ISAF COMMANDER SAID TALIBAN DEFEAT IMMINENT IN SANGIN DISTRICT

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Commander: Taliban Defeat Imminent in Helmand's Sangin District
By Nick Simeone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2013 - Afghan forces will defeat Taliban fighters in the restive Sangin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province by tomorrow in a battle that has gone on for four days, the commander of NATO-led forces in southwestern Afghanistan said today.

Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Walter L. Miller Jr., commander of the International Security Assistance Force's Regional Command Southwest, told reporters at the Pentagon via satellite that coalition forces have been called upon to provide only aerial support and resupply and logistics help for the Afghan forces fighting the battle.

"They're closing that fight rapidly. They've done quite well," Miller said, adding that the Afghan commander in Sangin has "taken the fight to the enemy and [is] clearing up the center of Sangin right now."

Miller said casualties among Afghan forces are lower than those coalition forces suffered in the region a year ago.

Miller emphasized the Afghan-led battle in Sangin illustrates how far the country's army and police have come in their ability to fight on their own, especially in an area that had been a hotbed of Taliban activity.

"They're taking it on themselves for the most part," he said, but he acknowledged that Afghan forces will continue to need additional, outside support.

"We do believe that the enablers required for the future will be in the areas of [medical evacuation] capability, as well as continuing to work with their logistics personnel to learn how to move things out more rapidly," the general said.

More than 20,000 Marines were sent into Helmand in 2010 to flush Taliban fighters out of the province, killing or driving out many in daily battles that were some of the deadliest of the 12-year Afghan war. While coalition forces have since drawn down, replaced by Afghan forces, some Taliban have drifted back.

"If we think the Taliban will be completely destroyed, that's not feasible," Miller said. "The key is to get the Afghan national security forces to the level where they can maintain security for the populace of Afghanistan."

Some of the enemy fighters in Sangin are foreign, Miller said, but he declined to say what countries or regions they are coming from.

Miller, commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, commands ISAF forces from 11 nations in Helmand and Nimroz provinces. The command's primary focus is training and advising nearly 30,000 Afghan security forces as they prepare to take the lead for security in the region ahead of the end of the NATO mission in Afghanistan in 2014.

NEW POWER PROSTHETICS GIVE BACK THE POWER OF WALKING

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Power Prosthetics Propel Service Members to Better Lives
By Terri Moon Cronk
BETHESDA, Md., April 27, 2012 - Marine Corps Cpl. Garrett Carnes was on a clearing mission in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province in February when he stepped on a pressure plate that exploded and cost him both legs.

Two months later, the former squad leader was fitted with prosthetic legs -- one with the X2 microprocessor power knee, and the new combination of a bionic foot and ankle at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center here.

Carnes, 22, called his first steps "motivating." The gift of being able to walk so soon exceeded his expectations. "Mentally, it feels good to get back on my feet," he said, taking steps on a slightly elevated ramp with parallel bars to grasp. "It's a little awkward, like a baby who's learning to walk."

Such steps are taken every day at Walter Reed's prosthetics gait lab, where rapidly changing technology is giving active-duty service members the chance to walk again and, in some cases, return to duty, said Dr. Charles Scoville, chief of amputee services in the orthopedics and rehabilitation department.

First considered impossible to design, the X2 and higher grade X3 knees have provided a new way of life for above-the-knee amputees, Scoville said. New microprocessors have five sensors, compared with the original C-Leg, which had two.

Now, a combination of gyroscopes, accelerators and hydraulics provide the knee with greater stability, mobility and versatility by recognizing actions, officials said. The multiple sensors can determine when the wearer wants to sit down or go up and down ramps and stairs, all without presetting the limb with a remote device, as required by the former technology.

The first prosthetic limbs, Scoville said, had mechanical knees that were neither limber nor conducive to the warfighter. The wearer had to swing the leg outward and project himself forward to walk.

The Biom ankle -- a combination foot and ankle prosthetic that works with the X2 or X3 knee and is specifically designed for returning warfighters -- is the newest device that enables flexibility.

Scoville describes the knee and ankle/foot combination as more intuitive than older versions.

"It does the work for you," he said. By replacing the once-rigid prostheses, the new, lighter and user-friendly limbs allow enough flexibility to stand on one leg, and step or walk backward without falling, he said.
Army Staff Sgt. Billy Costello demonstrated his knee, foot and ankle flexibility by sitting on the floor and stretching to pull his foot toward him. He also lost a leg by stepping on an improvised explosive device while on a clearance mission.

"We had just taken out 19 IEDs," he said. "I found one more the hard way."
Costello was another patient who progressed faster than his doctors expected. Soon to be discharged, he is an intern at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. and plans to enter the National Guard when he returns to North Carolina.

"I still want to support the guys," he said, adding that he would deploy if his medical condition allows it, but quickly added he doesn't want to be a "liability" to his unit.
"The vast majority of patients won't return to active duty," Dr. Scoville said. "Our goal is to bring them to their highest level of function."

Scoville said 1,453 troops with severe limb loss have been fitted with prostheses since December 2001 and of those, some 300 service members returned to duty, with 53 redeploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.  "We view patients as tactical athletes," Scoville said. "They don't have an off-season and they don't know when their next game will be."

Marine Corps Cpl. Rory Hammill plans to resume his active lifestyle once he's discharged from active-duty. Before an accident in Marja, Afghanistan claimed one of his legs, he was a runner, snowboarder and surfer, all of which he hopes to resume he said, close to the level of ability he once had.

These service members are just a few of the several hundred patients who are fitted with prosthetic limbs each month at Walter Reed, said David Laufer, chief of orthotics and prosthetics services. By contrast, he added, the civilian sector produces about the same number per year. In addition to limbs, the lab also creates hands that can move fingers, with such dexterity that they can operate a computer mouse and perform other daily tasks. Designing and developing hands is the lab's niche, Laufer said, noting that work is ongoing to enable hands to act intuitively like ankles, feet and knees.

Far fewer hands are made in the lab than legs. "The standard of care is shifting," Scofield said. "It's made a significant impact on the wounded warriors who live with these advances. We want people to know we're restoring their lives."