Prosecutors Say Soldier Accused of Murder Shook Son to Death
ANSBACH, Germany -- The injuries sustained by a baby who died under his father's care aren't consistent with an accidental fall, a doctor said during the court-martial of a soldier on murder charges Tuesday.

Defense attorneys said during opening arguments late Monday that Staff Sgt. Brian P. Johnston, 37, left his 2-month-old child, Lukas, briefly unattended at night when the child rolled off an ottoman and sustained fatal injuries in 2015.

Jennifer Woehlker, a German pediatrician and prosecution witness, testified at the U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach courtroom on Tuesday that she observed the baby breathing erratically and obviously injured following the incident.

Woehlker stepped down from the stand and drew a diagram showing two bruises on Lukas' forehead, both ears and several smaller bruises on the face.

"If a child falls, they would have one bruise on one spot, if any," Woehlker said. "I can't see how a child could have two bruises on opposite sides of the head from a fall off an (ottoman)."

Prosecutors have accused Johnston of causing abusive head trauma, also known as "shaken baby syndrome."

However, Woehlker's testimony conflicted with an earlier statement, defense attorney Aaron Meyer said. Four months after the incident, Woehlker's statement to police reported only one bruise on the baby's forehead, among the baby's injuries.

Woehlker said during questioning by Meyer that she may have misremembered the extent of the injuries.

The baby's overall condition, the timing of the incident and the injuries led her to believe that abuse was probable, Woehlker said later following a question from the military jury.

A CT scan showed bleeding in Lukas' brain and behind the eyes, which are common symptoms of shaken baby syndrome, prosecutor Capt. Alexander Hess said during opening arguments Monday.

"Bruises on the forehead and both ears. Bilateral retinal hemorrhaging. Brain trauma," Hess said. "The evidence is going to show you that when baby Lukas sustained these injuries (he) was under the sole care of the accused, Staff. Sgt. Johnston."

Meyer described shaken baby syndrome as a default diagnosis that parents, usually fathers, are accused of when doctors don't know what caused an injury.

"It's a myth," Meyer said. "They say if you find the triad (retinal hemorrhaging, bruises and bleeding of the brain) then it's shaken baby syndrome. You can't do that anymore. They say because (Brian) was there, that he did it. But he didn't beat his baby to death. The Johnstons loved their baby."

The baby was in fragile health -- diagnosed with Down syndrome, a hole in his heart, eye problems and "failure to thrive," or grow and gain weight, Meyer said.

"Lucas was suffering from conditions, not one, but plural," said Meyer. "When you face these factors, a fall that might not normally be severe can become severe quickly."

Hess rejected that contention.

"We're going to ask you to rely on common sense, on whether a 15-inch fall off an ottoman can cause all the symptoms we've mentioned," Hess said. "What caused these symptoms was the intentional use of force on the infant. Assault."

 

Navy Has First Female Applicants for SEAL Officer, Special Boat Units

More than a year after a mandate for the Pentagon opened previously closed ground combat and special operations jobs to women, officials say the Navy has its first female candidates for its most elite special warfare roles.

Two women were in boot camp as candidates for the Navy's all-enlisted Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman program, Naval Special Warfare Center Deputy Commander Capt. Christian Dunbar told members of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service in June.

Another woman, who sources say is a female midshipman now in her junior year at the Naval Academy, has applied for a spot in the SEAL officer selection process for fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, and is set to complete an early step in the pipeline, special operations assessment and selection, later this summer, he said.

"That's a three-week block of instruction," Dunbar said. "Then the [prospective SEAL officer] will compete like everyone else, 160 [applicants] for only 100 spots."

A spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Command, Capt. Jason Salata, confirmed to Military.com this week that a single female enlisted candidate remained in the training pipeline for Special Warfare Combatant Crewman, or SWCC. The accession pipeline for the job, he added, included several screening evaluations and then recruit training at the Navy's Great Lakes, Illinois boot camp before Basic Underwater Demolition School training.

Salata also confirmed that a female midshipman is set to train with other future Naval officers in the SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection, or SOAS, course this summer.

"[SOAS] is part of the accession pipeline to become a SEAL and the performance of attendees this summer will be a factor for evaluation at the September SEAL Officer Selection Panel," he said.

Because of operational security concerns, Salata said the Navy would not identify the candidates or provide updates on their progress in the selection pipeline. In special operations, where troops often guard their identities closely to keep a low profile on missions, public attention in the training pipeline could affect a candidate's career.

It's possible, however, that the first female member of these elite communities will come not from the outside, but from within. In October, a SWCC petty officer notified their chain-of-command that they identified as being transgender, Salata confirmed to Military.com.

According to Navy policy guidance released last fall, a sailor must receive a doctor's diagnosis of medical necessity and command approval to begin the gender transition process, which can take a variety of different forms, from counseling and hormone therapy to surgery. Sailors must also prove they can pass the physical standards and requirements of the gender to which they are transitioning.

These first female candidates represent a major milestone for the Navy, which has previously allowed women into every career field except the SEALs and SWCC community. A successful candidate would also break ground for military special operations.

Army officials said in January that a woman had graduated Ranger school and was on her way to joining the elite 75th Ranger Regiment, but no female soldier has made it through the selection process to any other Army special operations element. The Air Force and Marine Corps have also seen multiple female candidates for special operations, but have yet to announce a successful accession.

The two women now preparing to enter the Navy's special operations training pipeline will have to overcome some of the most daunting attrition rates in any military training process

Dunbar said the SEALs, which graduate six Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL classes per year, have an average attrition rate of 73 to 75 percent, while the special boat operator community has an average attrition rate of 63 percent. The attrition rate for SEAL officers is significantly lower, though; according to the Navy's 2015 implementation plan for women in special warfare, up to 65 percent of SEAL officer candidates successfully enter the community.

But by the time they make it to that final phase of training, candidates have already been weeded down ruthlessly. Navy officials assess prospective special warfare operators and special boat operators, ranking them by their scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, physical readiness test, special operations resiliency test, and a mental toughness exam. The highest-ranking candidates are then assessed into training, based on how many spots the Navy has available at that point.

"We assess right now that, with the small cohorts of females, we don't really know what's going to happen as far as expected attrition," Dunbar, the Naval Special Warfare Center deputy commander, told DACOWITS in June.

Dunbar did say, however, that Naval Special Warfare Command was considered fully ready for its first female SEALs and SWCC operators, whenever they ultimately arrived. A cadre of female staff members was in place in the training pipeline, and the command regularly held all-hands calls to discuss inclusivity and integration.

"All the barriers have been removed," he said. "Our planning has been completed and is on track."

Salata said the Navy had also completed a thorough review of its curriculum and policies and had evaluated facilities and support capabilities to determine any changes that might need to be made to accommodate women. As a result, he said, minor changes were made to lodging facilities and approved uniform items.

Nonetheless, Salata said, "It would be premature to speculate as to when we will see the first woman SEAL or SWCC graduate. Managing expectations is an important part of the deliberate assessment and selection process; it may take months and potentially years."

 

I posted this elsewhere but think that this thread has more stamina and will post it here too since I have no plans to let this thread fade away just yet .

Soldiers Could Be Headed Downrange With New Body Armor By 2018
There’s some good news for those with a deployment on the horizon: You could be among the first to receive the Army’s new armor — and unlike its predecessors, this one is lighter and scalable. Part of the Soldier Protection System, it includes a new ballistic helmet and eye protection that can switch from clear to dark shades in under a second. But the real standout is likely to be the new body armor.

Related: The Army Just Started Producing Its Brand New Ballistics Helmet »

The new armor could start making its way to forward deployed troops — they’ll receive it first — between 2018 and 2021, according to Army Times. The improved outer tactical vest currently does the job of protecting soldiers’ vital areas, but it weighs in at 26 pounds. The replacement, called the torso and extremity protection, or TEP system, is 5 pounds lighter and is designed to be scalable for the mission at hand.


The TEP system comes with scalable vest, ballistic combat shirt, pelvic protection system, and battle belt, all which can be worn at once — or not, if the mission doesn’t call for it. According to Army Times, production on the TEP will likely begin in May, and if all goes well, soldiers could get issued the new armor by late 2018.

Depending on the threat level facing deployed troops, the armor can be scaled from a concealable vest, all the way up to its highest level, which offers the same protection provided by the IOTV — but again, with less weight and a more flexible configuration.

Heading into the shit? Then you may be rocking the highest level of protection. On the other hand, if you’re doing some super secret-squirrel stuff, you may just sport the concealable vest with ballistic inserts, which pairs well with a jacket, operator hat, and beard.

 

Latest Rassian gearhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCL6OKrSVdg

 

Russian Specia forse close fight traininhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B15Dk2eFhU

 

Some of a knife fight defence.

 

US detects 'highly unusual' North Korean submarine activity

The US military has detected "highly unusual and unprecedented levels" of North Korean submarine activity and evidence of an "ejection test" in the days following Pyongyang's second intercontinental ballistic missile launch this month, a defense official told CNN on Monday.
An ejection test examines a missile's "cold-launch system," which uses high pressure steam to propel a missile out of the launch canister into the air before its engines ignite. That helps prevent flames and heat from the engine from damaging either the submarine, submersible barge or any nearby equipment used to launch the missile.
Carried out on land at Sinpo Naval Shipyard, Sunday's ejection test is the third time this month -- and fourth this year -- that North Korea has conducted a trial of the missile component that is critical to developing submarine launch capabilities, according to the US defense official.
North Korea tested its longest-ranging missile. Now what?

US officials also noted that a North Korean Sang-O submarine was operating in the Yellow Sea and the length of its deployment was notable. Two Romeo submarines were detected in the waters off Japan -- each one operating in the area for about a week.
Coupled with reports of increased submarine activity, news of another ejection test comes amid concerns over North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears to have the range to hit major US cities on Friday.
Experts believe if Friday's test had been fired on a flatter, standard trajectory, it could have threatened cities like Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago.
President Donald Trump told reporters at his second full Cabinet meeting that his administration will be able to take care of North Korea but offered no specifics about what he plans to do.
"We will handle North Korea. We are gonna be able to handle them. It will be handled. We handle everything," Trump said after a reporter asked him about his strategy.
Asked if the US would strike first, Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that "all options are on the table," adding that Trump would not "broadcast" his decisions.

Democrat Sen. Mark Warner said on "Erin Burnett Out Front" Monday that Trump showed "enormous naiveté" by suggesting the nuclear threat from North Korea could be handled so simply.



North Korea's submarine fleet is believed to encompass about 70 subs, though the majority are quite old and likely cannot fire missiles.
When taken together, these developments are concerning because North Korea says it is trying to develop a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the United States.
Pyongyang has long maintained the ability to legitimately threaten the United States with a nuclear attack is the only way to protect itself against any US-led attempts at regime change.
Land-based and submarine-based missiles are considered two-thirds of what is known as the "Strategic Triad," a theory that a state must have land, air and sea-based nuclear attack capabilities to successfully deter an enemy from trying to attack it.
The current US intelligence assessment is that the missile program aboard submarines remains in the very early stages.
CNN reported earlier this month that North Korea had sent a diesel-powered Romeo Class sub on an unprecedented patrol and had been outfitting its Gorae Sub with a possible missile launch demonstration tube.

Two US defense officials told CNN at the time that the North Korean Romeo-class submarine was engaged in "unusual deployment activity" in the waters off the coast of Japan and was patrolling farther that it has ever gone, sailing some 100 kilometers out to sea in international waters.
The submarine's activity was different than the typical training activity usually observed closer to shore, according to the officials.

That activity caused US and South Korean forces to slightly raise their alert level, according to one official.
The US military pays close attention to North Korean submarine activity following the 2010 Cheonan incident where a North Korean sub torpedoed a South Korean Naval vessel.
Last summer, North Korea conducted what experts believed was its first successful submarine missile test, firing a missile called the the KN-11 or Pukguksong-1.

 

Russia test n it s new arms in Syria...http://www.businessinsider.com/russ...rminator-to-syria-heres-what-it-can-do-2017-8

 

US marine converoplan crashed at Australia, no info of casualties

 

I have put in a request to take a small specialized black ops unit to assist in this fight . Sitting idle is not what I signed up for so I am ready to go where there are real fighters to exterminate unlike here where you armchair warriors attack each other with words while in the comfort of your cozy warm houses pecking away at your keyboards . I'm sure our site lord will have his say soon enough but like he really means shit to anything .

 

Australian navy finds crashed US military aircraft with three Marines dead
Missing Osprey found off coast of Queensland after 26 crew members were rescued on Saturday and dive teams are preparing to recover aircraft




Dive teams are preparing to recover the submerged wreckage a US military aircraft that went down in waters off the central Queensland coast, leaving three Marines presumed dead.

The tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey plunged into the sea at Shoalwater Bay, near Rockhampton, during a scheduled military exercise on Saturday.

Late on Monday, Defence Minister Marise Payne said the HMAS Melville had located the aircraft.

The Royal Australian Navy dive clearance team finalised recovery plans with the US Marine Corps and US Navy, a spokesperson for the USMC said on Monday night.

“The dive team plans to commence recovery operations using a remote operating vehicle this evening,” they said.

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The commanding general of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General Lawrence Nicholson, thanked the Australian Defence Force for their help in the recovery efforts.

“They volunteered their help before we could even ask, demonstrating their friendship and value as international partners,” Lt Gen Nicholson said.

“The crew of the Melville and its assets have been invaluable in the recovery effort. On behalf of the Marines, sailors, and families of III MEF, I thank you for your support.”

The Osprey took off from the USS Bonhomme Richard on Saturday afternoon before it reportedly smashed into the deck of the transport ship USS Green Bay while trying to land. There were 26 people aboard the aircraft, but only 23 were rescued.

Osprey crew chief Corporal Nathan Ordway and Lieutenant Benjamin Robert Cross have been identified as two of the three missing Marines.

Corp Ordway’s sister Taylor asked people to pray for her brother and the two other crew members in a post on the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Facebook page.


US military plane crash: search for missing crew in Queensland turns to 'recovery effort'
Read more
Ryan Cross confirmed his younger brother was one of the people unaccounted for during an interview with CBS Radio in the US.

Cross said his brother always knew he wanted to be a pilot in the military.

“It had been his dream,” he told CBS on Sunday.

Cross said his brother was devoted to his family and the Marine Corps, but would also do anything for anybody who needed help.

“He’s the type of friend everybody wishes they had and the type of person everybody wishes they knew,” he said.

Payne said earlier that recovery efforts would be difficult and it was feared the mission could drag on for months. The latest incident is the 10th known crash involving an Osprey – an aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an aeroplane – since 1991.

The Japan Times reported on Monday the country’s defence minister had asked the US to stop flying the MV-22 in its air space, because of concerns over safety.

 

North Korea vows 'thousands-fold' revenge on US over sanctions
North Korea has vowed to exact “thousands-fold” revenge against the US after the UN imposed new sanctions in response to its recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, the government said the sanctions were a “violent violation of our sovereignty” and part of a “heinous plot to isolate and stifle” the country.

The UN security council unanimously backed new sanctions on Saturday that could slash the regime’s $3bn in annual export revenue by a third. The measures target key revenue earners such as coal, iron, lead and seafood – but not oil.

Pyongyang threatened to take “righteous action”, describing the sanctions as a crime for which the US would pay “thousands of times”.

The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said on Monday that North Korea should halt missile launches if it wanted to negotiate.

The UN measures forbid China, Russia and other countries from hiring any more North Korean labourers, whose remittances help fund the regime, and prohibit joint ventures with the country and any new investment in existing business partnerships.

The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, described the measures as “the single largest economic sanctions package ever levelled” against North Korea.

In a telephone call on Monday, the US president, Donald Trump, and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, agreed that Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes “pose a grave and growing direct threat” and vowed to apply maximum pressure on the regime.

Speaking to reporters in the Philippines capital, Manila, on the sidelines of a regional conference where Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions have dominated discussions, Tillerson said “the best signal that North Korea could give us that they’re prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches.

“When the conditions are right, then we can sit and have a dialogue around the future of North Korea so they feel secure and prosper economically,” he said, adding that unspecified “other means of communications” were open to Pyongyang.

Tillerson appeared to go to some length, however, to avoid being in the same room as his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, even skipping a dinner on Sunday.

Ri told the Manila conference that additional sanctions would not force Pyongyang into negotiations over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, according to a copy of his speech handed to reporters by a spokesman.

“We will not put our self-defensive nuclear deterrent on the negotiating table … and will never take a single step back from strengthening our nuclear might,” Ri said.



The statement said North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July proved that the entire US was in its firing range, and that those missiles were a legitimate means of self-defence.

Responsibility for the crisis on the Korean peninsula lay solely with Washington, Ri said, adding that North Korea was “ready to teach the US a severe lesson with its nuclear strategic force”.

He did not indicate what action North Korea was considering in response to the new UN sanctions.

Tillerson’s trip to Manila is part of an effort to persuade countries attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting to push Pyongyang to end its nuclear plans.

Pressure on China, North Korea’s main ally and by far its biggest trading partner, to sign up to and enforce more robust sanctions has mounted since the regime conducted two ICBM tests last month.

Many experts believe Pyongyang is still some way off being able to mount a miniaturised nuclear warhead on a long-range missile, but the regime now has missiles that are theoretically capable of striking the US mainland.

The KCNA alluded to North Korea’s new capability on Monday, saying: “There is no bigger mistake than the United States believing that its land is safe across the ocean.”

The White House said in a statement that Trump and Moon had agreed that advances in North Korean missile technology, achieved despite eight rounds of multilateral sanctions in the past 11 years, posed “a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, South Korea and Japan, as well as to most countries around the world”.

In an hour-long phone call on Monday, the leaders said they would continue to apply pressure to the North. Joint US-South Korean military exercises this month are expected to provoke an angry response.

Moon, who supports cautious engagement with North Korea, told Trump the door should remain open to dialogue, provided Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear programme, according to presidential office spokesman Park Su-hyun.

In a Twitter post, Trump said he was “very happy and impressed with 15-0 United Nations vote” on the sanctions, but China has said any punitive actions targeting North Korea must “avoid bringing disaster” to the economically fragile state.

In a front-page commentary on Monday, the overseas edition of the ruling Communist party’s official People’s Daily said sanctions must be employed with precision.

“Sanctions to the greatest possible extent must avoid causing negative impacts to ordinary people and to third countries, and avoid bringing disaster to the country in question’s normal and legal trade and business exchanges with the outside world, people’s normal lives and the humanitarian situation,” the paper said.

“A precision blow is the essential part of sanctions.”

 

Trump signs bill to fund veterans medical care program

President Donald Trump has signed an emergency spending bill that will pump more than $2 billion into a program that allows veterans to receive private medical care at government expense.

Trump, who made improving veterans care a central campaign promise, signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act while at his New Jersey golf club on Saturday. The bill, which addresses a budget shortfall at the Department of Veteran Affairs that threatened medical care for thousands of veterans, provides $2.1 billion to continue funding the Veterans Choice Program, which allows veterans to seek private care.

Another $1.8 billion will go to core VA health programs, including 28 leases for new VA medical facilities.

"Today is another milestone in our work to transform the VA where we're doing record-setting business," Trump said.

The Choice program was put in place after a 2014 wait-time scandal that was discovered at the Phoenix VA hospital and spread throughout the country. Veterans waited weeks or months for appointments while phony records covered up the lengthy waits.

The program allows veterans to receive care from outside doctors if they must wait at least 30 days for an appointment or drive more than 40 miles to a VA facility. VA Secretary David Shulkin has warned that without legislative action, the Choice program would run out of money by mid-August, causing delays in health care for thousands of veterans.

The bill will extend the program for six months. Costs will be paid for by trimming pensions for some Medicaid-eligible veterans and collecting fees for housing loans.

Veterans groups applauded the bill being signed, though some criticized the delay and the cost.

"We're grateful President Trump is taking decisive action to ensure veterans using the Choice Program won't see lapses in their care due to a lack of funding," said Dan Caldwell, policy director for Concerned Veterans for America. "Unfortunately, this bill took far too long to get to the president's desk and is $1.8 billion more expensive than it needed to be."

Leaders of the House Veterans Affairs Committee said the six-month funding plan was urgently needed and would give Congress more time to debate broader issues over the VA's future. While the bill may avert a shutdown to Choice, disputes over funding may signal bigger political fights to come.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump criticized the VA for long wait times and mismanagement, saying he would give veterans more options in seeing outside providers. Shulkin announced the budget shortfall last month, citing unexpected demand from veterans for private care and poor budget planning. To slow spending, the department last month instructed VA medical centers to limit the number of veterans it sent to private doctors.

Currently, more than 30 percent of VA appointments are in the private sector, up from fewer than 20 percent in 2014. The VA has an annual budget of about $180 billion.

 

That's great for veterans but what about everyone else ?

 

The choice program is for veterans who live 40 miles from a VA medical center, or cannot get an appointment within 30 days

 

It's a start in the right direction.

 

Another campaign promise fulfilled.

 

Blackhawk Down:

A Blackhawk helicopter has crashed off the island of Oahu with 5 personnel believed to be aboard. The Coast Guard is doing a search and rescue/recovery currently and details are slowly coming in.