Saturday, September 22, 2007

Africa Command Poised to Help Continent's Security, Stability

By Steven Donald Smith
Special to American Forces Press Service

Sept. 21, 2007 - The
U.S. military's new Africa Command will be dissimilar to other unified commands in a variety of ways, not least of which is its primary charge to cultivate security, not fight a war, a top Defense Department official said here yesterday. "Instead of saying warfighting is the primary mission of the command, we are flipping the equation around, and we are saying that the primary mission of this command is to focus on building security capacities in Africa so that Africans can manage their own security challenges," Theresa Whelan, deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, said.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute, Whelan also worked to allay fears and dispel rumors that AFRICOM represents an American militarization of Africa and a possible usurpation of power from African leaders. She said critics are wrong in their assertion that AFRICOM is an attempt to further expand the war on terror in Africa, secure oil reserves, or hedge against Chinese influence there. "That is patently untrue," she said.

Whelan said the
U.S. military will work cooperatively with Africans to support many of their initiatives, such as an African standby force that can respond quickly to a problem area. "The Defense Department will not reinvent the wheel," she said. "We want to take what Africans have already built and assist in making a reality."

Much of Africa has been plagued by decades of strife and violence, much of which is directly attributed to the Cold War struggle for influence on the continent. Whelan said AFRICOM's mission could help bring the peace and security that common Africans deserve.

AFRICOM will work with other U.S. government agencies to make this a reality. The command will have many civilians from these agencies integrated into its work force. Whelan said the command will consist of people from the State, Treasury, and Commerce departments, along will personnel from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

She emphasized that all components of the U.S. government must work together with African governments to help achieve the goal of promoting stability and security.

"You cannot promote security and stability successfully in a vacuum," she said. "Stability and security are interlinked with other elements such as good governance, the rule of law, and economic opportunity."

By having interagency personnel with different areas of expertise integrated into the command, the knowledge base will be broadened, which will help the command fulfill its duty. "This does not represent an acquisition by the command of authority," she said. "It represents simply an acquisition of knowledge."

Africa Command also will be unique in that it will have two deputies, one of whom will be a State Department official who will be responsible primarily for theater security cooperation. In addition, the command will maintain the usual political advisor.

Whelan drove home the point that the creation of Africa Command does not in any way subordinate U.S. ambassadors to the Department of Defense or put the command in any position to dictate to those ambassadors. In essence, the command will be a supporting element to ambassadors in peacetime, she said.

"We see ourselves in the command as a supporting element of U.S. foreign policy. And through this single command for the 53 countries of the African continent, we believe that a holistic unified approach will make us a more effective supporting player in the system," Whelan said.

She emphasized that the bulk of U.S. operations in Africa over the past several years have been focused on non-security measures. Nine billion dollars has gone to non-security programs in recent years, and only $250 million to security programs, she said. The allocation of U.S. money to humanitarian efforts is unlikely to change, she said, but AFRICOM will work to create a secure environment where the money will be better used.

"We recognize that if countries in Africa are going to develop successfully, they must have a minimal semblance of security that is sustainable over the long haul," she said.

Former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz also spoke at the event. He said Sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind the recent economic boom in many nations in Asia and Latin America mainly because of lack of security.

"I think the fundamental American interest is in seeing Sub-Saharan Africa turn the corner and stop being the hopeless continent that "The Economist" described in a cover story four or five years ago, and begin to be a continent of hope," he said. "The reluctance of the
U.S. military to even think about Africa is much more of a problem than the danger of so-called militarization."

In July, President Bush named
Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward as U.S. Africa Command's first commander. AFRICOM, which should be initially established by the end of this month, will be responsible for every African nation and associated islands, with Egypt, the sole exception, remaining under U.S. Central Command.

AFRICOM also will be responsible for helping to secure African territorial waters. Aside from the
U.S. military base already established in Djibouti, there will be no U.S. military bases on the continent, and only about 20 percent of the command's personnel will be in stationed in Africa. The location of the command's headquarters has yet to be determined.

Reserve-Component Families Face Universal Challenges

By Capt. Steve Alvarez, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

Sept. 21, 2007 - Problems facing reserve-component servicemembers are universal, regardless of which country they come from, international officials here this week learned. Representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand here to discuss reserve personnel issues all agreed that the biggest challenges facing reserve-component family programs are communication and overcoming the stigma of receiving support.

The group, known as the ABCA Information Team -- for America, Britain, Canada and Australia; New Zealand joined only recently -- has met for the past eight years to ensure member armies have necessary capabilities to conduct full-spectrum operations in a joint environment.

"Getting (reservists and their families) to admit they need help and then plugging them into the help is the challenge," British Brigadier Greg Smith, deputy inspector general for the territorial
army of the United Kingdom, told the panel.

Spouses who may need support from family programs sometimes incorrectly assume that receiving assistance will hurt their spouse's
military career. But beyond that the majority of reserve families do not live on military installations and aren't traditional Army families, Smith added.

"Where they are living, these neighbors aren't having these types of problems," Brig. Gen. David N. Blackledge, commander of the
U.S. Army Reserve's 352nd Civil Affairs Command, said.

Not only are Army Reserve families isolated in the uniqueness of their problems in their communities, but they also feel disconnected from the Army, Paula Savage, director of
Army Reserve family programs, said. "Any avenue we can communicate we try to take advantage of," she said.

The communication and isolation obstacles facing Army Reserve family-program personnel -- 345 of them geographically organized by region -- caused Army Reserve officials to rethink their approach to family support and deliver solutions that would lessen feelings of isolation and expand access to benefits.

Enter the
Army Reserve's "Virtual Installations" Program.

The concept came into fruition after Laura Stultz, wife of Army Reserve chief Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, realized how scattered personnel from a single unit can be.

"A few years ago my husband had a unit in
Florida and we decided to mail Christmas cards to children in the command," Mrs. Stultz said.

She then realized the unit's families were spread out in many different communities by themselves and likely felt isolated. The Virtual Installations program will help virtually unite these families in the same spirit of civilian social Web sites, but it also will inform Army Reserve families about benefits and services available to them.

"Virtual Installations is an important project to me," Stultz said. "Everything you can get on a regular installation, we want to offer to our soldiers."

The goal of Virtual Installations is to be a one-stop shop that
Army Reserve families can go to and receive information on benefits and services. Many Army Reserve families do not have access to military posts and cannot take advantage of the many on-post services available to active-duty families. Stultz said the site also someday may include chat rooms for children of Army reservists, an idea the Stultzes' daughter floated.

The Virtual Installations Web site is just one piece of a two-pronged approach to reach out to Army Reserve families. The other branch is a community-based effort.

Stultz recounted to the panel an anecdote where a boy was elated to hear that his father, a deployed Army Reserve soldier, was coming home. His family and others assumed the boy knew that someday his father would return from the war. But what Mrs. Stultz and the boy's family didn't realize was that the child had learned that other soldiers had been killed in the war, and the boy presumed his father would meet the same fate and was walking around with that angst for months.

The child, Stultz said, didn't have commonality with his peers. Other kids in his community didn't have a deployed father, so he not only was misinformed, but also couldn't share his emotions with anyone who was like him -- a child from an
Army Reserve family.

To fill that void, the Army is involved in multiple programs for children of Army families that occur regularly and are held regionally. The Army Reserve hosts enrichment camps, conferences and retreats that bring together children and allow them to find the missing commonality by interacting with kids living through similar experiences. The events are not only cathartic for many of the children, but they help kids establish contact with those in similar situations, the panel said.

Stultz admitted that while the Web site and community programs are effective, more needs to be done. She said
Army Reserve family-programs personnel are trying to get more doctors to accept Tricare.

She noted that soldiers are offered counseling to help them cope with experiences during deployment. "We want to be able to tell these families how and where to get counseling," she added.

"These families deserve everything we can do for them," she said, adding that Army Reserve families don't want new services, just access to those that already exist for active-duty families.

Australian and New Zealand officers said they had similar issues in their forces, but that theirs paled in comparison to what U.S. reserve forces face because of the duration and magnitude of U.S. deployments.

"We have to get smarter about all this, and this has helped me," Canadian Brig. Gen. J.P. O'Brien said at the conclusion of the panel discussion.

(
Army Capt. Steve Alvarez is the public affairs officer for 143rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).

Operation Homefront Gets High Marks

American Forces Press Service

Sept. 21, 2007 - Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit group started shortly after the 9/11 attacks, recently earned a leading charity evaluator's highest marks. Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities' financial health, including day-to-day operations and sustainability, has bestowed its top "four-star" rating upon Operation Homefront. Less than a quarter of the charities Charity Navigator evaluates received their highest rating.

"This exceptional designation from Charity Navigator differentiates Operation Homefront from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust," said Trent Stamp, president of Charity Navigator, in a letter to Operation Homefront.

Operation Homefront is a supporter of the Defense Department's America Supports You program, which connects citizens and corporations with
military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

Among the many charities evaluated, Operation Homefront received this four-star rating for its ability to efficiently and openly manage its finances, Operation Homefront officials said in a news release.

"The designation of such an honorable rating from Charity Navigator is positive proof of our strong fiscal responsibility as well as our financial strategy to ensure Operation Homefront is always there to help our troops and
military families," said Amy Palmer, the group's executive vice president of operations and business development.

As the nonprofit sector continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, savvy donors are demanding more accountability, transparency and quantifiable results from the charities they choose to support with their hard-earned dollars, Operation Homefront officials said in the release. In this competitive philanthropic marketplace, Charity Navigator highlights the fine work of efficient charities and provides donors with essential information needed to give them greater confidence in the charitable choices they make, the release stated.