From: bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: Army News 01/11/93
Date: 12 Jan 1993 08:26:50 -0600
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
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* Blood ban on Gulf soldiers lifted
* Kuwait proposes $4.5 billion arms buy
* Somali-American soldier lends linguistic talent, by Air Force Sgt. 
* 'Reshape' update published
* Somali native recalls home's splendor, by Staff Sgt. Patrick Buffett

==============================================================

Blood ban on Gulf soldiers lifted

      WASHINGTON (ARNEWS) -- Some Gulf War veterans can again give 
blood, according to a Defense Department announcement.
      In late December, DoD lifted the ban on blood donations from 
personnel who served in the Persian Gulf area, with several 
modifications. The ban was ordered in November 1991 to prevent 
transmission of leishmaniasis, a parasitic infection caused by a 
sandfly bite.
      Dr. Enrique Mendez Jr., assistant secretary of defense for 
Health Affairs, lifted the ban on donations beginning Jan. 1. The 14-
month deferral period has not scientifically proven that the 
viscerotropic form of leishmaniasis is a serious threat to the blood 
supply.
      During the deferral period, only 28 cases of leishmaniasis were 
confirmed in members of the U.S. armed forces who participated in 
Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Eleven of those were found 
to have the internal, or viscerotropic, leishmaniasis. The remaining 
17 cases were the cutaneous, or skin disorder, variety.
      No cases of transmission of leishmaniasis involving blood 
donations of servicemembers have occurred.
      The Defense Department will continue to screen for the disease 
in military blood donors, who will be asked if they have travelled 
outside the United States in the past three years. Those who answer 
"yes" will be asked if they were deployed to the Persian Gulf region.
      Those who were there will be asked if they are ill, under a 
doctor's care, or have had any of the following symptoms for a month 
or more since returning from the Gulf: diarrhea, significant fatigue, 
night sweats, fever greater than 101 F, or aching joints. These people 
will be indefinitely deferred from blood donation and will be referred 
for medical examination.
      An additional interim DoD policy is to ask donors if they have 
ever contracted leishmaniasis. Diagnosed cases of visceral 
leishmaniasis will be permanently banned from donating blood.
      This policy will be reviewed after six months.
      The policy is not expected to be affected by the deployment of 
personnel to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. Restore Hope 
servicemembers are taking malaria-preventive medication. The Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention direct that individuals who have 
taken malaria medications may not donate blood for three years.
      (From a DoD release.)


Kuwait proposes $4.5 billion arms buy

      WASHINGTON (ARNEWS) -- Congress was recently notified of an 
offer by the government of Kuwait to purchase an Army weapons, 
equipment and training package worth about $4.5 billion, according to 
defense officials.
      This sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national 
security of the United States by helping improve the security of a 
friendly country that is an important force for stability and 
political and economic progress in the Middle East, officials said.
      The purchase includes --
-- 256 Abrams tanks,
-- 46 recovery vehicles,
-- 52 command post carriers,
-- 125 personnel carriers,
-- 30 mortar carriers,
-- 1,178 machine guns,
-- 967 SINCGARS radio systems,
-- 132 trailers, and
-- 130,000 rounds of 120mm tank ammunition and small caliber 
ammunition.
      Also included is U.S. government and contractor technical 
support, spare and repair parts, personnel training and training 
equipment, design of training ranges and training device facilities, 
and other assistance to ensure total program support, officials said.
      This purchase would be the first increment in equipping the 
expanded Kuwaiti Land Forces recommended by the U.S.-Kuwait Defense 
Review Group, officials said.
      The DRG developed a 10-year plan to build Kuwaiti forces capable 
of deterring an attack on Kuwait and defending it in concert with 
regional and extraregional partners. The proposed guy is scheduled to 
conform to Kuwait's projected ability to man and support the expanded 
force over the coming decade.
      The sale of this equipment and support will begin correcting the 
basic military imbalance in the region, officials said. It will not, 
however, give Kuwait the ability to sustain aggression against any of 
its neighbors.
      Officials added that no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness 
will result from the sale.
      (From a DoD release.)



Somali-American soldier lends linguistic talent, by Air Force Sgt. 
David Rogers

    MOGADISHU, Somalia (ARNEWS) -- When a 15-year-old Somali boy moved 
to the United States, he could never have guessed that he'd be 
returning some day in the service of his adopted country. But, 19 
years later, he's back in his native land, using his linguistic skills 
for Operation Restore Hope.
    Army Sgt. Bashir Mohamud, an aviation mechanic, was assigned to 
the 224th Military Intelligence Battalion at Hunter Army Air Field, 
Savannah, Ga., when the phone rang, Dec. 2.
    "I wasn't even told what they needed me to do," he remembers. 
"They just asked if I could speak Somali and whether I'd like to go to 
the country. When I said, 'no problem,' I got another call telling me 
to get going."
    Mohamud was born in 1958 in Qaidho, a small town in northern 
Somalia. After graduating from high school at age 15, he moved to 
America and earned a degree in electrical engineering from the 
University of the District of Columbia.
    Eventually, he joined the Army because he "wanted to travel." 
Since then, Mohamud has traveled around the United States and been to 
Korea. Now he's back where he started.
    Mohamud's first reaction upon arriving in Somalia was positive. He 
thinks things will work out for the Somalis.
    "I was told it was going to be worse" than it is, he said. "But 
everything's going all right. The country will repair itself, although 
a lot depends on whether the people can all come together."
    Nothing's the same as Mohamud remembers it, though. The 
devastation, he said, is shocking.
    "The city was beautiful," he said. "When I came here, I knew there 
has been some fighting, and I knew there'd be destruction. But I 
wasn't expecting anything like this. I don't know why anyone would do 
a thing like this."
    Mohamud has learned that the general reaction of Somalis to the 
American military presence is positive.
    "I talk to the locals a lot," he said. "And they're all very happy 
we're here. Everybody's tired. They all want a change."
    (Rogers is assigned to the Operation Restore Hope Joint 
Information Bureau in Mogadishu.)


'Reshape' update published

    WASHINGTON (ARNEWS) -- Future training and doctrine form the focus 
of the second -- and last scheduled -- booklet on the reshaping of the 
Army to be published by the Army's Office of the Chief of Public 
Affairs.
    This 20-page sequel to the original booklet "Today's Challenge: 
Tomorrow's Army" bears the date of January 1993; it has these 
introductory words from the Army's top trainer, Gen. Frederick M. 
Franks Jr., commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command:
    "During most of our careers as professional soldiers, we have 
lived in a dangerous world of relative certainty. The end of the Cold 
War, the shift from a monolithic threat, and the reshaping of the Army 
dictate that we change old ways of doing business and take a fresh 
approach to future missions and challenges. That is what maintaining 
the edge is all about.
    Accordingly, the booklet's six chapters serve to give the reader 
an inside view of the "who, what, where, when, why and how" behind the 
Army's future doctrinal stance and training picture.
    "Chapter 1, for example, deals with the forthcoming revision of 
Field Manual 100-5," said booklet editor Willard K. Morris. "As the 
Army's bible on operations, it's now becoming the 'manual for the 
engine of change.'"
    Morris said that the new booklet currently is being distributed to 
units and activities. Readers may find copies available at post 
libraries and at public affairs offices Army-wide.
    "Some post newspapers may be planning to publish excerpts from the 
booklet," he said.


Somali native recalls home's splendor, by Staff Sgt. Patrick Buffett

    BALEDOGLE, Somalia (ARNEWS) -- There was a time when life was 
better in Somalia. A time when disease and starvation were the 
exception, not the norm. A time when the many clans and tribes spread 
throughout the country lived in harmony. A time when there was law and 
order.
    This is the Somalia Spc. Hussein I. Omar remembers.
    Omar, one of six Somali natives in the U.S. military, is assisting 
the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and its supporting units 
by serving as an interpreter during missions in and around Baledogle 
and Mogadishu.
    "Things were good then," recalled Omar, who was born and raised in 
Boorama in northern Somalia, along the Ethiopia border. "There were no 
problems in Somalia then. The economy was stronger, and the people 
exported a lot of stuff to Europe and the Middle East, like livestock, 
bananas and mangoes."
    Omar's father was a businessman. He sold various items at a small 
shop, and he also raised some livestock. The many tribes and clans, 
which have always existed in Somalia, lived without animosity toward 
one another, Omar said.
    "People were living in harmony all over the country," he 
explained. "There was a sense of nationalism and unity."
    Then, in the mid-1970s, a war in the area of Jijiga Ogaden, 
Ethiopia, drove Omar's family and many others from their homes. It was 
the first episode in a 15-year process that would eventually result in 
the slow destruction Somalia.
    It was at the onset of the war when 17-year-old Omar and most of 
his family migrated to Djibouti, where Omar's mother still resides. 
His father still lives in northern Somalia. 
    Omar left Djibouti in 1983, when he received a scholarship from 
the United Nations to attend the American University in Cairo, Egypt. 
He studied there for four years, earning a degree in economics.
    In 1987, Omar immigrated to the United States, where he now calls 
Charlotte, N.C. his home. With the exception of his parents, the 
remainder of Omar's immediate family live either in America or Canada.
    Although he now lives halfway around the world, Omar maintained a 
deep interest in the events that were unfolding in his native country. 
He stayed in contact with other Somalis living in Atlanta; Washington, 
D.C.; and Toronto, Canada.
    "We always talked a lot about what was going on" in Somalia, Omar 
said. "It was bad, but you can't do anything about it. We weren't in a 
position of power to change anything. A lot of Somalis tried to help 
by writing to people back there and sending money, but that didn't 
solve the problem."
    In 1990, Omar joined the Army. Certainly, he couldn't know then 
that joining the military ranks would give him the chance to become 
directly involved in helping his homeland. But while assigned as a 
supply specialist to the 396th Transportation Company at Fort Stewart, 
Ga., a few weeks ago, he received a phone call. The Somali native was 
asked if he wanted to deploy and take part in Operation Restore Hope.
    "I felt good about it; I wanted to come," Omar said. "It was my 
chance to do something about the difficulties here (in Somalia)."
    It had been nearly 17 years since Omar had set foot on his native 
soil. When he arrived, he said he was astonished at how much 
everything had changed.
    "The last time I was in the Mogadishu area was 1974, and there has 
been a big, big change. Everything, even the people, has changed," he 
said. "There was honesty and morale, and people were nice before. All 
this looting, this is not something that used to happen."
    In light of the poor social and economic conditions in his home 
country, Omar said he sees the United Nations action in the country as 
vital.
    "What we are doing is saving this country and these people," he 
said. "There has been a civil war going on for three years. These 
people were killing one another."
    "(In the past), the United Nations and other groups have tried to 
reach some sort of solution between the people who were fighting one 
another; but there was no solution, and people continued dying. So I 
think it's worthwhile. Somebody had to come and do something about 
it."
    Omar said Operation Restore Hope is a good first step on the road 
to recovery for Somalia. He hopes that the country can return to the 
peaceful, productive existence he once knew.
    "The U.N. action will help, but the solution also has to come from 
the people who live here," he said. "It's their country; they have to 
come up with some idea as to how to live together in harmony."
    (Buffett is in Somalia with the 27th Public Affairs Team from Fort 
Drum, N.Y.)


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