Millions in additional stimulus dollars are heading to Georgia. The Department of defense received close to 6-billion dollars to fund construction projects here at homes as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Georgia's military bases will share in close to 130-million dollars of that money.
The money is separate from the stimulus funds the state is getting. Bert Brantley is with Governor Sonny Perdue's office. He says the money will flow directly to federal installations.
"Those funds will obviously be spent in the economy. They will improve federal buildings. They will go to improving the way the efficiency of some of those buildings, some energy projects, and be spent on defense projects as well, which is good for our economy."
Many of the projects are focused on making the military more energy independent. DOD construction planned in Georgia includes a 10-million dollar barracks renovation at Ft. Benning, 14-million for a new utility building at Ft. Gordon, and a 4-million dollar runway at Robins Air Force Base.
Lisa Pagan with her husband, Travis, and her children Elizabeth, 4, and Eric, 3, at their home in Davidson, N.C., on Friday. The mom has spent more than a year fighting her recall to active duty. (Chuck Burton/AP)
When Lisa Pagan reports for duty Sunday, four long years after she was honorably discharged from the Army, she will arrive with more than her old uniform. She is bringing her kids, too.
"I have to bring them with me," she said. "I don't have a choice."
Pagan is among thousands of former service members who have left active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, only to later receive orders to return to service. They are not in training, they are not getting a Defense Department salary, but as long as they have time left on their original enlistment contracts, they are on "individual ready reserve" status — eligible to be recalled at any time.
Soldiers can appeal, and some have won permission to remain in civilian life. Pagan filed several appeals, arguing that because her husband travels for business, no one else can take care of her kids. All were rejected, leaving Pagan with what she says is a choice between deploying to Iraq and abandoning her family, or refusing her orders and potentially facing charges.
Then she hit on the idea of showing up Sunday at Fort Benning, Georgia, with her children in tow.
"I guess they'll have to contact the highest person at the base, and they'll have to decide from there what to do," Pagan said. "I either report and bring the children with me or don't report and face dishonorable discharge and possibly being arrested. I guess I'll just have to make my case while I'm there."
'Obligations and commitments'
Master Sgt. Keith O'Donnell, an Army spokesman in St. Louis, said the commander at Fort Benning will decide how to handle the situation.
"The Army tries to look at the whole picture and they definitely don't want to do anything that jeopardizes the family or jeopardizes the children," O'Donnell said. "At the same time, these are individuals who made obligations and commitments to the country."
Of the 25,000 individual ready reserve troops recalled since September 2001, more than 7,500 have been granted deferments or exemptions, O'Donnell said. About 1,000 have failed to report. O'Donnell said most of those cases are still under investigation, while 360 soldiers have been separated from the Army either through "other than honorable" discharges or general discharges.
He said Pagan is not likely to face charges, since none of the individual ready reserve soldiers who have failed to report faced a court-martial.
Pagan, who grew up near Camden, N.J., was working in a department store when she made her commitment in September 2002. She learned how to drive a truck, and met Travis while stationed in Hawaii. She had her first child while in uniform, and they left the service in 2005 when their enlistments were up.
She always knew there was a chance she could be recalled, so she buried the thought in the back of her mind.
"When I enlisted, they said almost nobody gets called back when you're in the IRR," she said.
The young family settled outside of Charlotte in the college town of Davidson, where Travis landed a job as a salesman. It required lots of travel, but that was OK — Pagan enjoyed her life as a stay-at-home mom to their son Eric and second child, a daughter named Elizabeth.
She opened a child-care center in her home, and started taking classes at nearby Fayetteville State.
Mom makes her plea
The orders to return to active duty arrived in December 2007. She told the Army there was no one to take care of her children: Her husband spent most of his time on the road, and they believe quitting his job is a sure path to bankruptcy and foreclosure. Her parents live in New Jersey and her husband's parents live in Texas. Neither are able to help out. The Army was not persuaded.
Pagan hired attorney Mark Waple, who filed another appeal, which included a letter from Travis Pagan's employer that said bluntly: "In order for Travis to remain an employee, he will be required to travel." In December 2008, her appeal was again rejected.
"It's the obligation of commanders to make certain that service members have a valid family care plan and that clearly has not happened in Lisa's case," Waple said.
Tom Tarantino, a policy associate with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit group that helps veterans, said the Army has taken a hard line on many of these cases.
"Usually the only way that someone can get out of the deployment or get out of the military due to a family hardship is if they get into a situation where the kids will be put into foster care," Tarantino said.
"That's how serious it has to be, and I'm sure what the military is telling her — and I'm not saying that this is exactly the right answer — but the fact that it is inconvenient for her husband's job is not the military's problem. It's very harsh."
Remains of the JAG office. Click on the image for more photos. (Photo: Lily Gordon, Ledger-Enquirer.com)
Federal and military authorities are probing a suspicious blaze that destroyed the Judge Advocate General’s office at
Investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are looking for evidence in the charred remains of the 10,000 sq.-ft. building, which went up in flames on Friday.
The ATF announced Tuesday afternoon that they are adding an additional $5,000 to the $5,000 reward offered earlier by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) for information on the fire.
Special agent Scott Sweetlow of the BATF National Response Team says the're looking for what sparked the blaze:
“...we're trying to develop a full picture with the use of our accelerant-detection canines, and our chemists. We're collecting evidence, but as a general principle we don't make any sort of a determination until we've got all of the facts in hand.”
If investigators find traces of an accelerant, it may indicate arson.
Former staff judge advocate and former
"It's just absolutely devastating to see. ...an historic building destroyed for what purpose? ... it's just unfair; it's stupid, it's just unfair."
After viewing the site on Sunday, and speaking with officials, Poydasheff says he has little doubt as to the cause:
Sweetow declined to confirm or deny whether propane tanks were found among the ruins of the building."I've been told that there were some propane tanks, and so the way it presented itself - the entire building - there's no doubt in my mind; it was arson."
"We're certainly aware, that as part of the justice system - the federal court system, there's some critical records that are there," Sweetow said.Barnes says no evidence was kept in the structure, and that the fire will not affect pending cases.
A fire destroyed a building that houses the Judge Advocate General's office at
The JAG office, staffed by some 22 attorneys, handles legal matters for soldiers, including criminal investigations.
Benning emergency service director Lt. Col. Kevin Clarke says 35
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
(AP)
Five protesters have been ordered to spend 60 days in prison on federal trespassing charges after a rally in Georgia last November to demand the closing of the former School of the Americas.
Demonstrators blame the school, which trained generations of military officials, for human rights abuses in Latin America. They have rallied at Fort Benning every November for years against the school, currently known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
Eric LeCompte, with the group School of the Americas Watch, says an Episcopal priest from New York and a Roman Catholic nun from Ohio were among those sentenced Monday in federal court in Georgia. He says a sixth protester, age 68, was given six months of house arrest because of medical problems.
(AP)
The Army has kicked out a soldier for beating a Jewish trainee who complained about religious harassment in their basic training unit, a Fort Benning spokesman said Monday.
Citing federal privacy laws, the Army had previously refused to discuss how it punished the attacker of Pvt. Michael Handman, 20, of Atlanta, other than to say the case had been handled as an administrative matter rather than as a crime.
That changed after the southeast director of the Anti-Defamation League met Fort Benning officials Friday. Col. Charles Durr, chief of staff at Fort Benning, told the ADL's Bill Nigut the assailant had been discharged.
"The soldier that was punished for the assault on Pvt. Handman has been processed for discharge from the Army," Fort Benning spokesman Bob Purtiman confirmed Monday.The Army says Handman was beaten Sept. 24 by a fellow trainee in a laundry room near his barracks. Handman was treated at an Army hospital for a concussion and bruising to his face. He has since been transferred to another basic training unit at Fort Benning in Columbus.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. William P. Rudd, 27, of Madisonville, Ky., died October 5th of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire while on a combat patrol in Mosul, Iraq.
He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.
As of Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, at least 4,178 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,383 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is one fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Monday at 10 a.m. EDT.
Entrance gate to Fort Benning. (Dave Bender/file)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded two California and Virginia Beach, Va.-based consulting firms a $64 million to design and build several public structures on Fort Benning, near Columbus.
Tetra Tech-Tesoro says they will build a library and instruction facility, a maintenance facility, and storage buildings in the joint project.
The project is part of the Army's planned relocation of the Armor Center at Fort Knox to Fort Benning over the next several years, as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program (BRAC).
Maneuver Center of Excellence
Tetra Tech-Tesoro says they expect the construction to be completed in 2010, according to a Market Watch report.
Click here for more GPB News coverage about BRAC and Fort Benning.
Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Callahan, in training for the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens, Greece. (Photo by Tim Hipps)
Elizabeth Callahan qualified for her fourth U.S. Olympic team Thursday at age 56, finishing second in the sport pistol competition at the U.S. shooting trials to earn a trip to Beijing.
The oldest known American woman to have competed in the Summer Olympics is Kyra Downton at age 55, according to USA Shooting and the U.S. Olympic Committee. Downton was in the equestrian competition in 1968.
Rebecca 'Beki' Snyder also earned a spot by winning the sport pistol event. Three others also qualified for Beijing at the trials Thursday: Mike Anti in prone rifle, and Jason Turner and Daryl Szarenski in free pistol.
Callahan competed in the 1992, 1996 and 2004 Olympics. Snyder also is heading to the Olympics for the fourth time.
Anti qualified for his fourth trip to the Olympics, winning the prone rifle event. American Matt Emmons, the 2004 Olympic champion in prone rifle, had already secured spots for Beijing in prone and three-position rifle.
Anti won silver in 2004 in the three-position event.
"I am very excited about making the team, but we have so many good prone shooters in the U.S., so it is kind of a bittersweet victory for me,'' Anti said.Click here for more GPB News sports coverage.
Martin Army Community Hospital, Fort Benning. (Courtesy) President George Bush on Monday granted $350 million dollars for a new army hospital in southwest Georgia, as the facility it will replace commemorates its 50th anniversary. The funds for Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning are part of an emergency Iraq War funding bill. Hospital Director Colonel Harry Warren says the center plans to open a traumatic brain injury clinic for wounded soldiers:
"In fact, we already have funding before the new hospital for an outpatient clinic along these lines, actually, next month."Army officials say repairs are being made to the present facility, which is beset with rusty plumbing, an underpowered electrical system and a leaky roof. The hospital serves the region, and will continue functioning until the new, 500,000 million dollar facility is built over the next four-to-five years.
The US House of Reps passed a legislation today authorizing a commemorative $1 coin to honor the US Army Infantry and to help fun the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Ga.
The coins would be sold for $10 with some proceeds used to create an endowment fund for the museum, which is already under construction. The coin design would demonstrate courage, pride, sacrifice, sense of duty and the history of the Army Infantry.
Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville and Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany, Ga. introduced and co-sponsored the legislation.
The measure still needs approval from the Senate and faces heavy competition from other commemorative coin proposals.
A high speed chase early Tuesday morning in Phenix City, Ala. ended with the death of a Ft. Benning solider.
City officials say that 24 year-old Jerell Taylor lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a brick mailbox while being pursued by police.
Police say that Taylor was riding with another motorcyclist on motorcycles used for speeding.
Taylor recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.
Secondary settling basin at one of the post's three aging water-treatment plants. (Dave Bender)
Fort Benning near Columbus today inaugurated an upgraded, higher-flow water treatment system, fed from the Chattahoochee River. But officials say the post's use won't affect the river's drought-strained water levels upstream.
The step is part of an upgrade for the post's three aging water treatment facilities, which had previously only drawn water from the nearby Upatoi Creek.
Army officials say they expect a sharp increase in usage in coming years: 30,000 troops and their families that will join their ranks, as an entire armor school from Fort Knox transfers here as part of the nationwide Base Realignment and Closure program (BRAC).
Post garrison Commander Colonel Keith Lovejoy is responsible for coordinating the project with state and local agencies.
Lovejoy says he doesn't foresee future water usage conflicts with the Army Corps of Engineers, and says they are planning their water usage together:
“They are controlling all of our growth here. they're the ones that are issuing the contracts here; they're the ones making sure the pipes are right, they're making sure that we have enough water.”Lovejoy adds that all of the agencies dealing with the issue, meet regularly to ensure the 184,000 acre training base has enough water for the nearly 110,000 troops that pass through it's gates annually:
“...As a matter of fact, once a month we get everybody together: the Corps of Engineers, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Columbus Water Works, Flint Electricity; just put everybody together in the same room to make sure that the impact, and what everybody's doing to everybody else is working.”Dr. Carol Couch of the Environmental Protection Division says the post's water needs won't significantly affect the Chattahoochee's water levels.
“Conserving ought to be something we do every day, and adapting and modifying how we use water. and it isn't really a radical change in lifestyle; it's just something that ought to be as natural as – for most people today – clipping a seat belt together.”Columbus Water Works officials say the city purifies and returns about 90 percent of the water it uses to the river, and don't foresee the post's expected usage to be a problem.
Perdue and officials at the groundbreaking ceremony. (Dave Bender)
Governor Sonny Perdue turned the first shovelful of earth for a planned medical sciences technical training center in Columbus Tuesday.
Perdue was joined by a host of state and local officials at the festive ceremony, which was held under a large tent in a field near the Columbus Technical College.
Perdue touted the timing of building the Dr. Robert L. Wright, Jr. Health Sciences Center, in conjunction with nearby Fort Benning's expected expansion, and influx of soldiers and families in the next few years:
"It means the spouse of a soldier who relocated to for t benning will have the opportunity to earn a degree and possibly find a nursing job right here."The State of Georgia is paying $16 million of the estimated $21 to $25 million dollars the nursing and health sciences training center will cost.
Coming up next week, Georgia's state Supreme Court will hear several high profile cases, including that of a Fort Benning soldier, charged with killing one of his army buddies. The court will hear the case of Alberto Martinez, charged with killing Richard Davis in 2003. He's one of two sentenced to life in prison for Davis' murder. The two soldiers were among a group from Fort Benning, enjoying a night out, after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. Sometime during the evening, things went wrong and Davis' friends began beating him. The group moved to a wooded area where the fighting continued. And, that's where witnesses say Alberto Martinez stabbed Davis thirty-three times. Now, Martinez wants the state supreme court to consider that his court appointed lawyers failed to include psychological evidence of post traumatic stress disorder. Attorneys for the state argue that Martinez's lawyers chose to accuse someone else of the murder rather than call their own expert. Georgia law however, does not yet allow expert testimony to establish a defense of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sign of the times in Columbus: a dry cleaning service near Fort Benning welcomes the 3rd ID home. (Dave Bender)
The return of several thousand troops from Iraq in coming weeks, is expected to give a boost to businesses around Columbus in western Georgia. The hoped-for economic shot-in-the-arm will come from some 3,800 combat soldiers of the US Army's Third Brigade, who served in the Baghdad area.
Several units recently redeployed to nearby Fort Benning, in order to prepare families and the post for the main force. But the brigade's year-long absence was felt far beyond the gates of the base.
Mike Gaymon of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce:
“When the Third Brigade left, the growth of Chattahoochee County became the worst in the 159 counties in Georgia, and then when the third comes back, they will lead the state in growth.”Gaymon says apartments complexes, car dealerships, and furniture and appliance stores are among those eagerly awaiting the “boots on the ground.”
Relieved family and friends joyously greeted over 250 US Army soldiers of the 598th Maintenance Company, and an advance force of the Third Brigade as they stepped off the plane at the post's Lawson Airfield, close to midnight on Wednesday.
Both units served 15-months in the Baghdad area. The advance troops will prepare for the main force of 3,000 troops, who are due back in several planeloads in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, over 160 soldiers of the 63rd Engineering Company are preparing for a similar combat tour in Iraq. Specialist Adam Wilson says he's grateful the army will look after his wife and children while he's gone:
"If she gets run down, or gets in a predicament, then hope is close by; that's a huge load of my shoulders to know that she's not alone."Wilson's unit is to leave on Sunday, and will serve 15-months.
The Defense Department on Thursday announced the death of Staff Sgt. Jeffery Lee Hartley, 25, of Hempstead, Texas.
Hartley died Tuesday of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated beneath his vehicle, according to the DoD.
Joining the Army in 2001, Hartley served as a radioman in the Signal Corps, with the 3rd Brigade at Fort Benning, near Columbus. He was unmarried and deployed to Iraq in March, 2007.
Hempstead is about 50 miles northwest of Houston.
(The Associated Press)
Click here for more GPB news coverage of Fort Benning.
Sgt. Darren Dhanoolal. (Photo: Kynesha Dhanoolal)
Sgt. Darren Dhanoolal, of Columbus was killed on Monday in the Baghdad area when a roadside bomb exploded by an armored vehicle he was driving.
The Army has not yet released an official statement of Dhanoolal's death, although his family has been notified.
Dhanoolal and his wife were last together during Christmas, and was due back in the States in several weeks, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer newspaper.
His body was flown back to the States on Wednesday, and funeral arrangements are being made.
Dhanoolal was 26-year-old.