Military

A county government building in New Jersey was dedicated Wednesday to the USS Juneau, 71 years to the day the Navy ship was sunk in the Battle of Guadalcanal.

More than 600 men died on Nov. 13, 1942, when two Japanese torpedoes struck the ship.  Among them were 20 Hudson County, New Jersey men.

A number of their family members attended the dedication.  Juneau Assembly member Randy Wanamaker also was there.

They read the names of all the men from New Jersey who perished on the ship.

Wanamaker says a number of World War II veterans were guests of honor at the dedication.

The USS Juneau was built in Hudson County at the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock’s building 77. The ship was launched in the Hackensack River in October 1941.  At the time, its namesake was the capital of the Territory of Alaska.

Following the war, the U.S. Navy gave building 77 to Hudson County. It now houses several county government departments.

Wanamaker has been fascinated by the ship since he was a kid and heard stories from his mother about Juneau children collecting dimes for the ship’s silverware.

More than 500 people attended the New Jersey dedication, which brought city officials from miles around.  Wanamaker read a proclamation from the City and Borough of Juneau.

He says a model of the USS Juneau is in the Hudson County building, and a small museum includes artifacts, numerous letters from crew members and newspaper stories about the light cruiser.

Last year, Wanamaker organized Juneau’s dedication of a new waterfront memorial to the ship.

Two other Navy ships bore the name USS Juneau. Another light cruiser was commissioned in 1946 and served in the Korean War before being scrapped in 1962.  The third was a transport vessel launched in 1966 and decommissioned in 2008 at a ceremony in San Diego, which Wanamaker also attended.

(This story was updated to clarify the commission and decommission dates for the other vessels named USS Juneau)

The country could face a second round of automatic budget cuts if Congress can’t agree on a spending plan by year’s end.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said at hearing on Wednesday that the sequestration cuts already imposed on the Pentagon  are throwing the military off its geostrategic goals.

“Mr. Chairman, I’m so concerned that in an effort to chase the dollars, in an effort to drive down  the costs we’re putting our country, we are putting our national defense in jeopardy because decisions are being driven by sequestration and we’re not keeping our eye on the bigger picture,” Murkowski said.

The Alaska Republican said the Air Force’s recently shelved plan to move F-16s fighter jets out Eielson Air Force Base was an example of putting cost-cutting above defense strategy.

Among the unmet needs, Murkowski said, is new rescue helicopters for the Alaska Air National Guard.

Military service chiefs said last week that sequestration is forcing them to cut programs that will ultimately leave the country less prepared to counter global adversaries.

This year’s Veterans Day observances at Centennial Hall on Monday featured remarks by Governor Sean Parnell and special presentations to those who’ve volunteered at the American Legion Auke Bay Post 25.

“We are here today to use honor as a verb and to give honor,” said Parnell.

To those of you who have served and have lived beyond yourselves for us, we’re here to give thanks, to say ‘thank you’ because you and many before you as patriots understand that our freedom is not free. And you have paid a high price for it. Our families have paid a high price for it.”

American Legion Post 25 Commander Dick Hand presented awards to Sean Goertzen and Dr. Richard Welling who’ve volunteered their time and equipment, or helped organize volunteer work parties.

Amercian Legion Post Commander Dick Hand noted the absence of post member and CBJ Assemblymember Randy Wanamaker who has also helped with renovations at the building. Wanamaker is in Hudson County, New Jersey where they will dedicate the U.S.S. Juneau Memorial Center on Wednesday. It’ll be U.S.S. Juneau Remembrance Day in the town where the ship was built over 70 years ago.

“We have a proclamation that was signed by the Mayor that is being presented by (Wanamaker) for the U.S.S. Juneau Memorial that is being built back in New Jersey,” said Hand. “So, this is a new memorial that is being done.”

A new memorial to the U.S.S Juneau was dedicated on the Juneau waterfront last year.

It was 71 years ago on Wednesday, November 13th that the U.S.S. Juneau was sunk at the naval battle of Guadalcanal. As many as 600 crewmen and officers immediately lost their lives out of the original crew of nearly 700. Only ten men survived exposure and shark attacks rescued eight days later.

Another Veterans Day observance commemorating Southeast Alaska Native veterans was simultaneously held at the Elizabeth Peratovich Building on Monday morning.

A group of U.S. senators, including Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, is pressing to strip military commanders of the authority to decide how to handle accusations of rape within their units.

Murkowski said at a press conference on Wednesday that every general who has ever come to her office to discuss the problem says they same thing – that they have zero-tolerance for sexual assault.

“’We have our eyes wide open’ – well, they’ve had their eyes wide open for 20 years!” Murkowski said.

Murkowski says the Pentagon’s time to address the problem has expired. The measure she supports would let military prosecutors decide which cases to pursue.

A former Marine Corps officer who says she was assaulted in 2010 also spoke at the event. Iraq veteran Ariana Klay says when she reported the rape, her commanders blamed and humiliated her.

“The humiliation of the retaliation was worse than the assault because it was sanctioned from the same leaders I would have once risked my life for,” Klay said.

The senators who turned out to support the measure ranged from New York Democrat Kristen Gillibrand to Texas Republican Ted Cruz.

Top Pentagon leaders have come out against the idea, saying it will leave commanders unable to crack down on sexual assault in their ranks.

Health care and retirement costs that already account for a large part of the U.S. military’s budget and are on a path to go even higher could leave the nation with “a military that’s heavily compensated, but probably a force that’s not capable and not ready,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel tells NPR.

“That’s where it’s going, that’s not a subjective comment,” Hagel told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep during an interview that aired Wednesday.

The Pentagon chief noted that personnel costs — including spending on health care and retirement — account for about 50 percent of the military’s budget. “We know we can’t afford it,” Hagel said, and still be able to spend on equipment and other things that are vital to national security. He hopes the Obama administration and Congress can work together to make adjustments soon that “deal with it, now, in a fair way that doesn’t hurt anybody. It’s like Social Security reform and Medicare reform, if you start adjusting now.”

Hagel also spoke about the effort to bring women into combat roles, saying it has to be done “in a way that makes sense to give women a fair and equal opportunity,” without establishing quotas or other numerical goals.

NPR visited him on a day when he hosted six enlisted personnel for lunch.

An enlisted man himself during the Vietnam War, Hagel said that if he had been given the chance to meet the secretary of defense when he was in the Army, he “probably would have stuttered my way through my chocolate chip cookie” to ask “what is our objective in Vietnam?”