Europe travel alert (Ταξιδιωτική οδηγία των ΗΠΑ για την Ευρώπη )

By U.S. Department Of State Bureau of Consular Affairs

Προειδοποίηση προς τους Αμερικανούς πολίτες που σχεδιάζουν να ταξιδέψουν στην Ευρώπη εξέδωσε το Στέιτ Ντιπάρτμεντ, κάνοντας λόγο για «πιθανό κίνδυνο» τρομοκρατικών επιθέσεων από την αλ Κάιντα και άλλες οργανώσεις.

Η ταξιδιωτική οδηγία εκδόθηκε για το σύνολο της ευρωπαϊκής ηπείρου, δίχως να κατονομάζει συγκεκριμένες χώρες, αν και ύστερα από τον θόρυβο που προκλήθηκε από δημοσιεύματα και αποκαλύψεις αξιωματούχων την περασμένη εβδομάδα, το ενδιαφέρον επικεντρώνεται κατά κύριο λόγο στη Βρετανία, τη Γαλλία και τη Γερμανία.

The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to the potential for terrorist attacks in Europe. Current information suggests that al-Qa'ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks. European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions.

Terrorists may elect to use a variety of means and weapons and target both official and private interests. U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Terrorists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime services. U.S. citizens should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling.

We continue to work closely with our European allies on the threat from international terrorism, including al-Qa'ida. Information is routinely shared between the U.S. and our key partners in order to disrupt terrorist plotting, identify and take action against potential operatives, and strengthen our defenses against potential threats.

We recommend U.S. citizens register their travel plans with the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy through the State Department's travel registration website. Travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. and Canada, or on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444 from elsewhere in the world.

For information on general crime and security issues, U.S. citizens should also consult the Department of State's Country-Specific Information as well as the Worldwide Caution, which can be found on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website. For further information on safety tips while traveling abroad, U.S. citizens should also consult the following website: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/tips_1232.html

This Travel Alert expires on January 31, 2011.
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ΜΗΤΕΡΕΣ ΣΤΟΝ ΣΤΡΑΤΟ ΕΚΡΗΞΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΣΠΙΤΙ

Μήπως να αρχίζαμε να το σκεπτόμασταν και στην Ελλάδα για την υπηρέτηση των γυναικών;

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ΕΠΙΣΚΕΨΗ ΤΟΥ ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΝΕCC ΣTO KENAΠ

Στις 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010 ο Υποναύαρχος Michael P. Tillotson, Διοικητής της Εκστρατευτικής Διοίκησης του Πολεμικού Ναυτικού των ΗΠΑ (Navy Expeditionary Combat Command), επισκέφθηκε τις εγκαταστάσεις του Κέντρου Εκπαίδευσης Ναυτικής Αποτροπής (ΚΕΝΑΠ), στο Ναύσταθμο της Κρήτης.

Αρχικά ο Υποναύαρχος Tillotson συζήτησε με το Διοικητή του ΚΕΝΑΠ θέματα κοινού ενδιαφέροντος, ενώ στη συνεχεία, πραγματοποιήθηκε ενημέρωση για το ρόλο, τις δραστηριότητες και τις δυνατότητες του ΚΕΝΑΠ, καθώς και επίδειξη των κτιριακών και εκπαιδευτικών εγκαταστάσεων του Κέντρου.
Η Εκστρατευτική Διοίκηση του Πολεμικού Ναυτικού των ΗΠΑ είναι μια σχετικά νεοσύστατη Διοίκηση (ιδρύθηκε τον Ιανουάριο του 2006), και έχει ως σκοπό τη στελέχωση, παροχή εκπαίδευσης, εξοπλισμό και διατήρηση της επιχειρησιακής ετοιμότητας των υπό ανάπτυξη Αμερικανικών Ναυτικών Δυνάμεων, σε όλα τα θέατρα επιχειρήσεων. Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

ΕΠΙΣΚΕΨΗ ΣΤΡΑΤΙΩΤΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΤΙΠΡΟΣΩΠΕΙΑΣ ΤΩΝ ΗΠΑ

Ποιός είναι ο BRIGADIER GENERAL STEVEN L. KWAST

Ανακοινώνεται ότι, από 20 έως 22 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010 επισκέπτεται τη χώρα μας εννεαμελής αντιπροσωπεία Αξιωματικών του ΓΕΕΘΑ των ΗΠΑ,

με επικεφαλής τον Αναπληρωτή Διευθυντή Πολιτικοστρατιωτικών Θεμάτων για την Ευρώπη, το ΝΑΤΟ και τη Ρωσία, Brigadier General Steven L. Kwast.
Σκοπός της επίσκεψης είναι η συζήτηση και ανταλλαγή απόψεων επί θεμάτων κοινού ενδιαφέροντος, καθώς επίσης και η διερεύνηση νέων τομέων συνεργασίας, στο πλαίσιο του προγραμματισμένου 7ου Κύκλου Συνομιλιών.

Brig. Gen. Steven L. Kwast is the Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs for Europe, NATO, and Russia, Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate, Joint Staff, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He is responsible for recommending policy positions on issues related to Europe, Eurasia, and NATO to the Director for Strategic Plans and Policy and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Kwast coordinates with interagency colleagues in the National Security Council, Department of State, Department of Defense, and U.S. European Command, as well as with European defense attachés.

General Kwast was commissioned upon graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1986. After completing a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, he was assigned to undergraduate pilot training where he earned his pilot wings in June 1989. General Kwast has served as military aide to the Vice President and completed a National Defense Fellowship with the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy at Boston University, Mass.

The general has commanded at the squadron, group and wing levels, including the 47th Operations Group at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, and the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C. He also served as the Deputy Director for Colonel Matters, Air Force Senior Leader Management Office, Washington, D.C., and as the Deputy Director of Requirements, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, Va. Prior to his current assignment, General Kwast was the Commander, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. He has more than 3,300 flying hours, including more than 650 combat hours during operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Allied Force and Enduring Freedom.

EDUCATION
1986 Bachelor's degree in astronautical engineering, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
1988 Master's degree in public policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
1993 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
1994 USAF Fighter Weapons School, Nellis AFB, Nev.
1997 Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
1999 Air War College, by correspondence
2003 National Defense Fellowship, Boston University, Mass.
2006 Seminar XXI, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2008 Air Force Enterprise Leadership Seminar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ASSIGNMENTS
1. August 1986 - June 1988, student, Air Force Institute of Technology, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
2. June 1988 - June 1989, student, undergraduate pilot training, Williams AFB, Ariz.
3. June 1989 - May 1990, student, F-15E Fighter Training Unit, Luke AFB, Ariz.
4. May 1990 - August 1996, war plans officer, weapons officer, and Chief of Weapons, 336th Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C.
5. August 1996 - June 1997, student, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
6. June 1997 - August 1999, military aide to the Vice President of the United States, the White House, Washington, D.C.
7. August 1999 - June 2002, assistant operations officer, Director of Operations, and Commander, 492nd Fighter Squadron, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England
8. June 2002 - June 2003, National Defense Fellow, Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy, Boston University, Mass.
9. September 2003 - February 2005, Commander, 47th Operations Group, Laughlin AFB, Texas
10. February 2005 - September 2006, Deputy Director for Colonel Matters, Air Force Senior Leader Management Office, Washington, D.C.
11. September 2006 - September 2008, Commander, 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C.
12. September 2008 - April 2009, Deputy Director of Requirements, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, Va.
13. April 2009 - April 2010, Commander, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan
14. June 2010 - present, Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs for Europe, NATO and Russia, Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate, Joint Staff, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS
1. June 1997 - August 1999, military aide to the Vice President of the United States, the White House, Washington, D.C., as a major
2. April 2009 - April 2010, Commander, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, as a brigadier general
3. June 2010 - present, Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs for Europe, NATO and Russia, Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate, Joint Staff, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., as a brigadier general

FLIGHT INFORMATION
Rating: Command pilot
Flight hours: More than 3,300, including over 650 combat hours
Aircraft: flown: F-15E, T-6, T-37 and T-38

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Defense Superior Service Medal
Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal
Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Air Medal with two silver oak leaf clusters
Aerial Achievement Medal with three oak leaf clusters
Air Force Achievement Medal

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
1989 Commander's Trophy, Air Training Command
1994 Outstanding Graduate, USAF Fighter Weapons School
1995 Robbie Risner Award

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant May 28, 1986
First Lieutenant May 28, 1988
Captain May 28, 1990
Major August 1, 1996
Lieutenant Colonel July 1, 1999
Colonel August 1, 2003
Brigadier General July 31, 2009

(Current as of September 2010)

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Πετάει...... πετάει .......το τζιπ

Το όνειρο του ανθρώπου για ένα αυτοκίνητο που πετάει, βάλθηκε να κάνει πραγματικότητα το αμερικανικό Πεντάγωνο προκηρύσσοντας διαγωνισμό 40 εκατομμυρίων δολαρίων για την κατασκευή του
Αυτό που αποτελούσε μια τεχνολογική φαντασίωση τύπου Τζέιμς Μποντ, τώρα μπαίνει οριστικά στη φάση της πραγμάτωσης. Η Υπηρεσία Στρατιωτικής Επιστήμης και Τεχνολογίας του αμερικανικού Πενταγώνου άναψε το πράσινο φως για την κατασκευή του πρώτου ιπτάμενου στρατιωτικού τζιπ.
Το όνομά αυτού ΤΧ-Α. Θα είναι το πρώτο τετραμελές τεθωρακισμένο όχημα που θα μπορεί να οδηγείται ως αυτοκίνητο, να απογειώνεται κάθετα ως ελικόπτερο και στη συνέχεια να πετάει ως αεροπλάνο!
Το ΤΧ-Α θα χρησιμοποιείται για μάχη σε κατοικημένο τόπο, δηλαδή για το πλέον δύσκολο και απαιτητικό είδος επιχείρησης στο σύγχρονο πόλεμο, και με βάση τις προδιαγραφές του θα είναι σε θέση να χτυπά αιφνιδιαστικά και να διαφεύγει αστραπιαία διά του αέρος αποφεύγοντας τις βόμβες που είναι τοποθετημένες στην άκρη των δρόμων – οι οποίες κόστισαν τις ζωές πολλών αμερικανών στρατιωτών στο Ιράκ και το Αφγανιστάν.
Ήδη η DARPA έχει εισέλθει στο στάδιο των διαπραγματεύσεων για την ανάληψη της πρώτης φάσης του προγράμματος με δυο κορυφαίες αμερικανικές εταιρείες στο χώρο της κατασκευής αμυντικών συστημάτων: με τη Lockheed Martin και την AAI Corp, θυγατρική της Textron Systems.
Οι δυο εταιρείες εκπονούν ένα κοινό σχέδιο για το ιπτάμενο τζιπ ενώ σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες θα εμπλακούν και άλλες μικρότερες εταιρείες κυρίως για τις τεχνολογικές απαιτήσεις της κάθετης προσγείωσης/απογείωσης.
Η συνολική χρηματοδότηση για το πρωτότυπο ΤΧ-Α θα ανέλθει στα 40 εκατομμύρια δολάρια.

/news247.gr/kosmos/
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White House to award Medal of Honor to first OIF/OEF living recipient

Ο πρόεδρος των ΗΠΑ Ομπάμα θα απονείμει σε ειδική τελετή στον Λευκό Οίκο το Παράσημο της Τιμής στο πρώτο εν ζωή στέλεχος που το λαμβάνει. Ο Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta
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Retired Soldier remembers 9/11 Pentagon attack

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 9, 2010) -- "It suddenly dawned on me that I had been at the point of impact only minutes before the plane hit the building," said Walter Wood. "I was in shock, bitter with anger that someone had attacked and killed my friends."

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Wood was working for the Army's Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel when terrorists flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon killing 125 employees on Sept. 11, 2001.

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about it," he said.

Wood was watching television coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center with colleagues, thinking this is what Americans must have felt during Pearl Harbor. Minutes later there was a large explosion.

"We felt the building move, and at that point and time we knew that we had been hit," he said.

Wood and his coworkers evacuated the Pentagon. He tried calling his family, but couldn't get through. He looked up and saw Air Force jets responding to the attack. A Pentagon police officer told Wood to move away from the area because another plane was headed for the building.

It was only later that Wood realized what had actually happened, however, and how close he was to being in the jetliner's path of destruction. Wood had been talking with friends in the Pentagon corridor that was destroyed. Five minutes after he left that corridor, everybody he just talked with was gone forever.

He would never again see Sgt. Maj. Larry Strickland, the senior enlisted advisor to the DCSPER, who was cleaning out his desk, preparing for retirement; or Spc. Chin Sun Pak, who had recently started her stint at the Pentagon; or Max Bielke, a retired master sergeant who had the distinction of being the last official combat Soldier to leave Vietnam.

"Twenty-six coworkers perished that day," Wood said.

Three months later Wood retired from the Army, but the healing process started before then. Immediately after 9/11 the Army provided therapeutic teams to identify stress and depression in employees.

"It was a great effort upon the part of medical command to be able to give us those types of services because it did help us heal," Wood said. "There were people that you could go and talk to at any time. You were encouraged to seek them out, and you were encouraged to speak to them about what you were feeling."

Leadership and resolve from Teri Maude also helped Soldiers and Army civilians stay focused. Maude lost her husband, Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Maude, DCSPER, in the 9/11 attacks, but gathered the strength to talk with displaced Pentagon employees about their duty and thank them for their support.

"I could only imagine the enormous amount of will that it took for her to do this," Wood said.

The healing process continued for Wood after his retirement. He was part of a team that built 125 shadow boxes that would hold American flags, flown over the Pentagon, to be delivered to families. And one year after he left active-duty service, he returned to the Pentagon as a civilian to work in the same area that was devastated on 9/11.

"My wife asked me why I would go back in," Wood said. "The reason I had done it was because if I was so scared as to not go back into that part of the building, then whoever had mounted the terror attacks on the Pentagon would have won."

President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at the Pentagon Memorial Sept. 11. He will be speaking to the families that lost loved ones during the attack on the Pentagon nine years ago. Wood will be spending the anniversary with his friends and family, thinking about the sacrifices of those that have pledged to defend America.

"9/11 means thinking of those that went before me, for the veterans that have fought in the Global War on Terrorism since that day," Wood said. "It means not giving up, it means being there for Soldiers and families, and everybody that is associated with our efforts as an Army."
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The Army launched a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' online inbox today specifically available for Soldiers worldwide to share comments and opinions

Μια γραμμή αλλοενημέρωσης στελεχών και επιτελείου είναι όνειρο θερινής νυκτός για τους Έλληνες στρατιωτικούς. Η ελευθερία του λόγου και ο αλληλοσεβασμός απέχουν πολύ ακόμη.
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Female drill sergeants walk same path to respect

Διαβάστε πως αξιοποιεί και τιμά ο Αμερικανικός Στρατός το γυναικείο προσωπικό και συγκρίνετε με την Ελληνική πραγματικότητα.
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