M2CC MARCH 2024

News from M2CC 

MARCH 2024 EDITION 

Top Marine Returns to Full 

Duty Status as Commandant 

After Cardiac Arrest Last Year 

See page 4 

Newsletter 

WWW.M2CC.US 

One of NASA’s 

Newest 

Astronauts is 

a Former Navy 

Test Pilot from 

California; Will 

She Make it to 

the Moon? 

Jessica Wittner is getting some deserved time off — 

just a day or so to decompress with family before 

jumping back into the work of being one of NASA’s 

newest astronauts. 

“I’m filled with excitement and energy right now,” 

Wittner told The Bee in a phone interview Tuesday, 

following a graduation ceremony at Johnson Space 

Center in Houston. 

This is the dream scenario for the Clovis native and 

Buchanan High School graduate. 

She was 12 when she first verbalized wanting to be an 

astronaut. She joined the U.S. Navy after graduation 

and became an aviation mechanic. She earned a 

Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from 

the University of Arizona and a master’s degree 

from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. 

She became a test pilot and was project officer with 

Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-31, the Dust 

Devils, in China Lake. She served on engineering 

teams in the development and flight tests for the 

F/A-18E-F Super Hornet and was heading the the 

Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-151 at at Naval Air 

Station Lemoore when she was accepted by NASA. 

Wittner is in rarefied company. 

NASA has graduated just 360 NASA astronauts 

since the original “Mercury Seven” were chosen 

in 1959. That crew included John Glenn and Alan 

Continued on page 10

2 | M2CC - News www.m2cc.us MARCH 2024 EDITION WWW.M2CC.US 

Newsletter | 3 

Albany Police Department 

VISION 

The Albany Police Department is a nationally accredited law 

enforcement agency committed to providing excellence in policing, by 

enhancing the safety and security of individuals through valuing human 

life and building partnerships that strengthen relationships within our 

community. 

MISSION 

Our mission is to develop our personnel to deliver quality law 

enforcement services with professionalism, integrity, and compassion 

and to ensure with every interaction we are building trust and modeling 

ethical policing in our community. 

CORE VALUES 

Professionalism 

Respect 

Integrity 

Accountability 

Interpersonal Skill



After suffering a cardiac arrest more than four months ago 

and subsequently undergoing open-heart surgery, Gen. 

Eric Smith returned to full duty status as commandant 

of the Marine Corps on Tuesday, according to a press 

release from the service. 

Smith, who collapsed near his home in Washington, 

D.C., on Oct. 29, previously said that he intended to 

return to work as commandant. In January, he underwent 

open-heart surgery to repair a congenital defect that 

doctors said contributed to his hospitalization. 

He took back the reins of the service from Gen. 

Christopher Mahoney, the assistant commandant of the 

Top Marine 

Returns to Full 

Duty Status as 

Commandant After 

Cardiac Arrest 

Last Year 

Marine Corps, who had been serving in both positions 

since November. 

The Associated Press reported last week that Smith had 

quietly returned to the Pentagon multiple times over the 

last month and was preparing to return to duty. 

"Gen. Smith and his family appreciate the full support of 

Congress; the leadership at the Department of Defense, 

Department of the Navy, the Joint Force; and all who 

extended them their well wishes during his recovery," the 

Marine Corps press release said late Tuesday evening. 

A spokesperson for Smith, Maj. Josh Larson, told 

Military.com that the decision for the commandant 

to return to full duty status involved meeting certain 

recovery milestones, was done under the advice of his 

doctors, and after consulting with Department of the 

Navy leadership. 

A month before his cardiac arrest, Smith was confirmed 

as commandant amid a congressional roadblock headed 

by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican, who 

held up military confirmations in protest of a Pentagon 

policy reimbursing travel expenses for reproductive 

care, including abortions. 

In December, Tuberville dropped his remaining holds. 

Smith collapsed near Marine Barracks Washington two 

days after the Marine Corps Marathon, which he did 

not participate in, but appeared at. Bystanders called 

911 and performed CPR on Smith. Lt. Gen. Karsten 

Heckl, a three-star, briefly held the position of acting 

commandant until Mahoney was confirmed. 

Just weeks after his 

hospitalization, Smith 

reassured Marines in his first 

public-facing appearance in a 

video posted to social media. 

At the time, he said, "I'm still 

in the fight; I need you to be 

in the fight." 

Navy Secretary Carlos 

Del Toro said Tuesday he 

was "pleased to report that 

Gen. Eric Smith has fully 

recovered," according to a 

post on X, formerly known 

as Twitter. "I am grateful to 

Gen. Mahoney for his steady 

hand at the helm of the 

[Marine Corps], and I look 

forward to seeing Gen. Smith 

back in action."


Newsletter | 7



Appeals Court Supports Disabled 

Veterans’ Rights to Appeal VA Decisions 

About Caretaker Benefits 

veterans and caregivers who have received decisions 

for caretaker benefits, according to the decision. 

The judges noted in their decision that the VA has 

issued notices of “potential appeal rights” to all the 

identified veterans and caregivers. 

The National Veterans Legal Services Program 

described the victory as securing “the rights of 

hundreds of thousands of veterans and caretakers like 

the Beaudettes … who were unjustly denied, removed 

or had their benefits reduced.” 

The nonprofit legal services program has also 

represented a class of veterans and caretakers similarly 

affected. 

Since the 2021 ruling, more than 14,000 veterans and 

their caretakers have appealed decisions or submitted 

a supplemental claim for review, according to the legal 

services program. 

“The veterans court ordered the [VA] secretary to notify 

claimants of their right to appeal adverse caregiver 

program determinations to the board,” according to 

court documents. 

But the VA also appealed the ruling in 2023 to the U.S. 

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Court, which 

last week upheld the decision granting the Beaudettes 

the right to appeal. 

“The Beaudettes had no adequate alternative means to 

obtain the relief,” other than to file an appeal before 

the veterans’ court, the judges wrote. “We conclude the 

Beaudettes and other similarly situated veterans and 

caregivers have an indisputable right to judicial review 

of caregiver program decisions.” 

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has rejected 

a claim by the Department of Veterans Affairs that would 

block the right of hundreds of thousands of disabled 

veterans from challenging decisions of a VA caregiver 

program over benefits that support in-home assistance. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled 

Feb. 27 that Jeremy Beaudette, a Marine Corps veteran 

who suffered multiple head injuries from five tours 

of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his wife, Maya 

Beaudette, who quit her job to care for him, had the 

right to challenge a 2018 decision by the VA Program 

of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers to 

deny them benefits. 

The program gives benefits to family caregivers 

to provide at-home care for disabled veterans. The 

assistance includes a monthly stipend ranging from 

$1,800 to $3,000, as well as training and other support. 

Veterans must suffer from debilitating injuries impacting 

daily functions to qualify for the program. 

Jeremy Beaudette had suffered multiple concussions 

while serving in the Marine Corps from 2002 to 2012 

that resulted in a traumatic brain injury and rendered him 

legally blind, according to the National Veterans Legal 

Services Program, which represented the Beaudettes. 

A three-judge panel last week upheld a 2021 decision 

by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims that 

allows the couple to proceed with their case before the 

Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

The panel rejected the VA’s argument that the caretaker 

program had made a “medical determination” that was 

not subject to court appeal. 

“There is a strong presumption favoring judicial review 

of agency actions,” the judges wrote in their decision. 

“The [VA] has not met its burden to show all caregiver 

program decisions are exempt from judicial review.” 

The VA and Department of Justice could choose to 

appeal their case to the U.S. Supreme Court but declined 

to comment on pending litigation. 

The couples’ lawsuit, which had been certified as a classaction 

case, could potentially affect more than 400,000 

Jeremy and Maya Beaudette had originally applied 

for caregiver program benefits in 2013 because of 

his “inability to perform activities of daily living and 

his substantial need for supervision and protection,” 

according to court documents. 

Though the VA had “consistently” found the 

Beaudettes eligible for benefits through the caretaker 

program, he was disqualified in February 2018 after 

seeking to delay his annual reassessment because he 

was recovering from two surgeries, according to the 

findings in the court decision. 

The Beaudettes sought to appeal the decision in July 

2020 before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, but the 

VA maintained its decision could not be overruled. 

The Beaudettes then challenged the VA’s decision to 

block their appeal by filing a claim in 2020 before 

the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The 

court supported the appeal in 2021 and ordered the 

VA to notify all veterans and caregivers who had ever 

received a caregiver program decision.



Why Are Clocks 

Set Forward in the 

Spring? Thank 

Wars, Confusion 

and a Hunger for 

Sunlight! 

Once again, most Americans will set their clocks forward 

How we came to move the clock forward in the 

by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps a bit of sleep 

spring, and then push it back in the fall, is a tale that 

but gaining more glorious sunlight in the evenings as the 

spans over more than a century — one that’s driven 

days warm into summer. . There’s been plenty of debate 

by two world wars, mass confusion at times and a 

over the practice but about 70 countries currently use 

human desire to bask in the sun for a long as possible. 

Shepard, who was the first American to travel into 

space. 

Wittner’s training class, selected in 2021, was just 

10 people chosen from a pool of 12,000 applicants. 

Over the past two years, the astronauts completed 

training across five subject categories, according 

to NASA. They learned to operate and maintain 

International Space Station systems. They trained 

for spacewalks, learned Russian and robotics skills, 

and operated a T-38 supersonic training jet. 

It was during her first run in an underground pool 

in a simulation of the ISS that Wittner felt the full 

impact of what it means to be an astronaut. Standing 

there in a full space suit, “that’s really when it starts 

to hit.” 

A trip to the moon? 

Continued from page 1 

Individual missions have yet to be assigned, but 

could involve anything from research aboard the 

International Space Station to launching commercial 

spacecraft, or deep-space missions to destinations 

including the moon, NASA said. 

In 2017, the space agency launched the Artemis 

project, a series of new lunar missions with the 

ultimate goal of eventually launching a mission to 

Mars. An uncrewed test flight was launched in 2022. 

A second, fly-by mission was scheduled to happen 

this year but was postponed until 2025. 

“I would love to go to the moon,” says Wittner, 

knowing its the consensus feeling among her peers. 

“I think you’re going to hear that from a lot of 

people.” 

Of course, Wittner is a firm believer in following 

passions — and her passion is exploration in all of 

forms. Even though we’ve already been to the moon, 

she says, these next visits will unlock an amazing 

amount of new information and opportunity. 

“That’s like the next frontier right now,” she says 

“We know what questions need to be answered.” 

what Americans call daylight saving time. 

DALLAS — Once again, most Americans will set their 

clocks forward by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps 

a bit of sleep but gaining more glorious sunlight in the 

evenings as the days warm into summer. 

Where did this all come from, though? 

There’s been plenty of debate over the practice, but 

about 70 countries — about 40% of those across the 

globe — currently use what Americans call daylight 

saving time. 

While springing the clocks forward “kind of jolts 

our system,” the extra daylight gets people outdoors, 

exercising and having fun, says Anne Buckle, 

web editor at timeanddate.com, which features 

information on time, time zones and astronomy. 

“The really, really awesome advantage is the bright 

evenings, right?” she says. “It is actually having 

hours of daylight after you come home from work to 

spend time with your family or activities. And that is 

wonderful.” 

Here are some things to know so you’ll be conversant 

about the practice of humans changing time: 

In the 1890s, George Vernon Hudson, an astronomer 

and entomologist in New Zealand, proposed a time 

shift in the spring and fall to increase the daylight.



And in the early 1900s, British home builder William Willett, troubled that people weren’t up enjoying the 

morning sunlight, made a similar push. But neither proposal gained enough traction to be implemented. 

Germany began using daylight saving time during World War I with the thought that it would save energy. Other 

countries, including the United States, soon followed suit. During World War II, the U.S. once again instituted 

what was dubbed “war time” nationwide, this time year-round. 

In the United States today, every state except Hawaii and Arizona observes daylight saving time. Around the 

world, Europe, much of Canada and part of Australia also implement it, while Russia and Asia don’t currently. 

After World War II, a patchwork of timekeeping emerged across the United States, with some areas keeping 

daylight saving time and others ditching it. 

“You might have one town has daylight saving time, the neighboring town might have daylight saving time but 

start it and end it on different dates and the third neighboring town might not have it at all,” says David Prerau, 

author of the book “Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time.” 

At one point, if riders on a 35-mile (56-kilometer) bus ride from Steubenville, Ohio, to Moundsville, West Virginia, 

wanted their watches to be accurate, they’d need to change them seven times as they dipped in and out of daylight 

saving time, Prerau says. 

So in 1966, the U.S. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which say states can either implement daylight 

saving time or not, but it has to be statewide. The act also mandates the day that daylight saving time starts and 

ends across the country. 

Confusion over the time change isn’t just something from the past. In the nation of Lebanon last spring, chaos 

ensued when the government announced a last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight saving time by a 

month — until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Some institutions made the change and others 

refused as citizens tried to piece together their schedules. Within days, the decision was reversed. 

“It really turned into a huge mess where nobody knew what time it was,” Buckle says. 

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE IF WE DIDN’T CHANGE THE CLOCKS? 

Changing the clocks twice a year leads to a lot of grumbling, and pushes to either use standard time all year, or 

stick to daylight saving time all year often crop up. 

During the 1970s energy crisis, the U.S. started doing daylight saving time all year long, and Americans didn’t 

like it. With the sun not rising in the winter in some areas till around 9 a.m. or even later, people were waking up 

in the dark, going to work in the dark and sending their children to school in the dark, Prerau says. 

“It became very unpopular very quickly,” Prerau says. 

And, he notes, using standard time all year would mean losing that extra hour of daylight for eight months in the 

evenings in the United States. 

A NOD TO THE EARLY ADOPTERS 

In 1908, the Canadian city of Thunder Bay — then the 

two cities of Fort William and Port Arthur — changed 

from the central time zone to the eastern time zone for 

the summer and fall after a citizen named John Hewitson 

argued that would afford an extra hour of daylight to 

enjoy the outdoors, says Michael deJong, curator/ 

archivist at the Thunder Bay Museum. 

The next year, though, Port Arthur stayed on eastern 

time, while Fort William changed back to central 

time in the fall, which, predictably, “led to all sorts of 

confusion,” deJong says. 

Today, the city of Thunder Bay is on eastern time, and 

observes daylight saving time, giving the area, “just 

delightfully warm, long days to enjoy” in the summer, 

says Paul Pepe, tourism manager for Thunder Bay 

Community Economic Development Commission. 

The city, located on Lake Superior, is far enough north 

that the sun sets at around 10 p.m. in the summer, Pepe 

says, and that helps make up for their cold dark winters. 

Residents, he says, tend to go on vacations in the winter 

and stay home in the summer: “I think for a lot of folks 

here, the long days, the warm summer temperatures, it’s 

a vacation in your backyard.”



Pentagon’s Priority 

on AI Spending 

Could Shield it 

From Cuts 

March 11 under Defense financing caps set by 

the bipartisan debt limit deal, which holds down 

spending across the department. 

The reason why AI might escape cuts is twofold: 

There’s a growing prioritization of AI within the 

department, and lawmakers who are convinced 

of the technology’s potential are championing the 

Defense Department’s expenditures in this area, 

even as they look to trim spending elsewhere. 

“Our adversaries understand that it is one area in 

which they will attack us,” Sen. Mike Rounds, 

R-S.D., a member of the Armed Services 

Committee and a leading Senate voice on AI 

issues, said last month in an interview. 

“We have to be able to not only respond to those 

attacks, but we’ve got to stay ahead of all of our 

adversaries with regard to the deployment of 

AI,” Rounds said. “The defense of our country is 

number one; it is more important than any of the 

other things we do, and AI is a critical part of it.” 

WASHINGTON — As the Pentagon 

prepares to release its fiscal 2025 budget 

proposal, experts in artificial intelligence 

are hopeful that planned investments in 

the technology will be safeguarded from 

concerns that could cut into other defense 

accounts. 

The department’s spending on AI in fiscal 

2024 has been hamstrung by the lack of 

full-year appropriations so far, leaving 

money requested for such operations 

unapproved and inaccessible. Officials 

at the Pentagon’s central hub for AI have 

had to “cannibalize some things in order to 

be able to keep other things alive,” chief 

officer Craig Martell told reporters last 

month. 

And while the current spending difficulties 

look to be rectified soon, DOD is set to 

release its fiscal 2025 budget request on



Bill Allowing Disabled Veterans to Collect Full 

Benefits Gets New Push from Supporters on 

Capitol Hill 

Leading lawmakers and veterans groups 

are renewing their push for a bill that 

would dramatically expand benefits for 

veterans injured in combat. 

The Major Richard Star Act, as the 

bill is called, would ensure all service 

members who medically retire have 

full access to both military retirement 

pay and Department of Veterans 

Affairs disability benefits. The bill 

had some momentum last year but 

has since stalled. 

But veterans service organizations on 

Capitol Hill this week and lawmakers 

from both parties who are sponsoring 

the bill are now vowing to keep 

fighting until the bill crosses the finish 

line. 

"We're not going to stop until we fix 

this injustice for our veterans and 

their loved ones," Senate Veterans 

Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, 

D-Mont., said at a news conference 

Tuesday afternoon alongside a throng of 

veterans. 

"I know that the VSOs and the veteran 

community can come together, and they 

can help us get this done," Tester added. 

"We saw it with the PACT Act. We saw 

veterans step up and make a big difference 

and actually, the truth is, got the bill passed 

in the United States Senate. We're going to 

have to do it again with the Major Richard 

Star Act." 

Right now, veterans with fewer than 20 

years of service and a disability rating of 

less than 50% have their retirement pay 

reduced by a dollar for every dollar of 

disability pay they get. 

Those rules mean an estimated 50,000 

retirees are ineligible for concurrent 

benefits. The average offset was about 

$1,900 per month in 2022, according to 

the Congressional Budget Office. 

The Major Richard Star Act would remove 

those restrictions so that all retirees with 

combat-related disabilities can collect 

their full retirement and disability benefits. 

The bill's namesake was an Iraq and 

Afghanistan veteran who was forced 

to retire before 20 years of service after 

he was diagnosed with lung cancer he 

developed following burn pit exposure. 

Star died from cancer in 2021. 

"By far, Richard's greatest goal was 

to pass this," his widow, Tonya Star, 

said at Tuesday's news conference. 

"These men and women earned their 

retirements the hard way, and Richard 

made myself, along with many of 

you, promise that we would not 

stop until we got this done. It hasn't 

been an easy road to travel. I know 

many of you, like myself, were in 

offices today advocating for this bill. 

I cannot thank you enough for all of 

your support. We are closer than we 

have ever been. We're going to get it 

done this year." 

The news conference was held ahead 

of Wednesday's start of the House and 

Senate Veterans Affairs committees' 

annual veterans service organizations 

hearings, where the groups were 

expected to advocate for the bill. 

Veterans groups also held private 

meetings with several congressional 

offices Tuesday to lobby for the bill. 

The bill, which falls under the 

jurisdiction of both the Veterans 

Affairs and Armed Services 

committees, was advanced out of the 

House Armed Services Committee 

last year. It has also garnered more 

than 320 co-sponsors in the House 

and more than 70 in the Senate. 

Continued on page 20



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20 | M2CC - News www.m2cc.us MARCH 2024 EDITION 

Continued from page 17 

Despite the broad bipartisan 

support, there has been no 

movement on the bill since the 

House committee vote amid 

questions about how it would 

be paid for. The Congressional 

Budget Office has projected the 

legislation could cost an estimated 

$9.75 billion in what's known as 

mandatory spending over the next 

decade. 

But supporters of the bill argue 

the country owes the benefits to 

its veterans, regardless of cost. 

Supporters said they are hoping to 

get the legislation attached to the 

annual defense policy bill that will 

move through Congress later this 

year and, if that doesn't work, look 

for any other legislative vehicle 

they can find." We're not going to 

rest until we pass the Richard Star 

Act," Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., 

the lead House sponsor, said at the news 

conference. "This is a righteous cause."

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