stripes.com Volume 78, No. 128 ©SS 2019 MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2019 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Trump orders troops out of Syria’s north amid clashes BY LEFTERIS PITARAKIS AND SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press WASHINGTON — Hundreds of Islamic State supporters es- caped from a holding camp in northern Syria on Sunday amid heavy clashes between invading Turkish-led forces and Kurdish fighters, and President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. troops to withdraw from the north to avoid getting caught in the fighting. The twin developments ‘ It’s reflected the a very rapidly grow- ing chaos in untenable Syria in the situation. ’ week since Mark Esper Trump or- dered Ameri- defense can forces in secretary the region to step aside, leaving the U.S.-allied Kurds wide open to attack from Turkey. “We have American forces likely caught between two oppos- ing advancing armies, and it’s a very untenable situation,” U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” in announcing U.S. troops would Typhoon pummels Tokyo leave the north. He did not say how many would withdraw but that they represent most of the 1,000 troops in Syria. A U.S. military official said that the situation was “deteriorating US bases escape deadly storm with minimal damage rapidly.” The official, who was not authorized to disclose operational BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS, Then, suddenly, the storm left the rain and forceful wind. details and spoke on condition of HANA KUSUMOTO the Tokyo metro area, leaving At Yokota Air Base — home anonymity, said American troops AND SETH ROBSON many to wonder on social media of U.S Forces Japan in western were unable to move around on if the ordeal was really over. Sun- the ground without a “high risk” Stars and Stripes Tokyo — Senior Airman Mitch- day dawned beneath calm, blue ell Krause, 24, of Chaska, Minn., of confrontation with Turkish- TOKYO — Typhoon Hagibis skies as the curious emerged was shopping at a base mini-mart backed forces. to take stock of fallen trees and early Sunday. The security forces The danger to American forces pummeled the Japanese capital was illustrated Friday when a swollen rivers. airman said he worked the night overnight Saturday with wind small number of U.S. troops came U.S. military bases in the area shift during the storm but experi- gusts as high as 104 mph, hours of reported minimal damage and under Turkish artillery fire at an enced no emergencies. record-breaking, torrential rain returned to their routines after a observation post in the north. No and flooding in some places. full day hunkered down against SEE STORM ON PAGE 3 Americans were hurt. Esper said it was unclear whether that was an accident. Above: Students and residents scoop dirt after flooding from Typhoon Hagibis in Marumori, northern Trump, in a tweet, said, “Very Japan, on Sunday. Right: Airmen remove a tree downed at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Sunday. smart not to be involved in the PHOTOS COURTESY OF KYODO NEWS/AP, above, and SETH ROBSON/Stars and Stripes, right SEE LEAVE ON PAGE 4 MILITARY FACES MLB PLAYOFFS Soldier amputates Behind the lasting Scherzer sizzles in leg to save crew appeal of ghoulish Nats’ NLCS Game 2 after tank crash ‘Addams Family’ win over Cardinals Page 2 Page 18 Back page Army World Class Athlete Program runners win Ten-Miler » Page 27 PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Monday, October 14, 2019 MILITARY GI severed leg to save himself, crew after tank crash BY CHAD GARLAND else we could do and just held on,” Stars and Stripes Maes said. The tank crashed into an em- When a tank crash in Slovakia bankment at the bottom of a ra- trapped Spc. Ezra Maes’ leg in vine, tossing its crew around. a turret gear, he pulled himself The tank’s gunner, Sgt. Aechere free to help save his badly wound- Crump, was bleeding heavily ed crew mates, severing his leg in from a cut on her thigh, and driv- the process. er Pfc. Victor Alamo was pinned “If I didn’t help myself, my in the driver’s compartment with crew, no one was going to,” Maes a broken back, the Army said. was quoted as saying in an Army Maes’ leg got caught in a tur- U.S. Army statement earlier this month. “I ret gear and was smashed. He knew I had to do everything I thought the leg was simply bro- Sgt. Aechere Crump, left, and Pfc. Victor Alamo, right, visit with Spc. Ezra Maes during their recovery at could to survive.” ken and tried to free himself to Brooke Army Medical Center. Crump and Alamo survived a tank accident in Slovakia with Maes in 2018. The M1A2 Abrams tank crew get a tourniquet from the rear of had deployed to Poland with the the tank to help Crump. only one that wasn’t broken and ated to the Army’s hospital in to the U.S. Military Academy at 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Ar- “I pushed and pulled at my leg had working cell service. Landstuhl, Germany, then on to West Point, said a GoFundMe mored Brigade Combat Team as as hard as I could to get loose and Crump, who also had a bro- Brooke Army Medical Center in campaign set up to pay for travel part of the U.S. mission to deter felt a sharp tear,” he said. “When ken arm, crawled to find the de- San Antonio. The other two were and other expenses for family to Russian aggression and bolster I moved away, my leg was com- vice and threw it to him. While also evacuated to Texas to recov- be with him during his recovery. allies in the region. pletely gone.” his teeth clenched the makeshift er from their injuries. He’s an avid athlete who loved On the second day of a week- Bleeding profusely, he was de- tourniquet on his leg, he unlocked Maes spent four months in in- snowboarding, rock climbing and long exercise in southern Slova- termined to get to the medical kit, it and sent a text for help. Soon, tensive care undergoing near golf, it said. kia in September 2018, three crew but soon felt lightheaded. Real- rescuers arrived and loaded them daily surgeries and battling an Now he’s preparing to receive members who had gone to sleep izing he was going into shock, he in Humvees. infection, the Army said. a prosthetic leg through a proce- in their tank were jolted awake as focused on staying calm, keeping The last thing Maes recalls at He’s now assigned to BAMC’s dure that will implant a titanium the nearly 70-ton machine start- his heart rate down and elevating the crash site was seeing his ser- Warrior Transition Battalion and rod in his bone. He plans to be a ed rolling down a slope, gaining his lower body, then fashioned his geant major running up the hill undergoing physical and occu- prosthetist to help others regain speed as it went. belt into a makeshift tourniquet. carrying the leg on his shoulder, pational therapy at the hospital’s their mobility, the Army state- Maes, then 20, was the loader He called to Crump, who had he said. Maes wanted to see if it outpatient rehabilitation facil- ment said. on the tank’s 120 mm main can- done the same with her own belt, could be reattached, but it was ity, known as the Center for the “When something like this hap- non. He called out to the driver telling her to radio for help. smashed too badly. Intrepid. pens, it’s easy to give up because to stop, but the parking brake But the radio wasn’t working. The young soldier, who’d joined “I feel superlucky,” he said. “My your life won’t be the same, and had failed and a hydraulic leak No one knew they were down in the Army to follow in his grandfa- crew all does. So many things you’re not wrong,” he said. “Life had left operational systems un- the ravine, Maes feared, and they ther’s footsteps, had also broken could have gone wrong. Besides will take a 180, but it doesn’t have responsive, making emergency might die without immediate his pelvis in five spots, his ankle my leg, we all walked away pretty to be a bad thing. Don’t let it hin- braking useless, the Army state- help. and his shoulder. much unscathed.” der you from moving forward.” ment said. Then, somewhere in the cabin, He and the others were treated At the time of the crash, he’d [email protected] “We realized there was nothing Maes’ phone buzzed. It was the in Slovakia before being evacu- begun the process of applying Twitter: @chadgarland T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ............ 17 Business .......................... 21 Classified ................... 19, 23 Comics/Crossword ............ 22 Faces ............................... 18 Opinion ............................ 20 Sports .........................25-32 Weather ........................... 21 Monday, October 14, 2019 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 PACIFIC Storm: Services restored amid cleanup after typhoon FROM FRONT PAGE services back to normal operations.” “I didn’t really think it was that bad,” The commissary, galley and gyms re- he said, adding that he hadn’t heard much opened by 9:30 a.m., according to a post on wind. the base’s official Facebook page. The Lib- But in harder hit regions like Naga- erty Center, bowling alley and food court no and Miyagi prefectures, helicopters were back in service by noon.