JBLM Daily News 14JUN23

Gary Dangerfield

 

 

 

The Indo-Pacific occupies a central role in U.S. national strategy and hosts a large number of U.S. military forces. To enable the operation of these forces and accomplish its strategic objectives, the United States maintains and uses at least 66 significant defense sites spread across the region. This defense infrastructure network performs and supports numerous military functions, including basing for military personnel and weapon systems; domain awareness and area defense; maintenance and repair; training and exercises, storage and prepositioning of materiel; and research, development, testing, and evaluation activities. https://news.usni.org/2023/06/13/report-to-congress-on-u-s-defense-infrastructure-in-the-indo-pacific

 

 

Two men who were active-duty members of the Marines Corps when they stormed the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty on Monday to riot-related criminal charges. Joshua Abate and Dodge Dale Hellonen are scheduled to be sentenced in September by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes. Both pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia. Many Capitol rioters are military veterans, but only a few were actively serving in the armed forces when they joined a mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021.https://www.foxnews.com/us/2-active-duty-marines-accused-storming-us-capitol-plead-guilty

 

The Air Force would be allowed to retire 42 A-10 Warthog attack planes in 2024 as part of a proposed version of the House’s fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. But if the bill, HR 2670, becomes law, the Air Force wouldn’t be able to cut any more until it shows lawmakers a plan on how it would conduct close air support missions. https://www.airforcetimes.com/air/2023/06/12/us-air-force-would-get-a-10-f-15-retirements-in-draft-ndaa/

 

The Louisiana Army base which specializes in training light infantry Soldiers will be renamed for Sgt. Henry Johnson, a World War I New York National Guard Soldier, and Albany resident, during a ceremony Tuesday. Fort Polk, named for Confederate general Leonidas K. Polk, a resident of New Orleans, will become Fort Johnson. The Army installation is home to both the Joint Readiness Training and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division. The division's other two brigades are located at Fort Drum near Watertown. https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/louisiana-army-base-to-be-renamed-in-honor-of-wwi-hero-sgt-henry-johnson

 

An anti-extremism nonprofit launched an online directory of more than 300 hate symbols Tuesday that it hopes military leaders will use to stop the infiltration of extremist beliefs among their own ranks. Hand signals, online memes, tattoos, patches, flags, graffiti and pins are among the items the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism catalogued in its database of symbols used by extremists around the world to identify one another and spread ideologies. https://www.armytimes.com/flashpoints/extremism-disinformation/2023/06/13/directory-of-300-hate-symbols-a-new-tool-for-identifying-extremism/

 

As the U.S. Marine Corps faces off with other military services to recruit a dwindling number of high schoolers, the leathernecks are doubling down on an approach that is so off-putting that it attracts a different kind of recruit, including the outgoing commandant. Instead of talking up money and jobs that the other services hype, Gen. David H. Berger told a Heritage Foundation audience Tuesday that marines use a hard to get campaign. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/marine-corps-brand-i-m-not-sure-you-re-good-enough-to-be-a-marine/ar-AA1cvh1M?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=7464a5055bec41c182b9ca18d9545e54&ei=26

 

The House released draft legislation on Monday that puts the squeeze on the Pentagon to arrive at a long-overdue decision as to where to locate the Space Command headquarters following a two-and-a-half-year showdown between Alabama and Colorado. The draft text of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act would halt military construction on the temporary Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs until Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall submits a report justifying its final location. It would also freeze half of Kendall’s travel budget until Congress receives the justification and decision. https://www.airforcetimes.com/congress/budget/2023/06/13/houses-draft-defense-bill-pressures-pentagon-on-space-command-hq/

 

(Key words): The hurdles facing Sweden’s accession to NATO have delayed talks to elevate Nordic defense cooperation to something of a self-enclosed cluster of nations within the alliance. Nordic governments, working on the basis that Finland and Sweden would have both secured membership approval ahead of NATO’s summit meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11, now face the possibility that the political landscape in Turkey might continue to thwart Sweden’s accession ambitions. https://www.airforcetimes.com/global/europe/2023/06/12/swedens-stalled-nato-bid-disrupts-nordic-defense-planning/

 

(Key words): Two adventure-seeking septuagenarians set out early Saturday on a 7,000-mile round trip from Cambria to the Arctic Ocean. Jay Burbank of Cambria, California, and South Carolina resident Charlie Enxuto will travel about 1,400 of those miles on the graveled Dempster Highway, driving a 1931 Model A Ford, a slant-window town sedan converted to look like a U.S. Army Air Corps General's staff car from World War II. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/06/12/2-veterans-set-out-make-trip-arctic-ocean-1931-model-ford.html

 

Abortion procedures, transgender surgeries and LGBTQ Pride flags would all be banned at Veterans Affairs medical centers under a budget bill adopted by House Republicans on Tuesday. The spending plan — which advanced on a party-line vote out of the House Appropriations Committee — also calls for a record $320 billion in veterans program spending next fiscal year, matching the White House’s funding request released earlier this year. https://www.armytimes.com/veterans/2023/06/13/gop-budget-bill-would-ban-abortions-transgender-services-at-va/

 

 

Twenty-two U.S. service members were injured on Sunday in northeastern Syria in a "mishap" involving a helicopter, military officials said Monday. "The cause of the incident is under investigation, although no enemy fire was reported," U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The service members had "various degrees" of injuries, officials said. Ten were evacuated to health care facilities outside the region, the statement said. Military officials in April ordered a 24-hour stand-down of all aviation units following two deadly mid-air helicopter collisions within 30 days. https://abcnews.go.com/International/22-us-troops-injured-syria-helicopter-mishap-sunday/story?id=100030538

 

The Colombian mother, whose children miraculously survived 40 days in the Amazon jungle, was alive for four days after a plane crash, a latest testimony revealed. The four children were found alive by authorities on Friday, over a month after the small plane crashed in the jungle after going off the radar on 1 May. The children survived by eating cassava flour, authorities said. The siblings, aged 13, 9, 4 and 1, are undergoing treatment at the military hospital in Bogota, Colombia, but have started detailing their ordeal. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/colombia-plane-crash-mother-was-alive-for-four-days-and-told-children-to-leave-her-to-survive/ar-AA1cqHuZ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=8ac51b3f08574f17a0d732fe7eff75f0&ei=44

 

The Biden administration on Monday added 43 entities to an export control list, including Frontier Services Group Ltd, a security and aviation company previously run by Erik Prince, for training Chinese military pilots and other activities that threaten U.S. national security. The Test Flying Academy of South Africa, a flight school under scrutiny by authorities in Britain for recruiting British ex-military pilots to train Chinese military fliers, was also added to the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-limits-exports-flight-schools-others-training-chinese-military-pilots-2023-06-12/

 

The Ukrainian offensive against Russian-occupied parts of the east and south has shown early signs of success, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said late Monday. Ukrainian soldiers are "gaining ground," Stoltenberg told USA TODAY, retaking seven small towns and villages from Russian troops. His comments are among the first on the record by a western leader on the initial success of Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian leaders have also announced similar gains. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/12/nato-stoltenberg-ukraine-russia-counteroffensive/70314530007/

 

The Pentagon will deliver a new package of military aid to Ukraine that totals up to $325 million and will include a wide range of rockets, missiles and other munitions aimed at bolstering the counteroffensive against Russia, the State Department said Tuesday. The aid will include missiles for what are considered critical air defense systems — the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAM) and the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as well as Stingers and Javelin missiles and more than two dozen Bradley and Stryker armored fighting vehicles.https://www.armytimes.com/home/middle-column/2023/06/13/us-sending-325-million-package-of-military-aid-to-ukraine/

Gary Dangerfield

Chief External Communications

Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Desk (253) 967-0158