DOD
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Manuel J. Holguin, 21, of Woodlake, Calif., died on July 15 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained when his dismounted patrol encountered enemy small arms fire and an improvised explosive device. Holguin was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier
who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Cpl. Kenneth I. Pugh, 39, of Houston Texas, died on July 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained when his M1A2 Abrams tank encountered enemy forces small arms fire. Pugh was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood,Texas.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldierwho was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Michael A. Dickinson II, 26, of Battle Creek, Mich., died on July 17 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, when his dismounted patrol encountered enemy forces small arms fire. Dickinson was assigned to the 9th Psychological Operations Battalion, 4th Psychological Operations Group,
U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Cpl. Nathaniel S. Baughman, 23, of Monticello, Ind., died of injuries on July 17 in Bayji, Iraq, when his HMMWV encountered enemy forces rocket-propelled grenades during patrol operations. Baughman was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. 1st Class Scott R. Smith, 34, of Punxsutawney, Pa., died on July 17 in Al Iskandariyah, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated during a controlled ordnance clearing mission. Smith was assigned to the 737th Explosive Ordnance Detachment, 52nd Ordnance Group, Fort Belvoir, Va.
A Marine died in Iraq and a soldier was
killed in Afghanistan yesterday, and the Defense Department has released
the identities of four soldiers killed recently while supporting the war
on terror.
A Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died as a result of what
officials called "a non-hostile incident" in Iraq's Anbar province
yesterday. The incident is under investigation; foul play is not suspected,
officials said.
A coalition soldier was killed while conducting combat operations in
the Carhar Cineh district of Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, yesterday.
Two coalition soldiers were wounded in the fighting and were taken to a
coalition hospital. They were listed in stable condition, officials
said.
Names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The Defense Department released the identities of four soldiers killed
recently while supporting the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan:
- Army Staff Sgt. Jason M. Evey, 29, of Stockton, Calif., died July 16
of injuries suffered when his Bradley fighting vehicle encountered a
roadside bomb in Baghdad. Evey was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 10th
Calvary Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Hood, Texas.
- Army Sgt. Robert P. Kassin, 29, of Las Vegas, died July 16 at Larzab
Base, Afghanistan, when his platoon encountered enemy small-arms fire.
Kassin was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th
Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.
- Army Sgt. Alkaila T. Floyd, 23, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died July 13
in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries
suffered July 8 when a roadside bomb detonated near his mine-protected
vehicle in Ramadi, Iraq. Floyd was assigned to the 54th Engineer
Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, Bamberg, Germany.
- Army Cpl. Nathaniel S. Baughman, 23, of Monticello, Ind., died July
17 in Bayji, Iraq, when his Humvee encountered enemy rocket-propelled
grenades during a patrol. Baughman was assigned to the 1st Battalion,
187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division,
Fort Campbell, Ky.
Defense Department policies and programs
allow all its military and civilian members to work and serve in an
environment of fairness, equity, dignity and respect, a top defense official
said during remarks at the NAACP's 31st annual Armed Services and
Veterans Affairs Awards Dinner last night.
Clarence A. Johnson, principal director of the department's Office of
Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity, said DoD joined the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People in recognizing the
outstanding accomplishments of leaders and organizations in pursuit of
common objectives.
"Our nation's military exists to assure our freedom and democracy and
when threatened, to defeat the enemies of our freedoms," said Johnson, a
retired Air Force colonel. "At the centerpiece of our military are the
uniformed men and women of the services and the DoD civilians.
Combined, they make America's military -- the most powerful and effective force
in the world -- unequalled on the battlefield."
Noting that while the military is smaller than in the past, Johnson
said "it's the most lethal and disciplined force this nation has ever
fielded. Despite the reduction of the force, however, the presence of women
and minorities has increased."
He said the honorees for this year's NAACP awards reflect a positive
symptom of the strength of diversity of the Defense Department.
"Presently, your all-volunteer military force is composed of 15 percent women
and 36 percent minorities, of which about 18 percent are African
Americans," Johnson said.
"African-Americans serve with distinction, making up 9 percent of the
officer corps and 20 percent of enlisted ranks," he noted. "In the past
10 years, the representation of African-Americans in senior enlisted
and commissioned officer ranks has increased."
Ten years ago, African Americans composed 23 percent of the senior
enlisted ranks - today, that number is 26 percent. The number of field
grade officers has also increased, from 6 percent to 8 percent, and in the
flag and general officer grades, the representation has doubled, from 3
to 6 percent, Johnson said.
The size of the DoD civilian work force has decreased over the last
decade, but the representation of minorities, women and persons with
targeted disabilities has increased, the retired colonel said.
"African-American representation in overall DoD has increased to more
than 15 percent of DoD's civilian force, making gains in white-collar
occupations, and particularly in the GS-13, GS-14 and GS-15 grades," he
noted.
Paraphrasing a famous commercial of the past, Johnson said "We've come
a long way, baby," but he followed that with a paraphrase of poet
Robert Frost: "We have yet miles to go before we sleep."
"We'd certainly like to see more diversity and better representation of
all minorities in our senior civilian and military grades," he said.
"We also would like to see more minorities and women in some of the key
occupations that have a better prospect of leading to the senior ranks
and grades.
"You can help," Johnson told people in the audience who he called "the
key influencers of our society - the leaders to whom others look for
advice and guidance."
He called on mentors in the audience to help increase African-American
representation in DoD by telling young people about the opportunities
and value of service to the nation, either in the military ranks or as
civil servants.
"The military affords our young people the opportunity to gain
responsibility fast and develop leadership skills that can't be obtained
anywhere else - from leading a platoon in battle to flying an aircraft off
the deck of an aircraft carrier in high seas to developing departmental
policy," Johnson said.
Johnson asked the audience to remember that every day, 1.4 million
active soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen and 1.3
million reservists voluntarily put their lives at risk to safeguard
America's freedoms and its way of life.
He pointed out that at any given moment, American troops are flying
combat missions or conducting combat patrols in Southwest Asia, hunting
terrorists in the caves of Afghanistan and providing security and
humanitarian and civil affairs support around the world.
They're also standing guard over the nation's interests around the
world, maintaining ships and submarines across the vast reaches of the
oceans. Plus, Johnson noted, "They're attending college, learning new
skills, developing into leaders of character who will lead in the service or
as citizens."
The chief of the National Guard Bureau
thanked the NAACP here last night for its help in recruiting minorities and
for making the National Guard better.
Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum's remarks came during the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People's 31st annual Armed Services
and Veterans Affairs Awards.
"Today, minorities account for about 20 percent of our total Guard
force, and females account for about 14 percent of our total Guard force,"
said Blum, who received the 2006 NAACP Meritorious Service Award at
last night's event. Established in 1975 by the NAACP's Armed Services
Veterans Affairs Department, the award is presented annually to a
serviceman or -woman in a policy-making position for the highest achievement in
military equal opportunity.
"The NAACP helped us reach out into American communities and helped
many understand the myriad benefits and opportunities in service with the
National Guard," Blum told the more than 400 military and civilian
attendees. "As I stand before you here this evening, we owe you a debt of
gratitude and need your continued support. It's critically important
that the Guard look like America. If it does not, it is not truly
America's National Guard.
"We need your help in continuing to keep our young men and women free
of drugs, violence and other activities that would prevent them from
joining the National Guard," said Blum, who holds a master's degree from
Baltimore's Morgan State University, a historically black university.
He said the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard offer
the greatest opportunity for the youth of America. "You put them in
there and there's great pressure to keep them drug-free, not to abuse
alcohol, and they teach them character and values," Blum said.
Blum likened the military services' capabilities to the strength of
diversity in America. He said when the services work individually, they're
good, but when they work together, they're unbeatable.
"That's the same thing with race and diversity," Blum noted. "The
strength of this nation is that it's not homogeneous. We don't all look
alike. We don't all think alike. We don't all play alike. We don't all have
the same physical attributes."
The smooth-headed general drew laughter and applause when he said,
"Some of us are taller, and some of us can grow hair."
But more applause erupted when he introduced six wounded veterans from
Iraq and Afghanistan. "They would go back and do it again," Blum said.
"Some have lost eyes and limbs, and they would go back and do it again.
"That's the kind of young men and women you're getting in the armed
forces today," he continued. "It's an all-volunteer force; nobody has had
to serve in the last 35 years that didn't want to serve. And in the
last five years, anybody that has joined the Guard or any of the armed
forces know it's not a question of if you're going, it's when you're going
and how often you're going and to what new place am I going to."
Blum noted that the National Guard is deployed worldwide, continuing to
fight the global war on terrorism, helping to protect the Southwest
border and preparing for a pandemic, hurricanes and disaster relief.
He said the Guard is better prepared today than it was last year for
Hurricane Katrina. "We are constantly applying lessons learned, and we
have more troops available, more equipment and a wealth of more
experience," the general noted.
Blum reported that the National Guard is agile, accessible and ready to
simultaneously perform operational missions across the full spectrum of
military operations, from military support to civil authorities and
support to homeland security to homeland defense at home and abroad.
Pointing out that the Army and Air National Guard represent every walk
of life, race, creed and color, Blum said soldiers and airmen have a
single focus: to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. "There is no
finer institution of people in the world," he added.
However, Blum emphasized, the American taxpayer has got to ante up and
make sure the military has the equipment it needs to fight the war
overseas today and 10 years from now, so it remains the best force in the
world.
"That's because we're going to get challenged," the general noted. "Our
Navy has got to stay modernized, and our Air Force has got to get
recapitalized and modernized so we have the very best airplanes, equipment,
radios, weapons systems so we can defeat armies that are far larger
than us and want to do this nation harm."
He said it's also necessary not to underfund the National Guard, so
that when the next Katrina hits, the Guard has the trucks, radios,
night-vision goggles, helicopters and the heavy equipment and engineer
equipment need to respond to such an emergency.
If the Guard and other armed forces were equipped properly, Blum said
they would be able to save more than 48,000 lives during the next
Katrina. "We lost more lives in Katrina than we did on 9/11, or in war over
the last five years fighting overseas," he said.
"We're the richest country in the world, and there's no excuse for not
equipping the armed forces the way they need to be equipped," said
Blum, who received thunderous applause.
As for the military's diversity, Blum said, the battlefield might be
the greatest equalizer. "Agnostics, atheists and bigots suddenly lose all
that when their life is on the line," Blum said. "Something that they
lived their whole life believing gets thrown out the door, and they
grasp the comrade next to them, and they don't care what color their skin
is, and they don't care where they pray. They just care,'Can you save
them? Can I trust you? Are you going to cover my back? Are you going to
get me out of this?'"
Blum expressed pride in the organization's focus during Katrina.
"When Katrina struck New Orleans and America saw the suffering of poor
black people on the Gulf Coast, I had a conference call with 54 state
adjutants general - from 50 states, Virgin Islands, Guam, District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico," he said. "I said, 'We have Americans in
trouble, and this is what we need.'
"With that one phone call, 54 governors and adjutants general put aside
their politics and their differences and sent anything and everything
until they had anything and everything that Mississippi, Louisiana,
Texas, Alabama and Florida requested," Blum said. "And they kept sending it
until we said stop."
He said the defense secretary defense didn't mobilize those forces; no
formal orders were given from the Pentagon until six days after the
Guard was there. "Nobody asked how we were being paid or how long are we
going to be there," Blum said.
"That's why I'm proud to be the chief of the National Guard Bureau,
because I don't think there's a finer organization wearing the uniform of
this nation," he said. "We're second to none, and proud to serve right
alongside the rest of the other services."
