Thursday, September 15, 2011

C-130s Aid Wildfire Suppression Efforts


U.S. Northern Command
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Sept. 14, 2011 - Six Department of Defense C-130 Hercules aircraft under the command and control of U.S. Northern Command continue to aid efforts to control wildfires in Texas, Oregon and Idaho at the request of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, officials reported.
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A modular airborne firefighting system-equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft prepares for a run over a wildfire in Harrison County, Texas, Sept. 12, 2011. Four C-130 aircraft, assigned to the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group based at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, dropped approximately 12,000 gallons of fire retardant onto two fires in northeast Texas. Courtesy photo 
The aircraft are equipped with U.S. Forest Service modular airborne firefighting systems.As of early today, DOD aircraft have completed the following missions in these states:
-- Texas: Fifteen drops delivering approximately 44,350 gallons of fire retardant;
-- Oregon: Two drops delivering about 2,700 gallons of fire retardant; and
-- Idaho: Two drops delivering approximately 2,760 gallons of fire retardant.
Units supporting the Texas operations are the 302nd Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., and the 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard. Both units are deployed to Austin/Bergstrom International Airport, Texas.
The support to the northwestern United States is being provided by the Wyoming Air National Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing, flying out of Boise International Airport, Idaho.
At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Northcom designated Randolph Air Force Base Auxiliary Field, Seguin, Texas, as a support base to assist in relief efforts.
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U.S. Northern Command

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Amputee Earns 'Sergeant Airborne' Title


By Cheryl Rodewig
1st Infantry Division

FORT BENNING, Ga., Sept. 13, 2011 - Like thousands before him, Army Sgt. Joel Dulashanti donned an Airborne instructor black hat for the first time last month, signifying his completion of a detailed certification process with 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
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Army Sgt. Joel Dulashanti reaches for a harness strap during training on Eubanks Field at Fort Benning, Ga., in August 2011. U.S. Army photo by Cheryl Rodewig 
Unlike those before him, he met the standard with a prosthetic leg, a partial knee replacement and the aftermath of internal injuries suffered during an ambush in Afghanistan. With his wounds, he could have taken a medical discharge from the Army, but the paratrooper chose to stay in -- and to remain Airborne all the way."It's still brand new," he said, "but it feels good to actually have my hat."
Dulashanti's determination in the face of adversity, evident at the unit, will be instrumental in training Airborne students, said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Chip Mezzaline, battalion command sergeant major. More than 17,000 students come through the battalion each year.
"He's had a traumatic injury and had the resilience to stay on active duty and serve as an instructor in a position that's high-risk," Mezzaline said. "It's in his character -- something you can't teach. It's something inside him that's going to drive him to be successful in whatever it is that he's doing. I don't think 'can't' is in his vocabulary.
"Being a 'Sergeant Airborne' -- a 'black hat' -- at the Basic Airborne Course will inspire numerous students coming through here," he added.
Mezzaline said Dulashanti completed the instructor certification program at a level "above the standard." He trained on the lateral-drift apparatus, the mock towers, the 250-foot tower, the swing-landing trainer and the spin harness, and memorized a block of instruction for the mock tower exit.
"He's a paratrooper," Mezzaline said. "He comes from the 82nd Airborne Division. That Airborne career he probably thought was cut short, but this is new life for him here at the Airborne school. I predict within the next year he'll be a jumpmaster, probably a senior-rated jumpmaster, and he'll be doing door checks, exiting students at 1,250 feet above Fryar Drop Zone.
"And with his level of motivation, he'll probably move on to that next mark and be a centurion, which is 100 exits out of an aircraft," he continued. "The sky's the limit for Sergeant Dulashanti here at the 507th."
Dulashanti said he wants to do everything he can -- from jumpmaster to centurion -- while stationed here. A six-year veteran, he arrived at the battalion in May. Four years earlier, he was deployed as a sniper attached to the 73rd Cavalry Regiment. He remembers the details vividly.
"We were chasing two guys -- they were on a mo-ped together and we were in Humvees," he said. "They took off in the field and the sniper team went out. It was about 110 degrees outside, over 6,000 feet above sea level, and with no humidity -- all you could smell was the earth and burnt grass. As we were walking in this knee-high grass, I started to smell body odor, so I stopped and turned to my right in the direction of the odor. They began to engage in contact.
"They had AK-47s and they were lying in the prone about 10 meters away," he continued. "I took two rounds to my right knee. As I was coming out of the sun, I was shot through my left knee. As I was falling, the next round that came through went under my arm, through my ribcage and, since I was parallel to the ground, it traversed my entire abdomen down to my pelvis. That round was the worst. We returned fire, and those guys were finished."
Two platoons donated plasma to him before he was evacuated to the United States. Once he arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., it took him eight months to be comfortable walking.
"The recovery process started off slow, [but] I accelerated fast," he said. "Most of the stuff can be replaced. I have a partial knee replacement on my left side. I have an above-the-knee amputation on my right side. I'm missing half of my stomach and 90 percent of my intestines and gall bladder, and half of my abdominal wall is gone."
He chose to stay in the Army in part for the fellow soldier recuperating alongside him in the hospital, he said.
"I had to set that example for the rest of the Army, just based on the fact they couldn't do it and they wanted to," he said. "Maybe in the future, somebody else will have an easier time getting to do stuff like this because I've done it already."
Since then, Dulashanti completed the Warrior Leader Course and the Advanced Leaders Course, among others. But his goal was to be part of Fort Benning's Airborne battalion.
"Mentally, I knew I could exit an aircraft, and I knew I was able to instruct people on how to exit an aircraft and to land on the ground properly," he said. "When I called about the job, the only question was, 'Can you jump out of planes?' and even though I hadn't done it, the answer was 'yes,' without a doubt. I knew I wouldn't be a safety hazard, so the answer was 'yes.'"
"It was pretty intense," Dulashanti said of the studying it took to pass the certification program, but other instructors helped him along the way.
"I have to kind of be on my 'A' game all the time," he said. "But at the same time, I do have limitations, so I have to make sure I take care of myself to prevent injury."
His "limitations" aren't something he tells every class of students about, but occasionally he mentions it or they find out. "Sometimes people ask me why I have a limp," he said. "I tell them I don't have a leg, so it's not really a limp."
His advice to other wounded warriors is simple: choose whether or not to have a positive outlook.
"Make up your mind," he said. "Everybody has to go through their own coping mechanisms. Sometimes you're in a denial state; when you come out of that denial state, then deal with what it is you have to deal with. Seek counseling if you have to. I never gave negativity even an opportunity to invade my mind. There was only one route for me in the first place."
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Take Opportunity for Action in Sri Lanka

Amnesty International Urges Human Rights Council

Washington, DC:  In reaction to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s transmission of the findings of his expert panel’s report on Sri Lanka to the Human Rights Council, Amnesty International said: 

"For months we have been waiting for the report’s findings to be presented to the Human Rights Council. Now there can be no more excuses for inaction or delays," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director. 

The panel of experts report, made public in April 2011, found "credible allegations" of war crimes and crimes against humanity by all sides to the Sri Lankan conflict. 

"The panel of experts produced a strong, credible report - for the first time an international body acknowledged the extent of human rights abuses committed in the last days of Sri Lanka’s brutal conflict, when at least 10,000 civilians were killed," said Zarifi. "It’s time for the Human Rights Council to act on the panel of expert’s findings and hold those responsible for massive atrocities in Sri Lanka to account. The thousands of victims have waited long enough." 

Amnesty International also reminded the Human Rights Council of ongoing human rights abuses the organization has documented in Sri Lanka since the conflict ended in 2009. These include lack of humanitarian access to displaced communities, lack of consultation with communities in the resettlement process, and threats to media freedoms. 

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. 

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