Operation Desert Storm @ MindSay 
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
Nov. 23, 2008 - The Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy helped care for more than 90,000 patients and helped spread diplomacy throughout the U.S. Pacific Command during a four-month stint in the region this summer, the ship's commanding officer said Nov. 21.
"This is an opportunity for America to put our best foot forward and an opportunity for citizens to be proud to be Americans because of what we're doing for these nations," Navy Capt. James P. Rice said. "All of this is to make it a better world; it's really as simple as that."
Rice spoke to a handful of alumni of the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, a Defense Department community outreach program, from the ship, which is now docked at its home port here.
The ship concluded its part of the Pacific Partnership 2008 mission in September after it provided medical, dental and engineering support to thousands in the Western Pacific countries of the Philippines, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and Micronesia. More than 75,000 medical patients were treated, more than 14,000 dental patients were seen and more than 1,300 surgeries were conducted. The ship provided an estimated $20 million in health care, Rice said.
Twenty-six engineering projects were completed, ranging from of a waste water treatment facility in the Philippines to the construction of a community center in Papua New Guinea.
The ship is now docked here and running with minimal staff, but is on "Alert 5" status, ready to get underway in five days to provide combat trauma support. It also can be tasked to help with humanitarian missions or disaster relief here and abroad if needed, Rice said.
A converted oil tanker, the USNS Mercy was commissioned in November 1986. Its first humanitarian mission was to the Philippines in 1987. It was activated in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1990. Rice told the group that Navy officials began to understand the strategic importance of providing humanitarian relief after the tsunami that struck in the Indian Ocean in 2004. The Mercy was activated then to aid relief efforts there.
The Mercy deployed again in 2006 for five months to Southeast Asia, and "the rest is history," Rice said.
The ship provides a full spectrum of medicine, limited only by the specialists officials can get on board, Rice said. It works in partnership with other nations, host nations and nongovernmental agencies to provide care.
"Our partners bring capabilities to us that expand our ability to provide care," Rice said.
This past mission's partner nations included medical staff from Australia, Canada, Chile, India, Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
The Mercy team was also joined by volunteers from NGOs such as Operation Smile, Project Hope, University of California Pre-dental Society, East Meets West and International Relief Teams.
In addition to direct medical care, the ship also provides capacity building projects such as preventative medicine and environmental health in projects that include water sanitation, engineering and veterinarian assistance.
Officials have also begun to look at "strategic capacity building," Rice said, taking on projects that will affect the host nation over a longer term, such as 10 or 20 years later.
"We're always going to provide direct care. But what are we going to do to help develop that host nation?" Rice said.
The recently concluded Pacific Partnership mission included helping medical officials in Timor-Leste develop a five-year budget for their hospital and prioritize the purchase of equipment and capabilities to develop their national hospital.
In Papua New Guinea, a country with only 12 dentists, the medical staff sponsored a four-day dental symposium and donated the resources to teach dentists and 25 dental students and technicians to help to build the country's dental capabilities.
The missions help to develop relationships and strengthen friendships between host nations and the United States and its partner nations, Rice said. The visits also help to prepare the participating countries for providing disaster relief assistance should the need arise.
"It is better to practice working together when it is calm than when all craziness is breaking loose," Rice said.
The U.S. humanitarian mission has evolved, Rice said, from acting as a "benevolent" country coming to the host nation's aid to helping to propel the host nation forward.
"We really didn't quite get it yet," he said of operations before that adjustment in focus. "It's not about us. It's about them." Now, officials work to build the country and make it stronger without "stepping on toes," he said.
"This isn't a military mission. It is purely a humanitarian mission," Rice said. But, he added, such missions can contribute to stability. "If a country is stable, it is less likely to allow a terrorist organization to take root," he said. "It has a big benefit for our overarching national strategic objectives."
The Mercy is one of two Navy hospital ships. Its sister ship, the USNS Comfort, is based out of Baltimore, and is slated to deploy to West Africa on a similar mission next year. The Mercy will deploy again in 2010.
By Army Master Sgt. Bob Haskell
Special to American Forces Press Service
April 30, 2008 - The Army Physical Fitness Test would be a lot more demanding if "Sgt. Ken" was in charge. It would, in his world, gauge soldiers' ability to do a lot more than perform a mandatory number of push-ups and sit-ups in two minutes and run two miles within a required time. The test would determine soldiers' fitness for combat, if Sgt. Ken had his way. "We need to be focused on physical conditioning for combat, not just the APFT. The battlefield is no place for those who fatigue quickly," Sgt. Ken told the Army and Air National Guard's state enlisted leaders here in mid-April.
"Sgt. Ken" is Staff Sgt. Kenneth Weichert of the Tennessee Army National Guard. He has gone to war in Southwest Asia twice: during Operation Desert Storm as an active Army soldier in the early 1990s and again during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a California Army Guard soldier in 2003-04.
He is 41, and he may best be known in Guard circles as the fitness guru for GX (Guard Experience) magazine. That magazine, which focuses on Army Guard soldiers, has included his feature, "Start Fitness," for the past three years. He is now the monthly publication's co-editor for health and fitness. He also has created workouts in video, audio and print products as the fitness director for AmericanSoldier.com. He has, in short, become the 21st century's Jack LaLanne for the Army Guard.
Weichert enlisted in the Army in 1988 and then joined the Louisiana Army Guard in 1992 after serving during Desert Storm. He was a traditional soldier and full-time recruiting and retention NCO with the California Guard from 1997-2007 before transferring to Tennessee to join the IOSTUDIO team that publishes GX in Nashville. He has been a master fitness trainer since 1993 and has trained servicemembers and civilians for nearly 20 years.
The man who was partially paralyzed for four weeks from a football injury during his senior year in high school has made physical fitness his lifestyle and career.
Weichert is as much showman as he is a soldier. He has a Schwarzenegger-like body. He is polished and outgoing in word and manner. He has studied theater at Drake University and the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He was clearly the celebrity at the National Guard Bureau's first Senior Enlisted Leaders Conference here April 18-21. He barked encouraging commands, sang inspirational songs and counted cadence like a seasoned drill sergeant during nonstop, half-hour morning workouts that were not for the faint of heart.
He attended the conference, however, not to promote himself but to promote physical fitness among Guardmembers who could find themselves in combat during the global war on terrorism or engaged with wildfires or floods in this country.
Command Sgt. Maj. David Ray Hudson, the National Guard Bureau's senior enlisted leader and the driving force behind the first-of-its-kind conference, acknowledged that his emphasis on fitness was Weichert's most important contribution.
Soldiers should train as if they are athletes year-round to be physically fit for those challenges, Weichert told the state command sergeants major and the command chief master sergeants. Combat, he observed, requires a lot of upper body strength. An infantryman should be able carry a 160-pound person in full combat gear on his back for 30 meters, as if he were carrying his injured buddy to a landing zone, Weichert said.
Guard soldiers should be able to sidestroke the length of an Olympic pool in full uniform, holding a rifle above the water, to be fit enough to swim across a flooded river. They also should be prepared to hit a hill in full gear to help fight the wildfires that scorch sections of this country from March through October.
Push-ups, tummy crunches, pull-ups, marches with full rucksacks, and swimming in uniform are the drills that Sgt. Ken advocates for those who must be prepared to support their state or defend their country during crises. And the traditional troops who are not inclined to exercise have to be encouraged to work out during the 28 days of most months when they are not in uniform. "We have to 'think smart, not hard' about ways to stay in shape," Weichert said.
"They don't call out the Guard when things are going good. They call us out when things have gone bad," he observed. "We have to be ready -- mentally and physically. Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
(Army Master Sgt. Bob Haskell is assigned to the National Guard Bureau.)