The National Guard Bureau made the request Friday, Jan. 9, as a result of increased operational requirements and growing participant estimates. Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard, and Airmen from the 185th Air Refueling Wing and 132nd Fighter Wing, Iowa Air National Guard, will be activated in mid-January. Officials anticipate the service men and women be activated for 10 days with duties to include crowd management, traffic control, personnel support and transportation.

Members from the following Iowa Army and Air National Guard units will be activated for the inauguration mission (number of Soldiers or Airmen per unit are approximate):

Boone

• Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (45 Soldiers)

Camp Dodge, Johnston

• Troop A, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (55 Soldiers)
• Troop B, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (40 Soldiers)
• Company C, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (40 Soldiers)
• Company B, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (30 Soldiers)

Carroll

• Company A, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (55 Soldiers)

Des Moines

• 132nd Fighter Wing (40 Airmen)

LeMars

• Troop C, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (85 Soldiers)

Sioux City

• Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (90 Soldiers)
• Troop D, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (65 Soldiers)
• 185th Air Refueling Wing (40 Airmen)

Cedar Rapids

• Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (140 Soldiers)

Dubuque

• Company A, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (100 Soldiers)

Davenport

• Company A, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (55 Soldiers)

Council Bluffs

• Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (85 Soldiers)

Denison

• Company D, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (40 Soldiers)

Red Oak

• Company F, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (15 Soldiers)

Shenandoah

• Company B, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (90 Soldiers)

A total of approximately 7,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from at least eight states will supplement security, communications, medical evacuation and other support during the presidential inauguration period.

“I have visited the troops in Afghanistan twice before, and on this trip had the special opportunity to give thanks and celebrate our country’s values as embodied in the Thanksgiving holiday with our troops,” Loebsack said in a prepared statement upon his return. “It was inspiring to be a part of this celebration, and I felt honored to have the opportunity to personally thank the brave and selfless men and women serving in our armed services for their service and sacrifice during this holiday season.”

Loebsack hand delivered letters from Iowa school children, as well as pre-paid telephone cards provided by the United Service Organizations (USO). He also met with military and civilian leaders on the ground to receive an update on operations and readiness needs.

Other members of Congress to make the trip were House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) and U.S. Reps. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam).

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain’s haul.

Among all military personnel (deployed and not deployed), Obama beat McCain in contributions by about $55,000.  This is a reversal of conventional wisdom, which generally holds that the military is more Republican than Democratic.

By that same token, I also believe that when veterans or the families of veterans choose to speak of their experiences, the nation should stop and listen with grave intent.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs recently held a meeting on sexual assault in the military. My hat is off to U.S. Reps. Louise Slaughter of New York and Jane Harman of California for providing testimony at the hearing. My heart broke while listening to the testimony of Mary Lauterbach, the mother of murdered Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, and Ingrid Torres, a Red Cross worker who was raped while serving in Korea.

Merle Wilberding, an attorney for the Lauterbach family and Iowa native, wrote an editorial for Iowa Independent that was published Monday.

The horrific facts surrounding the murder have overshadowed underlying allegations of sexual assault and the Marines’ responses to those allegations. I believe that Maria Lauterbach would be alive today if the Marines had provided a more effective system to protect victims of sexual assault, a more effective support program, and a more expeditious investigation and prosecution system.

Six months before her murder, Maria Lauterbach filed a rape claim against [Marine Cpl. Cesar] Laurean, a superior in her unit at Camp Lejeune. The period while the claim was pending was a nightmare for Maria. She was subjected to intimidation and harassment. She was sucker-punched in the face one evening. Another evening, her brand new car was keyed – or rather screw-drivered – from bumper to bumper.

Her real concerns were that her superiors and the NCIS investigators did not believe her. Worse yet, she was compelled to be in meetings and formations with her assailant, and she was unsuccessful in getting a base transfer. Finally, she told her mother, Mary Lauterbach, that she just wanted it to go away…

In the last six months I have been contacted by more than a dozen families and support groups, all seeking specific help for women in the military who have been sexually assaulted. The stories have been virtually identical – the complaining victim becomes isolated, taunted, and tormented. She is not guided or directed to appropriate support programs, she does not feel protected from her assailant, and she finds herself treated as the guilty party, not the victim.

The fourth annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military (PDF file), completed by the Department of Defense, cites 2,688 cases of sexual assault by military personnel in the 2007 fiscal year. Because of the reasons Wilberding outlines in his editorial, these statistics are suspected to be low. And, in contrast to civil proceedings where 40 percent of arrested rape suspects are prosecuted, the Department of Defense reports that only 8 percent of those investigated for sexual assault were referred to courts martial.

During the course of testimony, Harman said physicians at a California Veterans Affairs hospital told her that 41 percent of female veterans treated there were victims of sexual assault. In addition, the doctors said that 29 percent of all treated female veterans had been raped. Harman has introduced a bill that would compel the DOD to create a strategy to both investigate and prosecute sexual assault charges in the military. It also calls for improved protections for victims who report such crimes.

For her part, Slaughter announced that she would re-introduce the Military Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Act, which creates an Office of Victim Advocates within the DOD, improves counseling programs and enhances confidentiality for those who report sexual abuse.

While we must applaud both congresswomen for bringing their findings to the hearing, we also must admonish them for continuing to try to play by the rules of a failed system. The Department of Defense already has an Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response:

“The Department of Defense does not tolerate sexual assault and has implemented a comprehensive policy that reinforces a culture of prevention, response and accountability that ensures the safety, dignity and well-being of all members of the Armed Forces. Our men and women serving throughout the world deserve nothing less, and their leaders — military and civilian — are committed to maintaining a workplace environment that rejects sexual assault and attitudes that promote such behaviors.”

Dr. Kaye Whitley, director of the office, was ordered by her superior, Michael Dominguez, to ignore a congressional subpoena and did not testify at the hearing — a hearing on the very topic she is paid to address each and every day. When questioned by Rep. John Tierney of Massachusetts, the chairman of the subcommittee, Dominguez, while not asserting executive privilege, said that he gave Whitley a direct order to not appear before or answer to Congress.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Harman said when asked about Whitley’s absence. “The leadership starts at the top, and there’s clearly a major problem at the Department of Defense. There’s an epidemic of assaults and rapes against military women by U.S. soldiers. They’re more likely to be raped and assaulted than they are to be killed in Iraq. And the Defense Department has to send its top people up here to help Congress oversee and decide what to do about this problem.”

While sexual assault and rape are not games, we all understand that politics, for the most part, is a process of manipulating the rules to one’s maximum benefit. When the rules change, good politicians understand that they must adapt if they intend to be effective. But what we see here — indeed what we’ve witnessed time and time again for the past decade — are politicians who believe the gentlemen tactics of the British Army are sufficient against the guerrilla warfare of the colonists.

In an ideal world, the formation of a new and more effective task force or office within the Department of Defense would be of benefit to the soldiers who have been victims of sexual violence. The proposals by the two legislators, when taken in context with the refusal of government agencies to acknowledge the authority of Congress, would do little more than add more pork to a government agency that has already soaked its lips in fat and loosened its belt at the expense of taxpayers. Without real congressional oversight, sexual violence will continue to escalate.

While the game of politics rambles on behind closed doors and before the nation, another soldier is being attacked. While we watch and nod and offer up bills that provide mouth service, another soldier is harassed for being a victim. While the tennis ball volleys from one side of the net to the other, another soldier is, for all practical purposes, bound and placed before a firing squad.

Don’t ask. Don’t tell. It isn’t just a shameful cliche for gays anymore.

“The bill helps give our soldiers a sense of security that things will be the same when they return,” Sen. Steve Warnstadt, D-Sioux City, told the Iowa Independent. Warnstadt, a current member of the Iowa National Guard who served in Operation Desert Storm as part of his active-duty commitment, knows that a lot of things can change during deployment that soldiers can’t control. He wants to ensure they aren’t forced to give up authority when it comes to the things they should have some control over.

Warnstadt also said the bill will help provide soldiers faced with the prospect of deployment a sense of security with regard to maintaining custody of their children. “I have received some e-mails from people who served in the Guards or Reserves but quit out of fear as to what may happen to their custodial rights if they were deployed,” Warnstadt said.

The bill also stipulates that once the parent returns from service, the court would have to reinstate the custody order that was in place just before active duty. Moreover, a parent’s absence due to active duty could not be used against him or her in future custody proceedings.

“I’m concerned that we’re putting people in situation where they are choosing between serving their country and keeping their kids,” Warnstadt said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty involved with being deployed, and I’m also concerned that some service members will be distracted, which may cause a life-threatening situation for themselves and those around them.”Warnstadt also said the bill will help provide soldiers faced with the prospect of deployment a sense of security with regard to maintaining custody of their children. “I have received some e-mails from people who served in the Guards or Reserves but quit out of fear as to what may happen to their custodial rights if they were deployed,” Warnstadt said.

The bill also stipulates that once the parent returns from service, the court would have to reinstate the custody order that was in place just before active duty. Moreover, a parent’s absence due to active duty could not be used against him or her in future custody proceedings.

“I’m concerned that we’re putting people in situation where they are choosing between serving their country and keeping their kids,” Warnstadt said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty involved with being deployed, and I’m also concerned that some service members will be distracted, which may cause a life-threatening situation for themselves and those around them.”

The bill, highlighted by a case in Iowa, was drafted in response to cases across the country that have prompted a few states such as California, Kentucky and Michigan to amend their laws to stipulate that soldiers’ deployments cannot be used against them in child-custody disputes.

Military and family law experts don’t know how big the problem is, but 5.4 percent of active duty members — more than 74,000 — are single parents, the Department of Defense reports. More than 68,000 Guard and Reserve members are also single parents. Divorce among military men and women has also risen in recent years, with more than 23,000 enlisted members and officers divorcing in 2005.

The Iowa case involves Iowa National Guardsman Michael Grantham, of Clarksville, who lost primary physical custody of his two children when he was called to duty in 2002. He arranged to have his daughter, who was 8, and his son, who was 13, live with his mother while he was on active duty.

But while Grantham was ordered to active duty stationed at Fort Knox, Ky., his ex-wife, Tammara, asked a judge to grant her custody of the kids and won. Upon returning from active duty, the court’s ruling prevented him from stepping back into his previous role as the primary parent for his children, and he lost an appeal of the case.

However, the new bill may have not made a difference for Grantham, whose attorney requested a stay of proceedings until he returned to civilian status, citing the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA). The Iowa Supreme Court rejected his plea, noting that the SSCRA does not mandate a stay in every case involving a parent who is called to active military duty. “To warrant a stay under this legislation, it must be determined that substantial rights of the absent serviceman will be prejudiced if the effort to postpone the proceedings is denied,” the Court observed in its opinion.

Moreover, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the district court’s finding that Grantham concealed the arrangement for his mother’s custody of the children pursuant to a military family care plan until it was too late for Tammara to seek judicial relief before he was called to active duty.

“Grantham’s case had some idiosyncrasies that I’m not sure about. Apparently he didn’t abide by his family-care plan and didn’t do all the things required on his end,” Warnstadt said. “The bill is not a carte blanche for service members. They have certain responsibilities and obligations they need to fulfill in order to be protected. It provides the certainty for soldiers and their families that, if they follow all the proper procedures on their end, they are going to return home and retain custody of their kids.”

109th Medical Battalion stands at attention to begin the ceremony

Hundreds of friends and family members braved the weather and the partially plowed roads and parking lot to say goodbye and wish the civilian soldiers well on their deployment to Egypt. However, not everyone was fortunate enough to conquer the elements left in the snowstorm’s wake. Spc. Robert Otto was held up in traffic on Interstate 80 and missed the entire ceremony after a 90-minute commute from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City. A number of accidents and an earlier closing of the interstate had reduced traffic to a slow crawl.

Fortunately, Otto made it in time to join his family after the ceremony. Otto, a unit-supply specialist, joined the military during his senior year in high school. “I joined the 109th right after they came back from Iraq in 2004. I joined to serve my country and to receive the college benefits,” Otto said. “And right now, I’m ready to go.”

Spc. Otto (center) takes a moment to pose with his family: Exie (mother), Joseph (brother), and Terry (father)

Otto’s mother, on the other hand, was less eager for him to go, but she understood why he wanted to go. “I have the typical mother anxieties,” Exie Tobin said. “Although, better Egypt than Iraq.”

The 109th was joined by two other units, the 209th Area Support Medical Company and 67th Troop Command, as part of the Multinational Force and Observers peacekeeping mission, which will deploy to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt after a brief mobilization at Fort Lewis, Wash., where they will be stationed for two to three months before final deployment.

The members of the 109th Medical Battalion will command and control three companies providing logistical, medical, aviation and explosive ordinance removal support to all 11 Multinational Force & Observers contingents. The mission of the MFO is to supervise the implementation of the security provisions of the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty of Peace and employ best efforts to prevent any violation of its terms.

The 109th was last activated on Jan. 24, 2003, and served 14 months before returning in March 2004.

In addition to friends and family, local dignitaries attended the ceremony, including Iowa City Mayor Regina Bailey and newly elected Iowa City council member Mike Wright. Neither Gov. Chet Culver nor any of Iowa’s congressional delegation were in attendance, but Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood read a letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley, and 2nd District Rep. Dave Loebsack’s aide, David Lesch, read a letter on his behalf.

The Department of Defense announced Saturday that Army Staff Sgt. Miller died from wounds he received during enemy small-arms fire during combat operations for Operation Enduring Freedom in Barikowt, Afghanistan. Miller, a Special Forces weapons sergeant, was assigned to Company A, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) based out of Fort Bragg, N.C.

Miller, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., enrolled in the U of I because of his interest in the gymnastics program. “He hoped to be on the gymnastics team,” his mother, Maureen Miller, told The Daily Iowan. Miller’s mother also said that her son had been interested in the military.

Although Miller never made it on the Iowa gymnastics team, he was an active member of the gymnastics program. After his freshman year, however, he enlisted in the Army in 2003. Upon graduating from the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2005, Miller earned his Green Beret status.Miller deployed for service in 2006. During his deployment, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal with Valor and was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant. His other awards and decorations include the Army Good Conduct Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, two Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbons, NATO Medal, Parachutist Badge, Ranger Tab and Special Forces Tab.

Miller is survived by his parents, Philip and Maureen Miller; brothers Thomas, Martin, and Edward; and sisters Joanna, Mary, Therese, and Patricia, all of Oviedo, Fla.

Miller is the 64th person with ties to Iowa to die from injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan since March 2003.

In October, Braley set his sights on the Pentagon. When he found out that 600 members of the Iowa National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry’s educational benefits had been shortchanged, Braley helped launch a formal congressional investigation into the matter. After returning home from 17 months of combat duty in Iraq, members of the 1-133rd were initially denied full GI Bill educational benefits because their active duty orders were written one to five days short of the 730-day GI Bill qualifying requirement.

“When the Pentagon’s ineptitude leads to soldiers and their families being denied the benefits they deserve, it is Congress’ role to provide oversight, accountability, and answers,” Braley said in a press release. “While I’m hopeful that the cases of the members of the 1-133rd will all be resolved before classes begin next spring, the question of why the Army worded soldiers’ orders just one to five days short of the 730-day requirement, when the Army clearly knows that this is the threshold for receiving Montgomery GI Bill Benefits, is still unresolved.”To help expedite claims and keep the soldiers and their families informed about the latest developments in the congressional investigation, Braley launched a website Dec. 12. “I’m also pleased to hear that over half of the 1-133rd members who were initially denied their benefits have been informed by the Army that they now qualify for full GI Bill educational benefits,” Braley said in a recent statement found on the new site. “I’m hopeful that the Pentagon will achieve their promise of getting full benefits to all of the troops affected by the error by the beginning of the spring 2008 semester in January.”

Rock Island Arsenal Furloughs: “Politics at its Worst”

Last week, Braley joined fellow Congressman Phil Hare, D-Il., to take on the White House and the Department of Defense, arguing it is unnecessary for the DoD to issue furlough notices to federal employees working at the Rock Island Arsenal.

In November, the White House and Defense Department warned that furloughs for 200,000 civilian employees could be sent before the holidays if they did not receive additional funding for the war in Iraq. However, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service issued a report Dec. 13, “Extending Army Operations in Advance of a Supplemental War Appropriation,” that found the DoD could continue operations on current DoD funds until March 2008.

Despite this, the Defense Department apparently intends to move forward with notifying civilian defense employees of possible furloughs as soon as this week. “Threatening Rock Island Arsenal and other Defense Department employees with `possible’ layoffs in the days before Christmas is politics at its worst,” Braley said. “The Congressional Research Service report has demonstrated that furloughs are unnecessary. The President’s politics of fear only serve to intensify the partisanship that is already poisoning politics. I’ll be working with Congressman Hare to do everything possible to protect Arsenal jobs from becoming a casualty of these ridiculous Washington games.”

In fact, the president has already approved billions of dollars of funding for Defense Department operations in FY 2008. Last month, President Bush signed the $459.3 billion Defense Department appropriations bill (HR 3222) into law. That bill included money for operations at the Rock Island Arsenal and represented a funding increase of $37.9 billion from FY 2007.

Bruce Braley Questions GSA Administrator Lurita Doan

Culver’s first executive order in office, signed Jan. 27, recognizes and honors all of Iowa’s soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Culver’s order stipulates that Iowa’s state flag and the flag of the United States of America are to be flown at half-staff on all properties under the state’s jurisdiction when:

Noncompliant flags fly full-staff in parking lot of Iowa Deptartment of Public Safety, which is located just southwest of State Capitol

The governor’s executive order also encouraged individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions to fly the flag at half staff on Saturday as well as a sign of respect for the fallen soldier. This recommendation presents a problem, however: How does the governor’s office effectively communicate this directive to the aforementioned entities?
This communication gap was highlighted in an August column by Des Moines Register columnist John Carlson, who related the incident of a “borderline disgusted” caller, who was upset by the number of flags that were not at half-staff in honor of Marine Sgt. Jon Bonnell, Jr., 22, of Fort Dodge, who was killed in Iraq on August 6, 2007.

P.J. Sesker Green, the aunt of Sgt. Daniel Sesker, an Iowa National Guard soldier killed last year, wondered why a number of businesses were not flying their flags at half-staff on the day of Bonnell’s funeral. So Sesker-Green stopped at a few places and asked questions. “I told them the governor asked everybody to do it on the day of a funeral as a sign of respect,” she told Carlson over the phone. “Some people told me they’d never heard such a thing. Some told me they didn’t know anything about the Marine being buried that day. I think all of them were embarrassed.”

To help address this communication gap, the governor’s office added a new feature to its refurbished web site, which allows people to sign up for e-mail updates regarding flag notifications. The e-mails are a start, but on Saturday, the majority of Des Moines’ businesses’ flags were not lowered in recognition of Hick’s sacrifice. While patrolling the downtown area in my car, the only businesses and institutions I observed flying their flags at half-staff were the Principal Financial Building, WHO television station, and Central Campus.

Granted, it was Saturday, a day when most government buildings shut down for the weekend holiday. Unfortunately, for those government employees serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war does not take a holiday.

U.S. flag flies half-staff Nov. 24 2007 in honor of Sgt. Adrian Hike, who was killed while serving in Afghanistan