American killed in Libya attack was former Marine turned contractor

NORFOLK, Va. — The American killed in an attack in Libya was a former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and later became a security consultant, most recently helping conduct negotiations between warring factions in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, his father said Wednesday.

David Berry, 34, was killed Tuesday when a gunman stormed a luxury hotel in Tripoli. Berry, who was fluent in Arabic, was a contractor for Fredericksburg-based Crucible LLC, which provides "global security solutions" to the U.S. government and multinational corporations with people "who live and work in dangerous and austere locations worldwide."

"David was a warrior when he needed to be and a peacemaker also. David loved being on the tip of the spear. David would fight for liberty and freedom at any troubled spot on the globe," Berry's father, James Berry said in a telephone interview from Arizona.

Berry grew up and went to high school in Sierra Vista, Ariz. His family, including a wife and four children, live in northern Virginia.

Berry's father said his son had been in Libya since February. David Berry briefly returned to Virginia last week to attend to personal matters, and was looking forward to getting back to Libya, according to his father.

"He was thinking he was going to be able to make a difference with conciliatory actions at the table instead of gunpoint," James Berry said. "He loved what he was doing."

Before Libya, Berry worked in Lebanon for another company training and advising Lebanese Armed Forces, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also did consulting work for a Colorado-based company that provides government and corporate clients with counterterrorism and counterespionage services.

Berry's path to private security work is common among former members of the military who work in intelligence and special operations. Berry joined the Marines in 2000 after graduating high school in Sierra Vista, something he had wanted to do since he was 8 years old, his dad said. He left the military in 2012 because the Marines were downsizing and he wasn't going to be able to work in intelligence like he wanted to, according to his father.

While in the Marines, he was an infantry rifleman, an intelligence specialist and a special operations capabilities specialist, according to a summary of his military record provided by the Marines. He also had attended the Army's prestigious Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., where he studied Arabic.

He was last assigned to a special operations support detachment at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He had also served in the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and the 1st Intelligence Battalion, which are also based at Camp Pendleton.

"Dave was a great Marine with a rarely-seen level of loyalty for the guys around him. He was a true friend who always put others before himself," according to a fundraising page started by Berry's friends to donate to his wife and children.

Associated Press Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

China's man-made islands heighten concerns over territorial control

WASHINGTON (Tribune Content Agency) — China is rapidly building five man-made islands from tiny reefs and shoals in the South China Sea, U.S. officials say, sparking concern that Beijing is growing more assertive in the disputed waters even as the United States boosts its own forces in the western Pacific.

Dredging around Fiery Cross Reef, a former outcropping in the Spratly Islands, during the past year has created a new island almost two miles long and several hundred yards wide.

U.S. officials say it is large enough for China to build its first airstrip in the remote archipelago, one long enough for most of its combat and support aircraft. Satellite photos also reveal a small port under construction.

U.S. officials worry that the buildup indicates a Chinese push to establish de facto control over the resource-rich waters and islets also claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei and Vietnam.

RELATED: More Stars and Stripes coverage of the Pacific pivot

Except for Brunei, those nations all maintain small airstrips or symbolic military outposts in the Spratlys, but the Chinese military dwarfs others in the region and could undermine the tense status quo. Confrontations have broken out over fishing, oil and gas drilling and military maneuvers in recent years.

India is the latest country to express alarm about Beijing’s growing military clout, partly because the Chinese navy has sent nuclear submarines into the Indian Ocean, rattling New Delhi’s defense community.

During a three-day visit to New Delhi that ended Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed a joint statement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for “safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea.” They urged all parties “to avoid the threat or use of force.”

White House aides portrayed Obama’s trip as a way to emphasize his attempt to focus more military and other resources on Asia and the western Pacific, a pivot intended in part to offset China’s influence. The Pentagon has sent more warships and troops to the region and has forged closer military ties with several of China’s neighbors.

A military-grade airstrip and dredged harbor on Fiery Cross Reef, which lies on the western edge of the Spratly archipelago, clearly would expand China’s ability to operate in an area considered a potential tinderbox. Land reclamation is also underway at Johnson South Reef, Johnson North Reef, Cuarteron Reef and Gaven Reef.

“China appears to be expanding and upgrading military and civilian infrastructure — including radars, satellite communication equipment, anti-aircraft and naval guns, helipads and docks — on some of the man-made islands,” according to a report last month by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was set up by Congress.

Beijing insists the reclamation projects are an internal matter taking place on Chinese territory, and it recently said it needs a base in the South China Sea to support radar and intelligence gathering. It has rebuffed regional demands to submit to international arbitration to resolve the maritime and territorial disputes.

The White House has refused to take sides in the territorial disputes, calling for a halt in all provocative activities. But the Obama administration faces growing pressure from allies to push back any Chinese effort to establish a permanent offshore military presence in the contested area.

Pentagon officials and the State Department repeated those demands in the past week, urging China to halt the island-building projects.

“We call on China to clarify their reclamation intentions” and “to cease these large-scale reclamation activities, recognize how they are increasing regional tensions, and pursue diplomatic alternatives,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool, a Pentagon spokesman.

“They’re reclaiming land in shoals and rocks in sensitive areas whose sovereignty is contested,” Assistant Secretary of State Daniel R. Russel said at a Jan. 21 news conference in Manila. “We think there is a powerful case to be made for the maximum exercise of restraint.”

Evan P. Garcia, a senior Philippine diplomat, told reporters the island-building “is not helpful in terms of finding a way forward. … It’s so frustrating.”

In late 2013, China’s Defense Ministry sparked deep unease when it warned that it would take “defensive emergency measures” against foreign aircraft that did not give notification before entering an air-defense identification zone that Beijing had declared off its coast.

In response, the Pentagon sent a pair of unarmed B-52s over the East China Sea to challenge the Chinese claim. The crisis was defused when China backed down and signaled it would not endanger the lives of pilots and passengers.

Pentagon officials were furious in August when a Chinese fighter jet did a barrel roll over a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea, and the White House called the incident a deliberate provocation. In 2001, a Chinese fighter jet collided with a Navy EP-3 surveillance plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing on nearby Hainan island.

At the same time, the Chinese military still faces severe limitations. Most of its fighter aircraft lack the range to patrol over the Spratly Islands, which lie more than 600 miles from China’s nearest air base and more than 400 miles from a Chinese airstrip in the Paracel Islands at the northern end of the sea, according to the report by the congressional commission.

Its navy similarly has a limited ability to operate in open waters for long periods because it lacks offshore bases for refueling and resupply, according to U.S. officials who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of discussing China’s military. China launched its first aircraft carrier in 2012, but the ship is not expected to be capable of flight operations until 2016, at the earliest.

A senior Chinese military official said in November that Chinese leaders decided to expand a military presence in the South China Sea after participating in the multinational search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.

The pilots made their last voice contact over the South China Sea, although the search soon expanded to the vast reaches of the southern Indian Ocean. Debris from the missing jet still has not been found.

“There is a need for a base to support our radar system and intelligence-gathering activities,” Jin Zhirui of the Chinese air force headquarters told reporters at the Xiangshan Forum, a Beijing national security conference, according to news reports.

The search “made us realize we lacked sufficient air force capabilities in the South China Sea,” Jin said. “There is a need for a base of operations in the South China Sea for state security and to protect national interests.”

China is unlikely to build a major military base in an area regularly hit by typhoons, said Jeffrey Engstrom, an Asia security expert at Rand Corp., a Santa Monica, Calif.-based think tank. But, he said, the “man-made islands would be useful for establishing presence and limited power projection in the South China Sea.”

Los Angeles Times staff writer Julie Makinen in Beijing contributed to this report.

©2015 Tribune Co. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Service chiefs: Defense spending caps will undercut troop morale

WASHINGTON — Military chiefs of staff warned the Senate on Wednesday that coming caps on defense spending will break faith with troops and hollow out the nation’s all-volunteer force.

The heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps said servicemembers, equipment and facilities are stretched too thin and budget caps set to begin this fall could create a frustrated, poorly-trained-and-equipped force like that of the post-Vietnam War era.

The testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee comes days before the White House releases its federal budget proposal and Congress launches into a debate over whether to lift defense spending limits aimed at reducing the U.S. debt.

“None of us want to return to those days of the 1970s when we had a hollow force,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford said.

The caps on defense spending were part of a series of deals struck by Congress to reduce federal spending. All areas of the government are targeted and under the caps, defense would be allowed only a $1.7-billion increase to $523 billion over the next fiscal year, though leaked copies of the White House fiscal 2016 request show DOD asking for a $38 billion increase.

Dunford said flat budgets in recent years have forced the Marines to prioritize spending on its deployed forces — about 31,000 Marines — and left half its nondeployed troops with shortfalls in personnel, equipment and training.

Further cuts would mean even less training as well as older equipment and facilities, echoing the 190,000-strong Marine Corps force a generation ago that struggled to keep high-quality personnel following a drawdown from the Vietnam War, Dunford said.

It required 5-7 years of spending and investment on the military in the 1980s to recover troop morale, he said.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said only about 30 percent of that service’s brigade combat teams are fully trained and ready to fight on deployment, even without the coming caps. The Army is now also planning a 65 percent drop in specialized skill training, causing a backlog of soldiers that will require years to clear out and add to the struggle to groom leadership, according to the general.

“You can’t just do that [training] episodically. You have to do it in a continuous manner,” Odierno said. “My concern is that as [soldiers] see ... maybe we are not going to invest in [readiness]. They lose faith that we are going to give them the training and materials that they need to succeed in this incredibly complex world we face.”

The frustration caused by underfunding and a lack of adequate training can cascade throughout the ranks, said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert.

“You are sitting around the classroom looking at your strike fighter Hornet and it looks really great, but it is sitting on the tarmac,” Greenert said.

The idle time can lead to increased alcohol use among servicemembers and more problems for military families, he said.

Committee chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has sharply criticized reductions in military spending amid what he says is surging global conflicts with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as well as Russia, Iran and China.

The United States should heed the lesson learned from the post-Vietnam drawdown and not lose quality servicemembers through a lack of funding, McCain said.

“It seems,” he said, “that it is always the best and the brightest who leave first.”

tritten.travis@stripes.com

Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

Report: Pay and benefits panel to recommend killing 20-year retirement

The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission will release its long-awaited report Thursday, which will propose fundamental changes to military benefits including ending the 20-year retirement, according to the Military Times, citing sources familiar with the report.

The plan calls for Congress to create a hybrid system of smaller defined-benefit pension along with more cash-based benefits and lump-sum payments. A significant portion of retirement benefits would come in the form of government contributions to 401(k)-style investment accounts, those familiar with the report told Military Times.

In addition to the 401(k) for troops serving less than 20 years, the commission will suggest promising a pension to troops who serve a long-term career, but one that would be more modest than what military retirees receive today, a defense official briefed on the plan told the Times.

And, unlike the current system, this pension would not start upon separation from service; instead, those payment checks would begin at a traditional retirement age, such as 60 or older, according to the official.

While retirement changes would affect only future servicemembers, changed to health care could affect those serving now.

According to the Times, the commission will also propose:

• a change in health care benefits for current military families and retirees — Tricare customers could move into the health care coverage provided to federal employees;


• a new health care allowance for troops designed to cover some expenses, such as doctor-visit co-pays and eyeglasses.


• a new four-star medical command to oversee military health care, a significant break from the tradition of each service operating its own health care system.


• keeping current commissary benefits, to include continuing to sell products at cost plus 5 percent surcharge. A separate DOD budget proposal is expected to call for increasing prices to operating costs.


• consolidating the commissary and exchange systems. Initially, they would keep their separate branding — Navy Exchange, Defense Commissary Agency, etc. — but eventually would be combined.


• building more child development centers on military bases.

The proposal also calls for automatically enrolling each servicemember in the Thrift Savings Plan, an investment account that accrues savings. Individual troops would be responsible for managing their accounts, and the money is typically not available for withdrawal without penalty until age 59.5.

The government contributions likely would be a percentage of basic pay and could vary depending on years of service and/or deployment status. Full ownership of the TSP account would come only after troops have completed several years of service.

By allowing many troops to keep their TSP government contributions after separation, the new proposal would give limited retirement benefits to the vast majority who leave the military before hitting the traditional retirement milestone of 20 years of service, most of them enlisted members who do four, six or eight years, then leave.

It would be a sea change from a system that now offers retirement benefits to about only 17 percent of the force — many of them officers — who serve 20 years.

Any change to military retirement would require Congress to pass changes in law.

Many experts say Congress is unlikely to summon the political will to take action on the controversial issue of military compensation. Nevertheless, the report is likely to trigger a new battle in that arena. Also unknown is whether the commission’s proposals will get fast-tracked to an up-or-down vote, or move through Congress’ normal process.

news@stripes.com

Oliver found guilty in AFN murder

8 minutes ago

By Matt Millham

Stars and Stripes

Published: January 28, 2015

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Air Force Staff Sgt. Sean Oliver was found guilty of unpremeditated murder Wednesday in the killing of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dmitry Chepusov, after two weeks of testimony at a court-martial here.

Oliver had been charged with premeditated murder, but the panel of four officers and six enlisted was allowed to consider lesser charges. Despite the conviction on a lesser charge, he still could face life in prison.

Oliver also was found guilty of obstruction of justice, making false official statements and assault. The penalty phase of the trial is scheduled to start Thursday.

Oliver was charged in Chepusov’s death in March last year. German police had found Chepusov’s lifeless body in the passenger seat of Oliver’s car when they stopped him in the early hours of Dec. 14, 2013 in Kaiserslautern.

German and American pathologists had concluded after separate autopsies that Chepusov, a Navy broadcaster at American Forces Network, had been strangled.

Oliver, an AFN technician, had pleaded not guilty to the charges. During testimony Friday, Oliver acknowledged lying to German and Air Force investigators. Oliver testified that he choked Chepusov after a night of drinking but did not intend to kill him. Oliver said he suspected Chepusov was dead and was on his way to dump the sailor’s body when he was pulled over by police.

millham.matthew@stripes.com

Twitter: @mattmillham

Germantown command master chief pleads guilty to prostitute procurement conspiracy

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The former command master chief of the USS Germantown admitted Wednesday at a court-martial that he oversaw a prostitution research ring operated by four senior chief petty officers aboard the ship.

Command Master Chief Petty Officer Jesus Galura pleaded guilty to conspiracy to procure prostitutes, violation of a general order and making a false official statement to a law enforcement agent.

He pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual harassment and two counts of unwanted sexual contact directed toward a subordinate aboard the Sasebo, Japan-based ship.

Testimony at the trial revealed a series of sexual assault accusations involving Galura and others that prompted the 7th Fleet to initiate an investigation of Germantown, Amphibious Squadron 11 and Expeditionary Strike Group 7.

An investigation report later described the situation among Germantown’s chiefs as “out of control,” according to court testimony.

Galura testified that he and the four chiefs researched websites offering prostitution services in the Philippines, where the chiefs had expected to make a port call.

Galura also testified that he encouraged Senior Chief Petty Officer Paul Swank, whom he said was negotiating prices, to see if the women he found would be available for parties.

Swank was reduced in pay grade to E-7 after being found guilty in October of conspiracy to patronize a prostitute and a related charge.

Galura later used his ship email to send a picture of two scantily clad women with the message “I got my first two for the day,” which was a violation of a Defense Department regulation regarding use of government communications.

Galura, who is still technically attached to Germantown but temporarily assigned to squadron shore duty, also admitted to lying about the intent of his illicit website browsing, claiming it was part of a safety briefing for sailors.

He made no excuses for his efforts at prostitution planning while entering his pleas to military judge Capt. David Harrison.

“It’s hypocritical on my part, because I would tell a sailor not to do it,” Galura said.

Lt. Brandon Sargent, his defense attorney, argued that the charges directed against Galura constituted unlawful command influence.

Galura’s permanent removal from Germantown was directed by the four-star Pacific Fleet command, rather than any of the lower local commands.

Cmdr. Jason Leach, the former commander of Germantown who was relieved due to loss of confidence in his leadership, testified Wednesday that his “gut feeling” told him Galura would be court-martialed regardless of the investigation results into his actions.

Leach also said he and his immediate superior, Capt. Heidi Agle, were never informed of Galura’s removal.

“[Agle] shared an article from Stars and Stripes in which Pacific Fleet announced the relief (of Galura),” Leach said. “I was extremely shocked. I asked her if she knew about it, and she said she did not.”

Harrison ruled that no evidence thus far supported the unlawful command influence argument, since Pacific Fleet’s actions were administrative in nature and their deferral to Naval Forces Japan for judicial action was proper.

Galura agreed to plead guilty to some charges Wednesday as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Sentencing was deferred until the end of the trial, which is scheduled to reconvene Feb. 23. At that time, Galura will face charges that he harassed, forcibly kissed and improperly touched a subordinate.

slavin.erik@stripes.com

Twitter: @eslavin_stripes

Vomiting in Korean taxi could cost you big bucks

SEOUL, South Korea — Seoul taxi drivers are putting out the word: Don’t drink and yak.

Tired of the yucky cleanup and complaints from other customers about the lingering stench, the capital’s two drivers associations have banded together. Beginning Feb. 1, drivers will ask passengers who vomit in their cabs to pay a standard, city-approved fine of 150,000 won, or approximately $138.

Taxi drivers already are known for demanding an extra fee, set at the driver’s discretion, on top of the regular fare if a passenger barfs inside or on the exterior of the cab. The latest move is aimed partly at standardizing the surcharge and partly at publicizing the problem.

South Korea’s drinking culture encourages co-workers and friends to bond over alcohol, often imbibing to the point of intoxication. Vomiting is not uncommon. While the fine is not legally enforceable, city and taxi association officials say they hope it will discourage drunken passengers from throwing up until they exit cabs.

“Maybe passengers are going to be more careful not to puke in taxis,” an official with Seoul’s Taxi Logistics Division said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

An officer with the Seoul Private Taxi Association, one of two groups representing Seoul’s 72,000 taxi drivers, said drivers get wet from cleaning up their passengers’ vomit and the seats become so dirty that they’re difficult to clean.

“Taxi drivers clean over and over again, but the vomit smell lasts so long that often they can’t drive the taxi again the next day,” he said. Passengers have been known to file complaints about a rotten smell even days after the vomiting occurred, often blaming their driver for the odor.

A Seoul Taxi Association survey conducted last fall found that 10,892, or 42.5 percent, of complaints filed by taxi drivers involved vomiting, according to the Korea Times. Other complaints in the survey of nearly 4,800 taxi drivers included passengers refusing to leave the cab, refusing to pay their fare, damaging the cab and using fake or forged cash or credit cards to pay their fare.

City officials said they did not keep statistics on how many U.S. servicemembers have vomited in taxis.

Another city official said one of the two associations wanted to impose a 200,000 won fine and the other wanted 300,000 won. After discussions with the city, both agreed on 150,000 won, intended to cover a cleaning fee and operating losses.

Passengers who refuse to pay the fine may be asked by their driver to pay an even larger fee, subject to negotiation with the driver. If the passenger still refuses to pay, the driver could try to enforce the fine by taking them to civil court, though it is unclear whether the suit would carry weight.

rowland.ashley@stripes.com

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