Stars and Stripes 5.21.15

Volume 7, No. 22 ©SS 2015

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015

RITE OF PASSAGE Annual Sea Trials test Naval Academy plebes in 13-hour obstacle course

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

Plebes pull their Zodiac back to shore during the U.S. Naval Academy’s annual Sea Trials in Annapolis, Md., on May 12.

RICK VASQUEZ /Stars and Stripes

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Friday, May 22, 2015

MILITARY

Plebes endure annual Sea Trials Right: After carrying the modified telephone pole a few yards, plebes crank out a some situps while participating in the “Log PT” portion of the U.S. Naval Academy’s annual Sea Trials in Annapolis, Md., on May 12. Below: Plebes participate in the “wet and sandy” portion of the grueling obstacle course.

PHOTOS

BY

RICK VASQUEZ /Stars and Stripes

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Friday, May 22, 2015

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MIDEAST

NATO sets plan for force in Afghanistan

BY JOHN VANDIVER AND JOSH SMITH Stars and Stripes

NATO will maintain a military presence in Afghanistan once its current Resolute Support mission concludes, but under civilian leadership, NATO announced on May 13.

“Unlike our present mission and our combat mission before it, our future presence will be led by civilians,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the opening of a twoday foreign ministers’ meeting in Antalya, Turkey. His remarks were streamed live.

While NATO hasn’t specified when it will end the train, advise and assist mission that began at the start of this year, the U.S. has already said it plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016, which would likely spell the end for Resolute Support.

What comes next will be a civilian/military effort that ensures a continuing presence in Afghanistan, where NATO has been involved for more than a decade.

Details about the size and scope of the next phase, including troop numbers, still need to be worked out, Stoltenberg said. However, it is expected to have fewer personnel than the current Resolute Support campaign, which involves about 13,000 troops from 26 of NATO’s 28 member countries and 14 partner nations.

“Everyone envisions something that is smaller than the present number of personnel,” Stoltenberg said.

NATO civilian and military leaders will submit formal plans for the follow-on mission by the fall.

“It will have a light footprint, but it will have a military component,” Stoltenberg said. “Our aim will be to advise and instruct Afghan security institutions to help them become more self-sufficient and build on what we have achieved so far as part of a broader international effort.”

The announcement, coming only a few months after the NATO-led coalition trumpeted

Courtesy of NATO

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, and Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani are shown during a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Turkey on May 13. the end of its formal combat mission in Afghanistan, casts doubt on the alliance’s declaration that Afghan forces will soon be capable of beating the insurgency by themselves.

The decision is only the latest in a string of moves that have prolonged the international mission.

“We’ve blown through a lot of self-imposed deadlines already on the security transition,” said Graeme Smith, a Kabul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group.

“Post-2016 NATO will try to trim the assist component out of its train, advise, and assist mission, to further distance foreign forces from the battlefield. But it’s going to be hard for international forces not to get their hands dirty once in a while. Afghan forces have a heck of a fight on their hands, and they are likely going to still need help.”

Stoltenberg credited Afghan security forces for taking the lead in the fighting in Afghanistan, but he acknowledged many challenges remain.

“A lasting peace in Afghanistan requires a political solution,” he said. “This has to be an Afghan-led and Afghanowned political process and solution.”

A Taliban spokesman argued that a continued foreign presence would jeopardize nascent efforts at starting peace talks with the government.

“There can’t be any peace process or talks if there are foreign forces, but if they leave then Afghans can bring peace to the country,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “We will continue our fight against the foreign forces as long as they are in Afghanistan.”

Nearly a decade and a half of combat has failed to crush

the insurgency. The United States alone has spent nearly $70 billion training and equipping more than 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police. But much of that money has been lost to corruption, and Afghan troops face high casualty and desertion rates.

Concerns about the possible spread of Islamic State militants and a strong Taliban insurgency have led U.S. military and Afghan officials to call for coalition troops to stay on the ground longer.

The coalition continues to provide air support and conduct special operations and other ground missions that stretch the declared limitations of the so-called noncombat mission.

Spokesmen for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment, but Ali Akbar Qa-

simi, who heads the parliamentary defense committee, said international aid was still needed.

“It is clear that our security forces need to reach to at least some level of the international standards,” he said. “Right now our forces are still weak, so they need more training and equipment. If Afghan security forces ... do not get enough training and the latest weapons, we cannot call it an army” With the international force set to get smaller in NATO’s next phase, the military role will likely get more restrictive.

“I imagine that when they say ‘light footprint’ it will be a very, very light footprint with secondary tasks such as supporting logistics, advisory teams for civil ministries, lowlevel support for intelligence and reconnaissance,” said Shashank Joshi, an expert on Afghanistan with the Londonbased Royal United Services Institute.

But NATO’s commitment to extend its mission could also be a signal that the U.S. intends to remain committed in some form.

“We don’t fully understand how U.S. support will look after 2016. But I don’t think NATO would be sticking its head out if the U.S. wasn’t going to be involved,” Joshi said.

The repeated changes to the mission reflect the tensions between politics in the U.S. — which has provided the majority of the support to the coalition — and the situation on the ground, Smith said.

“The scuttlebutt has always been that [President Barack] Obama wants to pull American forces out of Afghanistan before the end of his term,” Smith said. “So in part, it’s a legacy issue for Obama, and it’s also a political issue.

He’s been facing pressure to pull out. But reality has intervened.”

Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report. vandiver.john@stripes.com smith.josh@stripes.com Twitter: @joshjonsmith

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Friday, May 22, 2015

PACIFIC

The USS George Washington leaves the Navy’s Yokosuka base near Tokyo on Monday. The Navy’s Japan-based aircraft carrier is heading home after seven years, to be replaced by a newer version of the same ship in the fall.

KOJI SASAHARA /AP

FINAL FAREWELL Aircraft carrier USS George Washington departs from Japanese homeport

BY ERIK SLAVIN Stars and Stripes

KYODO NEWS/AP

Sailors form letters Monday spelling “goodbye” in Japanese on the deck of the USS George Washington as it sails off Boso peninsula, Chiba prefecture, near Tokyo.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The aircraft carrier USS George Washington bid farewell Monday to its home in Japan for the past seven years, beginning a journey that will see the ship swap crews with the USS Ronald Reagan in late summer.

The George Washington and the ships in its strike group will patrol the western Pacific and participate in the Australia-based Talisman Saber exercise in July before heading to San Diego, where about 2,000 sailors will switch over to the Reagan.

The current George Washington crew then will resume its Pacific patrol aboard the Reagan, which will be homeported in Yokosuka when it returns in the fall.

Although there are minor differences that have emerged over years of carrier use, the 1,092-foot-long Nimitz-class carriers are standardized enough so the respective crews will be able to take control of each ship quickly.

“Ronald Reagan is effectively the same ship,” Rear Adm. John Alexander, commander of the George Washington strike group, told reporters Monday.

“It’s a little newer, but that’s really it.”

Thousands more sailors assigned to the Japan-based Carrier Air Wing 5 also will

TYLER HLAVAC /Stars and Stripes

Family members gather Monday to bid farewell to sailors of the USS George Washington, who are departing Japan to begin patrolling the western Pacific. transfer to the Reagan.

Most of the sailors who move to the George Washington in San Diego won’t be on the ship very long. They will transfer to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is switching its homeport from Norfolk, Va., to San Diego.

The George Washington will continue on with its present commander, Capt. Timothy Kuehhas, to Virginia, where it will undergo a midlife overhaul and nuclear refueling that will take at least three years and will cost about $4 billion.

There was discussion within the Pentagon last year of canceling the overhaul and decommissioning the ship as a cost-cutting move, but congressional opposition spurred additional funding.

On Monday, several dozen family members arrived pierside to watch as their loved ones leave Japan for several

months of sea duty.

Valerie Steely, of Hampton, Va., waved goodbye to her husband alongside their daughter, Lilly, 3, and son, Luke, 1. “[Lilly] knows he’s going away for a while, but she knows he will be back when she’s 4,” Steely said.

Even for “veteran” military spouses, making the transition to a single-parent home has its challenges.

“It takes a few weeks to get on a routine,” Steely said. “But it’s what we signed up for.”

For Steely, watching the George Washington head back to Virginia for its midlife overhaul brings back memories of the ship’s origins. Her father helped build the carrier in Virginia more than two decades ago.

The George Washington replaced the USS Kitty Hawk in 2008 and became the first nuclear-powered carrier to be homeported in Japan.

The ship’s initial deployment brought some protests from anti-nuclear and anti-war protesters. However, subsequent protests have been relatively sparse, particularly compared with those on the island of Okinawa, where about half of all U.S. forces in Japan are based.

In 1973, the USS Midway and its air wing and task force became the first U.S. carrier group to be homeported at Yokosuka. slavin.erik@stripes.com Twitter: @eslavin_stripes

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Friday, May 22, 2015

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Friday, May 22, 2015

MILITARY

Refueling squadron continuing mission from Britain base

BY JENNIFER H. SVAN Stars and Stripes

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The 351st Air Refueling Squadron is continuing to support French operations in North Africa, despite the unit’s recent return to England after 27 months in Spain.

The squadron completed refueling operations from Moron, Spain, on May 10, and all of its personnel are now back at RAF Mildenhall, said Maj. Steve Priddy, the squadron commander.

“After 27 months of being forward-deployed somewhere, it’s a big win for us to be able to bring everybody home and have more time with their families and still be able to provide the support that we are,” Priddy said Monday.

About 50 operators and maintainers were deployed to Moron at any given time, Priddy said.

He said the return to Mildenhall was prompted by upcoming runway repairs at Moron. But that’s still a way off, with the aging airstrip scheduled to close for about

three months in summer 2016, an Air Force spokesman said.

Officials with U.S. Air Forces in Europe–Air Forces Africa said the plan all along was to bring the squadron back. What began as a quickreaction deployment to Moron to support French military operations in Mali gradually turned into a more enduring rotational deployment.

Despite the longer sorties to Africa from England, it’s more cost-effective for the squadron to operate from Mildenhall, cutting out the need for temporary duty assignment pay and costs associated with maintaining extra equipment and infrastructure, said Master Sgt. Jess Harvey, a spokesman for USAFE-AFAFRICA. The squadron, with its KC-135 Stratotankers, will continue to provide air refueling to French fighter-bombers conducting operations in North Africa. When the squadron’s mission first began, its aerial tankers enabled French air force aircraft to support ground forces in Mali fighting Islamic extremists. That

C HRISTOPHER M ESNARD/Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force

A French Dassault Mirage prepares to link up with a KC-135R Stratotanker attached to the 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron on May 3 over Mali. support was sorely needed because of the distances involved and France’s more limited air-refueling capacity.

The French last summer expanded their counterterrorism operations in North Africa to also cover Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.

In August, President Barack Obama announced $10 million in funding to support what the

French are now calling Operation Barkhane.

Priddy said refueling sorties from Mildenhall are about four to five hours longer in duration than they were from Moron.

The tankers need to land in Spain on the return trip from Africa to refuel.

“Having all of our folks home gives us greater flexibility not only to support the

French but also the rest of our NATO partners here in Europe as well,” he said.

From the end of January 2013 to March 13, 2015, the squadron has flown 591 sorties, refueled 2,571 French fighter aircraft and provided about 24 million pounds of fuel, Priddy said. svan.jennifer@stripes.com

Inspector warns of Vietnam-like scenario in Afghanistan

BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — U.S. postwar efforts to rebuild Afghanistan could collapse in a defeat similar to the fall of Saigon in 1975, the federal auditor overseeing reconstruction said May 13.

The country’s future — and the $62 billion American investment — is threatened by the military’s chronically poor intelligence on Afghan security forces and an anemic central government in Kabul that is unable to operate on its own, said John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, during a speech at a Washington think tank.

Sopko has been a top critic of waste and dysfunction in the country since

he was appointed three years ago as a watchdog by the Obama administration and has now turned his oversight toward the postwar operations aimed at building up Afghan police and army troops.

“We have all heard observations that are intended to be encouraging, such as that the Taliban cannot seize and hold Afghan provincial capitals,” Sopko said.

“That may be true, but I would note that the Viet Cong and their North Vietnamese allies never took and held a provincial capital in South Vietnam until January 1975 — nearly 30 years into their campaign to reunify the country as a communist state.”

A similar fate could fall on Kabul because the U.S. has no good data on the capabilities of Afghan security forces to

use for its security handover goals.

The most recent reporting this year found Afghan security forces have not reached any of the highest training benchmarks set by coalition forces, Sopko said. That comes after a decade of measuring the progress and past reports claiming the forces had achieved the training successes.

The U.S. measurement system have also changed four times since 2005, making any comparisons and conclusions difficult, he said.

“It remains to be seen” whether the new reporting system this year that found Afghan police and soldiers were inadequate will end up being a useful tool, Sopko said.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s defense

and other ministries cannot stand on their own, the IG said.

“Senior U.S. military leaders in Afghanistan told me that it will take years for the Afghans to master their essential functions, and that they will not master any of them by the time the U.S. shrinks its military presence at the end of 2016,” Sopko said.

He said he doubts the Afghan defense ministry will meet a goal of being 50 percent self-sustainable by next year.

“Afghan self-sustainment of its security institutions is long way away,” Sopko said. “Suffice it to say, the ANDSF will need our help for the foreseeable future.

If our Afghan partners are to succeed, we must accept this fact now.” tritten.travis@stripes.com

Friday, May 22, 2015

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Friday, May 22, 2015

Friday, May 22, 2015

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MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY

Report: Most victims still the subjects of retaliation

BY JENNIFER HLAD AND H EATH DRUZIN

V

Stars and Stripes

ictims who report sexual assault in the military are 12 times more likely to experience retaliation than to see their attackers convicted of sex crimes, according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch and Protect Our Defenders.

The report’s findings are in line with a Defense Department survey that found 62 percent of women who report being sexually assaulted later experience retaliation, and came from a review of Pentagon records and interviews with victims.

“As you read these reports, these people are suffering, they’re in pain, they feel like the military has turned their back on them,” said retired Col. Don Christensen, the former chief prosecutor for the Air Force and current president of the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders.

Retired Army Capt. Vicki Phipps, who appeared at a rollout event for the report Monday, said when she reported a senior officer groping her and brushing up against her repeatedly, her commander gave her a choice — get bounced from the Army or deal with it. Even after military criminal investigators got involved and the officer admitted the assault, Phipps said all he got was a local letter of reprimand that had no effect on his career. She would like to see military commanders taken out of the equation when it comes to prosecuting sex crimes.

“The reason [he wasn’t prosecuted] was my commander had control over the whole thing,” she said in an interview with Stars and Stripes.

Department of Defense spokeswoman Laura Seal said the military is taking a number of steps, including monthly commander meetings to monitor cases for retaliation.

“The department appreciates the research and insight provided by

counsel.

Human Rights Watch concerning Critics have argued that allowing retaliation against those who report troops to go unpunished for crimes military sexual assault,” she said. like underage drinking and adultery “We agree that ending retaliation if they report being sexually assaultis critical to effectively addressing ed effectively incentivizes reporting sexual assault in the military, and a sexual assault — whether one hapwe are open to any information, pened or not. But Christensen, who analysis, insight and partnerships served in the Air Force for more that will help us craft and improve than 20 years and handled dozens our way forward.”

Despite the increased attention of sexual assault cases, called that given to military sexual assault in a “pretty jaded view,” that someone recent years, not only do victims still would make a false accusation that fear coming forward — an estimated could potentially send someone else one in four victims report the crime to jail for the rest of their life “to to authorities — but not one has been avoid a letter of reprimand.” protected by the Military Whistle“I’ve had a lot of cases, and I’ve blower Protection Act, according never gotten the impression that the to the report. Many victims, in fact, victim was enjoying the process,” he themselves end up charged with said. minor infractions, like underage The report details how one victim drinking, that only are found out went to the hospital after her cothrough them reporting an assault. workers disabled her car and told Among the report’s recommendaher she “better sleep light,” how tions are: members of another victim’s unit Congress strengthening the posted notes on cars at the post exMilitary Whistleblower Protection change with her phone number and Act to give servicemembers the “for a good time call” on them, and same level of protection as civilians. how one man said he was physically Expanding initiatives like the attacked twice and verbally abused Special Victims by colleagues Counsel program, within six months to reward those of reporting an who take retaliaattack. tion seriously and Other vichold accountable tims described those who do professional not. retaliation, Congress such as a Marine establishing a with computer training who was ban on crimitransferred to nal charges an armory unit or disciplinary to work inside a action against locked cage with victims for minor five men, cleancollateral misconing and passing duct that would not Percentage of women out weapons, after have come to light who report being she reported being if the victim had not sexually assaulted assaulted. reported a sexual A Coast Guard assault. then experience petty officer who Improving retaliation, according spoke to Stars and outreach to make Stripes but asked to military sexual to a report released remain anonymous assault survivors

by Human Rights because she is still aware of special on active duty said victim counsels Watch and Protect not only was the suand victims’ legal

Our Defenders.

pervisor who repeatedly groped her not prosecuted for the assault but after she had reported the assaults her perpetrator made his own report and the petty officer found herself on trial for sexual assault. She was acquitted but when she returned from her trial her commander tried to kick her out of the Coast Guard.

She was able to stay in, but not before her superiors tarnished her reputation and dinged her with an alcohol violation based on a charge for which she was acquitted that remains on her record.

“I went from being a star performer to being labeled a troublemaker and promiscuous and all sorts of horrible things,” she said.

DOD officials also noted that some of what they called the perceived retaliation referred to things like being snubbed in social settings.

Christensen said he is offended military officials would make light of social retaliation, since in places like Afghanistan, South Korea or even Minot, S.D., a servicemember must live with other troops around the clock. He takes issue with what he sees as DOD attempting to downplay retaliation.

“It’s sending the message that you might as well not bring it up, because it won’t be believed.”

Though troops can file retaliation complaints through the DOD Inspector General, Christensen said that the investigations take years, and in examining a decade’s worth of documents, the report’s researchers were unable to find a single case in which the IG substantiated a complaint of professional retaliation against a victim of sexual assault.

Human Rights Watch was responsible for the research, data analysis and writing the report while Protect Our Defenders supplied subject matter experts, helped identify survivors to be interviewed, got the consent of the survivors and contributed to the report’s final recommendations, according to the report. hlad.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @jhlad druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

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Friday, May 22, 2015

PACIFIC

Thousands rally on Okinawa to stop runway Above: Protesters hold signs Sunday that read “No to a new military base at Henoko” during a protest rally Sunday at Okinawa Cellular Stadium in Naha. According to organizers, about 35,000 people attended.

Governor vows to back those opposed to Schwab proposal during visit to US

BY CHIYOMI SUMIDA Stars and Stripes

NAHA, Japan — Locating military bases on Okinawa imposes an unfair burden on Okinawans and hinders the prefecture’s economic development, protesters were told Sunday during a massive rally against a new U.S. Marine Corps runway at Camp Schwab.

Organizers estimated that some 35,000 people packed Naha’s biggest baseball stadium for the event, where Gov. Takeshi Onaga and others expressed firm opposition to construction of the new runway at Oura Bay in Nago’s Henoko district. It would replace air operations currently conducted at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

“I renewed my resolve today never to allow construction of a new military base at Henoko,” Onaga said.

Camp Schwab is situated in a sparsely populated area in the northern part of Okinawa, while Futenma is in the heart of densely populated Ginowan city in the island’s center. The 1,200-acre air station occupies about one-quarter of the city’s

land surface.

Building the replacement runway on reclaimed land at Camp Schwab has met strong resistance from many residents, who demand a smaller military presence in their island prefecture. Protest activities have intensified since the election in November of Onaga, who vowed to block the runway.

Onaga on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for Tokyo’s backing of the project.

“How long is the Japanese government going to keep forcing the excessive burden (of hosting military bases) on Okinawa?” he said.

The rally in Okinawa’s capital was organized by politicians, businesspeople, labor unions and academics. Chokei Taira, the head of a hotel chain and one of the organizers, said the people of Okinawa would never allow construction of another military facility on the island.

“The source of our resistance is the pride and confidence in our identity as Okinawans,” he told the audience.

Left: Kotoku Arime, 80, of Naha, joins the rally with his family.

PHOTOS BY C HIYOMI SUMIDA Stars and Stripes

Among those gathered at the stadium were many elderly people who had experienced the Battle of Okinawa, the ferocious 1945 Allied campaign to take the island.

Kotoku Arime, 80, was at the rally with his 76-year-old wife and their daughter and grandson. Arime said he had grown up “when militarism had swept the nation.”

“I feel and smell the same air in these days that I had then,” he said of recent efforts by the Abe government to reinterpret Japan’s use of collective self-defense and other

security-related legislation before the national Diet.

“It’s because of that sense of crisis that I decided to come here today. We must stop construction of Henoko base,” he said.

Businessman Morimasa Goya announced that the Henoko Foundation, set up last month to stop the runway construction, so far had raised 210 million yen (about $1.8 million) — 70 percent of it from mainland Japan.

The foundation’s efforts will include lobbying activities in the United States, he said.

“Our Okinawa-wide effort has now changed to a Japanwide movement. We are never alone,” he said.

After the rally Onaga, who plans to visit Washington next month to lobby against the runway, told reporters he was encouraged by the turnout.

“When I visit the United States, I will deliver the voice of people of Okinawa and Japan and make an appeal that construction of a new military base at Henoko is impossible,” he said. sumida.chiyomi@stripes.com

Friday, May 22, 2015

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Military life prepared Peace Corps volunteer

MILITARY

A look into the future O Lab Day highlights latest technology – including pizza MREs

BY C.J. LIN Stars and Stripes

ARLINGTON, Va. — The military’s cutting edge of science, technology and medicine was on display May 14 at the first Department of Defense Lab Day, bringing pizza MREs, robot machine guns, various simulators and even a lifelike, bleeding mannequin to the Pentagon.

A joint effort among the Army, Air Force and Navy labs focusing on developing quantum science technology for use in sensors and communications came away with a big win, earning a $45 million grant for a three-year project in the fast-developing field.

“What we see today is innovation in the foreground,” said Frank Kendall, DOD undersecretary for acquisitions, technology and logistics.

“There are so many different areas that the Department of Defense depends on — that our warfighters depend upon — where we need to be some of the best of the best or ahead of everyone else.”

The event showcased more than 60 innovations from the research labs of the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and private medical and engineering labs. The technology included laser weapons, flight software that takes over to stop jet crashes, 3-D printing of wearable electronics,

Friday, May 22, 2015

PHOTOS

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M EREDITH TIBBETTS/Stars and Stripes

Above: Pizza MREs are set to be available in 2017. Below: Samples of the First Strike Bar. The bar is lightweight and calorically dense, making it a critical component in combat rations.

It is fortified with 1000mg of calcium and 50mcg of vitamin D.

biomonitors, traumatic brain injury detectors and the realistic bleeding mannequin — meant to teach trauma skills without the use of animals or cadavers.

“We must continue to innovate to protect our country,”

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Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said. “Technological superiority is not an American birthright. We assume it ... but it is under threat ... We have to work every day to keep it.” lin.cj@stripes.com Twitter: @cjlinSS

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© Stars and Stripes, 2015

n Mother’s Day, Sheiof training and preparation la and Randy Sellers to assist communities around were in an airport the world with agricultural en route to Africa. and economic development, Between PCS assignments educational and health care and Randy’s deployments, the issues. Volunteers are required Air Force couple and their to learn the language of the now-grown children have lived region they serve and must be and traveled around the world. adaptable to their environment.

This trip was different: a visit Sheila Sellers said their to their 23-year-old daughter, mobile military life was a Dana, a Peace Corps volunteer good training ground for her in Zambia. daughter.

The next day, Dana Sellers “Dana is not afraid to launch awaited her parents’ arrival at out and explore,” she said, adda colleague’s house in Zambia’s ing that sending her daughter capital, Lusaka. While waiting, overseas was difficult. “As a she sipped coffee and anmilitary spouse, I learned to swered questions via webcam deal with my husband being about her Peace Corps experiTDY or deployed … I think it is ences. Discussing her training a little harder to let your baby to be a health-care educator, go to a distant land in such she stopped mid-sentence, a austere setSPOUSE CALLS tings.” faraway look in her eyes.

“Sorry, I lost my train of Dana often thought,” she said. “I was works with thinking about this coffee I get the district to drink. I’m in a real house clinic in right now, so it’s kind of crazy.” her rural Crazy, because for nearly a area, which year Dana has been living in serves about a thatched-roof mud hut in a 30,000 area remote rural village without residents in a running water, cooking meals 40-kilometer outdoors over radius. Time Join the conversation with Terri at a charcoal at the clinic fire. Brewing stripes.com/go/spousecalls has been an coffee is for education in special occamany ways, sions. she said. On her first visit Having seen pictures of her there, she witnessed a birth. home, including essentials like Another day, she saw death. mosquito netting and a water “We walked in, and there’s filter, her decorative touches, this little boy. He had swallike shelves, pictures and lowed some sort of pesticide brightly painted walls, I asked and he was convulsing, what she had to do to make her choking on his own vomit and hut livable. She said her host sputum,” she remembered. family provided a good home “I had seen someone who from the start. was dead, but I hadn’t seen “Maybe you’re thinking someone die, hadn’t seen life what did I do to decorate my leave someone’s eyes. I wasn’t house,” Dana said, laughing. prepared for it.” She said she “I’m thinking I have walls, and sees these experiences changI have a roof that doesn’t leak. ing her.

That’s livable!”

However, with a year of vilShe painted the house, colorlage life still ahead, Dana said ing the whitewashed mud walls thinking about leaving already blue in one room, yellow in the makes her sad. other.

“My family here has been “I think it’s from being a mil- incredible … a model family itary kid,” said Dana. “Moving for any country. They’re just around all the time, having to wonderful human beings,” she make places your home fast. said. “Also, I’ll miss the way of [Living here has] caused me living. In the village, it’s simple to be really creative, because and quiet. It’s complex, but it’s I can’t just go to the store and simple. Everything is more buy things. I think the experidifficult, but somehow because ence of military life helped me of that it’s easier. I don’t know do that,” she said. how to explain it … I know I’m Peace Corps volunteers going to be different, stronger, like Dana receive 11 weeks because of all this.”

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Friday, May 22, 2015