2007 and operated under U.S. European Command during its first year. It transitioned to independent unified command status in 2008.
AFRICOM, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, focuses on synchronizing hundreds of activities inherited from three regional commands that previously coordinated U.S. military relations in Africa.
Gen. Ham served as an enlisted Infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division before attending John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He was commissioned in the Infantry as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1976.
His military service has included assignments in Kentucky, Ohio, California, Georgia, Italy and Germany to name a few. He has also served in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Macedonia, and Iraq.
He has held a variety of positions to include Recruiting Area Commander; Battalion Executive Officer at the National Training Center; Advisor to the Saudi Arabian National Guard Brigade; Commander, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry; Chief of Staff, 1st Infantry Division; Commander, 29th Infantry Regiment; commander, Multi-National Brigade, Mosul, Iraq; Commander, 1st Infantry Division; Director for Operations, J-3, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC.
His previous assignment was Commanding General of United States Army European Command and 7th Army.
His military education includes the Armor Officers Advanced Course, Naval College of Command and Staff, graduating with distinction, and the U. S. Air Force’s Air War College.
General Ham's awards and decorations include Army Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Joint Service Commendation Medal.
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WATERS SOUTH OF JAPAN (Sept. 18 2017) - An amphibious assault vehicle attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU) launches into the ocean from the stern gate of the amphibious assault ship USS Ashland (LSD 48). Ashland, part of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force for any type of contingency. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Alexandra Seeley/Released) 170918-N-JN784-199
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SOUTH CHINA SEA (Oct. 25, 2013) - The U.S. Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), steams alongside the Royal Malaysian Navy offshore patrol vessel KD Pahang (172), guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54), and guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85) during a training exercise. George Washington and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, provide a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interest of the U.S. and its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Liam Kennedy)
131025-N-BD107-460
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COMBAT TOWN, OKINAWA, Japan (Mar. 21, 2017) - U.S. Marines with Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Platoon, G-3, 3d Marine Division, protect themselves from debris caused by the MV-22 on Landing Zone Dodo, Camp Hansen, Okinawa. The CBRN Platoon conducts response drills to enhance the commander’s capabilities by exercising the operability and efficiency of the consequence management set within the 3d Marine Division CBRN response element. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by MCIPAC Combat Camera Lance Cpl. Jesus McCloud) 170321-M-NV775-0080
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U.S. Army Africa photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Davis
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) hosted its second annual C4ISR Senior Leaders Conference Feb. 2-4 at Caserma Ederle, headquarters of U.S. Army Africa, in Vicenza, Italy.
The communications and intelligence community event, hosted by Brig. Gen. Robert Ferrell, AFRICOM C4 director, drew approximately 80 senior leaders from diverse U.S. military and government branches and agencies, as well as representatives of African nations and the African Union.
“The conference is a combination of our U.S. AFRICOM C4 systems and intel directorate,” said Ferrell. “We come together annually to bring the team together to work on common goals to work on throughout the year. The team consists of our coalition partners as well as our inter-agency partners, as well as our components and U.S. AFRICOM staff.”
The conference focused on updates from participants, and on assessing the present state and goals of coalition partners in Africa, he said.
“The theme for our conference is ‘Delivering Capabilities to a Joint Information Environment,’ and we see it as a joint and combined team ... working together, side by side, to promote peace and stability there on the African continent,” Ferrell said.
Three goals of this year’s conference were to strengthen the team, assess priorities across the board, and get a better fix on the impact that the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command will have on all members’ efforts in the future, he said.
“With the stand-up of U.S. Cyber Command, it brings a lot of unique challenges that we as a team need to talk through to ensure that our information is protected at all times,” Ferrell said.
African Union (AU) representatives from four broad geographic regions of Africa attended, which generated a holistic perspective on needs and requirements from across the continent, he said.
“We have members from the African Union headquarters that is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; we have members that are from Uganda; from Zambia; from Ghana; and also from the Congo. What are the gaps, what are the things that we kind of need to assist with as we move forward on our engagements on the African continent?” Ferrell said.
U.S. Army Africa Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, welcomed participants as the conference got under way.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be the host for this conference, and we hope that this week you get a whole lot out of it,” said Hogg.
He took the opportunity to address the participants not only as their host, but from the perspective of a customer whose missions depend on the results of their efforts to support commanders in the field.
“When we’re talking about this group of folks that are here — from the joint side, from our African partners, from State, all those folks — it’s about partnership and interoperability. And every commander who’s ever had to fight in a combined environment understands that interoperability is the thing that absolutely slaps you upside the head,” Hogg said.
“We’re in the early stages of the process here of working with the African Union and the other partners, and you have an opportunity to design this from the end state, versus just building a bunch of ‘gunkulators.’ And so, the message is: think about what the end state is supposed to look like and construct the strategy to support the end state.
“Look at where we want to be at and design it that way,” Hogg said.
He also admonished participants to consider the second- and third-order effects of their choices in designing networks.
“With that said, over the next four days, I hope this conference works very well for you. If there’s anything we can do to make your stay better, please let us know,” Hogg said.
Over the following three days, participants engaged in a steady stream of briefings and presentations focused on systems, missions and updates from the field.
Col. Joseph W. Angyal, director of U.S. Army Africa G-6, gave an overview of operations and issues that focused on fundamentals, the emergence of regional accords as a way forward, and the evolution of a joint network enterprise that would serve all interested parties.
“What we’re trying to do is to work regionally. That’s frankly a challenge, but as we stand up the capability, really for the U.S. government, and work through that, we hope to become more regionally focused,” he said.
He referred to Africa Endeavor, an annual, multi-nation communications exercise, as a test bed for the current state of affairs on the continent, and an aid in itself to future development.
“In order to conduct those exercises, to conduct those security and cooperation events, and to meet contingency missions, we really, from the C4ISR perspective, have five big challenges,” Angyal said.
“You heard General Hogg this morning talk about ‘think about the customer’ — you’ve got to allow me to be able to get access to our data; I’ve got to be able to get to the data where and when I need it; you’ve got to be able to protect it; I have to be able to share it; and then finally, the systems have to be able to work together in order to build that coalition.
“One of the reasons General Ferrell is setting up this joint information enterprise, this joint network enterprise . . . it’s almost like trying to bring together disparate companies or corporations: everyone has their own system, they’ve paid for their own infrastructure, and they have their own policy, even though they support the same major company.
“Now multiply that when you bring in different services, multiply that when you bring in different U.S. government agencies, and then put a layer on top of that with the international partners, and there are lots of policies that are standing in our way.”
The main issue is not a question of technology, he said.
“The boxes are the same — a Cisco router is a Cisco router; Microsoft Exchange server is the same all over the world — but it’s the way that we employ them, and it’s the policies that we apply to it, that really stops us from interoperating, and that’s the challenge we hope to work through with the joint network enterprise.
“And I think that through things like Africa Endeavor and through the joint enterprise network, we’re looking at knocking down some of those policy walls, but at the end of the day they are ours to knock down. Bill Gates did not design a system to work only for the Army or for the Navy — it works for everyone,” Angyal said.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Searyoh, director general of Defense Information Communication Systems, General Headquarters, Ghana Armed Forces, agreed that coordinating policy is fundamental to improving communications with all its implications for a host of operations and missions.
“One would expect that in these modern times there is some kind of mutual engagement, and to build that engagement to be strong, there must be some kind of element of trust. … We have to build some kind of trust to be able to move forward,” said Searyoh.
“Some people may be living in silos of the past, but in the current engagement we need to tell people that we are there with no hidden agenda, no negative hidden agenda, but for the common good of all of us.
“We say that we are in the information age, and I’ve been saying something: that our response should not be optional, but it must be a must, because if you don’t join now, you are going to be left behind.
“So what do we do? We have to get our house in order.
“Why do I say so? We used to operate like this before the information age; now in the information age, how do we operate?
“So, we have to get our house in order and see whether we are aligning ourselves with way things should work now. So, our challenge is to come up with a strategy, see how best we can reorganize our structures, to be able to deliver communications-information systems support for the Ghana Armed Forces,” he said.
Searyoh related that his organization has already accomplished one part of erecting the necessary foundation by establishing an appropriate policy structure.
“What is required now is the implementing level. Currently we have communications on one side, and computers on one side. The lines are blurred — you cannot operate like that, you’ve got to bring them together,” he said.
Building that merged entity to support deployed forces is what he sees as the primary challenge at present.
“Once you get that done you can talk about equipment, you can talk about resources,” Searyoh said. “I look at the current collaboration between the U.S. and the coalition partners taking a new level.”
“The immediate challenges that we have is the interoperability, which I think is one of the things we are also discussing here, interoperability and integration,” said Lt. Col. Kelvin Silomba, African Union-Zambia, Information Technology expert for the Africa Stand-by Force.
“You know that we’ve got five regions in Africa. All these regions, we need to integrate them and bring them together, so the challenge of interoperability in terms of equipment, you know, different tactical equipment that we use, and also in terms of the language barrier — you know, all these regions in Africa you find that they speak different languages — so to bring them together we need to come up with one standard that will make everybody on board and make everybody able to talk to each other,” he said.
“So we have all these challenges. Other than that also, stemming from the background of these African countries, based on the colonization: some of them were French colonized, some of them were British colonized and so on, so you find that when they come up now we’ve adopted some of the procedures based on our former colonial masters, so that is another challenge that is coming on board.”
The partnership with brother African states, with the U.S. government and its military branches, and with other interested collaborators has had a positive influence, said Silomba.
“Oh, it’s great. From the time that I got engaged with U.S. AFRICOM — I started with Africa Endeavor, before I even came to the AU — it is my experience that it is something very, very good.
“I would encourage — I know that there are some member states — I would encourage that all those member states they come on board, all of these regional organizations, that they come on board and support the AFRICOM lead. It is something that is very, very good.
“As for example, the African Union has a lot of support that’s been coming in, technical as well as in terms of knowledge and equipment. So it’s great; it’s good and it’s great,” said Salimba.
Other participant responses to the conference were positive as well.
“The feedback I’ve gotten from every member is that they now know what the red carpet treatment looks like, because USARAF has gone over and above board to make sure the environment, the atmosphere and the actual engagements … are executed to perfection,” said Ferrell. “It’s been very good from a team-building aspect.
“We’ve had very good discussions from members of the African Union, who gave us a very good understanding of the operations that are taking place in the area of Somalia, the challenges with communications, and laid out the gaps and desires of where they see that the U.S. and other coalition partners can kind of improve the capacity there in that area of responsibility.
“We also talked about the AU, as they are expanding their reach to all of the five regions, of how can they have that interoperability and connectivity to each of the regions,” Ferrell said.
“(It’s been) a wealth of knowledge and experts that are here to share in terms of how we can move forward with building capacities and capabilities. Not only for U.S. interests, but more importantly from my perspective, in building capacities and capabilities for our African partners beginning with the Commission at the African Union itself,” said Kevin Warthon, U.S. State Department, peace and security adviser to the African Union.
“I think that General Ferrell has done an absolutely wonderful thing by inviting key African partners to participate in this event so they can share their personal experience from a national, regional and continental perspective,” he said.
Warthon related from his personal experience a vignette of African trust in Providence that he believed carries a pertinent metaphor and message to everyone attending the conference.
“We are not sure what we are going to do tomorrow, but the one thing that I am sure of is that we are able to do something. Don’t know when, don’t know how, but as long as our focus is on our ability to assist and to help to progress a people, that’s really what counts more than anything else,” he said.
“Don’t worry about the timetable; just focus on your ability to make a difference and that’s what that really is all about.
“I see venues such as this as opportunities to make what seems to be the impossible become possible. … This is what this kind of venue does for our African partners.
“We’re doing a wonderful job at building relationships, because that’s where it begins — we have to build relationships to establish trust. That’s why this is so important: building trust through relationships so that we can move forward in the future,” Warthon said.
Conference members took a cultural tour of Venice and visited a traditional winery in the hills above Vicenza before adjourning.
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U.S. Army Africa command team visit peacekeeping training sites in Rwanda, Burundi
Story and photo by Sgt. Maj. Kimberly Williams
U.S. Army Africa
ENTEBBE, Uganda – Capacity building is a top priority for U.S. Army Africa. Therefore, during a visit to Rwanda and Burundi Oct. 19-20, Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III and Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Bronson, the command team for U.S. Army Africa, seized the opportunity to see Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance sites in both countries.
“I was very impressed by the ACOTA programs in Rwanda and Burundi, where we are working closely with our partners to increase their capacity to support peacekeeping operations,” said Garrett.
Managed and funded by the Department of State, ACOTA is an initiative designed to improve African ability to respond quickly to crises by providing selected militaries with the training and equipment required to execute humanitarian or peace support operations.
At each site, civilian facilitators work closely with U.S. military noncommissioned officers, sent to the countries as mentors, in order to provide the most up-to-date and realistic learning experience possible.
Bronson, as U.S. Army Africa’s senior NCO, took the opportunity to meet with the U.S. facilitators and mentors in both countries to determine the road ahead. In the future, said Bronson, U.S. Army Africa needs to develop a process to prepare U.S. Army mentors for their role and to match up the right individuals with the skills needed.
But, Bronson said he is very impressed with what he has seen so far in both Rwanda and Burundi.
The ACOTA program is Rwanda is focused on preparing soldiers for peacekeeping operations while deployed in Darfur, Sudan. The site in Rwanda also has a computer simulation lab, which is the only simulation center for peacekeeping support operations in Africa.
“The partnership is doing great,” said Col. Aloys Muganga, commandant of the Rwanda Military Academy at Gako, which hosts the ACOTA in Rwanda. “They have trained my people so well that we can now train ourselves.”
Similar to Rwanda, the ACOTA program in Burundi focuses on preparing soldiers for peacekeeping operations, but in this case, to Mogadishu, Somalia.
This is the seventh iteration of ACOTA in Burundi.
The four-week program in Burundi includes individual skills, collective skills, lane evaluations, weapons familiarization and live fire ranges.
The 1st Battalion of the Burundi Land Forces took part in the first ACOTA rotation in 2007 and just recently returned from deployment to Mogadishu. Now, the Burundi Land Forces are bringing in these experienced soldiers to train the next rotations.
Sgt. Norberto Ramos, from the U.S. Army National Guard’s Co. B, 165th Infantry Battalion from Puerto Rice, is in Burundi along with two other NCOs to provide mentorship during the four-week program. Ramos said he believes the ACOTA program is successful.
“This has been great,” he said. “You can see the Burundi soldiers’ eagerness to learn in their eyes. “They are a beautiful people.”
“I’m happier and more satisfied with what I’m doing here than any time before,” Ramos said. “It builds me up as a leader and a person. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here.”
CAPTION: Brig. Gen. Cyprien Ndikuriyo (left), Burundi Land Forces commander, describes the outstanding efforts of Capt. Nicolas Bashizimpaka (right), who recently returned from peacekeeping operations in Mogadishu, Somalia, as Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett III, U.S. Army Africa commanding general, presents a coin to Bashizimpaka. Bashizimpaka attended the first Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program in Burundi and will now pass on his first-hand knowledge to train battalions before they deploy.
Gleetings. To you.
In Gravesend, the wheelie bins sing "The Hippy Hippy Shake" on special occasions; it is good for them and stops them exterminating, indiscriminately.
One day, they are at the Royal Command Performance and get to meet Mrs Ma'am, she is a fan of proper rock and roll and admires them greatly; indeed, were she not royal (*) she would dance with them, outrageously.
"And do you come here often ?" she asks, as she is commanded to.
"Hurrah !" cry the wheelie bins. "You have spoken the magic words !"
They perform "Shakin' All Over" and sundry other stone gold classics. They are in ecstasy, as is Mrs Ma'am, gosh, gosh.
We had better leave it there, taps nose.
Walk Tall !
* I am Royal, Mrs Ma'am is royal. She is not my Mrs. By Order.
CBP has set up a fully operational incident command center at the U.S. Border Patrol Marathon Station in the Florida Keys.
A Corporal from the Royal Engineers is pictured in command of a Trojan Tank or AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) on Operation Hamkari in Afghanistan.
The bulk of British military operations in Afghanistan are concentrated in central Helmand. But Royal Engineers have spent the past two months lending their awesome capabilities to Afghan and US forces clearing a key area of Kandahar province.
Since September, 5 Armoured Engineer Squadron, part of 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault), have provided close engineering support to the 2nd Battalion of the US Army's 502nd Regiment, and their partnered Afghan National Army kandak, in Kandahar's Zharay district.
Zharay district contains the Horn of Panjwai, an insurgent stronghold from where attacks on Kandahar City have been enabled and supported, and Sangsar, the Taleban's spiritual birthplace and former home of Mullah Omar. Under this effort, known as Operation HAMKARI - or as the soldiers call it "The Battle of Kandahar" - the intent has been to defeat insurgent elements and increase Afghan government influence across the area, as well as enable development west of Kandahar City.
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Photographer: Sgt Rupert Frere RLC
Image 45152043.jpg from www.defenceimages.mod.uk
Sgt. 1st Class Roddy Rieger, U.S. Army Africa Command Surgeon NCOIC, volunteers to be bitten by sand flies during Tropical Medicine Course (TMC) training Sept. 13, 2010, at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md.
U.S. Army photo by Capt. Gabrielle Caldara
The continent of Africa is home to many tropical diseases, which cause illness and, in some instances, death. Tropical diseases wreak havoc on the social and economic growth of the continent and affect the health and welfare of those who travel.
To combat the affects of tropical diseases, and to ensure the health and safety of all Soldiers operating in the U.S. Africa Command operational area, the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, in coordination with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, has resurrected the formerly defunct Tropical Medicine Course (TMC) for the 21st century.
The original TMC was taught in 1941 and discontinued in 1991, after 50 years. It was resurrected in 2010 in response to the operational needs of AFRICOM and the Special Operations Command.
Once a six-week long course, it was converted to a targeted short course, and tailored toward non-physician health care providers. The week-long class is now a requirement for all medical professionals deploying to provide health care on the African continent, said Capt. Gabrielle Caldara, environmental science officer with U.S. Army Africa’s Command Surgeon’s Office.
Caldara, Sgt. 1st Class Roddy Rieger, the CSO’s NCOIC, and Staff Sgt. Darren Jones, a medical NCO with USARAF Headquarters Support Company, were the first Army Africa personnel to attend the class Sept. 13-17 at WRAIR in Silver Spring, Md.
The course focused on teaching medical personnel to recognize, diagnosis and treat a range of tropical diseases and ailments that can affect Soldiers who work and travel throughout Africa, said Rieger.
“There were a lot of lectures, seminars and hands on lab practices on things such as leishmaniasis and malaria,” he said. “We learned better ways to recognize symptoms and better ways to treat the problems.”
Among them was the Rapid Diagnostic Test, used to screen patients for malaria. The test uses only a pinprick amount of blood and “is as simple as using a pregnancy test,” Rieger said.
“This particular test allows medical professionals the freedom and convenience to test for the disease without requiring them to transport the patient to a medical facility,” Caldara said.
While Army Africa personnel attending the TMC appreciated the advances in treatment of many tropical diseases, Caldara stressed prevention and education remain key factors in disease prevention.
“This was a great class to understand the intricacies of these diseases, but in the end it all goes back to basics,” she said. “Proper precautions such as uniform treatment, use of DEET/insect repellent, adherence to proper medications and use of a bed net are essential.”
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
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The actual Apollo 17 Command Module, dubbed "America", is on display in the Starship Gallery of Space Center Houston.
Apollo 17, the final mission of NASA's Apollo program launched on December 7, 1972 with a crew made up of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt. It was a "J-type mission" which included three days on the lunar surface, extended scientific capability, and the third Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). While Evans remained in lunar orbit in this Command/Service Module (CSM), Cernan and Schmitt spent just over three days on the moon in the Taurus–Littrow valley and completed three moonwalks, taking lunar samples and deploying scientific instruments. All three astronauts returned safely to Earth in this capsule, ending an era in space history.
Space Center Houston is the official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center and a Smithsonian Affiliate Museum owned and operated by the nonprofit Manned Spaceflight Education Foundation. The center opened in 1992 and hosts more than 1 million visitors annually in its 250,000-square-foot educational complex with over 400 space artifacts, permanent and traveling exhibits, attractions, live shows and theaters dedicated to preserving the history of America's human spaceflight program.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Manned Spacecraft Center, where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. Construction of the center, designed by Charles Luckman, began in 1962 and the 1,620-acre facility officially opened for business in September 1963. The center is home to NASA's astronaut corps, and is responsible for training astronauts from both the U.S. and its international partners. It has become popularly known for its flight control function, identified as "Mission Control" during the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo–Soyuz, and Space Shuttle program flights. It is also the site of the former Lunar Receiving Laboratory, where the first astronauts returning from the Moon were quarantined, and where the majority of lunar samples are stored.
Paratroopers assigned to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, jump from a C-17 Globemaster III during a joint forcible entry exercise at Malemute Drop Zone on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Aug. 23, 2016, as part of Exercise Spartan Agoge. Spartan Agoge is a brigade-level field training exercise that began Aug. 15, and focuses on an array of combat-related tasks from squad live-fire exercises to helicopter air insertion and airborne assault training. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Valerie Monroy)
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U.S. Army Africa photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Davis
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) hosted its second annual C4ISR Senior Leaders Conference Feb. 2-4 at Caserma Ederle, headquarters of U.S. Army Africa, in Vicenza, Italy.
The communications and intelligence community event, hosted by Brig. Gen. Robert Ferrell, AFRICOM C4 director, drew approximately 80 senior leaders from diverse U.S. military and government branches and agencies, as well as representatives of African nations and the African Union.
“The conference is a combination of our U.S. AFRICOM C4 systems and intel directorate,” said Ferrell. “We come together annually to bring the team together to work on common goals to work on throughout the year. The team consists of our coalition partners as well as our inter-agency partners, as well as our components and U.S. AFRICOM staff.”
The conference focused on updates from participants, and on assessing the present state and goals of coalition partners in Africa, he said.
“The theme for our conference is ‘Delivering Capabilities to a Joint Information Environment,’ and we see it as a joint and combined team ... working together, side by side, to promote peace and stability there on the African continent,” Ferrell said.
Three goals of this year’s conference were to strengthen the team, assess priorities across the board, and get a better fix on the impact that the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command will have on all members’ efforts in the future, he said.
“With the stand-up of U.S. Cyber Command, it brings a lot of unique challenges that we as a team need to talk through to ensure that our information is protected at all times,” Ferrell said.
African Union (AU) representatives from four broad geographic regions of Africa attended, which generated a holistic perspective on needs and requirements from across the continent, he said.
“We have members from the African Union headquarters that is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; we have members that are from Uganda; from Zambia; from Ghana; and also from the Congo. What are the gaps, what are the things that we kind of need to assist with as we move forward on our engagements on the African continent?” Ferrell said.
U.S. Army Africa Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, welcomed participants as the conference got under way.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be the host for this conference, and we hope that this week you get a whole lot out of it,” said Hogg.
He took the opportunity to address the participants not only as their host, but from the perspective of a customer whose missions depend on the results of their efforts to support commanders in the field.
“When we’re talking about this group of folks that are here — from the joint side, from our African partners, from State, all those folks — it’s about partnership and interoperability. And every commander who’s ever had to fight in a combined environment understands that interoperability is the thing that absolutely slaps you upside the head,” Hogg said.
“We’re in the early stages of the process here of working with the African Union and the other partners, and you have an opportunity to design this from the end state, versus just building a bunch of ‘gunkulators.’ And so, the message is: think about what the end state is supposed to look like and construct the strategy to support the end state.
“Look at where we want to be at and design it that way,” Hogg said.
He also admonished participants to consider the second- and third-order effects of their choices in designing networks.
“With that said, over the next four days, I hope this conference works very well for you. If there’s anything we can do to make your stay better, please let us know,” Hogg said.
Over the following three days, participants engaged in a steady stream of briefings and presentations focused on systems, missions and updates from the field.
Col. Joseph W. Angyal, director of U.S. Army Africa G-6, gave an overview of operations and issues that focused on fundamentals, the emergence of regional accords as a way forward, and the evolution of a joint network enterprise that would serve all interested parties.
“What we’re trying to do is to work regionally. That’s frankly a challenge, but as we stand up the capability, really for the U.S. government, and work through that, we hope to become more regionally focused,” he said.
He referred to Africa Endeavor, an annual, multi-nation communications exercise, as a test bed for the current state of affairs on the continent, and an aid in itself to future development.
“In order to conduct those exercises, to conduct those security and cooperation events, and to meet contingency missions, we really, from the C4ISR perspective, have five big challenges,” Angyal said.
“You heard General Hogg this morning talk about ‘think about the customer’ — you’ve got to allow me to be able to get access to our data; I’ve got to be able to get to the data where and when I need it; you’ve got to be able to protect it; I have to be able to share it; and then finally, the systems have to be able to work together in order to build that coalition.
“One of the reasons General Ferrell is setting up this joint information enterprise, this joint network enterprise . . . it’s almost like trying to bring together disparate companies or corporations: everyone has their own system, they’ve paid for their own infrastructure, and they have their own policy, even though they support the same major company.
“Now multiply that when you bring in different services, multiply that when you bring in different U.S. government agencies, and then put a layer on top of that with the international partners, and there are lots of policies that are standing in our way.”
The main issue is not a question of technology, he said.
“The boxes are the same — a Cisco router is a Cisco router; Microsoft Exchange server is the same all over the world — but it’s the way that we employ them, and it’s the policies that we apply to it, that really stops us from interoperating, and that’s the challenge we hope to work through with the joint network enterprise.
“And I think that through things like Africa Endeavor and through the joint enterprise network, we’re looking at knocking down some of those policy walls, but at the end of the day they are ours to knock down. Bill Gates did not design a system to work only for the Army or for the Navy — it works for everyone,” Angyal said.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Searyoh, director general of Defense Information Communication Systems, General Headquarters, Ghana Armed Forces, agreed that coordinating policy is fundamental to improving communications with all its implications for a host of operations and missions.
“One would expect that in these modern times there is some kind of mutual engagement, and to build that engagement to be strong, there must be some kind of element of trust. … We have to build some kind of trust to be able to move forward,” said Searyoh.
“Some people may be living in silos of the past, but in the current engagement we need to tell people that we are there with no hidden agenda, no negative hidden agenda, but for the common good of all of us.
“We say that we are in the information age, and I’ve been saying something: that our response should not be optional, but it must be a must, because if you don’t join now, you are going to be left behind.
“So what do we do? We have to get our house in order.
“Why do I say so? We used to operate like this before the information age; now in the information age, how do we operate?
“So, we have to get our house in order and see whether we are aligning ourselves with way things should work now. So, our challenge is to come up with a strategy, see how best we can reorganize our structures, to be able to deliver communications-information systems support for the Ghana Armed Forces,” he said.
Searyoh related that his organization has already accomplished one part of erecting the necessary foundation by establishing an appropriate policy structure.
“What is required now is the implementing level. Currently we have communications on one side, and computers on one side. The lines are blurred — you cannot operate like that, you’ve got to bring them together,” he said.
Building that merged entity to support deployed forces is what he sees as the primary challenge at present.
“Once you get that done you can talk about equipment, you can talk about resources,” Searyoh said. “I look at the current collaboration between the U.S. and the coalition partners taking a new level.”
“The immediate challenges that we have is the interoperability, which I think is one of the things we are also discussing here, interoperability and integration,” said Lt. Col. Kelvin Silomba, African Union-Zambia, Information Technology expert for the Africa Stand-by Force.
“You know that we’ve got five regions in Africa. All these regions, we need to integrate them and bring them together, so the challenge of interoperability in terms of equipment, you know, different tactical equipment that we use, and also in terms of the language barrier — you know, all these regions in Africa you find that they speak different languages — so to bring them together we need to come up with one standard that will make everybody on board and make everybody able to talk to each other,” he said.
“So we have all these challenges. Other than that also, stemming from the background of these African countries, based on the colonization: some of them were French colonized, some of them were British colonized and so on, so you find that when they come up now we’ve adopted some of the procedures based on our former colonial masters, so that is another challenge that is coming on board.”
The partnership with brother African states, with the U.S. government and its military branches, and with other interested collaborators has had a positive influence, said Silomba.
“Oh, it’s great. From the time that I got engaged with U.S. AFRICOM — I started with Africa Endeavor, before I even came to the AU — it is my experience that it is something very, very good.
“I would encourage — I know that there are some member states — I would encourage that all those member states they come on board, all of these regional organizations, that they come on board and support the AFRICOM lead. It is something that is very, very good.
“As for example, the African Union has a lot of support that’s been coming in, technical as well as in terms of knowledge and equipment. So it’s great; it’s good and it’s great,” said Salimba.
Other participant responses to the conference were positive as well.
“The feedback I’ve gotten from every member is that they now know what the red carpet treatment looks like, because USARAF has gone over and above board to make sure the environment, the atmosphere and the actual engagements … are executed to perfection,” said Ferrell. “It’s been very good from a team-building aspect.
“We’ve had very good discussions from members of the African Union, who gave us a very good understanding of the operations that are taking place in the area of Somalia, the challenges with communications, and laid out the gaps and desires of where they see that the U.S. and other coalition partners can kind of improve the capacity there in that area of responsibility.
“We also talked about the AU, as they are expanding their reach to all of the five regions, of how can they have that interoperability and connectivity to each of the regions,” Ferrell said.
“(It’s been) a wealth of knowledge and experts that are here to share in terms of how we can move forward with building capacities and capabilities. Not only for U.S. interests, but more importantly from my perspective, in building capacities and capabilities for our African partners beginning with the Commission at the African Union itself,” said Kevin Warthon, U.S. State Department, peace and security adviser to the African Union.
“I think that General Ferrell has done an absolutely wonderful thing by inviting key African partners to participate in this event so they can share their personal experience from a national, regional and continental perspective,” he said.
Warthon related from his personal experience a vignette of African trust in Providence that he believed carries a pertinent metaphor and message to everyone attending the conference.
“We are not sure what we are going to do tomorrow, but the one thing that I am sure of is that we are able to do something. Don’t know when, don’t know how, but as long as our focus is on our ability to assist and to help to progress a people, that’s really what counts more than anything else,” he said.
“Don’t worry about the timetable; just focus on your ability to make a difference and that’s what that really is all about.
“I see venues such as this as opportunities to make what seems to be the impossible become possible. … This is what this kind of venue does for our African partners.
“We’re doing a wonderful job at building relationships, because that’s where it begins — we have to build relationships to establish trust. That’s why this is so important: building trust through relationships so that we can move forward in the future,” Warthon said.
Conference members took a cultural tour of Venice and visited a traditional winery in the hills above Vicenza before adjourning.
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SYDNEY, ACT, Australia (June 5, 2017) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull welcomes Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford to the Kiribilli House in Sydney, Australia. (DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette Carr) 170605-D-GY869-0700
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KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea (Sept. 10, 2014) - F-16 Fighting Falcons prepare to taxi to the runway. The jets will be temporarily operating flying missions out of Osan AB while the runway at Kunsan is under construction for repairs. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Taylor Curry) 140910-F-BN144-123
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BUSAN, Republic of Korea (Oct. 21, 2017) The Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) approaches Busan for a scheduled port visit after routine operations in waters off the coast of the Korean Peninsula. Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, provides a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class MacAdam Kane Weissman) 171021-N-AC117-236
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Col. Anderson Peniel, Tanzania People's Defence Forces (TPDF), presents an overview of Tanzania's national infrastructure and key resources in a pandemic during day two of a week-long Tanzania National Government Pandemic Disaster Response Tabletop March 8, 2011, in Arusha, Tanzania.
Photo by Khalfan Said, U.S. Embassy, Tanzania
The Tanzania National Government Pandemic Response Tabletop Exercise opened March 7, 2011, in Arusha, Tanzania.
The event convened with remarks from several guest speakers, who spoke on how imperative disaster preparedness and response is to the security of Tanzania.
During his welcoming remarks, Chief of Security Cooperation for the U.S. Embassy to Tanzania, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kevin Balisky, discussed the critical importance of cooperation among national militaries and civil authority leaders, as well as international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other civil society groups, all of whom must work together to mitigate and recover from pandemic disaster.
The exercise itself is an example of the power of collaboration. It is hosted by the government of Tanzania; organized by the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany; supported by the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine; and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
In addition to representatives from all levels of the Tanzanian government, the five-day event brings together over 100 professionals from many diverse organizations such as the World Food Program, the National Disaster Operations Center in Kenya, the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria, the UN World Health and Food and Agriculture Organizations, the Ghana Ministry of Defense, and UNICEF. All will take part and contribute to the exercise.
“This exercise is designed to strengthen the government of Tanzania’s national preparedness and response plan, which will be the guiding document during a severe pandemic complex emergency,” Balisky said.
Among the first morning’s speakers, John Power, East Africa Regional Deputy Director for USAID, spoke of a “whole of government” approach to pandemic response.
At the end of 2008, using funds provided by the U.S. Congress, USAID signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to fund the Pandemic Response Program. The program established a close working relationship among USAID, AFRICOM and U.S. Pacific Command to enhance their foreign partner military capacity to respond to pandemics in these two geographic regions.
“What is different about this program is that the Pandemic Response Program, although implemented by the U.S. military, is structured more like a traditional USAID project with a focus on long-term sustainable results. It provides an excellent example of a new whole of government approach where you will begin to see much closer linkages between the efforts of American diplomats, military staff, and development professionals in selected countries, including Tanzania,” Power said.
“Our Pandemic Response Program will continue to have a regional focus to help improve the capacity for regional collaboration in the event of a complex humanitarian emergency,” said Brig. Gen. William Glasgow, Deputy Commander, Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa.
“Let us not forget that the 2009 H1-N1 outbreak highlighted the critical importance of a holistic approach required of government, civil society and the military to mitigate the effects of a complex humanitarian emergency like a severe pandemic outbreak; hence, the purpose of this exercise this week,” Glasgow said.
The role of AFRICOM’s Pandemic Response Program is to assist in strengthening African partner military nations capacity to respond to a pandemic in support of the national pandemic preparedness and response plan. To this end, AFRICOM’s overall objectives for the Pandemic Response Program are that senior- and mid-level military leaders are prepared to support their nation’s plan in disaster management and humanitarian assistance, with a particular focus on severe pandemics.
It is also AFRICOM’s goal that each military in USAID’s targeted pandemic preparedness countries have a developed, detailed contingency plan that directly supports the national preparedness response plans to an influenza pandemic disaster.
The conference’s first day ended with a visit to the Tanzanian National Food Reserve Agency in Arusha. The Pandemic Disaster Response conference will continue tomorrow with plenary talks, facilitated lectures and lessons-learned discussions. The tabletop exercise portion of the event will begin Wednesday and continue through Friday.
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. . . politics is to continue the war by other means
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The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced [bɛʁˈliːnɐ ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] (About this sound listen)) was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin from virtually all of surrounding East Germany and East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and finished in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany.
GDR authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall). The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame", a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the "Iron Curtain" that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.
Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin; from there they could then travel to West Germany and to other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989 the Wall prevented almost all such emigrations During this period over 100,000 people attempted to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin.
In 1989 a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries - Poland and Hungary in particular - caused a chain reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Wall. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of what was left. The "fall of the Berlin Wall" paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990.
BACKGROUND
POST-WAR GERMANY
After the end of World War II in Europe, what remained of pre-war Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line was divided into four occupation zones (as per the Potsdam Agreement), each one controlled by one of the four occupying Allied powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union. The capital of Berlin, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was similarly subdivided into four sectors despite the city's location, which was fully within the Soviet zone.
Within two years, political divisions increased between the Soviets and the other occupying powers. These included the Soviets' refusal to agree to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany self-sufficient and to a detailed accounting of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure already removed by the Soviets. France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Benelux countries later met to combine the non-Soviet zones of the country into one zone for reconstruction and to approve the extension of the Marshall Plan.
EASTERN BLOC AND THE BERLIN AIRLIFT
Following World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin headed a group of nations on his Western border, the Eastern Bloc, that then included Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which he wished to maintain alongside a weakened Soviet-controlled Germany. As early as 1945, Stalin revealed to German communist leaders that he expected to slowly undermine the British position within the British occupation zone, that the United States would withdraw within a year or two, and that nothing would then stand in the way of a united communist Germany within the bloc.
The major task of the ruling communist party in the Soviet zone was to channel Soviet orders down to both the administrative apparatus and the other bloc parties, which in turn would be presented as internal measures. Property and industry was nationalized in the East German zone. If statements or decisions deviated from the described line, reprimands and (for persons outside public attention) punishment would ensue, such as imprisonment, torture and even death.
Indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism became a compulsory part of school curricula, sending professors and students fleeing to the West. The East Germans created an elaborate political police apparatus that kept the population under close surveillance, including Soviet SMERSH secret police.
In 1948, following disagreements regarding reconstruction and a new German currency, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries began a massive "airlift", supplying West Berlin with food and other supplies. The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign against the Western policy change. Communists attempted to disrupt the elections of 1948, preceding large losses therein, while 300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin.
The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was declared on 7 October 1949. By a secret treaty, the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs accorded the East German state administrative authority, but not autonomy. The Soviets permeated East German administrative, military and secret police structures and had full control.
East Germany differed from West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), which developed into a Western capitalist country with a social market economy ("Soziale Marktwirtschaft" in German) and a democratic parliamentary government. Continual economic growth starting in the 1950s fuelled a 20-year "economic miracle" ("Wirtschaftswunder"). As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily improved, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany.
EMIGRATION WESTWARD IN THE EARLY 1950s
After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, the majority of those living in the newly acquired areas of the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave. Taking advantage of the zonal border between occupied zones in Germany, the number of GDR citizens moving to West Germany totaled 187,000 in 1950; 165,000 in 1951; 182,000 in 1952; and 331,000 in 1953. One reason for the sharp 1953 increase was fear of potential further Sovietization, given the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953. 226,000 had fled in just the first six months of 1953.
ERECTION OF THE INNER GERMAN BORDER
By the early 1950s, the Soviet approach to controlling national movement, restricting emigration, was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany. The restrictions presented a quandary for some Eastern Bloc states, which had been more economically advanced and open than the Soviet Union, such that crossing borders seemed more natural - especially where no prior border existed between East and West Germany.
Up until 1952, the demarcation lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places. On 1 April 1952, East German leaders met the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow; during the discussions Stalin's foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the East Germans should "introduce a system of passes for visits of West Berlin residents to the territory of East Berlin [so as to stop] free movement of Western agents" in the GDR. Stalin agreed, calling the situation "intolerable". He advised the East Germans to build up their border defenses, telling them that "The demarcation line between East and West Germany should be considered a border - and not just any border, but a dangerous one ... The Germans will guard the line of defence with their lives."
Consequently, the inner German border between the two German states was closed, and a barbed-wire fence erected. The border between the Western and Eastern sectors of Berlin, however, remained open, although traffic between the Soviet and the Western sectors was somewhat restricted. This resulted in Berlin becoming a magnet for East Germans desperate to escape life in the GDR, and also a flashpoint for tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In 1955, the Soviets gave East Germany authority over civilian movement in Berlin, passing control to a regime not recognized in the West. Initially, East Germany granted "visits" to allow its residents access to West Germany. However, following the defection of large numbers of East Germans under this regime, the new East German state legally restricted virtually all travel to the West in 1956. Soviet East German ambassador Mikhail Pervukhin observed that "the presence in Berlin of an open and essentially uncontrolled border between the socialist and capitalist worlds unwittingly prompts the population to make a comparison between both parts of the city, which unfortunately does not always turn out in favour of Democratic [East] Berlin."
BERLIN EMIGRATION LOOPHOLE
With the closing of the inner German border officially in 1952, the border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible because it was administered by all four occupying powers. Accordingly, Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West. On 11 December 1957, East Germany introduced a new passport law that reduced the overall number of refugees leaving Eastern Germany.
It had the unintended result of drastically increasing the percentage of those leaving through West Berlin from 60% to well over 90% by the end of 1958. Those caught trying to leave East Berlin were subjected to heavy penalties, but with no physical barrier and subway train access still available to West Berlin, such measures were ineffective. The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape. The 3.5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totalled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.
An important reason that crossing the inner German border was not stopped earlier was that doing so would cut off much of the railway traffic in East Germany. Construction of a new railway bypassing West Berlin, the Berlin outer ring, commenced in 1951. Following the completion of the railway in 1961, closing the border became a more practical proposition. (See History of rail transport in Germany.)
BRAIN DRAIN
The emigrants tended to be young and well-educated, leading to the "brain drain" feared by officials in East Germany.[28] Yuri Andropov, then the CPSU Director on Relations with Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries, wrote an urgent letter on 28 August 1958, to the Central Committee about the significant 50% increase in the number of East German intelligentsia among the refugees. Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that the reasons were more political than material. He stated "the flight of the intelligentsia has reached a particularly critical phase."
An East German SED propaganda booklet published in 1955 dramatically described the serious nature of 'flight from the republic':
Both from the moral standpoint as well as in terms of the interests of the whole German nation, leaving the GDR is an act of political and moral backwardness and depravity.
Those who let themselves be recruited objectively serve West German Reaction and militarism, whether they know it or not. Is it not despicable when for the sake of a few alluring job offers or other false promises about a "guaranteed future" one leaves a country in which the seed for a new and more beautiful life is sprouting, and is already showing the first fruits, for the place that favours a new war and destruction?
Is it not an act of political depravity when citizens, whether young people, workers, or members of the intelligentsia, leave and betray what our people have created through common labour in our republic to offer themselves to the American or British secret services or work for the West German factory owners, Junkers, or militarists? Does not leaving the land of progress for the morass of an historically outdated social order demonstrate political backwardness and blindness? ...
Workers throughout Germany will demand punishment for those who today leave the German Democratic Republic, the strong bastion of the fight for peace, to serve the deadly enemy of the German people, the imperialists and militarists.
By 1960, the combination of World War II and the massive emigration westward left East Germany with only 61% of its population of working age, compared to 70.5% before the war. The loss was disproportionately heavy among professionals: engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers. The direct cost of manpower losses to East Germany (and corresponding gain to the West) has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht later claiming that West Germany owed him $17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as manpower losses. In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment. The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re-securing of the German communist frontier was imperative.
The exodus of emigrants from East Germany presented two minor potential benefits: an easy opportunity to smuggle East German secret agents to West Germany, and a reduction in the number of citizens hostile to the communist regime. Neither of these advantages, however, proved particularly useful.
HOW KHRUSHEV-KENNEDY RELATIONS AFFECTED THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WALL
In April 1961 , Khrushchev gained an impression that Kennedy is not very smart when he saw Washington supporting the failed invasion of Cuba by anti-communist exiles which were than left to their fate. Khrushchev decided to alarm rather than appease the president. He soon revealed his intention of signing the separate peace treaty with East Germany that would abolish allied rights in West Berlin. One of his intentions was therefore to get whole of the Berlin. However, this action had risks behind it. The risks that we are taking is justified. If we look at it in the terms of a percentage, there is more than a 95% chance that there will be no war. It meant that 5% was an actual chance of having a war. Khrushchev's assumptions about Kennedy were false. He made clear that the chance of having a war was bigger that 5%. He showed the unpredictability of US's policy. All though Soviet forces were not on high alert, the plans were nonetheless changed to deal with the consequences of the Kennedy's actions. It was then decided to block the access of the West Berlin from the East. That is when the construction of the wall started.
1961 - CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term Mauer (wall) had been used in this context.
The transcript of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht on 1 August in the same year, suggests that the initiative for the construction of the Wall came from Khrushchev. However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev had initially been wary about building a wall, fearing negative Western reaction. What is beyond dispute, though, is that Ulbricht had pushed for a border closure for quite some time, arguing that East Germany's very existence was at stake.
Khrushchev had become emboldened upon seeing US President John F. Kennedy's youth and inexperience show as weakness against Khrushchev's brutal, undiplomatic aggression. This feeling of miscalculation and failure is admitted by Kennedy in the U.S. ambassador's residence with New York Times columnist James "Scotty" Reston. Kennedy made the regrettable error of admitting that the US would not actively oppose this action in the Soviet sector of Berlin. On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of the GDR attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnsee, in a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall.
At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 156 kilometres around the three western sectors, and the 43 kilometres that divided West and East Berlin. The date of 13 August became commonly referred to as Barbed Wire Sunday in Germany.
The barrier was built inside East Berlin or East German territory to ensure that it did not encroach on West Berlin at any point. Generally, the Wall was only slightly inside East Berlin, but in a few places it was some distance from the legal border, most notably at Potsdamer Bahnhof and the Lenné Triangle that is now much of the Potsdamer Platz development.
Later, the initial barrier was built up into the Wall proper, the first concrete elements and large blocks being put in place on 17 August. During the construction of the Wall, National People's Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of the Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields and other obstacles were installed along the length of East Germany's western border with West Germany proper. A huge no man's land was cleared to provide a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.
IMMEDIATE EFFECTS
With the closing of the East-West sector boundary in Berlin, the vast majority of East Germans could no longer travel or emigrate to West Germany. Berlin soon went from being the easiest place to make an unauthorized crossing between East and West Germany to being the most difficult Many families were split, while East Berliners employed in the West were cut off from their jobs. West Berlin became an isolated exclave in a hostile land. West Berliners demonstrated against the Wall, led by their Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) Willy Brandt, who strongly criticized the United States for failing to respond. Allied intelligence agencies had hypothesized about a wall to stop the flood of refugees, but the main candidate for its location was around the perimeter of the city. In 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk proclaimed, "The Wall certainly ought not to be a permanent feature of the European landscape. I see no reason why the Soviet Union should think it is - it is to their advantage in any way to leave there that monument to communist failure."
United States and UK sources had expected the Soviet sector to be sealed off from West Berlin, but were surprised by how long the East Germans took for such a move. They considered the Wall as an end to concerns about a GDR/Soviet retaking or capture of the whole of Berlin; the Wall would presumably have been an unnecessary project if such plans were afloat. Thus they concluded that the possibility of a Soviet military conflict over Berlin had decreased.
The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective rampart" (German: "antifaschistischer Schutzwall") intended to dissuade aggression from the West. Another official justification was the activities of Western agents in Eastern Europe. The Eastern German government also claimed that West Berliners were buying out state-subsidized goods in East Berlin. East Germans and others greeted such statements with skepticism, as most of the time, the border was only closed for citizens of East Germany traveling to the West, but not for residents of West Berlin travelling to the East. The construction of the Wall had caused considerable hardship to families divided by it. Most people believed that the Wall was mainly a means of preventing the citizens of East Germany from entering or fleeing to West Berlin.
SECONDARY RESPONSE
The National Security Agency was the only American intelligence agency that was aware that East Germany was to take action to deal with the brain drain problem. On 9 August 1961, the NSA intercepted an advance warning information of the Socialist Unity Party's plan to close the intra-Berlin border between East and West Berlin completely for foot traffic. The interagency intelligence Berlin Watch Committee assessed that this intercept "might be the first step in a plan to close the border." This warning did not reach U.S. President John F. Kennedy until noon on 13 August 1961, while he was vacationing in his yacht off the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. While Kennedy was angry that he had no advance warning, he was relieved that the East Germans and the Soviets had only divided Berlin without taking any action against West Berlin's access to the West. However, he denounced the Berlin Wall, whose erection worsened the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In response to the erection of the Berlin Wall, a retired general, Lucius D. Clay, was appointed by Kennedy as his special advisor and sent to Berlin with ambassadorial rank. Clay had been the Military Governor of the US Zone of Occupation in Germany during the period of the Berlin Blockade and had ordered the first measures in what became the Berlin Airlift. He was immensely popular with the residents of West Berlin, and his appointment was an unambiguous sign that Kennedy would not compromise on the status of West Berlin. Clay and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson arrived at Tempelhof Airport on the afternoon of Saturday, 19 August 1961.
They arrived in a city defended by three Allied brigades—one each from the UK, the US, and France (the Forces Françaises à Berlin). On 16 August, Kennedy had given the order for them to be reinforced. Early on 19 August, the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry (commanded by Colonel Glover S. Johns Jr.) was alerted.
On Sunday morning, U.S. troops marched from West Germany through East Germany, bound for West Berlin. Lead elements - arranged in a column of 491 vehicles and trailers carrying 1,500 men, divided into five march units - left the Helmstedt-Marienborn checkpoint at 06:34. At Marienborn, the Soviet checkpoint next to Helmstedt on the West German-East German border, US personnel were counted by guards. The column was 160 kilometres long, and covered 177 kilometres from Marienborn to Berlin in full battle gear. East German police watched from beside trees next to the autobahn all the way along.
The front of the convoy arrived at the outskirts of Berlin just before noon, to be met by Clay and Johnson, before parading through the streets of Berlin in front of a large crowd. At 04:00 on 21 August, Lyndon Johnson left West Berlin in the hands of General Frederick O. Hartel and his brigade of 4,224 officers and men. "For the next three and a half years, American battalions would rotate into West Berlin, by autobahn, at three month intervals to demonstrate Allied rights to the city".
The creation of the Wall had important implications for both German states. By stemming the exodus of people from East Germany, the East German government was able to reassert its control over the country: in spite of discontent with the Wall, economic problems caused by dual currency and the black market were largely eliminated. The economy in the GDR began to grow. But, the Wall proved a public relations disaster for the communist bloc as a whole. Western powers portrayed it as a symbol of communist tyranny, particularly after East German border guards shot and killed would-be defectors. Such fatalities were later treated as acts of murder by the reunified Germany.
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SOUTH CHINA SEA (Oct. 22, 2014) - An E-2C Greyhound from the "Providers" of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 30, Detachment 5, taxis on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73). George Washington and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, provide a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of the U.S. and its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Paolo Bayas) 141022-N-TE278-142
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THE HAZZARD RANGE HEARLD
Hazzard Range Sheriff department ,clay county Sheriff department and Philipsburg police department have join to purchase a Mobile command center ,as Hazzard Range Sheriff Travis Martin said that the Mobile command center well be base in creekdale that is half way between Sparta and Philipsburg once the clay county sheriff substation open in may of 2013 until the it well be base at the Hazzard Range Airport . Picture at the the Hazzard Range county / Sparta founders day what is always the second Friday in June
CAMP BLANDING, Fla. –The 2017 143d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) entered its second full day as 12 competitors looked deep with themselves and to one another to find the strength and courage to face seemingly countless challenges that covered the full spectrum of warrior tasks and skills.
The 143d ESC cadre and their Army Reserve drill sergeant partners split the dozen dog tired Soldiers into two even groups. One team departed for Camp Blanding’s Military Operations and Urban Terrain site, while the other proceeded to the post’s air assault course.
The MOUT site comprised seven stations that featured practical exercises that evaluated each competitor’s mastery of essential Soldier skills. From facing movements and weapons assembly to administering first aid and setting up a claymore, every Soldier had to demonstrate their ability to apply what they learned in Basic Military Training with little to no assistance from the strict instructors.
The air assault course tested the Soldiers’ speed, strength and endurance climbed, crawled, leapt and lifted their way through various obstacles designed to humble even the most resilient athlete.
Later that day, both groups switched sites, and all 12 Soldiers received a refresher course in throwing hand grenades.
After 12 hours of constant movement while carrying 35-pound ruck sacks, the competitors returned to the barracks to prepare their gear for an early morning 10-mile road march followed by an Army Service Uniform appearance board.
Story by Sgt. John L. Carkeet IV, 143d ESC
Photos by Sgt. John L. Carkeet IV, 143d ESC, and Spc. Aaron Barnes, 321st MI BN
SINGAPORE (Oct. 29, 2013) - Sailors attached to the littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) conduct 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boat operations at Changi Naval Base. Freedom, guided-missile cruisers USS Cowpens (CG 63) and USS Antietam (CG 54), aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), guided-missile destroyers USS McCampbell (DDG 85) and USS Lassen (DDG 82) are currently in Singapore. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Karolina A. Oseguera)
131029-N-JN664-030
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Picture Of City Of New York Fire Department Special Operations Command Vehicle. Photo Taken Thursday January 30, 2014.
iPhone 5s
Special Operations Command Africa hosted its first Women’s Leadership Forum during International Women’s Day in N'Djamena, Chad, Mar. 7, 2017, as a part of Exercise Flintlock. This leadership discussion forum was led by Chadian women from across the spectrum of employment to address Chadian challenges and opportunities, and was facilitated by the U.S. Embassy and Spirit of America. Flintlock is an annual special operations exercise involving more than 20 nation forces that strengthens security institutions, promotes multinational sharing of information, and develops interoperability among partner nation in North and West Africa.
Brig. Gen. Greg Anderson, director of operations, U.S. Africa Command, is promoted to the rank of major general during a ceremony hosted by Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, at Kelley Barracks, near Stuttgart, Germany, on Sept. 1, 2021.
Maj. Gen. Joseph P. Harrington accepts the U.S. Army Africa guidon from Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commmander, U.S. Africa Command, during a change of command ceremony on Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy. Harrington replaced Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Williams as the commander of U.S. Army Africa. (U.S. Army Africa photo by Rich Bartell)
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La MINUSMA prend le commandement des opérations de stabilisation au Mali
Bamako, le 1er juillet 2013 - Le transfert d’autorité entre les forces de la Mission internationale de soutien au Mali sous conduite africaine (MISMA) à la Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation au Mali (MINUSMA) a eu lieu ce matin au cours d’une cérémonie à Bamako, marquant ainsi le lancement officiel des opérations des Casques bleus au Mali.
Photos : MINUSMA/Blagoje Grujic
PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 24, 2017) - Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) simulates a strait transit as part of Dawn Blitz 2017. Dawn Blitz is a scenario-driven exercise designed to train and integrates Navy and Marine Corps units by providing a robust training environment where forces plan and execute an amphibious assault, engage in live-fire events, and establish expeditionary advanced bases in a land and maritime threat environment to improve naval amphibious core competencies. (U. S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Irwin Sampaga/Released) 171024-N-XN518-095
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