Israel deploys ground troops inside Gaza; death toll rises above 150

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Ignoring international appeals for a cease-fire, Israel widened its range of Gaza bombing targets to civilian institutions with suspected Hamas ties and deployed ground troops inside Gaza for the first time early Sunday to raid a rocket launching site in the Palestinian territory. More than 156 Palestinians have been killed in five days of bombardment.

Four Israeli soldiers were hurt in clashes during the brief incursion to destroy a rocket launching site in northern Gaza, the military said. It said they have returned to Israeli territory.

It was the first time that Israeli ground troops are known to have entered Gaza in the current offensive. But the operation was carried out by special forces and did not appear to be the beginning of a broad ground offensive.

On Saturday, Israel announced it would hit northern Gaza "with great force" to prevent rocket attacks from there on Israel.

One of the Israeli strikes hit a center for the disabled where Palestinians said two patients were killed and four people seriously hurt. In a second attack, on Saturday evening, an Israeli warplane flattened the home of Gaza's police chief and damaged a nearby mosque as evening prayers ended, killing at least 18 people, officials said.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council called unanimously for a cease-fire, while Britain's foreign minister said he will discuss cease-fire efforts with his American, French and German counterparts on Sunday.

So far, neither Israel nor Gaza's Hamas rulers have signaled willingness to stop.

Israel has carried out more than 1,200 air strikes this week to try to diminish Hamas' ability to fire rockets at Israel, and the chief military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz, said Saturday there would be more strikes, especially in northern Gaza near the Israeli border.

"We are going to attack there with great force in the next 24 hours due to a very large concentration of Hamas efforts in that area," he said. Late Saturday, the military said it was ordering Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate "for their own safety."

Gaza's Interior Ministry urged residents in the area to ignore Israel's warnings and to stay in their homes, saying the announcement was Israeli "psychological warfare" and an attempt to create confusion.

Shortly after the Israeli announcement, an Israeli warplane struck the home of the Gaza police chief, Taysir al-Batsh, killing at least 18 people and wounding 50, said Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra. He said worshippers were leaving the mosque after evening prayers at the time of the strike and that some people are believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Meanwhile, Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, has fired nearly 700 rockets and mortars at Israel this week and said it wouldn't be the first to cease fire.

In a sign that the conflict might widen, Israel fired into Lebanon late Saturday in response to two rockets fired from there at northern Israel. There were no injuries or damage, but Israel fears militant groups in Lebanon may try to open a second front.

Israel has said it's acting in self-defense against rockets that have disrupted life across much of the country. It also accuses Hamas of using Gaza's civilians as human shields by firing rockets from there.

Critics said Israel's heavy bombardment of one of the most densely populated territories in the world is itself the main factor putting civilians at risk. Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said that while using human shields violates international humanitarian law, "this does not give Israel the excuse to violate international humanitarian law as well."

The Israeli military said it has targeted sites with links to Hamas, including command centers, and that it issues early warnings before attacking. But Michaeli said civilians have been killed when Israel bombed family homes of Hamas militants or when residents were unable to leave their homes quickly enough following the Israeli warnings.

Before dawn Saturday, an Israeli missile hit the Palestine Charity, a center for the physically and mentally disabled in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, said its director, Jamila Alaiweh.

The center is home to nine patients, including four who were spending the weekend with their families away from the center, said Alaiweh. Of the remaining five, two were killed in the strike and three suffered serious burns and other injuries, the director said. A caregiver was also injured, she added.

The director said one of the women killed had cerebral palsy and the other suffered had severe mental handicaps. Among the three wounded patients were a quadriplegic, one with cerebral palsy and one with mental disabilities, she said.

The missile destroyed the bottom floor of the two-story building. Rescuers sifted through the pile of rubble, pulling out a folded-up wheelchair and a children's workbook.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said he was looking into the incident.

An army statement said that from Friday morning to Saturday morning, Israel targeted 158 targets "affiliated with Hamas terrorism" in Gaza, including dozens of rocket launchers and a mosque where Hamas stored rockets and weapons.

Israel also targeted several civilian institutions with presumed ties to Hamas, widening its range of targets. Palestinian officials said this included a technical college, a media office, a small Kuwait-funded charity and a branch of an Islamic bank.

The Israeli military did not mention these institutions in its statement Saturday, saying only that in addition to the military targets, it struck "further sites."

Al-Kidra, the health official, said Israeli strikes raised the death toll there to more than 156, with over 1,060 wounded. Among the dead was a nephew of Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader, who was killed in an airstrike near his home, Hamas officials said.

Though the exact breakdown of casualties remains unclear, dozens of the dead also have been civilians. Israel has also demolished dozens of homes it says are used by Hamas for military purposes.

"Am I a terrorist? Do I make rockets and artillery?" screamed Umm Omar, a woman in the southern town of Rafah whose home was destroyed in an airstrike. It was not immediately known why the building was targeted.

At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, 4-year-old Shayma al-Masri was in stable condition Saturday with shrapnel injuries to her upper body.

Her mother, a 17-year-old brother and a 14-year-old sister were killed earlier this week when two missiles struck as the family walked in their neighborhood, said Shayma's aunt Samah. The girl is left with her father and three older brothers.

The aunt, addressing Israeli mothers, said children are precious on both sides of the conflict.

"You can hide your children in the bomb shelters when you need them, but where do I hide her (Shayma)?" she said. "When the child comes to hide in my arms and I find the entire house falling on top of us what do I do then? Just like you fear for yourselves we fear for ourselves too. Just like you fear for your children we fear for our children too."

The "Iron Dome," a U.S.-funded, Israel-developed rocket defense system, has intercepted more than 130 incoming rockets, preventing any Israeli fatalities so far. A handful of Israelis have been wounded by rockets that slipped through.

On Saturday, air raid sirens went off in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel's two largest cities, both located nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Gaza. Most of the rockets were intercepted or fell in open areas, though one landed near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank. A house was damaged but there were no injuries.

The frequent rocket fire has disrupted daily life in Israel, particularly in southern communities that have absorbed the brunt of it. Israelis mostly have stayed close to home. Television channels air non-stop coverage of the violence and radio broadcasts are interrupted live with every air raid siren warning of incoming rockets.

The frequent airstrikes have turned bustling Gaza City into a virtual ghost town during the normally festive monthlong Ramadan holiday, emptying streets, closing shops and keeping hundreds of thousands of people close to home where they feel safest from the bombs.

The offensive marks the heaviest fighting since a similar eight-day campaign in November 2012 to stop Gaza rocket fire. The outbreak of violence follows the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, and the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager in an apparent revenge attack.

Israel has massed thousands of troops along the border in preparation for a possible ground invasion, with soldiers atop vehicles mobilized and ready to move if the order arrives.

At the United Nations, a Security Council statement approved by all 15 members calls for de-escalation of the violence, restoration of calm, and a resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at achieving a comprehensive peace agreement based on a two-state solution.

The statement calls for "the reinstitution of the November 2012 cease-fire," which was brokered by Egypt, but gives no time frame for when it should take effect.

The press statement, which is not legally binding but reflects international opinion, is the first response by the U.N.'s most powerful body, which has been deeply divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In London, Foreign Minister William Hague of Britain, a close Israeli ally, said he had spoken to his Israeli counterpart and called for an "immediate de-escalation" and expressed his "deep concern" about civilian casualties.

The Arab League said foreign ministers from member states will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Monday.

Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Karin Laub contributed from the West Bank. Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

Gunmen reportedly kill dozens of women in upscale Baghdad neighborhood

IRBIL, Iraq — Gunmen stormed a residential complex in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood Saturday, killing at least 30 people, including 28 women, according to Iraqi media.

An unidentified group of armed men raided a building in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Zayouna, breaking into “a number of apartments and opening fire on the residents,” reported Sumariya television, a private, pro-government channel.

Police cordoned off the area. Initial investigations yielded no evidence about the identity of the killers, or the motive for the attack, Iraqi media reported.

It appears to be one of the worst attacks in the capital since Sunni Arab insurgents seized vast swaths of the country last month. The killings recalled the carnage of the sectarian civil war of 2006-07, when death squads roamed the streets, killing thousands. Many victims were dragged from their homes and slain; others were killed in their homes.

Officials fear a repeat of that bloodletting as the Shiite-led government fights Sunni insurgents north and west of the capital. The fighting has raised sectarian tension in the capital and elsewhere.

Zayouna, home to many military officers who previously served under deposed strongman Saddam Hussein, remains one of Baghdad’s most affluent neighborhoods. Unlike many of the capital’s districts, Zayouna retains a mix of Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and is home to some members of Iraq’s small Christian minority.

South of Baghdad, the Iraqi army seized a large cache of weapons, including explosives and wires used to detonate improvised bombs, according to a statement released Saturday by the Ministry of Defense.

The deteriorating security situation in the capital comes as Iraqi government forces scramble to secure Baghdad and recapture territory lost to Sunni insurgents last month. The government has bolstered its forces with militias composed mostly of Shiite volunteers, many with little or no training.

The army said Saturday that an additional 4,000 Shiite volunteers would be dispatched to the western city of Ramadi to combat “extremists.”

Ramadi is the provincial capital of Anbar province, Iraq’s largest geographically, encompassing about one third of the nation’s land. The population is largely Sunni and has long been generally hostile to the Shiite-dominated central government.

During the U.S. occupation from 2003-2011, Ramadi and other areas in Anbar province were the site of fierce battles between Sunni insurgents and U.S. troops. The vast area has emerged again as a center of the Sunni insurgency, this time targeting not U.S. forces but the Iraqi government.

Many in Iraq’s Sunni minority object to the leadership of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, accusing him of favoring Shiites. Al-Maliki denies running a sectarian government or playing favorites. But even some fellow Shiite lawmakers and clerics have urged al-Maliki to run a more inclusive government.

The prime minister has also alienated the country’s Kurdish minority, who took advantage of the Sunni uprising to improve their bid for independence and seize land in the north. The peshmerga, the Kurdish fighting force, took control of two major oil fields Friday as Kurdish ministers suspended their participation in the government.

Bulos is a special correspondent.

Afghan rivals clinch deal, easing political crisis

KABUL — Afghanistan's two rival candidates reached a breakthrough agreement Saturday to a complete audit of their contested presidential election and, whoever the victor, a national unity government.

The deal, brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, offers a path out of what threatened to be a debilitating political crisis for Afghanistan, with both candidates claiming victory and talking of setting up competing governments.

Such a scenario could have dangerously split the fragile country's government and security forces at a time the U.S. is pulling out most of its troops and the Taliban continues to wage a fierce insurgency.

Instead, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah agreed to abide by a 100 percent, internationally supervised audit of all 8 million ballots in the presidential election. They vowed to form a national unity government once the results are announced, presumably one that includes members of each side.

Kerry, who conducted shuttle diplomacy between the two candidates late into the night Friday and Saturday, warned that much work still remained.

"This will be still a difficult road because there are important obligations required and difficult decisions to be made," Kerry told reporters after briefing Afghanistan's current president, Hamid Karzai, shortly after midnight.

The audit, which comes after widespread fraud allegations, is expected to take several weeks, beginning with the ballot boxes in the capital of Kabul.

Boxes from the provinces will be flown to the capital by helicopter by U.S. and international forces and examined on a rolling basis. Representatives from each campaign as well as international observers will oversee the review, and the candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner and become president.

Both candidates agreed to respect the result, and the winner would immediately form a national unity government. The inauguration, which had been scheduled for Aug. 2, would be postponed, with Karzai staying on a little longer as president.

Abdullah said the election created "serious challenges." But he praised Ghani for working toward the accord on the the audit and the unity government.

Ghani returned the compliments, lauding his competitor's patriotism and commitment to a dialogue that promotes national unity.

"Stability is the desire of everyone," Ghani said. "Our aim is simple: We've committed to the most thorough audit" in history. Such a process would remove any ambiguity about the result, he added.

Abdullah and Ghani spoke first in English, then in Dari. Ghani also spoke in Pashto. When they were done, they shook hands and hugged. Kerry later joined them as they raised their arms in triumph hand-in-hand.

The announcement came as a relief to a country on edge and worried about how the election dispute would resolve itself. Both the full audit and the agreement to form a unity government drew praise from television commentators immediately after the speeches.

The prolonged uncertainty about the outcome of the election had jeopardized a central plank of President Barack Obama's strategy to leave behind a stable state after the withdrawal of most U.S. troops at year's end.

Preliminary runoff results, released earlier this week against U.S. wishes, suggested a massive turnaround in favor of Ghani, the onetime World Bank economist. He had lagged significantly behind Abdullah in first-round voting.

Abdullah, a top leader of the Northern Alliance that battled the Taliban before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, claimed massive ballot-stuffing. He was runner-up to Karzai in a fraud-riddled 2009 presidential vote before he pulled out of that runoff, and many of his supporters see him being cheated for a second time. Some, powerful warlords included, have spoken of establishing a "parallel government."

Kerry and Karzai discussed the deal past midnight Saturday. When they emerged early Sunday, the Afghan leader endorsed the outcome.

Speaking alongside Karzai at the Presidential Palace, Kerry said the democracy springing up in Afghanistan "deserved its full bloom." He offered robust U.S. support to ensure the deal holds.

The U.N. chief in Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, who will direct much of the technical aspects of the audit, delivered his strongest praise for Kerry. He said Kerry's work wasn't typical diplomacy but almost a "miracle."

Extended instability would have immediate consequences for Afghanistan. If no process had been established and both Ghani and Abdullah attempted to seize power, the government and security forces could have split along ethnic and regional lines. The winner amid such chaos could be the Taliban, whose battle against the government persists despite the United States spending hundreds of billions of dollars and losing more than 2,000 lives since invading the country after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Taliban have intensified their spring offensive in a bid to undermine the Western-backed government. Saturday's breakthrough came after two roadside bombs killed at least 10 people, authorities said. The Taliban was blamed for the larger attack in Kandahar province.

Kerry repeatedly stressed in his mediation that Washington isn't taking sides.

Kubis and other officials said the talks in Kabul focused on the technical particulars of the U.N. audit. Kerry spent significant time hammering home the point that each side must come together at the end of the contest for the good of the country.

With Iraq wracked by an extremist Sunni rebellion, the Obama administration moved quickly to ensure Afghanistan's political instability also didn't break out into violence. A prolonged crisis also could have had other security implications for Washington.

Both Ghani and Abdullah have vowed to seal a bilateral security pact with the U.S. that Karzai has refused to sign.

The United States says it needs the legal guarantees in order to leave behind some 10,000 troops in Afghanistan next year. If the pact isn't finalized, U.S. officials say they may have to pull out all American forces, an undesired scenario that played out three years ago in Iraq.

Associated Press writer John Daniszewski contributed to this report.

Warrior's brew: Army vets launch Georgia craft brewery

The distinct smell of boiling malts and hops drifted throughout the nearly 30,000-square-foot warehouse space on Indian Street just west of downtown Savannah, Ga.

In the western-most chamber of the former Coastal Paper building, Dan Sartin peered into the hatch of a giant steel vessel containing dozens of steaming gallons of a pre-beer concoction. The master brewer smiled confidently as he stepped away from the mash.

"We're looking good," Sartin said Tuesday as he readied Service Brewing Co.'s first batch of Compass Rose IPA. "It's really pretty. It's cleared up real nice."

Combined with neighboring Southbound Brewing Company, downtown's Moon River Brewpub, under construction Coastal Empire Beer Co., and craft brew specialty bars such as The Distillery and World of Beer, Service Brewing Co. adds to the ever-expanding craft beer landscape that has engulfed Savannah in recent years.

This latest addition — it officially launches with a 6:30 p.m. July 24 party at the American Legion Post 135, 1109 Bull St. — is all thanks to a trio of U.S. Army veterans.

Sartin, a traditionally educated brewer trained at the World Brewing Academy in Munich, Germany, joined a fellow former infantry officer last year to begin the plans for Service Brewing. For him and brewery CEO Kevin Ryan, Service Brewing is a realization of a longtime dream.

Both are graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and Ryan and Sartin served as platoon leaders and company commanders during their Army careers. For both retired soldiers, their passion for brewing beer was not realized until long after leaving the military.

Ryan, a 1996 West Point graduate, left active duty in 2004 after commanding a pair of 4th Infantry Division companies through a combat deployment in the initial invasion of Iraq.

"I've been a fan of craft beer for a long, long time," Ryan said. "Once I left the military I got into health care management, and then [Service market director] Meredith [Sutton] bought me a home brewing kit, and that was kind of the beginning of the end."

Sartin, who graduated from West Point in 1978, developed much of his love for beer while stationed in Germany with the Army's 3rd Armored Division. Like Ryan, the discovery of home brewing took him from an office job in the civilian sector to professional brewing.

"I started home brewing in the early 1990s in Denver, and I've been brewing since then," Sartin said. "I made the leap into full-time brewing ... and we eventually ended up here, and we won't be looking back."

As passionate as Ryan is about his brewery he's equally as passionate about giving back to those who have sacrificed for the betterment of their county and their communities.

That means making a commitment to hire veterans and providing a portion of the company's profits to charities that support military service members, police officers and firefighters.

Earlier this year, Ryan and Sartin hired Jeff Hyatt as their assistant brewer. Hyatt, a recently retired helicopter pilot who served with Hunter Army Airfield's 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, perfectly fit the bill for the gig, Ryan said.

"It's very difficult to know who it is your hiring and the quality of that person and their work ethic," Ryan said." When you hire a veteran, your odds of hiring someone who is going to work out and have the right motivation and the ability to succeed is much greater."

It's the same reason the company will always donate to carefully-vetted, service-related non-profits.

"That's where the name Service Brewing really comes from," Ryan said. "To me it's obvious that the name is related to military service — we were service members and we're all dedicated to giving back to those who serve — but the name incorporates more than just the military. It's about anyone who has committed to serving."

While Service Brewing Co. won't immediately be open to the public as they finish some remaining construction, they intend within the next two weeks to have their products in consumers' hands.

Beginning July 25, Service's year-round offerings, Compass Rose IPA and Ground Pounder Pale Ale, and its summer seasonal Bohemian Pilsner, will be available at some area restaurants and pubs on draft and in cans.

After Labor Day, when Service Brewing will offer its beers to tasters at the Savannah Craft Brew Fest, the company will open its tasting room to patrons.

That room at the front of the brewery will feature a patriotic theme designed by Sutton, the brewery's Savannah College of Art and Design-educated marketing director, complete with tap handles designed by local artists.

"In addition to being this huge military town, Savannah is a huge art town," said Meredith, who Ryan credited with bringing life to the brewery's design. "It was important that we recognize artists' contributions to this city ... in a fun and inviting way."

The tasting room, additionally, will offer patrons a chance to try small-batch, experimental ales and lagers "to get an idea what people think about brews we could do in the future," Ryan said.

One day, Ryan said, if all goes as planned, those beers could wind up in bars and package stores across the nation.

"We hope to take over the world, you know, as far as beer goes," he said. "Right now, we just want people to come check us out and try our beer. We're obviously very passionate about this, and we think it's going to come across in our beers; there's not much better than seeing people enjoy the thing you've put hard work and love into."

Strong quake hits Japan, triggering small tsunami

TOKYO — A strong earthquake hit Japan's northern coast near the nuclear power plant crippled in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake early Saturday triggered a small tsunami and prompted towns across the northern coast to issue evacuation advisories.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said the 6.8-magnitude quake struck 6 miles below the sea surface off the coast of Fukushima, about 120 miles northeast of Tokyo.

The 4:22 a.m. quake shook buildings in Tokyo. Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said there were no reports of damages or injuries.

Towns devastated by the tsunami three years ago, including Rikuzentakata, Higashi Matsushima and Otsuchi, issued evacuation advisories to thousands of households along the northern coast, along with schools and community centers.

An 8-inch-high tsunami reached the coast of Ishinomaki Ayukawa and Ofunato, about 50 minutes after the quake. Smaller waves were observed at severa other locations along the coast.

Changes to the shoreline, however, were not visible on television footages of NHK public broadcaster.

The agency issued tsunami advisory of up to 3 feet in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures along the Japanese northern coast.

Fukushima Dai-ichi and two other nuclear power plants, along with other nuclear facilities along the coast, found no abnormalities, and their reactors and fuel storage pools are being cooled safely, according to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, has instructed plant workers on night duty along the coast to retreat to higher grounds.

The 2011 disaster killed about 19,000 people. That disaster also triggered multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima plant. More than 100,000 people are still unable to go home due to fear of radiation contamination from the plant.

14,000 draft notices sent to men born in 1800s

No, the United States isn’t trying to build a military force of centenarians.

It just seems that way after the Selective Service System mistakenly sent notices to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania men born between 1893 and 1897, ordering them to register for the nation’s military draft and warning that failure to do so is “punishable by a fine and imprisonment.”

The agency realized the error when it began receiving calls from bewildered relatives last week.

Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston, said he got a notice addressed to his late grandfather Bert Huey, a World War I veteran who was born in 1894 and died in 1995 at age 100.

“I said, ‘Geez, what the hell is this about?’ It said he was subject to heavy fines and imprisonment if he didn’t sign up for the draft board,” he said. “We were just totally dumbfounded.”

Huey said he tried calling the Selective Service but couldn’t get a live person on the line. That frustrated him even more because he wanted to make sure the agency knew there had been a mistake.

“You just never know. You don’t want to mess around with the federal government,” he said.

The glitch, it turns out, originated with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation during a transfer of nearly 400,000 records to the Selective Service. A clerk working with the state’s database failed to select the century, producing records for males born between 1993 and 1997 — and for those born a century earlier, PennDOT spokeswoman Jan McKnight said Thursday.

“We made a mistake, a quite serious selection error,” McNight said.

The Selective Service didn’t initially catch it because the state used a two-digit code to indicate year of birth, spokesman Pat Schuback said. The federal agency identified 27,218 records of men born in the 1800s, began mailing notices to them on June 30, and began receiving calls from family members on July 3. By that time, it had sent 14,250 notices in error.

“It’s never happened before,” Schuback said.

The men are almost certainly all dead, given that the youngest would be turning 117 this year. Families of those men who received the notices can simply ignore them, he said. Their files will be deactivated and they shouldn’t receive additional communications from the Selective Service. The agency also posted a notice and an apology on its website Thursday.

The state Transportation Department, meanwhile, said it had taken steps to ensure its mistake won’t be repeated.

“We’re really sorry,” McNight said. “We apologize.”

Corinthian tells students they'll be able to finish degrees

A for-profit education company is trying to reassure nervous students that they’ll be able to finish their degrees even though their campuses are being closed amid concerns from the Education Department about its practices.

Santa Ana, California-based Corinthian Colleges Inc. announced that the campuses being closed operate under the Everest name and are scattered in 11 states. The company faces multiple state and federal investigations.

Corinthian, whose colleges are extremely popular with users of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, reached an agreement with the Education Department late last week that has it shutting down those campuses and putting 85 U.S.-based campuses up for sale. About a dozen others in Canada will also be sold.

The company has been informing the 3,400 students at the affected campuses that if they have already started taking classes, they will be able to earn degrees. Operations at the campuses will wind down gradually, Corinthian spokesman Kent Jenkins said, and the company was in the midst of drafting a formal letter to students that will be sent once the Education Department approves of the language.

While most students will be able to finish their degrees at the same campuses where they enrolled, some might need to transfer to nearby schools with similar programs, Jenkins said. Some students will also be eligible for refunds under the agreement with the department.

Last month, the Education Department put Corinthian on heightened financial monitoring with a 21-day waiting period for federal funds. That was after the department said it failed to provide adequate paperwork and comply with requests to address concerns about the company’s practices. The department said the concerns included allegations of falsifying job placement data used in marketing claims to prospective students, and allegations of altered grades and attendance.

Some students left comments on the Everest Facebook page expressing concerns that their degrees would be worthless. Corinthian was reaching out to those students individually and asking them to call for more information.

“I can certainly reassure students that nothing that’s happening right now affects the accreditation of their schools or the value of their degree,” Jenkins said earlier this week.

Corinthian owns Everest College, Heald College and WyoTech schools, which together enroll about 72,000 students.

An Associated Press reporter who visited Corinthian’s Silver Spring, Maryland, campus Tuesday afternoon was asked to leave by a woman who threatened to call security. She identified herself as the campus president but declined to repeat or spell her name. A few minutes earlier, after a reporter took business cards of campus staff left for visitors at the reception desk, a person walked to the desk and removed all the remaining cards.

The campus goes by the name Everest Institute and trains students to work as medical assistants. It occupies the seventh floor of a 12-story, glass-and-steel office building in the densely populated Washington suburb.

One employee hugged two receptionists as he left the office, carrying a pair of speakers and other personal items. A receptionist answered the phone by telling callers it was a “great day” at the Everest Institute.

The other campuses that are closing are in Bensalem, Pennsylvania; Chelsea, Massachusetts; Cross Lanes, West Virginia; Eagan, Minnesota; Fort Worth, Texas; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Merrillville, Indiana; Salt Lake City; St. Louis; and McLean, Virginia.

Indiana University aims to help students graduate on time

BLOOMINGTON, IND. — Indiana University has started a new office aimed at helping more students graduate on time at all the school’s campuses across the state.

The Office of Completion and Student Success that started this month aims to have more IU students earn bachelor’s degrees within four years.

While the push is for students to graduate in four years, a six-year option is included because some students also are working 30 or 40 hours a week or have family obligations, office director Rebecca Torstrick told The Herald-Times.

A major element of the initiative is the new — and required for students — degree maps. The online mapping tool allows students to see what classes they need to graduate.

It will be used on all eight IU campuses so students can adjust the map if they transfer to another campus or take a summer class at a campus near home, Torstrick said.

“The degree maps are just an academic road map,” she said.

A state Commission for Higher Education report this year found that about 50 percent of students at IU’s Bloomington campus were graduating on time, while the regional campuses were at 10 percent or less. Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus was at 38 percent, with Ball State University at 33 percent and Indiana State at 21 percent.

Completion rates factor into state higher education performance-based funding, which is recommended by the commission. A higher on-time completion rate means more state money for the university.

Torstrick said that previously students with multiple majors and minors worked with advisers in different departments who only focused on the courses of study in their departments.

Now, those advisers are in communication with each other and the students, she said. That allows for students to easily see where they can double-count classes, and helps keep them from taking classes they don’t need.

“All of this is geared toward supporting and improving the most meaningful component of the adviser-student relationship, that is, one-on-one meetings,” Torstrick said.

Army's tighter tattoo policy may mean smaller pool for recruiting

Uncle Sam still wants you — just not as heavily inked.

More than three months after the Army implemented a more stringent tattoo policy, recruiters say they are the ones feeling the pinch.

“It certainly makes our job a little more challenging,” said Staff Sgt. Carrington Oliver of the South Holland, Ill., recruiting station.

The new regulations, which went into effect around April 1, mean turning away about 10 to 12 potential recruits at his office each month, Oliver said.

Still, he endorsed the changes. “It’s all about projecting a more professional image.”

The tighter rules, which went into effect around April 1, ban body art on the head, face, neck, wrists, hands and fingers. Soldiers are allowed a maximum of four visible tattoos below the elbow or knee, but they must be smaller than the wearer’s hand, which means that “sleeves” are also prohibited. (Extremist, sexist and racist tattoos have always been taboo.)

The Army now has the toughest tattoo policy of all the branches of service. It’s not the first time that the top brass has turned thumbs down on being overly tatted up, said Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon.

However, following the 9/11 attacks, when more recruits were needed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army took a more lenient stance — and the inkwell flowed with abandon.

But the Army decided it was time to reassess.

“Any time you make something tougher, you’re going to see a reaction. But, ultimately, it’s more rewarding because we’re bringing on board the highest quality soldiers possible,” Hall said.

Soldiers who are non-compliant with the revised policy are grandfathered in, according to authorities.

In South Holland, military hopefuls typically respond by promising to have their conspicuous body art removed, Oliver said. “They are very motivated ... and say they’ll be back after having them removed.”

At Advanced Dermatology in Lincolnshire, Steve Prus, a physician's assistant, is treating one potential recruit who is deleting the oversized art from his forearm. Laser removal can cost $400 to $600 and take anywhere between 5 to 15 sessions, depending on the size.

The tattoo being removed?

His mother’s name.

Army leaders defend flawed intelligence system

WASHINGTON — Gen. John Campbell, the U.S. Army's vice chief of staff and nominee to lead U.S. forces in Afghanistan, cited his son's experiences as a soldier there to answer a senator's tough questions last year about a troubled intelligence technology system.

But after an inquiry from The Associated Press, the Army acknowledged this week that Campbell misspoke. He also omitted key facts as he sought to defend a $4 billion system that critics say has not worked as promised. Campbell will likely face more questions about the intelligence network at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Gathering and making sense of intelligence in Afghanistan will remain a priority even as U.S. troops pull out.

Army leaders, including Campbell and his boss, Army chief of staff Gen. Ray Odierno, have circled their wagons around the Distributed Common Ground System, known as DCGS-A , a network of crash-prone software, sensors and databases that was supposed to allow troops to process and integrate intelligence from a variety of sources, from electronic intercepts to overhead imagery to spy reports.

A series of independent government reports have pointed to significant weaknesses in DCGS-A.

When Rep. Duncan Hunter, a member of House Armed Services Committee, visited troops in eastern Afghanistan last year, "DSGS was shut down in the corner, piled with books and papers," he said.

The Army has continued to pour money into the system despite its record of blown deadlines and unmet promises. Even more troubling to critics is how the army has made it difficult for commanders to use an off-the-shelf commercial product that soldiers say is more workable and user-friendly than DCGS-A, even though the commercial system has been embraced by the Marines, special operations forces, the CIA and other government agencies.

"DCGS folks promised a solution three years ago, and they have yet to deliver," said Col. Peter Newell, who retired last year after heading the Army's Rapid Equipping force.

Army officials acknowledge problems with DCGS-A. In a statement, spokesman Matthew Bourke said the Army is working to improve the system in its next generation, which is being put out for bids next year.

DCGS-A was first developed a decade ago, but the spotlight on its shortcomings grew brighter in 2010, when Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, then the top military intelligence officer in Afghanistan, said in a memo that "intelligence analysts in theater currently do not have the tools required to fully analyze the tremendous amounts of information currently available."

Flynn made an urgent request for a "theater-wide, Web-based analytical platform" that sounded a lot like a product offered by a Silicon Valley startup called Palantir, which grew out of antifraud technology developed by PayPal and was valued in December at $9 billion.

Yet over the last four years, records show, Army leaders have made it difficult for some commanders to purchase Palantir.

Army units that have managed to obtain Palantir report that it has saved lives in Afghanistan by helping to map insurgent activity and bomb networks in ways the Army system could not. It is also far cheaper: A 2013 Government Acountability Office report estimated that the Pentagon had spent about $35 million in recent years to equip the Marines and some army units with Palantir, compared to $4 billion for DCGS-A.

Palantir can merge disparate data sets — cellphone calls, fingerprint and DNA records, photos, bomb incident reports — and array them on a map in seconds. DCGS-A's work stations employ a mapping program that is much more difficult to master, in a system that does not allow seamless data fusion. When soldiers update a file in Palantir, that file becomes visible to every Army Palantir user, which often is not the case across the DCGS-A network.

Last April, Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, confronted Campbell with DCGS-A's litany of troubles, including that the Army's testing lab in 2012 found the system "not operationally effective, not operationally suitable and not survivable."

Campbell said Palantir does only a small portion of what DCGS-A is supposed to do, though he acknowledged that it is easier to work with. The Army's system, he said, "saves lives" and has access to more intelligence than Palantir's software does.

He added, "My son is a soldier in the 82nd. He's a specialist. He deployed to Afghanistan." Cambell said his son was in "one of the units that asked for DCGS — or his brigade did, not himself."

Pentagon paid over $8,000 for a $445 gear, Defense report shows

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon paid Textron's Bell Helicopter unit $8,123.50 each for gears that should have cost $445.06, according to a report by the Defense Department's inspector general.

The bevel gears that were marked up 18-fold were part of $9 million in excess payments by taxpayers cited by the watchdog office.

This is the latest case in which the inspector general said Pentagon agencies allowed contractors to overcharge for parts. For decades, the Defense Department has periodically been the subject of ridicule from lawmakers, and even late-night comedians, after reports of inflated prices for items such as a coffee pot and toilet seat.

In the Bell case, the inspector general recommended that the Defense Logistics Agency seek to recoup the excess money and analyze prices to ensure taxpayers aren't further overcharged. Otherwise, the excess payments may increase by an additional $2.6 million under Bell's noncompetitive contract, the report found.

"The contracting officer did not sufficiently determine whether prices were fair and reasonable," according to the July 3 report, signed by Jacqueline Wicecarver, assistant inspector general for acquisition. The report, obtained by Bloomberg News, was labeled "For Official Use Only."

Bell Helicopter "does not agree with the findings or recommendations," Andy Woodward, a spokesman for the unit of Providence, Rhode Island-based Textron, said in a statement.

"Bell Helicopter has fully complied with all applicable regulations, and continues to adhere to its policy, which ensures that the U.S. Government consistently receives the best price on commercial items acquired for its use," he said.

The alleged overcharges were incurred on Bell's 2012 sole- source, $128 million contract to support Navy and Marine Corps H-1 and Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. The contract is in place until February 2017.

"Prices were not sufficiently determined fair and reasonable because the contracting officer did not perform an adequate analysis when procuring sole-source" parts, accepting the company's pricing "in a noncompetitive environment," the inspector general's report found.

The agency "potentially overpaid Bell Helicopter Textron about $9 million out of $13.4 million on 33 of 35 sole-source spare parts" reviewed, Wicecarver wrote.

Auditors for the inspector general calculated the potential overpayments based on cost data that Bell Helicopter provided under an administrative subpoena, according to the report.

In response to the inspector general's recommendation that the Defense Logistic Agency pursue options including a voluntary refund from Bell, Matthew Beebe, the agency's director of acquisition, told auditors that "Bell has consistently refused to provide cost data for commercial parts" it sells the Pentagon.

Agency officials do "not believe they have the ability to obtain cost data," the report said.

In June 2013, the Defense Logistics Agency asked Boeing Co., based on another audit, to refund $13.7 million for what it called excessive prices for spare parts, including a $10 aluminum sleeve for which the Pentagon paid $2,286.

Chicago-based Boeing this year agreed to provide the agency with $3.2 million in parts to settle the case.

The Bell audit found that the Defense Department paid the company $2,355.85 for a round inner cap — an "inflated unit price that should have been $297.08." In another case "Bell proposed and DLA accepted a unit price of $492.17" for a $51.67 pin.

Bell Helicopter also charged the agency $295.57 apiece for one-inch bushings the inspector general determined should have cost an average $25.72 each.

The Defense Logistics Agency's Beebe said in his written response to the report that the agency followed "current commercial contracting procedures and pricing methodology" and paid 35 percent less than the company charged commercial customers.

The deal with Bell also provided for additional price cuts if commercial customers were charged less for the same item, Beebe said.

US bases on Okinawa assessing damage after Typhoon Neoguri rolls through

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Typhoon Neoguri bore down on mainland Japan on Wednesday after drenching the country’s southern islands with the heaviest rainfall in 10 years.

The storm felled tree limbs and caused significant power outages, flooding and an unknown number of injuries on Okinawa, according to U.S. military officials, who were still compiling damage reports for each base on the island.

On Tuesday afternoon, the typhoon battered the island, where about 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed, with heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 90-100 mph. More than 17 inches of rain drenched northern Okinawa, while the south got 15 inches.

Neoguri weakened as it moved north toward Kyushu and Sasebo Naval Base, which is expected to experience high winds, scattered thunderstorms and rain through Thursday. The storm was expected to still pack a punch while moving over land toward Tokyo and U.S. bases in the Kanto Plains on Friday.

Navy Seabee Chief Dan Clowser, camp maintenance officer for Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1 said the biggest issues he had seen were trees, branches and debris, which littered Camp Shields and damaged barbed-wire perimeter fencing.

High winds also knocked down street lights on some U.S. installations, and videos of overturned cars were on Facebook. Power outages were reported from the Chibana Housing area to Camp Foster Tower, Camp Courtney housing area and Navy lodging.

Officials from Kadena Air Base reported through social media that some people were injured when they went outside during the height of the storm against orders, forcing emergency personnel to respond.

Marine officials said there were no injuries and no calls to emergency personnel from their installations. Damage was described a minor.

Officials said preparation was key to making it through the storm relatively unscathed. Meals, Ready to Eat and water were distributed to barracks as the typhoon approached.

“We did pretty well,” Clowser said. “Nothing really bit us in the butt… It was all about the prep work and taking it seriously. Everything we could put inside, we put inside. Anything we could anchor down, we anchored down.”

Off base, the outlook was more grim. Two men were seriously injured and another 26 suffered minor injuries during the storm, according to Okinawa prefecture’s crisis management office. Vehicles were damaged, and homes flooded in Onna and Chatan.

Uruma City issued an evacuation advisory to residents along the flooded Tengan River, adjacent to Camp Courtney.

Landslides were reported at 35 locations, including Naha, Urasoe, Nago, Okinawa City and Uruma. Some roads were closed, and 75,000 people were without power, officials said.

Stars and Stripes reporters Dave Ornauer, Chiyomi Sumida and Erik Slavin contributed to this report.

burke.matthew@stripes.com

Air Force reservist sues US Steel over firing

By Brian Bowling

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Published: July 8, 2014

U.S. Steel Corp. fired an Air Force reservist while she was training to become a flight engineer for the 911th Airlift Wing in Moon, a woman claims in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Rebecca Jackanic claims the company fired her from her position as an aircraft dispatch and safety management specialist because of her frequent deployments. She's suing under federal and state laws that protect reservists' jobs while they're deployed.

Company spokeswoman Courtney Boone said U.S. Steel doesn't discuss pending lawsuits.

Jackanic says in the lawsuit that the company hired her in 2002. She deployed to Kuwait on a combat mission between 2003 and 2005, deployed again on combat missions in 2009 and 2010, and was deployed for training in November 2012. The company fired her in March while she was on that training, the lawsuit says.

Her lawyer, Tim O'Brien, said they aren't contesting that U.S. Steel reorganized its workforce to cut costs at the time it fired her. They claim the company used its Carnegie Way reorganization as a way to fire her for frequent military deployments.

The company retained people doing the same work as Jackanic who have less experience and fewer qualifications, O'Brien said.

U.S. Steel announced in May that it laid off an undisclosed number of employees in operations and business support functions.

US nuclear missile duty: 'It weighs on your mind'

BERTHOLD, North Dakota — Andy Parthum spends his workday 60 feet (18 meters) below ground awaiting the order he hopes never arrives: to launch the most powerful weapon ever devised by man. He is a nuclear "missileer" — an airman who does his duty not in the air but in a hole in the ground.

On both counts — the possibility of firing weapons that could kill millions, and the subterranean confinement — a missileer lives with pressures few others know. It's not active combat, although the Air Force calls them combat crew members. Yet no one can exclude the possibility, remote as it may be, that one day a president will deliver the gut-wrenching order that would compel a missileer to unleash nuclear hell.

"Absolutely, it weighs on your mind," Parthum, 25, said on a recent afternoon at Juliet-01, a Minuteman 3 missile launch site near Minot Air Force Base, whose 91st Missile Wing controls 150 of the nation's 450 Minuteman missiles.

It may come as a surprise to some that the Air Force still operates intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. And therein lies part of the problem for missileers, who feel underappreciated in a military that has long since shifted its main focus to fighting small wars, striking with unmanned drones and countering terrorism and cyberattacks.

Parthum, however, says he takes pride in his role.

"It's sobering. It's not something that's taken lightly by anybody," Parthum said as he and his crewmate, 23-year-old 2nd Lt. Oliver Parsons, showed visitors around the small launch control center where they were several hours into a 24-hour watch over a group of 10 missiles.

It's a sometimes tedious duty the Air Force calls "standing alert." Some say their biggest challenge is staying alert.

Missileers, typically 22- to 27-year-old lieutenants and captains, work in pairs, with a relief crew arriving every 24 hours. A missileer generally does two "alerts" a week. It was Parthum's 118th. (He keeps track.)

It's not hard to see why some missileers find it hard to adjust to life there. An 8-ton blast door seals their launch control center from a potential incoming nuclear detonation. Twice last year, launch officers were disciplined after admitting they left the blast door open while a crewmate was asleep — a security violation. That and other lapses in discipline, training and leadership were documented by The Associated Press over the past year, prompting Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to declare that "something is wrong."

The ICBM launch control center is actually two separate structures. An outer protective shell is made of reinforced concrete lined with a steel plate. A smaller, box-like enclosure where the missileers work, eat and sleep is suspended inside the protective shell by pneumatic cylinders called "shock isolators" attached to the shell's ceiling by heavy chains; the isolators are designed to keep the space stable in the event of a nuclear blast.

These underground command posts have changed relatively little since they were built in the early 1960s, although the Air Force recently committed to refurbishing them to make a missileer's life a bit easier. Juliet-01, the command post an AP reporting team was permitted to visit, had just been repainted and spruced up to remove corrosion caused by water intrusion, giving it what one officer called "that new car smell."

The launch center is accessible only from an above-ground building that resembles a small ranch-style home. An access shaft descends from a vestibule inside the building, which is controlled by a security team and surrounded by alarms and a chain-link fence.

The U.S. has never fired an ICBM, other than for flight testing. Their stated purpose is to help deter nuclear war by convincing a potential attacker that it would have more to lose than to gain.

ICBM duty is far removed from the glamour, guts and glory associated with the Air Force. It not only falls short of the image of a fighter or bomber pilot streaking across enemy skies, it requires sitting, unseen and largely unappreciated, in a stuffy capsule to baby-sit missiles.

Upward of two-thirds of missileers were "volunteered" for the job after gaining their officer commission. Once they complete basic ICBM training, they are sent on four-year tours to one of three missile bases: Minot, Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, or F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

The responsibility is enormous, the cost of mistakes potentially colossal, ranging from environmental damage to inadvertently triggering a nuclear war.

Over time, with the passing of the Cold War, the Air Force lost focus on its nuclear mission. It also lost a good deal of what remained of the allure of serving as a missileer.

"Even during the Cold War while facing down the Soviets, it could be difficult to convince bright young airmen that what they were doing was worthwhile," Robert W. Stanley II wrote in a research paper in 2011 before becoming vice commander of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom. Last year he was promoted to commander there but resigned in March 2014 amid a scandal over exam cheating among his missileers.

In his paper, "Reviving a Culture of Disciplined Compliance in Air Force Nuclear Operations," Stanley called for missileer incentive pay.

The Air Force is heeding that advice. Starting in October, it will offer entry bonuses to newly trained missileers, as well as "duty pay" for security forces, missileers and others who operate in the missile fields.

Air Force under fire for canceled $1 billion computer project

A key Senate subcommittee report chastised the Air Force for spending $1 billion to develop a computer logistics management system that was never fielded.

The Expeditionary Combat Support System, once managed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, was canceled in December 2012 after eight years of development, a price tag of more than $1 billion, and the loss of more than 600 jobs in the Miami Valley tied to the project.

Wright-Patterson announced 115 people would lose their jobs at the base and 55 others would be reassigned in 2012 because of the program’s cancellation. The Air Force decision to end contractor Computer Science Corp.'s involvement with the program led to the elimination of about 500 company or contractor jobs in Beavercreek, Ohio, by that same year.

The Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations released a July 7 report highly critical of how the Air Force handled the initative to take commercial, off-the-shelf software, with some modifications, and use it to replace more than 200 computer logistics systems.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, called the Air Force’s management of ECSS a “debacle” and urged the Pentagon to follow lessons learned to allow its budgets to be audited and to avoid “the same disastrous fate as ECSS.”

“The Air Force’s billion dollar ECSS failure is the most egregious example of mismanagement at the Department of Defense in recent memory,” McCain, R-Ariz., said in a statement. “The Air Force did not have a clear idea of what it wanted ECSS to accomplish, the lack of strong leadership, coupled with the Air Force’s cultural resistance to change, only exacerbated the program’s problems.”

The report echoed similar concerns: “The result of the ECSS’s failure was a waste of $1.1 billion in taxpayer money, a loss of eight years of effort, the same old inadequate logistics system far inferior to the promise of ECSS, and a major setback to the Air Force’s attempt to transform how it does business,” the report said.

Among the report’s key conclusion on why the project faltered: A strong cultural resistance to change in the Defense Department hindered using “widely endorsed” management principles; a lack of leadership and a disregard of acquisition best practices.

Ed Gulick, an Air Force spokesman, said in an email Tuesday the Air Force “has learned many lessons from the cancellation of the program and is implementing corrective actions” from an Air Force review “to reduce risk of similar issues occurring” in the future. The Air Force has moved away from plans for a large-scale computer logistics management system to smaller, more manageable systems, he said.

The Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System, a new financial management system, has put into practice the lessons learned from ECSS, according to Gulick. That system is on track to meet a congressional directive to meet financial audit requirements by fiscal year 2017, he said in an email. “It will take time to institutionalize all the changes needed, but we believe we are on a solid course forward,” Gulick added.

Heather L. Williams, a Computer Sciences Corp. spokeswoman, said in an email the Senate report’s key findings were consistent with the company’s review of the program. “We remain confident that the progress we made, jointly with the Air Force, could be the foundation for a future system,” she said in an email.

“We provided the foundational capabilities and (information technology) assets for implementing the software system of the future and delivered the design blueprints for modernizing the Air Force’s logistics,” she added. “CSC is a stronger partner to the federal government and advocate for the use of best practices early in the acquisition process as a result of our experience.”

Senator investigators noted: The Air Force transitioned six program managers, and five program executive officers, which left no one accountable for the project’s failure.

Among other recommendations, the report urged the Pentagon to improve results of acquiring enterprise resource planning programs, such as ECSS, by following business guidelines early in the acquisition process; bringing investment review boards into the beginning of budgeting and creating a single governance structure to acquire enterprise resource planning systems.

Numerous reports of whistleblower reprisals trigger VA office overhaul

WASHINGTON — Jose Mathews became chief of psychiatry for the VA in St. Louis and quickly realized the department’s reported wait times for veterans seeking treatment did not match reality.

Deeply troubled by what he saw, Mathews raised $60,000 from private donors to conduct his own survey to help determine whether patients were getting timely psychiatric care at the city’s Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.

The VA launched an investigation of the doctor and immediately moved him from the management position to a new job evaluating compensation for mental disorders, said Mathews, who testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday evening.

Numerous reports of similar reprisals in the wake of a national scandal over access to care spurred the VA on Tuesday to announce an overhaul of its Office of Medical Inspector, which has been criticized by federal investigators for whitewashing complaints from whistleblowers within the department.

“They have already professionally assassinated me,” Mathews told House lawmakers investigating the reports of whistleblower reprisals. “Are we protecting the veterans or are we protecting the VA employees?”

There are now 67 active investigations into retaliation against VA whistleblowers in 28 states, said Carolyn Lerner, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent watchdog agency created to protect those who report wrongdoing in the federal government.

Lerner, who also testified before the House on Tuesday, said the VA often ignored or denied valuable whistleblower reports on threats to patient care that the OSC shared.

However, there have been recent encouraging signs that the VA is interested in fixing problems with how whistleblower complaints are handled, she said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson announced major changes in the office that handles the reports.

“Given recent revelations by the Office of Special Counsel, it is clear that we need to restructure the Office of Medical Inspector to create a strong internal audit function which will ensure issues of care quality and patient safety remain at the forefront,” Gibson said in a released statement Tuesday.

VA Chief Medical Inspector John R. Pierce, who served in the position for a decade, resigned June 30 under fire over the treatment of whistleblowers.

Gibson said the VA will appoint an interim director of OMI from outside that office to assist with an overhaul of how internal complaints and concerns over medical treatment are handled.

Meanwhile, the VA will suspend the OMI’s whistleblower hotline and refer all calls to the VA inspector general.

According to the whistleblowers who testified before the House on Tuesday, staff throughout the VA have been systematically ignoring concerns and discouraging reports of wrongdoing.

Another physician, Katherine Mitchell, the medical director for the Phoenix VA’s Iraq and Afghanistan Post-Deployment Center, said the department staff closed her off — nurses refused to communicate or provide needed help — when she reported serious shortcomings in emergency medical services.

The VA scandal began in late April, after a whistleblowing doctor reported that 40 veterans may have died because of delays in care at Phoenix.

In a pattern repeated with other whistleblowers, the VA transferred Mitchell to a new, unrelated position without addressing her complaints, she said.

Staff who make such reports not only risk their VA jobs but also their ability to get new employment elsewhere after being removed from positions within the department, Mitchell said.

“This is bullying; that’s what it amounts to,” said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, said Mathews is one of “hundreds” of whistleblowers who have approached the committee about wrongdoing and reprisals since the scandal broke in late April.

During the House hearing, Miller strongly criticized what he called an “organizational cesspool” within the VA that prized protecting managers over veteran care and led to preventable deaths at facilities across the country.

“In every one of these locations, whistleblowers played a vital role in exposing misconduct within the department,” Miller said.

tritten.travis@stripes.com

Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

Large typhoon strikes Okinawa, heads for Japan's main islands

TOKYO — Typhoon Neoguri, one of the biggest and strongest typhoons to hit during Japan's summer months, churned past Okinawa toward the country's main islands on Wednesday, weakening slightly but dumping torrential rains in its wake.

Forecasts for unusually heavy rains prompted a fresh emergency warning, as workers scrambled to clear drains and roads to minimize damage in Okinawa from the typhoon, which left 20 people injured, one seriously.

RELATED: Stars and Stripes' Pacific Storm Tracker blog

The Japan Meteorological Agency was forecasting that parts of Shikoku, in western Japan, could receive the equivalent of three months of the normal amount of rainfall in just two days as the storm passes, if it remains on its current trajectory.

The slow-moving storm was expected to reach Kyushu, the next main island in its path, sometime Thursday.

Neoguri was packing sustained winds of 80 mph and gusts up to 114 mph Wednesday morning, far lower than the winds of up to 155 mph reported at its peak, the Meteorological Agency said.

Though it was weakening, forecasters said the storm's wide area and slow movement could add to the potential damage. Japan is relatively well prepared for typhoons, but heavy downpours could cause landslides and flooding if the typhoon moves across the Japanese archipelago as expected on Thursday or Friday.

"Please refrain from nonessential activities and from approaching hazardous areas," said Meteorological Agency official Satoshi Ebihara. "Please show extreme caution."

More than half of the 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan are based in Okinawa, the location of several bases, including Kadena, the biggest U.S. air base in Asia. An advisory on its website said all nonessential outdoor activity was prohibited because of the storm.

Television footage showed a building shattered, damaged storefronts and trees toppled by ferocious winds in the Okinawan capital of Naha.

Neoguri is a Korean word meaning "raccoon dog," a knee-high animal that looks like a cross between a dog and a raccoon but is a separate species common in East Asia.

Islamic State seizes ex-chemical weapons facility near Baghdad

UNITED NATIONS — Iraq said the Islamic State extremist group has taken control of a vast former chemical weapons facility northwest of Baghdad, where 2,500 chemical rockets filled with the deadly nerve agent sarin or their remnants were stored along with other chemical warfare agents.

Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a letter circulated Tuesday that "armed terrorist groups" entered the Muthanna site on June 11, detained officers and soldiers from the protection force guarding the facilities and seized their weapons. The following morning, the project manager spotted the looting of some equipment through the camera surveillance system before the "terrorists" disabled it, he said.

The Islamic State group, which controls parts of Syria, sent its fighters into neighboring Iraq last month and quickly captured a vast stretch of territory straddling the border between the two countries. Last week, its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the land the extremists control.

Alhakim said as a result of the takeover of Muthanna, Iraq is unable "to fulfil its obligations to destroy chemical weapons" because of the deteriorating security situation. He said it would resume its obligations "as soon as the security situation has improved and control of the facility has been regained."

Alhakim singled out the capture of bunkers 13 and 41 in the sprawling complex 35 miles northwest of Baghdad in the notorious "Sunni Triangle."

The last major report by U.N. inspectors on the status of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program was released about a year after the experts left in March 2003. It states that Bunker 13 contained 2,500 sarin-filled 122-mm chemical rockets produced and filled before 1991, and about 180 tons of sodium cyanide, "a very toxic chemical and a precursor for the warfare agent tabun."

The U.N. said the bunker was bombed during the first Gulf War in February 1991, which routed Iraq from Kuwait, and the rockets were "partially destroyed or damaged."

It said the sarin munitions were "of poor quality" and "would largely be degraded after years of storage under the conditions existing there." It said the tabun-filled containers were all treated with decontamination solution and likely no longer contain any agent, but "the residue of this decontamination would contain cyanides, which would still be a hazard."

According to the report, Bunker 41 contained 2,000 empty 155-mm artillery shells contaminated with the chemical warfare agent mustard, 605 one-ton mustard containers with residues, and heavily contaminated construction material. It said the shells could contain mustard residues which can't be used for chemical warfare but "remain highly toxic."

Why nukes keep finding trouble: They're really old

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- The Air Force asserts with pride that the nation's nuclear missile system, more than 40 years old and designed during the Cold War to counter the now-defunct Soviet Union, is safe and secure. None has ever been used in combat or launched accidentally.

But it also admits to fraying at the edges: time-worn command posts, corroded launch silos, failing support equipment and an emergency-response helicopter fleet so antiquated that a replacement was deemed "critical" years ago.

The Minuteman is no ordinary weapon. The business end of the missile can deliver mass destruction across the globe as quickly as you could have a pizza delivered to your doorstep.

But even as the Minuteman has been updated over the years and remains ready for launch on short notice, the items that support it have grown old. That partly explains why missile corps morale has sagged and discipline has sometimes faltered, as revealed in a series of Associated Press reports documenting leadership, training, disciplinary and other problems in the ICBM force that has prompted worry at the highest levels of the Pentagon.

The airmen who operate, maintain and guard the Minuteman force at bases in North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming came to recognize a gap between the Air Force's claim that the nuclear mission is "Job 1" and its willingness to invest in it.

"One of the reasons for the low morale is that the nuclear forces feel unimportant, and they are often treated as such, very openly," says Michelle Spencer, a defense consultant in Alabama who led a nuclear forces study for the Air Force published in 2012. She said in an interview the airmen - they're called Missileers - became disillusioned by an obvious but unacknowledged lack of interest in nuclear priorities among the most senior Air Force leaders.

Spencer's study found that Air Force leaders were "cynical about the nuclear mission, its future and its true - versus publicly stated - priority to the Air Force." Several key leadership posts have since changed hands, and while Spencer says she sees important improvements, she's worried about the Air Force's commitment to getting the nuclear forces what they need.

This is no surprise to those responsible for nuclear weapons policy. An independent advisory group, in a report to the Pentagon last year, minced no words. It said the Air Force must show a "believable commitment" to modernizing the force.

"If the practice continues to be to demand that the troops compensate for manpower and skill shortfalls, operate in inferior facilities and perform with failing support equipment, there is high risk of failure" to meet the demands of the mission, it said.

Robert Goldich, a former defense analyst at the Congressional Research Service, said the ICBM force for years got "the short end of the stick" on personnel and resources.

"I honestly don't think it's much more complicated than that," he said. "When that happened, people lost sight of how incredibly rigorous you've got to be to ensure quality control when nuclear weapons are involved."

That may be changing. Air Force leaders are making a fresh push to fix things.

When Deborah Lee James became Air Force secretary, its top civilian official, in December, she quickly made her way to each of the three ICBM bases and came away with a conviction that rhetoric was not matched by resources.

"One thing I discovered is we didn't always put our money where our mouth is when it comes to saying this is the No. 1 mission," James told reporters June 30 during a return visit to F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

James says the fixes will require money - and a lot more. They will take more people and a major attitude adjustment.

"I happen to think the top thing that really drives an airman is feeling like they're making a difference ... protecting America," she said earlier in June. Missileers ought to feel that way, she said, but she is not convinced they do. "And so, over time, we've got to change that around."

James said the Air Force will find $50 million in this year's budget to make urgent fixes, and will invest an additional $350 million in improvements over the coming five years. Even that, she said, is unlikely to be enough and more funds will be sought.

Her words are resonating with some, including Maj. Steve Gorman, a maintenance operations squadron commander at Minot. He already is seeing signs of change. He points to a recent decision to add 13 new maintenance positions here.

"That's a huge thing for us," Gorman said.

Since its initial deployment in 1970, the Minuteman 3 missile itself has been upgraded in all its main components. But much of the rest of the system that keeps the weapon viable and secure has fallen on hard times.

One example is the Huey helicopter fleet, which escorts road convoys that move Minuteman missiles, warheads and other key components. It also moves armed security forces into the missile fields in an emergency, even though it's too slow, too small, too vulnerable to attack and cannot fly sufficient distances.

It's also old - Vietnam War old.

The seven Hueys flown daily at Minot were built in 1969. The yearly cost of keeping them running has more than doubled over the past four years, according to Air Force statistics - from $12.9 million in 2010 to $27.8 million last year.

"Obviously we need a new helicopter, based on the mission," said Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, who as commander of 20th Air Force is responsible for the operation, maintenance and security of the full fleet of Minuteman missiles.

That's what the Air Force has been saying since at least 2006. A 2008 Air Force study cited a "critical need" to replace the Hueys "to mitigate missile field security vulnerabilities" and said this need had been identified two years earlier.

In an Associated Press interview June 25 while visiting Minot, Weinstein said he was trying to persuade his superiors to buy a new fleet of more capable helicopters, but he said it was unclear whether that would happen before 2020.

Weinstein is more optimistic about other opportunities to fix his missile corps. He is implementing a "force improvement program" that was developed from hundreds of recommendations by rank-and-file ICBM force members. It is intended to begin erasing the perception that the nuclear mission is not a top priority, and to give the nuclear missile corps more people, money, equipment, training, educational opportunities and financial incentives.

Lt. Col. Brian Young, deputy commander of the 91st Maintenance Group at Minot, said he senses a turning point as top brass reach out to enlisted airmen and non-commissioned officers to solicit ideas about how to fix the force.

"This feels completely different than any initiative I've been associated with in my 22 years" in the Air Force, he said.

Georgia college offers online business degree

ATHENS, GA. — The University of Georgia’s business school has launched an online business degree program.

UGA says the new Terry College of Business Online Bachelor of Business Administration Program is specifically aimed at adult learners and targets full-time employees, military personnel and others who want to upgrade their business skills.

Applications are open for January enrollment. The program will admit about 40 students each fall, spring and summer term. The school says a typical student will take two classes each term and finish in three years.

Applicants will be required to have finished 60 credit hours of general education and pre-business courses.

Tim Kennedy back in the UFC cage in September

Months after the highest-profile win in Tim Kennedy’s career, the sergeant first class will return to the UFC cage in September to face a lesser-known foe — with a four-fight win streak.

Kennedy, a former active-duty sniper who now serves with the Texas Army National Guard, will face Yoel Romero (8-1, 4-0 UFC) on Sept. 27 on the undercard of UFC 178 in Las Vegas, according to reports on multiple mixed-martial arts websites, including MMAJunkie.com.

Kennedy (18-4, 3-0 UFC) earned a five-round decision victory over Michael “The Count” Bisping on April 16, his fourth-straight win and third since joining the UFC. He ranks eighth in the USA Today Sports/MMAJunkie middleweight rankings (Romero is 15th) and sixth in the UFC’s official 185-pound rankings (Romero’s 11th).

Romero, 37, is three years older than Kennedy but lacks the soldier’s pro-fight pedigree, with only five pro bouts before joining the UFC. But he’s been impressive since becoming a member of the top pro mixed martial arts circuit, with three of his four wins coming by knockout.

UFC 178 will be headlined by a rematch for the light heavyweight title between champion Jon “Bones” Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, who took Jones the distance in a decision loss at UFC 165 last year.

The fight wasn’t listed on the official UFC event page as of Tuesday, but Kennedy confirmed the bout via Twitter.

Motorcycle dream rides: Find one near you

Motorcycles and the open road go together like summertime and four-day passes — or better yet, block leave. Put them together and you’ve got a dream road trip begging for you to tank up and get going.

And while your ultimate biker bucket list may only include roads too far away for now, you might be surprised at the dream routes that could be just around the corner.

With the help of our friends at several of the largest military motorcycle groups, here are 10 of our favorite rides around the country.

1. 'Three Pass Blast'

Washington state

From nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord, this 400-mile loop traverses under the north face of Mount Rainier, through western Washington’s rich farmlands and roadside fruit stands and into the “American Alps” of the Cascade Mountains.

It’s a great overnighter, with plenty of detour possibilities for extended trips, says former Army Apache helicopter mechanic Jason “Samich” Sammis, now leading one of seven Washington State chapters of the Combat Vets Motorcycle Association.

Route: Starting in Enumclaw, head toward Greenwater, where you should “be sure to stop at the General Store for some locally handmade Huckleberry ice cream,” Sammis says. And top off your tank — this is will be your last chance for a long stretch.

Continue on WA 410 over Chinook pass into Yakima. Follow the Yakima River Canyon to Ellensburg and then over Blewett Pass into Leavenworth, known for its world-class whitewater rafting. Continue west over Stevens Pass and into Gold Bar. A few miles down the road, be sure to stop at the Sultan Bakery, “a biker-friendly place with some great food,” Sammis says.

In Fall City, take the turn to Snoqualmie Falls, which is just a short hike from the road and well worth the photo opportunity. Now, follow the Snoqualmie Parkway, which will become U.S. 18, to Auburn, just west of the starting point.

Stay: A slew of campgrounds dot this route, many of which can be reserved online through the National Park Service website. For a more comfortable stay, do an overnight in Leavenworth, an old logging town that reinvented itself as a Bavarian village with surprising authenticity that will impress anyone who’s been stationed in Germany.

Don’t miss: Rainier’s “Sunrise” basecamp. This 33-mile (one-way) detour from Greenwater is worth it. Enjoy views and hikes from this last mountainside outpost, the launch point of most bids for Mount Rainier’s 14,410-foot summit.

“This road can have some pretty massive heaves and dips on it from the winter weather, and there are some very tight turns, so go slow and be careful,” Sammis says.

2. Pacific Coast Highway

Northern California/Oregon

With its headwaters flowing from the heart of northwestern Washington’s Olympic Mountains, running all the way down to San Diego’s sandy beaches, this 1,700-mile river of highway cuts a path like no other.

Route: In California, the PCH is officially known as State Route 1. Those stationed at Travis Air Force Base and other Bay Area installations are in an enviable position. Go south and you’ve begun the 500-mile, ocean-cliff-hugging trip to Los Angeles — about 12 hours of drive time — or head north for a more tree-hugging route with switchbacks into the redwood forests of Mendocino County and up along the Oregon coast, where the PCH becomes U.S. Route 101. Portland is a 700-mile trip, or about 14 hours of driving from the Bay Area.

Stay: While the drive to Los Angeles is a car commercial favorite for good reasons, the views are just as spectacular heading north, not to mention a lot less expensive — and a lot less crowded. For example, the Best Western in Coos Bay, about halfway to Portland, will set you back about $140 per night. The same night stay at the Best Western in San Luis Obispo, the halfway point to Los Angeles, will run about $230.

Don’t miss: Drive through a redwood tree — yes, literally — in one of three drive-through trees along the northern California coast. Meanwhile, the miles of windswept dunes along the central Oregon coast are always a favorite. Sammis says Seal Rock is a great layover in northern Oregon, well named for its rocky tidal outcroppings and legions of slippery sea mammals that call the area home.

3. Palomar Mountain Loop

Southern California

Those stationed in San Diego can get up above the hustle and haze and into the tall trees and crystal-clear skies around Mount Palomar in less than two hours. No wonder it’s the home of Cal Tech’s massive, 200-inch Hale telescope. With its tight turns, the 120-mile Palomar Mountain Loop is often described as one of the most technically demanding rides in the state.

Route: Heading north out of Escondido on I-15, take CA-76 east, then head north on S-6 to start the hairpin ride of your life up the mountain. At the top ridge­line is a four-way stop, home to Mother’s Kitchen, a biker-friendly diner where even hardcore carnivores praise the vegetarian fare. Follow S-7 — also called East Grade Road — back down the mountain until it bottoms out at Lake Henshaw, rejoining CA-76, where you’llgo east on State Route 79 to Santa Ysabel to follow CA-78 through Ramona and eventually connect back to Escondido.

Stay: Palomar Mountain State Park is a local favorite for camping, hiking and fishing.

Don’t miss: Palomar Observatory is open to the public. Add a day to explore San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park, one of the only battle sites of the Mexican-American War in California (where both sides claimed victory). San Diego Zoo Safari Park is toward the end of the loop.

4. San Juan Skyway

Colorado

Within an easy day’s drive from the military hub in Colorado Springs — a drive with plenty of Rocky Mountain highs in its own right — you’ll be glad you made the trip for this 240-mile loop through some of Colorado’s most impressive scenery, dotted with old mining towns, glacier-fed rivers, ancient ruins, world-class ski resorts and tall mountain passes.

Route: Starting in Ridgeway on CO-62, head over the Dallas Divide to Placerville, connecting to CO-145, to the mountain-resort Mecca of Telluride, and then down to Cortez. That’s where you’ll pick up CO-160 to Durango. From there, take CO-550 north over Molas Pass and into the rough-and-tumble town of Silverton. Saving the best for last — or the worst, depending on your tolerance for narrow, mountain-hugging, cliff-carved roads, often with no guardrails — it’s a stretch of road dubbed the “Million Dollar Highway” to Ouray and the last leg back up to Ridgeway to complete the loop.

Stay: Durango is a good halfway point for this loop, with plenty of biker-friendly hotels and eateries.

Don’t miss: If you want to let someone else do the driving while you take it all in for a day, try the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad aboard their historic coal-powered, steam-driven locomotive.

For a quick detour just outside of Cortez, be sure to visit the ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park.

5. Historic Route 66

Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California

In 1857, Lt. Edward Beale — a Navy officer working for the Army who eventually had an Air Force Base named after him — was ordered to chart a new trail across the West while testing the use of camels as pack animals. The camels didn’t work out, but his road eventually became the most iconic stretch of highway in the country.

Dubbed the “Mother Road” for good reason, Route 66 first connected Chicago to California with its 2,500-mile swath of open road in 1926. Interstate super-highways have largely replaced it, but you can still retrace much of the historic route.

Route: From Chicago, you can travel the first 300 miles of Route 66 all the way to St. Louis in about seven hours. Along the way, you’ll range through urban canyons, Illinois coal country, farmland, forest and open prairie as you pass through the towns of Joliet, Pontiac, Clinton and the state capital Springfield. In Alton, Illinois, you’ll come alongside the Missouri River just before it meets the Mississippi, then make your final leg into St. Louis. Taking I-55 back to Chicago will shave more than two hours off your return trip.

Stay: The historic Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Springfield, not far from the president’s home, is known as a biker-friendly layover.

Don’t miss: A visit to “Our Lady of the Highway Statue” about half an hour south of Springfield is a required pilgrimage for most. Grab a meal just down the road in Farmersville at Art’s Motel and Restaurant, another Route 66 favorite.

6. 'Three Twisted Sisters'

Texas

When the Texas chapters of the Green Knights gathered recently for their big meet-up, this was their go-to ride. While most of the Lone Star State is known as Big Sky Country, the 131-mile Twisted Sisters beckons riders into the state’s famed Hill Country.

“I grew up in Texas, and there’s not a lot out here,” says retired Air Force Master Sgt. Craig Colton. “But the Sisters is probably one of the best rides in the country.”

Route: Conveniently located between Fort Hood and Joint Base San Antonio, this route starts in Medina, just south of Kerrville. Take Ranch Road 337 West to Leakey, where you’ll want to gas up before heading north on U.S. 83. A mile later, head north on RR 336 until you hit Texas 41, where you’ll go west. Turn south on RR 335 following the Nueces River and then east on RR 337 back to Leakey.

Stay: The Historic Leakey Inn, until recently a bikers-only spot, remains one of the motorcycle-friendliest places to stay in an area renowned for biker-friendliness. Nearby Garner State Park offers camping, cabins and screened shelter rentals.

Don’t miss: The Frio Canyon Motorcycle Stop in Leakey offers plenty of Sisters swag and, according to the unabashed owners, the “best damn burgers you’ll ever have at the Bent Rim Grill.” To cool off from the road, rent a tube for a lazy trip down the Frio River.

The Lone Star Motorcycle Museum in nearby Vanderpool is an obvious favorite.

7. Kancamagus Scenic Byway

New England

Locals pronounce it “Kank-ah-mah-gus,” but most people just call it “The Kanc.” A short hike through northern New Hampshire’s White Mountains, at just under 35 miles long, this may not be the most epic route you’ve ever taken, but it just might be one of the most enjoyable, says Green Knight founder and former Air Force Staff Sgt. Adam Buehler.

“It’s one of my all-time favorites,” Buehler says.

While it’s hailed as one of the best fall foliage routes in the country, “I prefer riding it in the summer, during its off-season, when I can light up a cigar, turn up the music and just take it all in,” he says.

Route: The byway connects Lincoln on the west, just off I-93, and Conway to east, on NH-16. As the byway follows the aptly named Swift River and its concert of ever-cascading waterfalls, you’ll want to stop at the Sugar Hill, Hancock and Rocky Gorge overlooks for photo ops. The Sabbaday Falls are worth the half-mile hike from the road.

Stay: The route itself offers six campgrounds, all managed by the White Mountain National Forest. If you’re with a crew, the Forest Service rents a Spartan, barebones, three-room, 10-bunk lodge for $40 a night.

Don’t miss: For a more heart-racing ride, try the 7.6-mile climbing hairpin road to the summit of Mount Washington. While New England’s tallest peak sports an elevation of only 6,288 feet, its sits in the center of a three-way weather vortex that brings high winds and extreme cold, with summer temperatures averaging only in the low 50s.

8. Skyline Drive

National Capital Region

Part of Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, this 105-mile ridge-running ride is only about an hour outside Washington, D.C., but you’ll feel a world away.

Route: The northern entrance to Skyline Drive starts in Front Royal, accessible from I-66 and Route 340. Traversing along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, there are no fewer than 75 scenic overlooks to stop and enjoy the view before hitting the southern exit at Rockfish Gap. If you want a longer trip, Rockfish happens to be the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway, a Forest Service-managed road that meanders nearly 500 miles down the rest of Virginia and into North Carolina.

Stay: The 200,000-acre park offers everything from big, resort-style lodges and luxury suites to more rustic cabins and camping.

Don’t miss: Arrive early to beat the crowds for the 9-mile local hiker’s favorite, the Old Rag Mountain trail. The full circuit takes about seven hours, so be sure to bring plenty of water and snacks.

9. 'Tail of the Dragon'

Tennessee/North Carolina

About two hours west of Asheville, N.C., deep inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, lurks the Dragon.

It’s just 11 miles long, but with its coiled spine packed with 318 twisty, tight turns, what an 11 miles it is. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better stretch of blacktop to test your motorcycle mettle than on the infamous “Tail of the Dragon.”

“It’s one of those roads you have to do if you’re a rider,” Buehler says.

In fact, it’s such a favorite among bikers, it was a no-brainer for Buehler when it came to asking his girlfriend to become his bride. He proposed under the infamous “Tree of Shame,” to be exact — built from the busted-up bikes that have fallen victim to the Dragon — just after they’d made their run.

Route: Like most dragons, this isn’t the easiest route to pinpoint. Straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina state line, it’s just over an hour due south of Knoxville, following U.S. 129. The good folks at Tailofthedragon.com make it easier to find with several free, printable maps with detailed directions from a variety of cities and towns in the region.

To extend your drive, pop over to the nearby Cherohala Skyway for another 40 miles of sweeping mountainside turns though Tennessee. For a more relaxing ride, Buehler recommends the Foothills Parkway along the northern base of the Smoky Mountains toward Gatlinburg.

Stay: The Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort — home to the Tree of Shame — offers basic rooms and camping. At the Two Wheel Inn in Robinsville, you can actually bring your bike into your room.

Don’t miss: In addition to the Dukes of Hazard tribute museum dubbed Cooter’s Place, Gatlinburg boasts the first legal moonshine distillery in eastern Tennessee.

10. Overseas Highway

Florida

The last four-hour stretch of U.S. 1 from Miami to Key West is as much bridge as it is road. You’ll cross 42 bridges, to be precise, as you leapfrog to the very tip of the nation’s southeast corner on the 127-mile tropical wonder known as the Overseas Highway.

Route: Leaving Miami, you’ll first pass through the southwestern corner of Everglades National Park. Keep an eye out for manatees in Blackwater Sound as you make your way to Key Largo — then for more menacing interlopers as you pass Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

At Marathon, about halfway to Key West, the line between bridge and road really blurs on the Seven Mile Bridge, one of the longest in the country.

Feel free to stop for a swim, do some fishing or grab a drink at any number of tiki bars as you count down the mile markers.

Stay: With kitchenette-equipped rooms running for around $100 per night, you’ll have a hard time beating the Navy Lodge on Naval Air Station Key West. Plus, there’s a commissary and exchange to stock up on essentials.

Don’t miss: Ride a Hollywood legend for canal tours and dinner cruises out of Key Largo aboard the original African Queen, made famous in the classic Humphrey Bogart movie of the same name.