News AT 5 PM

Motion Center News at 5PM

* Weather * Officers Donate Food * General Comments on Afgan Forces * Army Suicides * Cocaine Siezure

Sponsored by: Trinity Omega - Gucci | Ralph Lauren | & more Weather for Buffalo, NY  -

52°F | °C Current: Mostly Cloudy Wind: SE at 2 mph Humidity: 88% Mon 78°F | 66°F Tue 85°F | 64°F Wed 68°F | 56°F Thu 65°F | 55°F

Detailed forecast: The Weather Channel - Weather Underground - AccuWeather

CBP Officers Donate Several Tons of Food to Maine Food Banks

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:18:53 -0500

Houlton, Maine - Customs and Border Protection officers from Houlton, Fort Fairfield, Van Buren, Madawaska and Fort Kent donated more than four tons of non-perishable food to Catholic Charities Maine Wednesday. The donated items will supplement 24 Aroostook County food pantries from Wytopitlock to St. 

Second Big Cocaine Seizure at Checkpoint in Three Days
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:18:53 -0500

Blythe, Calif. - U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Yuma Sector seized more than 20 pounds of cocaine on Wednesday.Border Patrol agents assigned to the Blythe station encountered a man driving white 2000 Ford F-250 at about 6:45 A.M., at the Highway 98 checkpoint north of Yuma. (more)

First Nationwide Pest Interception by Agriculture Specialists
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:18:53 -0500

West Palm Beach, Fla. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at the port of West Palm Beach, Fla. recently made a first-ever interception of a pest, before it could cause damage to crops in the United States.On Aug. 3, a . (more)

General Seeks to Build Professional, Sustainable Afghan Forces
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:15:00 -0500

General Seeks to Build Professional, Sustainable Afghan Forces By John D. Banusiewicz  American Forces Press Service KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 3, 2010 - Building Afghan security forces that are capable, professional and sustainable is going to take a long time, but also is key to long-term success, the general who leads the NATO training mission in Afghanistan said here today. Army Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV explained the effort to reporters traveling with Navy Adm. Mike Mullen,chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, while Mullen was in a series of private meetings at the U.S. Embassy and the International Security Assistance Force headquarters. When he stood up the NATO training mission here in November, Caldwell said, the enormity of the challenge was quite evident. No Afghan army or police training commands existed. The only standard for graduation from basic training was starting the course and still being there on the last day of training. Most police received no real training. The ethos that guides professional military forces was absent in the Afghan security forces. Recruiting was low, and attrition was high. In fact, Caldwell said, the Afghan army had "negative growth," recruiting only 800 new soldiers in September 2009 while losing more than 2,000 through attrition. With a target today of growing the Afghan security forces by 55,000 members to 306,000 by December 2011, Caldwell said, the current attrition rates indicate that 141,000 new members must be recruited and trained. If attrition improves, he added, the recruiting requirement would ease accordingly. The focus of the NATO training mission for its first 10 months has been to turn those trends around and lay a foundation for the professionalization of Afghanistan's security forces, the general said. The Afghan army now has had a training command for six months. "It's going like gangbusters," Caldwell said. "We've got the right advisors and they're working with them. They've appointed a good Afghan commander, and they are taking control of the training for their Afghan army." A training command for Afghan police was activated in May, and a commander has just been appointed, Caldwell said, and the Afghan police now have a good code of conduct. Afghan police have a reputation for being corrupt, Caldwell said, citing reports of police officers shaking people down for money, using tactics such as setting up illegal checkpoints and charging people to pass through them. When he found out that police officers were being paid far less than a living wage, he said, he understood how that could happen. "We had set the conditions so that a policeman ... was not even able to make a basic minimum wage by serving his country," Caldwell said. Now that police make a decent wage on a par with their army counterparts, he added, the incentive for corruption diminishes and police have a sense they are part of a professional force that is a viable career option. Soldiers and police now can receive additional incentive pay for serving in dangerous areas, as well as longevity pay raises that reward them for continuing to serve. And trainees now must meet standards. The weapon qualification rate for Afghan soldiers and police at the end of basic training is now 97 percent. "That's just as good as the U.S. Army," Caldwell noted. The 3 percent who don't qualify at that point receive more training and then qualify. Leader development is a limiting factor in building professional forces, Caldwell said, and the training mission has taken on that issue as a top priority, greatly increasing capacity to train soldiers and police officers to become effective leaders. Another limiting factor is literacy, the general said, noting that 80 percent of the recruits can't read or write. "It's real hard, especially for us, to comprehend that they couldn't even write their names and they didn't know any numbers," he said. Weapons accountability is impossible, he noted as an example, when the soldiers or police can't read the serial number and know whether they have the right weapon. If a recruit can't read the list of equipment he was supposed to be issued, the general added, he won't know if the person issuing the equipment is holding equipment back to sell on the black market, so the crime goes undetected. When the NATO training mission stood up in November, some Afghan recruits were enrolled in optional literacy programs, but no mandatory programs existed, Caldwell said. Now, 23,000 members of Afghanistan's security forces are in mandatory literacy training designed to give them a third-grade reading level. That number will be 50,000 in December, he added, and is expected to be 100,000 on any given day by June. In the effort to move Afghan forces toward self-sufficiency, Caldwell noted, a basic level of literacy becomes especially important as training goes beyond infantry skills and starts to include more specialized areas such as transportation, maintenance and medical disciplines. Another challenge is finding qualified Afghan instructors, the general said. Hiring only Afghan instructors, he explained, is critical to building the enduring capability that is key to long-term success. And training doesn't end when Afghan units finish their formal training, Caldwell said. The vast majority of operations now involve Afghan units working alongside ISAF partners, so their training continues as they learn on the job from professional forces. Though the progress has been considerable in 10 months, Caldwell said, it will be a long time before the Afghan security forces have matured to the point at which they can see to all of their training, recruiting and retention needs without help and field professional and sustainable forces on their own. "Our mission is not one that is done by next summer, or even next December," Caldwell said. The need to continue growing and professionalizing the Afghan forces will remain for some time, he added.

Biographies: Army Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV  Related Sites: NATO Training Mission Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan 'We Can Solve' Soldier Suicides, General Says Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:06:00 -0500 'We Can Solve' Soldier Suicides, General Says By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill  National Guard Bureau AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 3, 2010 - More vigilant leadership, pre-screening recruits for compatibility with military service and better post-deployment follow up are among solutions proposed by the acting director of the Army National Guard for stemming soldier suicides. Army Maj. Gen. Raymond W. Carpenter, the acting director of the Army National Guard, addresses the 132nd General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Austin, Texas, Aug. 21, 2010. Carpenter proposed more vigilant leadership, pre-screening recruits for compatibility with military service and better post-deployment follow up as among solutions for stemming soldier suicides. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Speaking at a breakout session of 132nd general conference of the National Guard Association of the United States here Aug. 21, Army Maj. Gen. Raymond W. Carpenter sounded the alarm about the Army's current high suicide rate. "We [could] be at 100 suicides by the end of this year," said Carpenter, who periodically briefs Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, on the Army Guard's suicide rate and specific cases. Carpenter emphasized that stopping soldier suicides isn't an insolvable problem. "We have an incredible amount of brainpower to put against this," he said. "We can solve this." First, leaders at every level in the chain of command must be more vigilant about the welfare of their soldiers, the general said. "I've got an obligation [as a leader] ... to know who is in my organization and what's going on with them," Carpenter said. "If you're a squad leader, you're supposed to know your squad," he continued. "You need to know whether they're married, whether they have kids, whether they're going to school, whether they have a job." In one recent suicide case, Carpenter recalled, a person had enlisted in the active Army and was "chaptered out" during basic training, meaning he was separated for inability to perform, or for lack of effort, or failure to adapt to the military, or for discipline issues. This person later re-enlisted in the National Guard and failed basic training again - this time after a fight, Carpenter said. Carpenter said this individual enlisted a third time - again in the Guard - and completed basic and advanced training and then returned home, where he had behavioral problems. Personal issues that culminated in the young soldier's suicide, he said, included an injury, prescription drug and alcohol abuse, and employment and marriage problems. The soldier, he said, had never deployed. "I would not deny that young soldier help," Carpenter said. "But we've got to figure out whether [such] people are the kind of people who are going to be able to be soldiers in our formations and do what is asked of them by this country. "We as an organization should have taken a long look at whether that young man was compatible with military service," he continued. "Three times, and he finally got in." The issue of soldier suicides "isn't a deployment problem," Carpenter said, noting that the majority of suicides are committed by younger soldiers. "It has to do with significant emotional events in their lives, but beyond that, it has to do with their ability to cope," the general said. A third piece of the solution was suggested by a second case of soldier suicide that Carpenter said he had briefed to senior leaders. In this case, he said, the soldier had mobilized and deployed. On his post-deployment health assessment, the soldier said he'd experienced suicidal thoughts, had possible post-traumatic stress and slept poorly. The soldier also said he needed help. The troubled soldier met with Veterans Affairs health care providers at least once and was prescribed medication, Carpenter said. However, he said, the soldier had discouraged his wife from talking with his unit to seek further help. The lesson is that leaders must be more assertive and involved to help troubled soldiers before issues mushroom, the general said. "We talk about being part of the Guard family," Carpenter said. "We're going to have to walk the walk instead of talk the talk. ... The soldier is the center of gravity. "Committing suicide is not a viable alternative. ... We've got to get to the person who is making that decision. ... We have to make that a priority," the general added. Carpenter highlighted National Guard-sponsored suicide prevention programs in Arkansas, California, New Hampshire and New Jersey. "There are some great things going on out there," he said. "Every state has a great program." Biographies: Army Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter  Related Sites: National Guard Bureau Restoring Hope: You Can Help Save A Life  Rainbow Bridge Click Here for Camera I-190 Niagara Expy / NY198 Scajaquada Expy Click Here for Camera Check us out at Motion Center:Click Here   Copyright 2010 Group Speeddog Cameras NITTEC | Weather Wunderground