November 18 Joint Base Lewis-McChord Daily News Clip
Local/Regional Pacific:
King 5
‘This is America’s fight:’ Mountlake Terrace US Army veteran returns home after fighting in Ukraine
The Associated Press
U.S., Others Hold Joint Naval Drills Amid China Concerns
(Key words): U.S., Japanese, Australian and Canadian warships are currently staging extensive joint drills in Japanese and international waters, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday. Without mentioning China directly, the 7th Fleet said the two-week biennial “Keen Sword” exercises include scenarios designed to “challenge the critical capabilities required to support the defense of Japan and stability of the Indo-Pacific region.” https://apnews.com/article/biden-g-20-summit-china-beijing-xi-jinping-98872178031279340af581181b781e8f
National:
Army Times
Louisiana Guard fires brigade commander over ‘inappropriate’ texts
(Key words): In response to emailed questions from Army Times, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Guard, Lt. Col. Noel Collins, confirmed the state’s top general, Maj. Gen. D. Keith Waddell, removed Col. Scott Desormeaux from his role leading the state’s historic Tiger Brigade on Wednesday. The move was “effective immediately,” Collins added. Desormeaux was relieved after an administrative investigation “found that COL Desormeaux sent inappropriate text messages to other service members,” the spokesperson said. An Army Regulation 15-6 investigating officer’s “findings...substantiated violations of” the Louisiana Code of Military Justice’s rules against conduct unbecoming an officer and undermining good order and discipline. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/11/18/louisiana-guard-fires-brigade-commander-over-inappropriate-texts/
Naval
US Navy hopes new funding model can cut sub maintenance delays by 2026
(Key words): The U.S. Navy has nearly twice as many submarines sidelined for maintenance than it should, and those boats in maintenance ultimately require three times more unplanned work than they should, the program executive officer for attacks subs has said. But the service thinks it can turn these and other problematic statistics around by changing when and how it funds submarine maintenance. In fact, Rear Adm. Jon Rucker said he thinks the Navy can implement industry best practices starting in fiscal 2026 and, by the end of that fiscal year, get to almost zero delay days. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2022/11/17/us-navy-hopes-new-funding-model-can-cut-sub-maintenance-delays-by-2026/
Pentagon & Congress
McCarthy threatens to hold up key defense bill until next year
(Key words): Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is threatening to delay passage of the fiscal 2023 defense-authorization bill until January when Republicans take control of the House – and likely make him speaker. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has decided to cancel a floor vote on the upper chamber’s version of the legislation and instead proceed directly to a compromise bill with the House. This would mark the second year in a row that the Senate has not held a vote on its own version of the bill. https://www.armytimes.com/congress/budget/2022/11/16/mccarthy-threatens-to-hold-up-key-defense-bill-until-next-year/
Defense One
Contractors’ reluctance to work with Pentagon on Cybersecurity is leaving vulnerabilities, DOD officials says
(Key words): Waiting for defense contractors to voluntarily talk about their cybersecurity efforts and problems is leaving gaps in security, a top defense cyber official said Wednesday. “There is a little bit of reluctance for a company to share anything with us. Like if we were to go in and take a look at their network and find out that it is abysmal. They wouldn’t want that information to be leaked,” David McKeown, the Pentagon’s acting principal deputy CIO, said at Politico’s Defense Summit. “We’re not prescriptive in nature, as to them coming to us and working with us. And that’s the failing point right now: that it’s all voluntary.” https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2022/11/contractors-reluctance-work-pentagon-cybersecurity-leaving-vulnerabilities-dod-official-says/379852/
Military Culture
This whistleblower called out VA about counselor burnout
(Key words): Ted Blickwedel retired in 2006 after 27 years in the Marine Corps and decided to make the next step of his career one that involved helping other veterans. In doing so, he received counseling training and went to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital before discovering the Vet Centers. The centers are community-based counseling clinics that were established in the wake of the Vietnam War, connecting social workers and counselors with military or combat experience to with other combat veterans. https://www.armytimes.com/books/2022/11/16/this-whistleblower-called-out-the-va-about-counselor-burnout/
Daily Mail
Darrell Brooks gets 1,067 year sentence AND six life sentences
Military News
Only One Fitness Test for Sailors Next Year
Observation Post
‘Echo 3′ TV show gives ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ writer room for bigger story
International:
Newsweek
Russian Soldiers Reportedly Panicking, Resorting to 'Self-Mutilation'
The Associated Press
Three convicted in 2014 Malaysian jet crash in Ukraine
CNN
North Korea warns US of ‘fiercer’ military action, tests short-ranger missile
(Key words):
North Korea tested a ballistic missile on Thursday as it warned the United States of a “fiercer military counteraction” to Washington’s bolstered defense ties with South Korea and Japan amid rising regional tensions. In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said the US’ strengthening of extended deterrence to allies in the region “is gambling for which it will certainly regret.”
NBC 10 Boston
Myanmar releasing 4 Foreigners in broad Prisoner amnesty
(Key words): Australian Sean Turnell, Japan's Toru Kubota, Briton Vicky Bowman, and American Kyaw Htay Oo, as well as 11 local Myanmar celebrities, were among a total of 5,774 prisoners who were being released, Myanmar's state-run MRTV reported. The imprisonment of the foreign nationals had been a source of friction between Myanmar's leaders and their home governments, which had been lobbying for their release. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring organization, 16,232 people have been detained on political charges in Myanmar since the army ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February last year. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/national-international/myanmar-releasing-4-foreign-prisoners-including-american/2896012/
Reuters
Russian missiles pound Ukraine power supply, fighting rages in east
(Key words): Missiles rained down on Ukrainian energy facilities on Thursday, as Russian forces stepped up attacks in eastern Ukraine, reinforced by troops pulled from Kherson city in the south which Kyiv recaptured last week. Explosions resounded in cities including the capital Kyiv, the southern port of Odesa, the central city of Dnipro and the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia. "Punishment for all Russian atrocities - both present and past - will be unavoidable," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter, as news came that a Dutch court had ruled a passenger airliner shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 was hit by a Russian-made missile. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-hails-chinas-opposition-nuclear-threats-2022-11-15/
Bloomberg News
China won’t be able to attack Taiwan in near future, Milley says
(Key words): The top US general said China’s military won’t be capable of invading Taiwan for some time, and President Xi Jinping would probably conclude attacking soon would be a disaster anyway. Launching an invasion would be a “very difficult military operation to execute, and I think it’ll be some time before the Chinese have the military capability and they’re ready to do it,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday. He said the Chinese leader “would conclude that an attack on Taiwan in the near future would be an excessive amount of risk, and it would end in a strategic debacle for the Chinese military.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-16/china-won-t-be-able-to-attack-taiwan-in-near-future-milley-says?leadSource=uverify%20wall DiscoverJBLM *** added