WOMEN IN MILITARY AVIATION HISTORY

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Face of Defense: Pair Blazed Path for Women in Military Aviation
By Martha Lockwood
Air Force News Service

FORT MEADE, Md., March 4, 2013 - Two women, from completely opposite economic, social and cultural backgrounds, walked parallel paths during the early days of World War II, clearing boundaries for women in aviation.

Jacqueline Cochran was born in 1906 in a cotton-fields-and-sawmill small town in western Florida. She grew up in such poverty that she didn't own a pair of shoes until she was nine years old.

As Cochran grew, she loved the sight of airplanes, and she firmly believed that one day she would fly. In 1932 she earned her pilot's license, and she not only flew, she soared.

At the time of Cochran's death Aug. 9, 1980, she held more international speed, distance and altitude records than any other pilot, male or female. She was the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean, and was the driving force behind the formation of the Women's Flying Training Detachment, which trained female pilots to fly military aircraft.

Nancy Harkness Love was born in 1914, the daughter of a wealthy physician, in Houghton, Mich. By the time she was 16, she'd earned her pilot's license. During her college years at Vassar, she earned extra money by taking students for airplane rides.

Harkness married Robert Love, an Air Corps Reserve major. In early 1942, when he was called to active duty in the Munitions Building in Washington as the deputy chief of staff of the Ferrying Command, Nancy piloted her own plane for her daily commute to the operations office of the 2nd Ferrying Group, Domestic Division, near Baltimore.

The Domestic Division was commanded by Army Col. William H. Tunner, and Nancy Love convinced him to propose using experienced female pilots to supplement the existing Army Air Corps pilot force.

Although Tunner's proposal to the Army Air Corps was denied, he appointed Love to his staff as Executive of Women Pilots, in 1942.

Within a few months Love had recruited 29 experienced female pilots to join the newly created Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron.

That same year, Cochran was appointed Director of the Women's Flying Training Detachment for the United States.

The WFTD and WAFS were merged on August 5, 1943, to create the paramilitary Women Airforce Service Pilots organization at 120 air bases across America. The 1,074 female pilots of the WASP each freed a male pilot for combat service and duties.

The WASP pilots flew more than 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft. They ferried aircraft from factories, towed targets for live anti-aircraft artillery practice and served as test pilots. WASP service was considered civil service and veterans were not granted military benefits until 1977.

In 2009, President Barack Obama and the Congress awarded the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal.

"I might have been born in a hovel but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars," Cochran had once said. She passed away on Aug. 9, 1980.

VETERANS AFFAIRS AND DEPARTMENT ON DEFENSE WORK TO PREVENT SUICIDE

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

DOD, VA Partner to Help Prevent Suicide

By Cheryl Pellerin

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2012 - Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said his agency is working with the Defense Department to end veteran homelessness and to identify possible contributors to service member and veteran suicide.

On the first day of the June 20-22 Annual DOD/VA Suicide Prevention Conference here, Shinseki -- a retired Army general, former Army chief of staff and a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran -- took the stage to a standing ovation from hundreds of mental health professionals, clinicians and military leaders.

"Suicide is a national concern. The Centers for Disease Control's annual report on the top 10 leading causes of death ... lists suicide as one of the top four causes of death in Americans ages 10 to 54," Shinseki said.

Suicide is the second-highest cause of death for young people ages 25 to 34, he added.

"These also happen to be the recruiting years," the secretary said. "Should we be surprised that recruits out of such a population bearing some level of increased stress for much of the past decade would experience suicides at some elevated level, or that the suicide rate among male veterans appears to be almost twice that of the general population?"

Shinseki said intervention, or the act of interrupting a potential suicide, primarily is a reactive response.

"We have demonstrated that we can react well," the secretary told the audience, "but is that good enough for the long term?"

To aggressively tackle some potential precursors of suicide, officials said, the VA is focusing on veteran homelessness and on creating a "warm handoff" for service members who transition from the military to the VA.

Three years ago, Shinseki said, the VA made ending veterans homelessness by 2015 one of its key priorities "because homeless veterans are evidence, no matter how good we think we are at this, that we have gaps in our system of care and benefits."

The VA team decided to challenge all of its assumptions about homelessness to find and close those gaps, he said.

"Many experts on homelessness felt then that the primary contributor to homelessness was mental illness. Today, after nearly three years of work, they've concluded that the leading contributor to veteran homelessness is more specifically substance abuse. That gives us a target to go after."

He added, "My question to this audience is, have we made similar assumptions about suicides over time? Do we know causes, cures and measures of effectiveness in our treatment regimens for those vulnerable to suicide? Do we have sufficient tools to prevent as well as rescue when dealing with those at risk? Are we asking the right questions to challenge all of our assumptions about suicide ideation?"

Veterans suffer disproportionately from depression and substance abuse, and they are high on the list for joblessness as well, Shinseki said. All of these factors, he added, contribute both to homelessness and suicide.

Another focus at VA is the transition of the service member to veteran, and how that process works for those who may be vulnerable to suicide or its precursors.

"At VA we know that when we diagnose and treat, people get better. This is reflected in our suicide treatment data that shows a declining trend between 2001 and 2009, the last year for which we have verifiable data," the secretary said.

"But we also know that veterans who commit suicide, perhaps as many as two out of three, are not enrolled in the VA health care system," he added. "So as good as we think our programs are -- we don't even get a shot at these veterans."

To narrow this gap, Shinseki said, efforts at the VA must focus on aggressive outreach to veterans and families, and the provision of high-quality and cutting-edge mental health treatments to those in need.

"We do this best with 'warm handoffs' between [DOD and VA]," he added, referring to a fledgling process through which a health care liaison is tasked to collect transitioning service members' medical records, make initial appointments in an appropriate VA medical center, and facilitate a personal handoff to the new facility.

"VA will continue to work closely with DOD to strengthen our collaboration on behalf of veterans leaving the service and reservists returning from operational deployments," Shinseki added. "We simply must transition them better."

He added, "There are folks still not convinced that warm handoffs are key to preventing suicides."

In May, Shinseki and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met in Chicago to announce the goal of creating a fully operational integrated electronic health record that seamlessly will be able to move from DOD to VA by 2017.

"A significant challenge," Shinseki said, "but without it these warm handoffs are just more difficult."

Shinseki said VA investments in mental health programs increased from $4.4 billion in 2009 to $5.9 billion in 2012.

"Our funding specifically for suicide prevention has doubled, from $35.8 million in 2009 to $72.8 million in our 2013 budget request, with $6.2 billion requested for 2013 for overall mental health," he said.

As DOD anticipates growth in its mental health patient load, Shinseki said, the VA will pace its own growth accordingly.

"But that takes warm hand offs or else we're stuck in that primarily reactive response of rescuing [those who attempt suicide] during crisis, he added.

"Secretary Panetta's leadership and close partnership on behalf of those who wear the uniform today and those who have worn the uniform in times past has been monumental," Shinseki said. "As a result, we've brought our two very large departments much closer together than they've ever been before."

DEFENSE LEADERS DON'T WANT BUDGET REQUEST CHANGED

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
DOD Leaders Strongly Urge Congress to Preserve 2012 Budget Request
By Karen Parrish
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2012 - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta cautioned Congress today against dismantling the strategic framework that supports the 2012 defense budget request.

Testifying along with Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, the secretary said some changes to the request could undermine the careful balance department leaders built into military spending projections.

"Some of the [Congressional] committees have ... made changes with regard to our recommendations that we're concerned about," Panetta said.
He listed three areas DOD leaders have targeted for cuts, and which some members of Congress have challenged during defense budget consideration.

"Some of the bills seek to reverse the decisions to eliminate aging and lower-priority ships and aircraft," the secretary noted. "My concern is that if these decisions are totally reversed, then I've got to find money somewhere ... to maintain this old stuff."

Keeping outdated equipment in service would rob needed funds from other areas, he said. That, he added, would lead to what he has long called a "hollow force" – a military that is not trained, manned or equipped to meet current and future threats.

"We've got to be able to retire what is aged and what we can achieve some savings on," Panetta said.

Some in Congress have also objected to "the measured and gradual reductions in end strength that we've proposed for the Army and the Marine Corps," he added.

Panetta noted under current plans, DOD will reduce the active Army from roughly 560,000 to 490,000, while the Marine Corps will downsize from 202,000 to 182,000 over five years.

"Again, if I have a large force and I don't have the money to maintain that large force, I'm going to end up hollowing it out because I can't provide the training, I can't provide the equipment," the secretary said. "So that's why, if we're going to reduce the force, then I've got to be able to do it in a responsible way."

The third spending area he discussed involves military compensation and health care. The budget request includes some additional fees for retiree health care, and limits active-duty pay raises after 2013. Panetta and Dempsey both emphasized that the department does not plan to cut pay, but that compensation cost growth must be controlled to meet budget constraints.

"If I suddenly wind up with no reductions in that area, I've got to reach someplace to find the money to maintain those programs," the secretary said. "... Every low-priority program or overhead cost that is retained will have to be offset by cuts in higher-priority investments in order to comply with the Budget Control Act."

Panetta noted that act, which mandated the defense spending cuts reflected in the 2012 request, also holds a more dire threat to military spending: sequestration. That provision will trigger another $500 billion across-the-board cut in defense spending over the next decade if Congress doesn't identify an equivalent level of spending cuts by January.
"Obviously, this is a great concern," he said, calling sequestration a "meat-axe approach."
"It would guarantee that we hollow out our force and inflict severe damage on our national defense," the secretary asserted.

Dempsey also spoke about the damage changes to defense spending plans could cause.
The strategy-based budget request, the chairman said, "ensures we retain our conventional overmatch while divesting capabilities not required in the active force -- or at all."
The spending plan reflects choices that maintain a needed balance among force structure, modernization, readiness, pay and benefits, he added.

"Different choices will produce a different balance," the chairman cautioned. "So before giving us weapons we don't need or giving up on reforms that we do need, I'd only ask you to make sure it's the right choice, not for our armed forces but for our nation.
"Sequestration is absolutely certain to upend this balance," he continued. "It would lead to further end-strength reductions, the potential cancellation of major weapons systems and the disruption of global operations."

Dempsey said slashing another half-trillion dollars from defense funding over the next 10 years under sequestration would transform U.S. forces "from being unquestionably powerful everywhere to being less visible globally and presenting less of an overmatch to our adversaries."

That transformation would, in turn, change the nation's deterrent stance and potentially increase the likelihood of conflict, the chairman said.

The general noted that because the law allows defense leaders to cut spending in only certain areas, only three broad areas would be available to service chiefs faced with sequestration: training, maintenance and modernization.

"That's it. There's no magic in the budget at that point," Dempsey said. "And those three accounts will be subjected to all of the cuts mandated by sequestration."
Panetta appealed to the senators to take action to avert a "potential disaster" by preserving the strategy-based defense spending plan submitted in February.

"I know the members of this committee are committed to working together to stop sequester, and I want you to know that we are prepared to work with you to try to do what is necessary to avoid that crisis," he said.

MILITARY TAKES HOLISTIC APPROACH

American Forces Press Service 

By Elaine Sanchez

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 - The military is on the right track by taking a holistic approach to resilience building and readiness, a Defense Department health official told nearly 750 behavioral health experts and military leaders here today.

Initiatives -- such as the DOD's Total Force Fitness -- that view people in "a total package ... rather than a sum of parts" are crucial for success, Army Brig. Gen. W. Bryan Gamble, deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity, told the audience at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury's Warrior Resilience Conference.

This conference, in its fourth year, is intended to equip service members, units, families and communities with resilience-building techniques and tools.

Total Force Fitness, an initiative led by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addresses mind and body and encompasses eight domains: psychological, behavioral, social, physical, environmental, medical, spiritual and nutritional. These domains are connective pieces in creating a holistic approach to building service members' resilience, Gamble explained.

A holistic approach requires an array of care, and Gamble said the military has placed an emphasis on acquiring new behavioral health experts, both on installations and in the TRICARE system. Meanwhile, "what we need to keep in mind, too, is the continuity of care," he said, "I think that will really help in the long run to establish successful outcomes for our patients as well as improve our readiness."

People spend about 100 minutes per year in medical appointments, Gamble said, which leaves more than a half-million minutes per year in which people can make positive choices.

"If we make sure we're attached soundly to the ground, well-grounded, we can weather any storm personal or professional," he said. "It's a multitude of things, from who we are, to our significant others, to our health, to our sense of being, to our professional satisfaction, to our job, to our faith."

Family readiness is a "critical concern" within the military, Gamble said, noting families are the "backbone" of the armed forces.

"Without the families we would definitely not be where we are today," he said.

Gamble acknowledged the "stresses and strains" families are experiencing after more than a decade of war. He cited a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found significantly higher rates of mental health issues in Army wives of deployed soldiers as compared to spouses of nondeployed members. These rates increased as deployments stretched to more than 11 months.

This stress has taken a toll on children from military families as well, he noted. A study indicates that emotional challenges increase for children as their parent's deployment lengthens.

Gamble pointed out some DOD resources available to aid families. Military OneSource offers round-the-clock consultants and TRICARE provides eight out-patient behavioral health visits per year without a referral or prior authorization, he said.

The goal, he said, is to shift focus from health care to health. This will take combating issues such as obesity, alcohol abuse and tobacco use, which contribute to a number of health issues. In fact, Gamble cited a study that says half of the cancer within the population can be tied to obesity, inactivity and diet.

The military also offers new and expectant parent education, he added.

Statistics also show that when service members retire, they tend to pack on some pounds, which can, in turn, impact their health. "We have choices we can make that are very important to our long-term health and that of our forces as well," Gamble said.

Gamble suggested people can visit available TRICARE-sponsored web sites that address issues such as healthy living practices, tobacco and alcohol use and abuse, and other topics.

He also encouraged leadership to keep an eye on their troops, and for service members and their families to ask questions and be advocates for their care.

"People are our most important asset," Gamble noted. "It's truly a partnership between all of us to help maintain, sustain and enhance our warriors and families for a better tomorrow."

DOD WORKS ON NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION

The following excerpt is from a U.S. Defense Department American Forces Press Service e-mail:
Official: DOD Improves Posture on 'Loose Nuke' Threat
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 15, 2012 - Though the Defense Department's role in nuclear nonproliferation centers on dismantling weapons of mass destruction in former Soviet Union states, DOD also plans, equips and trains for scenarios in which terrorists get their hands on nuclear weapons, the principal deputy assistant defense secretary for global strategic affairs said yesterday.

Kenneth B. Handelman testified with colleagues from the State Department, the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration and the Government Accountability Office before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's subcommittee on oversight of government management.

The hearing focused on interagency nuclear nonproliferation efforts around the world.
For fiscal 2013, Handelman said, President Barack Obama's budget request for the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, or CTR, is $519 million, roughly $130 million of which would be devoted to nuclear security-related activities, which he called "truly a governmentwide team effort." CTR is an initiative created in 1991 to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and associated infrastructure in former Soviet Union states.

DOD's contribution to the nuclear security effort "comes primarily through CTR," Handelman said.

"However," he added, "given DOD's overall mission to defend the nation, there's a whole world of separate nuclear-security activities for which my agency plans, equips and trains."
Such activities, he said, "center on a scenario none of us want to confront; namely, what to do when we think the bad guys actually have gotten their hands on really bad things."
Planning for this type of "loose-nukes" situation is evolving substantially, Handelman said, and the watchword for DOD's new thinking focuses on integration across DOD components and across the government.

"For instance," he said, "the instability or collapse of a nuclear-armed state could quickly lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons or materials well beyond the country of origin and involve multiple state and nonstate actors as it moves across the globe."
Today, Handelman said, the services are working to improve DOD's defensive posture against the threat by enhancing the homeland's protective posture, working with the intelligence community to better analyze and track terrorist networks, identifying likely paths to proliferation, and improving the ability to characterize the source and nature of loose-nuke threats.

"Our work at DOD has focused on how U.S. military units would coordinate with other U.S. agencies and with allies and partners in the face of such a loose-nuke threat scenario," Handelman said.

Handelman said the first line of defense in attaining global nuclear security is a group of activities in which agencies from across the U.S. government participate, including DOD.
Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, described for the panel a three-tiered U.S. strategy -- site level, country level and global level -- to lock down or remove vulnerable nuclear materials.
"At the site level," he said, "we work with other countries to minimize the civilian use of highly enriched uranium, to eliminate unneeded weapons-usable material, and to improve security at specific sites."

Where site-level assistance is inappropriate," Countryman added, "we cooperate at the country level with foreign governments to exchange best practices and to demonstrate the safe use of equipment."

At the global level, the assistant secretary said, the United States helps to develop global initiatives through the Nuclear Security Summit process, the United Nations and other means to improve nuclear security around the world."
One example is U.S. engagement with the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, he added, a partnership of 83 nations that conduct activities to strengthen plans, policies and interoperability on the issue of nuclear terrorism.

The National Nuclear Security Administration also makes important contributions at the site and national levels, Anne Harrington said, including working with partner countries on their nuclear security centers of excellence.

"These centers form an important network that will allow countries and regions to strengthen capabilities to secure facilities and to deter, detect and interdict illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological material," she said.

The NNSA also holds quarterly coordination meetings with DOD colleagues at the assistant-secretary level, Harrington said, "to discuss areas of common interest, coordinate on program ideas and do forward planning."

The United States is looking forward into a global nuclear economy, she added, one that, despite the incidents at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, will continue to expand in terms of use of nuclear power and uranium commerce.
"As long as nuclear materials exist," Countryman told the panel, "we will have the same need to set the best possible example in the United States of securing those materials and of sharing that capability for protection with other countries, motivating them to do the same."