December 2023 — MHCE Newsletter

News from MHCE
DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
Dozens of Troops Suspected
of Advocating Overthrow of US
Government, New Pentagon
Extremism Report Says
See page 20
Monthly Newsletter
WWW.MHCE.US
Pope Francis, who was forced to abandon
plans to attend because of a case of
bronchitis, on Sunday said that “even
from a distance, I am following with
great attention the work.” In remarks read
at the Vatican by an aide, the pope called
for an end of what he called “bottlenecks”
caused by nationalism and “patterns of
the past.”
Protests began in earnest Sunday at
COP28: In one, a group gave mock
resuscitation to an inflatable Earth.
Earth is Running a Fever; UN
Climate Talks are Focusing on the
Contagious Effect on Human Health
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — With
Planet Earth running a fever, U.N. climate
talks focused Sunday on the contagious
effects on human health.
Under a brown haze over Dubai, the
COP28 summit moved past two days of
lofty rhetoric and calls for unity from top
leaders to concerns about health issues
like the deaths of at least 7 million people
globally from air pollution each year
and the spread of diseases like cholera
and malaria as global warming upends
weather systems.
World Health Organization Director-
General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
said it’s high time for the U.N. Conference
of Parties on climate to hold its first
“Health Day” in its 28th edition, saying
the threats to health from climate
change were “immediate and present.”
“Although the climate crisis is a
health crisis, it’s well overdue that 27
COPs have been and gone without a
serious discussion of health,” he said.
“Undoubtedly, health stands as the
most compelling reason for taking
climate action.”
After two days of speeches by dozens of
presidents, prime ministers, royals and
other top leaders — in the background
and on-stage — participants were also
turning attention to tough negotiations
over the next nine days to push for
more agreement on ways to cap global
warming at 2.7 Fahrenheit since preindustrial
times.
“Well, I mean, it’s cheesy doing CPR
on the Earth,” said Dr. Joe Vipond, an
emergency room physician from Alberta,
Canada, who took part. “We’re kind of in
a lot of trouble right now,” he said, so will
do “anything we can do to bring attention
to this issue.”
Saturday capped off with conference
organizers announcing that 50 oil and
gas companies had agreed to reach nearzero
methane emissions and end routine
flaring in their operations by 2030. They
also pledged to reach “net zero” for their
operational emissions by 2050.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
said “the promises made clearly fall short
of what is required.”
In comments Sunday, he called the
methane emissions reductions “a step in
the right direction.” But he criticized the
net zero pledge for excluding emissions
from fossil fuel consumption — where
the vast majority of the industry’s
greenhouse gases come from — and said
the announcement provided no clarity on
Continued on page 9

2 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
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WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 3
Merry
Christmas
From our family to yours,
Happy Holidays and a
Happy New Year!
TO ADVERTISE
contact Kyle.Stephens@mhce.us

4 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 5
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 DECEMBER 2023 EDITION

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 7

8 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION

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how the companies planned to
reach their goals.
“There must be no room for
greenwashing,” he said.
Temperature rises caused
by the burning of oil, gas
and coal have worsened
natural disasters like floods,
heat waves and drought,
and caused many people to
migrate to more temperate
zones — in addition to the
negative knock-on effects for
human health.
“Our bodies are ecosystems,
and the world is an ecosystem,”
said John Kerry, the U.S.
climate envoy. “If you poison
our land and you poison our
water and you poison our air,
you poison our bodies.”
He said his daughter Vanessa,
who works with the WHO
chief, “repeats to me frequently
that we should not measure
progress on the climate crisis
just by the degrees averted,
but by the lives saved.”
how much escaped, emissions
fell by as much as half, said
Dr. John Balbus, the Health
and Human Services climate
change and health equity
director.
Dr. Yseult Gibert of Montreal
said 70 percent of operatingroom
emissions come from
the way patients are given
anesthesia. She said some
types of anesthesia are more
climate-friendly than others,
without sacrificing on quality
or effectiveness when it comes
to care.
A report last week issued by
Unitaid, which helps get new
healthcare products to lowand
middle-income countries,
explored how product
redesign, improvements in
manufacturing and other
measures could reduce the
carbon footprint of 10 products
used for health emergencies,
women’s and children’s
health, and HIV, malaria and
tuberculosis.
Forest fires caused in part
by climate change can have
dramatic effects on homes,
health and lives. Heat waves,
which can be deadly, also
can weigh on mental health,
Gibert said, while poor air
quality can make life harder
for those facing lung and heart
ailments and cause respiratory
issues, like asthma in kids.
“Not a lot of people know that
the climate crisis is a health
crisis,” she said.
A COP28 declaration backed
by some 120 countries stressed
the link between health and
climate change. It made
no mention of phasing out
planet-warming fossil fuels,
but pledged to support efforts
to curb health care sector
pollution, which accounts
for 5% of global emissions,
according to the WHO head.
The impact of human activity
on the climate was visible to
conference-goers in Dubai,
an oil-rich boom city that
often faces higher levels of air
pollution than other places on
Earth due to its location. Haze
is common.
The Dubai government, on its
web site, listed its Air Quality
Index level mostly at “good”
on Sunday.
IQAir, a Swiss vendor of airquality
monitoring products,
listed Dubai as the city with
the 18th-worst air quality in
the world with “moderate”
air quality levels as of noon
local time on Sunday. It cited
high levels of two types of
particulate matter in the air
and advised mask-wearing
for “sensitive groups” and a
reduction of outdoor exercise.
In the United States, 8.5%
of greenhouse gas emissions
come from the health sector
and the Biden Administration
is trying to use funds from
the Inflation Reduction
Act to try to cut that down,
Assistant Secretary of Health
and Human Services Admiral
Rachel Levine said.
U.S. officials said one of the
main issues has been waste
anesthesia emissions from
hospitals and greenhouse gases
that escape when patients are
treated for respiratory diseases
like asthma with albuterol
inhalers.
Part of the solution may come
through raising awareness:
when officials used a system
that showed anesthesiologists
how much gas they used and

10 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
Rosalynn Carter is Eulogized Before Family and
Friends as Husband Jimmy Bears Silent Witness
PLAINS, Ga. — Her frail husband a silent witness, Rosalynn
Carter was celebrated by her family and closest friends Wednesday
in the same tiny town where she and Jimmy Carter were born,
forever their home base as they climbed to the White House and
traveled the world for humanitarian causes.
The former first lady, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96, had
her intimate funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where
she and her husband spent decades welcoming guests and where
a wooden cross Jimmy Carter fashioned in his woodshop is
displayed. Earlier tributes were held in nearby Americus and in
Atlanta.
The former president, now 99 and in hospice care, sat in a
wheelchair next to Maranatha’s front pew, wearing a dark suit
and tie to say goodbye to his wife of 77 years
Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden said Rosalynn Carter “served
every nation around the world” because she embraced the
teachings of Jesus Christ and “took it outside the walls” of the
church.
“She would say to you today, ‘Don’t grieve for me, for now
I’m free,’” Lowden said, continuing in Rosalynn’s voice as he
described her competitive nature and her belief in salvation and an
afterlife. “’Jimmy tried to beat me here. I got here first. I won the
prize. Tell him I beat him and I’m waiting on him.’”
“But,” Lowden continued, “she would say ‘don’t stop — there’s
too many homeless people in the world. There’s still too many
people who don’t have equal rights.’ ... She would tell you don’t
stop. Become that virtuous woman. And men, if you’re listening,
make room for the virtuous woman.”
The Carter family later accompanied her casket to the burial
plot she’ll one day share with her husband, who also attended a
Tuesday memorial where two other presidents and all the living
first ladies joined the extended Carter family before Wednesday’s
hometown funeral.
Vernita Sampson, a school bus driver and Plains native, drove a
group of area high school students, all wearing Future Farmer of
America jackets, to downtown Plains, where hundreds of people

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 11
soaked up the history of the day and paid
tribute to the former first lady along the
motorcade route.
“They were people you could relate to, not
this high standard where they were up here
and, you know, we’re all down there,” said
Sampson, 58. “We never get used to death,
no matter who we are or how long you have
lived. But knowing that her suffering is no
longer and to celebrate that she did live a
long life, a very happy and productive life,
that gives you joy.”
At the service, the mourning came with
affectionate stories of her life and plenty of
laughter.
“It occurs to me that dad got used to mom
disagreeing with him because she was really
good at it,” son Jack Carter said. “And she
became a partner in the true sense of the
word, where they had equal footing.”
Many family members, including the
former president, wore leis to celebrate
how much Rosalynn Carter loved living in

12 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
Hawaii during the couple’s Navy years and
learning to hula dance while her husband
was stationed there.
Jimmy Carter met his future wife only a
few days after his mother delivered her.
Coming from that town of about 600 —
then and now — Rosalynn Carter changed
lives across America and the developing
world, mourners were told at her services
this week. Jimmy Carter’s closest political
adviser and a political force in her own
right, she advocated for better mental health
care and underappreciated caregivers in
millions of U.S. households. Traveling
overseas, she fought disease, famine and
the abuse of women and girls.
Even so, she never stopped being the smalltown
Southerner whose cooking repertoire
leaned heavily on mayonnaise and pimento
cheese, Jason Carter said as he told
endearing stories about his grandmother.
The tributes covered the range of Rosalynn
Carter’s life.
Events in Atlanta reflected her grandest
chapters. Mourners viewed her casket
at her husband’s presidential library,
steps from The Carter Center they cofounded
after leaving the White House.
Then she was honored at a service filled
with the music of a symphony chorus, a
majestic pipe organ and fellow Habitat for
Humanity ambassadors Garth Brooks and
Trisha Yearwood. President Joe Biden,
former President Bill Clinton and the first
ladies joined Jimmy Carter and their four
children in the front row, in front of more
than 1,000 congregants who wore suits, ties
and dresses and filled an elegant Emory
University church.
The proceedings Wednesday underscored
her simpler constants. The sanctuary in
Plains seats fewer people than the balcony

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at Glenn Memorial in Atlanta. Maranatha,
tucked away at the edge of Plains where
the town gives way to cotton fields, has
no powerful organ, instead the cross her
husband made and offering plates he
turned on his lathe. Some congregants
wore casual attire.
Yet her imprint went well beyond Plains.
Whenever she heard of suffering among
her friends or neighbors, she would say,
“’Get me their phone numbers so that
Jimmy and I can call them,’” Lowden
said. But “Rosalynn Carter was someone
who would look at children from Sudan or
Cambodia and say ‘That’s my baby, too.’”
Several speakers addressed the former
first lady’s resilience, perhaps most
evident when her husband was defeated
by Ronald Reagan in 1980. “When they
lost re-election, she thought the best part
of her life was over,” Josh Carter said of
his grandmother. Then came The Carter
Center and its work on human rights, “and
she knew that was the best part of their
life.”
Elaine Larkin, who lives in nearby
Ellaville, worked at the Rosalynn Carter
Institute for Caregivers at the former first
lady’s alma mater, Georgia Southwestern
State University.
“We had one meeting where some
people kept saying ‘RAHZ-lyn,’” Larkin
recalled, rolling her eyes at the common
mispronunciation as she awaited the
motorcade. “She just sat there and smiled.
And when she got up to leave she leaned
over to me and said very quietly, ‘Elaine,
would you please tell them it’s ‘ROSElyn.’”
After the funeral, her children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren
walked alongside an SUV carrying Jimmy
Carter as Rosalynn Carter was escorted for
the last time through the town where she
lived for more than 80 of her 96 years.
The motorcade passed holiday lights and
decorations including a photo collage in
front of the downtown tree featuring the
“First Lady of Plains.”
Her casket, topped with a spray of mixed
flowers, was driven past the old high
school where she was valedictorian during
World War II, Plains Baptist Church where
she and the former president were once
outliers arguing for racial integration and
the commercial district where she became
Jimmy’s indispensable partner in their
peanut business. Then came the old train
depot where she helped run the winning
1976 presidential campaign and Plains
Methodist Church, where as an 18-yearold
in 1946, she married young Navy Lt.
Jimmy Carter.
The route ended in what locals call “the
Carter compound,” property that includes
their one-story ranch house, the pond
where she fished and security outposts for
the Secret Service agents who protected
her for 47 years.
Her grave is within view of the front porch
of the home where the 39th American
president still lives..

14 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
New Tricare Contracts Delayed by Months as
Tricare West Region Contractor Fights to Retain Its
Position
The expected start for the next generation of
Tricare contracts has been delayed as a result of
a lawsuit filed by Health Net over the Defense
Health Agency's decision to award the contract
for the western half of the U.S. to TriWest
Healthcare Alliance.
Under the DHA's original timeline, the new
contracts, which will be responsible for
providing civilian health services to 9.6 million
military personnel, retirees and their families,
were scheduled to begin in August 2024.
But the 12-month turnover required for the
anticipated start date has yet to begin, with the
dispute now under consideration in the U.S.
Court of Federal Claims.
"As of this date, no T5 Transition-In activities
have taken place," DHA spokesman Peter
Graves said in an email Tuesday, referring to the
fifth generation of Tricare contracts, known as
T5. "The Health Net Federal Services' protest
filed with the Court of Federal Claims remains
pending."
DHA officials previously have said there will
be no disruption to patient care, given that
the current contracts will remain in place.
But planned improvements to Tricare, such
as allowing patients to transfer specialty care
referrals after a move regardless of Tricare
region and improvements to customer service,
won't start until the new contract is in place.

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After DHA awarded the Tricare East and
West contracts, worth up to $136 billion over
nine years, to Humana Government Business,
also known as Humana Military, and TriWest
last December, Health Net, which currently
manages the Tricare West region, filed protests
over the decision, arguing that TriWest did
not have an existing Tricare network in place
and would face technical challenges that could
disrupt patient care.
The Government Accountability Office
rejected those arguments and upheld the DHA's
decision to award the contract to TriWest.
In its lawsuit, Health Net largely makes the
same case. In its defense, TriWest says it
plans to utilize the network it manages as the
primary regional contractor in the West for
the Department of Veterans Affairs' Patient
Centered Community Care program and
augment that network with subcontractors
from major health networks in the 26 states it
will oversee.
"DHA determined that TriWest's proposal offered
the best value for providing comprehensive
health care to our nation's military service
members, their families, and military retirees.
Health Net's subjective disagreement with
DHA's decision should be rejected," TriWest
attorneys wrote in court documents.
Sealed oral arguments on the case are scheduled
for Dec. 20 in Washington, D.C.
The delay affects both contracts because, as part
of the next generation of contracts, 1.5 million
Tricare beneficiaries who live in Arkansas,
Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and
Wisconsin will shift from the East Region to
the West Region.

16 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
No More Late Night Alcohol Sales: Army and Air Force
Exchange Stores to Ban the Practice Next Month
The change on Army and Air Force bases
is meant to support the Pentagon's suicide
prevention initiative, which said that
limiting when alcohol is available "reduces
heavy drinking and other adverse outcomes
associated with alcohol misuse," including
suicide, according to Defense Department
research and recommendations.
Other initiatives listed in the
recommendations by the suicide prevention
committee, created by Defense Secretary
Lloyd Austin in 2022, included increasing
the price of alcohol sold on Pentagon
property, establishing 24/7 sobriety
programs for service members arrested
or convicted for alcohol-related crimes,
and banning the promotion of alcohol on
military bases.
"Consistent with the Department of
Defense's Suicide Prevention and Response
Independent Review Committee's
recommendations, the Army and Air Force
Exchange Service is aligning the times
alcohol can be sold to be consistent with
that of DoD's other military exchanges,"
Chris Ward, a spokesperson for AAFES.
The latest initiative affects 161 Express,
Class Six and other exchange stores
worldwide, according to Ward, who also

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 17
indicated that the change would have little
impact on sales for that time frame.
"Alcohol sales after 2200 and before 0600
at the 161 stores impacted accounted for
less than 1% of total alcohol sales last
year," he said.
Stars and Stripes reported that 25% of
AAFES outlets sell alcohol in the soon-tobe-banned
time frame. The publication also
reported that the NavyExchange stopped
selling alcohol between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
at more than 100 locations a decade ago as
a way to stop sexual assault and alcoholrelated
offenses.
"Junior enlisted service members spoke
openly about their own excessive use,
including how they recognized their own
drinking was problematic," according to
the report with the final recommendations
of the Suicide Prevention and Response
Independent Review Committee.
"Other service members spoke about past
alcohol-related convictions, especially
driving under the influence (DUI) charges,
and military law enforcement at every
installation told us that excessive alcohol
use is involved in most of the on-base
incidents to which they respond," it added.
The study by the committee, which was
an independent panel, said that 18% of
service members who died by suicide in
2021 were diagnosed with an alcohol-use
disorder. Other findings said that 10% of
troops engaged in heavy drinking or binge
drinking at least once per week over the
month the study measured.
Outside of limited hours and banning
alcohol promotion, the study recommended
that additional training be implemented to
prevent abusive alcohol consumption.
"Revised training should include modules
and information about alcohol use and
misuse, the alcohol content of drinks,
what constitutes healthy versus unhealthy
and excessive drinking, how alcohol
impairs judgment and performance as
well as increases risk for suicide and
perpetrating sexual violence, and strategies
for recognizing and addressing harmful
drinking in oneself and others," it said.
Merry
Christmas
From our family to yours,
Happy Holidays and a
Happy New Year!

18 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 19
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20 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
Dozens of Troops Suspected of Advocating Overthrow of
US Government, New Pentagon Extremism Report Says
An annual Pentagon report on
extremism within the ranks reveals
that 78 service members were
suspected of advocating for the
overthrow of the U.S. government
and another 44 were suspected of
engaging or supporting terrorism.
The report released Thursday by
the Defense Department inspector
general revealed that in fiscal
2023 there were 183 allegations of
extremism across all the branches
of military, broken down not
only into efforts to overthrow the
government and terrorism but
also advocating for widespread
discrimination or violence to
achieve political goals.
The statistics indicate the military
continues to grapple with
extremism following its public
denunciations and a stand-down
across the services ordered by
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in
2021. Furthermore, the numbers
do not make it clear whether the
military's approach is working.
In 2021, the year the data was
first released to Congress, there
were 270 allegations of extremist
activities. In 2022, that figure
dropped to 146 before rebounding
over the past year.
The Army had the most allegations
in fiscal 2023 with 130 soldiers
suspected of participation in
extremist activity. The Air Force
suspected 29 airmen; the Navy
and Marine Corps reported 10
service members each. For the first
time, the inspector general also
reported numbers for the Space
Force as a separate entity from
the other services -- it suspected
four Guardians of extremism.

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 21
The IG report also included
instances of alleged criminal
gang activity: There were 58
allegations of gang activity across
the military.
However, the report did note
that, out of all the suspected
extremism and criminal gang
activity, 68 of the total cases
were investigated and cleared or
deemed unsubstantiated.
In the U.S., extremist activity,
including neo-Nazi, white
supremacist and anti-government
movements, has been growing,
and numerous violent plots by
veterans and even active-duty
troops have been thwarted in
recent years. Experts on extremist
movements have warned about
the growing potential of more
violence and future attacks,
similar to the Oklahoma City
federal building bombing in 1995
that killed 168 and was carried
out by an Army veteran.
In February, a former National
Guardsman, Brandon Russell,
who founded the Atomwaffen
Division, a neo-Nazi hate group,
was charged with plotting to blow
up Baltimore's electrical grid
and cause as much suffering as
possible. Russell, who allegedly
kept a framed photo of Oklahoma
City bomber Timothy McVeigh,
was sentenced to five years in
prison in 2018 after an arrest in
Florida for possessing explosives.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 siege
of the U.S. Capitol building, the
Pentagon tried to make a show
of dealing with the problem of
extremism among troops after it
became clear that veterans as well
as some active-duty troops were
among the mob that stormed the
halls of Congress in an effort to
halt the certification of the 2020
election.
including the military-wide
extremism training stand-down
ordered by Austin -- were largely
symbolic and were widely
considered as just another box for
commanders to check.
One active-duty noncommissioned
officer said that, aside from the
Continued on page 26

22 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
values of honor, respect and devotion to
duty, they added.
"For so many victims, there are even
deeper levels of broken trust: in leaders
who failed them in preventing and
responding to sexual violence; in a
military justice system with antiquated
legal definitions of rape; in non-existent
support programs for those impacted
prior to 2000," wrote the authors, Rear
Adm. Miriam Lafferty, John Luce and
Command Master Chief Ann Logan.
Coast Guard Review Blasts Service
for Failing to Safeguard Members
from Sexual Assault, Harassment
A Coast Guard review released
Wednesday found that the service
failed to live up to its core values when
it mishandled sexual assault reports
and hid results of investigations into
the cases, eroding trust in leaders and
causing further psychological harm to
victims.
from victims as far back as the 1960s,
that the failings contributed to "deeprooted
feelings of pain and a loss of trust
in the organization."
Such cover-ups and missteps are
incongruent with the Coast Guard's
Most of the alleged perpetrators never
were criminally investigated, and some
of those who remained in the service
went on to become senior officers.
As part of their investigation, the
team reviewed Coast Guard reports,
documents and programs pertaining to
sexual assault and harassment prevention,
speaking with service members on Coast
Guard culture, training and experiences,
and surveying command climate and
making recommendations for reform.
The 90-day review into the Coast
Guard's climate and handling of sexual
assaults and harassment claims --
ordered in July by Commandant Adm.
Linda Fagan -- said service members are
"not experiencing the safe, empowering
workplace they expect and deserve" and
don't trust that they will be protected if
they report an incident.
Fagan called for the review following
reports by CNN on the service's failure
to disclose the results of an investigation
called Operation Fouled Anchor, which
uncovered 60 substantiated cases of
rape, sexual assault and harassment
over nearly two decades, and failures
by leaders to prosecute suspects for
misconduct.
The authors of the review released
Wednesday also found, when hearing

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 23
They traveled to dozens of
is "conducting additional
racism, sexism and assault
refuse "to hold past leaders
installations,
interviewed
inquiries as warranted."
within its organization,"
accountable."
hundreds of service members,
received more than 175
written comments and sifted
"through a mountain of data"
to assess the situation.
The commandant also
announced reforms to
training, education, victim
services and other programs
that are to take place within
Murphy wrote in a release
Nov. 30. "This culture of
avoidance and cover-up
needs to end."
The House Homeland
"Past systemic failed
leadership destroyed lives
and the cancer of failed
leadership is destroying
the health of today's Coast
"You made it very clear to
the next year to improve
Security
Permanent
Guard," Krepp wrote in a
our team that these failures
overall response.
Subcommittee
on
letter obtained by Military.
and lack of accountability are
entirely unacceptable, and
you let us know the Coast
Guard must do something
about it," the team wrote in a
message to service members
in the beginning of the report.
The report found that the
Coast Guard made efforts
to combat sexual assault
and harassment in the ranks
over the past two decades,
spending money and other
resources studying the
problem and developing
recommendations. But
those efforts led only to
"incremental improvements"
and not to "lasting sustainable
change."
"We must ensure that every
Coast Guard workplace
has a climate that deters
harmful behaviors and gives
everyone the positive Coast
Guard experience they
expect and deserve," Fagan
wrote.
This week, the Coast Guard
posted a copy of a 2015
"Culture of Respect" study
on the commandant's website
after CNN obtained a copy
and published a report on it.
The report, which, like the
Operation Fouled Anchor
investigation, was concealed
for nearly a decade, found
that the Coast Guard failed
to address racism, hazing
Investigations has a hearing
planned for Dec. 12 on sexual
assault and harassment in the
Coast Guard.
Ahead of the hearing, K.
Denise Rucker Krepp, a
former Coast Guard officer
and former chief counsel of
the Maritime Administration,
wrote subcommittee leaders
about the report, noting that
current Coast Guard leaders
com. "Please continue to hold
the hearings on the sexual
assault that are occurring
in the Coast Guard. Please
demand that past leaders,
including those I served
with in the Coast Guard
legal community, be held
accountable. Please stop the
rot."
The witness list for the sexual
assault hearing has not been
released.
The team made new
and discrimination as well
recommendations
on
as sexual assault in its ranks.
improving leadership,
accountability, transparency,
training, awareness and victim
support. Its accountability
recommendations, however,
did not extend to past cases
or officers involved in
Operation Fouled Anchor.
After the release of the
report, Sen. Chris Murphy,
D-Conn., whose state is
home to the Coast Guard
Academy, questioned how
many more "damning"
reports the Coast Guard has
not made public.
Fagan noted in a separate
response that the Coast
Guard is responding to
numerous congressional
requests related to the
incidents and that the Coast
Guard Investigative Service
"I am in disbelief that we
are once again having a
conversation about Coast
Guard leadership covering
up evidence of pervasive
harassment, discrimination,

24 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 25
Golf has become a
therapeutic part of
the process since
the program started
in 2015. There are
around 300 veterans in
New Jersey involved
and nationally, there
are around 12,000 to
13,000.
Golf Program Helps US
Veterans Adjust to Life
After the Military
S o m e t i m e s
servicemembers
have a difficult time
transitioning back to the
civilian world. Many
are exposed to high
stress and traumatic
events during the time
they served. They may
have been in combat
zones or suffered
physical injuries —
even loss of limbs.
But a program is
trying to help these
warriors back here
on home soil. PGA
HOPE (Helping Our
Patriots
Everywhere)
is a rehabilitative golf
program that helps
these veterans adjust to
life after the military.
“Coming home from
war, it’s not something
that everybody can
do,” says PGA HOPE
ambassador
Charles
Patrick Wilcox. “And
that’s why, you know,
to have a support
network for a veteran is
very important. It helps
them integrate back
into society with the
help of other veterans.
Vets enrolled in the
program gather at the
Inspiration Golf Range
& Activity Center
located on the Lyons
Campus of the VA New
Jersey Health Care
System, in Bernards
Township. This is
where they can connect
with other veterans for
a sense of camaraderie
and learn about the
game of golf.
The program is funded
by PGA Reach and
supplemented by PGA
Section Foundations.
Visit PGA HOPE for
more information or to
support.

26 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
fact that no one was paying attention at the standdown
briefing he attended, the commander giving
the lecture was "talking about what he thought were
radical groups like Black Lives Matter."
The idea that far-left groups are just as problematic
as far-right ones is a popular talking point among
conservatives and Republican lawmakers. However,
law enforcement officialsand experts who study the
topic have consistently noted that far-right groups
espousing anti-government and white supremacist
views are the biggest threat to the U.S. today.
The report also revealed that other efforts such as
screening prospective recruits before enlistment are
not working as well as intended.
Some recruiters did not complete all of the screening
steps and "as a result, military service recruiters may
not have identified all applications with extremist
or criminal gang associations," according to the
inspector general report.
"Further, the audit found that one military service
entered data indicating applicants disclosed extremist
or gang associations even though the applicants had
not made such disclosures," the IG said, but it did not
reveal which of the services falsely accused some of
its recruits of having extremist ties.
What the report does make clear, however, is that
when allegations are made, they are being referred for
investigation, and when allegations are substantiated,
some action is taken.
Of all the extremist and gang activity allegations, 135
were reported to military or civilian law enforcement,
and 109 of the allegations were reported to another
DoD organization or official.
Furthermore, 69 of all the allegations were
substantiated at the time the report was written and
the vast majority of those -- 50 -- were handled
through administrative actions. That included
involuntary discharge for 19 and counseling in three
instances, while 17 more were handled by nonjudicial
punishment and two went to court-martial.
There were no substantiated cases of extremism or
gang activity where no action was taken.
While these figures, compared with the overall size
of the services, are small, research and experts say
that military service members and veterans pose
an outsized danger to communities when they go
down the path of extremism, given their increased
familiarity with firearms and ability to organize and
plan effectively.
In 2020, an Air Force sergeant at Travis Air Force
Base in California pulled up to a federal courthouse
in Oakland, California, in a white van and opened
fire on security guards, killing one before going on
the run and murdering a county sheriff's deputy a
week later as part of a larger plan to incite a civil war.
Also in 2020, members of a group that included
two Marines and styled itself as a "modern day SS"
were arrested on allegations that they were plotting
to destroy the power grid in the northwest. U.S.
court records in that case say members discussed
recruiting other veterans, stole military equipment,
asked others to buy explosives, and discussed plans
to manufacture firearms.

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 27
TOWER HEALTH
Advancing Health. Transforming Lives.
Tower Health is a regional integrated healthcare system
that offers compassionate, high quality, leading edge
healthcare and wellness services to communities in Berks,
Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. With
approximately 11,500 employees, Tower Health consists
of Reading Hospital in West Reading; Phoenixville
Hospital in Phoenixville; Pottstown Hospital in Pottstown;
and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia,
in partnership with Drexel University. Tower Health is
strongly committed to academic medicine and training,
including multiple residency and fellowship programs, the
Drexel University College of Medicine at Tower Health,
and the Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences in
West Reading. The system also includes Reading Hospital
Rehabilitation at Wyomissing; home healthcare provided
by Tower Health at Home; TowerDirect ambulance and
emergency response; Tower Health Medical Group; Tower
Health Providers, our clinically integrated network; and 25
Tower Health Urgent Care facilities across our service area.
For more information, visit towerhealth.org.
Reading Hospital is a 697-bed nonprofit teaching hospital
that provides high quality healthcare, cutting-edge
technology, and experienced, caring medical professionals.
As the nationally recognized, Magnet-designated flagship
institution of Tower Health, Reading Hospital is home to
many top-tier specialty care centers and services, including
the McGlinn Cancer Institute, Miller Regional Heart Center,
one of the state’s busiest Emergency Departments and a
Level I Trauma Center, and Beginnings Maternity Center,
which houses the region’s only Level III Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit (NICU). Reading Hospital was named one of
America’s 50 Best Hospitals for 2023 by Healthgrades.
This is the second year in a row (2022-2023) that Reading
Hospital has been in the top 1 percent of hospitals
nationwide for overall clinical performance. Reading
Hospital has also been ranked as one of the Top Ten
Hospitals by U.S. News and World Report the second year
in a row.
Reading Hospital has a long history of medical teaching,
offering more than 20 residency and fellowship programs
approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate
Medical Education and the American Osteopathic
Association. To further demonstrate our commitment to
academic excellence and medical education, Tower Health
has partnered with Drexel University College of Medicine to
open a new medical school one-half mile walking distance
from Reading Hospital, a regional medical campus for
Drexel University College of Medicine at Tower Health. The
school opened in 2021 and has begun its second academic
year of 200 medical students, Class of 2024. To learn more,
go to TowerHealth.org.
To explore career opportunities, scan the
QR Code or go to Careers.TowerHealth.org!

28 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us DECEMBER 2023 EDITION
Army Veteran Battling
Terminal Cancer Gets His
Wish to Shoot a Tank One
Last Time
Doctors estimated in
September that Jay Tenison,
who was diagnosed with
terminal cancer, had 3-6
months to live. One of the
things on his bucket list was
to fire a tank one last time.
Tenison, 39, is a former tanker
who served from 2004 to 2008
on active duty and another five
years in the Army Reserve.
On Tuesday, he got to check
that item off the list -- he fired
his last shot at Fort Moore,
Georgia.
“It was everything I had hoped
for, and went beyond my
expectation,” he told Military.
com. When asked how he did
on the gunnery event, which
included the M1A2 Abrams
main battle tank engaging
multiple targets, he said, “I
killed everything.”
It was the culmination of a
major movement in the Army
community to get Tenison into
an Abrams tank one last time
after he posted the request
on Reddit late last year. He
reported his hair had started
falling out, he was growing
increasingly fatigued and had
lost at least 60 pounds.
“To me, this is one of the
most special things I will
do in command,” Col. Ryan
Kranc, commander of the
316th Cavalry Brigade,
which oversees training for
cavalry and armor troops, told
Military.com. “It's humbling.”
Tenison was also awarded
the Order of Saint George, a
unique and prestigious medal
worn around the neck, given
to cavalry and tanker soldiers
for outstanding service.
In early 2022, Tenison was
diagnosed with Stage IV
stomach cancer after reporting
pain to his doctors. After
months of chemotherapy, he
got the worst news of his life
-- there was nothing medical
care could do for him and his
doctor recommended he focus
on quality of life.
Before the live fire, Tenison
was put into a simulation of
the Abrams, a virtual reality
tool all soldiers go through
before gunnery. He says he
was quickly able to relearn
how the tank operates. His
only concern was climbing
in and out of the tank. He
also got to speak with basic
trainees in tanker school, who
wore COVID-19 pandemicera
masks to protect him.
The Abrams is relatively
unchanged since Tenison’s
time in service, which included
a deployment to Ramadi, Iraq,
with 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor
Regiment, during a kinetic
time in the region. He spent
some of the mission behind
a desk doing administrative
work, but also was a part of
convoys for resupply missions
and taking the dead off the
battlefield.
“We lost seven or eight guys; I
got to carry the bodies back,”
Tenison recalled. “We would
just go and retrieve them.
They would already be in a
body bag.”
He was struggling in college
and with other personal
matters when he joined the
Army at 20 years old. Like
many enlistees, he needed a
reset button and was seduced
by the $7,000 enlistment
bonus to become a tanker.
He jokes that the Army’s pitch
shouldn’t have been as easy as
it was, but adds that he doesn’t
have any regrets. He later
earned his master’s degree
in engineering from Arizona
State University and had a
passion for renewable energy,
particularly solar power. He
worked on designs for solar
arrays for local municipalities
and the Department of
Veterans Affairs, including a
project at the Los Angeles VA
hospital.
In addition to getting behind
a tank one last time, he spent
time at the beach in Pensacola,
Florida, with his daughters.
They also took a trip to Disney
World. One of the last things
on his bucket list is skydiving.
“I feel really special,” Tenison
said. “I’m going to make a
video diary for my daughters
for when they’re older. I’m
going to tell them to keep on
going and keep giving back.
I’m hoping I can explain to
them that this was a huge
thing and what happens when
a community supports itself.”