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Dec 31, 2003

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BOUND FOR JORDAN — Officer candidates for the new Iraqi Army, representing different religious and ethnic groups, board a C-130 aircraft from the 463rd Airlift Group at the Baghdad International Airport for a flight to Jordon, Dec. 29, 2003. The Jordanian military will conduct the 11-week training. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Reynaldo Ramon

Defense Officials Announce Military Commission Panel

By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2003 — Trials of detainees accused of terrorist acts came a step closer today, following three moves announced by senior Pentagon officials.
     The Defense Department announced the selection of key personnel associated with military commissions and the issuance of a new instruction that creates a Military Commission Review Panel.
     Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has designated four people to serve on the panel. They are: Griffin B. Bell, U.S. Attorney General under President Carter; Edward G. Biester, a judge with the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, Pa.; William T. Coleman Jr., a former Transportation secretary; and Frank Williams, the chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. More     Briefing

Coalition Battles Oil Industry Sabotage, Gasoline Smugglers

By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2003 — Coalition personnel are working with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil to head off gasoline smuggling, sabotage of the oil industry infrastructure and black-market profiteering. Officials said these continue to be among the greatest problems facing the Iraqi people.
     Coalition spokesman Dan Senor and Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the operations deputy at Combined Joint Task Force 7, briefed the press in Baghdad today. Senor talked about steps the coalition is making to combat the gas shortage that is plaguing life in Iraq.
     Senor cited a number of causes to the gasoline shortage, which has made for long gas lines at neighborhood stations throughout the country. More

U.S. Delivers Supplies, Experts
Following Earthquake in Iran

By Jim Garamone / American Forces Press Service

U.S. Central Air Forces C-130 aircraft commander, Lt. Col. Scott Decker, center, works with Iranian soldiers and other Air Force personnel to offload 20,000 pounds of medical supplies at Kerman, Iran, Dec. 28, 2003, two days after a devastating earthquake destroyed the city of Bam, Iran. U.S. Central Command plans to provide nearly 150,000 lbs of relief supplies from U.S. military logistics sites in the Arabian Gulf. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Suzanne M. Jenkins

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2003 — Proving that disaster knows no politics, U.S. service members are delivering humanitarian aid to Iran in wake of an earthquake that has left an estimated 25,000 Iranians dead.
     A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the area near the city of Bam. Iranian officials said the death toll could reach 40,000 in Bam and the surrounding countryside.
     The U.S. military responded by deploying more than 150,000 pounds of medical supplies from bases in Kuwait to the people of Iran. It was the first U.S. aircraft to land in Iran since the end of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1981. Story

Iraq Weekly Progress Update (Governance, Electricity, Education, Oil, Security, Economics, Health Care)

U.S. Defense Dept. slides with facts &
figures on reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

. Maps of Iraq

Transformation

Defense Dept. Studies Creation
Of Stability, Reconstruction Force

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2003 — The Pentagon is considering creating a military force that would be dedicated to stability and reconstruction operations, according to retired Navy Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski, chief of the Defense Department's Office of Force Transformation.
     Although it may be some time before a final decision is made on whether such a force becomes reality, Cebrowski said the ever-changing post-Sept. 11 security environment, as well as the lessons of history itself, make a strong case for stability and reconstruction operations.
     "We're going to need this capability. And we're going to need it repeatedly," he said in a recent interview. More

More Transformation News

Task Force Discovers Weapons,
Al Qaeda Literature, Videotapes

TIKRIT, Iraq, Dec. 30, 2003 — Task Force Ironhorse Second Infantry’s Arrowhead Brigade soldiers discovered a significant weapons cache southeast of Samarra in the morning of Dec. 29, according to U.S. Central Command officials. Confiscated weapons included 43 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 79 rocket-propelled grenades and 7,920 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition. Al Qaeda literature and videotapes were also found as well as a British made ceramic body armor plate with a bullet hole. Story

Defense Officials
Identify Army Casualties

     WASHINGTON — Defense Department officials announced the deaths of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
     Capt. Ernesto M. Blanco, 28, of Texas, was killed on Dec. 28, in Qaryat Ash Shababi, Iraq. Blanco was conducting a support mission when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle. Blanco was assigned to 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, N.C.
     Sgt. Curt E. Jordan, Jr., 25, of Green Acres, Wash., died on Dec. 28 near Bayji, Iraq. Jordan died of non-combat injuries. Jordan was assigned to the 14th Combat Engineer Battalion (Corps) (Wheeled), 555th Combat Engineer Group, based in Fort Lewis, Wash.
     Pvt. Rey D. Cuervo, 24, of Laguna Vista, Texas, was killed on Dec. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq. Cuervo was on a mounted patrol when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle. Cuervo was assigned to 1st Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based in Fort Polk, La.

Radio

Television

Ops. Enduring & Iraqi Freedom Show Transformation in Action

By Paul Stone / American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2003 — If you want to see the face of transformation - if you want to see what it looks like in action - you need not look any further than Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
That's the view from the top by Retired Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski, chief of the Defense Department's Office of Force Transformation and one the department's chief architects in the effort to transform the military. More

Weapons Search & Dismantlement More Photo Essays

Iraqi firemen and Civil Defense Force personnel from the Al-Salhya fire station in Karkh, Iraq, search through rubble to locate unexploded ordnance. The firefighters are using newly acquired training and equipment from coalition forces for members of the 422d Civil Affairs Battalion and representatives from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. John Houghton 4 More Photos

101st Airborne Division Soldiers
Breathe New Life into Mosul Schools

     MOSUL, Iraq, Dec. 28, 2003 — The children and schools of one northern Iraqi village have benefited by being adopted by soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
     The soldiers of Crusader Battery, 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment, attached to the 101st, adopted the small Assyrian-Christian village of Karmless and began Operation Provide Classroom Comfort when they saw the deplorable conditions in the village’s schools.
     “Classrooms were in a state of disaster and by any American building code standard would have been condemned,” said Capt. Mark Sherkey, company commander. More

Defense Energy Support Center
To Help Restore Iraqi Oil

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Dec. 30, 2003 — The Defense Energy Support Center announced today it will support the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and Task Force-Restore Iraqi Oil by importing and distributing fuel to the Iraqi civilian population, according to Defense Logistics Agency officials.
The Defense Energy Support Center will work with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and its marketing arm, the State Owned Marketing Organization, to assist them in meeting the country’s imported petroleum product requirements, such as diesel, gasoline, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas. More

Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction
Team Continues Efforts in Petaw

Spc. Edward Maxa from the Civil Military Operations Center sector of the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team , unloads boxes from a van in Petaw Village Dec. 15 with the help of villagers during a humanitarian aid distribution effort. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Kelly Hunt BAGRAM, Afghanistan, Dec. 30, 2003 — Troops from the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team continued to make their good intentions known as they ventured to Petaw Village Dec. 15 to discuss security issues in the area and to be updated on the villagers’ concerns.
“Today’s mission was to go back to Petaw Village, talk to the villagers and to follow up on the well project,” said Lt. Col. Mark Schnur, Ghazni team commander. More

Gamble's Deployment Journal

Army Staff Sgt. Zeno Gamble, a Gulf War veteran, is one of the thousands of reservists who have been called to active duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Gamble left his civilian job at the Pentagon Dec. 7. Gamble plans to share some of his deployment journal entries with DefendAmerica.mil.

Dec. 22, 2003 - I made a mistake. I missed the warning on the package that said "take medication with food." That is why at noon on Wednesday, I pulled over at a weigh station on I-95 to get rid of the malaria pill in a very painful fashion. It took a few hours for the pain to subside, and I wanted to double-check with the medics.
I stopped to see Larry Skummer at the Flight Medicine Clinic at the Pentagon for my third anthrax shot. He chuckled at me when I told him about the malaria pill. He told me I should not take it on an empty stomach. That, however, was not my only medical worry. More

Global War on Terrorism

. Heightened Security Not Tied to Saddam Hussein's Capture

. Bush, Blair Welcome Libya's Pledge to Dismantle Weapons

. 'Tremendous Strides' Made in Iraq, Afghanistan, Collins Says

On Iraq

. 5 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq; Operation Nets 66 Prisoners

. Samarra Blast, Urbil Suicide Attack Kill U.S. Troops, Iraqis

. Rewards Announced for Capture Of Former Regime Members

Military News

. Rumsfeld, Myers Laud Troops, Caution Terror Threat Remains

. Military Blood Program Seeks Holiday Donors

. National Guard, Reserve Update

Send your 'Best Wishes' to the
troops waging the global war on terror.

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'Operation Hero Miles' Expands
To Families of Wounded Troops

WASHINGTION, Dec. 30, 2003 — Alice Rodgers, a single mother, paid more than $1,000 for round-trip tickets so she and her daughter could visit her son, who is recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here from wounds he suffered in Iraq. However, when Rodgers returns for her next visit, the trip will be far less expensive – it will cost her nothing.
During a press briefing today at the front gate of the hospital, Maryland Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger handed 680 free airline tickets to David Coker, executive director and vice president of operations at the Fisher House Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides temporary living quarters to military families visiting loved ones at military hospitals. More

Profile

U.S. Air Force Civilian Augmentee
Jim Wagner

Jim Wagner, Air Force Civilian Augmentee Program air traffic controller, hoists the American flag at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Brian Davidson

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Countless American families have loved ones doing their part to support the war on terrorism, and one family has answered the call of duty on two fronts, in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Serving as an air traffic controller at Bagram Air Base, Jim Wagner is supporting Operation Enduring Freedom under the Air Force Civilian Augmentee Program, while his son, Spc. Joshua Wagner, is serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 615th Military Police Company in Baghdad. More

More Profiles

	U.S. Views — Quotes by President Bush & other U.S. leaders
	Defense Views — Quotes by U.S. defense leaders
	Maps of Iraq — Maps of the nation of Iraq and the region

President George W. Bush

“These brave Americans are fighting terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere so that we do not meet these killers on our own streets...We are grateful for the courage and commitment of our troops, and we are safer because of their skill and sacrifice.”

Remarks during weekly radio address,
Dec. 27, 2003

. Maps of Afghanistan

In Iraq

Photographers Flash
Light on Iraqi Mission

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Lisa Zunzanyika, a photographer with the 447th Expeditionary Communications Squadron, catpures images of the sites and people in Baghdad, Iraq. Courtesy photo BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFPN), Dec. 29, 2003 — Thousands of unsung heroes are contributing to the rebuilding of Iraq, and a team of military visual information specialists at Baghdad International Airport are letting the American public see more of these dedicated airmen.
“Primarily, we support the 447th Air Expeditionary Group by documenting every aspect of the mission here,” said Tech. Sgt. Lisa Zunzanyika, the chief of visual information and photo operations manager for the 447th Expeditionary Communications Squadron. More

'On The Ground' Archive