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News from MHCE
JUNE 2022 EDITION
American Airlines has
Parked 100 Jets Due to
Pilot Shortage
See page 22
Monthly Newsletter
WWW.MHCE.US
Pfizer COVID Shot
80% Effective in
Young Kids, Early
Data Shows
Pfizer and its German partner,
BioNTech, said Monday that
an early analysis showed
their three-dose coronavirus
vaccine regimen triggered
a strong immune response
in young children, proving
80% effective at preventing
symptomatic infections in
children 6 months to 4 years
old.
The results, along with other
recent developments, signal
that the long and frustrating
wait for a vaccine for the
youngest children, the last
group to lack access, could
be over within weeks.
A few hours after Pfizer and
BioNTech issued a news
release announcing the data,
which has not been peer
reviewed, the Food and
Drug Administration said
its outside experts will meet
June 14 and 15 to discuss
the Moderna and Pfizer-
BioNTech pediatric vaccines.
Pfizer and BioNTech said
they plan to finish filing data
with the FDA this week —
and warned that the efficacy
number was fluid because
results are still arriving.
If the FDA advisory panel
looks favorably on the
vaccines, the agency could
authorize them as soon as
June 16 or 17.
Vaccine advisers to the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention then would
consider who should get
the vaccines, with a final
recommendation coming
from agency director
Rochelle Walensky shortly
afterward. The vaccines
would probably be available
immediately.
"This is incredibly exciting
data!" Kawsar Talaat, a
pediatrician and vaccine
expert at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public
Health, wrote in an email. "I
also think that it reinforces
what we've seen in adults as
well. For the Omicron variant,
a third dose is necessary for
optimal protection."
Federal officials are already
reviewing the pediatric
vaccine from biotechnology
company Moderna, a twoshot
regimen that was 51%
effective in preventing
Continued on page 13
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Focus on Oversight a Key for Success at
CoreCivic
In the corrections industry, maintaining high standards of
operation is imperative to meeting the needs of the individuals
in our care. That's why CoreCivic adheres to a stringent set of
guidelines set forth by our own standards, as well as those of our
government partners and the American Correctional Association
(ACA).
Founded in 1870, the ACA is considered the national benchmark
for the effective operation of correctional systems throughout
the United States. To become accredited, a facility must achieve
compliance with ACA mandatory standards and a minimum of
90 percent non-mandatory standards. CoreCivic facilities adhere
to ACA standards, and in 2020, CoreCivic earned an average
ACA audit score of 99.6 percent across all facilities.
Key ACA audit areas include facility personnel, resident reentry
programs, resident safety, health care, and more.
holds our facilities and staff to a high standard. To be able to
represent our facility and receive reaccreditation in person is an
honor."
Adhering to ACA standards is only one part of CoreCivic's
commitment to robust oversight. When government partners
utilize CoreCivic's services, we are held not only to our own
high standards and those of the ACA, but we are often held to
the same or higher accountability of our public counterparts
through stringent government contracts, unfettered access to
our facilities for our partners, and hundreds of on-site quality
assurance monitors.
We provide access to our government partners, with most of
our facilities having government agency employees known as
contract monitors who are physically on-site to ensure we are
operating in line with partner guidelines.
Recently, the ACA held in Nashville, Tennessee, its 151st
Congress of Corrections, an annual convention that brings
together corrections professionals from across the country. In
addition to various workshops and events at the convention, the
ACA Commission on Accreditation also held panel hearings to
award accreditation to correctional facilities that meet the ACA's
rigorous requirements. Listed below are the seven CoreCivic
facilities that earned reaccreditation this year, with mandatory/
non-mandatory scores:
• Bent County Correctional Facility - 100/99.0
• Citrus County Detention Facility - 100/100
• Eloy Detention Center - 100/100
• Lake Erie Correctional Institution - 100/99.3
• Saguaro Correctional Center - 100/99.8
• Stewart Detention Center - 100/100
• Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility - 100/100
"The accreditation process is very important," said Warden
Fred Figueroa from Eloy Detention Center, one of the seven
CoreCivic facilities that was awarded reaccreditation. "ACA
To maintain our own high standards, annual on-site audits covering
all operational areas are administered to ensure compliance with
contractual and regulatory obligations and corporate-mandated
requirements. Each CoreCivic Safety facility is audited by our
internal quality assurance division, which is independent from
our operations division. Facilities are expected to be audit-ready
year-round, maintaining continuous compliance with numerous
applicable standards.
CoreCivic employs 75 staff members dedicated to quality
assurance, including several subject matter experts with extensive
experience from all major disciplines within our institutional
operations.
"A lot of hard work goes into preparing for these audits,"
Figueroa said. "Once they're complete, the staff can see their
accomplishments and feel proud."
Having multiple levels of oversight helps CoreCivic maintain
a safe environment for those in our care. By holding ourselves
accountable to our own high standards, along with our
government partners' and ACA's standards, CoreCivic continues
to be a trusted partner working to better the public good.
6 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 7
8 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
Infectious Disease Expert Takes Charge as
Army’s Top Health Officer in Europe
LANDSTUHL, Germany — U.S. troops are unlikely to
have to endure a repeat of the heavy COVID-19 restrictions
they faced during the early days of the pandemic, the Army’s
new top health officer in Europe said Wednesday.
“The extreme lockdown that we experienced, I don’t think
we’ll see that again,” Brig. Gen. Clinton Murray told Stars
and Stripes after taking command of Regional Health
Command-Europe.
The regional command provides medical and dental services
to personnel in about 40 countries, including support for
troops in U.S. central and Africa commands.
Murray took charge of the unit from Brig. Gen. Mark
Thompson in a ceremony at Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center. Soldiers stood in close formation before dozens of
attendees, all without masks.
It contrasted starkly with the welcome Thompson received
when he arrived in the spring of 2020, in the early stages of
an outbreak that countries the world over struggled for two
years to control.
In his speech Wednesday, Thompson recalled the challenges
of assuming command as the COVID-19 pandemic began
raging.
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 9
He thanked the medical staff, who he said had administered
some 210,000 vaccine doses and 360,000 coronavirus tests.
“You collectively did the impossible over the last two
years,” Thompson said.
The regional command provides medical and dental services
to personnel in about 40 countries, including support for
troops in U.S. central and Africa commands.
Murray took charge of the unit from Brig. Gen. Mark
Thompson in a ceremony at Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center. Soldiers stood in close formation before dozens of
attendees, all without masks.
It contrasted starkly with the welcome Thompson received
when he arrived in the spring of 2020, in the early stages of
an outbreak that countries the world over struggled for two
years to control.
In his speech Wednesday, Thompson recalled the challenges
of assuming command as the COVID-19 pandemic began
raging.
He thanked the medical staff, who he said had administered
some 210,000 vaccine doses and 360,000 coronavirus tests.
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Thompson also noted efforts by the command
to care for Afghan evacuees who passed
through U.S. bases in Germany on their way
to the United States after the fall of their
country to the Taliban.
Medical staff at Landstuhl treated 391 Afghan
patients and delivered 26 babies, he said.
Thompson will head to U.S. Army Medical
Command headquarters at Fort Sam Houston
in San Antonio, Texas, said Gino Mattorano,
a spokesman for Regional Health Command-
Europe.
He will trade cities with Murray, who
previously helmed Brooke Army Medical
Center in San Antonio.
The harsh restrictions at the beginning of
the pandemic were due to concerns about a
lack of hospital beds as well as the absence
of vaccines and testing tools, which are now
available, Murray told Stars and Stripes.
Health officials will have to see whether the
virus continues to mutate into new variants.
But should that happen, they’re more
prepared than they were at the beginning of
the pandemic, he added.
“We may move back and forth on wearing
masks and having events, changing a little bit
of what we do, but I don’t think we’ll ever go
back to when we truly shut down,” Murray
said.
Murray specialized in infectious diseases at
multiple points during his career, according
to a biography provided by Regional Health
Command-Europe.
He completed a fellowship in infectious
diseases in 2002 and reviewed infection
control procedures during a deployment to
Afghanistan in 2012. He is a member of the
Infectious Diseases Society of America, a
medical association based in Arlington, Va.
12 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
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contact kyle.stephens@mhce.us
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 13
illness in children between 6 months and 2 years old, and
37% effective in children 2 to 5 years old.
Regulators previously had set aside three dates for the FDA's
outside experts to review the vaccines for young children,
beginning with a session on June 8. Those meetings are now
canceled.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT MHCE.US
Under the revised schedule, the FDA and its outside
experts will discuss the Moderna vaccine for children and
adolescents from 6 to 17 years old on June 14. The following
day, they will review vaccines for the youngest children,
with advisers evaluating the Moderna vaccine for children
6 months through 5 years old and the Pfizer-BioNTech
vaccine for children ages 6 months through 4 years old.
"The overall data are encouraging such that it is really hard
to look at one vaccine apart from the other," according to an
official familiar with the process who spoke on the condition
of anonymity because that person was not authorized to
speak publicly. The official suggested the two vaccines
would probably be reviewed side by side.
A CDC planning document notes that vaccines are expected
to be shipped immediately after being authorized by the
FDA. Preordering for doses could begin in late May or
early June, but an exact date will be contingent on when the
FDA's external advisers meet.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children younger than
5 is a three-shot regimen tested in nearly 1,700 children.
Each dose is one-tenth of the adult dose. The third shot
was added in December after it became clear that two shots
failed to muster an immune response equivalent to what
was generated in young adults in early coronavirus vaccine
trials. It is given two months after the second shot.
Although that setback was hugely disappointing to parents,
the addition of a third shot was seen by many experts as
necessary because the omicron variant of the coronavirus
had fundamentally changed the pandemic. The two shots
that provided robust protection against infection and severe
illness early on were markedly less protective against the
omicron variant.
"Omicron has really thrown a curveball on us — it seems
that two doses are not sufficient for adequate efficacy against
infection with Omicron, with any vaccine, at any age," Flor
Munoz, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist at Baylor
College of Medicine, said in an email before the new data
was released.
14 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
While the adult trials recruited tens of thousands of
volunteers and waited to see if vaccinated people were
better protected, the children's vaccine trials were primarily
designed to measure immune responses using blood tests.
The criteria for success was whether a vaccine provoked
a comparable immune response to what was seen among
young adults in trials conducted before the widespread
emergence of variants. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and
Moderna pediatric vaccines succeeded on that measure,
although the significance of that benchmark has shifted
with the emergence of the omicron variant.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT MHCE.US
The companies also measured cases of symptomatic illness
in the population, and Pfizer and BioNTech said the 80%
efficacy finding was preliminary and based on 10 cases of
COVID-19 in the study population as of the end of April.
Once 21 cases have occurred, the companies will conduct a
more formal analysis of efficacy.
David Benkeser, a biostatistician at Emory University's
Rollins School of Public Health, said the updated data
would probably be ready before a decision would need to
be made, and that he wouldn't be surprised if the efficacy
number declined somewhat as more cases occur.
"Even still, it appears the data are so far pointing towards
a safe and effective vaccine for young children," Benkeser
wrote in an email.
Moderna's two-shot vaccine regimen was about 51%
effective in children 6 months to 2 years old, and 37%
effective in children 2 to 5 years old.
If Pfizer's efficacy data holds up, it could pose a conundrum
for public health officials, physicians and parents. If
both vaccines are cleared by the FDA, the CDC advisory
committee could weigh whether one vaccine should be
recommended over the other.
Moderna is studying a booster given six months after the
last shot.
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In either case, the hope is that children will be fully
vaccinated in advance of a potential surge in the fall.
On Sunday, before the Pfizer announcement, White House
coronavirus response coordinator Ashish Jha predicted on
ABC News' "This Week" that children could have access
to a shot "in the next few weeks" and that action would be
taken on the Moderna vaccine as soon as regulators were
finished with their review.
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 15
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT MHCE.US
16 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
Army Poll Finds Widespread Unawareness Among
Gen Z About Perks of Military Career
Young adult Americans think they know a lot about Army
life, but a newly released cross-generational survey showing
otherwise is giving the service impetus to fill in the knowledge
gaps amid a recruitment crisis.
“The Army has what Gen Z is looking for in an employer. They
just don’t know it yet,” Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, chief of Army
enterprise marketing, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The Know Your Army national consumer survey found that 73%
of respondents ages 18 to 25 claimed familiarity with the Army,
the highest level of any generation polled.
But survey participants in that age group turned out to be largely
unaware of what the Army can offer them.
More than half of Generation Z respondents did not realize
that soldiers can receive benefits such as tuition assistance and
the possibility of earning full college tuition. Regarding early
retirement benefits, only 31% were in the know.
The release of the polling data comes as the service touts a new
advertising campaign that talks up the wide range of benefits
associated with military life.
Instead of highlighting soldiers in the field, the “Know Your
Army” ads call attention to things such as pension plans,
mortgage loan perks and free schooling. The aim is to show how
such privileges set the Army apart from civilian employers.
Given the difficult recruiting environment, which military
officials have blamed in part on a competitive labor market, the
Army’s 2023 budget request calls for an end-strength of 473,000
active-duty soldiers, even though Congress has authorized the
force to grow to 500,000 by 2022.
Military officials have said that the cap is temporary and that the
Army intends to grow once the recruiting environment improves.
Another misperception about Army life for 30% of Generation
Z polled is that the majority of jobs available to soldiers are
combat-related, the Army said.
The survey was conducted by the Army in March across a
sample of 3,000 U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 76. No
margin of error was listed.
Top brass has previously sounded alarms over the service’s
difficulty finding qualified recruits in that 18-25 age range.
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“We are in a war for talent,” Gen. James McConville, the Army
chief of staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May.
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 17
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Business Is Global. Your Education Can Be, Too.
Complete Business Minor in One
Summer across Two Countries
By taking the five courses offered in this 12-week program, you
can complete a Business Minor and enjoy the unique opportunity
to immerse yourself in a cultural experience. Our Complete
Business Minor Abroad program will take you to the beautiful
streets of Rome, Italy, and Madrid, Spain, this Summer 2022
semesters
Business Core Fast Track
By taking the five courses offered in this 12-week program, you
can complete a Business Minor and enjoy the unique opportunity
to immerse yourself in a cultural experience. Our Complete
Business Minor Abroad program will take you to the beautiful
streets of Rome, Italy, and Madrid, Spain, this Summer 2022
semesters
2022 Program Update
In these uncertain times, the Harbert College of Business is
taking extraordinary steps to ensure the health and welfare of its
students. As such, only two study abroad trips will be offered for
this summer.
Please be on the lookout for details on offerings of a range of
Study Abroad Programs in Summer 2023. We appreciate your
interest and will be global again as soon as possible.
Study Abroad
At the Harbert College of Business, we offer the opportunity to
experience different business cultures, practices and standards
around the world. Round out your undergraduate experience with
a study abroad trip to Italy and Spain and gain a global business
perspective.
Undergraduate study abroad opportunities will allow you to gain
experience with a variety of contexts.
Have Questions?
COVID-19 has made the idea of international travel seem far
away. Let us reassure you we will provide a safe study abroad
experience that will give you an edge in your future career
Dr. Daniel Butler
Assistant Dean, Harbert Global Programs
Thomas Walter Professor
334-844-2464
butledd@auburn.edu
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 19
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20 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
DODEA Seniors’ Last Checklist: Caps, Gowns and
Diplomas
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany —
Graduation ceremonies have begun
at Defense Department schools in
Europe, where more than 1,300 seniors
are completing their secondary studies.
The first batch of graduates in the
Department of Defense Education
Activity-Europe’s Class of 2022 walked
the stage May 29, when 53 seniors
received their diplomas at Bahrain
Middle/High School.
Most ceremonies are this week. On
a stage set up inside Kaiserslautern
High School’s stadium on Wednesday,
Michelle Howard-Brahaney, the
director of DODEA-Europe, told 165
graduates to “greet the future with
optimism, open minds and open hearts.”
“The experiences you’ve gained
through this will serve you and our
country the rest of your lives,” she said.
A total of 1,375 students are expected
to receive their diplomas at 21 schools
from the United Kingdom to the Middle
East.
Graduating class sizes range from
seven at Ankara Elementary/High
School in Turkey to 183 at Ramstein
High School.
The high school seniors are part of
DODEA-Europe’s 75th graduating
class. The milestone harkens back to
post-war Germany, when five high
schools opened their doors to the first
children of U.S. military members
serving abroad.
“The world has changed dramatically in
the 75 years since our mission began,”
said Stephen Smith, a DODEA-Europe
spokesman. “However, the spirit of our
teachers and administrators is the same
now as it was then, infused to the core
with determination and innovation.”
Most of this year’s graduation
ceremonies are being held on U.S.
military bases, in facilities such as
stadiums and aircraft hangars or in
community parks.
A handful are off base. Alconbury and
Lakenheath in the United Kingdom
held their ceremonies this week at Ely
Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, while
Wiesbaden High School’s ceremony
will be Friday in the city’s stately
Kurhaus.
Ankara’s seven seniors will mark
the end of their high school years
at a ceremony Friday in the U.S.
ambassador’s residence.
Ramstein cheered on its graduates
Thursdayin a car parade before sending
them off with their diplomas at a
ceremony Friday evening in hangar
No. 3.
Both SHAPE and AFNORTH hold
their ceremonies June 10, the last of the
DODEA-Europe 2022 commencement
events scheduled.
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American Airlines has Parked 100 Jets Due to Pilot
Shortage
A shortage of pilots from retirements
and pandemic cutbacks has forced Fort
Worth-based American Airlines to park
about 100 of its smaller regional jets,
even amid strong summer passenger
demand.
“There is a supply and demand imbalance
right now and it really is within the
regional carrier ranks,” American
Airlines CEO Robert Isom said Friday
at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions
investor conference in New York. “We
have probably 100 aircraft or almost 100
aircraft that aren’t productive right now,
that aren’t flying.”
Isom’s comments come amid soaring
airfare prices as travelers are eager to
get out after two years of pandemic
restrictions and as airlines work to get
back to pre-pandemic flying levels.
Nearly every airline in the industry is
facing similar issues with struggles to
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 23
replace pilots and other key workers, even though
several are forecasting record revenues.
Airlines would love to take advantage of rising
ticket prices from high consumer demand. Airline
ticket prices for summer travel are up about 48%
compared with 2019, according to travel site
Hopper. That more than offsets rising fuel and labor
costs. American upped its second-quarter revenue
projections on Friday, now expecting to bring in
sales 11 to 13% higher than during the same period
in pre-pandemic 2019.
The 2022 summer travel season has seen airlines try
to balance their own ability to fly bigger schedules
versus the risk of meltdowns if operations are
stretched too thin. As carriers such as Delta, JetBlue
and Southwest have cut flights to focus on reducing
delays, American Airlines is flying a schedule that
is about 20% larger than its next nearest competitor
at Delta.
The biggest constraint, Isom said, comes in the
number of pilots American Airlines and its regional
carriers are able to hire. About 1,000 of American’s
15,000 pilots took early retirement packages during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Paired with a large
number of pilots slated to hit mandatory retirement
age, it hass left carriers such as American with a
deficit of key employees.
American has filled that gap by hiring pilots from
regional carriers, including its own at wholly-owned
airlines such as Envoy and Piedmont. In turn, that
leaves a shortage of pilots to fly the smaller 50 and
75-passenger jets.
“There are constraints out there in terms of aircraft,
there are constraints around pilots from the
perspective of the mainline and through training,”
Isom said.
American and others have increased pay for regional pilots and have
added signing and retention bonuses to help students through flight
school. The economic incentives of jobs that pay more than $200,000 a
year should eventually attract more pilots, but it could take several years
to get the number of pilots needed to properly staff airlines, Isom said.
“I see demand for travel,” Isom said. “I see an industry that has been
more or less constrained and now trying to say back up and is still facing
those constraints.”
American has been able to make up some of the
cutbacks in flights by using larger regional jets and
parking smaller models, Isom said.
While that helps carry more passengers, using
bigger planes also means fewer frequencies,
especially to smaller destinations. Regional airlines
fly 43% of the country’s flights. according to the
Regional Airline Association, and two-thirds of
the country’s airports are only served by regional
carriers.
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For Spring
Recruitment Specials
contact:
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WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 25
Biden Tells Navy Graduates Next Decade
will be Decisive for Democracy and
World Order
President Joe Biden told U.S.
Naval Academy graduates on
Friday that the next decade
will be decisive for democracy,
national security and reshaping
the international world order for
generations.
Russia’s brutal assault on
Ukraine has spurred a fight that
is dividing the globe in terms of
geography and values, Biden
said at the academy’s graduation
and commissioning ceremony.
applied to join the military
alliance earlier this month after
decades of neutrality.
“[Putin] has NATO-ized all of
Europe,” Biden said.
Fresh off a trip to Asia, the
president told graduates that
they will be at the forefront
of U.S. efforts to counter the
rising dominance of China. The
maritime theater in the Indo-
Pacific — a region that will be
“vital to the future of our world”
— will be the “leading edge” of
America’s response to natural
humanitarian disasters, Biden
said.
“[We will show] people
throughout the region the
unmatched ability of the United
States to be a force for good,” he
said.
The Navy will be tasked with
strengthening connections with
allies and implementing an Indo-
Pacific strategy that ensures
freedom of navigation of the
South China Sea and keeps sea
lanes open and secure, Biden
said.
“These long-standing basic
maritime principles are the
bedrock of a global economy
and global stability,” he
said. “Sailors and mariners,
submariners and SEALs, Navy
aviators and surface warfare
officers, we’re going to look to
you to ensure the security of the
American people.”
Creating a Culture
“We’re living through a global
struggle between autocracies
and democracies,” he said.
Biden accused Russian President
Vladimir Putin of aiming to
conquer Ukraine to wipe out the
identify of its people. Attacks
on schools, nurseries, hospitals,
museums serve no other purpose
than to eliminate the Ukrainian
culture, he said.
“That’s what you’re graduating
into,” Biden said. “A world
that more than ever requires
strong principles and engaged
American leadership, where
America leads not only by the
example of its power but the
power of its example.”
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The fallout from the war in
Ukraine is already changing
longstanding defense postures
around the world, he said.
Putin’s attempt to “Finlandize”
Europe into neutrality has
backfired, Biden said, driving
Finland and Sweden into
NATO’s arms. The two nations
Learn more at frontier.edu/military
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Special Olympics Drops
Vaccine Rule After $27M
Fine Threat
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Special Olympics
has dropped a coronavirus vaccine mandate for its
games in Orlando after Florida moved to fine the
organization $27.5 million for violating a state law
against such rules.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced
the organization had removed the requirement for its
competition in the state, which is scheduled to run
June 5 to June 12.
"In Florida, we want all of them to be able to compete.
We do not think it's fair or just to be marginalizing
some of these athletes based on a decision that has
no bearing on their ability to compete with honor
or integrity," DeSantis said at a news conference in
Orlando.
5,500 violations of state law for requiring proof of
coronavirus vaccination for attendees or participants.
Florida law bars businesses from requiring
documentation of a COVID-19 vaccination. DeSantis
has strongly opposed vaccine mandates and other
virus policies endorsed by the federal government.
In a statement on its website, the Special Olympics
said people who were registered but unable to
participate because of the mandate can now attend.
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contact Kyle.Stephens@mhce.us
The Florida health department notified the Special
Olympics of the fine in a letter Thursday that said
the organization would be fined $27.5 million for
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 29
Army Units in South
Korea Receive Award
for Initial Response to
COVID-19 Pandemic
CAMP HUMPHREYS,
South Korea — Eighth
Army received the Army
Superior Unit Award for
its efforts in curbing the
spread of COVID-19
during the onset of the
pandemic in South Korea,
according to a press
release Thursday.
“Eighth Army and cited
units displayed outstanding
meritorious service
through their response
to the global pandemic
cause by COVID-19,
making their #1 priority
to protect the force during
these extraordinary
circumstances,” the
award’s citation said.
The citation from the
Army’s Human Resources
Command added that
Eighth Army’s efforts
“enabled the effective
response to the pandemic
not only on the Korean
Peninsula but more
importantly informed
response operations
worldwide.”
Soldiers present for duty
while being attached to
Eighth Army or one of
several units in South
Korea between Jan. 28,
2020, to April 30, 2020,
are eligible to wear the
superior unit award
permanently. Army
civilian employees who
served within the same
timeframe are also eligible
for the award.
South Korea became one
of the first countries to
report COVID-19 cases
outside of China in January
2020. In Daegu, roughly
100 miles southeast of
Camp Humphreys in
Pyeongtaek, the U.S.
military reported its firstever
COVID-19 case on
Feb. 20, 2020.
U.S. Forces Korea, the
command responsible for
roughly 28,500 troops
on the peninsula, and
its individual garrison
commanders initiated
lockdowns as case
numbers increased in the
military community.
The Army’s response
in South Korea, which
included the construction
of several quarantine
facilities and the
reassignment of thousands
of service members,
became the testing
ground for the military’s
worldwide pandemic
response.
Col. Michael Tremblay,
the former garrison
commander at Camp
Humphreys, did not
leave the base for 102
consecutive days.
“Everybody’s singular
focus from then on was,
‘How do we get this from
getting inside,’” he said in
June 2021. “We quickly
ramped up the things
that we were doing. For
those three months, we
did nothing but 24-hour
operations, continuously
coming up with new
processes.”
An Eighth Army
spokesman said the
command was “extremely
proud of our soldiers, both
past and present.”
“Their professionalism
allowed us to continue
our mission of supporting
our regional allies and
deterring potential
adversaries while
simultaneously managing
the effects of the global
pandemic,” Lt. Col. Neil
Penttila said in an email
to Stars and Stripes on
Friday.
USFK counted 104 new
infections in the week
ending Monday, down
from the 141 cases
reported between May 10-
16, according to a USFK
update on Tuesday.
The command reported 98
infections May 3-9, down
from the weekly record of
1,599 cases Jan. 4-10.
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30 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
VA Secretary Sets Goals to House More Veterans in
LA, Prevent Homelessness
WASHINGTON– Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary
Denis McDonough said Friday that the agency will get
more veterans into homes this year in Los Angeles and help
prevent homelessness.
The agency will get 1,500 additional veterans into homes,
and 180 housing units will be added to the campus of the West
Los Angeles VA Medical Center, along with 535 individual
veteran housing units through project-based vouchers,
McDonough told attendees at the National Coalition for
Homeless Veterans Conference, a three-day event that
gathers community-based service providers working with
veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The coalition held the conference for the first time in two
years. The theme for this year’s conference was “Coming
Together: Facing the Future,” and consisted of more than
600 service providers and partners who sought resources and
technical assistance for homeless veterans in other areas.
McDonough said the VA would use 75% of its U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive
Housing vouchers. According to the VA Homeless Programs
website, the program pairs HUD's Housing Choice Voucher
rental assistance with VA case management and supportive
services for homeless veterans.
McDonough said 60% to 63% of the vouchers are used
yearly.
"We're going make sure that 50% of veterans who receive
HUD-VASH vouchers find permanent housing within 90
days,” he said. "So we're not only going to use the vouchers
more aggressively, we're going to use them in a more timely
manner."
McDonough also said the agency will get 38,000 veterans
into permanent housing and is "driving hard" to prevent
veterans from becoming homeless.
"It means making existing housing more affordable through
HUD-VASH and through supportive services for veteran
families," he said. "It means helping unsheltered vets get
off the street through the grant [and] per diem program, and
it means learning every veteran's unique story and getting
them the wraparound service they need."
McDonough said those services include food, health care,
mental health care, and child care.
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 31
"Whether a veteran needs assistance addressing physical or
mental health, a substance use disorder, justice involvement,
or anything else… we're going to be there to help," he said.
The VA campus in West Los Angeles is 388 acres. The
land was donated to the government in 1888 by a wealthy
California landowner who wanted the area to be used to
provide health care and homes for disabled veterans. There
are several historic structures on the campus, and most of the
buildings were built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style,
with their characteristic red-tile roofs and stucco walls.
The campus contains a nine-hole golf course, a Japanese
garden and plenty of open space. Many of the buildings
now sit vacant, some because of their states of disrepair.
Others are vacant due to the coronavirus pandemic pushing
employees out of their offices.
In one part of the campus, construction workers are restoring
two large buildings into permanent housing units. The VA
expects to have 186 apartments ready for use by the end of
the year.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development
estimated in January 2020 that 37,252 veterans experienced
homelessness in a single night. An estimated 10% of those
veterans lived in Los Angeles.
McDonough also spoke about two successes from last year.
In October, McDonough vowed to get all homeless veterans
living in the area known as "veterans row" in Los Angeles
into housing by Nov. 1. At the time, about 40 people lived
along veterans row, a homeless encampment just outside the
West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.
McDonough said the agency succeeded in placing Los
Angeles homeless veterans into housing by the deadline.
In November, the secretary promised the VA would house
an additional 500 homeless veterans in Los Angeles in time
for the holidays. In December, VA Deputy Secretary Donald
Remy said the VA had surpassed that goal and found housing
for 537 veterans.
Of those veterans, 46% have found permanent housing using
government vouchers, and the rest have been accepted into
temporary housing, Remy said.
In April, McDonough signed an updated plan for a longdelayed
housing development intended to help solve the
veteran homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
The 656-page plan, called Master Plan 2022, contains details
for a major construction project on the VA campus in West
Los Angeles. The updated plan calls for more than 1,000
housing units for homeless veterans to be under construction
within one to five years. The plan states 220 additional units
will be built within six to 10 years, and the VA will add 350
more units sometime after that.
32 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us JUNE 2022 EDITION
Spending millions to build seawalls
would be cheaper than spending
billions to rebuild the base after
a devastating hurricane, Cheney
reasons.
Parris Island has so far been
spared the direct hits that have
caused billions in damage to other
military installations, but it has
been evacuated twice in the last
five years for hurricanes, which hit
South Carolina every eight years, on
average.
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris
Island Wages Battles, Not War, Against
Climate Change
PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. — Rising
seas are encroaching on one of
America's most storied military
installations, where thousands of
recruits are molded into Marines
each year amid the salt marshes
of South Carolina's Lowcountry
region.
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris
Island is particularly vulnerable
to flooding, coastal erosion and
other impacts of climate change,
a Defense Department-funded
"resiliency review" noted last
month. Some scientists project that
by 2099, three-quarters of the island
could be under water during high
tides each day.
Military authorities say they're
confident they can keep the secondoldest
Marine Corps base intact, for
now, through small-scale changes to
existing infrastructure projects.
Maj. Marc Blair, Parris Island's
environmental director, describes
this strategy as "the art of the small,"
a phrase he attributes to the base's
commanding general, Brig. Gen.
Julie Nethercot. In practice, it means
such things as raising a culvert
that needs to be repaired anyway,
limiting development in low-lying
areas and adding floodproofing
measures to firing range upgrades.
Others advocate much larger and
more expensive solutions, such
as building huge seawalls around
the base, or moving Marine Corps
training away from the coast
altogether.
Parris Island has an outsized role
in military lore and American pop
culture as a proving ground for
Marines who have served in every
major conflict since World War I. It
remains a crucial training ground,
along with Marine Corps Recruit
Depot, San Diego. But the rising sea
is proving to be a formidable enemy.
Salt marsh makes up more than
half of the base's 8,000 acres, and
the depot's highest point, by the fire
station, is just 13 feet (4 meters)
above sea level. It is linked to the
mainland by a single road that's
already susceptible to flooding.
Low-lying areas on the island and
the nearby Marine Corps air station
already flood about ten times a
year, and by 2050, "the currently
flood-prone areas within both bases
could experience tidal flooding
more than 300 times annually and
be underwater nearly 30 percent of
the year given the highest scenario,"
according to the Union of Concerned
Scientists.
Military reports have for decades
acknowledged threats from climate
change to national security, as
wildfires, hurricanes and floods have
prompted evacuations and damaged
bases. A Pentagon document
published last fall, after President
Joe Biden ordered federal agencies
to revamp their climate resilience
plans, says the Department of
Defense now has "a comprehensive
approach to building climate-ready
installations" and cites an adaptation
and resilience study undertaken by
Parris Island.
But day-to-day disruptions are
growing, from nuisance flooding
on roads to rising temperatures
and higher humidity that when
combined, limit the human body's
ability to cool down with sweat.
Those wetter, hotter days could limit
outdoor training. Already, more
than 500 people on Parris Island
suffered from heat stroke and heat
exhaustion between 2016 and 2020,
putting the base among the top ten
U.S. military installations for heat
illnesses, according to the Armed
Forces Health Surveillance Branch.
All the training that happens at
Parris Island could be technically
replicated on cooler, drier land
somewhere else, said retired Brig.
Gen. Stephen Cheney, who served
as commanding general at the base
from 1999 to 2001.
But Cheney doesn't foresee any
appetite in Congress for closing the
base and relocating its mission to
less risky ground, which means the
government needs to start investing
in structural solutions to protect
its crucial components such as the
firing ranges near the water, he said
in an interview with The Associated
Press.
In 2018, Hurricane Florence
pummeled North Carolina's Camp
Lejeune, washing away the beach
used by Marines for training,
destroying buildings and displacing
personnel. A month later, Hurricane
Michael tore through Tyndall Air
Force Base in Florida, devastating
airplane hangars and causing $3
billion in damage.
Those disasters should serve as
cautionary tales for Parris Island,
argues Cheney. But there is no
grand overhaul currently planned
— no concrete bulkheads or other
seawalls that could dramatically
revise the post's visual character, no
master plan to raise buildings all at
once.
Hurricane planning is focused on
protecting life and preserving the
equipment and buildings necessary
to limit training disruptions, said
Col. William Truax, the depot's
director of installations and logistics.
"We're not taking on any major
projects because we've not
experienced a major threat to what
we have to do here," Truax said. "To
be honest, these old brick buildings
aren't going anywhere."
Parris Island also depends on the
resilience of communities just off
the base. Stephanie Rossi, a planner
with the Lowcountry Council of
Governments, said the group's
Defense Department-funded study
of climate change impacts suggests
shoring up the only road on and off
the island, elevating buildings and
bolstering the storm water system of
an area where military families live.
The base also works with
environmental groups to support
living shoreline projects, building
up coastal oyster reefs to strengthen
natural buffers to floods and
hurricanes.
"The waters will recede," said Blair,
the environmental director. "The
more resilient we make this place,
the quicker we can get back to
making Marines."