Category: US Military

Another area of trilateral cooperation has been announced:

The insignia of the United States Space Forces Korea can be seen in this photograph taken of the command’s establishment at a ceremony held on Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 14. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The space command of United States Forces Korea (USFK) will be tasked with sharing information from the U.S. military’s reconnaissance satellites with South Korea and Japan, following recent plans by the three countries’ defense chiefs to heighten missile defense cooperation against the rising military threat from the North.  
   
A USFK spokesperson told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the United States Space Forces Korea, known as SPACEFORCE-KOR within the U.S. military, will be charged with operating a shared early warning system (SEWS) with U.S. allies in the region.  
   
“SPACEFOR-KOR is also responsible for establishing international partnerships within their area of responsibility, including those efforts to establish real-time trilateral missile warning information sharing between the U.S., ROK, and Japan,” an official from the command told RFA, referring to South Korea by the acronym for its official name, Republic of Korea. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The way I look at it is if strippers are not allowed to perform on base then it makes sense drag shows shouldn’t either:

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

President Joe Biden’s administration has stopped U.S. military bases from hosting drag shows after criticism from some Republicans, amid a broader push in conservative-led states targeting LGBTQ+ celebrations.

Hosting drag shows is “inconsistent with regulations regarding the use of (Defense Department) resources,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh in a statement Thursday.

At least one show in the U.S. was canceled as a result. Organizers of an event at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada canceled a drag show timed to Pride Month, which began Thursday, according to a Facebook post quoted by Fox News. A drag show that was scheduled for June 17 at the Brit Bar at Ramstein Air Base in Germany was also canceled.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Does anyone think offering accelerated citizenship to foreigners to join the military to make up for the recruiting shortage is a good idea?:

 The Air Force has graduated its first group of airmen who became American citizens during basic training as part of an accelerated naturalization process, which the service hopes will help solve recent difficulties in recruiting.

Fourteen foreign-born men and women who joined the Air Force were naturalized during several weeks of basic training this month at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, the service said. They graduated from basic training and signed their U.S. Certificate of Citizenship on Wednesday.

“I will always be grateful for every opportunity I have here in the best country of the world,” said Airman 1st Class Natalia Laziuk, a member of the inaugural group and a native of Russia.

The enhanced process lets foreign-born recruits settle legal citizenship requirements immediately upon entering basic training. During seven and a half weeks, they can supply all the needed paperwork, take the citizenship test and satisfy other requirements to become naturalized Americans by the time that they graduate.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I think if the recruits are already in the process of getting their citizenship I don’t have any issues with it. However, I think what we do need to be careful of is offering citizenship to foreigners to join the military that are not even eligible for citizenship. If a country can’t recruit its own citizens to defend it, is it still a country still worth defending? With that said I believe the current recruiting shortages are caused by self inflicted issues that can be fixed.

By the way I recommend everyone read what happened to the Roman military when it allowed large masses of foreigners to fill their ranks to make up for their recruiting shortages. It did not end well. Fortunately the U.S. military is no where near the issues Rome had, but what will it be like a hundred years from now if cutting military benefits and increasingly using foreigners to fill recruiting shortages becomes a popular way to fill the military?

Here is an extremely odd story coming out of JBLM:

Lt. Col. Meghann Sullivan takes the 5th Battalion, 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade guidon at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, June 28, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joseph Knoch)

A top officer in the Army‘s 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade has been investigated following allegations of multiple sexual assaults and a pattern of sexual harassment, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. It is unclear whether the investigation is ongoing, but it comes while another is underway into allegations of toxic leadership by the brigade’s commander.

Col. Meghann Sullivan, commander of the 5th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 5th SFAB, faces allegations of assaulting at least two subordinate men and harassing several others, with some of those incidents allegedly tied to alcohol abuse, according to one of the two sources. At least one of those alleged assaults involved forceful kissing and another grabbing a man below the belt without his consent.

Military.com

You can read more at the link.

I have been very critical about the claim of altitude sickness being the cause of the crash that killed two Japanese civilians by a U.S. naval officer. After reading this really good article from Military.com about the accident, I am more convinced then ever he just simply fell asleep at wheel:

Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis was driving his car, filled with his wife and their three children, down from the heights of Mount Fuji on May 29, 2021. It’s an iconic destination for both Japanese and foreign tourists alike, a peak that serves as a sentry over much of central Japan.

Alkonis and his family had taken the trip at the request of his second daughter, spending an hour near the summit before planning to go to a dairy farm in the foothills that sells pizza and ice cream.

As they descended the mountain, Alkonis felt something was wrong but chose to keep going because they were very close to the next town, he would later testify at his trial.

He lost consciousness right as the vehicle approached a roadside noodle restaurant, swerving into the parking lot and hitting three parked cars, pushing one into a fourth vehicle, before crashing into a fifth and final car. Between the layers of metal, two Japanese nationals, an 85-year-old woman and her 54-year-old son-in-law, were crushed. They both died.

Two members of the Alkonis family were taken to a local hospital, but the sailor himself did not receive medical attention. All have made a full recovery. Today, Alkonis sits in a Japanese prison, serving a three-year sentence after being convicted of negligent driving.

That’s the part of the story that no one disputes. It’s the other parts — why Alkonis lost consciousness, how he’s been treated in Japanese custody — that have drawn in lawmakers, led to accusations of a “false” conviction, and even put pressure on the legal agreement that governs U.S. service members’ presence in Japan.

Military.com

The big thing to take from this passage is that he did not even go to the summit of Mt. Fuji which has an altitude of over 12,600 feet. Instead he just drove to one of the stations where hikes begin at about 7,000 feet. People travel to cities like Colorado Springs in the U.S. that is near 7,000 feet every day and you don’t see them crashing vehicles due to altitude sickness.

Additionally the accident happened in Fujinomiya which is almost near sea level. Altitude sickness gets better when losing altitude not worse. I think he got up early to drive to Mt. Fuji from his home in Yokosuka and simply feel asleep at the wheel after a long day of driving.

I highly recommend reading the rest of the article because the claims made by his wife and her Congressional supporters conflict with the facts of the case. The Japanese put a big emphasis on self responsibility and all the excuses is probably why he will not be released early.

Nothing new here, but probably good to occasionally repeat this so the Kim regime continues to understand that using new nukes will immediately end their rule over North Korea:

Any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea will be the end of the reclusive regime in Pyongyang, a U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson said Tuesday, amid concerns of a nuclear test by the reclusive country.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder also reiterated that the U.S. remains committed to deterring aggression.

“I think we have been very clear that were North Korea to employ a nuclear weapon, it would be the end of the North Korean regime,” the department press secretary told a daily press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The three nations have done this trilateral missile defense exercises in the past, but they were scrapped during the prior Moon administration:

South Korea, the United States and Japan held a trilateral missile defense exercise in the international waters of the East Sea on Wednesday, Seoul’s military said, amid heightened tensions caused by North Korea’s recent missile launches.

The exercise took place in waters east of South Korea’s Ulleung Island, mobilizing three Aegis-equipped destroyers — the South’s Sejong the Great, the U.S.’ USS Barry and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Atago — according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The exercise, which lasted for some five hours from 9 a.m., focused on practicing procedures to detect, track and intercept computer-simulated targets, and share related information, it said.

Of the three destroyers, only the U.S. vessel was involved in the interception segment, while the rest joined other parts of the drills, such as the detection of virtual targets, a Seoul official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is official, the COVID vaccine mandate has been repealed for all U.S. service members:

But the bill also ends one of Biden’s former top priorities in making the coronavirus mandatory for U.S. service members. Republican lawmakers successfully included the measure that rescinds Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s August 2021 order requiring troops to receive the coronavirus inoculation or face punishment, including dismissal from the military. Some 8,200 service members were discharged from the military this year for refusing the vaccine. 

Republicans also tried to include a measure in the NDAA that would force the military services to reinstate those service members who were discharged because of the mandate, but that effort failed. 

The Pentagon has not said what it plans to do now that the vaccine requirement has been ended. Defense Department spokespeople this week said they could not yet comment on the issue.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for all DOD service members may soon be coming to an end if this legislation passes and is signed by the President:

The final version of the fiscal 2023 defense authorization bill is likely to rescind Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III’s August 2021 memo ordering COVID-19 vaccines for most troops, a source familiar with the matter said Monday.

Ending the requirement, under which service members who aren’t fully vaccinated are subject to discharge, has been a top priority of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other senior Republicans in both chambers. McCarthy raised the issue with President Joe Biden in a meeting last week and reiterated over the weekend that the mandate should be repealed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.