A ribbon cutting ceremony was held last week to open a new exhibit in the Connecticut State Capitol hosted by State Rep. Anthony Nolan to honor the Coast Guard through February 24, 2022.
The three-week long exhibit consists of 24 panels and historical artifacts on display in the concourse between the Legislative Office Building and the Capitol Building and will honor and highlight the rich history of the Coast Guard with an emphasis on Connecticut based Coast Guard units.
The opening event included remarks by Rep. Joe Courtney; Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz; State Rep. Anthony Nolan; and Rear Adm. Bill Kelly, Coast Guard Academy Superintendent and was attended by various government officials and Coast Guard personnel from numerous units across Connecticut.
The Coast Guard in Connecticut is comprised of various ashore and afloat units, while the Coast Guard Academy, Coast Guard Band, Coast Guard Cutter Barque Eagle, Coast Guard Cutter Coho, and Coast Guard Station New London all call New London home.
The exhibit is an opportunity to inform visitors and elected officials at the Capitol about Coast Guard units located in Connecticut and provides an opportunity to educate the public about the Coast Guard’s global reach. Three of the panels in the exhibit feature the National Coast Guard Museum, which will share the Coast Guard’s story of the past, present and future, and display many historic artifacts of the nation’s history when built in New London.
“The Coast Guard has been proud to call Connecticut its home throughout our 232 year history and we are proud be a part of the state’s rich legacy,” said Rear Adm. Bill Kelly, Coast Guard Academy Superintendent. “Not only are we building the future leaders of the Coast Guard right here in Connecticut, but Coast Guard women and men across the state work tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of Connecticut’s nearly 11 billion dollar maritime economy.”
“The Coast Guard is an integral part of Connecticut’s history, especially to the City of New London. Thank you to the United States Coast Guard Academy for bringing this exhibit to our State Capitol to honor and recognize the historical significance of this branch of our military,” said Rep. Anthony Nolan.” As a U.S. Navy veteran, this exhibit to honor our military is especially important to me.”
“Our United States Coast Guard works diligently day in and day out to protect the health and safety of our U.S. waters,” said Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz. “The Coast Guard has a special place in my heart as my aunt, Mrs. Mary Stewart, joined the Coast Guard during World War II and served in Palm Beach, Florida. This exhibit is a terrific opportunity to learn more about our history, and honor the service of our U.S. Coast Guard members.”
The exhibit is located in the concourse of the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT, 06106. The exhibit is free, open to the public, and can be viewed Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For the five years since its inception, Glen Lakes Veterans and Friends (GLVF) has donated more than $250,000 to American Legions, Veterans of Foreign Wars Posts, Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and other organizations in Hernando and Citrus counties that serve the needs of service personnel. Each year, after their annual golf outing, they hold a reception at Glen Lakes Country Club to recognize businesses and individuals who have made the event a success. They also present checks to the beneficiaries of that year’s fundraiser.
Among the individuals that GLVH recognized at the 2021 reception in December was State Representative Blaise Ingoglia who donated $2,500. The following made contributions of $1,000 or more so far this year: the Dufrane family, the Ford family, the Taylor family, and the Yooper family.
This year Glen Lakes Veterans and Friends awarded five grants. In order to be considered for a grant, the organization must submit a grant application and be vetted by the GLVF Board of Directors. VFW Post 10209 received a grant for $7,000. This will go toward Honor Guard expenses, 100 chairs for their meeting hall, a computer, and renovations to their memorial area.
American Legion Post 186 was awarded a $7,000 grant. These funds will be used for new Honor Guard uniforms and weapons, as well as a laptop, and printer for their veterans service officer. The Polish American Legion Post 196 received $4,000. This money will be used to upgrade their Honor Guard uniforms.
The DAV was awarded $6,000 for utilities, air conditioning maintenance and two service officer computers. Baldomero Lopez State Veterans Nursing Home in Land o’ Lakes received a grant of $4,400 for tables and chairs. This 120-bed facility provides skilled nursing care for sixty residents and can even accommodate patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s.
It’s not widely-known that the VFW, American Legion and other veterans’ organizations do not receive any federal funds. They rely solely on dues from their members to keep their posts running. With membership in some of these dwindling and funds drying up, they would not be able to keep their doors open without contributions from non-profit organizations Like Glen Lakes Veterans and Friends.
Besides their annual golf tournament, GLVF is having a raffle at Glory Days Restaurant for a new YETI cooler donated by the Lowman Law Firm. The cooler is filled with more than $1500 worth of goodies, including a four-person pass to play golf at Glen Lakes Country Club, scratch-off lottery tickets, Weeki Wachee Car Wash gift certificates, and a “humongous assortment of booze.” Tickets for the drawing, which will take place on March 20th can be purchased from any GLVF member or in the lobby of Glory Days.
GLVF is also promoting Operation $100. This is a fund-raising drive to encourage businesses and individuals to donate a minimum of $100. Those who do so will have their names posted on the GLVF website.
Glen Lakes Veterans and Friends believes in giving back to those who give. Any business that contributes a substantial amount of money will get their name and company logo on their website. They will also receive a sticker to put in their store or office window stating that they are a “veteran-friendly” business. GLVF urges all their members and donors to support these businesses.
As Ron Ford, treasurer of GLVF, states, “It is an honor to give back to the fraternity called U.S. Veterans. The need is so great, but helping even one veteran is better than standing on the side lines and doing nothing.”
For more information on Glen Lakes Veterans and Friends and to contribute go to www.glenlakesvets.org. You can also find out more by contacting Ron Ford at 906-291-0587 or any of the other board members listed on their website.
Alaska Army National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bradley Jorgensen, Sgt. 1st Class Damion Minchaca, Capt. Cody McKinney, and Staff Sgt. Sonny Cooper, all members of Golf Company, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, in front of an HH-60M Black Hawk helicopter at Bryant Army Airfield on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Feb. 17, 2022. The crew received the DUSTOFF Association 2021 Rescue of the Year award for their efforts in a rescue completed Sept. 15, 2021. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Grace Nechanicky) (Photo Credit: Spc. Grace Nechanicky)
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Four members of the Alaska Army National Guard’s Golf Company, Detachment 1, 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion, received the 2021 Rescue of the Year award for rescuing a sheep hunter stranded for two days at 5,750 feet on a 3-by-3-foot ledge on a 50-degree slope near Cottonwood Creek in the Knik River Valley Sept. 15, 2021. (Courtesy photo) (Photo Credit: Spc. Grace Nechanicky)
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – Four members of the Alaska Army National Guard’s Golf Company, Detachment 1, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, received the 2021 Rescue of the Year award.
At approximately 1:30 p.m. Sept. 15, 2021, a sheep hunter activated his InReach satellite communication device to send an SOS signal to the Alaska State Troopers. He suffered minor cold-weather injuries and malnourishment near Cottonwood Creek, 40 miles northeast of Anchorage, down the Knik River Valley.
The hunter was stranded at an elevation of 5,750 feet for two days on a 3-by-3-foot ledge on a 50-degree slope when it started snowing and made it impossible to descend.
Once the AST received the distress signal, they requested assistance from the Guard through the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center. The AKRCC sent the request to the 207th AVN, where Capt. Cody McKinney accepted the mission as the pilot in command and prepared to launch a hoist-capable HH-60M Black Hawk helicopter with a medevac crew.
“When we got this call, the [cloud] ceilings were forecasted below the hunter, and we knew that it was a technical rescue if we could even get to him,” said McKinney, who is also deputy state Army aviation officer and commander of G-Company, 2-211th GSAB. “We thought, ‘What type of medevac unit are we if we don’t try?’ So we decided to launch knowing that we might not be able to get up to him, and we just talked through the mitigating factors.”
McKinney, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bradley Jorgensen, the mission co-pilot; Staff Sgt. Sonny Cooper, the helicopter crew chief and hoist operator; and Sgt. 1st Class Damion Minchaca, the flight paramedic and hoist rider, departed Bryant Army Airfield about one hour after the hunter sent his SOS.
The team was determined to rescue the hunter, according to McKinney. Weather forecasts predicted the early-winter snowstorm would only get worse, which would leave him stranded for at least another couple of days if the crew didn’t act quickly.
“We saw a small hole [in the clouds] tucked up against the mountains, so we took our opportunity to go up through there,” said McKinney. “Once you get in between two layers like that, there’s a risk that the hole closes up if there’s cloud movement, and there was. At that point, we were fully committed to this guy and to finishing the rescue.”
Once they made it through the base cloud layer, they used a dynamic hoist technique to retrieve the stranded hunter. Unlike a static hoist where the helicopter hovers over the target, the dynamic hoist technique allows for quicker, precise extraction without bringing the aircraft to a prolonged hover.
“We will fly towards the target, open the door, and bring the hoist rider out, all while we’re flying about 60 or 70 knots,” explained McKinney. “Then we approach the target while that hoist rider is also descending.”
The medevac team did this in white-out conditions, with minimal visibility.
“It’s basically as if we were inside of a ping pong ball where everything around you is white and you don’t have a good visual reference,” he explained. “And when you’re trying to do a hoist at almost 6,000 feet to a one-foot section, it’s fairly technical because a lot could go wrong.”
Once Minchaca landed on the ledge, he pushed the hunter back against the mountain wall so he couldn’t fall while he secured him in an aviation rescue vest. In just over one minute, the hunter was safe and being hoisted up into the helicopter to be transported to Palmer airport.
“[The mission] was just very technical, which set it apart from some of our other ones,” said McKinney. “Normally, when we go on a mission, we know that certain variables are taken care of, and in this case, we just didn’t know. We had a low probability of actually being able to get to him, and we went anyways, because that’s what we do.”
The rescue award will be officially presented to the four crew members in San Antonio, Texas, May 21 during the DUSTOFF Association annual awards banquet.
The association, established in 1980, is a nonprofit veterans’ organization for enlisted, officers, families, and others who have ever engaged in or supported Army aeromedical evacuation programs.
“It takes a tremendous amount of people involved in a rescue like this,” said McKinney. “The expectation is that we go out and do that, and it’s not possible unless we have trust of leadership, the RCC that’s willing to give us the mission, the Air Guard that cross-trains with us. Even though we’re getting highlighted, it was very much an Alaska National Guard joint operation.”
The U.S. Space Force was established in large part to consolidate and align military space warfighting organizations and assets under one chain of command to ensure proper service-level focus on the organizing, training and equipping of space-focused forces. Despite this clear direction from the White House and the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), more than 70 percent of America’s space warfighting capabilities fall outside the organizational purview of the Space Force because they reside in the Air National Guard, which reports to the Air Force.
The resulting misalignment creates dysfunctions spanning authority and budgetary issues to readiness problems. Given aggressive adversary actions in space, combatant commanders rely heavily on Air National Guard space forces. The Department of Defense and interagency bureaucracies cannot continue to stand in the way. Congress must create a Space National Guard.
The personnel, infrastructure and weapon systems for a Space National Guard are already in place, but it lacks formal recognition in law. Since the 1990s, the Air National Guard has served as the Defense Department’s go-to place for experienced, cost-effective and surge-to-war space forces. These individuals come with a depth of experience, thanks to the permanent jobs many hold. Numerous air guard space operators work in commercial firms that design and develop Space Force weapon systems. This translates to robust depth and breadth of experience.
Despite their small size, “space guardsmen” represent a large impact upon the enterprise. They provide nearly three-fourths of the Space Force’s overall warfighting capacity and 20 percent of its manpower. It is inexplicable that the current construct has them disconnected from the active space service’s organize, train and equip plans and processes, given that space guardsmen remain under the Air Force’s chain of command. This invites undue risk that is wholly self-inflicted, akin to the dysfunction of placing the Air National Guard in the Department of the Army or the Army National Guard in the Department of the Navy. Clear, aligned lines of authority must exist to present space forces in a logical and mission-effective fashion. The resourcing, career field management, training and operations of space forces should all come under one roof.
Instead of a streamlined integration of key missions and assets being managed by the Space Force chain of command, this awkward situation has yielded additional bureaucracy to bridge the legal and financial gaps between the Air Force and Space Force. Navigating these areas has negatively impacted readiness, training and even deployments in support of combatant commanders worldwide. While the Space Force and National Guard Bureau have worked to keep the space mission active and moving forward in the Guard, this lack of organizational and fiscal alignment has seriously affected missions such as space electronic warfare, space surveillance and satellite operations.
The FY 2022 NDAA “kicked the can down the road” on this issue and ordered yet another study — one of many conducted since 2018. The time for action is now. The obvious choice is clear. The Space Force was created to unify U.S. national security space functions under one separate military service. That intent remains especially valid today, given the growing challenges we face on orbit. The Space Force is over two years old, and it is long past time to ensure its guard component is properly aligned.
Air Force Gen. (ret.) John Hyten, former vice chief of the Joint Staff, and Gen. Jay Raymond, chief of Space Operations, have stated numerous times that the Space Force cannot accomplish its mission without the Space National Guard. It is time to bolster the nation’s defense posture and establish proper lines of organizational authority and force design, as we do with any other military service. Congress should establish the Space National Guard in the next NDAA.
Christopher Stone is the Senior Fellow for Space Studies at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence in Arlington, Va. He is the former special assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy in the Pentagon.
A “super squadron” of roughly 20 F-35C stealth fighters could be added to the US Navy’s carrier air wing in the future, said a senior official. His remark comes days after F-35C fighter jets returned from their first operational cruise aboard the USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class carrier (CVN-70).
The aircraft carrier returned home on February 14 following a six-and-a-half-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific, marking the first deployment of the US Navy’s “future air wing,” comprising the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, EA-18G Growlers, and E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes.
The first deployment also witnessed a landing disaster involving an F-35C. Nevertheless, the Navy seems upbeat about its F-35C fleet.
“Right now, we’re probably going for a 14-aircraft squadron,” Rear Adm. Dan Martin, commander of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, said at a press briefing. “I’ve heard noise of us thinking around the possibility of going to a 20-aircraft squadron.”
The 10 F-35Cs from Strike Fighter Squadron 147 (VFA-147), the “Argonauts,” were “seamlessly integrated” into the air wing, according to Martin. A pair of new EA-18G Growler electronic attack planes and one more E-2D Advanced Hawkeye radar plane had previously been added to the air wing for this cruise.
F-35C aircraft, attached to the “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147, fly in formation. – USN
This deployment, according to Martin, demonstrated a paradigm shift in the way the aircraft carrier and strike group deploy. The new carrier air wing vision, which Martin claims is currently being evaluated, might be the latest in a line of changes to the F-35C force structure.
Initially, the Navy planned to deploy two F-35C squadrons per air wing, each with 10 aircraft. In September 2020, Rear Adm. Gregory N. Harris, director of the Air Warfare Division, sketched out plans for an air wing with 16 F-35Cs in one squadron. By the middle of 2021, however, that single squadron had been shrunk to 14 jets.
Shortage Of Space
The carrier air wing has had 44 strike fighters for this entire time, with the service now considering the best combination of F-35Cs and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to tackle its tactical fighter shortage.
It’s uncertain how the addition of a “super squadron” of F-35Cs would affect F/A-18E/F numbers, but one alternative is to go back to the initial arrangements, which called for 20 F-35Cs and two 12-aircraft Super Hornet squadrons.
Despite the Navy’s plan to expand the number of EA-18Gs and E-2s, the problem of space above and below decks becomes particularly crucial. Some crew members on the carrier told Defense News that they grappled with the high “deck density” or the frequency of aircraft compared to the amount of space on the flight deck and in the hangar bay.
An F-35C on the flight deck of Carl Vinson, on October 29, 2021. (via Twitter)
Smaller than the Super Hornet, but F-35C requires more and larger ground support equipment. Adding more F-35Cs without creating space for them on the flight deck won’t help, but Martin insists the new fighters will add significant capabilities for the strike group.
It seems efforts were undertaken to make more space on deck and in the hangar and that was before the carrier embarked on its deployment. Capt. P. Scott Miller, the Vinson’s commanding officer, previously acknowledged that a number of treadmills and workout equipment lying on the hangar deck had also been removed.
According to Martin, the Navy has begun to cut down on the number of helicopters sent to an air wing, which may free up space for more aircraft — but he said he had 19 helos and “needed all of them.” Anti-submarine warfare, surface strike, search and rescue, logistics, and other duties are all carried out by the MH-60R/S Seahawks.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) battle group in the Pacific Ocean, on June 1, 1991 (Wikimedia Commons)
The US Marine Corps also operates its F-35C squadrons from aircraft carriers. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 is currently aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, making the F-35C’s second carrier deployment, as part of a goal to have four F-35C squadrons prepared for carrier deployment.
The Marines are working on F-35C deployment methods, which include an initial focus on using austere land bases, but it’s unknown whether the service’s squadrons will be expanded.
Reasons Behind ‘Future Air Wing’
The new air wing concept stemmed from the realization that carriers and their associated aviation capabilities will play a major role in the near future.
“This is just a complete change, with a near-peer competitor, with activity that is in the air, on the surface of the sea and below the surface of the sea,” Martin stated. “You have to shape the air wing to best handle that activity.”
It’s no mystery that China and the Indo-Pacific are on the Pentagon’s radar, as indicated by the US’ recent release of an Indo-Pacific strategy white paper and the Vinson’s recent deployment of the 7th Fleet in the Indo-Pacific region.
The US Navy’s first operational F-35C squadron VFA147 conducts flight deck certifications aboard USS Carl Vinson in 2020. (via Twitter)
The “Navy Aviation Vision 2030-2035” stressed the need to win in the great power competition with Russia as well as China. According to the Navy, the Future Air Wing “will be increasingly lethal, survivable, networked, sustainable, and unmanned with autonomous capabilities. Integrated passive and active sensors will provide battlespace awareness for the CSG and Fleet Commander.”
The F-35C excels in this area, because of its mix of low observability, combat radius, superior sensors, and networking capabilities.
Increasing the number of EA-18Gs and E-2s in the air wing also contributes to this goal. While the Growler helps combat the expansion of multi-layered air defense systems that are expected to be engaged in a Pacific conflict, having more Hawkeyes allows the air wing to have situational awareness.
Martin stated that he wants to add more EA-18Gs to the seven-plane fleet already on board the Vinson, which was two more than the standard.
Marine Corps veteran Sebastien Lajeunesse found peace and a purpose getting his hands dirty, tilling the ground and seeing plants grow as a result of his hard work. After being diagnosed with PTSD, this was just the escape he was looking for and dreamed of one day begin able to help other veterans do the same.
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“Sometimes when I’m planting, I look down at my hands,” Lajeunesse said. “These hands once carried an M16 and was trained to destroy and kill. Now they are creating life. I can watch the flowers and plants pop up and all the work helps you move on. This is my purpose now.”
Lajeunesse began his own hops farm, St. John’s Hops in Umatilla, and started the Warriors to Farmers non-profit to give other veteran with PTSD a chance to experience the same healing.
The program offers veterans a paid position on the hops farm, a peaceful and therapeutic environment, with access to counseling to help acclimate them back into society.
“We’ve had one veteran graduate the program and go on to open his own landscaping company,” Lajeunesse said. “Our goal is to help them get back on their feet and teach them a trade at the same time.”
The non-profit is in the process of getting their license to become a vocational rehab center which will allow veterans to use their GI Bill to study one of three trades — agriculture, mechanics and brewmaster training.
Lajeunesse will teach agriculture in partnership with a friend of his that specializes in the science of horticulture, Cobb Tractor will train the veterans with their mechanics and Wops Hops Brewery in Sanford will train them in brew-mastery.
“This will take us to a whole new level,” Lajeunesse said. “We are hoping this will allow us to hire more veterans.”
Recently, Lajeunesse was able to bring on Rowan Sockol, a Marine Corps veteran that was having a hard time returning to the daily grind.
“It’s been good for me,” Sockol said. “It feels like I’m accomplishing something and being a part of something flexible that lets me get my life together is what I needed.”
Former Epcot bakery production manager Cindy Hunt is also coming on board to run farm production. Her family has a long history of farming and her father and his six brothers were veterans, along with her wife, so the cause is close to her heart.
“I retired from Epcot and felt it was time to do something to help people,” Hunt said. “A lot of vets are thrown to the curb and it’s just sad. They are willing to lay down their life for us and we don’t do anything for them in return. They sometimes come back messed up and you don’t see it because it’s inside of them. If we can save one life through the farm, then I’ve done something.”
Lajeunesse and Sockol are currently working on planting crops and repairing the farm as they prepare for the spring hops. The hops has caught the attention of many breweries around Central Florida who have used it to make specialty brews like the “Dirty Grunt” at Crooked Can Brewery in Winter Garden and the “American Hero” at American Icon Brewery in Vero Beach.
“American Icon has asked us to dedicate three acres of hops just for their production,” Lajeunesse said. “What’s great is that they donate a portion of their sales of that drink back to our Warriors to Farmers program.”
The farm is in need of additional items such as outdoor lighting, lumber and gardening supplies, as well as monetary donations to keep supporting veterans. To help, visit warriorstofarmers.org.
Colonel Charles Young was promoted to the honorary rank of Brigadier General by Governor Andy Beshear earlier this month at a celebration of Black History Month at the State Capitol in Frankfort.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Kentucky continues its observance of Black History Month, Gov. Andy Beshear joined Col. Charles Young’s family members to celebrate the U.S. Department of Defense approving a posthumous honorary promotion of Young to the grade of brigadier general.
“I first learned about Brigadier General Charles Young from my grandfather; he knew the importance of remembering and honoring your roots,” said Lyndsay Railey, a member of Young’s family who joined the celebration with her mother, Susan Young Tabler, and her son, Elijah Railey. “Our ancestor’s heroic actions have always been a source of pride for the Young family. We are thankful that his service is finally being recognized on a state and federal level. A sincere thank you to Charles Blatcher and Gov. Andy Beshear for making today a reality.”
Joining Gov. Beshear and Young’s family for the celebration were, among others, Rev. Dr. James Thurman, Kentucky state commander, National Association for Black Veterans; Deputy Secretary of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Lt. Col. Keith Jackson, USA, Retired; Charles Blatcher III, chairman, National Coalition of Black Veterans Organizations; Maj. Gen. Johnny K. Davis, commanding general, U.S. Army Cadet Command and Fort Knox, Kentucky; Col. Mark Thompson, deputy chief of staff, U.S. Army Recruiting Command; Congressman John Yarmuth; Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer; Secretary of the Executive Cabinet J. Michael Brown; Maj. Gen. Haldane B. Lamberton, Adjutant General of Kentucky; Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Whitney Allen; Aukram Burton, executive director, Kentucky Center for African American Heritage; Mason County Judge/Executive Owen McNeill; and Raoul Cunningham, president, Louisville Branch NAACP.
The Montford Point Marine Association presented the colors, Julia Ralston performed the national anthem and the 202nd Army Band of the Kentucky National Guard performed The Army Song.
A general officer personal flag with one star, denoting the rank of brigadier general, was unrolled in Young’s honor and placed on display as part of his exhibit at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. The center also received the honorary promotion certificate from Gov. Beshear’s posthumous promotion of Col. Young to the honorary rank of brigadier general in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 2020.
Last February, the Governor sent a letter to President Joe Biden encouraging him to promote Young within the U.S. Army. In a letter dated Nov. 1, 2021, Under Secretary of Defense Gilbert Cisneros Jr. informed the chairs of the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services committees of his decision to approve the request and Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth informed Charles Young’s family of the promotion on Jan. 19, 2022.
“Charles Young was a pioneer, especially in his military career, but also throughout his life,” said Gov. Beshear. “I was honored to promote Col. Young to brigadier general in the commonwealth two years ago, and I am pleased to announce that the honor has now been extended to the entire U.S. Army.”
While Gov. Beshear’s promotion of Young to brigadier general is recognized only in the commonwealth, the promotion by the Army provides national recognition of service by some of the earliest Black officers in our nation’s armed forces.
“Today we are focusing on the celebration of a true American hero who not only overcame numerous life-altering obstacles but accomplished legacy driven achievements because of them,” said Lt. Col. Keith Jackson, USA, Retired, Deputy Secretary of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
Charles Young was born in Mays Lick, Kentucky, in Mason County, to enslaved parents in 1864. He valued education throughout his life and graduated with honors from high school in Ohio, where his parents escaped slavery.
Young taught elementary school and eventually entered the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he was the academy’s third Black graduate. He went on to become the first Black military attaché to a foreign country and served in various assignments from Haiti and Liberia to Mexico and Nigeria. When he was medically discharged from active duty, Young was the highest-ranking Black officer in the military, having been promoted to colonel.
Following his death, Young was given full military honors and burial in Arlington National Cemetery, where Americans can remember his legacy as a leader, his perseverance despite obstacles and his heroic example to others.
“The promotion was pursued as an act of faith demonstrated through persistence,” Blatcher said. “It would not have been possible without the support and participation of many people. They believed like me that one day this would happen. Each have left a fingerprint on this project and a handprint on my heart. I salute you all. And Governor, we salute you.”
“What a significant moment to celebrate today – the posthumous promotion of Col. Charles Young to brigadier general! A man worthy of such an honor because of his perseverance, academic leadership, spirit of excellence and devotion to duty,” Maj. Gen. Davis, said. “As a soldier, diplomat and civil rights leader, Young made great strides for all, paving the way for future generations of leaders to excel.”
“Like so many heroes who have gone before us, Col. Young’s achievements continue to inspire and motivate current and future generations of soldiers in our great Army,” Col. Thompson, said. “We’re especially grateful for those who have seen fit to make this posthumous promotion to brigadier general a reality.”
“Charles Young’s life was the embodiment of perseverance, and any one single chapter of his story would be remarkable on its own,” Congressman Yarmuth said. “The heroism and selflessness he displayed throughout a life of service—all in the face of rampant racism and bigotry—is a testament to his dedication not only to his country but also his fellow man. No matter the test, Charles maintained the mettle and courage to carry on. I’m thrilled that this long overdue promotion has been granted to a native son of Kentucky, and am so proud to see Brigadier General Charles Young finally get the star he so earned and deserved in life.”
“Charles Young did everything he did at a time when Jim Crow infected almost everything, when laws, institutions and systems were organized against his success and the success of other people of color,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. “We are here today for a justice delayed, but no longer denied. Thank you to Gov. Beshear and the countless others who advocated for the promotion of Charles Young, a man who believed a life in the military was the best way for him to serve as a role model for other Black Americans, to impact race in America, and to make our country a better place.”
“Charles Young was not only a dedicated soldier, he was a renaissance man,” Aukram Burton, executive director of the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage said, “Aside from being an outstanding soldier, he was a poet, composer, musician, and playwright. General Young was an accomplished linguist who taught Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and German at historically black Wilberforce University in Ohio, where he became close, lifetime friends with fellow faculty member W.E.B. DuBois. He was personal friends with major thought leaders of his time including W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and others. A quote from W.E.B. DuBois’s eulogy for General Young said, ‘The life of Charles Young was a triumph of tragedy.’ We truly salute him as we celebrate Black History Month throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the nation.”
The Army is tentatively planning a promotion ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy in April.
You can learn more about the life of Charles Young on the National Park Service website.
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Air Force concluded conference championship action, Saturday afternoon at the Rec Center on the Campus of Texas A&M. San Diego State won the 2022 Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships, scoring 1,541.5 total points. The Aztecs’ will bring the hardware back to San Diego for the third time in the last four years.
Nevada finished second on the leaderboard with 1,277.5 points. UNLV was third with 1,249 points and Wyoming fourth, scoring 888.5 points. Colorado State came in fifth with 760 points, followed by Fresno State (691.5), Air Force (678), San José State (597.5) and New Mexico (378.5).
Saturday’s midday competition set up the Falcons for a fast final session. On the platform, diver Grace Treanor nailed her dives in the Consolation Final for a fantastic 12th place finish. Her personal best score of 230.8 qualifies her for NCAA Zones.
The milers came out strong with two new additions to the Air Force Top-10 list to put points on the board. Katie Kucik pushed a 17:01.46 to place 11th and grab the six spot on the AF list. Lauren Arnold’s 17:04.55 got her on the board in 12th place and she jumped to eighth all-time in the Top-10.
The backstrokers raced tough in the 200. Building on morning swims that reorganized the Top-10 list, Corrine Yorkman, Corbyn Cormack, Ella Martin, and Allana Clarke placed seventh, thirteenth, sixteenth, and twenty-third, respectively. With swims done for the day, Yorkman (2:00.16) enters the Top-10 list fourth; Cormack (2:01.16) is sixth; and Martin (2:01.73) is tenth.
The sprinters all looked speedy in finals. Abby Turner dropped half a second from prelims to post a 50.69 for tenth place, with Sefilina Maile close behind in 14th place. Kara Galvin added to the team score with a 24th place finish.
Kimmy Woolfenden swam a new lifetime best in the 200 Breast (2:15.95) to place twelfth and move up to number four on the AF Top Ten list. Senior Evelyn Johnson finished 21st in her final swim as a Falcon. Her points in the 200 tonight added to her 24th place performance in the 100 Breast on Friday.
Three Falcons placed in the 200 fly. Darien Tompkins finished 14th with Alex Clark a touch behind for 15th. Shayla Markle posted a 2:03.94 to finish twentieth and clinched the ten spot on the AF Top-10 list.
Air Force closed out the night with the 400 free relay. A strong seventh place finish in the relay helped The Falcons close out the meet seventh in the conference. The swimmers resume competition at the CSCAA invite and divers at NCAA Zones.
SDSU, which has now won the title six times overall, set a championship record with its 1,541.5 total points, surpassing its own record set in 2020 (1,463.5).
WASHINGTON (AP) — The last of thousands of Afghan refugees who awaited resettlement at eight U.S. military installations departed Saturday from a base in New Jersey, completing a journey that started with the chaotic evacuation from Kabul in August.
With assistance from refugee resettlement organizations, Afghans evacuated after their country fell to the Taliban have been gradually leaving the military bases in recent months and starting new lives in communities throughout the United States.
The U.S. admitted 76,000 Afghans as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the largest resettlement of refugees in the country in decades.
“It’s a really important milestone in Operation Allies Welcome but I want to stress that this mission isn’t over,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine national resettlement organizations that were part of the effort.
Afghans still in their country but facing danger under Taliban rule as well as those who have made it to the United States will still need assistance, Vignarajah said.
“Successful resettlement and integration won’t happen in just a matter of days or weeks,” she said. “Our new Afghan neighbors are going to need our support and friendship for months and years to come because the challenges they face won’t disappear overnight.”
The U.S. plans to admit thousands of Afghan refugees over the next year but they will arrive in smaller groups and will be housed in a facility at a location yet to be determined, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Housing facilities for refugees at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in central New Jersey will remain open in the interim, the agency said. The base held the largest number of Afghans, reaching a peak of 14,500. The next largest was at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, where the last group departed this past week.
Afghans underwent immigration processing and health screening while they waited at the bases, often for months, until the strained refugee organizations could place them in communities. The government set up schools for the children who made up about 40 percent of the refugees at the New Jersey base.
Resettlement organizations and Homeland Security, the lead federal agency in the effort, had set a goal of having everyone off the bases by Feb. 15. It was a challenge because of the scarcity of affordable housing, cutbacks to refugee programs under President Donald Trump and the sheer number of refugees.
Most of the refugees have settled in established Afghan communities in northern Virginia and the surrounding Washington area, as well as Northern California and Texas.
States where between 1,000 and 3,000 have settled include Arizona, New York, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, according to State Department data obtained by The Associated Press.
DHS has previously said about 40 percent of the Afghans will qualify for the special immigrant visa for people who worked as military interpreters or for the U.S. government in some other capacity during America’s longest war.
Most of the rest, however, do not yet have permanent legal residency in the U.S. because they did not come under a refugee program but were admitted under a type of emergency federal authorization known as humanitarian parole.
Advocates for the refugees, including a number of prominent veterans groups, are pressing Congress to provide permanent residency with an “Afghan adjustment act,” similar to what has been done in the past for Cubans and Iraqis.
Lisa Costa was appointed chief technology and innovation officer of the Space Force in September 2021
WASHINGTON — Lisa Costa, chief technology and innovation officer of the U.S. Space Force, said the service is eyeing investments in edge computing, data centers in space and other technologies needed to build a digital infrastructure.
“Clearly, the imperative for data driven, threat informed decisions is number one, and that means that we need computational and storage power in space, and high-speed resilient communications on orbit,” Costa said Jan. 13 at a virtual event hosted by GovConWire, a government contracting news site.
Costa was appointed CTIO of the Space Force in September 2021. She was previously director of communications systems and chief information officer of U.S. Special Operations Command.
She said the Space Force has a long-term vision of being a “digital service” and is now laying out a strategy to invest in “the right infrastructure for a competitive and contested domain.”
A key goal of the Space Force is to be agile and “outpace our adversaries,” said Costa. Timely and relevant data is imperative, and that will require investments in government-owned and in commercial infrastructure in space, she added. “Things like cloud storage, elastic computing, critical computation for machine learning, infrastructure in and across orbits.”
She noted that the Space Force has to do a better job communicating its needs to the commercial industry and to universities that are developing many of the technologies the service is seeking.
Edge computing and data management in orbit are growing market segments in the space industry. Onboard computing allows satellites to process data they collect and perform autonomous decision-making and tasks faster than if the data had to be transported to a server on the ground.
Space Force guardians need these capabilities so they can analyze data using machine learning and artificial intelligence, Costa said. “AI is incredibly important in space. So where are we going to do that processing?”
Having space-based orbital computational power is “really critical so we don’t have to download massive amounts of data to ground stations to do processing, and then upload the information,” she said. “So help us figure out the best ways of processing information, and getting it to the decision makers.”
A digital infrastructure that can move data quickly “is absolutely imperative because of two primary factors: the nature of the threat and the size of our Space Force, which is quite small.”
“We are the only U.S. military service that was established during the information age,” said Costa. “And so the Space Force has this unique opportunity to be born digital. And we’re seizing on that opportunity.”
