Volume 10, No. 13 ©SS 2018
FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2018
RETURNING TO VIETNAM US vets make journey back 50 years after departing one of America’s bloodiest wars Page 2
Marine Corps veterans Jorge Azpeita, left, and Steven Haas are driven by a Vietnamese national Feb. 25 through Danang, where both served during the Vietnam War. C OREY DICKSTEIN /Stars and Stripes
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COVER STORY
Vietnam vets get warm welcome on return to Danang BY COREY DICKSTEIN Stars and Stripes
DANANG, Vietnam — In a convoy of rusty, olive-drab Jeeps bearing U.S. military insignia, 15 American veterans who some 50 years earlier served in or around this coastal Vietnamese city cruised through its streets Feb. 25, attracting waves and cheers from locals. For most of the group of 14 Marines and one Navy hospital corpsman who served in central Vietnam before or during the Tet Offensive in 1968, the day marked their first time back on Vietnamese soil since leaving decades ago in uniform, when they departed one of America’s bloodiest wars. Stars and Stripes traveled with the group, brought back to Vietnam by the nonprofit The Greatest Generations Foundation. “I’m telling you that’s going to be one of my prime memories of this trip,” said Steven Berntson, who served in 1967 and 1968 as a Marine Corps combat correspondent in Danang and other parts of what is today central Vietnam. “What beautiful people — that little group of people standing alongside the road and waving as we went by, all smiling and waving and happy. How amazing to see that.” Fifty years after Berntson left, Danang looks strikingly different, he said from just off Red Beach, the site outside the city where the first American Marines arrived in March 1965. Decades after the war, when Danang was home to multiple American military bases including an air base, a Marine helicopter post, a rest-and-relaxation site and Marine surface-to-air missile batteries, Danang has grown into a modern city of more than 1.3 million people, boast-
Follow the trip at stripes.com/go/vietnam68 ing high-rise buildings and bustling, paved streets filled with locals on motorbikes. Still, some of his “old stomping grounds” remain apparent, said Berntson, who was medically evacuated from Vietnam as a sergeant and received a Bronze Star with “V” device for valor and two Purple Hearts. On Feb. 25, the veterans were wearing Marine Corps ball caps or T-shirts, which attracted questions from some of the Vietnamese people. “I’m just amazed at how friendly they are,” said Jorge Azpeitia, a retired Marine who served in Danang in 1968, 1969 and 1970. “It’s been 50 years … but, I think they were happy we were here.” Azpeitia, who retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a master gunnery sergeant in 1998, said he was struck by emotion as he spotted locations around Danang that he remembered. But he was even more stunned by the welcome the vets received, especially as they cruised in the old Jeeps. “What I see from the Vietnamese people today — it’s what we didn’t get when we came back home, with people calling us killers and all that,” he said. “To see people here greeting us in such a way — it brings me a sense of … closure.” dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC
PHOTOS
BY
C OREY DICKSTEIN /Stars and Stripes
American veterans of the Vietnam War gather for a photo Feb. 25 atop Monkey Mountain outside Danang, Vietnam. The group of 15 veterans is touring central Vietnam with The Greatest Generations Foundation. Below: Retired Marine Sgt. Steven Berntson admires an old sign marking a gate of the Marines’ Camp Reasoner in Danang, Vietnam, on Feb. 26.
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MILITARY
Exiting sailors can be given ‘ticket’ back to Navy BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS Stars and Stripes
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — In its latest initiative to retain sailors, the Navy on Feb. 28 announced an incentive program that takes a nod from Willy Wonka. The Targeted Reentry Program allows commanding officers to recommend eligible outgoing sailors for “golden tickets” or “silver tickets” that would expedite their re-entry processes should they wish to rejoin. Golden-ticket holders could return to active duty within a year of their release, the Navy said. Those with silver tickets could get active-duty status within two years of release, depending on the Navy’s needs. Rejoining sailors using the tickets will regain their most recent rates and pay grades upon return to active duty. Sailors must remain fully qualified for active duty to use their tickets. The initiative is among about 45 the Navy is unrolling as part of its Sailor 2025 program, which aims to “more effectively recruit, develop, manage, reward and retain the force of tomorrow,” the service said. Vice Adm. Robert Burke, chief of naval personnel, said the program should help the Navy attract and retain the best of the best. “Talent is tough to draw in and even tougher to keep,” he said in a Navy statement. “These changes are designed to maximize opportunities for command triads to advance their best Sailors while managing community and individual rates’ health.” The re-entry program is open to officers of ranks O-3 and O-4 as well as E-4 to E-6 enlisted sailors who have less than 14 years of active status and have completed their required minimum service. Sailors also must have met character standards, must have passed their most recent physical fitness assessments and must have superior performance noted on evaluations to be eligible for tickets. Those who accept tickets will go into a minimum reserve status after leaving active duty. Those sailors will not have a participation requirement, but will not be eligible for benefits such as health care or retirement points. Seaman Robert Ikes, an aviation boatswain’s mate on the USS George Washington, is halfway through his five-year tour. Ikes, who is considering leaving the service after this enlistment, said life after the Navy can be difficult for some.
D EMETRIUS K ENNON /Courtesy of the U.S. Navy
Petty Officer 3rd Class Sierra Rivera, left, repeats the oath of enlistment to Lt. j.g. Nicholas Haan aboard an MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter. “It’s going to kind of be hard not having the constant paychecks, but I’m sure there’s always something out there to do,” he said. Still, Ikes said having the “backup option” of a golden or silver ticket could be beneficial. “It’s good because some people get out and they don’t know what’s going to happen — they could hit rock bottom,” he said. “I think it’s a good idea trying to help people to make it easier for people to come back in instead of jumping through hoops.” Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Van, an aviation boatswain’s mate on the USS George Washington, said he would
recommend some of his outgoing sailors for tickets. “I think it would be great for us in the leadership side because we can say, ‘This person is an outstanding sailor,’ ” he said. “I understand they want to get out, but I see them as a future sailor, and if they want to come back, I want them in my fleet.” Van — who spent time in the private sector after 14 years in the service before re-enlisting — said sailors sometimes do not realize their full appreciation of the Navy until they experience civilian life. “There is somewhat of a culture shock flipping from the Navy to the out-
‘ Talent is tough to draw in and even tougher to
keep. These changes are designed to maximize opportunities for command triads to advance their best Sailors while managing community and individual rates’ health.
’
Vice Adm. Robert Burke chief of naval personnel
side,” he said. “In the military, you’re used to eating, sleeping and living with these people — there’s camaraderie. On the civilian side, there’s not that same common drive.” Van said the lack of services — such as medical, dental and housing assistance — for civilians also can be a shock to newly released sailors, sometimes inspiring them to re-enlist. He said the re-entry program could help bring back top sailors who otherwise would have to restart the recruitment process. “Once you get out, you have to figure out how to get health care, find an apartment or go to school [by yourself],” Van said. “Sometimes [sailors] might think the grass is greener on the other side, but then they get out and they think, ‘Man, I had it made.’ ” The program will become available for enlisted sailors who enter Intends to Separate status on or after April 1. Officers’ pending resignation requests that have not yet been adjudicated must be dated Oct. 1 or later to be eligible, Burke said. doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos
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PACIFIC
Japan’s 2nd surprise attack on Hawaii flopped BY WYATT OLSON Stars and Stripes
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The Japanese surprise air attack of Dec. 7, 1941, on Hawaii was a staggering military triumph that decimated the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s battleships in Pearl Harbor and wiped out most of Oahu’s air defenses. Three months later, the Japanese Imperial Navy sought to repeat a surprise bombing raid on the island using its newest long-range aircraft, the “flying boat” Kawanishi H8K. While the two H8Ks successfully flew the 4,800mile round trip from the Marshall Islands to Hawaii, the March 4, 1942, bombing raid was a tactical flop. But its greatest failure was strategic, tipping the Japanese navy’s hand to U.S. military leaders, who leveraged the intelligence to achieve victory in the Battle of Midway three months later. Japan’s December attack, which had finally drawn a reluctant United States into World War II, had hit all eight Pacific battleships, sinking four of them. The USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma were unsalvageable. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack. Imperial Japan immediately set about attempting to occupy most of Asia with the assurance that the Pacific Fleet would be too crippled to stop them. Japanese war planners soon recognized that “crucial targets” such as the Pearl Harbor shipyards, maintenance shops and fuel-reserve facilities had been largely undamaged, according to an exhibit at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu. From those shipyards, America mobilized an astoundingly speedy and effective effort to repair vessels damaged in the December attack. The Japanese hoped to stymie that salvage work with Operation K, a bombing raid using the first two prototypes of the H8K amphibious plane.
W YATT O LSON /Stars and Stripes
A display at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu shows the route that two Japanese Kawanishi H8K bombers flew from the Marshall Islands to Hawaii during an attempted raid on Pearl Harbor on March 4, 1942. The enlarged inset of Oahu shows where the bombs landed. Top inset: A model of a Kawanishi H8K is displayed at the museum. “It was probably the best seaplane in the war, very heavily armed,” Burl Burlingame, historian at the Pacific Aviation Museum, said of the 167 four-prop H8Ks that Japan built during the war. “It would actually engage in combat with American fighters on occasion. It was huge, and for its size it was very maneuverable, very rugged.” Despite being a better seaplane than anything produced by the U.S. or Great Britain during the war, the H8K is “one of those iconic aircraft of the Pacific war that’s pretty much forgotten,” Burlingame said.
Operation K While a significantly smaller attack than the one three months earlier, the March 1942 bombing raid was audacious — the longest distance run of the war. The H8Ks, with a 124-foot
wingspan and a top speed of nearly 300 mph, took off from Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands on March 3 and set down in the calm waters of French Frigate Shoals about 560 miles northwest of Honolulu. There they were refueled by two waiting submarines. They then flew in the dark toward Oahu, each plane carrying four 550-pound bombs. They were detected by U.S. radar about 200 miles out, and American fighter planes were scrambled to intercept them. Without airborne radar, the fighters could not find the H8Ks. But the lion’s share of bad luck fell upon the Japanese raiders, who had been counting on a moonlit night to spot their targets. The H8Ks reached Oahu in the early hours of March 4, but a canopy of heavy rain and dense clouds covered the southern half of the island and obscured most landmarks.
There were virtually no artificial lights on the ground to guide the pilots. A complete nighttime blackout had been ordered after the December attack, and all civilian lights — whether from bulbs or flames — were extinguished at dusk. Car headlights were painted a dark color to dim them. A Japanese submarine dispatched to Pearl Harbor with the task of aiding the planes to their targets on the docks never showed. The pilots were more or less flying blind, calculating their targets simply by the direction and distance they’d traveled. “Essentially using dead reckoning, they pickled their bombs and scooted for home,” Burlingame said. The bombs from one landed in the mountain foothills overlooking the city of Honolulu, shattering some windows on nearby Theodore Roosevelt High School. “It woke everyone on Hono-
lulu up,” Burlingame said. The second plane likely dropped its bombs into the harbor water, as no trace of them was ever found. No one was injured or killed. Potentially, 4,400 pounds of bombs landing on the intended target — the 1,010-foot dock on Pearl Harbor — would have been a seismic setback for America’s ability to wage war. But Imperial Japan’s quixotic second raid instead triggered a chain of events that turned the tide of war in America’s favor in the Pacific. The bombing raid was a wakeup call for U.S. military leaders concerning their vulnerability to long-distance bombing raids. The Japanese propaganda ministry trumpeted the attack as a great victory and provided key information about the raid’s logistics, Burlingame said. SEE PAGE 6
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MILITARY
New Space Corps faces an uphill battle BY CLAUDIA GRISALES Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — Two key architects behind a push for a new Space Corps said the new military command faces an uphill battle, but they estimate it could be in place in the next three to five years. Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., both members of the House Armed Services Committee, made the comments during a forum Feb. 28 on national space security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. During the wide-ranging conversation, Rogers and Cooper detailed the struggles in forming the service, from Air Force pushback, to where the new Space Corps would be formed, to the inability to share classified information that they say would make the urgent case to implement the plan. “The situation we are in as a nation, the vulnerabilities we have to China and Russia; I’d like for the American public
to know more,” said Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services subpanel on strategic forces. But “I can’t because I don’t want to go to jail for leaking classified info. But we’re in a really bad situation… It’s disturbing we can’t let more people know because there would be a cry from the American public for us to fix this situation.” The lawmakers won approval for their Space Corps proposal from the House last year under negotiations for the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. However, the Senate rejected the plan and instead directed a study, which is due in December. The new service is critical as Russia and China seem to be moving ahead of the United States in the race for space security, Rogers and Cooper said. Last year, military leaders warned lawmakers that the two countries are near peers, if not peers, when it comes to the national space security. “We’ve allowed that capa-
FROM PAGE 4
Based on radar plots, American intelligence analysts correctly deduced that the bombers had refueled using submarines at French Frigate Shoals. “The Americans responded by putting a destroyer up at French Frigate Shoals for the rest of the war,” Burlingame said.
Doolittle Raiders The U.S. conducted its own daring long-distance bombing raid on April 18, 1942. Sixteen B-25s launched off the carrier USS Hornet in the Western Pacific. The Doolittle Raiders dropped bombs on Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Nagoya and Kobe, delivering the intended message that the Japanese homeland was not invulnerable to Allied attack. “It was probably the most effective bombing raid of World War II because it freaked out the Japanese so badly that they changed their war plans,” Burlingame said. To keep America truly out of the fight and away from the mainland, the Japanese concluded they had to seize the Hawaiian Islands, he said.
bility to atrophy at the same time our adversaries have recognized it’s a vulnerability,” Rogers said. “They have weaponized space while we haven’t. It gave us a sense of urgency.” The Air Force is a key challenge facing the Space Corps, the lawmakers said. While Pentagon leaders such as Deputy of Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan have shown support, a large share has not, argued Cooper, the ranking Democrat for the House Armed Services subpanel on strategic forces. Among the leaders who expressed opposition to the plan last year was Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Rogers and Cooper said there is a cultural shift needed at the Air Force to accept the future of defense. Discussions were held up with minor details, such as the look of the new Space Corps uniforms. “That’s the silliest thing in the world. It’s the Air Force. Air Force’s got blue uniforms? Make the Space Corps black.
That would begin with an attack on the Midway Islands, about 1,300 miles west of Oahu, with the intention of crushing America’s carrier fleet. Japan had intended to send H8Ks to collect crucial reconnaissance on U.S. carrier movements immediately before the battle, which commenced June 4, 1942. But the beefed-up patrols kept the refueling subs out of French Frigate Shoals, and the H8K missions had to be scratched. The Japanese navy had no way of knowing that the U.S. — which had recently broken the enemy’s code — had set its own trap by dispatching the carriers USS Enterprise, USS Hornet and USS Yorktown north of Midway. Had the Japanese kept secret the stealth and reach of the H8Ks, they might very well have learned of the positions of those U.S. carriers, which had left Pearl Harbor only days before June 4. Instead, the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu were caught by surprise and destroyed in the battle, which many historians regard as the most decisive of the war in the Pacific. olson.wyatt@stripes.com Twitter: @WyattWOlson
Everything else be the same except instead of wings you have an orbit or something. Done. It’s over,” Rogers said. “They talk about these uniforms like that’s a big reason not to deal with this national security space problem that we’ve got.” Cooper said it’s unfortunate that while billionaires such as Elon Musk make major strides in space, the military has fallen woefully behind. The Space Corps is intended to be drawn out of the existing Air Force, but would operate independently while not requiring new facilities or other major upfront costs, the lawmakers have said. The plan will mean overcoming a steep cultural battle, the lawmakers said. “The Air Force, culturally, they’re so indoctrinated in the way they do things that they can’t make themselves to do it differently,” Rogers said. “Once we have the Space Corps segregated, we can start with a clean sheet on what that acqui-
sition system will look like and make sure it doesn’t get blown up with bureaucracy.” For example, military leaders have said it can take eight to 10 years to put up new space capabilities, while the private sector can do it in a matter of months, Rogers said. The Air Force has proved to be a formidable opponent of the plan, and Rogers and Cooper said cooperation from the service could go a long way now. “The first thing they could do is come out of denial, admit we got a problem and then we got to fix it and work with us instead of fighting us,” Rogers said. “The Air Force has spent the last year on Capitol Hill fighting Congress, trying to keep us from meddling in this issue. We have a job to do: vigorous oversight. If we find any service is not getting their job done, it is our job to get after it. I want them to start working collaboratively with us toward some answers.” grisales.claudia@stripes.com Twitter: @cgrisales
Courtesy of the National Archives
Soldiers examine a wrecked Japanese Kawanishi H8K near Makin, Gilbert Islands, in November 1943. Two similar planes were used in a bombing raid on Oahu, Hawaii, on March 4, 1942.
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MILITARY
Special delivery: Military to produce MRE pizzas BY SCOTT WYLAND Stars and Stripes
Troops will soon get pizza in places where delivery drivers don’t go. The military is preparing to produce Meals, Ready to Eat pizzas that are engineered to stay fresh for three years in a pouch. Troops could taste their first pizza MREs in the field by next year, Army officials say. These don’t compare to the freshly made pizzas at an Italian restaurant, but they stack up well to store-bought pizzas, said David Accetta, spokesman for Natick Soldier Research Development & Engineering Center in Massachusetts. “I think it’s better than frozen pizza,” he said. The pizzas come with only one topping — pepperoni — but more varieties will be added as troops weigh in on the kinds they like, he said. The current generation of MREs must run out before the next generation, which includes the pizzas, can be
Courtesy of Natick Soldier Research Development & Engineering Center
The biggest challenge to keeping a pizza tasting fresh while packed in a pouch is to prevent moisture from penetrating the crust and sauce. distributed, Accetta said. He estimated the changeover will happen by 2019. Some initial reactions were very positive. “I’m all about it. Adding to the variety of choices for MREs is an out-
standing idea, especially if it’s a good choice,” said Capt. Orlandon Howard with the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team deployed to Europe. “It would be like adding flavor and meat to the wheat bread that already comes in the MRE, and that’s a great idea.” “When you’re away from home, it’s nice when you’re able to have food that you would typically enjoy if you were home,” he added. “I think it makes things feel a little easier, and home feel a little less distant.” Army researchers spent years trying to develop a pizza without a lot of preservatives that would look and taste fresh after being stored for years in warm temperatures. The key is to maintain the pizza’s pH balance, prevent oxygenation and suppress moisture, Accetta said. Researchers employed molecular science to create dough-drying methods that led to “shelf-stable bread,” which is used in MRE pocket sandwiches and now the pizzas, Accetta said.
Pizzas and pocket sandwiches are among the evolving “first-strike meals” that are lighter and more compact than previous MREs, making them easier for soldiers on the battlefield to carry in rucksacks. As with all new MREs, professional taste-testers sampled the prototypes to gauge the flavor, texture and how the pizzas feel in the mouth, Accetta said. If the pizzas pass muster with the pros, then samples are given to soldiers and Marines. Servicemembers have the final say, he added. Troops have wanted pizzas since the first MREs rolled out in the 1980s. These pizzas will seem like a gourmet treat to troops in the field, something that civilians who try them while in a comfortable house won’t understand, Accetta said. “You have to be cold, starving, exhausted to really appreciate them,” he said. Reporter Martin Egnash contributed to this story. wyland.scott@stripes.com Twitter: @wylandstripes
Air Force lifts operational pause for T-6 trainers BY JAMES BOLINGER Stars and Stripes
Air Force T-6 Texan II training aircraft returned to the skies last week after a monthlong grounding instituted after pilots began experiencing “unexplained physiological events.” An “operational pause” in place since Feb. 1 was ended Feb. 27 by Maj. Gen. Patrick Doherty, the 19th Air Force commander, according to a statement from Air Education and Training Command. Instructors were the first back in T-6 cockpits, with students slated to return by the end of last week. T-6 pilots at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; Vance Air Force Base, Okla.; and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, had reported 13 incidents involving symptoms different from hypoxia, which can occur when pilots are deprived of oxygen. During the stand-down, medical specialists and experts from the Air Force, the
DAVID POE /Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force
A communications crew chief monitors components for a T-6 Texan II training aircraft In August 2017 at Vance Air Force Base, Okla. Navy and NASA looked at data taken from planes and pilots and identified component failures or degradations affecting the pressure, flow and content of oxygen fed to pilots, Doherty said. “After listening to pilots, maintainers, engineers and flight surgeons, it became apparent the T-6 fleet was exhibiting symptoms indicative
of a compromise of the integrity of the [On-Board Oxygen Generating System] leading to degradations in performance, which then likely led to the pilots’ physiological events,” Doherty said. The Air Force also has instituted new T-6 maintenance procedures and inspections based on flight hours and made sure aircrews are aware
of the physiological events, new aerospace physiology training, checklist procedures and flight equipment modifications, Doherty said. Engineers will study data collected during the standdown and will run tests before they deliver a final diagnosis that will be applied to future aircraft designs, the statement said. The grounding has slowed training for the Air Force, which is facing a deficit of about 2,000 pilots amid competition from commercial aviation. Some trainees were transferred to T-38 Talon and T-1 Jayhawk trainers, which prepare pilots to fly fighters, bombers, airlifters and refueling aircraft. The T-6s typically fly 700 sorties per day out of five bases. They have more than 2 million flight hours and are nearly a third of the way through their expected life cycle, Doherty said. “I have been able to visit each pilot training base in the last two weeks and, after look-
ing each one of them in the eye, I know without a doubt that the T-6 nation is fired up and ready to get back in the air,” he said. Vance grounded more than 100 T-6s in November when five pilots reported hypoxia-like symptoms in four separate incidents. Flight operations resumed the next month after a two-week investigation into the aircraft’s oxygen system could identify “no specific root cause” for the events. Unexplained physiological events have been reported in recent years by pilots flying Navy F/A-18 Hornets, Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers and Air Force F-35A Lighting II stealth jets. The Navy’s T-45 Goshawk trainer, which is nearly identical to the T-6, was grounded last year following hypoxia incidents. bolinger.james@stripes.com Twitter: @bolingerj2004
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VETERANS
Program pairs dogs with vets who have PTSD BY M ATTHEW M. BURKE Stars and Stripes
The Department of Veterans Affairs is studying how service dogs might be able to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Though the results are years away, a group helping with that research isn’t waiting to pair its pups with servicemembers. Canine Companions for Independence Inc. — a nonprofit in Santa Rosa, Calif., that’s been providing service dogs for people with physical disabilities since 1975 — is preparing to launch a pilot program that will train and pair dogs with veterans with PTSD based on a curriculum developed for the VA study. PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by the psychological wounds of war and other traumatic experiences. Symptoms include anger, paranoia, anxiety and withdrawal from society. CCI aims to begin pairing dogs with veterans by the middle of this year, with up to 20 placements by mid-2019, said instructor Sarah Birman. “This is the first time — aside from the VA study — that we will be training dogs in specific skills that are designed to address the symptoms of PTSD,” she said. “As we’ve worked with veterans with PTSD through the VA study, we’ve had the opportunity to really get to know them, hear some really incredible stories of the ways in which the dogs have helped them.” For its pilot program, CCI is accepting veterans who live within 90 miles of its Santa Rosa campus but hopes to expand nationwide over the next few years. Service dogs have been used
for years to benefit those with physical disabilities; however; there is no scientific literature that says the animals are equally beneficial to those with PTSD. A 2011 attempt to study the issue was scuttled because of dog bites and later was canceled over concerns about the animals’ health and training. At the end of 2014, the VA kicked off the current study, which it says is more comprehensive and more tightly controlled, with new partners, including Canine Companions. The most recent group of participants received their dogs in December, Birman said. After 18 months, the VA will compile and publish the results. Birman said CCI has confidence in the protocols and training techniques and believes that it will benefit some veterans. “We believe that dogs can be trained in tasks that can help mitigate aspects of PTSD and help someone in their process of recovery along with other resources that exist already,” she said.
Velvet’s help Caleb Davisson, 30, is a former Marine sergeant whose PTSD diagnosis came after a 2011 combat deployment to Helmand province, Afghanistan, where the then-scout sniper’s platoon counted more than 200 confirmed kills. “I was having all of the typical symptoms,” he recently told Stars and Stripes. “I was scared to go out in public because I might be around a lot of people. I was depressed. I was withdrawn from everything, basically, hypervigilant all the time.” Davisson said his marriage fell apart and things began to
Courtesy of Canine Companions
Sarah Birman, an instructor at Canine Companions for Independence, trains a future service dog in Santa Rosa, Calif. look dire before he decided to seek help. In 2012, he got out of the Marines and headed back to Iowa to live with family. He sought treatment for PTSD through the VA. That’s where he learned about the study. Davisson fit the criteria, and in the summer of 2015 moved to Santa Rosa to work with Birman and CCI. He was paired with one of the first dogs trained by CCI for the VA study, a black English Labrador named Velvet. Velvet knows about 20 commands, said Davisson, who uses “block” and “behind” the most. When he delivers those commands, Velvet acts as a barrier in front or behind him in a crowded public setting, ensuring that people don’t get too close. She also knows how to turn on lights before Davisson enters a room and can clear a room of people before he enters, barking three times if she spots someone. Velvet “helped me out more than I ever thought she would, just by the commands she performs,” Davisson said.
“But, honestly, aside from the fact that she is a service dog and she’s trained to go out in public and all of that, I think just the companionship itself has been the most beneficial out of everything, just having her there all the time and unconditional love.” Davisson said Velvet’s help has been immeasurable, because she forces him to take responsibility for her well-being — to get out of bed, to walk and feed her. She protects him from PTSD triggers and has given him the confidence to go to school to get his bachelor’s degree in construction management. He has developed ambitious business plans and has started a family.
Another tool CCI’s program will start with about five local veterans, whose dogs will be selected based on temperament, energy levels, confidence and reactions to stimuli, Birman said. For example, they are looking for dogs with a high
level of confidence, those that interact or snuggle with their handlers, and those attuned to their handlers’ emotional states and are not reactive to loud sounds. CCI officials will be looking to fine-tune all of their processes, from application procedures to pairing and training handlers and their new, furry companions — and to fit the new program into its existing model. It will expand to about 20 placements during the first year. There will be frequent follow-up meetings to determine how the veterans are benefitting from the dogs and to see whether there are any unforeseen benefits. If all goes well, CCI could start admitting police, fire and emergency medical personnel to the program, Birman said. It also could start rolling out the program in regional centers in the next few years. The group also has been fundraising to open a PTSD-dedicated building on its campus. SEE PAGE 14
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VETERANS
Vets sue Navy, claim bias against those with PTSD BY NIKKI WENTLING Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — By age 21, Marine Corps Cpl. Tyson Manker led infantrymen into battle in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His actions as a Marine garnered him the Presidential Unit Citation and other awards, yet the military doesn’t consider his service honorable. Manker endured intense combat, saw civilians killed and witnessed the death of a close friend — experiences that caused nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that only worsened when he returned home. Later that year while on leave, Manker was caught with marijuana, which he used to self-medicate. He was kicked out of the Marine Corps for misconduct with an otherthan-honorable discharge. “It’s a national disgrace for the federal government to say someone doesn’t have honor because they didn’t handle the
stresses of war the way some bureaucrat back stateside thinks they should’ve,” said Manker, now 36 and an attorney in Illinois. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of servicemembers suffering from PTSD or other mental health conditions caused by their wartime experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan have been kicked out of the military with other-than-honorable discharges, known as “bad paper.” The status precludes them from receiving medical care and other benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Worse still, Manker said, is the stigma associated with the discharge status. “We’re in a system of punishing those who serve on the front lines,” said the veteran, who has been haunted by his other-than-honorable status for years. Having tried and failed to get an upgrade, Manker is now the lead plaintiff in a classaction lawsuit filed March 2
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“We’ve had the opportunity to learn a great deal through the screening process; the placement process; of course, the training process with the dogs and also the team-training with veterans with PTSD, and we feel now, as the VA study is wrapping up, we feel like we’d like to carry that momentum forward,” Birman said. “Service dogs are another tool that is available to veterans,” she said. “I think the more options that we make available to people, the more people will be able to, hopefully, find something that works for them. PTSD can be an incredibly debilitating condition and really tremendously isolating, and so, if through these
Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher Terry Leonard, Editor Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editor Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Content Doreen Wright, 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) 761-0900 Advertising: (202) 761-0910 Michael Davidson, Weekly Partnership Director: davidson.michael@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com
against the Navy in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut. The suit claims the Navy has an institutional bias against veterans with PTSD. The Navy Discharge Review Board, responsible for discharges of sailors and Marines, has granted upgrades in only 15 percent of cases since 2016 in which PTSD was a contributing factor, according to the suit. In comparison, the Army granted upgrades in 45 percent of the same kinds of cases and the Air Force granted 37 percent. After Manker was kicked out of the Marines, a civilian doctor diagnosed him with PTSD. He later was denied mental health care by the VA, and he continued to self-medicate. He said he struggled with suicidal thoughts. Manker turned things around in 2011, when he began seeing another civilian doctor who also diagnosed him with PTSD. His health improved, he went to college and then law
school. In 2016, the Navy Discharge Review Board denied his upgrade request despite his multiple PTSD diagnoses. The lawsuit filed March 2 requests Manker’s discharge be upgraded to honorable and the Navy follow Defense Department policy that requires review boards to give “liberal consideration” to veterans who seek to upgrade their discharges because of mental health conditions. A policy change was made in August in an attempt to afford more leniency to veterans, but the suit claims the Navy board continues to deny upgrades unlawfully. The lawsuit was filed by the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, overseen by Michael Wishnie, which has filed other lawsuits in recent years seeking to change the military’s treatment of veterans with other-than-honorable discharges. The suit has the potential
to include tens of thousands of veterans. The Government Accountability Office released findings in 2017 that the Defense Department separated approximately 92,000 servicemembers for misconduct from 2011 through 2015, and 57,000 of them were diagnosed with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries or other conditions that can change servicemembers’ moods and behaviors and can lead to disciplinary problems. Like Manker, many of them are disqualified from receiving any VA health care or other benefits because of their discharge statuses. Even as an attorney, Manker described the requirements to prove an upgrade as daunting. With the lawsuit, he’s hoping that process is made easier. “How do we expect them to do what I, as an attorney, failed to do with the discharge review board?” Manker said. “If I can’t prove my case, who can?” wentling.nikki@stripes.com Twitter: @nikkiwentling
dogs we can make a difference in the lives of even just a handful of veterans, then it will absolutely have been worth it.” Davisson said he plans to continue working with and supporting CCI. He is excited for other veterans with PTSD who might get a chance to enter the program. “I’ve had the best experience with Canine Companions for Independence,” he said. “They make some awesome dogs. [Velvet] is perfectly docile; perfect behavior. She never makes any mistakes. She’s just phenomenal … I wholeheartedly believe veterans will benefit from these dogs, without a doubt.” burke.matt@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, 2018
Courtesy of Caleb Davisson
Caleb Davisson cuddles with Velvet, his service dog. The former Marine was paired with one of the first dogs trained for the VA’s PTSD study at Canine Companions for Independence.
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7pm Chonda Pierce: Getting Back to Funny
Sat Mar 10
7:30pm Daughtry
9am - 4pm 5th Street Exchange Riverwalk Marina Featuring local artisans, food trucks, a children’s area and more. Leashed animals welcome. Call 706-869-5404 or visit 5thstreetmarina.com.
6pm - 10pm Cookin’ for Kids Oyster Roast Daniel Field A fundraiser for Child Enrichment Inc., this event includes food, drinks, live music, a raffle and a live auction. $50. Visit childenrichment.org or call 706737-4631.
Sun Mar 11
3pm - 5pm Exhibition Reception Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History This exhibition features photographer Jerry Taliaferro from Charlotte, N.C.,
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Tue Mar 13
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5pm - 7pm Exhibitions Reception Arts & Heritage Center of North Augusta The main gallery exhibition is the North Augusta Cultural Arts Council’s “Springfest” Exhibition. The Balcony Gallery features a Golf Art exhibit. Both exhibitions will be on display through April 20. The reception is free and open to the public. Call 803-441-4380 or visit artsandheritagecenter.com.
8pm Ron White Miller Theater $59.50-$248.50. Visit millertheateraugusta.com or call 800514-3849.
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