MHCE April 2020

APRIL 2020 EDITION
NEWS FROM MHCE I WWW.MHCE.US
MHCE News
TRUMP SAYS 1,000
MILITARY PERSONNEL
DEPLOYING TO NEW
YORK CITY, WARNS
COMING WEEK
TOUGHEST YET IN
CORONAVIRUS FIGHT
By: Emma Newburger
President Donald Trump on Saturday
announced that 1,000 medical military
personnel are deploying to New York
City to help fight the coronavirus pandemic
and warned that the upcoming
week will likely be the toughest yet.
“This will be probably the toughest week
between this week and next week -- and
there will be a lot of death, unfortunately,”
the president said at a White House
briefing.
Trump’s language echoed New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who earlier in the
day said the state has just seven days
to prepare for coronavirus apex as it
struggles to expand hospital capacity
and access to medical equipment.
The U.S. Northern Command on Saturday
said it was deploying 1,000 Air
Force and Navy medical providers to
New York City over the next three days.
About 300 personnel will work at the
Javits Center, which has been converted
into a makeshift hospital. Others will
be deployed to various New York City
hospitals that lack medical staff.
The president earlier in the month activated
the National Guard in California,
New York and Washington state.
“We’re taking people now out of our military.
We’ve been doing it but now we’re
doing it on a larger basis,” Trump said.
The administration will potentially send
additional medical personnel to the state
as cases continue to surge and hospitals
become more overwhelmed. “They’re
going into war,” Trump said. “They’re going
into a battle that they’ve never really
trained for.”
New York City reported 305 new deaths
on Friday, marking the biggest one-day
jump so far and bringing the city’s death
toll to at least 1,867. The city has confirmed
at least 57,159 cases and makes
up roughly a quarter of confirmed cases
in the country. Cuomo said the state has
113,704 total cases.
The Pentagon has also deployed the
USNS Comfort, a naval hospital ship
which is supposed to take in non-infected
patients to relieve burden on the
city’s hospitals. New York officials have
implored the Trump administration to
enlist more medical personnel to work
in strained medical facilities. New York
City Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly
urged the federal government to create a
national enlistment program for doctors
and nurses in New York and across the
country.
Trump has accused state governors of
asking for more supplies than they need,
including ventilators and personal protective
equipment. Projections suggest that
New York may not have enough of the
live-saving machines by next week.
“We have to take care of a large country,
not just certain areas of the country,” the
president said at the briefing.
The Chinese government has donated
1,000 ventilators to New York. The state
of Oregon is also sending 140 ventilators
there.
There are at least 300,915 confirmed
cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and at
least 8,162 people have died, according to
compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

2
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION
Weathering COVID-19:
Physical Resilance
PORTLAND AIR GUARD STATION, OR,
UNITED STATES
Story by Tech. Sgt. Steph Sawyer
142nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
PORTLAND, OREGON
As most of the world is practicing
social distancing, and in some cases,
self-quarantine, many Americans are
spending much of their days at home,
working and living outside of their
typical routines.
On Monday, March 23, 2020, Oregon
Governor Kate Brown issued a ‘stay
at home’ order in an effort to further
limit the transmission of COVID-19.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Air Force
announced that physical fitness testing
would be suspended entirely until
late June.
Though our lives have been interrupted
by COVID-19, it’s important
to remember that as members of
the Oregon Air National Guard and
the U.S. Air Force, we are required
to maintain a certain level of physical
fitness in order to carry out our
duties safely and efficiently when
we are called upon to do so. 142nd
Fighter Wing Command Chief, Chief
Master Sgt. Brent Cavanais stresses
the importance of physical readiness
at this time.
“The challenges we’re facing today
put readiness at risk if we aren’t
vigilant about mitigating them,” said
Cavanais. “In terms of fitness, it is the
consummate challenge of balancing
taking care of our Airmen and our
mission. Ultimately, fitness comes
down to an individual responsibility.
We absolutely care about the health
and wellbeing of our force, and fit
Airmen are critical to our combat
readiness.”
While maintaining physical fitness
is necessary for physical readiness
and wellness, it also stands to benefit
your mental health. Making physical
exercise part of your daily routine
helps to reduce feelings of stress and
anxiety, lifts overall mood, and improves
quality of sleep.
Because the benefits of physical
exercise spill over into our mental
health, it’s a powerful tool to help us
cope in times of stress. 1st Lt. Kyle
Osborne, an anti-terrorism officer in
the 142nd Security Forces Squadron,
and fitness program manager for the
142nd Fighter Wing, can attest to the
positive impact of regular physical
exercise.
“When I was active duty, I had a lot
of sleeping problems. I just couldn’t
sleep, couldn’t shut my mind off...just
couldn’t relax,” said Osborne. “I started
focusing on more of a fitness regimen.
So I worked out two hours before
bedtime.” Osborne said that working
out before bed drastically improved
the quality of his sleep.
Though our resources are somewhat
limited because of the current circumstances,
there are things we can do to
stay active while practicing social distancing.
Activities like going for a walk
or jog around the block, turning on
some music and dancing, or challenging
a loved one to a lightsaber duel
are all excellent ways of incorporating
physical exercise into daily life.
Master Sgt. Justin Mills, a munitions
accountability systems officer in the
142nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron,
weighed in on a recent post on
the 142nd Fighter Wing’s Instagram
account. ‘Since my gyms are closed,
I’m running, hiking, biking with my
fam and alone,” says Mills. “Bonus!
This also works for mental fitness!”
Anything you can do to get your body
moving throughout the day is going to
benefit your physical and mental wellbeing.Keep
in mind that If you choose
to exercise outdoors, remember to be
cognizant of other people and allow
for six feet of space between yourself
and others.
If outdoor activities aren’t your thing
or if you can’t get outdoors, there are
plenty of resources for indoor exercise
at your fingertips if you have an
internet connection.
YouTube is an excellent platform for
guided workout videos. Osborne suggests
searching for “travel workout of
the day” or “hotel workout of the day.”
These are workouts specifically designed
to be performed in confined
spaces, working around beds and other
pieces of furniture. Other genres of
guided workouts include yoga, Pilates,
dance, and martial arts.
The thing to keep in mind as you work
to establish an at-home fitness routine
is to keep it simple. Utilize the resources
you have. You can use water jugs,
canned goods, or detergent bottles for
resistance and weight training, use
your staircase in your workout routine,
take your dog for a walk or run, or
play with your kids. Most of all, have
fun!
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WWW.MHCE.US MHCE News 3
Trump Orders VA
to Stop Withholding
Money from Veterans
By Jim Absher
In reaction to the national emergency
caused by the novel coronavirus,
President Donald Trump
has directed the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) to stop withholding
payments or benefits from
veterans who have a debt with the
agency.
In his April 2 news conference
detailing the nation’s response to
the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump
announced that he had directed
VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to suspend
collections from veterans.
Veterans Win with Ace
Join us in continuing our legacy of
making Ace “the helpful place.”
During the news conference, the
president stated, “We take very
good care of our veterans. At my
direction, Secretary Wilkie will
use any authority at his disposal to
extend deadlines for benefits and
suspend debt collections.”
While the exact timeline and process
of the debt suspension isn’t
known at this time, the VA’s Debt
Management Center (DMC) states
on its website that it is currently
offering temporary debt relief on
a case-by-case basis. The website
states, “If you are affected by the
COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS), have a
[Veterans Benefits Administration]
benefit debt and need temporary
financial relief, please contact DMC
at 1-800-827-0648 to request assistance.”
As a result of the president’s statement,
you shouldn’t have to call
the VA’s DMC to have your debt
suspended. However, it is probably
advisable to take the initiative and
request suspension of debt collections,
just in case.
Trump’s statement also sounds like
it directs the department to stop
collection of any debts related to VA
medical treatment; however, that remains
to be seen.
If you owe the VA money for overpaid
benefits, your debt will not be
excused, just suspended. You will
still have to pay it back eventually.
The exact timeline of the suspension
is not known at this time, but
the announcement will most likely
stop any garnishments, tax levies
and court-ordered collections for
the foreseeable future.
Normally, if you owe the VA money,
it will either work with you to get it
back or force you to comply. Measures
could include adding interest
and late fees to your debt after 30
days; withholding other VA benefits
after 90 days; garnishing your wages;
withholding other federal benefits;
and referring you to a collection
bureau after 120 days.
Veterans Education Success, a veterans
advocacy group, applauded
the announcement on its Twitter
account, stating, “We’re cautiously
optimistic of this announcement as
it’s been a priority of ours during
this time of a national crisis in our
country.”
The group testified to Congress in
September 2019 that VA debt collection
affects one in four GI Bill
recipients and often results in the
department withholding disability
payments and tax refunds or garnishing
wages to satisfy debts.

4
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION

WWW.MHCE.US MHCE News 5
How to Highlight Military Jobs
in MBA Applications
Any MBA applicant with military experience should recognize that the discipline and grit cultivated in the military is useful in business
By Ilana Kowarski, Reporter
U.S. News & World Report
MBA HOPEFULS WITH military experience
should know that graduate business
schooladmissions officers are often thrilled
to receive applications from military veterans
and active-duty military personnel.
MBA
admissions experts say MBA candidates
from the military tend to have unique work
experience and an interesting outlook on life
that is distinct from that of their nonmilitary
peers, so admitting these candidates enhances
the diversity of an MBA class.
Alex McKelvie, associate dean for undergraduate
and master’s education with Syracuse
University’s Whitman School of Management,
describes a military background
as a “major plus” in the MBA admissions
process.
We are looking for students who have leadership
experience and can work as part of a
team,” McKelvie wrote in an email. “These
are fundamental skills for business and being
able to demonstrate that in previous military
experience, such as having worked as an
officer, is important.”
[Read: How MBA Applicants With Military
Backgrounds Can Fund Their Education.]
McKelvie says military MBA applicants do
face a unique obstacle to success, though,
because in the military, people are trained to
be humble and not to brag, but it’s important
for these applicants to fully and clearly describe
their credentials in their MBA applications.
“In many cases, they are underselling
themselves and their accomplishments
– they need to be a bit more braggadocios,”
McKelvie says.
MBA degree recipients who served in the
military before business school say that any
MBA applicant with military experience
should recognize that the discipline and grit
cultivated in the military is useful in business.
“A lot of military people are thrust into very
challenging situations, war or not, at a very
young age. And a lot’s expected of you, and
the standards are high,” says René Bruer, a
Marine Corps veteran and co-CEO of Tallahassee,
Florida-based financial advising firm,
Smith Bruer Advisors.
Bruer, who suffered an injury while he was
in the military, says he included information
about the adversity he had faced as a result
of that injury in his MBA application to California
Lutheran University.

6
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION
WOMEN’S HISTORY
MONTH: ARMY
FALLS CHURCH, VA,
UNITED STATES
Story by Ronald Wolf
U.S. Army Medical
Command
March is Women’s History
Month. In addition,
the Department of Defense
is commemorating
the 75th anniversary of
the end of World War II,
one the great historical
events of American history.
Within the U.S. military,
World War II made
the nurse an indispensable
aspect of battlefield
medical care.
One of the infrequently
recognized sacrifices of
Army nurses was the
time spent as prisoners
of war in the Philippines.
During the siege and
occupation of the Philippines,
Army Nurses
showed their grit and
courage. Some 60 nurses
ended up as POWs.
Throughout 1941, the
United States had deployed
additional troops
in the Philippines to be
prepared for potential
threats. The number of
Army nurses stationed
on the islands grew to
more than 100. Most of
the nurses worked at
Sternberg General Hospital
in Manila or seven
miles away at Fort McKinley.
About five nurses
worked on the island of
Corregidor.
The Japanese attacked
the Philippines on Dec.
8, 1941. The result was
a large number of casualties,
and the small staff
was swamped. By late
December, the nurses
received orders to evacuate
to Manila. Japanese
forces had landed on
the island of Luzon and
closed in on Manila. All
of the nurses stationed
outside of Manila were
taken prisoner by the
Japanese.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
ordered the nurses
to the island of Corregidor.
He planned to
hold Corregidor and the
Bataan Peninsula and
wait for reinforcements.
Nurses on Corregidor
and Bataan helped set
up two emergency hospitals
for U.S. and Filipino
forces—General Hospitals
1 and 2.
More than 1,200 battle
casualties requiring major
surgery — head, chest,
and abdominal wounds
and amputations — were
admitted to General Hospital
1 within a month.
General Hospital 2 was
on a river out in the open,
with no tents or buildings,
under a canopy of trees.
Here, the nurses worked
for several months into
1942. The Japanese
bombed General Hospital
1 on March 29 killing or
wounding more than 100
patients. The nurses carried
on. With each passing
week, the number of patients
increased, supplies
decreased, and patients
became more susceptible
to malaria, dysentery, and
other tropical diseases.
By the end of March 1942,
hospitals that were barely
set up to handle 1,000
patients had more than
5,000 each.
In early April 1942, the
Army evacuated its nurses
to Malinta Tunnel Hospital
on Corregidor. Even
though U.S. and Filipino
forces on Bataan surrendered,
Japanese pilots
continued to bomb Bataan
for weeks following
the surrender. One nurse
described the Malinta
Tunnel Hospital as “pretty
ghastly.” The bombs sent
shock waves through the
ground, filling the tunnel
with dust and dirt. The
nurses never knew when
they would be plunged
into total darkness. The
crowded tunnel hospital
grew from 500 beds to
1,000.A handful of nurses
were able to evacuate
to Australia. In late
April 1942, 20 nurses left
Corregidor on two Navy
planes. One reached Australia,
but the second had
to land on Mindanao
Lake; all aboard were
taken prisoner. In early
May, one submarine
picked up 10 Army
nurses and one Navy
nurse and took them to
Australia. The Army on
Corregidor surrendered
several days later; 55
Army nurses were still
at Malinta Hospital caring
for the wounded.
In July, the Japanese
took the nurses to Santo
Tomas Internment
Camp in Manila where
they joined the 10 nurses
whose plane had
made a forced landing
on Mindanao Lake. The
67 nurses remained
POWs until U.S. troops
liberated them in February
1945.
This story tells the
strength and resilience
of the Army nurses in
the Philippines.
It was their grit, determination,
intelligence, and
commitment that proved
that women can step up
and do the job — no matter
how dangerous or
difficult that job may be.
As the war continued,
shortages of manpower
had to be supplemented
by woman-power
everywhere. Very soon,
women were ferrying
bombers across the Atlantic,
manning lathes
and welding equipment
in defense plants, and
manning the home front.
Today, women in the
military handle virtually
all missions — doing
every job, every day,
everywhere.
It was the Army Nurse
Corps leading the way
for women to fill every
job today.

WWW.MHCE.US MHCE News 7
U.S. MILITARY SEEKS MORE FUNDING
FOR PACIFIC REGION AFTER PANDEMIC
By Julian E. Barnes
WASHINGTON — United States
military officials have outlined a
spending request to bolster deterrence
against China after the
coronavirus pandemic ebbs, a
sign of how national security leaders
are already studying ways to
shore up the country’s standing
in the Asia-Pacific region once
the outbreak ends. A report from
the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command,
delivered to Congress last week,
calls for $20.1 billion in additional
spending between 2021 and
2026. The funds would be spent
on new radar warning systems
and cruise missiles, and would
also pay for more exercises with
allies, deployments of additional
forces and new intelligence-sharing
centers. The efforts would
help improve the U.S. military’s
ability to deter the People’s Liberation
Army.
The request, which was first reported
by Defense News, shows
that many in the military believe
tensions between the United
States and China are likely to grow
amid the pandemic. President
Trump and President Xi Jinping
of China cut an uneasy peace in
late March, each promising to dial
back accusations of who was at
fault for the spread of the virus,
which is believed to have originated
late last year at a market
in Wuhan. But U.S. intelligence
officials have said they expect tensions
to flare again, and China to
restart its efforts to deflect blame
for the virus and spread disinformation
about the United States’
role in its origin.
While Congress commissioned
the report from the Indo-Pacific
Command before the coronavirus
plunged the world economy
into chaos and heightened tensions
between the United States
and China, current and former
national security officials said the
spending request was more relevant
now.
China is sure to use the aftermath
of the virus to try to strengthen its
hold on the Pacific region, according
to lawmakers. But the United
States will also have an opportunity
to shore up its traditional allies.
As hot spots shift in the U.S., Washington
State shows how one place
that is rebounding can help others.
The U.S. is undercounting the
number of people who have died
in the pandemic, experts say.
The pandemic threatens to upend
the status quo around the
world, particularly in Asia, where
the infections began, said Senator
Josh Hawley, Republican of
Missouri, who has advocated increased
military funding for the
Pacific region.
“China understands that the
global pandemic is an inflection
point,” Mr. Hawley said. “They are
trying to turn this to their advantage.
Make no mistake, they are
still pursuing their global strategic
ambitions. The need for us to
laser focus on China’s economic
and military ambitions is going to
be more urgent once we beat this
pandemic, not less.”
Some members of Congress and
military strategists have long argued
that the Pentagon needed
to fund a deterrence initiative in
Asia, akin to measures in Europe
after Russia annexed Crimea
in 2014 and began its war with
Ukraine. The European funding
paid for new military exercises,
the deployment of forces to the
Baltic States and Poland, and upgrades
to logistic facilities, like
ports.
Among the projects proposed in
the report is a series of new intelligence-sharing
centers. While
the United States has close intelligence
ties with New Zealand and
Australia, its partnerships with
allies in Southeast Asia are more
anemic. The new money would
create a counterterrorism center,
an Oceania fusion center and other
intelligence facilities.
The spending plan also calls for
the United States to build up its
missile defenses in Guam and
other parts of the so-called second
island chain, which is farther
east than the first island chain. It
would fund radar installations in
Hawaii, Palau and other locations
to better track hypersonic missile
threats..
The proposal would fund more
offensive weaponry such as Navy
Tomahawk missiles. Intermediate-range
land-based missiles
were once banned by international
treaties, but the Trump administration
withdrew last year from
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces Treaty, in part to counter
a growing threat from China. The
move allows the United States to
defend Taiwan and other parts of
the first island chain.
“In order to change the calculus
of our adversary, we must deny
them the ability to control the
air and sea around the first island
chain,” the report says. “U.S.
forces must be capable of fighting
in highly contested environments
against technologically
advanced opponents.”
Members of Congress and military
strategists have argued that
the threat of missiles from China
has shown that the United States
needs to better disperse its
forces in Asia, which are largely
concentrated in South Korea
and Japan.
Representative Mike Gallagher,
Republican of Wisconsin, said in
an interview that Iran’s missile
strikes on American troops at
bases in Iraq show the potential
vulnerability of forces fixed in a
single location.
The United States needed to better
defend its outposts in the Pacific,
like Guam, with new radar
and other military equipment,
he said.
“This should provide a wake-up
call for all Americans to increase
defense investments in the Indo-Pacific,”
Mr. Gallagher said.
“Slogans that the Indo-Pacific is
the Pentagon’s top priority will
remain just that — slogans — until
the Pentagon puts resources behind
the command.”
The economic destruction from
the coronavirus pandemic is
likely to put pressure on the
defense budget. That will make
creating a new pool of funding
to build up the U.S. presence in
Asia all the more urgent, said
Eric Sayers, a former congressional
staff member and a senior
adviser to the Indo-Pacific
Command.
Mr. Sayers, who is now a vice
president at Beacon Global
Strategies, a Washington-based
consultancy, has written about
the need to increase short-term
military spending in the Pacific
given Chinese expansion and
military activity in the region.
“For all the change we should
expect in a post-Covid world,
the shifting military balance in
Asia and the concern it has created
for America’s allies will endure,”
Mr. Sayers said.

8
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION
Why the U.S. Military Stopped
Using Flamethrowers
By Peter Suciu
The idea of using fire as a weapon
likely occurred as soon as the first
human settlement was attacked by
a rival tribe. The problem is that fire
doesn’t know friend from foe and for
eons couldn’t really be controlled.
The earliest known example of a “controlled
burn” directed at an enemy
was the Bzyantine’s “Greek Fire.”
Exactly what ingredients went into the
mixture and how it was projected at an
enemy remains a mystery, but it was
certainly a heated, pressurized liquid
that was delivered by a tube called a
siphōn but it could also be used with
hand-held projectors as well as in early
grenades. It was mostly used to light
enemy ships on fire from a reasonably
safe distance. According to various
sources Greek Fire was invented in
the 7th century and helped the Byzantines
fend off early Muslim assaults.
Why it fell out of use is unknown, but
by the 13th century Greek Fire disappeared
from the battlefield.
It wasn’t until the First World War that
fire was once again harnessed in a
controlled manner. German scientist
Richard Fiedler had developed the
concept of the “Flammenwerfer” in
the years just prior to the conflict, and
his design was small enough that it
could be carried by one man and shot
a stream of flaming oil about 20 yards.
The trenches of the Western Front happened
to be an ideal proving ground
for the then-untested weapon, and the
Germans first employed both the compact
version as well as a larger version
that doubled the range against French
troops outside of Verdun in early 1915.
The weapons were once again used
against the British in the summer of
1915 and this convinced the Germans
to deploy the Flammenwerfer across
all the fronts.
After the end of the war other nations
considered how the flamethrower
could be employed, and both the
Americans and British developed new
models that were fueled with napalm,
a thickened gasoline that burned with
intense heat. The U.S. military used
these to great effect against the Japanese
fortifications including log bunkers
and caves during World War II.
The biggest disadvantage of the flamethrower
was that a soldier had to
wear a heavy tank on his back, which
restricted movement and made that
individual a very large target. While
the fuel might not ignite from being
hit by an enemy round, the escaping
gas, once mixed with oxygen, would
be quite flammable! The other issue was
that flamethrowers really only offered
about twenty to thirty seconds of use—
after which it was just a heavy piece of
equipment to carry.
Despite these issues, the U.S. Department
of Defense clearly saw some potential advantages
that the flamethrower offered
and created various man-portable and
vehicle-mounted incendiary weapons.
This included the M-202 Flame Assault
Shoulder Weapon (FLASH), which was a
rocket-based system that could hit a target
five times further away than the older
World War II era devices.
In Vietnam various flamethrowers were
also seen as a valuable close combat
weapon—one that could demoralize enemy
troops and reduce positions that have
otherwise resisted other forms of attack.
However, images of the “Napalm Girl”—
the 1972 Pulitzer Prize-winning photo
of a naked nine-year-old girl fleeing her
village following a napalm attack—helped
turn public opinion against the use of
such weapons.
There are no specific international bans
on the use of flamethrowers; however,
there are the international humanitarian
law (IHL) treaty norms, which specifically
regulate incendiary weapons as found
in the 1980 Protocol III on Prohibitions
or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary
Weapons to the Convention on Prohibitions
or Restrictions on the Use of Certain
Conventional Weapons (Protocol
III). This would include, “any weapon or
munitions which is primarily designed to
set fire to objects or to cause burn injury
to persons through the action of flame,
heat, or combination thereof, produced
by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered
on the target (emphasis added).”
Whether this would call for a ban on
such weapons is unclear according to
legal experts: “It is uncontroversial that
any use of a flamethrower, be it a proper
incendiary weapon or not, in breach of
those rules on the protection of civilians
would be unlawful. The same would hold
true for any weapon.”
However, in 1978 the DoD issued a directive
effectively retiring flamethrowers
from use in combat.
Perhaps ironically, while automatic
weapons including machine guns, as
well as short barreled rifles/shotguns and
other destructive devices, now all fall under
the National Firearms Act of 1934,
flamethrowers do not. Various commercial
versions that can still shoot fire up to
fifty feet are completely legal in 48 states;
only Maryland bans them outright, while
California considers them “destructive
devices,” but does issue permits for restricted
use such on movies.

WWW.MHCE.US MHCE News 9
As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has unfolded over
the last few weeks, time often feels like it’s slowed to a standstill.
The onslaught of news headlines has made it difficult for the
general public to discern how worried they should really be, and
so the attempts to “flatten the curve” have been uncoordinated
thus far. People have rushed to stockpile food, paper goods, and
masks, swept up in the flurry of making sure they have “enough”.
In the urgency of it all, we’ve forgotten to thank the people at the
center of it all: our courageous nurses.
The nursing profession has long been charged with the noble,
awe-inspiring, messy, and exhausting work of caring for the sick
and suffering. Nurses have the enormous privilege of carrying the
burden of preserving human dignity amid uncertainty. Together
with their physician colleagues and exceptional care teams,
nurses meet and care for people when they’re at their most fragile
– bringing hope to what, in some cases, may be the worst day of
their lives.
may put yourself and your loved ones at risk. During this unprecedented
period of time marked with angst and anxiety – what a few have referred
to as our generation’s “World War” – thank you for being the helpers and
heroes we look to. It is never easy work, and few will understand why we
do it – but we charge on, ready to fight another day.
In awe and gratitude,
A fellow nurse
Lucia Huang, RN
Market Manager
Nurses hold a beautiful contradiction: To be able to walk alongside
another person during their moments of vulnerability requires
a special type of selflessness and strength. Most days, this
profession feels like a calling – it is the most essential, impactful,
rewarding type of work. But there’s a reason why healthcare delivery
is often referred to in terms of war metaphors. Nurses are
“in the trenches” and “on the front lines of care.” They “go into
battle” and if they’re lucky, they “emerge unscathed” – but more
often not, nurses carry emotional and physical “battle scars”.
I’d like to thank the nurses who run towards the line of danger as
the rest of us retreat into the safety of our homes. This was not a
battle you signed up for, but it is one for which you’re taking up
arms and fighting regardless. You’ve done the mental calculus
and against human nature, chosen selflessness over self-preservation
– not just today in the war against the invisible enemy that
is COVID-19, but every time you step into your scrubs. Thank
you for choosing to serve and care for those that might be afflicted
with the virus, even though the mere act of caring for them

10
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION
US TROOPS WILL
BE DIRECTED TO
WEAR FACE MASKS,
SECDEF SAYS
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U.S. Navy Sailors with 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, prescreen
Marines and sailors for the coronavirus disease after returning from an exercise
overseas on Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, . (U.S.
Marine Corps photo/Rachel K. Young-Porter)
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that
he was directing the use of face masks by the military
worldwide to combat the spread of coronavirus.
“We’re going to move toward face coverings”
across the force, Esper said on ABC-TV’s “This
Week.”
He gave no immediate details, but said a directive
would be issued later Sunday on when, where
and how face masks, and what types, should be
used to guard against coronavirus.
Esper’s announcement followed recommendations
Friday from the White House coronavirus
task force and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention that all Americans should consider
the voluntary use of face coverings when in
public.
“We want to take every measure to protect our
troops,” Esper said. But he again cautioned that
the military can’t always follow the medical
guidelines on social distancing and other measures
in the close quarters of ships, submarines,
bombers and tanks.
Esper has previously left it up to individual commanders
to decide on how best to implement the
guidelines in their areas of responsibility.
The upcoming directive on face masks in the military
could also be expected to apply to dependents,
civilian DoD personnel and contractors.
As of Saturday, the Defense Department reported
more than 1,600 cases of coronavirus among
service members, civilians, dependents and contractors
and six deaths: one service member, two
civilians, one dependent and two contractors.
The vast majority of the positive cases in DoD
were considered moderate or mild, but 74 had
been hospitalized as of Saturday, DoD said.
Esper’s action comes as the number of coronavirus-positive
cases and deaths in the U.S. and
worldwide continued to surge.
In the U.S. there were more than 312,000 cases
and 8,500 deaths as of Sunday morning, the
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported.
Worldwide, there were more than 1,225,000 cases
and 66,500 deaths, Johns Hopkins said.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@
military.com.

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12
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION
After 50 Years, the Army and Marine Corps Are
Closing In on Dumping Brass-Cased Ammo
Military.com | By Matthew Cox
After more than 50 years of failed
attempts, the U.S. military may be on
the verge of ending its love affair with
brass-cased ammunition, something
that predates the Spanish-American
War.
Traditional brass has dominated
military small-arms ammunition
since U.S. troops stormed up San
Juan Hill, Cuba, in 1898. The robust
material performs well in the violent,
super-heated space of weapon
chambers during firing, but its sheer
weight has always been a problem
for infantrymen and logisticians alike.
Advancements in body armor, communications
equipment and other
tactical gear have weighed down U.S.
combat troops in the Army and Marine
Corps, pushing individual loads
well past 100 pounds and degrading
service members’ physical performance,
U.S. military studies have
shown.
Both services have launched multiple
efforts to lighten the weapons and
equipment grunts carried while fighting
in Iraq and Afghanistan, but ammunition
weight has always been an
Achilles’ heel for these efforts.
Related: Inside the Army’s Quest for a
Revolutionary New Bullet
“We have not gotten lighter in the last
20 years,” Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, commander
of Marine Corps Combat
Development Command, told House
Armed Services Committee members
at a March 5 hearing. “We have slowed
the rate of weight increase, which is
unacceptable.”
Early attempts at lighter, plastic-cased
cartridge designs failed to meet military
standards, but recent technical
advances by a few bold companies
have prompted the Army and Marine
Corps to launch new efforts to test polymer-cased
ammunition for infantry
units.
In early January, the Corps announced
it plans to invest up to $10 million in polymer-cased
.50 caliber ammo to test
in the “Ma Deuce” M2 machine gun, a
potent weapon used by both Army and
Marine mounted combat units.
The Army’s role in the Joint Lightweight
Ammunition Integrated Product Team
is to find a lightweight-cased replacement
for brass-cased 7.62x51mm,
the caliber used in Army and Marine
M240 machine guns and some sniper
weapons.
“The ultimate goal is to replace brasscased
ammunition for all 7.62mm ammunition
in the Army,” Becky Leonard,
spokeswoman for the Joint Program
CONTINUE ON PAGE 13

WWW.MHCE.US MHCE News 13
CONTINUED
Executive Office for Armaments & Ammunition
at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey,
told Military.com.
The Army’s Next Generation Squad
Weapon Effort
The Army is also evaluating lightweight-cased
6.8mm ammunition for
its Next Generation Squad Weapon
(NGSW) effort, which is designed to
replace the M4A1 carbine and M249
Squad Automatic Weapon with more
potent weapons that significantly lighten
ammunition weight.
Two of the three firms competing in
the final phase of the program -- Textron
Systems and General Dynamics
Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc.
-- use polymer-cased technology for
their lightweight 6.8mm cartridges.
The third, Sig Sauer Inc., uses a more
traditional brass-case design with a
stainless-steel base to save weight in its
NGSW prototypes.
The Army hopes to select a final design
for both weapons from a single company
in the first quarter of 2022 and
begin fielding them to an infantry brigade
combat team in the first quarter of
2023, modernization officials have said.
True Velocity Ammunition LLC’s line of
polymer cased ammunition.
True Velocity Ammunition LLC shows
off its line of polymer cased ammunition
at SHOT Show 2020. (Military.com/Matthew
Cox)
But this is not the first time the Army
has launched futuristic infantry weapon
programs involving lightweight ammunition;
previous attempts resulted in
failure.
In 1951, the service developed the Special
Purpose Individual Weapon, which
fired plastic-cased 12-gauge rounds
filled with multiple flechettes, or darts, in
an attempt to increase the probability of
hitting enemy targets.
The Advanced Combat Rifle program,
launched in 1986, pursued a similar
goal, with several of the prototypes featuring
plastic-cased ammunition.
The Army took a renewed interest in
lightweight ammunition after 9/11, when
combat troops began to struggle under
heavy combat loads in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Soldiers on combat patrols in Afghanistan
typically carry 92 to 105 pounds of
mission-essential equipment ... this overload
causes fatigue, heat stress, injury
and performance degradation for soldiers,”
according to a 2005 report by the
Armament Research, Development and
Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny
Arsenal on “Alternative Cartridge
Case Material and Design.”
“Despite years of research and development,
the Army’s weapons and equipment
[are] still too heavy to allow foot
soldiers to maneuver safely under fire,” it
states. “The only way to fully realize lightweight
concepts is to look at novel ways
of designing the system, such as allowing
the use of lightweight polymer composites
for cartridge case applications.”
Perhaps the most successful weapons
programs involving polymer-cased ammunition
were launched in 2004 under
the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms
Technology (LSAT), which resulted in
successful tests of a special case-telescoped
(CT) ammunition in lightweight
machine gun prototypes chambered for
5.56mm and 7.62mm, and a rifle prototype
chambered 6.5mm CT ammo.
Textron has incorporated the CT technology
developed in LSAT into the
6.8mm cartridge it designed for its Next
Generation Squad Weapon prototypes.
The technology relies completely on a
plastic case to hold the propellant and
the projectile.
The Move to Polymer-Cased Ammo
While the commercial ammunition market
may stick with brass, Wayne Prender,
senior vice president for Applied
Technologies & Advanced Programs
at Textron, told Military.com that he
is convinced that the U.S. military will
eventually have to move toward polymer-cased
ammo.
“Weight is a significant factor for a military
application, more so than a commercial
application or sporting application,”
Prender said. “You are carrying
significantly more with significantly less
support structure. Ounces may not matter
if you are going out for a hunt, but
ounces matter when ... your life depends
on it.
“That is why weight is such a significant
factor in a military application and why
we endeavored on it.”
True Velocity Ammunition LLC began
designing polymer-cased ammunition
for the military in 2010 and now makes
the 6.8mm cartridge for General Dynamics’
NGSW prototype weapons.
“It’s not a new concept. The U.S. Army
has had a lightweight ammunition requirement
for going on 40 years now.
It’s just [that] nobody has been able to
bring a viable solution to the table,” said
Pat Hogan, chief marketing officer for
True Velocity. “I think that the technology
has arrived. ... we have proven that it is
viable.”
Both Textron and True Velocity maintain
that their polymer-cased ammo designs
offer about a 30 percent weight savings
over brass ammunition, but also bring
increased performance.
In 2005, polymer-cased technology suffered
from too many flaws to perform
adequately under harsh combat conditions,
according to findings in the ARDEC
report.
Since then, companies like Textron and
True Velocity have learned how to solve
the problems highlighted in the report,
such as “cracks on the case mouth, neck,
body and base” and “insufficient high
temperature resistance.”
“Brass is a conductor of heat, and our
composite case is an insulator,” Hogan
said. “Brass conducts the heat during the
ballistic event; the brass superheats and
then transfers that heat to the chamber
of the weapon, whereas polymer insulates
the chamber from that heat.”
Excessive heat buildup can cause ammo
to cook off or explode in the weapon, a
problem True Velocity’s case technology
has licked, he said.
“Anecdotally, we have run cook-off tests
through some of the belt-fed platforms
and, in order to get the gun even hot
enough to be in a position where you
could even have a cook off, we have to
run brass ammo through a gun to get
it hot enough where you can really test
our ability to withstand cook-offs,” Hogan
said.

14
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APRIL 2020 EDITION
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15
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION
Hawaii National Guard Airmen Assist
in Distribution of Key Medical Supplies
During COVID-19 Response
HONOLULU, HI, UNITED STATES
Story by Tech. Sgt. Andrew Jackson
State of Hawaii, Department of Defense,
Public Affairs Office
HONOLULU, HI- Hawaii Air National
Guard members from Medical Detachment
1 provided logistical support this
week with personal protective equipment
(PPE) and maintenance of valuable
medical equipment at the Hawaii
Healthcare Emergency Management
Coalition facilities.
The PPE that the Guardsmen inventoried
and prepared for pick-up, will then
be distributed to multiple Hawaii medical
facilities. These facilities are facing
a shortage of this specialized equipment during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Hawaii Healthcare Emergency Management
Coalition is a statewide, federally-qualified,
all-hazards comprehensive emergency
management program whose mission is to
sustain and maintain essential and critical
healthcare system services statewide during
a major emergency or disaster.
Along with logistics and organizing distribution,
Guard members also took inventory of
the medical supplies on-hand.
The Hawaii National Guard is continuing to
support the state’s response to COVID-19 with
over 100 Soldiers and Airmen on State Active
Duty (SAD).

16
MHCE News
APRIL 2020 EDITION