MILITARY VIRUS OUTBREAK MUSIC Pentagon chief calls Number of fully Coe’s podcast gets for ‘new vision’ of vaccinated in US at truth behind American defense tops 100 million country music Page 4 Page 6 Page 13 Drafting franchise quarterback usually a roll of the dice ›› NFL, Page 24 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 10B ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SUNDAY,MAY 2, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas AFGHANISTAN US, NATO forces begin final pullout BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN Stars and Stripes KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. and NATO forces officially began their final drawdown from Af- ghanistan on Saturday after near- ly two decades of war and as vio- lence continued to rage across the country. Tensions remained high throughout the day after the Tali- ban suggested they would launch attacks on coalition troops who re- mained in the country past the May 1 exit date outlined in a U.S.- Taliban deal signed last year. Militants fired at Kandahar Air- field in the afternoon, but the as- sault caused no injuries or damage to equipment, Col. Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan said on Twitter. AP U.S. forces conducted a preci- Supporters of the family of slain Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen gather on the National Mall in front of Capitol Hill, July 30, in Washington. sion strike later in the evening, de- stroying additional rockets aimed at the airfield, Leggett said. It was the only reported attack that may have been directed at for- eign forces during the day. On Fri- Fallout at Fort Hood SEE FINAL ON PAGE 5 More Army leaders fired, disciplined as new information on response to Spc. Vanessa Guillen’s killing released BY ROSE L. THAYER with a hammer in an arms room that he super- Stars and Stripes vised. When confronted by local law enforce- AUSTIN, Texas — More than a dozen addi- RELATED ment July 1 in nearby Killeen, Robinson shot tional disciplinary actions and firings were an- Supervisor sexually harrassed himself dead. nounced Friday as new information was re- Guillen in months prior to her The 264-page report released Friday con- leased about the response to the disappearance tains the findings of an internal administrative and death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen at Fort disappearance, death Page 3 investigation, commonly known as a 15-6, di- Hood. rected by Army Forces Command. Gen. Michael X. Garrett, commander of U.S. The investigation, announced in September Army Forces Command, announced 13 offi- all our Army units. To do any less breaks trust and under the direction of Gen. John Murray, cers and noncommissioned officers will be dis- with our people and the American public.” the commander of Army Futures Command, ciplined as a result of an internal Army investi- Guillen, a small arms repairer in the 3rd looked into every echelon of Guillen’s leader- DAVID GOLDMAN/AP gation report. Cavalry Regiment, disappeared during the ship between April 22 and July 1 to learn what A U.S. Army soldier walks past “I directed this investigation to identify what workday on April 22, 2020. After more than two her leaders knew and when. an American Flag in Kunar happened and to find areas where we needed months, investigators found her body buried In December, following the release of an out- province, Afghanistan, on Sept. to improve across our command,” Garrett said along a river miles from the central Texas Ar- side investigation into Fort Hood, the Army 11, 2011. The final phase of in a statement. “We can and must hold our- my base. Spc. Aaron Robinson, a fellow soldier ending the war in Afghanistan selves accountable, learn and improve across in the regiment, is believed to have killed her SEE FIRED ON PAGE 3 formally began Saturday. PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Sunday, May 2, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER Big Tech stocks flexing their muscles again EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1115.45 Associated Press The blowout reports are forcing lives, even as the broader econo- Switzerland (Franc) 0.9105 Euro costs (May 3) $1.18 Thailand (Baht) 31.16 NEW YORK — Big Tech stocks the spotlight back onto this group my collapsed around them. Ama- Dollar buys (May 3) 0.8068 Turkey (NewLira) 8.2854 British pound (May 3) $1.36 are flexing their enormous of stocks that dominate the market zon's $108.5 billion in sales last Japanese yen (May 3) 106.00 (Military exchange rates are those available strength again, after getting like no fivesome ever has before, quarter helps show that it “is South Korean won (May 3) 1079.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ knocked around a bit earlier this especially after they lagged be- emerging from the pandemic in an many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ year. hind earlier this year. Shares of even stronger position than it was Britain (Pound) 1.3876 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2277 your local military banking facility. Commercial Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Goo- each of the Big Five companies before,” UBS analysts led by Mi- China(Yuan) 6.4671 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.1583 gle's parent company and Face- jumped between 7% and 16.5% in chael Lasser said in a report, for Egypt (Pound) 15.6616 when buying currency. All figures are foreign book all gave profit reports this April, easily beating the S&P 500s example. Euro 0.8281 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7653 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ week that blew past investors' al- 5.2% rise over the month. Altogether, the five companies Hungary (Forint) 297.93 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2453 ready high expectations. Apple The financial results give some make up 21.6% of the S&P 500's en- Japan (Yen) 109.02 earned 40% more than what Wall validation to investors who bid up tire market value, according to Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3011 Norway (Krone) 8.2581 Street forecast, for example, lead- the stocks through the pandemic FactSet. That's actually down Philippines (Peso) 48.22 Poland (Zloty) 3.77 ing one analyst to call it a “drop the on expectations they'd weave from the nearly 24% they account- Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7504 mic” performance. themselves deeper into everyone's ed for at the end of August. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3282 WEATHER OUTLOOK SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SUNDAY IN EUROPE MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 59/41 Kabul Seoul 79/59 67/51 Baghdad 67/45 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 68/50 70/49 88/66 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 48/37 67/57 57/39 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 72/46 Brussels Zagan Sasebo 95/74 74/64 Ramstein 48/38 68/50 Guam 55/34 56/29 88/80 Riyadh Lajes, 99/72 Doha Azores Stuttgart 93/79 65/58 68/37 Pápa Aviano/ 63/46 Vicenza 63/47 Naples 67/64 Okinawa Morón 72/64 71/48 Sigonella Rota 79/60 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 68/54 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 86/80 89/68 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Books .......................... 14 Comics .........................15 Crossword ................... 15 Music ..................... 12-13 Opinion ........................ 17 Sports .................... 19-24 Sunday, May 2, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY Army: Guillen harassed by supervisor BY ROSE L. THAYER himself dead. itation was “a significant source of known as SHARP, but she re- in the barracks and an unsafe en- Stars and Stripes The 15-6 investigation, an- stress” for Guillen, who went from counted what happened to several vironment.” AUSTIN, Texas — Spc. Vanessa nounced in September and under being a “first-term soldier vocaliz- friends and other soldiers. Ru- The command “would not have Guillen faced sexual harassment the direction of Gen. John Mur- ing and posting about re-enlist- mors were also being spread supported a complaint of sexual from a supervisor that changed ray, the commander of Army Fu- ment to fantasizing about the expi- throughout the unit about inci- harassment against Spc. Robinson her outlook on service in the tures Command, looked into every ration of her term of service.” dents, according to the report. if [the victim] had made one,” months before her disappearance echelon of Guillen’s leadership A different supervisor noticed The investigation also found stated the report. and death at Fort Hood last year. between April 22 and July 1 to this change in Guillen and asked Robinson did sexually harass an- On July 2, the day after news But the harassment did not come learn what her leaders knew and about her well-being. Guillen de- other soldier from April to Sep- broke of Robinson’s death, some- from the soldier believed to have when. As part of the investigation, scribed what happened, and again tember 2019. That soldier was not one reported this sexual harass- killed her, according to an Army which took place from September later to select peers. Two soldiers Guillen. ment to Fort Hood criminal inves- report released Friday. to November, more than 150 wit- reported the incident to unit lead- After returning from a nine- tigators. Because of redactions, it Guillen, 20, reported being sex- nesses were interviewed, and ers, who failed to initiate an inves- month deployment to Iraq, Robin- is not clear if the person reporting ually harassed by the senior non- 6,000 emails and 11,000 pages tigation.