MLB PLAYOFFS MILITARY FACES Rays top Astros Marine who led critical ‘Nancy Drew’ to force Game 5 assault during Vietnam gets modern in Division Series battle dies at 75 makeover Back page Page 9 Page 18 US airstrikes last month in Afghanistan near record high » Page 8 stripes.com Volume 78, No. 126 ©SS 2019 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2019 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Turkey begins Syria attack BY LEFTERIS PITARAKIS United States. ish fighters who have been America’s AND SARAH EL DEEB Turkish President Recep Tayyip only allies inside Syria in the fight Associated Press Erdogan announced the start of the against Islamic State . campaign, which followed an abrupt After Turkey’s offensive began, AKCAKALE, Turkey — Turkey decision Sunday by President Donald there was signs of panic in the streets launched airstrikes and fired artillery Trump that American troops would of Ras al-Ayn — one of the towns under aimed at crushing Kurdish fighters in step aside to allow for the operation. attack with residential areas close to northern Syria on Wednesday after Trump’s move, which has drawn the borders. Cars raced to safety, al- LEFTERIS PITARAKIS/AP U.S. troops pulled back from the area, harsh bipartisan opposition at home, though it was not clear if they were paving the way for an assault on forc- represented a shift in U.S. policy, es- Smoke billows from a fire inside Syria during es that have long been allied with the sentially abandoning the Syrian Kurd- SEE SYRIA ON PAGE 7 bombardment by Turkish forces on Wednesday. Resurrection at Tyndall How human resilience trumped nature’s wrath at Florida air base Page 3 SEAN CARNES/U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Maj.) Zachary Nash, from Joint Base Langley, Va., carries items from a church 11 days after Hurricane Michael destroyed much of Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., last year. PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Thursday, October 10, 2019 MILITARY Airmen in S. Korea try apps to curb stress, DUIs Presentations are in Air Force’s Spark Tank competition BY MATTHEW KEELER of the work involved could be automated Stars and Stripes using a ride-sharing application. “The current system requires calling OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Air- volunteers, hoping they answer the phone men in South Korea have been hard at work in the middle of the night and are willing to in their free time developing concepts for go help an airman,” she said. “Now it will phone applications that could reduce the be a quick notification to the volunteers number of DUIs in the force and provide who are signed into the app, and they can airmen a means to deal anonymously with confirm or decline the pickup request.” daily stressors. Seeking $60,000, Poveromo intends to Members of Osan’s 51st Fighter Wing hire a professional team to create the pro- worked with the organization’s Innovation gram. The app will feature an interface Engine Room, led by Master Sgt. Court- like the one used by paid services Uber and ney Christiansen, to prepare their ideas, Lyft, only free. Using GPS features and a perfect their pitch and build video presen- preset home address, intoxicated users can tations in preparation for the Air Force request a ride with a single click. Spark Tank 2020 competition. The room “A dollar value can’t be placed on the was created to give innovative airmen the lives and careers this app could save,” she resources and connections needed to turn stated in her pitch. their ideas into reality. Wing commander Col. John Gonzales on Spark Tank is an annual competition in Friday announced that Poveromo’s design which airmen pitch innovative ideas to top would advance to the Pacific Air Forces Air Force leadership. The goal of the com- competition, along with an app designed to MATTHEW KEELER/Stars and Stripes petition is to find new ways of maintaining help airmen cope with daily stressors. A bar customer uses his phone after consuming an alcoholic beverage near Osan Air Air Force readiness, cost effectively mod- First Lt. George Cooksey, a bioenviron- Base, South Korea, on Sunday. An Osan emergency medical technician developed a ernize its operation and drive innovation mental engineer for the wing, has designed phone app that streamlines the Airmen Against Drunk Driving ride program. within its ranks, Christiansen said. a social interaction application for airmen Senior Airman Emma Poveromo, an who are reluctant to talk with co-workers, means to permanently ban abusers, or engage with airmen to better understand emergency room medical technician with leadership or mental health professionals “trolls,” who are reported for negative what is causing the rise in suicides. the 51st Medical Operations Squadron, is for fear of damaging their careers. interactions. “It’s not the outreach programs that are developing a phone app that would stream- “We have created an app to connect two Capt. Felicia Keith, a clinical psycholo- going to necessarily help airmen,” Keith line the Airmen Against Drunk Driving anonymous airmen, either through text or gist at Osan, encouraged Cooksey to add a said. “It’s about really connecting to an- program for its volunteers and its inebri- voice chat, to speak open and honestly, and texting feature based on her experience in other human being. If this is a way we can ated users. have a genuine human interaction without the clinical field. reach airmen where they are and help The program is a volunteer-based trans- having that fear of my career will be im- them connect, as a mental health profes- portation service that provides a ride home pacted,” Cooksey said. “In some of my patients I’ve noticed a for airmen who have been drinking. “Because people have that fear they fear of reaching out to others, and espe- sional, I think this is a great way we can Poveromo successfully ran the volunteer choose to not talk to anyone, and that causes cially voice seems to be much more diffi- do that.” service while stationed at Ramstein Air those stressors and issues to build up until cult,” she said. “Texting provides an extra Only one airman can claim the winning Base, Germany. it reaches a point that is now at an impact- layer of anonymity and usually feels a bit title in February at the Air Force Associa- “Within two months of my team taking ful level,” he said. “We seek to tackle that safer to some folks, especially those expe- tion’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, over and revamping the program we had far before it reaches an issue by providing riencing social anxiety.” Fla. However, other Spark Tank ideas re- already saved 65 people,” she told Stars a safe space for individuals to connect.” After the 78th Air Force suicide this year, ceived senior leader support last year to and Stripes. “We actually lowered DUIs at Airmen will be required to sign up using Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Gold- advance in development. Ramstein by 38% within six months.” their official email so no military users fein ordered a daylong halt in operations, [email protected] Poveromo realized at the time how much will be filtered out. That also provides a a Resilience Tactical Pause, for leaders to Twitter: @MattKeeler1231 T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ............ 17 Business .......................... 21 Classified ................... 19, 23 Comics ............................. 22 Crossword ........................ 22 Faces ............................... 18 Opinion ............................ 20 Sports .........................25-32 Weather ........................... 21 Thursday, October 10, 2019 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 MILITARY Resiliency trumps disaster as Fla. air base rebuilds BY ED OFFLEY that Laidlaw, his leadership The (Panama City, Fla.) News team, or their superiors in the Air Herald Force ever embraced. Because of its vital location near the Gulf TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE of Mexico and an extended air — The graphic image from space combat training range shared of Hurricane Michael passing with Eglin Air Force Base, clos- over this military airfield, its ing Tyndall was never an option, twin runways clearly visible in Laidlaw said on many occasions the center of the eye, should be this past year. the iconic symbol of what hap- With the support from the pres- pened here a year ago. ident and Air Force leadership The image caught from a on down, Laidlaw and a team of weather satellite and superim- civil engineers in the first weeks DELANEY GONZALES/U.S. Air Force posed on a computer map of Bay after the storm began the initial County demonstrated human The chapel steeple at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., is demolished Feb. 15, four months after Hurricane steps toward reclaiming the base. Michael severely damaged the base. technology at its apex, capturing Their nonstop effort over the past the deadly cyclone as it scoured 11 months has begun to show con- the terrain of eastern Bay County. crete results. It also caught the moment where To date, the Air Force has spent nature’s wrath overcame human $700 million for repairs and reno- technology as the 130-mile-per- vations at Tyndall, and Laidlaw hour winds and torrential rain all said with the start of the 2019-20 but destroyed this 78-year-old Air fiscal year Oct. 1, he anticipates Force base as its commander and receiving another $577 million a small hand-picked team cow- from the disaster aid supplemen- ered in an underground shelter. tal appropriation passed by Con- Yet Col. Brian Laidlaw, com- gress in June. The remainder of mander of the 325th Fighter what will likely top $3 billion in Wing before and after the storm, military construction funds is an- disagrees.