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Army Sends Congress List of Needs

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troop strength

By Debbie Gregory.

The Army has been steadily drawing down the force since 2012, decreasing its numbers from a war time high of 570,000 active Army soldiers.

But following the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act in December, the Army is poised to increase its end-strength by 16,000 more soldiers than originally planned. What is yet to be determined is the amount of funding the Army will get in the fiscal year 2017 budget and beyond to cope with the proposed troop increase.

The bill adds billions of dollars for “unfunded priorities” that the Obama administration left out of its budget request. The House bill partly pays for those programs by siphoning about $18 billion from the account that directly supports overseas contingency operations.

Congress has yet to pass a 2017 appropriations bill, keeping the Defense Department operating under 2016 funding levels until April 30, 2017.

Besides troop strength, there is a need for modernization, particularly in aviation. The Army is asking for $2.5 billion for 10 new-build AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and advanced procurement for an additional 10 aircraft, 14 new-build CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters, 17 LUH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters, and 12 additional Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft.

Additionally, Bradley Fighting Vehicle production would be sped up to build one cavalry squadron set. The Army would also ramp-up the pace to modernization of 140 Stryker armored fighting vehicles to the Double V-Hull (DVH) variant as well as the production of 18 M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicles, which would accelerate the pure-fleet of M88A2 for all Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT) and ABCT support units.

Among other armor formation upgrades, the Army would procure battalion mortar capability for three ABCTs and would fund research and development to increase fire power of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle with a 30mm gun.

Electronic warfare is also a growing concern and the Army would speed up the procurement of ground and air electronic warfare capabilities.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Vets in Congress Back Mattis for Ban Exemptions

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interpreter

By Debbie Gregory.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has requested that President Trump exempt Iraqi nationals, who risked their lives to help American troops in wartime, from the executive order halting immigration from Iraq. Trump’s executive order, published Jan. 27, put an immediate temporary halt to immigration from seven countries, including Iraq.

Mattis has the backing of a bipartisan group of lawmakers, who made a written request in a letter to the president. The letter asks Trump to exempt Iraqi military interpreters, aides and allies from the scope of the order.

The bipartisan letter was signed by Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-California, Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, Steve Stivers, R-Ohio; Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon; Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts; and Peter Welch, D-Vermont.

Both Hunter and Kinzinger are veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively. Stivers and Moulton are also veterans.

“We made a promise to the men and women who served alongside us on the battlefield, and we must uphold that promise to leave no man behind,” Hunter and Kinzinger said in a joint statement. “We urge the president to honor Secretary Mattis’ requests, and stand up for those who stood by our military and American personnel. For the safety of these courageous individuals and their families, and in the interest of our national security, it’s critical that we make this exception and do so swiftly.”

Moulton, a Marine Corps veteran of Iraq, has publicly discussed bringing his own interpreter to the United States on a Special Immigrant Visa, and has taken an even stronger stance in full opposition to Trump’s executive order.

Moulton warned that closing doors to immigration would fuel antipathy against the U.S. and help Islamic State radicals recruit new suicide bombers.

“His policies literally put our troops’ lives at risk — I’ve heard this loud and clear when I have visited them overseas,” he said. “They also prove he has zero understanding of our country’s values and no intention of defending our Constitution.”

The order caused immigrants currently in transit to be taken into custody, including Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who had reportedly worked for the U.S. government in Iraq for more than ten years. Darweesh was ultimately released.

There are special immigrant visas that were expressly created for Iraqis and Afghans who assisted American troops, so that they could relocate to the United States, acknowledging that their work put their lives and the lives of their  families in peril.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

McCain White Paper Outlines Plan to Build Up U.S. Military

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mccainwhitepaper

By Debbie Gregory.

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain has a plan to fortify the U.S. military, and it comes with a hefty price tag.

McCain’s 33-page white paper, “Restoring American Power,” makes recommendations for the defense budget for fiscal years 2018 through 2022.

The report details how defense budget cuts under the Budget Control Act have left the military underfunded, undersized, and unready, and lays out a plan to repair, rebuild, and re-imagine the military for a wide range of threats facing our nation.

“This white paper details what I believe will be necessary to achieve these goals: repeal of the Budget Control Act, a $640 billion base defense budget in fiscal year 2018, innovation for the future, and an end to business as usual at the Pentagon,”  McCain said. He added, “Rebuilding our military will not be cheap—$430 billion above current defense plans over the next five years. But the cost of inaction is worse: we will irreparably damage our military’s ability to deter aggression and conflict. We owe it to our men and women in uniform to chart a better course.”

McCain’s white paper offers detailed recommendations for the armed services to improve capabilities incrementally, but significantly.

“Reversing this budget-driven damage to our military must be a top priority for national leaders,” McCain argues. “The damage that has been done to our military over the past eight years will not be reversed in one year.”

McCain would like to grow the Navy by at least 59 ships, investing in autonomous and unmanned capabilities.    The Navy also needs to boost procurement of manned submarines from two per year to three per year in 2020 and four per year starting in 2021; procure an added 58 F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, and 16 additional EA-18G Growlers, in light of F-35C delays.

The Marine Corps needs to grow the troops by 3,000 per year by 2022. The Marines should also accelerate the procurement of replacement aircraft like the F-35B, CH-53K helicopter and KC-130J tanker; F-35B procurement should be increased by 20 aircraft over the next five years.

To stay competitive with Russia and China, the Air Force may need 1,500 fighter aircraft and an end strength boost of 20,000.

The Army should add 8,000 soldiers a year through 2022. It should also field emerging technologies, such as electronic warfare and unmanned ground vehicles and modernize air defenses and munitions.

McCain concludes, “The budget increase advocated for in this paper is a lot of money, but we must be clear about the cost of doing nothing: Our military’s ability to deter conflict will continue to weaken. And should we find ourselves in conflict, our nation will be forced to send young Americans into battle without sufficient training or equipment to fight a war that will take longer, be larger, cost more, and ultimately claim more American lives than it otherwise would have.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Mattis Picks Two Navy Rear Admirals as Top Aides

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mattis picks

By Debbie Gregory.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has named retired Navy Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney, who served with him previously at U.S. Central Command, to be his chief of staff.

Two-star Navy Rear Adm. Craig Faller, currently the service’s chief of legislative affairs, was chosen to serve as Mattis’ senior military assistant.

Mattis has known Faller and Sweeney for several years. Each worked for the retired Marine Corps general during his tenure at Central Command.

Sweeney, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1982, commanded Carrier Strike Group Ten. In 2001, he took command of the USS Cole, helping restore the ship after a devastating militant attack off the coast of Yemen. Since leaving the Navy, he has been active in business development in Virginia.
Faller has served in the Navy for nearly 34 years, most recently as chief of legislative affairs. In that role he represented the service and its senior leaders on Capitol Hill. His familiarity with Congress likely signals that Mattis is intending to make a major push to grow the Defense Department’s budget, which has been severely constricted by federal spending caps enacted five years ago.
In their new roles, both men will have considerable influence during internal policy discussions. Defense secretaries look to their advisers to provide candid, constructive advice on all manner of military operations and initiatives — and to speak up if they believe specific efforts are ill conceived.

Mattis received a waiver from Congress that permitted him to succeed Ashton Carter as defense secretary, bypassing a law that mandates a seven-year “cooling off” period between military service and assuming the top civilian defense job. Mattis, 66, retired in 2013 after a 44-year military.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Army Unveils New Physical Assessment Test

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OPAT

By Debbie Gregory.

The U.S. Army has launched a new physical fitness dubbed the Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT) to weed out new recruits and soldiers that fall short of the physical demands of certain jobs.

Job specialties are being divided into three physical demand categories: Heavy (Black), Significant (Gray), Moderate (Gold).

Category Black is for military occupational specialties (MOSs) with heavy physical demands, like those of the combat arms branches that require lifting or moving 99 pounds or more. Category Gray is for MOSs with significant physical demands that require frequent or constant lifting of 41 to 99 pounds and occasional tasks involving moving up to 100 pounds. Category Gold is for MOSs with moderate physical demands, such as cyber, that require frequent or constant lifting of weights up to 40 pounds or when all physical demands are occasional.

OPAT measures muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, explosive power and speed. It consists of four individual tests: standing long jump, seated power throw, strength deadlift, and interval aerobic run.

The test will be administered to everyone coming into the service — officer, enlisted, active, Reserve and National Guard, after the soldier swears in but before he or she begins training.

“OPAT is not designed to turn away or weed out people from the Army,” said Brian Sutton, a spokesman for U.S. Army Recruiting Command. “It is designed to put the right people in the right jobs and to ensure we keep our recruits safe while doing so.”

Scoring is gender neutral, upholding the same physical standards for both men and women.

U.S. Army Recruiting Command estimates the test will be administered each year to about 80,000 recruits and thousands of cadets.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Video Conference Therapy Effective for PTSD

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tele

By Debbie Gregory.

Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technology to provide clinical health care from a distance. And now, veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who have difficulties making it to in-person therapy sessions may be able to get treatment that’s just as good via videoconference.

Telemedicine helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities.

Recently, researchers compared home-delivered prolonged exposure therapy to treatment received at VA clinics and found no difference in effectiveness.

“We can now save the travel time and bring the treatment right to them,” said lead study author Ron Acierno, a psychologist and researcher with the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina.

The 127 men and five women who participated in the study were assessed with standard PTSD scales designed to measure symptom severity and depression. After being randomly assigned to two groups, each participant received 10 to 12 prolonged exposure therapy sessions, either at a VA medical center or at home by video conference, depending on their assigned group.

Those who received treatment at home used their own computers, tablets or smartphones. Equipment was provided to those participants who didn’t already own the necessary equipment.

The researchers repeated the PTSD scales in two- three months intervals. They found that at both time points, the vets who were treated at home showed similar improvements in PTSD symptom severity as those treated in the clinic.

The at-home treatment scores for depression were not as good at three months, but by six months they were similar to the scores of the group treated in the clinic.

About 33 percent of the at-home group dropped out of  the program compared to 19 percent of the clinic group.

Acierno said participants who dropped out reported difficulties such as feeling worried about losing control during exposures, the feeling they couldn’t tolerate assignments to go out in public and that imagined exposures made them feel bad.

To minimize this from happening in future treatments, Acierno is exploring the idea of pairing peers who have been through prolonged exposure therapy and no longer meet criteria for PTSD with veterans currently receiving the treatment via telehealth to help them through the difficult parts of the therapy.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

How the Federal Job Freeze Could Affect Veteran Jobs

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freeze

By Debbie Gregory.

A federal hiring freeze imposed by President Trump will no doubt have a massive effect on veteran job seekers. But jobs in the military, as well as jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs that are deemed necessary for public health and safety will be exempted from the freeze, according to acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Snyder.

“Right now, the system’s broken,” said White House press secretary Sean Spicer, adding that the freeze is meant only to “pause” hiring until further analysis can be done and a plan put in place to fix things.

“What we need to do, whether it’s the VA or any other agency, is make sure that we’re hiring smartly and effectively and efficiently,” Spicer said.

The hiring freeze has come under fire from dozens of Democrats, including every Democrat in the Senate, who say it disproportionately affects jobs for veterans, as the VA won’t be able to hire support staff and veterans won’t be able to apply for federal jobs. The Democrats wanted Trump to exempt the entire VA from the order.

“And I think the VA in particular, if you look at the problems that have plagued people, hiring more people isn’t the answer, it’s hiring the right people, putting the procedures in place that ensure that our veterans — whether health care or mortgages or the other services that VA provides to those who have served our nation — get the services that they’ve earned.”

Not mentioned is staff to handle benefits claims, which are ideal government jobs for veterans. Hundreds of thousands of appeals for disability benefits claims are pending, and critics of the hiring freeze have said it could cause back-ups that would impact those who have served.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

New Year Saw Rare Aircraft Carrier Deployment Gap

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flattop

By Debbie Gregory.

As the first month of 2017 draws to an end, we learned a very interesting fact.

For the first week of this year, for the first time since World War II, no U.S. aircraft carriers were deployed, anywhere, a Navy spokesman confirmed.

Had the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which had been in the Persian Gulf, delayed its return to its homeport of Norfolk, VA by a few days, this would not have been the case.

The unusual gap in carrier presence is due in part to longer-than-expected maintenance for the USS George H.W. Bush, which was supposed to take eight months, but ended up taking 13 months. The Navy blamed the delay on increased wear and tear that resulted from an extended deployment. If it had left when it was supposed to, instead of on January 21st, it would have relieved the Eisenhower in the Gulf.

The George H.W. Bush is the tenth and final Nimitz-class supercarrier of the United States Navy, named for the 41st President of the United States. Construction began in 2003at the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard’s Dry Dock 12, the largest in the western hemisphere, and was completed in 2009 at a cost of $6.2 billion.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the absence of a carrier in the Gulf or the Pacific does not mean the U.S. is vulnerable.

The USS Carl Vinson is on routine deployment to the Western Pacific after having received some $300 million worth of improvements.

The USS Makin Island, an amphibious assault ship, is on deployment in the Middle East. The ship is smaller than an aircraft carrier and deploys with Marines, landing craft and helicopters.

“We have had a significant presence in both those areas and will continue to have a significant presence even though we may not at any one particular time have an aircraft carrier there,” Cook said.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Changes to DOD’s Pharmacy Program Likely to Save More than $1 Billion

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armypharmy

By Debbie Gregory.

Thanks to higher beneficiary co-pays, tighter point-of-service rules and recent streamlining of prescription drug processes across the military, the Department of Defense pharmacy program may be able to reduce the cost of prescriptions by more than $1 billion in the five year period between 2014 and 2019.

Policy changes have forced or enticed beneficiaries to skip retail outlets and use mail order for refills on maintenance drugs used for chronic conditions. Additionally, base pharmacies, where drugs are still dispensed at no charge, have expanded the drugs they stock to better meet beneficiaries’ medication needs.

Despite a couple of co-pay increases the past five years to encourage beneficiaries to use generic medicines and more cost-efficient drug outlets, the average annual out-of-pocket cost per beneficiary has ranged from $553 to $603.

Beneficiaries who want brand name maintenance drugs can do so via home delivery or on base. But if they opt for a retail pharmacy, they have to pay the full cost.

Express Scripts, the TRICARE contracted mail order pharmacy, has been a major component in the success of the program.

Of 9.4 million beneficiaries eligible to the use the pharmacy benefit, 82 percent did so in fiscal 2016. That was up from 66 percent in 2002, before the TRICARE mail order program began. A total of 7.7 million beneficiaries got at least one prescription filled in 2016, two million more than in 2002. Prescriptions filled across all three points of service totaled 127 million in 2016 versus 82 million in 2002, a 55 percent jump.

Almost 60 percent of beneficiaries are retirees or their family members: 3.1 million (33.2 percent) are retirees 65 and older and their dependents; 2.2 million (23.7 percent) are younger retirees and their family members. About 1.5 million beneficiaries (16.4 percent) are active duty and two million (21.4 percent) are family members of active duty.

The remaining half million “other” beneficiaries are mostly Reserve, Guard and their family members who qualify for the drug benefit.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

US Agrees to Pay Billions to Former Marines at Camp Lejeune

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camplejeune

By Debbie Gregory.

From 1953 through 1987, people serving or living at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were potentially exposed to water contaminated with industrial solvents, benzene, and other chemicals. This chemical exposure may have led to adverse health conditions.

Now, after years of waiting, those veterans may now be able to receive a portion of government disability benefits totaling more than $2 billion. This is one of few instances in which former military personnel who weren’t deployed for war could become eligible for cash payouts.

The qualifying health conditions include adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease.

“We have a responsibility to take care of those who have served our nation and have been exposed to harm as a result of that service,” McDonald said, adding that the VA’s decision will make it easier for veterans “to receive the care and benefits they earned.”

Beginning in March, the disability benefits may supplement VA health care already being provided to eligible veterans who were stationed at the Marine base for at least 30 cumulative days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987. Veterans will have to submit evidence of their diagnoses and service information.

The new rule covers active duty, Reserve and National Guard members who developed one of the eight diseases.

It allows veterans to qualify for government disability aid based on toxic harm sustained while at a garrison, as opposed to a battlefield. The Marine Corps has said the contamination was unintentional, occurring when federal law didn’t limit toxins in drinking water.

In 2012, Congress passed a bill that was signed into law by President Obama extending free VA medical care to affected veterans and their families. But veterans were not automatically provided disability aid or survivor benefits. The issue has prompted lawsuits by veterans organizations, which note that military personnel in Camp Lejeune housing “drank, cooked and bathed” in contaminated water for years.

In 2015, McDonald also agreed to award disability benefits for another category of veterans who weren’t on the ground, those who had developed medical conditions after exposure to Agent Orange residue on planes used in the Vietnam War.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.


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