YORKTOWN, Va.

“First Lady Michelle Obama and I started the Joining Forces initiative last year as a way to honor, recognize and support our veterans and military families,” said Dr. Jill Biden. “This effort is a wonderful way to give something back, giving our military men and women and their families a chance to reconnect with their loved ones, experience the beauty of this country, and simply have a little fun.”

Beginning on Armed Forces Day on May 19, active duty service men and women – Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and activated National Guard and Reserves – can obtain the new military version of the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Annual Pass. The pass will be accepted at National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps sites that charge entrance or standard amenity fees.

The initiative was announced today during a ceremony at Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown, Virginia where Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Director of the National Park Service Jonathan B. Jarvis and Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy distributed the first passes to one member from each of the military’s five branches.

“Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to our service men and -women who make great sacrifices and put their lives on the lines to protect our country and preserve our freedom,” Secretary Salazar said. “In recognition of their contributions and service, we are putting out a welcome mat for these brave men and women and their families at America’s most beautiful and storied sites.”

“Our country’s iconic memorials, open spaces, and majestic landscapes provide inspiration for those serving in the military, especially those far from home,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, whose agency oversees national forests. “In appreciation for their service, we want to encourage these men and women and their families to visit and enjoy America’s wondrous lands and waterways.”

“Our soldiers, sailors and airmen give so much to this country. The federal family is honored to thank them for their service by offering them an opportunity to visit the natural resources that they defend,” said Assistant Secretary Darcy. “The Corps is proud to be participating in the program by accepting the America the Beautiful Military Pass at Corps recreation facilities.”

Military members and their dependents can pick up a pass at any national park or wildlife refuge that charges an entrance fee or other selected sites. Members must show a current, valid military identification card to obtain their pass. The pass is also available to dependents of active duty personnel. A list of participating sites is available here.

Today’s announcement complements the Joining Forces Initiative launched by the First Lady and Dr. Biden, a national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give service members and families the opportunities and support they have earned. In just its first year, Joining Forces has rallied American businesses to hire tens of thousands of veterans and military spouses, schools have improved educational opportunities for military children, and the medical community has vowed better care for military families.

Where there are entrance fees, the pass covers the owner and accompanying passengers in a single, private, non-commercial vehicle at recreation sites that charge per vehicle. At sites where per-person entrance fees are charged, it covers the pass owner and three accompanying adults age 16 and older. There is no entry fee for children 15 and under.

While the pass is not available to veterans and retirees, many of these individuals are eligible for other discounted passes, such as the Senior Pass, granting lifetime access to U.S. citizens over 62 for $10, and the Access Pass granting free lifetime access for permanently disabled U.S. citizens.

For more information on the pass, please visit: http://store.usgs.gov/pass/index.html.

Armed Services Blood Program Office

FALLS CHURCH, Va., May 11, 2012 – Marilyn Durso cherishes a Mother’s Day gift that she calls “a sweet ackowledgment from a son to his mother.” It’s a shirt with the words “Warriors Come from Warriors” sprawled across the front that her son, Army 1st Lt. Greg Durso, gave her a few years ago when he was attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

At 23, Marilyn’s son, an Army ranger, deployed to Afghanistan. “Wearing it meant more to me personally than wearing it for ‘show,’” she said, explaining why she wore the shirt under sweaters during her son’s deployment. While donating blood after her son returned home, she met several warriors and another “Warriors-Come-From-Warriors” mother.

As a platoon leader in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., Durso led 40 U.S. soldiers and about 30 Afghan troops. While on patrol one day, Army Pfc. Rex Thrap triggered a roadside bomb. Army Spc. Joe Mille ran to help him, but in the process, triggered a second bomb.

“They never cried out, they never lost their cool,” Marilyn said, noting the wounded soldiers were more concerned about their comrades. Both Tharp and Mille lost their legs from the bombs.

“But because they were so poised and had it together, the medic and the rest of the team were able to attend to them more efficiently,” Marilyn said. “It’s survival, spirit and camaraderie. Who wouldn’t want to belong to a group of people who live under that code?”

Not long after, 1st Lt. Durso learned that another soldier and friend had been severely injured during a separate mission. One month into his deployment, Army 1st Lt. Nicholas Vogt’s platoon also struck several roadside bombs. Moments after the first detonation, Vogt pushed one of his soldiers out of the way of a second bomb, and took the brunt of the blast himself. Vogt survived, but required nearly 500 units of donated blood.

“Nick’s story is a heart-wrenching account of survival and what people are willing to do to keep others alive,” Marilyn said. “Once you have an intimate knowledge of the experience, you can’t just sit there. “Even though I had never met Nick, when I heard from Greg about what happened, in that moment, everyone becomes your son and daughter,” she continued. “You quickly learn that the military family is large, and it’s not just the people in uniform — it is friends, the community and the people who are willing to donate blood.”

Marilyn said her son wanted to become a soldier from childhood. “As a mother, you don’t want him to do anything that puts him in harm’s way,” she said, “but you have to rely on his confidence, his training … you worry from [the time they enlist].”

For Marilyn, knowing that the Armed Services Blood Program is able to provide lifesaving blood to ill or injured service members worldwide helps to alleviate some of her fears of sending her son off to war.

“When I heard the story of Nick’s injuries and the story that led to his survival, I know in my mind what [our sons and daughters] are doing is real,” she said. “And it reminds me that there are men and women over there right now who still need our help.”

Lt. Durso, along with his mother and grandmother, visited Vogt, Tharp and Mille while they recovered at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. and also donated blood.

At first, Marilyn said she was concerned the visit would make her worry more, but she said “it brought me peace and confidence instead.” “It was an emotional feeling to experience how truly dedicated the family was to the well being of those who do so much to serve and protect us all,” said Vikki Fernette, blood donor recruiter from the medical center.

Marilyn was able to spend time with Vogt’s mother, Sheila, and said she could see where Vogt got his strength. “She’s amazing,” Marilyn said. “A mother will do anything to help her children get through a rough time.”

“It was an honor and a privilege to meet and chat with three generations of patriots who have experienced firsthand the close fight, both deployed forward and in support from back home,” said Army Lt. Col. Robert Pell, chief of blood services at the Bethesda medical center. “The Dursos truly define commitment, to each other, their military family and especially to the Armed Services Blood Program that they support with their selfless blood donations.”

Marilyn is planning to donate blood again when she is eligible in July. “The facilities are beautiful and you get the chance to thank a soldier firsthand and see what they are up against, see their spirit and their great attitudes,” Marilyn said of the medical facility. “I can’t wait to go back. How do you not do something that is so simple? If donating blood can keep them alive until they get to come back home, it’s a privilege.”

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, she “dutifully” accepted the US government’s invitation, posing for the Hollywood portrait photographer George Hurrell, who shot pictures for three posters, each of which bore the legend: “Please get there and back. Be careful what you say or write.”

More posters were printed bearing Margie Stewart’s girl-next-door image than those of the Hollywood sirens Ann Sheridan and Betty Grable combined, an estimated 94 million circulating between 1943 and 1945.

The wartime First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, tried unsuccessfully to get them scrapped on the ground that Stewart’s wholesome image might make soldiers feel homesick. But despite Mrs Roosevelt’s best endeavors, GIs asked for more and wanted to know who the pretty girl was. Nine more posters were ordered showing Margie Stewart, pen in hand, writing letters urging American servicemen to buy war bonds and to save money to buy homes after the war.

In all, a dozen different posters featuring Margie Stewart were produced, each version carrying an encouraging message to servicemen in the US forces overseas.

By the end of 1943 she had become one of the most familiar faces in America, mobbed by soldiers on leave as well as by their wives, who approved of Margie Stewart’s wholesome, unerotic image (unlike those of Hollywood stars such as Betty Grable with her “Million Dollar Legs”; Ann Sheridan, the “Oomph girl”; the cantilevered Jane Russell; and the “peek-a-boo girl” Veronica Lake).

On a visit to London in June 1945, “Uncle Sam’s Poster Girl” — as The Daily Telegraph dubbed her — caused gridlock at Hyde Park Corner, traffic backing up Park Lane and into Oxford Street as crowds tried to catch a glimpse of her. During her stay she became a regular with the bandleader Artie Shaw at Rainbow Corner, the American Red Cross Club near Piccadilly Circus, entertaining US servicemen.

Margery Stewart was born on December 14 1919 at Wabash, Indiana. After a year studying at Indiana University, where she was elected Freshman Princess, she became a photographic model at a department store in Chicago. In 1941 she moved to Los Angeles and modelled at another store on Wilshire Boulevard. When RKO signed her to a contract in 1942, she made 20 films in short order.

Her career began with a series of small parts in Here We Go Again, The Falcon Strikes Back, Gildersleeve’s Bad Day (all 1942), and Bombardier (1943) with Pat O’Brien, Randolph Scott and Eddie Albert. Other film roles included Mexican Spitfire’s Blessed Event (1943), with Lupe Velez; Gildersleeve’s Ghost; the Frank Sinatra musical Step Lively; Road to Victory, with Cary Grant; and Music in Manhattan (all 1944), with Anne Shirley and Dennis Day.

But she never became a star. “My agent in Hollywood once asked an RKO casting director why he wasn’t giving me better parts,” she recalled. “He was honest in his response: ‘Every time I look out she’s talking to a grip, an electrician or a group of extras. That doesn’t look like a star to me.’ The truth was I never wanted to be a star. I still wanted to be me.”

When her contract with RKO was cancelled, Margie Stewart embarked on a European tour in June 1945, entertaining US troops in England, France, Belgium and Germany. In later life Margie Stewart worked in the music industry and produced shows at the Hollywood Bowl featuring The Beatles, Barbra Streisand and The Beach Boys.  Margie Stewart married, in July 1945, Jerry Johnson, with whom she had a son.

QUANTICO, Va. – When Marine Sgt. Jonathan Charles’ unit arrived in Afghanistan, the American troops faced an entrenched enemy that picked a fight with the Marines almost every time they stepped off base. “They couldn’t get outside the wire more than 50 meters before it was a barrage of fire,” said Charles, a scout sniper.

The Marine battalion quickly dispersed well-camouflaged scout sniper teams throughout the Musa Oalaarea in southern Afghanistan, the former Taliban heartland. The teams would hide for days, holed up in crevices, among boulders or in mud-walled homes, and wait for unsuspecting militants to walk into a trap.

• VIDEO: Sniper School at Ft. Benning
• PHOTOS: The Army’s sniper school at Fort Benning

The result: Dozens of militants were killed by an enemy they never saw. Word of unseen killers began to spread among the “few who got away,” Charles said. Within weeks, the tide had begun to turn and by the end of the unit’s seven-month deployment in March 2011, the battalion’s 33-man sniper platoon had 185 enemy kills.

“They quit altogether,” Charles, 26, said of the Taliban. More important, with the enemy largely neutralized, the battalion could focus on building local security and developing Afghan security forces. This approach is the bedrock of counterinsurgency warfare, which is designed to allow the United Statesto remove most combat troops by the end of 2014.

Snipers have quietly emerged as one of the most effective but least understood weapons in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Advancements in technology and training have made them deadlier than in any previous generation. Their ability to deliver accurate shots minimizes collateral damage — a key factor in counterinsurgency — and they are often more effective than much ballyhooed drones at secretly collecting intelligence.

The number of slots at the Army’s sniper school at Fort Benning, GA., increased to 570 last year, up from 163 in 2003, when the  Iraq War started. The Marine Corpsoperates several sniper schools, too.

A precision weapon

United States  commanders typically describe counterinsurgency as improving government and the economy and protecting the population. But killing hard-core elements of the insurgency helps persuade the population to join the winning side, military analysts say.

Snipers are ideally suited for that. “It’s a lot easier to win hearts and minds when you’re doing surgical operations (instead of) taking out entire villages,” said LeRoy Brink, a civilian instructor at the Fort Benning school.

Snipers have another advantage. They wear on the enemy’s psyche, producing an impact disproportionate to their size. “It takes the fight out of them,” Marine Col. Tim Armstrong, commander of the Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico, said of the impact on the enemy.

Snipers will play a prominent role as the military reshapes itself into a more agile force after Iraq and Afghanistan. In a new strategy unveiled in January, the Pentagon said it planned on building a smaller, more expeditionary military force and would expand America’s capabilities to train indigenous forces over the next several years.

Snipers fit well into that concept, said Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “They’ve proven to … have had substantial payoff in terms of military effectiveness. They will continue to be valued.”

Refinements in training and advancements in technology have proved a deadly combination for snipers.  ”It’s much more of a science now,” said Sgt. 1^st Class Thomas Eggers, a leader at the Army’s sniper course at Fort Benning. “Understanding the technology, better understanding of ballistics — that is what has really changed the game.”

In recent years, snipers have been armed with handheld ballistic computers that calculate the effects of air pressure and other atmospherics on a bullet’s trajectory. Optics and rifles have also improved accuracy. The Marine Corps assembles its own bolt-action sniper rifles to exacting standards here at Quantico.

Typically, a well-equipped sniper in World War II, could be expected to hit a human target with a single shot at about 600 yards in favorable conditions and during daylight. Today, snipers can typically hit targets at twice that range — from more than half a mile away — and at night, said Bryan Litz, a ballistics expert at Berger Bullets who has done military contract work.

Psychological impact

In Iraq the value of snipers was clear from the beginning. When Marine officers were negotiating with insurgents holed up in Fallujah in 2004, the enemy’s first request was that Marines withdraw snipers who ringed the city and were targeting insurgents.

Fallujah had become a symbol of insurgent resistance after four U.S. security contractors were killed in an ambush and the charred remains of two were strung from a bridge over the Euphrates. “They weren’t concerned with the tanks or the battalions in there,” Armstrong said. “They wanted the snipers removed.”

Marine officers refused. Within days, the insurgents met the Marines’ initial conditions. “They’re a small niche that can really wreak havoc on the enemy,” said Clarke Lethin, a retired Marine officer who was on the staff of the unit that conducted the negotiations in Fallujah. “Our snipers were very effective when we were trying to bring terrorists to the table.”

There’s a personal element to snipers that is hard to quantify but has an impact on the enemy.

When an insurgent is killed by an unseen drone strike, “the enemy sort of absorbs that,” dismissing it as superior American technology, Armstrong said. They have a different reaction to sniper kills. “When a sniper shoots them … it translates to, ‘I just went to a fight man-on-man and I was bested by another man,’ ” Armstrong said. “That is the psychological impact of scout snipers on the battlefield.”

The enemy also understood the psychological potency of an unseen enemy that can strike at any time. Starting in 2005, insurgents released a series of videos showing U.S. soldiers being shot, claiming it was the work of a single sniper who was stalking Baghdad. The video was an effort to strike fear into American troops by raising the specter of an unseen gunman preying on U.S. troops.

The U.S. military denied that any one insurgent marksman was responsible for the killings and dismissed the video as propaganda. Military analysts say insurgent marksmen lack advanced training and equipment that would allow them to take long-range shots at night. “They’re not able to engage in the ranges that we are and not at night,” Litz said.

Glamorized by Hollywood

More recently, snipers have been lionized by Hollywood, video games and books. American Sniper, an autobiography of a Navy SEAL sniper, has dominated best-seller lists since its publication in January.

They capitalize on a fascination the public has with marksmen who match wits against an elusive enemy. In 2009, the public was captivated by news of Navy SEAL snipers killing three Somali pirates simultaneously, ending a five-day standoff after the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama was seized off the coast of Somalia. It was the latest in a rash of piracy in the region.

But sniper training is a far cry from the image of lone gunmen stalking human prey that is often portrayed by Hollywood. The training is daunting. Students often spend hours moving a couple of hundred yards without being detected. They learn to pay attention to every detail. Even if instructors can’t see a sniper stalking through the underbrush, they might detect vegetation moving slightly as they crawl a few yards.

“It’s not as sexy as the public would think,” Eggers said, amid the deafening sounds of students at Fort Benning firing .50-caliber sniper rifles, larger weapons designed for use against vehicles. “It’s actually a pretty boring job.”

The image of the lone gunman is dated. During Vietnam, snipers were often sent on hunting missions far from friendly forces, Brink said. Today, however, the Army usually teams them up with conventional forces or places them in positions that can be supported by nearby friendly troops.

“Back in the day, they would just go out hunting,” Brink said.  The Army’s main sniper school at Fort Benning, nestled amid Georgia’s gentle hills and pine forests, teaches students about marksmanship, stalking, observation and other skills.

The Marines put their scout snipers through an intense 11-week course where attrition is high and students learn marksmanship, ballistics and observation skills. Students are screened carefully for intelligence and psychological stability even before arriving at Quantico.

“We’re looking for a different type of Marine: one with a higher (test score) … level of maturity and experience,” said Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Chad Ramsey, who helps oversee the Corps’ reconnaissance career field. “The perception doesn’t equal the reality when it comes to going through the school.”

The Marines’ scout sniper school at Quantico is “one of the top three or four toughest schools in our military, hands down,” said Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Micheal Barrett.

Students in the Army’s five-week course learn complex formulas designed to predict how a bullet’s trajectory will be changed slightly by the atmosphere. When firing long distances, wind variations and barometric pressure can knock a bullet off course. Bullets travel faster at high altitudes where there is less resistance in the thin air.

Reading body language

Students learn how to create Ghillie suits, which are complemented with local vegetation so that snipers can blend into the background when stalking a target. They learn to shoot accurately under stress.

During one exercise at Fort Benning, students run several hundred yards wearing about 45 pounds of combat gear before entering a building to complete exercises before each of four separate firing positions.

At each position the snipers are given a short time to fire at targets hundreds of yards away. To get to each position, they run up ladders and stairs. They are graded on speed and accuracy.

The exercise is designed to “see how well they operate under stress,” said Arturo Prieto, a 52-year-old instructor and retired Army non-commissioned officer, after a team of panting snipers finished the course and dashed out of the building.

In conventional wars, snipers were often dispatched on missions to kill high-ranking officers, who were identifiable by their uniforms and insignia. In 1777, an American marksman killed a British general at the second Battle of Saratoga, changing the course of the battle and proving the worth of a trained marksman.

Today, snipers face an enemy that wears no uniforms or insignia. It makes for a tougher environment that requires powers of observation and judgment. They still go after “high-value targets” designated by commanders, but much of their time is used conducting surveillance.

For example, they might watch from a hidden location as conventional forces move toward an objective, or observe a marketplace, looking for things that seem out of place.  ”You’re going to need to read his body language,” said Sgt. 1^st Class Adam James, 29, an instructor. That’s something drones and other technology can’t do.

“A UAV is going to be able to report … vehicles or whatever the case may be,” said Sgt. Augusto Zapata, a 26-year-old Marine scout sniper instructor at Quantico, referring to the acronym for drones. “But that Marine on the ground observing through those optics is going to be able to make out somebody who seems nervous or seems out of place.”

Staff Sgt. Ian Shepard, 30, an instructor, watched as two students at Fort Benning’s sniper school settled into their firing positions. “Shooting is the easiest part of the job,” Shepard said. “It’s more of a mental game than anything else.”

For eligible veterans that died on or after Nov. 1, 1990 and whose grave is marked with a privately purchased headstone, VA may also furnish a headstone or marker to supplement the graves or a Medallion to be affixed to the privately purchased headstone.

Flat markers in granite, marble, and bronze and upright headstones in granite and marble are available. Bronze niche markers are also available to mark columbaria used for inurnment of cremated remains. The style chosen must be permitted by the officials in charge of the private cemetery where it will be placed.

When burial or memorialization is in a national cemetery, state veterans’ cemetery, or military post/base cemetery, a headstone or marker will be ordered by the cemetery officials based on inscription information provided by the next of kin or authorized representative.

Spouses and dependents are not eligible for a Government-furnished headstone or marker unless they are buried in a national cemetery, state veteran’s cemetery, or military post/base cemetery.

Note: There is no charge for the headstone or marker itself, however arrangements for placing it in a private cemetery are the applicant’s responsibility and all setting fees are at private expense.

Setting Government Headstones and Markers

Cemetery staff in national, military post, and military base cemeteries are responsible for setting the headstone or marker at no cost to the applicant. Some state Veterans’ cemeteries may charge the applicant a nominal fee for setting a Government-furnished headstone or marker.

Arrangements for setting a Government-furnished headstone or marker in a private cemetery are the applicant’s responsibility and all placement costs are at private expense.

Cleaning and Caring for Government Headstones and Markers

The National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training completed a study in 2011 to evaluate general cleaning needs of marble government-issued headstones. The findings are found in Best Practice Recommendations for Cleaning Government-Issued Headstones.* For more information, see: http://ncptt.nps.gov/best-practice-recommendations-for-cleaning-government-issued-marble-headstones.*

Checking Status of a Headstone, Marker or Medallion Request

If more than 30 days have passed since your claim was submitted to the VA in Washington, D.C. by you, or someone assisting you, please call our Applicant Assistance Unit to verify we are in receipt of your claim.

If more than 60 days have passed since submitting your claim and the grave is still not marked, you should contact the cemetery, funeral home, or other party responsible for accepting delivery of the headstone, marker or medallion to see if they have received it. If they have not received it, you may call our Applicant Assistance Unit between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (ET), Monday through Friday, at 1-800-697-6947.

You may also click on the “Contact Us” link to check the status of your order.

Please Note: The above telephone number is for questions related to headstones, markers and medallions only.

For assistance in obtaining veterans’ records or for information on other VA benefits, please call your local Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office at 1-800-827-1000 or click on “Contact Us” above.

Memorial Headstones and Markers

Memorial headstones and markers, for individuals or groups, are furnished for eligible deceased active duty service members and Veterans whose remains are not recovered or identified, are buried at sea, donated to science or whose cremated remains have been scattered.

Memorial headstones and markers may also be furnished in national, military post/base or state Veterans cemeteries to eligible spouses whose remains are unavailable for interment, whether or not they predecease the eligible Veteran.

These headstones and markers bear an “In Memory of” inscription, as their first line and must be placed in a recognized cemetery.

Memorial headstones and markers for spouses and other dependents are not available for placement in private cemeteries.

 VA Form 40-1330, Application for Standard Government Headstone or Marker, must be submitted to request a memorial marker.

* NOTE: Link will take you outside the Department of Veterans Affairs web site.

Stars and Stripes

MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica — Climate change research that the U.S. military is supporting in Antarctica will likely impact the lives of billions and might even affect servicemembers’ careers.

About 125 U.S. military personnel are on the ice this summer providing logistical support to scientists investigating subjects as diverse as astronomy, physics, biology, geology, oceanography and glaciology.

In terms of global impact, few fields of research are as important as efforts to understand climate change and what’s learned about the phenomenon in Antarctica will help policy makers determine U.S. energy and foreign policy for decades.

If pundits are right, and conflicts arise over resources made scarce by a warming earth, the research could have a bearing on future deployments.

National Science Foundation representative in Antarctica George Blaisdell said: “The vast majority of research that goes on down here is answering components of the questions: Is climate change happening? How is it happening and on what kind of timetable?”

Antarctica has a central role to play in the climate of the planet, said Chuck Kennicutt, president of the multi-national Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

“It is a very exciting time for research in the polar regions,” he said. “It is things people read about in newspapers every day.”

Ninety percent of the world’s fresh water is bound up in Antarctic ice sheets, Kennicutt said.

“The polar ice is the planet’s thermostat,” he said. “There is a lot of interest in trying to understand if the ice sheets are stable and whether they are increasing or decreasing in mass and how that will play out over the next century.”

One of the biggest research programs going on in Antarctica is a study of the Pine Island Glacier, which drains a major part of West Antarctica and is moving at 10 feet a day. Glaciers in other part of the world move a few inches per year, Blaisdell said.

Members of the 109th Airlift Wing have been flying long missions to the isolated glacier in support of the research, which has been slowed by poor weather this season, he said.

Scientists are drilling miles beneath the Antarctic ice sheets to obtain samples of ancient ice that they can examine to find out about past climate change, according to Jeff Severinghaus, 52, a professor from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, who has been helping collect ice core samples in West Antarctica this season.

“The ice down there is 62,000 years old,” he said. “A lot of snow falls each year there so the yearly layers at that depth are 2 cm thick and we can see climate events that happen each year. What we are hoping to learn from this ice core is how the natural system will respond in coming centuries to human caused global warming.”

Military personnel assigned to McMurdo Station are often eager to interact with the scientists and learn about their work.

1st Sgt. Dan Rogers, 47 of Pittsburgh, Pa., who works in an operations center helping to organize 109th Airlift Wing flights to move the scientists, gear and samples all over Antarctica, said science has always fascinated him.

“What I like about it are the discoveries that come into everyday life,” he said. “There is stuff that starts out with an experiment — maybe a military experiment — that goes into everyday life.”

Rogers isn’t convinced that humans are causing global warming but he’s in favor of more energy independence for the U.S.

There’s plenty of research happening in Antarctica that’s not directly related to climate change.

Servicemembers stationed at McMurdo Station, the main U.S. base in Antarctica can tour the Crary Laboratories — a $25 million, three-story facility where scientists can test live or time-sensitive samples instead of sending them back to the U.S.

They can watch nearby Mt. Erebus’ lava lake erupting on a video feed from a riot-proof camera installed on the volcano’s crater rim or pet Mawsoni fish, with anti-freeze blood, living in tanks in a ground floor laboratory.

NSF deputy director of polar programs Kelly Kenison Falkner, 51, of Arlington, Va., said the South Pole is an ideal location for astronomy since there is 1000 times less water vapor in the atmosphere there than at other places on earth. That gives astronomers looking through a 10-meter telescope a view of the stars that is second only to the orbiting Hubble Telescope, she said.

Physicists have placed sensors more than a mile below the ice to look for neutrinos — tiny particles that could give them a glimpse of “dark matter” — a mysterious substance thought to make up 95 percent of the universe, she said.

Lane Patterson, a former sailor who served on the USS Worden in the 1980s, runs a greenhouse at the South Pole that NASA is using to test the ability to plants to make oxygen out of carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts and recycle water and waste.

Inflatable greenhouses could be sent to the moon or Mars to help astronauts survive in conditions very like those experienced by personnel living and working in Antarctica, Patterson said.

The U.S. Antarctic Program was set up to establish a U.S. presence in Antarctica through a robust and wide-ranging research program, Blaisdell said.

During the Cold War Antarctic research was less important than maintaining a presence on the continent to counter Soviet maneuvering, he said.

Antarctica, one of the largest land masses in the world likely contains massive reserves of hydrocarbons and valuable minerals although, to date, their remoteness means it would not be economically viable to extract them, Kennicutt said.

These days, U.S. Antarctic research is justified on its own merits, Blaisdell said.

The U.S. will spend about $375 million on NSF’s Antarctic research program this season but the tough environment means most of the money goes to support costs. Only about $75 million is science grants, Blaisdell said.

Scientists who want to do work there must submit proposals to the NSF for approval. Projects are only approved if they can only be done in Antarctica and they must meet strict criteria to include benefiting as many people as possible, he said.

NSF compares research proposals to its resources such as aircraft, beds, tens, vehicles and internet connectivity before it decides what it can support. Some researchers only need transport to and from Antarctica while others need flights to remote camps, resupply and movement of samples such as ice cores, Blaisdell said.

“The military folks who support us have become, like a lot of other workers on the ice, really committed to the U.S. Antarctic Program,” he said. “They realize this is a valuable thing for the country and it doesn’t involve bullets or dead bodies.”

robsons@pstripes.osd.mil

The “mother” of the young trees had stood near the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame presidential memorial and grave site but was felled by Hurricane Irene’s pounding rain and wind last August. American Forests, a non-profit conservation organization that had collected acorns from the massive oak several years prior donated the quintuplets.

Arlington National Cemetery historian Tom Sherlock told the audience of visitors who had gathered around the ceremony that the architect chose the site of the JFK memorial in part because of the spectacular vista of which the great oak was a prominent feature. Sherlock said the tree became so vital to the memorial’s design that an elaborate aeration and drainage system was built to protect the living landmark from the construction shock.

Planted in the same area as the mighty “Grand Arlington Oak,” the last sapling was adorned with a yellow ribbon tied into a bow by keynote speaker Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment. She said the ribbon served as a reminder of the men and women serving overseas in harm’s way.

“This is very hallowed ground,” Hammack said. “On this ground we have the opportunity to re-establish a lost natural landmark with its very own offspring. We can do this because Arlington National Cemetery and the American Forests had foresight. They collected acorns from that landmark oak located next to President Kennedy’s grave site to prepare for an inevitable future.

“President Kennedy had foresight when he observed 50 years ago that our natural conservation effort must include the complete spectrum of resources… air, water, land, fuels, energy and minerals,” she continued. “This resonates today as the Army recognizes the interconnection of natural resource and energy conservation by its focus on sustainability.”

Scott Steen, CEO of American Forests, said his organization planted more than 4 million trees last year, but none were as special as Arlington’s new oak saplings.

“Oak trees have historically been symbols of strength and wisdom and they take time to grow and mature,” he said. “The great post oak that stood on this spot for 220 years witnessed the burning of Washington in the War of 1812; it stood tall through the Civil War, and became a key part of the grave site of a beloved president.

“During the next five decades or so, these trees we plant today may grow to 80 feet or more and two feet wide,” Steen said. “If we’re lucky, in about a quarter of a century they’ll start to bear their own acorns. Trees take time and because of that, we plant not only for ourselves today, but for generations to come.”

With more than 8,000 trees representing more than 300 species, Arlington National Cemetery’s 624 acres is also home to three state champion trees, the largest of their species in Virginia, a yellowwood, empress and pin oak.

By James K Sanborn,  Staff writer, www.marinecorpstimes.com

The Marine Corps school that produces infantry combat officers will enroll its first-ever female students this year, Marine Corps Times has learned. As part of the service’s extensive research campaign to determine what additional jobs could be opened to women, an undetermined number of volunteers will attend the Infantry Officers Course in Quantico, Va., said Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Corps’ assistant commandant. There, Marine officers are groomed to serve in direct combat roles and lead troops into battle. “We are in the process right now of soliciting volunteers,” Dunford said on Wednesday.

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It’s a monumental — if controversial — move for the Marine Corps, which until now barred female Marines from the program and required instead that they attend other courses aimed at preparing them for assignments in support roles such as logistics, personnel administration and aircraft maintenance, among others.

Soon, enlisted women also will have an opportunity to attend infantry training, Dunford said. Marine officials are developing plans to assign female Marines to the Corps’ Infantry Training Battalions, which fall under the Schools of the Infantry.

Officials don’t yet know how many women — officer or enlisted — will be put into the academic pipeline for the Corps’ “03” infantry occupational code, Dunford said. All will be volunteers — and it remains to be seen how many will answer the call, he said.

It’s not immediately clear either what the next steps will be for those women who successfully complete the Corps’ infantry training programs. Marine officials at Quantico, who have led the service’s effort to explore lifting restrictions on women in combat, said these details are finalized, but declined to discuss them pending an official unveiling in the coming days.

The Marine Corps’ top general, Commandant Gen. Jim Amos, traveled Wednesday to Camp Lejeune, N.C., where among other business he was expected to meet with Marines and explain the service’s plans for expanding women’s career opportunities, Dunford said. Amos was joined by his senior enlisted adviser, Sgt. Maj. Mike Barrett.

“I think the important thing for us is to articulate the commandant’s intent, and to explain what he is doing and why he is doing it,” Dunford said. “The best way to do that is face-to-face, and he, with the sergeant major … is doing that right now.”

The Corps has been studying this issue for more than a year. In February, officials announced that company-grade officers and staff noncommissioned officers would be assigned for the first time to select jobs previously open only to men, though not in the infantry or any billets for which ground combat is a primary mission. Starting in May, women will be considered for about 400 positions within six types of battalions:

• Amphibious assault

• Artillery

• Combat assault

• Combat engineer

• Low-altitude air defense

• Tank.

Additionally, new functional fitness tests are being developed to help Marine Corps leaders determine how women and men perform in, and cope with, various combat tasks. The goal is to establish “gender-neutral” physical fitness standards. Details are scant, but the Marine Corps’ Training and Education Command is looking to purchase a variety of new equipment specifically for these tests, suggesting the tasks associated with them will closely mimic combat-essential duties such as operating and moving heavy weaponry, and carrying casualties from the battlefield.

The Marine Corps defines gender-neutral physical standards as being identical for men and women, rather than weighted — or “gender-normed” — like those applied in the service’s annual Physical Fitness Test. During the PFT, women can earn a minimum or maximum score with fewer repetitions and a slower run times than their male counterparts.

This suggests that women wanting to serve in ground combat units will be given the shot to do so only if they can keep pace with their male counterparts. Standards would likely evaluate Marines not as women and men, but simply as infantrymen, tank crewmen or artillerymen, for example.

“There is a plan to … evaluate males and females against those standards and, potentially, a downstream plan to put women through other training that actually will be informed by our experience” with infantry training, Dunford said. “I think you will hear more from the commandant on that coming up.”

The data gleaned from all these efforts, Dunford said, will be used to inform a recommendation from the Marine Corps to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. That’s expected to be done by mid-November.

This past winter, the Defense Department published a report saying that nonlinear combat against a shadowy enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan has negated the notion of a frontline behind which women can be kept safe. Working in support roles, 144 women have been killed in action and 865 injured since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, according to Defense Department data. As such, old prohibitions have become irrelevant, according to the report.

By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON– At just 9 years old, James Nathaniel Richards already considers himself a seasoned military “brat.”

The fifth of six children in his family, Richards took on a host of deployment-related challenges when his Navy father and three of his brothers deployed at the same time. But rather than focus on the separation, he started a blog to help other military kids deal with deployments and separations.

He also heads up the anti-bullying committee at his school, and has clocked more than 200 hours as a USO volunteer.

For these contributions and others, Richards, of Jamul, Calif., is one of the five recipients of Operation Homefront’s 2012 Military Child of the Year Award. This nonprofit organization, which provides emergency assistance to military families, annually gives the award to an outstanding military child from each branch of service, including the Coast Guard.

“The sons and daughters of America’s service members learn what patriotism is at a very young age,” Jim Knotts, president and CEO of Operation Homefront, said in a news release. “Children in military families demonstrate leadership within their families and within their communities. This is what the Military Child of the Year Award honors.”

A committee of active duty service members, family readiness support assistants, teachers, military mothers and community members selected the children from a pool of more than 1,000 nominees, the news release said. Each child will receive $5,000 and be flown with a parent or guardian to the nation’s capital for a recognition gala April 5.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Medal of Honor recipient Sammy L. Davis, a Vietnam veteran, are slated to be among the keynote speakers at the gala. Senior leaders from each service also will attend to present the awards to the children and their families.

Richards discussed the honor in a recent post to his blog called “Nate the Great: A Military Brat.” After the initial shock of the honor wore off, Richards’ thoughts immediately turned to others. “What can I do to make a change?” he wrote. “A lot of people are going to listen to me, so now is a chance for me to use my voice for all military kids.”

The other recipients of this year’s Military Child of the Year award are:

– Chelsea Rutherford, Panama City, Fla., for the Air Force. This 17 year old from has two parents in the military and has attended five different schools. Still, she’s an honor roll student with a 3.6 grade point average and serves as the vice president of the Student-to-Student Club, which introduces new students to the campus and helps to ease their transition. She’s also an avid volunteer who clocked nearly 180 hours with nonprofit organizations in 2011, and is a member in the Society of Leadership and Success and the National Society of High School Scholars.

– Amelia McConnell, of Carlisle Barracks, Pa., for the Army. At 17, McConnell is the youngest of six children. She’s moved with her family nine times, and her father has deployed three times. In 2006, after her father returned from Iraq, he was diagnosed with leukemia. After six months of treatments, the disease appeared to be in remission. He returned to Iraq in 2007. Two years later, her only brother, Army Sgt. Andrew McConnell, was killed in Afghanistan. A year later, her father deployed to Afghanistan shortly after the family moved to Pennsylvania from overseas. While helping her mother at home, McConnell also served as the vice president as the National Art Honor Society, and she is a member of the Germany National Honor Society.

– Alena Deveau, of Fairfax, Va., for the Coast Guard. This 17 year old has visited 40 states during her father’s career. When she was in the seventh grade, Deveau’s father was diagnosed with lung cancer, followed by hip cancer. He underwent multiple surgeries before being diagnosed with brain cancer. Her father, who now is medically retired, was hospitalized for nearly three months. Deveau’s mother spent her time by her husband’s bedside, and Deveau held up the home front, helping to care for her 15-year-old sister. Still, she found time to volunteer as an organizer of the local Veterans Day dinner.

– Erika Booth, of Jacksonville, N.C., for the Marine Corps. The 16 year old was an avid softball player until she was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease that affects her blood and requires painful monthly kidney checks. While dealing with her own health issues, Booth also helps to care for her 13-year-old brother, who has autism. Despite these challenges, Booth is academically ranked first in her class, serves as the junior class president and vice president of her local Health Occupations Students of America chapter, and volunteers as a mentor with the Drug Education for Youth program. She also works with other military children and adults to help them cope with the challenges of military life, and has traveled abroad with the People to People Ambassador Program.

 I served on the Holland over a century ago.

I still serve to this day on the Trident, Los Angeles & Seawolf class boats

And look forward to shipping on the Virginia, Texas, and Hawaii.

Places like Fremantle, Rota, LaMadd, Chinhae, Pattaya, Sasebo, and Subic stir my soul.

For I am a Submariner.

I rest in peace beneath many seas across this earth.

I was on the Barbel off Palawan, the Scorpion off the Azores and

 The Bonefish in the Sea of Japan. We gave them hell in the harbors at Wewak and Namkwan.

I am a Shellback, a Bluenose, a Plank Owner, a MCPO of the Navy, a CNO, and a President.

 For I am a Submariner.

I heard Howard Gilmore’s final order, “Take Her Down.”

I heard the word passed, “Underway on Nuclear Power.”

I have done every job asked of me, from Messcook to Torpedoman to

Motormac to COB to Skipper.

I know “Snorkel Patty” and Admiral Rickover.

 For I am a Submariner.

 I have twin Dolphins tattooed on my chest and twin screws tattooed on my ass.

I know the difference between a Lady and a Hooker but treat both with equal respect.

I know Georgia Street and Magsaysay drive.

And although the Horse & Cow keeps moving I will always find her.

I know the meaning of “Hot, Straight, and Normal.”

 For I am a Submariner.

I have stood tall and received the Medal of Honor and been

 Thrown in the Brig for being Drunk & Disorderly.

I know the reverent tone of “Diesel Boats Forever”

 And the Gudgeon’s “Find em, Chase em, Sink em.”

I was on the Spearfish evacuating nurses from Corregidor

 And the Skate when she surfaced at the North Pole.

I have spent time in the Royal Hawaiian.

 For I am a Submariner.

I have gone by names like Spritz, Cromwell, O’Kane, Ramage, Breault, “Mush” and Lockwood.

I have served on boats like the Nautilus, Thresher, Parche, Squalus, Wahoo and Halibut.

On December 7th I was onboard the Tautog at Pearl Harbor.

I was also on the Tusk in 49 and sacrificed myself for my shipmates on the Cochino.

 For I am a Submariner.

I have stood watches in the cold of Holy Loch and the heat of the South Pacific.

I know what the “41 For Freedom” accomplished.

I was on the Sealion at Cavite in 41 and the Archerfish in Tokyo Bay in 45.

I have endured depth charges and POW camps.

I was on the Seafox when we lost five sailors to a Japanese ambush on Guam.

 For I am a Submariner.

I tip beers over sea-stories with my shipmates at yearly conventions.

 We toll the bell and shed a tear for our buddies who are on eternal patrol.

 Many pilots have been glad to see me, including a future president.

I have completed numerous highly classified missions during the Cold War.

Because “Freedom Is Not Free,” be assured that I am out there at this very moment.

 For I am a Submariner.

By John Chaffey of Powell, Wyoming, SSN639, SSN687, SSBN619