Ex-grunt's brewery to tap in to good cause

A former Army officer who has launched a microbrewery knows that everyone will raise a glass to help support a veteran-owned business that gives a portion of its proceeds to charities backing military members, policemen and firefighters.

It’s the second glass that’ll make the difference.

“There is no shortage of excitement about a new brewery opening up in this town,” said former Capt. Kevin Ryan, a 1996 West Point graduate whose Savannah, Georgia-based Service Brewing Co. had its launch event in July at a local American Legion post. “The majority of places that sell craft beer are going to want the new local beer on tap. The job is to make sure they want it on tap again.”

Ryan, who commanded two 4th Infantry Division companies in Iraq, has some prior-service talent on staff to make that happen:

■ Dan Sartin, another West Point graduate and former captain, who “went to Germany as his first duty station and fell in love with great beer,” Ryan said. After leaving the Army in 1985 and doing a hitch in the corporate world, Sartin became a master brewer and a beer sommelier.

■ Jeff Hyatt, who retired as a chief warrant officer 4 last year after flying helicopters out of nearby Hunter Army Airfield. He used his terminal leave to get his brewing bona fides and works for Service Brewing as an assistant brewer.

■ Ryan himself, the owner/CEO who left the Army in 2004, taking non-malt-related jobs until going to work for his father’s business in 2010. His father died in 2011, and Ryan decided that he “needed to chase his own dreams.”

Ryan’s girlfriend gave him a home-brew kit, and the rest was history. And fundraising. And staffing. And scouring Savannah for a brewery site — a historic building with more than 28,000 square feet.

“Writing a business plan that is well done is probably the hardest thing to do,” Ryan said when asked what advice he could give to other Army entrepreneurs. “No good plan survives first contact, but you have to have something to work from.”

Other tips: Seek out local small-business agencies, which generally offer help with planning at no cost. And rely on communication skills developed by the service.

Part of what made Ryan’s business plan attractive to investors — including many former classmates and other Army connections — was the mandate to donate part of the proceeds to charity. For the July launch, all proceeds went to benefit Honor Flight Savannah, which arranges visits by World War II and Korean War veterans to their respective memorials in Washington, D.C., and the 200 Club, which has donated more than $700,000 to the families of fallen law enforcement officers and firefighters in the region, according to its website.

Service Brewing plans to donate some proceeds to a different national charity each year — first up will be Fisher House — and to Healing for Heroes, a Georgia agency that rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to assist former service members with disabilities.

But what will the beer taste like?

“We’re not trying to go to any extreme,” Ryan said. “We’re trying to make very good craft beer that’s drinkable. And has an alcohol content low enough that you can have more than one.”

Drinkers have three choices:

■ Ground Pounder Ale, which the brewery’s website describes as “a good balance of malt and hops for a clean and pleasing drinking experience.”

■ Compass Rose IPA, recently emerging from the brewery’s 30-barrel brewing system (each barrel is 31 gallons). It has “citrus and herbal character with a medium-bodied malt presence.”

■ An as-yet-unnamed seasonal offering that will have hints of pecan and apricot, Ryan said.

The brews will be on tap and in cans in the greater Savannah area, and Ryan said he’s received requests from New Mexico, New York and Alaska seeking samples.

The brew staff is also planning a Dec. 13 trip to the Army-Navy game, where Ryan hopes to take part in Tailgate for Troops, a charity that supports military causes.

At least 24 killed, 271 hurt as Taiwan gas explosions rip apart streets

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — At least 24 people were killed and 271 injured when several underground gas explosions ripped through Taiwan's second-largest city, hurling concrete and cars through the air and blasting trenches in the streets, authorities said Friday, as a search for the cause began.

The series of explosions about midnight Thursday and early Friday struck a densely populated district where several petrochemical companies operate pipelines alongside the sewer system in Kaohsiung, a southwestern port with 2.8 million people.

Firefighters called to the neighborhood to investigate a gas leak were among the victims when the blasts went off several hours later, upending at least five red fire trucks amid the rubble of pavement and dirt.

Four firefighters were among the 24 dead, and 271 people were injured, the National Fire Agency said. The death toll could rise, because many of the seriously injured were still being treated, officials said.

"Last night around midnight, the house started shaking and I thought it was a huge earthquake, but when I opened the door, I saw white smoke all over and smelled gas," said Chen Qing-tao, 38, who lives 10 buildings away from the main explosion site.

The fires were thought caused by a leak of propene, a petrochemical material not intended for public use, but the cause and source of the leak were not immediately clear, officials said.

The exploded gas line belongs to government-owned CPC Corp., which told The Associated Press it showed no signs of problems before the explosions. CPC officials at the scene Friday declined to offer information about reasons for the blasts.

Video from the TVBS broadcaster showed residents searching for victims in shattered storefronts and rescuers pulling injured people from the rubble of a road and placing them on stretchers while passersby helped other victims on a sidewalk. Broadcaster ETTV showed rows of large fires sending smoke into the night sky.

At least five blasts shook the city, Taiwan's Premier Jiang Yi-huah said.

Chang Jia-juch, the director of the Central Disaster Emergency Operation Center, said the leaking gas was most likely to be propene. One of the fires, along a 10-meter stretch of gas line, is still on fire, the National Fire Agency says on its website.

The source of the leak was unknown. Chang said, however, that propene was not for public use, and that it was a petrochemical material.

The government's disaster response center said Friday it was trying to prevent any knock-on gas explosions in the same place or nearby.

"In terms of what we can prevent, we're afraid another explosion could happen, as there is that possibility," said Hsu Lee-hao, an economics affairs ministry section chief staffing the disaster response center. "We're afraid it could be in the same place or elsewhere."

Most of the injured were people outside on the street, mostly hit by rubble blown toward them or crushed by cars sent flying in the blasts, a police officer at the scene said. Police and firefighters were burned while trying to control blazes.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu said several petrochemical companies have pipelines built along the sewage system in Chian-Chen district, which has both factories and residential buildings.

"Our priority is to save people now. We ask citizens living along the pipelines to evacuate," Chen told TVBS television.

Rescue workers are looking for people trapped in the rubble but expect to find few, if any, because no buildings collapsed, Hsu in the disaster response center said.

Power was cut off in the area, making it difficult for firefighters to search for others who might be buried in rubble. About 12,000 people lost power and 23,600 lost gas service.

CNA said the local fire department received reports from residents of gas leakage at about 8:46 p.m. and that explosions started around midnight. CPC says it got reports around the same hour.

Closed-circuit television showed an explosion rippling through the floor of a motorcycle parking area, hurling concrete and other debris through the air. Mobile phone video captured the sound of an explosion as flames leapt at least 30 feet (9 meters) into the air.

One survivor of the blast said he tried to help before paramedics arrived.

"I was on my scooter just across the street, suddenly there was the explosion, a white car was blown toward me, and I saw the driver trapped in the car," said Wong Zhen-yao, 49, owner of a car repair shop in the disaster area.

"There was still fire nearby. I tried to pull the guy out but couldn't," he said. "Only after the smoke was gone did I realize there was such a big hole in the middle of the road."

One of the explosions left a large trench running down the center of a road, edged with piles of concrete slabs torn apart by the force of the blast. A damaged motorcycle lay in the crater, and other cars were flipped over. The force of the initial blast also felled trees lining the street.

After dawn on Friday, Taiwan's Global News television channel showed a crane removing a van from a trench more than a meter (yard) deep. It showed other vehicles smashed completely. Flats and shops along Sanduo Road, near an elementary school, showed exterior damage such as burnt walls and toppled signs.

The explosions affected an area of two to three square kilometers, much of it sealed off.

Associated Press writers Ralph Jennings in Taipei, and Gillian Wong and Ian Mader in Beijing contributed.

McRaven not alone in moving from military to academia leadership

Adm. William McRaven, who was tapped this week to take the reins of the University of Texas system, has plenty of leadership experience. He served as head of the U.S. Special Operations Command and commanded the team that killed Osama bin Laden. He worked as strategic planning director on the staff of the National Security Council.

But storied as his career may be, McRaven, who is retiring his post with the Navy, has had no experience in leading a major institution of higher education.

And that is probably a good thing, experts say, as universities, faced with growing outside pressures, from the political to the financial, increasingly look beyond academia for leadership.

"Through our history we've seen some very successful university leaders who came to the university from outside of higher education," said Molly Broad, president of the American Council on Education. "We are seeing a growing trend in which, especially at the system level, we see a lot more examples of appointments that come from outside of traditional higher education."

While the transition to academic leadership is generally successful, it can be difficult, Broad said, as university governance is unique. Leadership is split among a board of regents, a chancellor, individual university presidents and other stakeholders.

"For me, the bottom line measure is how well they can perform in a very different culture and governance structure," Broad said. "There are some other commitments that a successful transition requires. They need to make a purposeful commitment to not only embracing shared government, but to ensure that they are creating an environment of mutual trust and respect - and collegiality."

Universities bringing in outsiders to lead is nothing new. Before he was U.S. president, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president of Columbia University - a position he took after leading U.S. military forces in World War II.

More recently, Robert Gates led A&M University's flagship campus for four years, from 2002 to 2006, between turns directing the CIA and serving as the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Former Secretary of Homeland Security and Janet Napolitano, who also served as Arizona governor, took office as president of the University of California in 2013. Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels took over as president of Purdue University the same year.

And McRaven will take the UT chancellor seat from Francisco Cigarroa, a surgeon, who has held the position since 2009.

A new perspective

Outside leaders can bring their own set of expertise to universities, especially to those who might need someone especially skilled in the political or financial realm, as many universities have come under political scrutiny and have been faced with deep budget cuts.

"I think some of this has to do with a growing complexity of the presidential roles and a lot more of the president's time is spent externally, rather than internally, with the faculty and students, whether that external time is with the legislature or a governor, whether it is fundraising, whether it is addressing intercollegiate athletics," Broad said. "There are a growing array of really import areas where presidents need to invest time and effort that really are not directly connected to what happens in the classroom."

Napolitano, for instance, has brought a level of visibility to the University of California that faculty and other leaders there say has already been beneficial, said Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.

Before joining the organization, McPherson himself was a transplant to higher education. He had experience in government - as deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury - and the private sector - holding several executive positions at Bank of America - before leading Michigan State University for 11 years.

McPherson said that experience helped him lead the university. "It will be an adjustment, but every time you take a new job it will be an adjustment," he said about McRaven joining UT. "It takes effort on everybody's part."

Used to 'friendly fire'

McRaven will take the lead of a university system that has been wrought with tension in recent years, as its business-minded, governor-appointed board of regents has clashed with the president of the flagship Austin campus, Bill Powers, a strong supporter of traditional academia. Cigarroa, the outgoing chancellor, said his relationship with Powers had become broken.

Moving into a position that could see its share of infighting won't be difficult for McRaven, said P. J. Crowley, former State Department spokesman and Air Force colonel, who himself took a job in academia after leaving the government.

"Admiral McRaven has spent his share of time in combat and in front of Congress, so he is used to taking enemy and friendly fire. He has spent a career navigating around potentially hostile terrain, avoiding danger spots and taking decisive action," Crowley said. "Facing competing power centers across the Texas educational system will make him think he is back in Iraq. He is a genuine hero. He has run a highly complex structure and is familiar with the concepts of being a supported as well as supporting commander. These skills are relevant and will be critical in his new position."

Everyone at UT, meanwhile, has expressed interest in moving beyond the tension. Helping with that will be one of McRaven's main missions, Broad said.

"Issues of mutual trust and respect and a commitment to collegiality have been trouble spots in the past months at the University of Texas," she said. "So that is a really key point for the next chancellor to heal whatever remaining wounds there are to rebuild trust, respect and collegiality."

Reporter Lauren McGaughy contributed to this report.