Military @ MindSay

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

July 3, 2008 - More than 1,100 servicemembers stationed in Iraq will celebrate the nation's birthday tomorrow by re-enlisting, the senior enlisted leader for Multinational Force Iraq said today.  Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin L. Hill said 1,157 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will re-enlist at the Al Faw Palace at Camp Victory, in Baghdad. This may be the largest re-enlistment ceremony since the all-volunteer force began in 1973, Hill said via phone from Baghdad.

This is becoming an annual blockbuster event for the command. Last year, 588 servicemembers re-enlisted.

"We are extremely proud of the accomplishments we have made in security on the ground as well as proud of all of our great warriors for the work they are doing since they arrived in theater," Hill said. "We recognize the sacrifices they make and the sacrifices their families and communities make as they serve in Iraq."

These servicemembers know the cost of war and they are still re-enlisting, Hill said. Some serve in "the most austere conditions -- meaning they are in patrol bases and combat outposts," he noted. Some of the re-enlisting servicemembers are in places where the troops "hot-bunk it" -- that is, they take turns using limited sleeping space -- and burn human waste because they lack plumbing. Others are based in more comfortable surroundings.

The vast majority of the servicemembers tell Hill and others that they are re-enlisting because "they are doing what they joined the military to do," he said.

"If they joined to be a rifleman, they're doing it in combat," the sergeant major said. "If they joined to fix helicopters, they're doing it and doing it in combat."

Often in years past, he said, some warriors probably felt they weren't doing what they joined the military to do, he said.

"Now, since we've been fighting this global war on terrorism ... these warriors are doing what they joined to do," he explained. "They can see the fruit of their labor and see the fruit of the sacrifices of those who have gone before them. It makes them feel good about what they are doing."

The ceremony will be broadcast on the Pentagon Channel, Hill said. Multinational Force Iraq Commander Army Gen. David H. Petraeus will preside. Hill and Petraeus will speak at the ceremony, then Petraeus will administer the oath of enlistment.

A 50-gun salute will honor of the nation's birthday, and then all will sing "God Bless America." The ceremony will end with a medley of service songs.

All components of the military are represented in the ceremony. Officials said 738 active-duty soldiers, 188 National Guard soldiers, and 122 Army Reserve soldiers are re-enlisting, along with 54 Marines, 39 sailors and 16 airmen.

American Forces Press Service

July 3, 2008 - Leaders from across the U.S. intelligence community dedicated the National Center for Medical Intelligence yesterday at Fort Detrick, Md. Established by the secretary of defense as the premier producer and coordinator of medical intelligence, NCMI produces medical intelligence for global force protection and homeland health protection to safeguard U.S. interests worldwide, officials said.

"The National Center for Medical Intelligence is the critical link between Department of Defense force protection and broader homeland health protection," said Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. "It demonstrates the vital contribution that medical intelligence makes to public health security."

Medical intelligence is the assessment of potential health risks and health care capabilities that allows planning for medical countermeasures, health care support and medical personnel support. NCMI, formerly known as the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center, was established in 1982.

NCMI's designation as a national center reflects the growth in its roles and responsibilities which has been under way for several years, officials said. This growth has included expanded relationships beyond the Defense Department and the intelligence community, and now includes the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, the State Department, coalition and foreign partners, and other domestic, non-Defense Department customers.

The growing integration between homeland health protection and medical intelligence allows NCMI to focus on a broader range of foreign medical threats to U.S. military and civilian personnel, allies, and other critical national interests, officials explained -- pandemic flu, avian flu or other animal diseases that potentially could threaten the United States, for example.

The national center includes a growing network for enhanced situational awareness and early warning, officials added, which will strengthen the integrated picture of health threats to U.S. citizens at home and abroad.

NCMI officials expect to break ground in December on a 15,000-square-foot addition to the existing facility.

(From a Defense Intelligence Agency news release.)

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Damian Steptore

Special to American Forces Press Service

July 2, 2008 - A military intelligence officer here finally got to work where her heart is -- in the medical community.  After originally enlisting to become a combat medic in the Army Reserve nine years ago, Army 1st Lt. Khara Keegan, a native of Sioux City, Iowa, enrolled in the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y., where she graduated and received her commission in the Military Intelligence Corps.

"I like my current job a lot, but the medical profession is where my heart is," said the 26-year-old security officer, who's serving here with the 1st Cavalry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team.

Keegan was reunited with her passion for providing medical care only four days after arriving in Iraq. At the Smith Gate Burn Clinic here, she encountered a 2-year old Iraqi boy who was badly burned on his legs, his stomach and his left arm.

"I didn't want to be emotional, but I could tell the boy was in a lot of pain," Keegan recalled. "I cleaned off his dead skin and applied ointment and a wrap for protection while his parents were holding him and consoling him."

After only that initial treatment, the boy was smiling and holding hands with Keegan.

"He will need treatment for weeks," Keegan said. "The patients here are authorized to have their bandages changed and re-dressed three times per week."

Keegan and about 700 soldiers of 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, are taking over operations at the convoy support center. The brigade headquarters is located at Contingency Operating Base Adder in Tallil Air Base, about 200 miles south of Scania.

The burn clinic's current noncommissioned officer in charge is hopeful the Long Knife Brigade soldiers will continue what the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade started.

"I didn't know what the new unit was going to do," said Army Sgt. Joe Burzeski, a combat medic assigned to the Strike Hold Brigade. "I'm seeing the 1st Cav. soldiers come in and volunteer on their down time, so I can go home at peace knowing this clinic will continue and prosper."

The burn clinic operates with mostly volunteer personnel and supplies that are shipped into Iraq from various hospitals in the United States. Burzeski was one of the first medics assigned to the clinic when he arrived more than a year ago. At the time, the staff of two to five soldiers worked inside a 20-foot shipping container with very few supplies. Today, the clinic accommodates about 40 patients per day inside the same structure.

"As soon as I heard about this place, I knew I had to help out," Keegan said. "Today, I saw immediate results from my efforts; that's why I like the medical profession."

Keegan said she plans to volunteer at the burn clinic as much as her primary mission allows.

(Army Sgt. 1st Class Damian Steptore serves with the 1st Cavalry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office.)

By Gerry J. Gilmore

American Forces Press Service

July 2, 2008 - A new enlistment waiver-reporting policy for all of the services that establishes four groupings and uses numeric coding for specific transgressions will assist the Pentagon to better gauge force quality, a senior defense official said here today. By dividing waiver terminology into four separate groupings and employing codes to identify transgressions, "we can keep [better] track of things, judge whether ... to allow more or fewer people in, based on whether that attribute matters to performance and retention," Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told reporters during a Pentagon news conference.

Each armed service is to align its waiver-reporting procedures according to the new policy guidelines that become effective this fall, Carr said. Each service, he noted, had categorized offenses differently before the change.

The policy change won't affect the high quality of recruits that join today's all-volunteer military, Carr emphasized. Today's soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, he said, are the best quality ever.

Under the new policy, waiver groupings are divided into four categories: traffic offenses, nontraffic offenses, misconduct offenses and major misconduct offenses, Carr explained. Transgressions in the misconduct column are what are commonly known as misdemeanors, he said, while major misconduct transgressions are akin to felonies.

Today, about one in five recruits requires some kind of waiver to enlist, according to Pentagon statistics. About two-thirds of those waivers involve petty infractions of the law; the other third involve health concerns, low aptitude scores and other issues.

Most waivers issued to recruits involve youthful misconduct, according to a Pentagon news release issued today. One-third of medical waivers are issued for too-high body fat, according to the release.

"Waivers have long been a part of the enlistment process, allowing communities a greater voice in identifying young persons who, despite factors such as youthful misconduct, are judged trustworthy and capable, and found fully qualified for service in the armed forces," Carr stated in the news release.

The all-volunteer military that's been in place since July 1, 1973, is a proven success story, David S. C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, reported Feb. 26 during a U.S. House Armed Services Committee hearing.

The vast majority of today's military enlistees meet a high-quality education standard, possessing a high school diploma or a general equivalency degree, Chu told legislators, adding that the percentage of military members with either a high school diploma or a GED surpasses the national average of 80 percent.

By Army Spc. Sophia R. Lopez

Special to American Forces Press Service

July 3, 2008 - As soldiers' enlistments near their end, they must decide whether they want to leave the service or stay on for another term. Some soldiers in Iraq who decide to stay in the Army face another choice: whether to re-enlist here or wait until they're back in the United States.  Some may want to re-enlist while in Iraq for the chance at their pick of duty station or for the tax-free bonus. Others do it for more personal reasons.

"I knew I was going to stay. I had already made up my mind about four or five years ago," said Army Staff Sgt. Dimas Estrada, an air and missile defense operations sergeant for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 10th Mountain Division.

For Estrada, the chance to re-enlist while serving here was a significant event. He comes from a long line of Army veterans, but his father, who served in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, had also re-enlisted here.

"I was going to re-enlist when I got back," said Estrada, a Phoenix native, stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y. This is Estrada's fourth time taking the enlistment oath, having already served 12 years.

With only three years of service thus far, Army Spc. Jeremy Giddings, of Watertown, N.Y., also had an important decision ahead of him.

"I've been considering re-enlisting for at least the past year," said Giddings, a member of a battalion security detail for Headquarters and Support Company, Division Special Troops Battalion. "I realized I wanted to stay in and make a career out of it. Besides, you can't beat the benefits," he said with a smile.

Those benefits come with the possibility of deploying again, but Giddings said that had no effect on his decision.

"I expect at least two or three more after this," he calmly said.

For Estrada, the possibility of future deployments was something he took into account.

"I had to really think about it at first," he said. "I know I'm going to deploy again, but I don't have much time left [until retirement]. It's a good thing for my kids. My family, after all, is secure -- not just financially. I feel that my family is safer with me being in the military," he added, mentioning the presence of military police at Fort Drum, where his family lives.

Soldiers have many reasons for re-enlisting and these reasons often differ whether they're in the United States or in Iraq. But Giddings said his decision to re-enlist would have had the same outcome either way.

"This is just one of many [re-enlistments] to come," he said, making it clear that no matter where he hangs his hat at night, he's staying in the Army.

About 1,200 soldiers are re-enlisting in a mass ceremony at Al Faw Palace tomorrow, with Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, swearing them in for their next term.

(Army Spc. Sophia R. Lopez serves in the Multinational Division Center Public Affairs Office.)