The meetings occur on day three of Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey’s second visit to the region, which included a stop in Afghanistan.

The chairman met here with his counterpart, Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Enan, chief of staff of the Egyptian armed forces. He also met with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and with other officials this afternoon at the Ministry of Defense in Cairo.

Discussions included Egypt’s investigation into the allegedly illegal foreign funding of pro-democracy nongovernmental organizations by more than 40 Egyptian and American activists, including 19 U.S. citizens.

Officials of the Cairo Criminal Court have prevented some Americans involved in the investigation from leaving the country, including Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He and several others have taken refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. So far no trial date is set.

Lapan, declined to give details of Dempsey’s “private” discussions with Egyptian defense officials.

The chairman also visited the U.S. Embassy, where he met with Ambassador Anne W. Patterson and was briefed by the Egypt country team. Afterward he posed for photographs with members of the Marine Corps detachment assigned to the embassy.

Later, after a wild motorcade ride through the Saturday streets of Cairo, Dempsey arrived at the Ministry of Defense with Patterson.

There he met with Enan and Tantawi. He also met with Maj. Gen. Mohamed el-Assar, assistant minister of defense and a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces; Maj. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, director of military intelligence; Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Mohamed Noshy, chief of the Egyptian Army’s training authority; and others.

During a seven-course official lunch with the Egyptian military leadership, Dempsey sat between Enan and el-Assar at the head table. During lunch he asked to thank the chef, who came out of the kitchen for a handshake and a coin from the chairman.

Dempsey also thanked and gave coins to a group of local musicians who played during the meal.

This afternoon, Dempsey participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the pyramid-shaped monument on the site of the Unknown Soldier Memorial and the Anwar Sadat Tomb in Cairo.

Here is the secretary’s message:

I’ve recently returned from a trip to Europe where I had a series of very productive meetings with my NATO counterparts in Brussels, Belgium, uplifting visits with patients and troops at Ramstein Air Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, and then attended the Munich Security Conference.

This was the second occasion I’ve had to meet with the NATO Ministers of Defense at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Over two days of meetings, I took this opportunity to personally brief the defense ministers on our new strategic guidance and recent budget decisions, forthcoming changes to U.S. forces in Europe, and to reassure our allies of the continued U.S. commitment to a strong and forward-looking NATO alliance.

It was important to make clear to our European allies that even as our posture there evolves, we remain committed to NATO – the most successful military alliance in history – and we’ll continue to maintain an innovative, robust, and visible presence in Europe. As part of that robust presence, I told our allies that we will soon begin rotating a battalion-sized task force to Germany for exercises and training, as part of the rapidly deployable NATO Response Force, and we will also establish an aviation detachment in Poland to provide better training opportunities. We are also moving ahead with European missile defense – establishing land-based SM-3 missile sites in Romania and Poland, deploying Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships to Spain, and a radar in Turkey.

Now is a time for every NATO nation to make the most of the fiscal and security challenges we face to become more united as an Alliance and to strengthen our collective capabilities through such initiatives as Smart Defense. We took a big step forward on this front with an agreement to fund the Alliance Ground Surveillance system – consisting of five Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles and a ground control station. AGS has been in the works for many years, and is the first ISR capability NATO has ever purchased as a pooled resource. As I said in Brussels, it’s a good deal, it’s a big deal, and it’s a done deal.

Most importantly, the NATO meetings provided an opportunity to bring together all ISAF troop contributing nations to discuss where things stand in Afghanistan, and the ongoing transition to an Afghan lead for security by the end of 2014. General Allen gave a progress update on the incredible efforts of our troops engaged in winter operations, always a challenge in that country’s mountainous terrain. He said we are clearly making progress in Afghanistan – violence is down, the insurgents have lost momentum, and fissures have opened between insurgent foot soldiers and their leaders. General Allen also noted that half the Afghan population now resides in areas in which Afghan forces have the security lead, and the transition is progressing smoothly.

I emphasized to my fellow ministers the importance of close consultation on force levels as we continue along this transition. Our goal all along has been to help the Afghan National Security Forces take the lead for security, and we hope that as the final transitions are made in 2013, the Afghan forces will take the lead in combat operations with ISAF in support and fully combat capable through 2014. During this transition process, we’ll continue to consult with our allies and Afghan partners about the best way to accomplish our goals.

One thing I made clear in all my meetings was that even as Afghans assume the security lead, ISAF will continue to be fully combat ready – and we will engage in combat operations alongside our Afghan brothers as necessary. We also discussed the need for an enduring partnership, and presence in Afghanistan, post 2014, as well as the need to sustain the ANSF with international support. Failure to support the Afghan forces longer term risks everything we have fought for during the past ten years.

The fact that we can discuss these next steps now is a sign of progress and a recognition that our strategy is working. Above all, it’s a testament to the commitment and sacrifice of all those who have deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom.

There is undoubtedly much hard fighting ahead, and we need to keep the momentum up. We need to keep the enemy on its heels.
The message I came away with from my meetings in Brussels, and that I want to share with you, is that our Alliance remains strong, and fully committed to finishing the job in Afghanistan. Our bottom line is in together, out together. We are fully committed to the transition framework we agreed to in Lisbon in 2010, whereby the Afghan people assume responsibility for their own security by 2014.

There is total unity on the transition plan and timeline. I look forward to working further with our allies on the details of this plan when we meet at the Chicago Summit in May, the first U.S. hosted NATO summit since 1999.

From Brussels, I traveled to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where I had an opportunity to meet with and thank some of our incredible service members who care for and transport our wounded warriors. These dedicated professionals, including medical evacuation crews, ground transporters, mortuary affairs specialists and USO volunteers, are a critical link between the “downrange” aid our injured receive, and transporting them to care back home at Walter Reed or Bethesda. Because of the work they do, because of their skill and expertise, lives are saved, and loved ones reunited.

I also thought it important, while at Ramstein, to thank some of our mortuary affairs service members. These dedicated professionals have one of the toughest, and most important, jobs out there: to bring our fallen men and women home. It’s one they perform with dignity, respect and reverence.

From Ramstein, we drove the short distance to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where I had the opportunity to visit some of our wounded warriors, as well as those from some of our coalition partners in Afghanistan. I’m always impressed by the spirit of our wounded warriors, and the incredible strength and fortitude they show even in the face of huge obstacles. They want nothing more than to recover and rejoin their units. As always, I was honored to be in their presence.

I also thanked members of the Landstuhl staff for their service and the care they provide, and had the good fortune to celebrate the 111th birthday of the Army Nurse Corps. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for nurses, because I married one. These selfless healers nurture the most helpless and vulnerable and offer courage and hope to those in despair. They deserve our everlasting thanks.

I ended my trip to Europe by delivering a speech to an audience at the Munich Security Conference, along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Held in the historic Bayerischer Hof Hotel, the conference brings together heads of state and military leaders from both sides of the Atlantic. In my remarks, I again emphasized the importance of the NATO military alliance, one that over the past decade of war, from Afghanistan to Libya, has proven its relevance to the security challenges of the 21st century.

I came away from this trip struck by how important the American guarantee of security and partnership is to so many. Our great country remains a beacon of hope for those who seek a better and safer world, and for those who seek to give their children a better life. That we are the security partner of choice is a testament to the incredible dedication and professionalism of America’s service men and women.

Thank you all for what you do every day to make this a better world.
 

The Navy’s fifth Independence-variant littoral combat ship, 10th in the LCS series, will be commissioned as the USS Gabrielle Giffords, Mabus said during a ceremony in the Pentagon’s center courtyard.

“You make this occasion special by your presence,” Mabus told Giffords. “What you did in Congress for our military, and for those who serve in it, gave substance to what America feels for those in uniform.”

Littoral combat ships are a major part of the Navy’s future, capable of “an amazing variety of missions,” and one of the sea service’s most versatile, valuable ships, the secretary said.

“The name this ship bears, and the story represented by that name, will inspire all those who come in contact with her,” he said, noting that Giffords serves as a living example of the Navy’s motto of “Semper Fortis” -- “Always Courageous.”

“Unwavering courage has defined the Navy for 236 years, and it is what we expect and what we demand from our sailors every single day,” Mabus said. “So it’s very appropriate that LCS 10 be named for someone who has become synonymous with courage, who has inspired the nation … and showed the possibilities of the human spirit.”

Giffords was shot in the head in an apparent assassination attempt during a public event in Tucson, Ariz., in January 2011. She was one of 13 people wounded, while six others were killed.
She is a Navy spouse whose husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, retired from the Navy in 2011. Giffords stepped down from her seat representing Arizona’s 8th congressional district in January, saying she needed time to recover.

Mabus also announced today the ship’s sponsor will be Roxanna Green. Green, who also attended the ceremony, is the mother of Christina-Taylor Green, a 9-year-old girl who was killed at the event where Giffords was shot.

Mabus explained that a ship’s sponsor christens the vessel with champagne at its launch and gives the order to bring the ship to life when it is commissioned.

Christina-Taylor Green had just been elected to the student council and wanted to become “a more active participant in our democracy,” the secretary said.

“Roxanna Green continues to express her daughter’s hope for the future,” Mabus added, “and as the president said, of ‘a nation as good as she imagined.’”

Giffords and Green “will be a part of the life of this ship, and our Navy’s history,” he said.

Kelly and former Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, also were present at today’s ceremony. They, along with Giffords and Green, met with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and other DOD leaders before the event.

"The secretary was delighted to meet with Gabby Giffords at the Pentagon earlier today," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said. "The new ship, which will bear her name, will stand as a testament to courage and resilience, inspiring all those who serve our nation. He wished her all the best as she continues to recover from the tragedy that injured her and took the lives of others."

Earlier today, President Barack Obama signed into law Giffords’ last piece of legislation, the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012.

“This bill gives our nation’s law enforcement expanded authority to combat illicit drug trafficking on our Northern and Southern borders,” Obama said. “Being able to sign it next to my friend Gabby Giffords gives me enormous pride.”

The president added while the legislation may have been her last act as a congresswoman, “it will not be her last act of public service.”

The LCS 10 is part of a dual block buy of LCS-class ships Mabus announced in December 2010. The ship will be 419 feet long, have a waterline beam of 103 feet, displace about 3,000 tons, and will make speed in excess of 40 knots.

Littoral combat ships are designed to operate in near-shore environments against “anti-access” threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The ships are also capable of open-ocean operation.

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom and the Independence, designed and built by teams led, respectively, by Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.
 

Little told reporters the DOD comptroller, Robert F. Hale, will discuss the department’s overall budget early in the afternoon. Army, Navy and Air Force officials will detail their respective spending plans later in the day, he added.

“We’ve previewed a lot of this budget already,” Little noted.

President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced the strategy guidance Jan. 5, and Panetta followed up Jan. 26 with his strategy-based spending priorities.

The strategy reflects the $487 billion budget reductions the Budget Control Act set for defense spending over the next 10 years. It calls for a smaller force, focused away from future protracted ground campaigns and supporting the national security priorities of the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.

Officials said spending priorities conform to the strategy, forecasting troop cuts for the Army and Marine Corps with an increase in special operations forces, and “keeping faith” with troops and families -- which Panetta has labeled a top priority -- by preserving gains made in pay and benefits over the past decade.

The Pentagon’s topline budget request is $525 billion for fiscal 2013, with $88.4 billion more for overseas contingency operations, mostly in Afghanistan. This is down from $531 billion and $115 billion for fiscal 2012.

Panetta called the budget request “a balanced, complete package” that keeps the American military the pre-eminent force in the world. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the strategy and spending priorities offer the department an opportunity to shape the nation’s future force into a rapidly deployable, technologically capable military designed to counter current and future national security threats.

The Feb. 13 announcements will include “additional detail that will be of interest,” Little said.

The press secretary said Panetta has consulted regularly with members of Congress, and the secretary and chairman will spend considerable time in budget testimony on Capitol Hill next week.

The budget request was built without an eye toward an additional half-trillion-dollar spending cut called for in a Budget Control Act “sequestration” provision if Congress cannot agree on an alternative, Little noted. Panetta has called the potential effects of those additional cuts “devastating.”

Little said department leaders are fully aware of the risks doubled spending cuts would carry.

“Our sincere hope is Congress will stop sequestration from happening,” he said.
 

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey began the second day of his latest trip to the region with the leadership of NATO Training Mission Afghanistan, the organization that generates and sustains the growing Afghan national security forces.

Army Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger is commanding general of the organization, in which representatives from 37 troop-contributing nations work to turn recruits for the Afghan army, air force and police into cohesive forces that will be capable by 2014 of independently protecting and defending their nation.

At 70 training sites in 21 provinces, 6,000 international trainers and advisors develop Afghan soldiers and police in the field and build institutional capacity for the army and air force with the Afghan defense ministry and for the interior ministry’s local, border and civil-order police.

After the briefing, Dempsey met up with Army Maj. Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, commander of the International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command East and commanding general of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division for a C-130 flight that took them about 60 miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.

Forward Operating Base Shank is headquarters for Task Force Bulldog, deployed in November from Fort Bliss, Texas. There, the chairman and Allyn met with Army Col. Mark H. Landes, commander of the 1st Armored Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, and his leadership team. The base, now surrounded by snow-covered sand fields and mountains, is in Logar province. The task force’s area of operations includes Logar, Wardak and Bamyan provinces.

After the briefing, troops gathered in the sun outside the joint operations compound while the chairman spoke to them informally from a wooden platform before presenting awards to the eight soldiers who stood behind him.

“Back there at the Joint Staff we track your progress,” Dempsey told them. “I wouldn’t say every single day, but several times a week we’ll get a briefing about what you’re doing.”

The chairman said he was proud of the job the members of Task Force Bulldog are doing and asked them to do three more things -- thank their families, take care of their own health and mentor young soldiers.

“Whenever you talk to your family members, whether it’s mom and dad or your spouse or kids, just tell them thanks from me personally, because … many of you are not on your first tour of duty,” Dempsey said.

“[This] is what we volunteer to do, but our moms and our dads and our spouses and kids don’t volunteer,” he added. “They do it because they love us, so make sure you tell them thanks for me.”

Taking care of their health is important because “you don’t really understand yet what the accumulated effect of these kinds of missions is on you,” he told the service members.

“We’re going to figure that out over time,” Dempsey said, “but you have a bit of a personal responsibility for that as well. The institution has a responsibility, but so do you, and I want you to take that seriously.”

The chairman also stressed the importance of mentoring as the U.S. military returns to being one that isn’t constantly deployed. “That’s not going to happen for a few years,” he said, “but it’s going to happen, and when it does, those who follow you … will look to you to learn.”

Before having lunch with a few dozen troops, Dempsey presented awards, pinning a Bronze Star on Staff Sgt. Michal Novotny of the Czech Republic’s army.

Novotny, a reconnaissance squad leader and combat medic, rescued an American soldier who was gravely wounded Nov. 19, public affairs officer Terry Kelley said.

On a route clearance patrol, Kelley added, some roadside bombs went off and one wounded a soldier who was on foot. The soldier lost both legs and a hand, Kelley said, and Novotny rushed in without security and applied tourniquets, despite the possibility that more bombs could detonate, saving the soldier’s life. The soldier is now receiving treatment in the United States.

Seven other awards included four Army Commendation Medals with “V” device for valorous acts, an Army Commendation Medal for a National Guard soldier from Georgia who was part of an agribusiness development team, and two Combat Action Badges.
 

The federal government and 49 state attorneys general reached the agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. This agreement includes substantial financial compensation for military homeowners -- above and beyond the $25 billion -- and sets up significant new protections for troops and their families for the future, officials told reporters during a conference call today.

“On my travels to military communities across the country during the past year, I have repeatedly heard about the devastating impact of the housing crisis on military homeowners,” Holly Petraeus, assistant director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Servicemember Affairs, said. “I have spoken out about the unique challenges to service members caught in this current housing crisis, and I am pleased that this settlement addresses those challenges.”

Petraeus, alongside Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, and Delaware State Attorney General Beau Biden explained how this settlement will affect distressed homeowners and, in some cases, all military members and their families in the days ahead.

To start, four lenders -- JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Company, Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc., formerly GMAC -- have agreed to conduct a full review, overseen by the civil rights division, to determine whether any service members were foreclosed on in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act since Jan. 1, 2006, Perez explained. The SCRA offers a wide range of financial protections to active duty and deploying service members in areas such as credit card debt and mortgage payments.

For violating the law, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally will be required to provide any service member who was a victim of a wrongful foreclosure a minimum payment of $116,785, plus the service member’s lost equity and interest, Perez said. The service member’s payment could be higher as a result of the review conducted by banking regulators, he added.

To ensure consistency with an earlier private settlement, JPMorgan Chase will provide service members who were a victim of a wrongful foreclosure either their home free and clear of debt or the cash equivalent of the full value of the home at the time of sale. “In addition,” Perez said, “service members will receive compensation for any additional harm suffered.”

Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally also have agreed to conduct a review to determine whether service members -- from Jan. 1, 2008, to present -- were charged interest in excess of 6 percent on their mortgage after a valid request to lower the interest rate, in violation of the SCRA, Perez said. Lenders will be required to provide these troops with a payment equal to a refund, with interest, of any amount charged in excess of 6 percent, plus triple the amount refunded or $500, whichever is greater.

JPMorgan Chase already has compensated service members charged interest in excess of 6 percent on their mortgage through the private settlement, Perez added.

All four lenders have agreed to numerous other measures, he said, including SCRA training for employees and agents. The lenders also will repair any negative credit report entries related to wrongful foreclosures and will not pursue any remaining amounts owed under the mortgages.

The settlement also involves expanded protections for service members and their families.

The SCRA prohibits foreclosures on service members without court orders on mortgages that were originated before military service began. This settlement extends this protection to all service members, regardless of when their mortgage was secured, if they were receiving hostile fire or imminent danger pay and were stationed away from their home within nine months of the foreclosure, according to a Justice Department news release.

“The provisions relating to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act in this agreement will help ensure that members of the military won’t be denied critical consumer protections or face foreclosure when they are deployed to a war zone,” Petraeus noted.

The agreement also requires all five lenders to provide some service members ordered to relocate access to loan modifications without going into default, Perez said. If they must sell their home at a loss but are ineligible for funding through the Defense Department’s Homeowners’ Assistance Program, lenders must, in some cases, provide troops with short sale agreements and mandatory deficiency waivers.

“The cost of this program will not be paid by DOD and the taxpayers, but rather by the servicers,” Perez noted.

The banks had neglected to discuss options, such as short sale agreements, with military families faced with a mandatory move. As a result, these families often stayed behind when the service member moved, Biden noted. “We simply should not force families to be separated” due to a military move, he said.

Biden, a military lawyer and major in the Delaware Army National Guard, said he takes this settlement personally. He served alongside troops affected by lenders’ wrongdoing while deployed in Iraq for a year, he said. Troops and their families already serve and sacrifice and shouldn’t have to bear another hardship, he added.

Petraeus lauded the settlement and said she hopes it will bring peace of mind to military families dealing with housing-related challenges.

“I urge financial institutions to pay heed to these provisions and ensure that our men and women in uniform have better options than accepting foreclosure or leaving their families behind when they go to their next multiyear assignment,” she said.

The settlement, Perez added, will enable service members “to focus on the critical role they play in protecting our nation.”

Service members and their families who believe their SCRA rights have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance office. Additional information is available at http://www.servicemembers.gov.

Perez also invited service members who believe they’re entitled to compensation under this settlement to directly contact the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743.

However, he added, service members don’t need to apply for this relief. The Justice Department will have access to information that will determine victims of wrongdoing and will contact these service members.

Perez declined to give a specific compensation deadline. “The investigative process of reviewing these records will take some time,” he explained. But we are going to be working to ensure it’s as little time as possible.”

In remarks yesterday, President Barack Obama noted the significance of the $25 billion settlement.

“We have reached a landmark settlement with the nation’s largest banks that will speed relief to the hardest-hit homeowners, end some of the most abusive practices of the mortgage industry, and begin to turn the page on an era of recklessness that has left so much damage in its wake,” he said.

“No compensation, no amount of money, no measure of justice is enough to make it right for a family who's had their piece of the American Dream wrongly taken from them,” he added. “And no action, no matter how meaningful, is going to, by itself, entirely heal the housing market. But this settlement is a start. And we're going to make sure that the banks live up to their end of the bargain.”
 

Speaking from a health-conscious dining facility on Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., the first lady joined Defense Department officials in unveiling the campaign intended to make sweeping nutritional improvements militarywide for the first time in 20 years.

“This is a big day,” she said. “The DOD is updating their nutritional standards to include more fresh fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, lean meats, [and] low-fat dairy products with every single meal.”

The DOD’s new campaign will give troops, retirees and their families the healthy, nutritious food they need and deserve, the first lady said.

“In doing so, you’re not just sending a powerful message throughout the military community, you’re sending a message to our entire country,” she said. “Whenever our men and women in uniform step forward, we all take notice.”

The campaign, developed by the Military Health System, will join forces with the services to encourage people to make better nutritional choices. It will include updating menu standards at military dining facilities, assessing the nutritional environment of military facilities, and ensuring healthier food is available in dining facilities, schools and in places such as vending machines and snack bars.

These improvements will affect more than 1,000 dining facilities and nearly 1.5 million troops, Obama noted. “This isn’t just a drop in the bucket,” she said. “This is really a big splash.”

These changes are taking place, she noted, because military leaders know it’s not just a diet or health issue. “This is truly a national security issue," she added.

Obama cited a recent Army study that indicates a quarter of the nation’s 17- to 24-year-olds can’t serve in the military due to weight issues. Others may pass weight standards but go on to struggle in basic training or suffer injuries due to years of inactivity and poor nutrition.

This, in turn, results in higher costs for obesity-related injuries, health problems and dental care due to poor nutrition, Obama noted. The Defense Department
spends up to $1.4 billion a year on health-related problems related to obesity -- a “pretty staggering amount,” she said.

DOD created its campaign to address readiness, reduce cost and, above all, to improve the military population’s health, the first lady told the airmen. But as with other efforts, she said, its success will hinge on partnerships.

“If we do our part -- if we do our part as airmen, if we do our part as moms and dads, as community leaders and neighbors -- we can put this country on a path to a stronger, healthier future,” she said.

With its “food transformation initiative,” Little Rock Air Force Base already is on the right path, the first lady noted. “This is a model for what we will see throughout the armed forces,” she said.

The base is one of six bases testing a pilot program to enhance food service quality, variety and availability. Earlier, Air Force Brig. Gen. Eden J. Murrie, director of Air Force Services, gave the first lady a tour of the dining facility to see the improvements first hand, including an abundance of healthy offerings, such as fresh fruit and a fully stocked salad bar.

Murrie noted the Air Force hadn’t upgraded its meal choice or variety for several years. Airmen requested leaders to “beef it up a little,” she said in a briefing with the first lady. “That’s how food transformation was born -- on the feedback from our airmen,” she added.

Little Rock dieticians and chefs joined forces to make a meal that would was well-balanced, well-presented and tasteful, Air Force Col. Brian S. Robinson, commander of the 19th Airlift Wing, explained. He recalled a recent visit to the dining facility. “When I came to my decision point, I was faced with that cold salad bar … [and] the sizzling salad bar. Not a bad dilemma to have,” he said.

These changes, Murrie noted, involved a paradigm shift for all. But “the proof is in the pudding,” she said. “Folks are coming. We’re working hard to make healthy sexy,” she added with a laugh.

Changes improved not only the variety of nutritious offerings, but also the accessibility. The test bases opened their dining facilities to the entire base population, rather than just for airmen in dorms or in uniform. They’ve received positive feedback from spouses and retirees, Murrie noted.

“Provisions on demand,” which gives airmen working on flightlines nearby access to hot and cold meals, --“like Chili’s at the airport -- the grab-and-go,” Murrie said, has proven to be another popular aspect of the effort.

The Air Force has two such “pods” at the moment -- on Travis and Elmendorf air forces bases -- but will add one on Little Rock this spring, she said.

“The fact that we include hot meals, especially in the middle of the night -- [it’s] really popular,” she said, noting more than 100,000 meals have been served at the two pods since September.

The Defense Department always has taken a lead in setting standards for the nation, Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs and director of the TRICARE Management Agency, noted at the briefing. In 1947, he said, the school lunch program was born after leaders noticed many military recruits were undernourished.

“We have an opportunity to take leadership in shaping nutritional attitudes for the nation as we face this epidemic of obesity and its consequences,” he said.

The first lady expressed her pride at the DOD’s efforts to improve nutrition and health.

“I have never been more confident that if we keep coming together like this as a nation, if we keep working together, we can make a real difference for our children, but more importantly, for our entire country,” she said.

Obama also thanked the airmen and their families for their ongoing service and sacrifice, and left them with some motherly advice.

“I want you all to keep eating your vegetables and working very hard,” she said. “You all are the best that this country has to offer -- the very best.”

Little Rock was the first lady’s second stop on her four-state tour to celebrate the second anniversary of her “Let’s Move” campaign, intended to end child obesity within a generation.
 

“Before this went into print, all of the concepts captured in this strategy were at the forefront of the minds of the people that built the budget,” Lt. Gen. Bradley A. Heithold said during a Feb. 7 panel discussion at the Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict Symposium and Exhibition.

“It’s relatively a new strategy, but I have to tell you that I walked the halls and watched this strategy [being] built,” he said.

“If I foot stomp one thing in here,” he said, indicating a particular point to pay attention to, “it’s that the budget that was put together is a strategy-driven budget.”

“This was not a salami slice [as in] ‘OK, a third, a third, a third – services go figure it out,’” Heithold said. “This was strategy driven.”

The general said people sitting on his budget panels were in direct communication with White House officials to ensure that the strategy and the budget were aligned.

Heithold explained three points from the document for the SOLIC audience:

--After 10 years of war, the United States and our military are at a strategic inflection point.
“We are at an inflection point,” Heithold said. “Think about it. The Iraq War – over, essentially. The Afghanistan mission is evolving from us leading U.S./NATO efforts to a handoff after 10 years.”

--Americans don’t have to choose between fiscal responsibility and strong national security.

“In some cases, the force will be smaller, but more potent and more effective,” he said.

--The Defense Department can become more efficient.

“That’s what we talk about [when we say] we don’t have to make a choice, necessarily,” Heithold said. “We can actually have a strong national defense that is different and still not require as much resources.”

The general emphasized that the president and uniformed leaders agreed on the direction of the budget.

“As I mentioned, the president insisted over and over, as did we in uniform, by the way, that we have a strategy-driven budget,” he said.

Heithold noted that combatant commanders also were involved with the strategy guidance. He reviewed the 10 points listed in the document as the military’s primary missions:

--Counter terrorism and irregular warfare;

--Deter and defeat aggression;

--project power despite anti-access/area denial challenges;

--Counter weapons of mass destruction;

--Operate effectively in cyberspace and space;

--Maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent;

--Defend the homeland and provide support to civilian authorities;

--Provide a stabilizing presence;

--Conduct stability and counterinsurgency operations;

--Conduct humanitarian, disaster relief and other operations.

“The new defense strategy was that blueprint,” Heithold said. “Let there be no question in your minds that the senior leaders up to the commander-in-chief were involved in defining the strategy.”