Stars and Stripes 4.16.15

Volume 7, No. 18 ŠSS 2015

FRIDAY, A PRIL 17, 2015

For information please contact Waverly Williams 803-774-1237 or waverly@theitem.com

LACKING IN PROGRESS VA SCANDAL

One year after Phoenix, the VA is under more scrutiny than ever

The full-service emergency department at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center in North Carolina has been closed for six months due to staffing issues, according to officials. Veterans with medical emergencies before 8 a.m. and after 8 p.m. are told to go to the closest community hospital. PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP

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VETERANS

VA hospitals under more scrutiny Agency struggling to bounce back one year after wait-time scandal

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

A year after revelations that a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital was denying veterans care and falsifying data to hide it, the federal agency tasked with looking after Americans who have served in the military is under more scrutiny than ever, with many growing impatient with the pace of the agency’s overhaul.

“I’m incredibly disappointed with the lack of progress,” said Katherine Mitchell, a Phoenix VA doctor whose reporting last spring helped expose what turned out to be a nationwide crisis in veterans’ health care.

The scandal started in earnest last April when House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said during a hearing that veterans may have died while awaiting care in Phoenix and that the hospital may have two sets of records to conceal wait times. Both allegations turned out to be true.

Phoenix, though, was just the beginning.

News of that hospital’s malfeasance led to the discovery of similar horror stories at VA hospitals throughout the

country: poor care, unexpected deaths, understaffing, over-prescription of narcotics, construction debacles. One year later, new failures are documented every week.

As the VA chips away at a long-standing backlog in disability claims, the backlog for appeals of denied claims is growing. More than 300,000 appeals are pending as of January, according to the VA. Nationally, the average length of time to receive a decision on an appeal is 1,255 days — nearly 3½ years.

The wanton dispensing of narcotics at a Wisconsin hospital earned it the nickname “Candy Land.” Patients at the Tomah Medical Center were 2.5 times more likely than the national average to receive high doses of opiates. Six congressional hearings have been held this year to discuss overmedication and abuse of authority at the Tomah VA. The Choice Card program that enables veterans who live far away from a VA facility or face 30-day or more wait times to access private care was quickly labeled as flawed.

The restrictive 40-mile rule has already been eased.

Construction of a medi-

6 VA hospitals where vets wait the longest The Veterans Affairs system operates more than 1,000 facilities. Here are the regions where waits were longest over a six-month period from Sept. 1, 2014, to Feb. 28, according to data analyzed by The Associated Press.

Northern Florida. It’s a long drive from the tip of Florida’s panhandle to Jacksonville, on the Atlantic coast, but with some detours you can hit four of the most delay-prone VA outpatient clinics. The VA clinics in Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Panama City and Pensacola collectively completed 250,000 appointments during the six-month period. Nearly 13 percent of those visits involved a wait of longer than 30 days, well above the national average of 2.8 percent. In Jacksonville, 7,117 appointments involved a wait of more than 60 days

PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP

Optometrist Paul Archambault, left, talks with Army veteran Kenneth Chavis during an examination at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fayetteville, N.C., on March 12. cal center in Aurora, Colo., is more than $1 billion over budget, costing more than twice as much as the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Congressional leaders are threatening to withhold funding until someone takes responsibility for the overruns and delays. Just this week, Miller suggested the VA should consider selling the hospital.

Reports of retaliation against VA whistleblowers continue, despite VA leaders saying that retaliation will

— more than in the entire states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut combined.

Central Alabama. When the U.S. government built a veterans hospital in Tuskegee in 1923, the idea was to create a haven for black servicemen excluded from “whites only” medical facilities. From September to February, that facility and its sister medical center in nearby Montgomery struggled more than any other VA hospitals to meet the goals for timely access. About 9 percent of patient visits involved a wait of longer than 30 days.

Georgia. Of the 100 VA hospitals and clinics with the most patients waiting more than 30 days for care, 10 are in Georgia. A small VA clinic near Fort Benning has been among the worst performers. About 13 percent of patient visits involved a wait of more than 30 days. It has close to the longest average wait for mental health care in the country. At the VA hospital in Dublin, one in 36 ap-

not be tolerated. More than 25 whistleblowers have received legal settlements, but 120 active investigations remain, according to Miller’s office.

The scandal cost former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki his job. Former Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald replaced him in late July, accepting what some see as the most unforgiving job in government — reform and reorganization of the second-largest and most dysfunctional department in the federal government. When he’s not being

pointments involved a wait longer than 60 days.

Eastern North Carolina. North Carolina is home to the Army’s Fort Bragg, the Marines’ Camp Lejeune and nine of the 50 VA medical facilities with the most patients waiting more than 30 days for care. About 16 percent of the vets getting treatment in Jacksonville had to wait longer than 30 days for an appointment. Close to 1 in 9 patients there had to wait longer than 60 days.

The VA opened several clinics in the state to deal with long waits, but those new and expanded sites haven’t met expanding demand.

Hampton Roads, Va. A home to U.S. naval power and a popular spot for military retirees, the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia also ranks among the worst places to get a timely appointment at the VA. About 7.3 percent of the appointments completed at the VA hospital in Hampton failed to meet the department’s stan-

hauled in front of occasionally hostile lawmakers to discuss the VA’s myriad problems, he faces an entrenched bureaucracy that is resistant to change and rules that make it difficult to fire people in his own department.

“He came into one of the most difficult jobs in the federal government at one of the most difficult times to be in the job,” said Ryan Gallucci, Veterans of Foreign Wars’ deputy director for national veterans service.

SEE PAGE 3

dards. At the outpatient clinic in Virginia Beach, 18 percent of patient visits involved a wait of longer than 30 days — although things have been improving. The clinic completed nearly 89 percent of its visits in a timely fashion in February, compared with 76 percent six months earlier.

Tennessee and Kentucky. The VA has opened a host of small medical clinics in rural Tennessee and southern Kentucky, and while they treat a modest number of patients, those are among the most likely to face a long wait. Thirteen of the 100 VA sites with the highest percentage of patients waiting more than 30 days are in the two states.

The outpatient clinic in Hopkinsville, Ky., has the highest percentage of delayed appointments of any VA clinic in the country. Nearly 20 percent of the 5,377 appointments completed at that facility involved a wait of longer than 30 days, and things have been getting worse since the summer.

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VETERANS

Whistleblowers: Retaliation still rampant at VA ‘ Despite this significant progress, the number

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Public shaming, demotions, verbal abuse. On Monday, Department of Veterans Affairs employees addressed lawmakers again about a culture of retaliation in the beleaguered agency that has been detailed during a yearlong scandal.

Employees said that despite the scrutiny and ongoing department overhaul, whistleblowers are still facing retaliation.

At a subcommittee hearing of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs on Monday, VA employees painted a picture of a workplace culture where speaking out comes at great cost, even as VA Secretary Bob McDonald has made their protection a top priority.

“The hostility they receive for their conscientious behavior shows that the retaliatory culture, where whistleblowers are castigated for bringing problems to light, is still very much alive and well in the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., said. “The truth of the matter is, the Congress needs whistleblowers within federal agencies to help identify problems on the ground in order to remain properly informed for the development of effective legislation.”

Dr. Christian Head, who testified in July about wait time manipulation at the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Health Care System, said he has been demoted,

FROM PAGE 2

In an interview with Stars and Stripes, McDonald acknowledged that his department still has a long way to go in its reforms, but he pointed to shorter wait times, a shrinking disability claims backlog, and an effective effort to lower veterans’ homelessness as signs of success.

“Give us a try,” he said.

“In my first national press conference last September I gave out my cellphone number and I get calls from hundreds of veterans every single day.

Now, I’m getting roughly 35 percent of the calls … where the message I’m getting is, ‘You changed my life, you helped me get in.’ ” So far even the staunchest critics of the VA’s reforms are sticking by McDonald, though there’s a rising call for him to fire more of those responsible for the problems.

of new whistleblower cases from VA employees remains overwhelming.

’

embarrassed in front of patients and nearly turned away from an operating room where his patient was under anesthesia, awaiting surgery.

Head said in August he found that the locks had been changed on his office, and he was informed that he had been moved to a “tiny, dirty, poorly furnished closet-sized office” on a different floor.

He said his supervisors have engaged in an effort to undermine him since July, including preventing him from meeting with McDonald when the secretary visited the Los Angeles VA system earlier this year, saying his identification badge was expired.

When he complained of mistreatment, he told congressmen on Monday, a supervisor told him, “If you don’t like it, you’re a whistleblower, take it to Congress.”

In submitted testimony, Head also detailed instances where he said employees experienced racial and religious discrimination.

Almost one year ago, the same committee detailed allegations of falsification of data and patients dying while

“No one thought the department’s problems would magically disappear upon the appointment of a new secretary,” Miller said in an email response to Stars and Stripes.

“But it’s been a year since the scandal broke, and the department is still facing challenges with transparency, protecting whistleblowers and conveying accurate information to the public. It’s simply naive to think these issues will subside in the absence of the thorough housecleaning the department desperately needs.”

Mitchell, who was given compensation and a new job from the VA after administrators at the Phoenix VA retaliated against her for speaking out, has become a go-to person for VA employees who want to report wrongdoing.

“They’re very scared of retaliation,” she said. “The culture has not changed.”

Carolyn Lerner Office of Special Counsel languishing on secret wait lists. That helped uncover a systemwide failure in the care of veterans.

The scandal cost former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki his job, and McDonald has faced a steady stream of revelations about improprieties across the country since taking over in July.

Richard Tremaine, associate director of the Central Alabama VA Health Care System, said his superiors took away his leadership role and humiliated him and another whistleblower in emails after he reported malfeasance by system director James Talton. The director was fired after an investigation showed patient wait time manipulation at Alabama VA hospitals.

“I speak with you today, with a heavy heart, disgusted by continued coverups, a discrediting campaign through open-ended investigations, and the attempted destruction of my career, by the very VA I have always loved being part of,” Tremaine said.

More than 25 VA whistleblowers have received legal settlements for retaliations and about 120 cases are pending.

Asked about that persistent fear, McDonald said he expects more employees to receive compensation for maltreatment, and he encouraged whistleblowers facing retaliation to call him directly.

“We will not tolerate retribution,” he said. “We cannot improve unless we have people criticizing (us).”

Much of the leadership implicated in wrongdoing throughout the VA system is still in place or on paid leave, which has been especially irksome to veterans advocates, lawmakers and whistleblowers. Only a handful of those at the center of the scandal have left, and many were able to retire, keeping generous pension packages.

“Sometimes I think there’s a little more damage control than appetite to overhaul the system,” said Pete Hegseth, CEO of the conservative

Special counsel Carolyn Lerner of the Office of Special Counsel said that she expects 40 percent of the agency’s cases to come from the VA this year, far more than from any other agency.

“Despite this significant progress, the number of new whistleblower cases from VA employees remains overwhelming,” she said.

Meghan Flanz, director of the VA Office of Accountability Review, said protecting whistleblowers is a “key component” of VA’s mission but that “the department has had and continues to have problems ensuring that whistleblower disclosures receive prompt and effective attention, and that whistleblowers themselves are protected from retaliation.”

“It is an act of courage and it is something we in the department need to learn to celebrate,” she said.

But lawmakers weren’t satisfied with Flanz’s contrition, slamming the VA for not doing more to fire those who were responsible for the scandal. Only a handful of senior leaders have been fired, and several others have been able to resign — sometimes with substantial pensions intact.

“It seems to me if you want to send a message that wrongdoers are going to be held accountable, you actually have to hold one accountable,” Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., said. druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

veterans group Concerned Veterans for America and one of the staunchest critics of the VA’s handling of the crisis.

While senior leaders played a large role in fueling the toxic atmosphere of the VA, some advocates worry the misdeeds of relatively few leaders is taking focus away from a dire need to reform the culture of the mid-level bureaucrats and administrators who have more direct interaction with patient care.

“The secretary has made an attempt to do that at the higher levels, but we find the problem really lies in what we call the frozen middle,” Veterans of Foreign Wars senior legislative associate Carlos Fuentes said. “Some of them even feel they can wait out the secretary or the (public) focus on the access crisis.”

One year later, veterans are still waiting long times for

care, but the ongoing scrutiny has forced even reluctant administrators to improve their practices. Keeping up that pressure is key to continued improvement, American Legion Executive Director Verna Jones said. “The curtain’s been lifted,” she said.

Just this week, a new government advisory committee of businessmen, academics, health care experts and retired military leaders met for the first time to craft suggestions on how to revamp the scandal-plagued agency.

In a public meeting with committee members, McDonald said he hopes fresh perspectives will help the department better care for veterans.

“As a typical government bureaucracy, sometimes we lose sight of our customer,” he said. druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

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PHILIPPINES

Volatile mixture in Olongapo What role did transgender and military cultures play in Philippines death?

BY SETH ROBSON Stars and Stripes

SUBIC BAY, Philippines — Marines and sailors are pretty eager to blow off steam after weeks at sea, particularly when granted liberty in an exotic port with a notorious reputation for easy female company.

While troops get briefings before going ashore on what to expect and what to avoid, some information may have gotten lost during the two-plus decades since the U.S. military left U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay. Not everything is what it seems in Olongapo, the city that sits just outside the gates.

Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, a 19-year-old anti-tank missileman based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., who enlisted in 2013, was among those who flooded out of the USS Peleliu last on Oct. 11. He joined a few buddies at the Ambyanz nightclub on Magsaysay Drive.

By the time the night was over, transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude lay dead in a bathroom at the Celzone Lodge — a seedy hotel across the street from the nightclub.

Pemberton has refused to enter

a plea on murder charges. Filipino state prosecutors say he killed Laude after discovering she was transgender, according to The Associated Press. His trial is set to resume Monday.

According to one of Laude’s friends, Pemberton and another Marine took a few prostitutes to the hotel for sex. In a dark nightclub and under the influence of alcohol, it’s common for young military men to fork out 1,000 pesos, or $22, for oral sex from one of the female impersonators, according to another transgender sex worker who goes by the name “Angel.”

They never realize they’re with another man, Angel said.

Laude’s transgender friends — who call themselves “lady-boys” — are candid about their interactions with U.S. troops and their tactic of “hunting” in groups for customers, passing themselves off as women to unsuspecting heterosexuals.

Some sailors and Marines actively seek out transgender prostitutes when they are in port, Angel said.

The typical customer, however, is a heterosexual servicemember who

thinks he is receiving oral sex from a woman, Angel said.

Emilie Fe de los Santos, the prosecutor in Pemberton’s case, said it’s not as easy as most think to tell a transgender woman from someone who was born female.

“If you are a transgender, you take pills,” she said. “Your muscles soften up. Your Adam’s apple disappears. Some have injections in their hips. Until you see what you have to see, you can’t tell they are not real women.”

Mardi Gras every night There’s a common saying in the U.S. military: “What happens TDY (temporary duty), stays TDY.” It harkens back decades to times when ships frequently pulled into foreign, exotic ports.

In those days, Olongapo was the rowdiest, most free-wheeling town in the rowdy and free-wheeling Philippines, where prostitution is illegal but widely tolerated, and police were unlikely to intervene in anything less lively than a knife fight. It was like Mardi Gras every night.

U.S. Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton is charged in the Oct. 11 killing of Laude.

Having sex with prostitutes was seen as a rite of passage for many troops. It was even tacitly accepted by the military leadership.

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PHILIPPINES

Volatile: Having sex with prostitutes seen as a rite of passage FROM PAGE 4

Before the military made the hiring of a prostitute a Uniform Code of Military Justice offense in 2005, services made sure condoms were readily available before a port visit.

Military leaders, recognizing the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases — particularly AIDS/HIV — encouraged condom use.

It’s a culture that still exists today in certain circles. Earlier this year, the command master chief of the USS Germantown, based in Sasebo, Japan, pleaded guilty in military court to conspiracy to procure prostitutes for his ship’s upcoming port visit to the Philippines.

For those who have served for a while, it might be common knowledge that some prostitutes in those foreign ports might be men dressed as women, or a man who is trying to become a woman.

In the 1980s and ’90s, the military briefed its troops about transgender people when ships pulled into ports in Southeast Asia, according to Autumn Sandeen, a transgender military retiree living in San Diego. Sandeen served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring as petty officer first class before becoming a transgender woman in 2003.

In an email response, Navy officials said that sailors still receive briefs that there may be transgender individuals in countries they visit, but sailors at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan disputed that. They are told about potential threats, places to stay away from and the value of going ashore with buddies, the sailors told Stars and Stripes.

U.S. Marine Corps officials in the Pacific did not respond to requests about the briefings given to their units.

Patricio Abinales, a University of Hawaii expert on the Philippines, said that in the past, he briefed U.S. military personnel on Okinawa and Hawaii who were headed to the

Philippines and warned them to stay away from bars and prostitutes.

“Some of these young (U.S. military) people have never been to another country,” he said by telephone from Hawaii.

“I tell them, ‘If you do something bad, it will reflect badly on your government.’ I don’t know if they listen, but some nod their heads.”

He said he hadn’t warned troops specifically about transgender sex workers but that he would if called upon to brief troops in the future.

‘He has to pay’ On the sidelines of the trial are two families in pain.

Pemberton’s criminal trial is being held in conjunction with a civil action by Laude’s family, who reportedly are negotiating a deal that could see the charge against Pemberton reduced from murder to homicide, which carries a shorter mandatory prison sentence.

There has been speculation that the family is seeking 21 million pesos, or $473,000, in compensation.

But Marilou Laude, the victim’s sister, said the family’s only goal is see Pemberton behind bars.

“We can forgive him, but he has to pay for what he did,” she said.

Pemberton’s mother is expected to testify at the trial.

In October, she told New Bedford’s Standard-Times newspaper that she didn’t know what happened in the Philippines.

“His family loves him very much, and nothing is going to change that,” she told the newspaper.

Since Laude’s death, Magsaysay Drive has changed, too. There was hope that President Barack Obama’s announcement last year about a renewed U.S. presence in the Philippines would mean an economic revival for Olanga-

PHOTOS

BY

SETH ROBSON /Stars and Stripes

Above: A group of Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude’s transgender Filipina friends pose in Olongapo City, Philippines. Below: Laude and Pemberton met at the city’s Ambyanz nightclub, which is now closed.

po, but business is down since the U.S. military canceled all port visits following Laude’s death.

The hotel where the killing happened has changed its name from the Celzone Lodge to the Bachelor’s Lodge.

Ambyanz has closed. On the other side of the street last month, the only customers were local Filipinos or Asian tourists at Delailah — a bar where young women wearing

name tags dance on a stage in their underwear, then gather in groups for “choose the girl” sessions with patrons.

Some blame a decline in business on Laude.

Taxi driver Alex Suarez said he’s angry at Laude for putting herself in a dangerous situation and jeopardizing local jobs.

“We hate Jennifer Laude,” he said. “It’s bad for business.”

Suarez isn’t surprised that

a Marine would react with violence upon finding out that he had sex with a man when he thought he was with a woman.

“If it happened to me, I would be angry, too,” he said.

But there were signs that Laude may have been trying to get out of the Olangapo transgender culture.

Her sister said Jennifer was studying hotel and restaurant management at the Asian Institute for E-Commerce — one of the few schools in the Philippines that accepts transgender students.

Jamille, a transgender woman who was Laude’s housemate, said Laude didn’t go out the night of her death to earn money. Laude had a boyfriend who accepted her and was supporting her financially, Jamille said.

“She just went out because she was bored,” she said.

Stars and Stripes reporter Erik Slavin contributed to this report. robson.seth@stripes.com Twitter: @SethRobson1

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Friday, April 17, 2015

MILITARY

Navy Cross awarded to Marine for actions in Afghanistan attack

BY JENNIFER H LAD Stars and Stripes

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.

— A small team of special operations Marines was on a rooftop in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in July 2012 when everything went wrong.

The opening shots of an enemy attack paralyzed the team leader from the chest down and severely injured another Marine.

The team was suddenly surrounded by a force seven or eight times its size.

The Marines were outmanned, outgunned, trapped on a rooftop and in desperate need of a medical evacuation helicopter.

It was the heaviest fire that Gunnery Sgt. Brian Jacklin had seen in 10 years of heavy combat experience.

But he remained calm, organizing a counterattack and calling for a helicopter.

On April 9, Jacklin was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism, which retired Marine Capt. Derek Herrera said is the reason he is alive today.

Jacklin, 32, said that he was honored and overwhelmed by the medal, but that the Marines “really had no choice” but to fight back.

When a friend is injured, Jacklin said, Marines do everything they can to save his life.

“We don’t retreat. We stand our ground,” he said.

Once Jacklin had secured a helicopter for the wounded Marines, he said the team had to breach a wall and run across a field under intense fire to reach the landing zone.

He asked whether everyone was OK with the plan, and there wasn’t a second of hesitation, he said.

At the landing zone, the Marines used their bodies to shield their wounded teammates.

Once the team was relieved by a SEAL team, Jacklin and Sgt. David Harris voluntarily stayed behind to continue the fight.

Stars and Stripes

Marilyn Monroe embraces Pfc. John Fenesy, left, of Caldwell, N.J., and Cpl. Dick Armstrong, of Williston Park, N.Y., at the 3rd Division airstrip in Korea on Feb. 20, 1954.

Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman presents Gunnery Sgt. Brian C. Jacklin with the Navy Cross during a ceremony held April 9 at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Harris, Gunnery Sgt. William Simpson IV, Staff Sgt. Christopher Buckminster, Staff Sgt. Hafeez Bussein and Sgt. William Hall, all members of the same team, each received a Bronze Star with V on April 9 for their actions during the battle.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commander of Marine Special Operations Command, said the team epitomizes what Marines are all about.

“They do this for the Marines on their left and right flank,” he said, and they are “willing to sacrifice anything and everything” for those Marines.

Herrera, the team leader who was paralyzed by a bullet in the opening volley of the attack, said these Marines are his inspiration.

“Physically, I would not be here today” without their actions.

Herrera said Jacklin had been as effective in combat on hundreds of other occasions.

“It’s great to see him recognized, but he should have hundreds of Navy Crosses in my mind,” he said. hlad.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @jhlad

S. Korea building dedication to Monroe USO show in 1954

BY ERIK SLAVIN Stars and Stripes

A small county in South Korea is betting on a famous blonde’s visit with American troops 61 years ago to bolster its profile.

Inje County, in the picturesque but sparsely populated northeast, is building a 10 million won ($9,150) dedication to Marilyn Monroe’s 1954 USO show.

The stone dedication at Inje Catholic Church’s square will recall an era when some of America’s biggest stars came to Korea to visit servicemembers during and soon after the end of Korean War combat.

In February 1954, Marilyn Monroe and her new husband, New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio, arrived in Japan to massive fanfare.

DiMaggio was well-known for his baseball clinics in the country, but it was Monroe who captured more of the country’s attention.

After a few visits with servicemembers at the Tokyo Army Hospital and elsewhere in Japan, Monroe was asked to visit troops in South Korea, a country still very much recovering from

Courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps

Marilyn Monroe entertains troops during her USO tour through Korea in 1954. the scars of war.

Monroe performed 10 shows in four days for about 100,000 servicemembers, according to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, which houses several color pictures of the visit taken by Navy corpsman David Geary. “[The trip] was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Monroe said, according to the Smithsonian. “I never felt like a star before in my heart. It was so wonderful to

look down and see a fellow smiling at me.”

The dedication will include a large picture of servicemembers watching Monroe on stage, with the county’s fields and mountains as a backdrop.

An inscription will note how Monroe “soothed the hearts” of U.S. servicemembers at the time.

Monroe’s visit to Korea is well-known among her fans, though her visit to Inje isn’t mentioned as often in the books, blogs and other tributes to her life.

Inje is mainly known for its mountains, including Seoraksan National Park, and its proximity to the Demilitarized Zone. County officials hope that recognizing Monroe’s show will cast a little bit of her limelight on them as well.

“We would like to motivate people to know about here,” said Kim Myungsoon, Inje’s public relations spokeswoman. “We’ll try to make good use of it, for not only commemorating her visit to Inje, but also promoting the county’s local culture.”

slavin.erik@stripes.com Twitter: @eslavin_stripes

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MILITARY

Report: Defense spending increases

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What the world spends on military

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its armed forces budget for the current year, the report said.

Spending also was up in China, which spent $216 billion on defense in 2014, 64 percent higher than its official base figure, the report stated. During the past decade, Chinese spending is up 167 percent, including last year’s 9.7 percent bump over 2013.

China announced an official defense budget of $132 billion last year. SIPRI’s estimate included China’s publicly available research and development figures, as well as paramilitary spending, military construction and arms exports.

“The relative priority given to the military is certainly not decreasing and may be slightly increasing despite the numerous major challenges China is seeking to tackle, such as economic inequality and environmental destruction,” according to an institute statement.

China has rapidly modernized its military in recent years, with a focus on missile development and a navy ca-

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher Terry Leonard, Editor Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editor Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Content Amanda L. Trypanis, U.S. Edition Editor Michael Davidson, Revenue Director CONTACT US 529 14th Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20045-1301 Email: stripesweekly@stripes.com Editorial: (202) 761-0908 Advertising: (202) 761-0910 Michael Davidson, Weekly Partnership Director: davidson.michael@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com

pable of operating farther from its shores.

Only the United States spent more on defense than China., even though U.S. spending dropped 6.5 percent from 2013.

“The USA’s share of world military expenditure remains high at 34 percent, but it is declining steadily year on year as the USA reduces its spending and other states increase expenditure,” according to the report. “Nevertheless, U.S. military spending continues to run at historically high levels and is around the same level in real terms as at its previous peak in the late 1980s.”

Elsewhere in the world, Saudi Arabia’s 17 percent defense spending increase was the largest among the top 15 spenders, according to SIPRI. At $80.8 billion, the Saudis ranked fourth globally.

Excluding the United States, world defense spending has risen continuously since 1998 and was up 3.1 percent last year, according to SIPRI. slavin.erik@stripes.com

This publication is a compilation of stories from Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent newspaper authorized by the Department of Defense for members of the military community. The contents of Stars and Stripes are unofficial, and are not to be considered as the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, including the Defense Department or the military services. The U.S. Edition of Stars and Stripes is published jointly by Stars and Stripes and this newspaper.

The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the DOD or Stars and Stripes of the products or services advertised.

Products or services advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use, or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation, or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user, or patron.

© Stars and Stripes, 2015

Friday, April 17, 2015

Military spouse blogs cater to wide audience

B

BY ERIK SLAVIN

While overall the world’s nations spent marginally less on defense in 2014 than in the previous year, spending was up in parts of central and eastern Europe, where nations were responding to Russian aggression in Ukraine, according to a Sweden-based institute’s analysis of global defense spending.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute study, released Monday, estimated that Ukraine’s spending increased 23 percent from the previous year. In February 2014, Russia-backed separatist troops entered the Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. Other than Bulgaria, many other countries in the region also increased spending in 2014. Poland saw a 13 percent increase over 2013, while Latvia (5.6 percent), Lithuania (6.3 percent) and Estonia (6.4 percent) saw small gains in spending.

Russia’s military spending also grew, by 8.1 percent to $84.5 billion, but Russia had planned for that increase before the start of the crisis in Ukraine, according to the report. Ukraine has doubled

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estly, it was so hard to keep logs and online track of all of the information resources for milibeing thrown at us,” she said. tary spouses are not “In the frazzled state I was in, I just “mom blogs” hardly followed up on any of the anymore. They’re as varied likely valuable tips that people and unique as their audience had shared.” She saw the need members. Some are cerebral. to make information about miliOthers are focused on careers, tary locations easier to share travel or moving. Whatever and to navigate. the interest, it seems a military “For each eager supplier of spouse has created a resource intelligence there is someone to cover it. like I was almost four years Andria Williams, a writer, ago, demanding information,” Navy wife and mom of three said Mendel, now stationed young children, said she started in Oklahoma. “I created The Military Spouse Book Review Unclassifieds so that military (militaryspousebookreview. families would have one place com) as a gathering place for to go to easily share their expewomen in military life who love riences and learn from others.” books.

To share “I wanted a place where we SPOUSE CALLS the Eucould just participate in discusropean sions about the books we love, adventures, books that speak to us in some travels and way or move us or make us enthusiasm want to shout about them to the of a young rooftops,” said Williams, curmilitary rently stationed in California. couple and “So much of our daily life is taktheir kitty, ing care of kids or supporting take a look our spouses — it’s all worthat History while, but maybe not too inteland Hockey lectual. I wanted a place where Sticks we could come (thefamilyand think. Just Join the conversation with Terri at saunders. read and write stripes.com/go/spousecalls com). Chris and think.”

Williams and Megan publishes reviews, written by Saunders are both ice hockey military-connected women, players and enthusiasts, and of books of all kinds, includshe records their history as a ing some about military life military couple on their site. and by military authors.

The Saunderses are stationed Articles currently on the site in Germany, so History and cover everything from popuHockey Sticks is part travlar nonfiction like Malcolm elog, part personal journal. It’s Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” refreshing to see military life to novels like Laura McBride’s through brand new eyes, as “We Are Called to Rise,” and these relative newlyweds share military memoirs such as Artis their ambitious list of European Henderson’s “Unremarried “must-sees” and post pictures Widow.” Submission guidelines of their journeys and life with are available on the site.

Onyx, the cat.

Air Force wife Lauren NextGen Military Spouse Mendel started The Unclas(nextgenmilspouse.com) is sifieds: A Military Intelligence a site, as the name says, for Community (theunclassifieds. the latest generation of milicom) while stationed in Japan. tary spouses. Air Force wife Military families can go to the Adrianna Domingos-Lupher is site to gather practical intel the founder and creator of the about a particular assignment site, where readers will find — anywhere in the world — or to share it. Inspired by the large news, commentary and advice on everything from finances, to amount of information about parenting for military families, overseas life she gleaned from and a feature called “Ask Stupid other military families, Mendel Questions.” Domingos-Lupher, decided to create one place to who received a White House store the collective knowledge award for her entrepreneurof military families about miliship, is also the brains behind tary installations worldwide.

Spouse Box (thespousebox.

“When you make a military com), a subscription service for move, there’s a seemingly endproduct-sample care packages less supply of people willing ... for military spouses. to help you,” she said. “Hon-

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