Mabus at Kings Bay: Navy still needs small surface combat ships

ST. MARYS, Ga. — Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus Jr. told 1,800 sailors and Marines at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base on Friday that Americans are safe because the Navy is always in the right place all the time.

Mabus stressed that though concerns about money remained, the Georgia and Jacksonville bases are still in the Navy’s plans to upgrade. That includes replacing subs and building more ships — with Mayport being the hub for “small surface combat ships.” It’s all part of a strategy, he said, that will place the Navy at the forefront of U.S. defense strategy.

Mabus said all three Navy bases in the region — Mayport, Jacksonville Naval Air Station and Kings Bay — all have great value to the Navy.

All three bases should benefit as the Navy goes forward with its plan to build more ships to get to 300 modern ships and to remain there.

Asked about the reduction of the number of littoral combat ships — for which Mayport is to be the hub — from 52 to 32, Mabus said Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has not said he wants to reduce the number of small surface combat vessels.

The only thing the secretary of defense has said is the Defense Department won’t negotiate on contracts past 32 ships.

“We’re taking a look at the program,” he said of the ships, to determine whether the littoral ship meets the requirements of operations or whether the Navy needs to build another type of ship to replace its aging frigates.

“Among the options are to look at a clean sheet of paper,” he said of the design, but Mayport will fit in the plans.

“We’re going to have surface combatants. Mayport will continue to be the hub of small surface combat ships,” he said.

He said that Mayport will gain ships by the end of the decade, but the number of local jobs that results is dependent on the type of ship.

The maintenance on a nuclear carrier, for example, would be done by people flown into the area and not local workers, he said.

For Kings Bay, Mabus said the Navy is on schedule and on budget for replacing the Ohio Class submarines. Of the 14 subs armed with ballistic missiles, six are ported at Kings Bay and eight at Bangor, Washington. The Navy plans to replace those with 12 submarines that will be far more effective and lethal.

The Navy will start building the submarines in the early 2020s, and the first will go on patrol in the latter part of the decade, Mabus said.

The problem, however, is where the money will come from, Mabus said.

“We’re going to have to have a conversation on how we pay for it,” he said.

The Navy can’t bear the cost alone, because building the enormously expensive submarines would consume a third of its entire budget, which would be catastrophic to other Navy programs, he said.

He credited Congress for freeing up the money to allow the Navy to build, but he said that agreement could last as little as two more years.

“At the end of [2015], if something isn’t done we go back to sequester levels, those dumb cuts,” he said.

The public has a right to expect some reduction in military spending as the U.S. ends two ground wars, but those reductions should be done intelligently, Mabus said.

With the end of those wars, the focus will be on the western Pacific and the Arabian Gulf and that means the Navy will be at the forefront of defense strategy, he said.

Mabus also touched on the growing concern about cuts to benefits.

“Nobody’s going to get cut,” but there is a need to slow down the growth in benefits, he said.

Should benefit payouts continue at the current rate, the Navy would have to make a choice. It would have the option of giving sailors the platforms, the weapons and the training they need to carry out their missions or “there’s going to be less of you,” Mabus said. “Neither are options.”

“Whether they know it or not, whether they appreciate it or not, America is in your debt,” Mabus said as he ended his visit during which he saw firsthand how the base carries out its mission of strategic nuclear deterrence.

After he spoke, Mabus took a few questions from the sailors and then stepped from the pavilion where he spoke to shake hands and pose for pictures with sailors.

His only prohibition was no on-the-job training. He asked them to make sure whoever handled their camera knew how to use it.

Mabus left Kings Bay for Austral USA Shipyard in Mobile, Ala., for Saturday’s christening of the USS Jackson, a new littoral combat ship, the Navy said.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Why aren't drones helping in the search?

A fleet of navy ships and advanced search aircraft from 26 nations have been scouring vast expanses of the Indian Ocean, looking for seat cushions, door panels or aluminum that might help solve the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

But noticeably absent from the search has been the unmanned technology that has become a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s national security strategy and defined 21st century warfare.

Drones, which are relied on to hunt and destroy targets in the Middle East and Central Asia, aren’t capable of looking for the missing Boeing 777, military officials said. Their high-tech cameras and sensors are better suited for missions over land. Searching over water is difficult because waves can reflect radar and render many other sensors useless.

Some drones, like the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, have been outfitted with laser-guided bombs or missiles — grabbing most of the headlines. But all drones are equipped with cameras and heat-seeking sensors for reconnaissance and surveillance work.

Drones have helped measure radiation during Japan's nuclear reactor meltdown, penetrated the eyes of hurricanes to gather scientific data and helped firefighters see hot spots during wildfires.

The most advanced technology is on the RQ-4 Global Hawk, a long-endurance, high-altitude spy drone that can fly at more than 60,000 feet. The plane, which is flown remotely, can stay aloft for 30 hours at a time.

A Navy variant of the drone, the MQ-4 Triton, has a price tag of $189 million. But the Navy said it’s not yet ready for use.

In the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew members when it disappeared March 8, the Navy is relying on a pair of submarine-hunting aircraft that fly for nine hours at a time.

The P-8 Poseidon, the Navy’s newest submarine-hunting aircraft, is made by Boeing Co. The P-3 Orion is also in the region. The P-3 is a four-engine turboprop patrol aircraft made by Lockheed Martin Corp. and has been flying with the Navy since 1962.

The Navy said the P-3 costs $76,840 each day it’s used. The P-8 costs $42,740.

The planes are outfitted with advanced radar and electronic signal sensors to identify, find and track surface targets. They can also drop sonar systems that send back signals indicating what's below the surface of the water.

Aircraft have been combing a large area about 1,500 miles off the coast of Perth, Australia, for two days without success.

1st of 1,200 Marines to arrive in Australia within days as part of rotation

34 minutes ago

U.S. Marines practice martial arts at Robertson Barracks, Australia, in June 2013. About 200 Marines are in Darwin to train alongside Australian troops.
Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes

By Seth Robson

Stars and Stripes

Published: March 21, 2014

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The first of almost 1,200 U.S. Marines will arrive in northern Australia within days to start a six month training rotation, the Australian Ministry of Defence has announced.

The Marines are part of a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTAF) that includes 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., Marine Corps spokeswoman 1st Lt. Savannah Moyer said Saturday.

“We are excited to train with the Australian army and maximize interoperability of the U.S. and Australian militaries,” Moyer said.

The Marines, who have been building their presence in Australia’s Northern Territory since 2012, sent 200 to 250 personnel Down Under for six months last summer as part of Marine Rotational Force–Darwin (MRF-Darwin).

Plans call for 2,500-strong MAGTAF to travel to Darwin on six-month rotations each year starting in 2016.

The 1-5 Marines, commanded by Lt. Col. Kevin Matthews, will live and train at Australian Defence Force facilities in the Northern Territory for the next six months, Moyer said.

They will work with aircraft from Helicopter Squadron 463 and support from Combat Logistics Regiment 3 out of Hawaii, she said.

“A continuing priority for the Marines will be to further develop a close and enduring relationship with the local Darwin community which provides mutual benefit,” Australian Defence officials said in a news release.

robson.seth@stripes.com

Twitter: @SethRobson1

Mandatory 'mail order' begins for Tricare elderly

About 500,000 military beneficiaries age 65 and older with chronic health conditions are being forced, starting this month, to have maintenance drug prescriptions filled by mail order rather than in local retail pharmacies.

The Tricare For Life (TFL) Home Delivery pilot is a yearlong program required by law. Defense Department health officials project it will save the government $120 million per year in retail drug costs and save beneficiaries $28 million a year in lower drug co-payments.

By the time the pilot program ends, officials project that 95 percent of beneficiaries forced to use home delivery will be so satisfied with the convenience and savings they will stay with mail order voluntarily rather than return to neighborhood druggists for the kinds of medicines they will have to take for the rest of their lives.

“We are making it easier to stay,” said Rear Adm. Thomas J. McGinnis, chief of pharmaceutical operations for the Defense Health Agency.

“We have auto-refills of medications where beneficiaries can check a box and, every 80 days or so, get either a phone call or an email — whatever they signed up to receive — notifying them that their medication is going to ship next week. They only have to call a number if they don’t want that medication. So they automatically get it every 90 days. They don’t have to think about it so they don’t run out of medication.”

Another feature of TFL Home Delivery is auto-renewal of prescriptions.

“Prescriptions are only good for one year, in every state, and then beneficiaries have to go get a new prescription,” McGinnis said. With mail order, however, the contractor, Express Scripts Inc., will query a beneficiary’s physician to ask if this time they will renew the prescription automatically or if they want to see the patient first.

“Eighty percent of the time they will renew the prescription without having the beneficiary come in…So that’s going to help, again, keep our beneficiaries out of retail. That’s why we say, ‘You only have to try this for one year and that’s it.’ You try it, you’ll like it,” McGinnis said.

Many TFL beneficiaries have known about the pilot for months, from news reports on the mandate Congress enacted more than a year ago. So thousands of TLF beneficiaries who take medicine routinely to control high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol and other chronic conditions have been shifting their maintenance meds to mail order steadily over the past year.

Last month, however, every TLF beneficiary identified as having used retail pharmacies in recent years for maintenance drug refills — a total of 350,000 households — received a letter from TRICARE explaining that those prescriptions must be switched to mail order by March 15.

Elderly beneficiaries who continue to use retail druggists for these types of medicines after that date will get a second letter warning them again that they must convert to mail order within 30 days.

“There will also be outbound phone calls reminding them to just call this number and we will help them transfer medication to mail,” McGinnis said.

If they continue to use local drug stores for these prescriptions, a third letter will be a final notice before TFL beneficiaries will be forced, after May, to pay 100 percent of the cost of maintenance drug dispensed at retail.

That’s the hammer for TLF beneficiaries who refuse to shift. The hook is that their co-payments will fall, saving TFL beneficiaries as a group a total of $2.3 million monthly, McGinnis said.

“It’s a no brainer, especially for the over-65 population. Those folks average four or five medications. Even if they have just one generic and one brand name medication [home delivered], that will save them $212 a year.”

Beneficiaries on four to six maintenance medications could save more than $600 a year “for the same drugs and more convenience, and you don’t have to remember to pick it up every month at the retail pharmacy,” he said.

Beneficiaries typically pay $60 a year in co-pays for a generic drug at retail. Generic drugs are free through home delivery.

Another bit of good news is that the process to shift to mail order couldn’t be easier, McGinnis explained. All of the warning letters will contain the same phone number: 1 877-882-3335

“We tell them, ‘Just call this number. It’s a concierge service. They will walk you through the registration process if you have never used mail before,’ ” McGinnis said. Express Scripts staff will “get all the information from the beneficiary so it very easy to register and use mail order. They will even offer to call their doctor to transfer that prescription to the mail order pharmacy. So it’s truly a concierge-type service to help beneficiaries move.”

Not impacted by the mail order mandate are elderly beneficiaries who have prescriptions filled in base pharmacies where the cost of drugs to the government also is far less than at retail pharmacies. TFL beneficiaries needing drugs for acute conditions or having maintenance drug prescriptions filled for the first time also can use retail outlets.

Tricare will allow waivers from mandatory mail order in special circumstances, to include TFL beneficiaries in assisted-living facilities or nursing homes where mail order isn't practical.

For several years, Tricare pharmacy officials have led an information campaign to encourage beneficiaries on maintenance drugs to use mail order because of the substantial savings. By 2011, about one million military prescriptions a year were being filled through mail order. By the start of 2014, that annual average was 1.77 million, an increase of 77 percent.

Over the next year, because of the TFL Home Delivery pilot program, McGinnis said, mail order prescriptions should double to 3.3 million. That’s out of a total of 140 million military prescriptions filled annually across all three venues of base pharmacies, retail outlets and home delivery.

Having led the Tricare pharmacy directorate as its first chief for the past eight-and-a-half years, and more than 36 years as a Public Health Service officer and pharmacist, McGinnis confirmed he will retire May 1. His successor hasn't been named.

Send comments to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120, email milupdate@aol.com or Twitter: @Military_Update

Veterans charity again under fire, charged with deceiving donors

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas attorney general’s office has charged the Veterans Support Organization, a Florida-based charity that has come under fire in several states, with deceiving Texas donors by falsely telling them that their donations would help needy local veterans.

In a lawsuit filed this week in Travis County District Court, state prosecutors seek to seize funds raised by the group in Texas and bar the group from operating in the state. For several years, the group operated chapters in Austin, Dallas and Houston, sending veterans and nonveterans alike to stand outside supermarkets and other stores to raise money. According to the lawsuit, the group raised $2.5 million in the state between 2010 and 2012.

In February, the Austin American-Statesman published an investigation into the group, revealing that it gave less than 1 percent of the $7.1 million it raised from the public in 2011 for grants to needy veterans. Members of the Austin and Dallas chapters quit as a group in December after managers said they became aware of how much money the group was sending out of state.

“The funds weren’t going where they were supposed to be going,” former Austin chapter manager, Robin Woods, said. “What they were doing wasn’t right for Texas or for veterans.”

According to the lawsuit, solicitors told members of the public their donations would help needy local veterans. In reality, between 2010 and 2012 the group made grants of less than $57,000 to Texas veterans, or 2.2 percent of what it raised in the state during those years. State investigators think that more than 70 percent of what the group raised in Texas was sent to Rhode Island and Florida, where the group’s headquarters are. And although the group claimed it was helping at-risk veterans with a “work program,” state officials called it “nothing more than structured panhandling which they use to solicit funds.”

VSO employees faced strict quotas, according to the lawsuit, and could be fired if they didn’t raise $250 a day on average. “Further, once back at the VSO office, the solicitor was subjected to pat down to ensure that he did not take any donations and had to remain on the VSO premises while the donations were counted,” the lawsuit says.

The attorney general’s office is also seeking tens of thousands of dollars in fines against VSO President Richard VanHouten and three associates, including his wife.

VanHouten — an Army veteran who lives in a $548,500 South Florida home, according to county records — received $259,965 in salary in 2011, more than five times what the group disbursed to needy veterans that year.

Neither VSO officials nor attorneys responded to requests for comment.

Texas authorities also took issue with the group’s housing program, which was touted as transitional sober housing for homeless veterans. The Statesman revealed that the program rented shared rooms to its solicitors for $125 a week at a five-bedroom house in far South Austin. According to the lawsuit, VSO leased the house for $1,495 a month, but stood to get $5,000 a month if the house was full. The group deducted rent from its employees’ paychecks and filed eviction notices against solicitors who lost their jobs or were unable to pay rent.

“In contrast to its statement that it was seeking to help ‘homeless veterans,’ in practice VSO was interested in individuals, veterans or not, who could afford to pay for a room,” the lawsuit claims. “In fact for some individuals, VSO noted ‘inability to pay’ as a reason for their departure. An inability to pay would seem to be the rationale for having a housing program to assist veterans, but VSO instead saw it as a reason to displace them.”

In addition to misleading the public, the VSO failed to file reports on its fundraising activity as required by state laws on veterans soliciting organizations, according to the lawsuit. The state wants the return of “all monies fraudulently solicited in Texas,” which prosecutors say should be used to “further the stated mission to help needy veterans, and their families in Texas.”

Texas joins a growing list of states that have taken aim at the organization. State officials in South Carolina targeted the group for violating that state’s solicitation laws in September, banning it from the state for 15 years and fining it $5,000.

In Tennessee, officials slapped the VSO with $50,000 in civil penalties in 2010 (the group later settled for $20,000) after investigators found that the group failed to properly register and that it claimed to provide services and goods — including housing, addiction recovery programs and bus passes — that it wasn’t offering in the state.

Georgia and North Carolina officials are also looking into the group, according to press reports in those states, and Connecticut’s congressional delegation demanded in 2012 a federal investigation into the group.

According to the organization’s website, the VSO is “expanding across the United States” and targeting “communities with growing populations of veterans.”

USS Elrod relieves USS Stout in escorting hijacked ship Morning Glory

The guided-missile frigate USS Elrod arrives in Souda Bay for a scheduled port visit Feb. 16, 2014.
Jeffrey M. Richardson/U.S. Navy

Stars and Stripes

Published: March 21, 2014

The USS Elrod has taken over escort duties from the USS Stout for the hijacked oil tanker Morning Glory, the Defense Department said Friday.

Army Col. Steven Warren said the Elrod assumed escort duties Wednesday, two days after a team of U.S. Navy SEALS seized control of the commercial tanker from three armed Libyan hijackers.

The escort change was for administrative reasons: The Stout is assigned to the U.S. European Command area, and the Elrod is assigned to U.S. Africa Command, Warren said.

About 25 members of the Stout's crew who had been aboard the Morning Glory to provide security, navigation and communications assistance have been replaced by about 34 sailors from the Elrod, according to Warren. The Elrod and Morning Glory are expected to reach international waters just outside Libya this weekend, where the Morning Glory will be turned over to Libyan authorities, Warren said.

The Morning Glory, hijacked from the port of As-Sidra, is carrying oil owned by the Libyan government's National Oil Company. Libya and Cyprus had requested assistance from the U.S. government in regaining control of the ship. The SEALS embarked from the USS Roosevelt, which is deployed in the Mediterranean as part of the George H.W. Bush carrier strike group.

No one was hurt in the SEAL operation, Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a news release earlier this week.

news@stripes.com

For 1st time, German Army officer to be USAREUR chief of staff

By Jon Harper

Stars and Stripes

Published: March 21, 2014

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military plans to appoint a German officer to be the next chief of staff of U.S. Army-Europe, Stars and Stripes has learned.

“U.S. Army-Europe is currently in discussion with the German [Ministry of Defense] on the opportunity to have a German brigadier general serve as the USAREUR chief of staff. The details are still being worked,” said Joe Garvey, deputy chief of Public Affairs for USAREUR.

Garvey would not provide additional details or a timetable for when an official announcement about the next chief of staff will be made, but said the two sides are “in the final throes” of the process.

“A decision has been made to make this happen,” according to Garvey.

The decision was first reported by German media.

This would mark the first time that a foreigner has held such a high position in the USAREUR leadership staff, although there have been higher-ranking foreign liaison officers there, according to Garvey.

Col. James Mingo is the current chief of staff.

“[It’s] a very positive initiative, and we’re looking very much forward to it,” Garvey said.

The U.S. military maintains key bases in Germany, and there are 40,000 U.S. servicemembers stationed there, including 25,000 soldiers.

The decision to strengthen bilateral military cooperation by appointing a German officer to the leadership ranks of USAREUR, which is based in Wiesbaden, comes at a time of popular anger over revelations that America’s National Security Agency has been spying on German citizens, including tapping into Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal cell phone. Some in Germany have suggested that the country’s relationship with the U.S. should be reevaluated in the wake of the high-profile espionage.

harper.jon@stripes

Twitter: @JHarperStripes