CONTINGENCY EDITION S ,M A sign of hope - Stars and Stripes

MILITARY

MILITARY

MUSIC

Families attend

graduation at

Fort Benning

Marines, sailors

return to US after

7 months overseas

Two decades and

two children later,

Pink still rocking

Page 3

Page 5

Page 12

Fans, fresh contenders on hand as NBA playoffs get underway ?? Page 24



Volume 80 Edition 25B ?SS 2021

CONTINGENCY EDITION

SUNDAY, MAY 23, 2021

Free to Deployed Areas

A sign

of hope

Return of Iraqis seen as easing

threat from sprawling Syria camp

BY LOLITA C. BALDOR

Associated Press

SHADDADI, Syria ¡ª The Iraqi government

is expected to bring home about 100 Iraqi families from a sprawling camp in Syria this week,

a first-time move that U.S. officials see as a

hopeful sign in a long-frustrated effort to repatriate thousands from a site known as a breeding ground for young insurgents.

During a visit Friday to Syria, where he met

with troops and commanders, the top U.S. general for the Middle East expressed optimism

that the transfer from the al-Hol camp will

happen. Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie has repeatedly warned that the youth in the camps

are being radicalized and will become the next

generation of dangerous militants.

¡°It would be the first step in many such repatriations, and I think that¡¯s going to be the

key to bringing down the population in the alHol camp, and indeed in other camps across

the region,¡± McKenzie told reporters traveling

with him, ¡°Nations need to bring back their citizens, repatriate them, reintegrate them, deradicalize them when necessary and make

them productive elements of society.¡±

SEE HOPE ON PAGE 4

Children play at al-Hol camp, home to some

60,000 refugees, including families and

supporters of the Islamic State group, many

of them foreign nationals, in Hasakeh province, Syria, on May 1.

BADERKHAN AHMAD/AP

Bill from House lawmakers would speed up visa process for at-risk Afghans

BY SARAH CAMMARATA

Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON ¡ª A pair of House lawmakers introduced a bill on Thursday that

would expedite the visa process for Afghan

military translators, amid growing calls

from Congress for the Biden administration

to act quickly to shuttle allies out of the

country ahead of the withdrawal of U.S.

forces.

The bill from Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo.,

and Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, would allow

applicants to the Afghan Special Immigrant

Visa program to forgo a medical examination, which can cost thousands of dollars.

¡°The U.S. must honor our promises and

protect our Afghan partners whose lives are

now at risk by the Taliban,¡± said Crow, a for-

mer Army Ranger who served in Iraq and

Afghanistan. ¡°We can help expedite the SIV

process by waiving the medical examination requirement in Afghanistan, which is

cost prohibitive and difficult for many applicants to safely receive.¡±

Crow, along with several other lawmakers, expressed frustration last week at a

House Armed Services Committee hearing

after defense officials testified they lack a

clear plan to provide safety for thousands of

Afghans whose visa applications remain

stalled due to bureaucratic inefficiencies.

The State Department-run Special Immigrant Visa program has been plagued by delays since it was created in 2009 to provide a

SEE SPEED ON PAGE 4

? STARS

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Sunday, May 23, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Stocks end day mixed; S&P posts weekly loss

Associated Press

Wall Street racked up more

losses Friday on a choppy day of

trading that left the major indexes

mixed and the S&P 500 with its

second straight weekly decline.

The S&P 500 ended 0.1% lower

after having been up 0.7% in the

early going. The benchmark index, which hit an all-time high two

weeks ago, lost 0.4% this week.

That follows a 1.4% loss last week.

Gains for banks and health care

companies were kept in check by

drops in technology stocks and in

companies like Tesla, McDonald¡¯s

and that rely directly on consumer spending. Energy

stocks eked out a small gain as the

price of U.S. crude oil rose. Treasury yields were mixed.

The market¡¯s latest bout of selling come as investors remain focused on the possibility of inflation as the economy stirs to life following more than a year of shutdowns related to the COVID-19

pandemic.

¡°The market is trying to digest

signs of incipient inflation that

may be more than transitory, with

what the Fed¡¯s reaction might be,¡±

said Alicia Levine, chief strategist

at BNY Mellon Investment Management.

The S&P 500 slipped 3.26 points

to 4,155.86, while the Nasdaq slid

64.75 points, or 0.5%, to 13,470.99.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fared better, gaining 123.69

points, or 0.4%, to 34,207.84.

Small company stocks also

notched gains. The Russell 2000

index picked up 7.51 points, or

0.3%, to 2,215.27.

EXCHANGE RATES

Military rates

Euro costs (May 24)

Dollar buys (May 24)

British pound (May 24)

Japanese yen (May 24)

South Korean won (May 24)

$1.19

0.7976

$1.39

106.00

1098.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar)

Britain (Pound)

Canada (Dollar)

China(Yuan)

Denmark (Krone)

Egypt (Pound)

Euro

Hong Kong (Dollar)

Hungary (Forint)

Israel (Shekel)

Japan (Yen)

Kuwait(Dinar)

Norway (Krone)

Philippines (Peso)

Poland (Zloty)

Saudi Arabia (Riyal)

Singapore (Dollar)

.3770

1.4172

1.2057

6.4336

6.1027

15.6827

.8207

7.7643

286.74

3.2531

108.89

.3006

8.3385

47.86

3.68

3.7509

1.3305

South Korea (Won)

Switzerland (Franc)

Thailand (Baht)

Turkey (NewLira)

1126.13

.8991

31.36

??8.3792

(Military exchange rates are those available

to customers at military banking facilities in the

country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger?

many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur?

chasing British pounds in Germany), check with

your local military banking facility. Commercial

rates are interbank rates provided for reference

when buying currency. All figures are foreign

currencies to one dollar, except for the British

pound, which is represented in dollars?to?

pound, and the euro, which is dollars?to?euro.)

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate

Interest Rates Discount??rate

Federal funds market rate

3?month bill

30?year bond

3.25

0.75

??0.09

0.01

2.33

WEATHER OUTLOOK

MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC

SUNDAY IN EUROPE

SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Misawa

60/53

Kabul

68/60

Seoul

70/57

Baghdad

96/77

Kandahar

91/56

Kuwait City

99/93

Riyadh

108/76

Bahrain

90/86

Doha

108/77

Brussels

57/45

Lajes,

Azores

60/57

TODAY

IN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11

Comics .........................15

Crossword ................... 15

Lifestyle ...................... 14

Music ..................... 12-13

Opinion ........................ 17

Sports .................... 19-24

Ramstein

60/46

Stuttgart

60/47

Aviano/

Vicenza

62/54

Mor¨®n

78/53

Djibouti

92/78

Drawsko

Pomorskie

54/48

Mildenhall/

Lakenheath

54/39

Rota

70/59

Zagan

59/47

Osan

70/57

Busan

68/63

Sasebo

68/64

Tokyo

75/60

Iwakuni

65/62

Guam

84/81

P¨¢pa

54/51

Naples

76/58

Sigonella

87/48

Okinawa

80/77

Souda Bay

69/61

The weather is provided by the

American Forces Network Weather Center,

2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

? STARS

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PAGE 3

MILITARY

¡®Moving back toward some normalcy¡¯

Families attend Airborne School graduation at

Fort Benning for 1st time since pandemic began

BY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

FORT BENNING, Ga. ¡ª Tim

and Jolie Tallant knew they would

not be able to speak face-to-face

with their son Friday, but that did

not stop them from making the

hourslong drive to watch him graduate from the Army¡¯s Basic Airborne Course.

They cheered from the stands as

an instructor pinned airborne

wings on Army Pvt. Jacob Tallant.

It was the first moment of the 20year-old¡¯s Army career that his

parents were allowed to witness in

person, since he shipped to Basic

Combat Training at Fort Jackson,

S.C., in October amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Fort Benning¡¯s Basic Airborne

Course on Friday held its first public graduation ceremony since

public activities were shut down

military-wide last March as the

pandemic spread around the

globe.

¡°You could tell all along the Army was trying really hard to make

it as good an experience as it can

for the parents under the circumstances,¡± Tim Tallant of Monroe,

Ga., said after the graduation ceremony. He and Jolie had to watch

Jacob graduate from basic and Advanced Individual Training via

livestream on Facebook. ¡°But this,

today ¡ª you can see it in every one

of [the soldiers¡¯] faces, that they get

to see their people [and] how important that is to them. I know I

could see it in his.¡±

It was also an important milestone for the Airborne Course

cadre, said Army Lt. Col. Isaac

Henderson, the commander of 1st

Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which is in charge of

the Airborne Course. Since Hen-

derson took command just eight

months ago, airborne graduations

have been informal events, with

graduates receiving their wings

with little fanfare.

Now, as more Americans have

been vaccinated and coronavirus

infection rates fall nationally and

locally in the area around Fort

Benning, officials this month made

the call to open graduation ceremonies to soldiers¡¯ loved ones. Last

week, Fort Benning held its first

public Basic Combat Training

graduation in more than a year,

and other military installations in

the Army and Marine Corps have

opened some military ceremonies

to the public in recent weeks. Military officials said other installations and services are considering

opening up their graduation ceremonies in the coming months.

The Fort Benning ceremony on

Friday was not a full return to normal. Civilian attendees had to show

proof of coronavirus vaccination or

a negative coronavirus test within

the last three days before they

were allowed into the stadium

seating to view the ceremony.

Traditionally, family members

pin airborne wings onto the graduate¡¯s uniform, but the graduating

class members had to remain in

coronavirus-imposed restrictions

until they leave Fort Benning,

which meant those who attended

could not directly interact with

their loved ones, Henderson said.

Airborne Course attendees must

arrive at Fort Benning two weeks

before their scheduled three-week

class to quarantine. They spend

the entire class restricted to post

and interact only with their classmates and cadre to limit their potential exposure to the deadly virus.

PHOTOS BY COREY DICKSTEIN/Stars and Stripes

Above: Family members watch as soldiers graduate from the Army¡¯s Basic Airborne Course at Fort

Benning, Ga., on Friday. Below: Soldiers stand at attention during the ceremony.

Henderson said he could not

guess Friday how long it would be

until all coronavirus-related restrictions were fully lifted. But Friday¡¯s ceremony marked a big step

forward, he said.

¡°This has come a long way, and

I¡¯m really happy things are moving

back toward some normalcy,¡± he

said. ¡°Right now, we¡¯re just going

to have to wait and see what happens, and when we get the green

light, we¡¯ll have parents and wives

and children back out their pinning the wings on their soldiers,

and that¡¯s going to be another really good day.¡±

For the Tallants, Friday marked

a great day for their family, as they

watched Jacob and 369 others

graduate the Airborne Course.

¡°We¡¯ll take anything we can

get,¡± Tim Tallant said. ¡°We¡¯ve never been so proud as right now. [Jacob] was down a little bit that we

couldn¡¯t attend [graduation] after

boot camp, but now with this one,

he is extremely excited. So, it¡¯s a

huge morale boost for him and, I¡¯d

guess, for all these others here

too.¡±

Jacob, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, will soon go to Fort Campbell, Ky., for his first duty assignment. Jolie Tallant said she had already noted it was about a five-

hour drive from their home east of

Atlanta.

¡°So, not too bad. I¡¯ve already got

it planned out,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ve

got it, and as soon as they say we

can come see him, we¡¯ll be on the

road again.¡±

dickstein.corey@

Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

Army leaders praise ¡®superstar¡¯ soldier after Cruz criticism

BY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

U.S. Army leaders rallied around a soldier featured in a recruitment video clip

that Sen. Ted Cruz mocked as representative of an ¡°emasculated military.¡±

Cruz, a Texas Republican, retweeted a

video Thursday that featured Cpl. Emma

Malonelord, an air defense system operator

stationed in South Korea.

The original video, part of a five-part series called ¡°The Calling,¡± showed an animated depiction of Malonelord¡¯s life and

the reasons why she joined the military.

The Army was ¡°a way to prove my inner

strength and maybe shatter some stereotypes along the way,¡± Malonelord said in

the video, adding that by enlisting, ¡°I answered my calling.¡±

Cruz retweeted a shorter version of the ad

that was juxtaposed with a video of Russian

service members staring menacingly into

the camera.

¡°Holy crap,¡± Cruz said on Twitter to his

4.4 million followers. ¡°Perhaps a woke,

emasculated military is not the best idea.¡±

Cruz¡¯s retweet was shared over 14,500

times and the edited video received over 3

million views. Following his viral tweet, Army leaders expressed support for Malonelord and her service.

U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Robert Abrams called Malonelord a ¡°superstar

by any measure.¡±

¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I met this Corporal a

few months ago during a routine unit visit,¡±

Abrams tweeted Friday. ¡°Exceptionally

sharp, professional, technical expert, highly respected by her peers, superiors and

subordinates.¡±

The Army Enterprise Marketing Office,

which manages the service¡¯s recruitment

efforts, also supported Malonelord¡¯s service and added that ¡°it is important that the

Soldiers featured in the campaign reflect

the incredible diversity of both the Army

and the American public.¡±

¡°We are now seeing the various tweets of

support for Cpl. Malonelord,¡± AEMO public affairs chief Laura DeFrancisco said in a

statement to Stars and Stripes. ¡°She volunteered to tell her story as part of this campaign with the four other Soldiers in ¡®The

Calling.¡¯ We¡¯re glad to see the supportive

comments from those who know and work

with her.¡±

DeFrancisco added that Malonelord ¡°is

grateful for the support she has received

from leaders across the Army.¡±

Cruz addressed the controversy in a separate tweet and said ¡°lefty¡± commentators

on Twitter were ¡°dishonestly claiming¡± he

was disparaging the military.

¡°We have the greatest military on earth,

but Dem politicians & woke media are trying to turn them into pansies,¡± Cruz tweeted.

A spokeswoman for Cruz responded to

Stars and Stripes.

¡°Sen. Cruz passionately supports the

brave men and women of the United States

military and has repeatedly expressed concerns that Democrat politicians, left wing

bureaucrats, and the media are politicizing

our armed forces to promote a fringe woke

agenda based on identity politics,¡± Erin

Perrine wrote in an emailed statement.

¡°Our military should be focused on winning

wars, and we endanger our national security and our servicemembers when they focus on anything else.¡±

choi.david@

Twitter: @choibboy

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Sunday, May 23, 2021

WAR/MILITARY

Hope: Plans for

repatriating some Iraqi

citizens remain unclear

FROM PAGE 1

A U.S. official said the transfer

of people from the camp in northeast Syria is one of a number of issues the U.S. and Iraqi governments are discussing as they work

out a road map for future diplomatic and military relations. The

issue came up during meetings on

Thursday, when McKenzie stopped in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

The official was not authorized to

public discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of

anonymity.

Iraqi leaders earlier this year

talked about repatriating some of

their citizens, but did not follow

through. So the plans for next

week have been met with a bit of

skepticism, and it appeared unclear whether it might be more

than a one-time deal.

The al-Hol camp is home to as

many as 70,000 people ¡ª mostly

women and children ¡ª who have

been displaced by the civil war in

Syria and the battle against the Islamic State. As many as half are

Iraqis. About 10,000 foreigners

are housed in a secure annex, and

many in the camp remain diehard ISIS supporters.

Many countries have refused to

repatriate their citizens who were

among those from around the

world who came to join ISIS after

the extremists declared their caliphate in 2014. The group¡¯s physical hold on territory was ended in

2017, but many countries balk at

repatriating their citizens, fearing

their links to ISIS.

In late March, the main U.S.backed Kurdish-led force in

northeast Syria conducted a fiveday sweep inside al-Hol that was

assisted by U.S. forces. At least 125

suspects were arrested.

Since then, McKenzie said, security has gotten better at the

camp. But, he added, security has

no real impact on the radicalization of the youth there.

¡°That¡¯s what concerns me,¡± he

said as he stood at a base in northeast Syria, not far from the Turkish border. ¡°The ability of ISIS to

reach out, touch these young people and turn them ¡ª in a way that

unless we can find a way to take it

back it¡¯s going to make us pay a

steep price down the road.¡±

As McKenzie crisscrossed eastern Syria, stopping at four U.S.

outposts, his message was short

and direct: U.S. forces remain in

Syria to fight the remnants of ISIS,

so the militants can¡¯t regroup.

Pockets of ISIS are still active,

particularly west of the Euphrates

River in vast stretches of ungoverned territory that are controlled

by the Syrian government led by

President Bashar Assad.

Out there and in the camps, underlying conditions of poverty and

sectarianism that gave rise to ISIS

still exist, said British Brig. Gen.

Richard Bell, the deputy commanding general for the coalition

fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, who traveled with McKenzie.

McKenzie said it was important

to keep the pressure on ISIS because the militants still have ¡°an

aspirational goal to attack the

United States homeland. We want

to prevent that from happening.¡±

He spoke to reporters from The

Associated Press and ABC News

who agreed because of security

concerns not to report on the Syria

trip until they left the country. As

he spoke, a row of M-2 Bradley

fighting vehicles were lined up behind him ¡ª a reminder of clashes

U.S. forces had last year with Russian troops in the north.

But he said they also represented America¡¯s continued commitment to the mission in Syria, to assist the SDF in the battle against

ISIS.

BADERKHAN AHMAD/AP

Women and children gather in front their tents at al?Hol camp that houses some 60,000 refugees, in?

cluding families and supporters of the Islamic State group, many of them foreign nationals, in Hasakeh

province, Syria, on May 1.

US Marine commander says more work

needed to counter small drone attacks

Associated Press

BAGHDAD ¡ª A month after

an explosives-laden drone targeted U.S. forces at an Iraq base,

the top American commander

for the Middle East says finding

better ways to counter such attacks is a top priority, and the

United States is still behind the

curve on solutions.

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie

told reporters traveling with

him that the use of small drones

by Iranian-backed militia is only going to grow in the next few

years. He spent the day in Iraq

on Thursday, but for security

reasons, media accompanying

him were not allowed to report

on his visit until after he left the

region.

The drones, which are cheap

and easy to buy, are often difficult to detect and problematic to

defeat. McKenzie said the U.S.

must find more ways to counter

their use by America¡¯s enemies

in the Middle East and elsewhere.

¡°We¡¯re working very hard to

find technical fixes that would

allow us to be more effective

against drones,¡± McKenzie said.

Efforts are underway, he said, to

look for ways to cut command

and control links between a

drone and its operator, improve

radar sensors to quickly identify

the threat as it approaches, and

find effective electronic and kinetic ways to bring them down.

He added that fencing and high

netting can also be used as protective measures.

¡°We¡¯re open to all kinds of

things,¡± he said. ¡°The Army is

working it very hard. Still, I

don¡¯t think we¡¯re where we want

to be.¡±

In mid-April, a drone targeted

U.S.-led coalition forces near a

northern Iraq airport, causing a

large fire and damage to a building. There were no casualties.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The U.S.

has blamed Iran-backed militia

groups for previous attacks,

most of them rockets that have

targeted the American presence

in Baghdad, the capital, and military bases across Iraq.

Overall attacks against coalition troops have been frequent

since a U.S.-directed drone

strike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani near the Baghdad airport last year. Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack.

The strike drew the ire of mostly

Shiite Iraqi lawmakers and

prompted parliament to pass a

nonbinding resolution to pressure the Iraqi government to

oust foreign troops from the

country.

Speed: Group of senators call on Biden to authorize visas for Afghans

FROM PAGE 1

pathway for Afghan interpreters, contractors, and other personnel to safely reach the

U.S. and eventually gain citizenship.

The legislation, titled the ¡°Honoring Our

Promises through Expedition for Afghan

SIVs Act of 2021,¡± aims to remove one bureaucratic hurdle that some applicants face

in completing a medical exam.

One facility in Kabul, Afghanistan¡¯s capital, conducts all immigrant visa examinations for the country, which forces some

people who live outside the city to travel

there under dangerous circumstances, the

lawmakers said.

¡°In many cases, it¡¯s untenable for them to

remain in their home country due to active

death threats for helping America, and our

interpreters and other local allies are in

mortal danger,¡± Wenstrup said.

David Helvey, acting assistant defense

secretary for the Indo-Pacific region, said

Thursday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the Pentagon is working

with the State Department to look at how to

improve the program.

¡°That program in and of itself is limited.

We'd like to be able to work with Congress to

be able to increase the quotas and the resources for Special Immigrant Visas,¡± Helvey said.

The fiscal year 2020 National Defense

Authorization Act, which sets annual

spending and policy priorities for the Pentagon, added 4,000 more visas to the program. Yet, almost 19,000 applications were

stalled as of September 2019, according to

the 2020 review of the program by the State

Department.

At the House hearing last week, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., a former Army Green

Beret who served multiple deployments in

Afghanistan, called for these Afghans to be

evacuated out immediately.

A group of 20 senators, including Sen.

Jack Reed, D-R.I., chairman of the Senate

Armed Services Committee, wrote a letter

Tuesday to President Joe Biden urging him

to authorize at least 20,000 additional visas

for fiscal year 2022 ¡°to begin to account for

the individuals who are at risk of retaliation

for their work in support of the U.S. mission

in Afghanistan.¡±

The senators also asked Biden to review

an evacuation plan for SIV applicants who

have pending applications ¡°who may face

extreme danger in Afghanistan until the adjudication of their applications.¡±

Biden has been quiet on the issue so far,

but Bloomberg reported recently that the

White House plans to present options to advocates and members of Congress soon, including a mass evacuation where applicants can be processed in a safe location.

Cammarata.Sarah@

Twitter: @sarahjcamm

Sunday, May 23, 2021

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PAGE 5

MILITARY

Marines, sailors

return to US after

7 months overseas

BY ANDREW DYER

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Photos by Susan Walsh/AP

Korean wall will

honor the fallen

Above: South Korean President Moon

Jae?in, left, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd

Austin look at a replica of a section of the

Wall of Remembrance at the Korean War

Veterans Memorial in Washington on Friday

during a groundbreaking ceremony. Right:

Moon talks with Chairman Emeritus of the

Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation,

Col. William Weber, U.S. Army retired. The

wall will display the names of the U.S.

military and Korean Augmentation to the

U.S. Army personnel who gave their lives

defending South Korea¡¯s people.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. ¡ª

After a seven-month deployment

to the Middle East and Africa, the

more than 5,000 Marines and sailors of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit began disembarking at

Camp Pendleton on Friday, the

Marines said in a statement.

The MEU includes the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship

Makin Island and amphibious

transport docks Somerset and San

Diego. The sailors and Marines deployed in November.

The unit supported the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Somalia as

well as operations in Iraq and Syria. After its combat support and

training missions, the unit sailed to

Alaska this month to participate in

a joint training exercise ¡ª meaning the unit went from the hot, desert climes of the Persian Gulf to the

cold waters of the Arctic.

¡°The 15th MEU and Makin Island ARG deployed during an unprecedented pandemic and demonstrated the ability of the Navy

and Marine Corps team to successfully and safely execute operations in a COVID-19 environment,¡± said Col. Fridrik Fridriksson, the commanding officer of the

MEU, in a statement. ¡°I am so in-

credibly proud of the professionalism, toughness and mental resiliency demonstrated by our Marines and Sailors.¡±

The months preceding the deployment were marred by disaster.

The unit was training for deployment near San Clemente Island in July when a Marine assault

amphibious vehicle suffered a series of catastrophic mechanical

failures and sank, killing nine

young service members. A Marine

Corps investigation found the

unit¡¯s AAVs were in poor repair

and should not have been in the

water that day. Additionally, the

Marines and sailors of the battalion landing team were not properly trained in waterborne evacuations.

The Marines opened another investigation in April to focus on the

formation of the 15th MEU after

outcry from family members of

some service members killed in

the accident. Marine Expeditionary Units consist of Marines from

across different commands, such

as infantry, aviation and supply

who come together to train and deploy. The investigation is examining how training and material

readiness impacted the unit¡¯s formation, the Marines said.

Commission head: Process of renaming bases will ¡®take some time¡¯

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON ¡ª The leader of a congressionally mandated commission ordered to examine the renaming of Defense Department assets that honor the Confederacy said

Friday that the group is still working on criteria for the

process, and a decision on what names need to change will

not be made until October 2022.

The eight commissioners, appointed in February, have

until October 2022 to develop procedures, nominate assets

to be renamed and suggest new names, said retired Navy

Adm. Michelle Howard, the commission¡¯s chairwoman.

So far, the group has identified 10 installations to consider

renaming and are working on the renaming criteria before

meeting with leaders at candidate bases in the coming

months.

The bases in question, all in former Confederate states,

were named during the 1910s and 1940s amid the south¡¯s

Jim Crow era. They are Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia,

Fort Rucker in Alabama, and Fort Hood in Texas.

Howard said the commission will also consider Fort Belvoir in Virginia, which was named after Union Army Gen.

Andrew A. Humphreys from 1917-1935 before it was renamed in 1935 after the family who owned the plantation on

which the installation now sits.

Congress mandated the commission in the 2021 National

Defense Authorization Act, which sets annual spending and

policy priorities for the Defense Department, as Army and

Pentagon leaders began looking at stripping bases of Confederate-linked names last year amid a nationwide racial

Library of Congress

There are 10 U.S. Army posts named after men who were

Confederate generals during the Civil War. Top row, from

left: Braxton Bragg, George Edward Pickett, Henry

Benning, A.P. Hill and Leonidas Polk. Bottom row, from

left: John Brown Gordon, John Bell Hood, Robert E. Lee,

Edmund Rucker and Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.

reckoning after the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd

by Minneapolis police.

But it¡¯s not just military bases that are eligible for change.

The congressional mandate requires all Defense Department assets named to honor the Confederate States of

America ¡ª from ships and buildings to streets and facilities

¡ª to be renamed, Howard said.

¡°We understand, based on the extensiveness of the assets, this is going to take some time,¡± she said Friday. ¡°The

commission was built out over a lengthy time frame up until

October ¡®22, giving us time to account from local sensibilities [and] work our way through what potentially could be

a big inventory list.¡±

The commission plans to first visit the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Military Academy in

West Point, N.Y., where they will ¡°meet with local stakeholders to develop procedures and criteria that incorporate

local sensitivities to renaming these assets,¡± Howard said.

Though Howard did not name specific assets on the academies¡¯ campuses for review, two buildings and one road at

the naval academy are named after senior officers in the

Confederate navy, and a gate and barracks building at West

Point are named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

While most of those Army bases are named after Confederate generals from the Civil War, the commission is looking at all assets with possible ties to the Confederacy. To do

so, Howard said the group must study the historical context

behind each asset¡¯s naming.

For example, Howard said the commission plans to research the intention behind the naming of the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam, which commemorates the Sept.

17, 1862, Civil War battle in Maryland.

¡°It depends on whether or not you see Antietam as a

Union victory. Does it honor the Confederacy in any way?¡±

Howard said. ¡°So, that needs more exploration behind why

what the ship was named.¡±

After the commission submits its report in October 2022,

the Pentagon will have until Jan. 1, 2024, to implement the

changes, according to the 2021 NDAA.

doornbos.caitlin@

Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

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