Thursday, January 27, 2011
Royal Thai Army Gen. Suraphan Wongthai
Carries an injured Afghan man
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Jose Aguilarmendez, a machine gun team leader with 1st Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, carries an Afghan man who was injured by an improvised explosive device during a security patrol in Sangin district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 12, 2011. Marines conducted security patrols in partnership with the International Security Assistance Force to combat insurgent activity and gain the trust of Afghan civilians. (DoD photo by Lance Cpl. Jorge A. Ortiz, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Lynn Assesses NATO's Cybersecurity Progress
By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service BRUSSELS, Belgium, Jan. 25, 2011 - NATO is moving ahead with plans to protect the alliance's cyberspace domain, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said here today.
Lynn called his visit a "a bookend trip." He had visited the alliance headquarters two months before NATO's November summit in Lisbon, Portugal, to propose and coordinate U.S. ideas for defending cyberspace. His meeting today was part of the High Level Meeting of National Policy Advisors on NATO Cyber Defense. Coming two months after the summit, it was a chance for Lynn to assess progress. "The first step for NATO is to protect its own networks," the deputy secretary said. "We need concrete steps. We need to move to full operational capability of the NATO Cyber Incident Response Center, and make good on the promise of Lisbon to pull it forward from 2015 to 2012." Strong support exists in the alliance for this step, Lynn said, and while finances always are a concern, he said he sees that happening. Lynn said the alliance also is putting centralized governance mechanisms in place to protect its networks. "You have to have configuration control. You have to have a single management structure," he said. "One of the outputs of the agency reform effort that NATO is undertaking will be to get that centralized governance structure." Lynn also participated in a public- and private-sector cybersecurity roundtable sponsored by Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe. The roundtable included representatives from private companies, colleges and think tanks. "It reflects the mutual interdependence of economic and security factors," Lynn said. "It reflects the fact that [cybersecurity] is not a problem like air defense, where you would look to the government alone to provide the solution." Cybersecurity has to include private and nongovernmental entities, Lynn said, and the private-sector representatives didn't really argue. "The overall thrust [during the roundtable] is that companies believe this needs to be a partnership," he said. Lynn emphasized the word "partnership," saying he believes the issue needs government resources and support, but not necessarily government orders. "I got the same message here as I did in the States," he said. The private sector has enormous technologies to share, and governments have resources to invest in those technologies. Still, Lynn said, it is a learning experience for both sides. In the United States, the Defense Department works closely with firms making up the Defense industrial base to protect networks and data on those nets. At first, the firms were worried about sharing proprietary information, but now they see the value, Lynn said. "Many of their fears have fallen away, and we have a very good two-way street with them," Lynn said. The fears are not completely gone, he acknowledged, but they have relaxed to the point that they see their data is being protected. And they "are gaining a much better understanding of what the threat is, where it is coming from and how other people are dealing with it," he added. "Essentially, the rising tide is lifting all boats in its ability to protect." The Defense Department has learned important lessons in protecting U.S. military networks, Lynn said, and he reached out to the European Union and the European Defense Agency to share those lessons. | ||
| Biographies: William J. Lynn III Related Sites: Special Report: Travels With Lynn | ||
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
In Zambar, Khowst province, Afghanistan
U.S. Army Spc. Kyle Oszczakiewicz, an infantryman with 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, scans for insurgents as the platoon receives small-arms fire from across a wadi, or valley, in Zambar, Khowst province, Afghanistan, on Jan. 18, 2011. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Guffey, U.S. Army. (Released)Lynn Discusses Cybersecurity with NATO, U.S. Leaders
Posted on Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 12:40 AM
By Jim Garamone of American Forces Press Service BRUSSELS, Belgium, Jan. 24, 2011 - Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III met with NATO and U.S. leaders at the alliance headquarters here today to discuss the way forward in cybersecurity.
The threats are more frequent, more organized and more costly, a joint statement released at the summit said, and "they can reach a threshold that threatens national and Euro-Atlantic prosperity, security and stability." The threats, the statement added, can come from foreign militaries and intelligence services, organized crime, terrorist and extremist groups, or even individuals. In Lisbon, NATO leaders called on the alliance to develop the ability to prevent, detect, defend against and recover from cyber attacks. The alliance must protect critical networks and put in place processes to leverage national cyber defense capabilities, the alliance's leaders added. Partnerships between the public and private sectors are essential, as government and military networks routinely use private networks to communicate. Lynn furthered the public-private partnership concept during a roundtable at NATO this morning. Accompanied by Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, the deputy secretary stressed the need for public and private entities to work together to find a balance between openness and security, according to defense officials present at the meeting. Tomorrow, Lynn continues the cybersecurity conversation by taking part in a high-level meeting of national policy advisors on NATO cyber defense at the alliance's headquarters. He also will meet with European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton and the newly appointed chief executive of the European Defense Agency, Claude-France Arnould. | ||
| Biographies: William J. Lynn III Related Sites: NATO Special Report: Travels With Lynn |
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Red Cross volunteer helps
A Red Cross volunteer helps a recovering warrior at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Red Cross volunteers stand by at Landstuhl, where nearly every combat-wounded service member makes a stop before returning to the United States. Courtesy photo
Battle-hardened Marine Teaches Others
By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bryan Nygaard
2nd Marine Expeditionary Force
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Jan. 21, 2011 - Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. William Abernathy, the company first sergeant for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group's Military Police Support Company, has no trouble getting the attention of his Marines.
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Abernathy was born and raised in the small town of Madison, Miss., and graduated from Madison Central High School. "I was 16 years old before we got our first stop light," he said in a distinctive Southern drawl.
Once he completed high school in May 1996, Abernathy quickly started down the path he's been on ever since.
"I walked across the stage, gave my diploma to my mom, gave her a hug, got in [the recruiter's] car, went to [Military Entrance Processing Station] and went to boot camp," he said.
Abernathy said he became a Marine because he wanted to serve his country, but not in the sense of 'Corps, country and Momma's apple pie.' Rather, he said, joining the military was more of a requirement than a career choice, in line with his belief that every American citizen should serve at least two years in any branch of service.
For Abernathy's first four years in the Marine Corps, he served as an infantry machine gunner before making a lateral move to military police. In addition to his time here, he has been stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and Kanoehe Bay, Hawaii, and he even did a tour of duty as a recruiter in LaGrange, Ga.
"It was absolutely the worst tour of duty I've ever had," he said. "And I've got five combat tours."
One of those tours was in Fallujah, Iraq, where he met his wife, Rachel, in 2005.
"Our guys went through a lot of ammo, ... and she was our battalion [ammunition technician] chief," he said. "When we got back, we kept up conversations, started dating, and a year or so later we got married."
Abernathy's other deployments also have made lasting impressions on him. On his last deployment to Afghanistan in 2009, where he was told by Afghan villagers the Taliban had a $50,000 price on his head, Abernathy found himself in a vicious firefight.
While repelling an enemy assault, Abernathy quickly and calmly helped every wounded Marine and established a casualty collection point behind barriers that effectively shielded the wounded from indirect fire.
It was during this firefight that he employed a unique first aid tool he tells all of his Marines to have in their individual first aid kits.
"I always carry tampons with me," he said. "They plug bullet holes pretty good."
After the fight was over, Abernathy's uniform was covered with blood from many of the Marines he helped. He wore that blood-stained uniform for more than a month, he said.
"I didn't have any water to wash the blood off my clothes," he explained. "I barely had enough water to drink. I wore those kids' blood on me for about a month and a half. My commanding officer made me burn my uniform. I still got the boots that have blood all over them. I keep them in my house. I can't bring myself to throw them away. I just can't."
Abernathy has a simple explanation for how he stays calm in battle: "I made my peace with God a long time ago," he said.
It's essential that leaders stay calm when under pressure, he added, because loss of bearing and panic only multiply the chaos.
"If my guys don't have faith in who's leading them, then we're all screwed," he said. "I'm depending on them to beat back the bad guy, and if I'm flipping out, then they can't do that effectively."
It was also on this deployment that he suffered a mild case of traumatic brain injury caused by a high-mobility artillery rocket that exploded near him while he was chasing a sniper. This injury is keeping him from deploying with his fellow Marines.
"It kills me to see guys I know go to very bad areas and know that I can't go with them," he said. "I'm not a warmonger. I know what I'm capable of and I damn sure know how to fight the Taliban. There's just one way to deal with them that's effective and gets results: You gain ground, you push them off, and you own the real estate. It is what it is."
Many of his Marines say that if there is one thing Abernathy teaches them, it is how to stay alive, and Abernathy said that's important to him.
"I've seen how brutal [the Taliban] can be," he said. "I've seen what they do when they get their hands on one of ours. I'll be damned if I take a kid into harm's way and I don't give him every tool that I have to use."
Even though he has been through the wringer on more than one occasion, Abernathy said, he doesn't use his experiences to brag or boast, but rather to validate what he is teaching.
"I try not to be that guy that's got a story for everything," he said. "I'm not the only one who's seen and done combat. There is nothing glorious in war. There is nothing glorious in taking another life. There's no awesome feeling that you get filled with. Dead is dead. You just killed somebody's son, husband or brother. There's nothing awe-inspiring about that stuff. It's a necessary evil."
Abernathy's Marines are more than willing to hear his advice.
"When he talks, he says everything in a way you understand, and you know he's not lying," said Sgt. Brad Bianchi, a military policeman in the company. "You always want to hear what he has to say."
Abernathy said he has yet to decide what he wants to do when his Marine Corps days are over. Many of his peers have encouraged him to pursue a college degree in psychology, he noted, because of his ability to counsel Marines who may be suffering from the effects of a combat deployment.
"I can relate to them," he said. "It's kind of hard for a combat veteran who's chewed dirt, spilled blood and had his blood spilled to relate what he's gone through to some 25-year-old psychologist who's never even left the country or gone into combat. I put a different spin on things. For some of them, it helps. For others, it's still a work in progress."
Simplicity is the key to success, Abernathy said.
"Focus on the basics -- high speed is not always better," he said. "So many people get wrapped around the axle about their own personal success, they forget what the purpose of this gun club is, which is to fight wars and to take care of our own."
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