Computer Virus Hits US Military Base in Afghanistan

Computer Virus Hits U.S. Military Base in Afghanistan

U.S. military officials speculate the cyber attack may have originated in China
By Anna Mulrine
Posted November 28, 2008


KABUL—The largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan was hit by a computer virus earlier this month that affected nearly three quarters of the computers on the base, U.S. News has learned.
This wasn't the first such cyberattack, and officials said that earlier incarnations of the virus had exported information such as convoy and troop movements here. It was not clear precisely what information, if any, was being pulled from Department of Defense computers by this latest virus, they said.

Officials familiar with the computer attack characterized it as extremely aggressive and said that it originated in China. However, they haven't been able to determine whether the viruses are part of a covert Chinese government effort or the work of private hackers.

U.S. military officials on the base took the step of prohibiting the use of portable flash memory, or "thumb drives," as they learned more about the virus. The move reflects the concern that the portable drives can inadvertently spread viruses through separate computer networks in the field. Late last week, Pentagon officials also banned the use of thumb drives because of concerns that they were spreading a virus through the Department of Defense computer networks.
U.S. military spokesmen at Bagram declined to comment, citing operational security.
But privately, U.S. military officials express grave concerns. The Chinese "learn a lot from these attacks," says one U.S. military intelligence official. "Like how our logistics and other systems work."

Duke Brigade Leading Charge to Charity

"You make a living by what you get.
You make a life by what you give."
Winston Churchill

By Pfc. Charles Wolfe
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – The Soldiers of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, are donating some of their pay to help others and they are breaking records doing it.

3-1, dubbed the “Duke Brigade,” has pledged more than $86,000 to the Combined Federal Campaign in five weeks, surpassing their annual goal with three weeks left in the annual charity drive.

“I’m always about helping people and giving myself to others to help people,” said 1st Lt. Joy Crowder, a native of Harker Heights, Texas. “There are people out there who really need that money for whatever it may go to - healthcare or food, whatever it is.”

To stress the importance of the chance for so many to donate to a worthy cause, Crowder turns to one of her favorite historical figure

“I would have to quote one of the great leaders of our time, Winston Churchill, who said, ‘You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give,” Crowder said.

Crowder is just one of many Soldiers who donated to the CFC this year. The CFC ensures the Soldiers’ money goes only to the charity of their choice. There are 2,260 organizations in the CFC’s most recent catalog, giving participants in the drive a wide range of causes to support. According to the CFC’s official website, an organization need only be recognized as a tax-free, non-profit group by the Internal Revenue Service to apply for a spot in their roster of charities. With groups supporting everything from medical supplies for poor countries to saving music programs in public schools, the CFC is the largest annual workplace charity campaign in the world. Federal employees working in all corners of the world can find the right outlet for their philanthropy.

Deployed throughout Eastern Afghanistan, Soldiers from 3-1 are focused on a broad mission, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and the Afghan people. However, they continue to support important causes back home.

These troops have surpassed last year’s earnings and have a chance to lead all Fort Hood units for the second straight year. Soldiers from all over the brigade are making their contributions felt.

“I know Duke Brigade Soldiers are into giving because they give 100 percent every day,” said brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Ronald Orosz. “The program is successful because leaders are contacting Soldiers and telling them about the Combined Federal Campaign.”

With the CFC drive not yet over for 3-1, Orosz encourages his Soldiers to continue their generous streak.

“With a little more than two weeks remaining, I know the Duke Brigade can be number one at Fort Hood and throughout Operation Enduring Freedom,” Orosz said.

Troop A Needs a Shop Vac

Thanks for all for the suggestions ! ! !

But a special thanks to MIKEenTexas. He's sending what the Commander requested.

Thanks to all who responded with suggestions as to types, and sources. You are all great ! ! !


I've heard from the 6-4 CAV Troop A commander:

Ops NCO tells me that we could use a Shop-Vac (I have noIdea what that is).

Anyone that needs the address to send a shop vac to A Troop, email me, and I'll send you the address.

HWahine2008@aol.com

B Troop 6-4 Cav Trains ANSF forces

Soldiers in the Nuristan province training Afghan National Security Forces in order for them to eventually be on their own.

If the video says it is unavailable at this time try link: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=49069

Staff Sgt. Daniel Krause, calling in adjustments to practice mortat fire, is one of four soldiers in the reconnaissance platoon who has served previous dedeployments.
Michael Gisick


http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57881




Friday, October 3, 2008

Recon soldiers carve out life at Hatchet

By Michael Gisick, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, October 4, 2008


NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan — A few of the soldiers in the reconnaissance platoon say they can see the image of a wolf in the rocks on the mountainside across the ravine. But Pfc. Byron Norris isn’t one of them.

"I don’t know," the 19-year-old says. "Sergeant Leach says he can see it."

"I can’t see it," Pfc. Jonathan Wilson, a baby-faced, cigar smoking Californian, chimes in from his vantage point a few feet away. "I cannot see that wolf rock."

Over the past three months, Wilson and Norris estimate that they’ve spent an average of about eight hours a day staring out from a fortified position on their mountainside, watching the other mountainside. They look for movement, change, anything that hasn’t always been part of a landscape they’ve all but memorized, wolf rocks or not.

And inevitably, in all those hours, they daydream about seeing something else on the mountainside: their enemy.

"I just want the experience, to know what it’s like," Norris says. Wilson adds that maybe it would be good to get attacked, but preferably only once.

It’s one of the great cliches of a war zone — the young soldiers hoping to see action, while the troops who have tell them it’s nothing to hope for, but say it in such a way that it sounds like they’re keeping a secret.

"Being still a wet-behind-the-ears lieutenant, I’m anxious like a lot of these guys to see what it’s all about," says 2nd Lt. Damien Kuhn, a 23-year-old West Point grad.

"I’m not," says Staff Sgt. Daniel Krause, the platoon sergeant, sitting nearby as he and Kuhn share the overlapping hours of their respective day and night shifts in the outpost’s command shack. If this were one of his two prior tours in Iraq, Krause adds, he "probably would have gotten blown up like 10 times by now."

The reconnaissance platoon, part of 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, arrived at Combat Outpost Hatchet in July. Another U.S. outpost a few miles away was attacked several times in early September. But despite Hatchet’s location a few miles from the Pakistani border, all has been quiet. With the other outpost set to close, and a nearby U.S. checkpoint turning over to the Afghans, Krause says that could change, though he thinks Hatchet would be a tough place to attack.

And it’s not going to get any easier. Besides their guard shifts, the soldiers spend hours a day improving the base, which was set up just a few months before they arrived.

They’ve filled hundreds of sandbags and dozens of Hesco barriers, sometimes using duffel bags. They’ve cleared brush, leveled ground and dug paths out of the mountain. Helicopters are their only source of supply, bringing everything from food and water to lumber and generators. Helicopter day tends to be an especially long one.

"We don’t get a lot of sleep, but I guess that’s the usual side effect of a deployment," says Spc. Brandon Koellecker, 22, of Hiawatha, Kan.

All the work has led the soldiers to jokingly refer to their outpost as "the slave camp," though some say they aren’t really joking.

At any rate, it’s certainly no Club Med. Though an engineer unit that arrived recently has built a few latrines and the beginnings of some barracks huts, most of the soldiers are still living not so much on the mountain, as in it. Dwellings go by such descriptions as "the small cave over there," "the larger cave next to the small cave" and "the cave with the blue tarp."

There is a sort of shower, but they have to hike down to the river to bring water, so most stick to baby wipes. There’s no television and little electricity, though a satellite phone allows them to call home every week or so.

"It’s an extra challenge to motivate them to do all the work when we don’t have the looming prospect of getting attacked," Kuhn says. "I mean, we know it’s there, but that sense of reality hasn’t really sunk in."

And Krause, for one, says he hopes it doesn’t have to.

"They don’t know what it’s like to get hit," he says. "They all wish for it, but they don’t really know. And they don’t really want to."


© 2008 Stars and Stripes. All Rights Reserved

Photo Gallery: http://www.stripes.com/08/oct08/hatchet_gallery/

Pictures from Stars and Stripes

All pictures Michael Gisick / S&S

Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Troop C, 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment prepare for a patrol at Combat Outpost Lybert in Northeastern Afghanistan. The platoon was sent in to reinforce the outpost after it was attacked on Sept. 11, killing one soldier.

Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Troop C, 6/4 Cavalry Regiment during a patrol in northeastern Nuristan Province near the Pakistani border. Fire swept through thr mountains here several years ago, reportedly set by Pakistani loggers aiming to eliminate their competition.

Sgt Ken Dicristofano, front, ducks away from a mortar blast at Combat Outpost Lybert.







Afghan soldiers question a man found wandering near the site of an attack on a U.S. outpost in northeastern Afghanistan.

Pvt. Kirk Goff scans the surrounding hills during a patrol near Combat Outpost Lybert.

Dukes Remember Fallen Four

Soldiers salute their fallen comrades one last time at the end of a memorial service on Aug. 7, honoring four soldiers who were killed when their vehicle was struck by an IED

U.S. Army/Staff Sgt. David Hopkins

By Staff Sgt. David Hopkins
1st Infantry Division public affairs.

By Staff Sgt. David Hopkins1st Infantry Division public affairs BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — Amongst the bolder-ridden mountain slopes of the Kunar province, soldiers gathered at a forward operating base to pay their final respects to four fallen comrades on Thursday.

“Second Lt. Michael Girdano, platoon leader, Alpha Company, Special Troops Battalion, Spc. William Mulvihill, wheeled vehicle mechanic, Headquarter and Headquarters Company, Special Troops Battalion, Pfc. David Badie, combat engineer, Alpha Company, Special Troops Battalion, and Pvt. Jair Garcia, squad automatic gunner, 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, died when the vehicle they were in struck an IED in the Kunar province in northeastern Afghanistan on Aug. 1.

"2nd Lt. Girdano, Spc. Mulvihill, Pfc. Badie and Pvt. Garcia’s actions are an inspiration to us all and their names will forever be etched in the history of the Big Red One,” Capt. Brian Corbin, Alpha Company’s commander, said.

One by one, friends and leaders stood before the crowd and spoke of the fallen soldiers’ life achievements within the Army and in their personal lives. The reoccurring theme was that of dedication and sacrifice.

Everyone has to make decisions in life and according to Corbin, the soldiers of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division who died Aug. 1 made the decision to sacrifice in order to protect others.

“There comes a time in our lives when we transition from childhood to adulthood, and once we make that transition we are faced with two paths. One path is a path in which freedom and security are provided by the blood, sweat and tears of others. The second is a world in which we make a stand and say: ‘Follow me, for I will protect you from those who mean you harm.’ It takes a special person to choose the second path and most shy away. Lieutenant Girdano, Spc. Mulvihill, Pfc. Badie and Pvt. Garcia not only accepted a challenge, but they embraced it,” Juranek, said. “These men, without hesitation, completed the most dangerous of missions. Their daily endeavors to save lives provided the Blue Spaders with freedom of movement through the most volatile province of Afghanistan.”

According to Corbin, not many people knew Girdano on a personal level because he arrived at the unit on a Thursday and deployed with them on the following Monday, but he said he was a good leader and a good man who was always willing to listen and accept advice from others.

Mulvihill is remembered by a friend as being a dedicated soldier who was ready for his mission and who was proud to follow his family tradition in the military.

“I asked him how he felt about going to Afghanistan, and he said to me that even though he was a little nervous that he was ready and willing to go do his job wherever he was needed. He also explained to me that his siblings were in the military and he was proud to be doing what he was doing.” Sgt. Holly Princevalle said.

Baddie was known by his friends as a caring person who touched the lives of those around him.

“He showed genuine care and concern for those around him,” Henderson said. “You will be missed. We will cherish the friendship. You have put a special mark in our hearts. All those who knew him will never forget him. The platoon will never be the same without him.”

Garcia will be missed by his fellow solders and friends, but he also left behind family that was near and dear to him. “He was a very caring and loving son, father and husband,” said Pfc. Hessbroo.

“He was the kind of person who knew how to brighten your bad day. If you knew Jair Garcia like his close friends did you knew his pride and joy was his 9-year-old son. Garcia instilled in his friends that when things go wrong you shouldn’t go wrong with them. He was an older guy who had a lot of wisdom about things and became a role model for many of us. Jair Garcia is now in a place where the grass is greener and at rest. He will be missed by many and missed by all.”

At the close of the service small groups of soldiers went to where the boots, weapons and identification tags of the fallen soldiers were displayed and they said their good-byes in their own, quiet way.

Even after the loss of their four comrades the soldiers of Duke Brigade are ready to finish what they’ve started.

“To the men of 1st platoon Alpha company, Special Troops Battalion: In my 11 years of service I’ve never met a braver group of men. You, like our fallen brothers, are warriors, guardians of freedom. Let’s remember these brave men by carrying on the work they have begun,” Corbin said. “Let us complete the mission.”

Video: 6-4 CAV Medics in Afghanistan

Package of important free healthcare provided to local Afghans by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. To see the video:

CLICK HERE

LTC Louis Winkler, MD, USA (Ret), former Brigade Surgeon, 173rd Abn Bde: "The final lesson of Vietnam must be that there is a need for physicians who are well trained in both field and clinical medicine- specialists in combat medicine- to serve as brigade/division/corps surgeons. It is illogical to expect a fully trained pediatrician, internist, or surgeon with only the basic medical officer course to function in this capacity. A highly motivated physician will learn his duties on the job, but this is not optimal nor effective. In order to insure that physicians are prepared for these tasks, formal recognition should be given to the specialty of Combat Medicine just as for Aviation Medicine and Preventive Medicine. A training program and career pattern should be established. This specialty should be encouraged in time of peace as well as times of conflict. Only this way will the lessons learned in Vietnam not have to be relearned in the next conflict."

***God bless our medics.***

Afghanistan Video

We cannot imbed the video, because the owner of the YouTube will not allow it. But here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF8oxIA-htc

You will probably recognize some parts of it. It is a very good compilation of video and stills.

Requests and Happy Birthday

An angel in desert camo tells how some special cakes were prepared for July birthdays.

". . . Let me tell you how the cook decorated. He took some zip lock bags, we made red frosting (we only have black/red/green food coloring, the liquid, which makes the frosting a runny consistency). So, he filled a zip, cut the corner of a second zip, stuck in the giant tip (very limited tips - most of them are toooooooo big) then squeezed the first bag into the tip of the second . . ."

Clever cook.

I know what you're thinking, but we've already got the supplies covered. Some of us got to clean out our closets of decorating supplies from lives long past (and best forgotten) .

Angel in Desert Camo" WILL have cake decorating supplies for AUGUST.

These requests are the usual type that come in early in deployments. Let’s see what we can do to help these troopers set up house keeping for the LONG HAUL.

Send what you can to the address on sidebar, and we’ll get these things boxed up and off to these warriors. More will be listed as the rest of the 6-4 Trooper contacts check in. It’s going to take some time for me to get used to calling their units Troops.

• Small paint brushes 1” and 3"
• Bed Sheets
• Shower Curtains

The brushes are used for cleaning weapons and “dusting areas”. Okay, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to request pictures of 1SG Johnson “dusting areas”. That I need to see.

The Flat bed sheets are not only used for beds, but seem to come in handy for all kinds things.

Clear shower curtains just are not the best for these guys. For the length of the deployment, it is very important that the guys have some place to go for some personal time. Personal space is hard to come by, but helps recharge. If we can get enough bed sheets, this is one of those “unexpected uses”.

This picture sent from a previous blogger to give you some idea of the uses for the shower curtains and sheets. This was for officers, so don’t expect such luxury for the majority of the troops.

There is a special request for spices to SPICE up the meals that are prepared for these warriors. If possible, large containers of one kind of spice will better serve the purpose, but we’ll send on the regular sized bottles of spices. These people are serious about doing their very best for their people.

Let’s get these warriors settled in and then get down to the support they will need for the long haul. Everything we do helps make day to day living a little more bearable, and reassures these warriors that there are AMERICANS that support them in every way possible.

• Lemon Pepper
• Lawery Seasoning Salt
• Garlic Powder
• O’Bay Seasoning
• Cajun Seasoning
• Kosher Salt
• White Pepper
• Onion Pepper
• Gumbo Powder
• Curry Powder
• Cumin
• All Spice
• Paprika
• Chili Powder
• Thyme
• Chinese Five Spice
• Tarragon
• Nutmeg
• Powdered Ginger
• Dill Weed
• Bay Leaves
• Whole Cloves
• Cayenne Pepper

From previous deployments, we've been told to please try not send those face shredding disposable razors.

For our warriors, as always,
Gratitude and Prayers.