Military

Alaska will lose about 400 soldiers from U.S. Army Alaska operations and the announcement is being portrayed as good news from military officials in the state.

JBER Spokesman John Pennell says Anchorage operations will lose 780 positions but Fort Wainwright will gain 367 for a net loss of around 375 soldiers by the end of 2015.

Pennell says the positions will largely come from cutting smaller units within the 2nd engineer brigade.

“Others will move to different headquarters within U.S. Army Alaska. For instance, the 6th Engineer Battalion, they’re an airborne qualified Engineer Battalion,” Pennell said. “They will move to the 425th airborne brigade combat team and become an engineer battalion within that brigade.”

The cuts were not a surprise; they are part of the 80,000 soldier draw down called for in the Budget Control Act of 2011. But Pennell says if you consider losses in other parts of the nation, Kentucky’s Fort Knox will lose 3800 to 4000 soldiers, an entire brigade combat team, the small cut to Alaska’s military positions is good news. Pennell says the Army values Alaska’s strategic position.

“Not only for the Arctic but also for the entire Pacific theater,” Pennell said. “And so, our two brigade combat teams, one here in Anchorage, the airborne team and one in Fairbanks, the Stryker Brigade team, they are valuable assets in a very strategically valuable location.”

Pennell also stressed that the smaller loss here is a reflection of the strong community support that Alaskans have always shown for the military.

He says mostly positions will not be re-filled as soldiers rotate out or retire. He says there will be some that will have their tours shortened but that will be on a case by case basis.

Sixty percent of all federal dollars spent in Alaska are devoted to defense spending.

A new study shows just how dependent Alaska is on the military.

The state Labor Department estimates the military will spend $486 million next year on Alaska projects.   The study is published in the December issue of  Alaska Economic Trends magazine.

The largest percentage of residents with ties to the military live in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, where nearly a quarter of the population is employed by the military, or is a military dependent.  The Denali Borough, home to Clear Air Force Station, is second with about 22 percent.

Juneau is command headquarters for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska, but the largest Coast Guard presence is in Kodiak.  About 18 percent of Kodiak residents are involved in the military. Most are in the Coast Guard.

Nearly 31,000 active-duty members of the military and their dependents live in Anchorage, but represent only 10 percent of the population in Alaska’s largest city.

In the capital city, the total number of military active duty and dependents reached 824 last year, representing 2.5 percent of Juneau residents, according to the report.

 

The state may be taking possession of eight new airplanes. Actually, they’re 1980s era cargo planes that the Army doesn’t want anymore. A provision in the Defense Bill now before the U.S. Senate offers them to the governor of Alaska. The catch is, the state has to figure out what to do with them — and how to pay for their upkeep. APRN’s Liz Ruskin reports from Washington.

The planes are C-23 Sherpas and they are beloved by National Guardsmen around the country who flew them. The twin-engine Sherpa looks like a flying box and can hold more than 20 paratroopers. They’ve been used to fight fires and deliver disaster relief. In Afghanistan they supplied the Army’s forward bases. Sen. Lisa Murkowski thinks they’re great for Alaska.

“It’s an aircraft that’s as versatile as anything we have out there. It’s a workhorse. It can land on these runways that are gravel runways. A lot of the aircraft that we have can’t land on a gravel runway and we’ve got a lot more gravel probably than otherwise.”

Alaska’s Army National Guard had Sherpas, but had to give them up this fall because the Army retired the aircraft, years earlier than expected.

Three dozen are now mothballed in Oklahoma. A measure Sen. Murkowski authored that is part of the defense bill directs the government to offer eight Sherpas to the Governor of Alaska. But the state would have to pay to maintain and operate them.

So Gen. Tom Katkus, commissioner of the state’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, is trying to figure out a way to use them that makes economic sense. Katkus is looking at possibly partnering with other agencies, or maybe with private organizations.

“I’m kind of hesitant to speak specifics to this because this is two years ahead of schedule, where we thought we had more planning time. But I would rather get the airplanes and make sure we got them rather than just pass them up where we can never have access to them again.”

One thing is clear: The Sherpas can’t become regular National Guard planes again.  All Guard aircraft are owned by the federal government, which pays for their upkeep. Katkus says the Sherpas would actually belong to the state:

“This equipment truly does become a state asset, just like an airplane for the State Troopers.”

The Pentagon has cut operational support for the Sherpas, including the positions of the people who used to fly and maintain them. Katkus says he doesn’t know yet where the aircraft would be housed. He also says he doesn’t know what it would cost to keep them. The Army’s decision to retire the Sherpas ahead of schedule means the state probably has to take possession of the planes in the next few months, Katkus says, and work out the details later.

“If all of it shows this is not a good decision then we can return those aircraft back to the federal government for divestiture along with whatever plan they had for them, initially.”

While Katkus doesn’t know the cost to maintain the Sherpas, they are relatively cheap to operate. A Sherpa is about a third the cost of either a Pavehawk helicopter or a big C-130 cargo plane, aircraft the Alaska National Guard now flies.

The Senate is schedule to vote on the bill this week. It’s already passed the House.

Here’s a video about the kind of missions flown by these planes when the Alaska Air National Guard were still using them.

The Department of Defense released a 16 page Arctic Strategy document on Friday.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel talked about it at an event in Nova Scotia. The report states the arctic is at a “strategic inflection point,” transforming from a region of relative isolation to one of increasing access to resource extraction, fishing and tourism as sea ice recedes faster than projected.

President Obama released a national strategy for the arctic last May.

The Pentagon’s desired outcome states it wants an arctic that is, “A secure and stable region where U.S. national interests are safeguarded, the U.S. homeland is protected and nations work cooperatively to address challenges.”

The document mentions twice the need to work with the Arctic Council, stating the council has a demonstrated ability to address a range of “soft security” issues, such as search and rescue and oil spill response.

Alaska Natives are referenced in a sentence stating consultation and coordination with them on policy will take place when appropriate.

The document identifies challenges such as funding cuts to DOD that may impact future infrastructure and response needs and taking care to not appear too aggressive in addressing anticipated security risks to avoid the perception that the arctic is being militarized, which could cause friction with other nations.

“While the Arctic is currently considered a low threat level, we want to keep the threat level low as the potential for conflict rises with increased activity and resource development,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski in a press release response to the document.

A JBER soldier was awarded the highest military honor for an act of heroism in a non-war setting today.

Sergeant 1st Class John Kerns recieved the Soldier’s Medal for pulling a man from a burning car after it crashed and before it exploded a few moments later.

A paratrooper with the 4th Infantry Brigade combat team, 25th infantry division, Kerns was driving on interstate 95 near the Virginia/North Carolina state line in 2011, when he saw a car veer off the highway and crash into trees.

Kerns ran to the upside down vehicle. He says the doors were locked but most of the glass was broken out of the burning, but still running, mangled car. The driver was incapacitated and the seat belts would not release.

“I had to physically cut his seat belt off and pull him from the front seats of the car, into the back of the car to pull him out,” Kerns said.

Kerns says he doesn’t remember making any deliberate decisions about what he should do. But it was clear the car was going to explode.

“When I was pulling him out the flames were already coming around the side of the hood, the front of the car was already engulfed. And when I opened the other door to pull him out, I was asking for help from some of the other people there,” Kerns said. ”There was a Federal Express employee and there was another person approached. When the tires started to pop, that was the end of my help, they disbursed.”

The last thing Kerns did before getting clear of the burning car, was grab the man’s cell phone.

“I remember thinking to myself, this guy’s had a pretty bad day, the only thing that’s going to make it worse was to lose all those phone numbers,” Kerns said.

Kerns says the man was convulsing when he reached the car and he suspects that he was having a seizure that probably caused the crash. But it’s unlikely that he’ll ever know for sure. He found out from the hospital that the man was recovering, but he never found out who he had saved.

The Soldier’s Medal is awarded only for saving a life without regard to losing your own.

Navajo code talkers were recognized more than a decade ago for their service in World War II.

They used their Native language as a code that the enemy was never able to crack, but until recently, no one knew that Tlingits from Southeast Alaska also served as code talkers.

They got their due Wednesday when Congress awarded a gold medal to the Tlingit and Haida Central Council. Much of their story remains a mystery.

Robert Jeff David Senior of Haines was a basketball legend in Southeast, a top fisherman and one of the first Sealaska board members. Charismatic and confident, he wasn’t one to keep his mouth shut when he had something to brag about. But his son, Jeff Jr., says he never said much about his service in the war.

“He told us he was in the Philippines during part of it; he said special services,” he said. “That’s probably all he could say.”

Jeff Junior says he only learned a few weeks ago that his dad, who died in the 1980s, was a Tlingit code talker.

At a Congressional ceremony attended by hundreds today, the Tlingits and 32 other tribes received congressional gold medals for their service to the nation as code talkers. They worked in pairs, usually over a radio.

During 48 hours on Iwo Jima, they say, 800 Native-language battle communications were received and translated. It took seconds, at a time when decoding by machine could take half an hour. House speaker John Boehner said the men undoubtedly saved lives.

“And after serving with honor they did the honorable thing, they kept their service a secret – even to those that they loved,” Boehner said.

The Defense Department declassified the Navajo program only in 1968. No one apparently, told Jeff David of Haines he could finally tell his story.

Former State Legislator Bill Thomas heard a few years ago the Defense Department was researching Tlingit code talkers. A few weeks ago he learned his old friend “Big Jeff” was one of them. Exactly what he did still isn’t known. Thomas says one of the mysteries is how the outspoken Jeff Sr. was able to keep quiet about it.

“I mean, I knew the guy all my life and I never knew, and my uncle Evans Willard was his best friend and I don’t think Evans knows. And we were talking last night, Evans is probably rolling in his grave or in heaven laughing at Big Jeff for having kept a secret for that long.”

Ozzie Sheakley received the Congressional Gold medal, on behalf of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida. Five individual Tlingit men, all deceased, were honored with silver medals. They are Jeff David, Richard Bean Sr., George Lewis, and brothers Harvey Jacobs and Mark Jacobs Senior.  A little more of the service history is known of the Jacobs, who were from Sitka and Angoon. According to a history published in 2008, the brothers joined the Navy and skipped basic training to serve on picket boats, first in Southeast Alaska and the Aleutians, then in the South Pacific.