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Military News
Covering the military and veterans in a place like the Tampa Bay area at a time of enduring conflict is never dull, and 2015 had plenty of interesting moments of triumph and tragedy, controversy and success.
The beat, of course, includes MacDill Air Force Base and all that takes place there, as well as two of the nation’s busier Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and the busiest VA claims processing center. And it has one of the nation’s largest populations of veterans, so finding stuff to write about isn’t hard.
Last year started off with a story about whiskey, which is a fine way to kick things off.
MacDill personnel, it turns out, are frequent customers of the Jack Daniel’s By the Barrel program allowing customers to purchase an entire barrel of whiskey, which is delivered in bottles usually given away for ceremonial or honorary purposes.
There was much to celebrate and honor in 2015. And there was much to make one wish for a better 2016.
On the latter note, there were several controversies at the VA.
Whistleblowers at the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center and the St. Petersburg Regional Office were fired. The regional office was rated among the nation’s worst in terms of processing claims, according to a Senate study. The Bay Pines VA police were investigated after a veteran overdosed while in their custody.
There were also problems with veterans getting the benefits they earned. One was declared dead and had his benefits check halted, while another learned that someone hacked into the VA’s eBenefits system and had his check transferred to an account he never knew about.
U.S. Central Command had its problems, including having its Twitter and YouTube accounts hacked by a group with purported connections to the Islamic State jihadi group. And Congress and the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General are investigating allegations that Centcom officials ordered intelligence reports altered to provide a rosier picture of the fight against the jihadis.
U.S. Special Operations Command saw a series of protests and lawsuits bogging down a $1.5 billion program designed to maximize competition and improve performance of contracts for a broad array of services, training and support.
Ryan Pate, a contractor from Pinellas County, wound up in hot water in the United Arab Emirates after taking to Facebook to disparage his employer. The incident landed him in jail, made him the center of international notoriety and served as a reminder that the protections afforded us under our Constitution are not universal.
In May, after an attack in Garland, Texas, on a contest to draw Muhammed, as well as a threat from the Sunni jihadi group Islamic State of attacks on the U.S., security was increased at MacDill and all other military installations in the U.S.
I wrote several stories about suicide and veteran homelessness.
In February, Air Force reservist Jamie Brunette took her own life. In August, Marine veteran Gerhard Reitmann, still struggling with the horrors he experienced in Vietnam, killed himself at the Bay Pines VA complex,
And last month, I wrote that while a study about a pilot program to end veterans homelessness was mostly successful, the biggest problems remained in Tampa, highlighting the area’s struggle to cope with the issue.
MacDill was a frequent topic.
The base, including military retirees and spouses living within 50 miles, pumped $4.7 billion into the local economy in fiscal 2014, a jump of $1.3 billion in two years, according to a report issued in October by the 6th Air Mobility Wing, the base host unit.
The base is also slated for nearly $100 million in military construction projects, Most of it, $55 million, will be used to expand runways and build pads to accommodate 23 Army Reserve Black Hawk helicopters that will move from St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport to MacDill. Another $39 million is being allocated for a new 36,300 square-foot Enterprise Consolidated Data Center for Socom.
The base also saw two major command changes in October.
Marine Lt. Gen. William D. Beydler assumed command of Marine Corps Forces Central Command, which oversees all Marines in the U.S. Central Command region. He replaced Marine Kenneth McKenzie Jr., who is headed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hours later, the Pentagon announced Army Maj. Gen. Darsie Rogers will replace Army Maj. Gen. Michael Nagata as head of Special Operations Command Central, which oversees commando operations in the Centcom region.
And one former commander was thrust back into the news last year.
David Petraeus, who served at the commander of Centcom and later as director of the CIA, was ordered by a federal judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, to pay $100,000 in fines and receive two years’ probation for the misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.
It was the denouement of sorts in the saga that kicked off right here in Tampa when Scott Kelley, who along with his wife Jill hosted parties for the likes of Petraeus and other military leaders and foreign dignitaries, began receiving what the couple saw as threatening emails.
They went to the FBI, which began an investigation that led to the revelation of Petraeus’ affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell. Which led to his resignation. And, later, a lawsuit filed by the Kelleys against the FBI and Pentagon, which is still working its way through the court system.
But 2015 left some good memories as well, and a note on which I close out this look back.
MacDill was presented with an award for hosting the best airshow by the Air Force Thunderbirds,
The Joint Communications Support Element at MacDill played a key role in the military’s efforts to isolate the Ebola virus in Africa by setting up communications systems for the U.S. military personnel who were providing medical support. Operation Helping Hand was given an award by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Socom opened up its “Thunderdome” project, designed to create “opportunities where we can better interact with the local community and take advantage of the incredible talent in academic institutions, small business and large business and create venues where we can all come together and work on problems,” according to James “Hondo” Geurts, Socom’s head of acquisitions.
Tampa again hosted the annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference, bringing together the nation’s top commando leaders and hundreds of defense industry heads. And the area hosted the first Global SOF Foundation conference, which featured, among other things, a keynote speech by Jordanian Princess Aisha bin Al Hussein, who told an audience of international commandos that, ultimately, it is up to the Muslim world to combat jihadi ideology.
I’ve written frequently over the years about men and women who have overcome great odds after returning from war with wounds seen and unseen. Last year was no different.
Joel Tavera, one of the more inspiring people I’ve ever met, retired as an Army staff sergeant, nearly seven years and more than 100 surgeries after being severely injured when a rocket exploded near his armored Chevrolet Suburban inside Talil Air Base in Iraq.
Justin Gaertner, a medically retired Marine corporal who lost both his legs in 2010 during a road clearing operation in Afghanistan, is working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations to help prosecute child pornographers and others.
And Romy Camargo, a Green Beret who was paralyzed by a sniper’s bullet in Afghanistan, and his wife Gaby, finally opened their Stay In Step Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center.
I also got a chance to interview several World War II veterans. Robert Rans was a U.S. Army Air Corps staff sergeant when he became a prisoner of war after his B-24 was shot down on Aug. 1, 1943, on the historic raid of the Ploesti oil fields in Romania. Frank John Martinich was a radioman aboard the USS Cowpens when it sailed into Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender on Sept. 2, 1945. Gerald “Bud” Berry was a C-47 transport pilot, stationed at a dirt airfield in Etain, France when Nazi Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.
While I was on vacation in December, the Pentagon announced the deaths of six airmen.
Maj. Adrianna M. Vorderbruggen, 36, of Plymouth, Minnesota. Staff Sgt. Michael A. Cinco, 28, of Mercedes, Texas, Staff Sgt. Peter W. Taub, 30, of Philadelphia, Staff Sgt. Chester J. McBride, 30, of Statesboro, Georgia, Technical Sgt. Joseph G. Lemm, 45, of Bronx, New York and Staff Sgt. Louis M. Bonacasa, 31, of Coram, New York. He was assigned to the 105th Security Forces Squadron at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York who were killed when their patrol was attacked by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
There have been 2,347 U.S. troop deaths in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, 20 U.S. troop deaths and one civilian Department of Defense employee death in support of the follow-up Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan and nine in support of the anti-ISIS campaign Operation Inherent Resolve.
Original URL: http://www.tbo.com/list/military-news/2015-evoked-a-wide-range-of-emotions-20160103/
