Pentagon Reverses Order to Close Stars and Stripes SEE RESCUE on PAGE 5

MILITARY NFL VIDEO GAMES Ceremony honors Chiefs triumph Madden 21 introduces 184 people killed over Texans in a brand-new backyard at Pentagon on 9/11 season opener football game mode Page 3 Back page Page 12 Pompeo says Afghan negotiations are likely to be ‘contentious’ » Page 4 Volume 79, No. 105A ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION Saturday, September 12, 2020 stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas Soldier recalls rescue mission for which he is being honored BY COREY DICKSTEIN Stars and Stripes WASHINGTON — Gunfire ripped through the air and suicide- vest explosions rattled the ground as then-Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Patrick Payne peered inside the burning building where dozens of prisoners held by Islamic State remained locked in cells. He knew he needed to move quickly or the hostages would burn to death, the longtime Army special operator said. He entered the building, exposing himself to machine gun fire, and with a set of bolt cutters, freed the prisoners from the jail in the northern Iraqi city of Hawija. For his actions in the Oct. 22, 2015 raid, which ended with the first American service member killed by ISIS since the U.S. return to Iraq in late 2014, Payne, now a sergeant major, was sched- uled to receive the Medal of Honor on Friday from President A couple, who declined Donald Trump. The award is an to give their names, upgrade of the Distinguished embrace while touring in Service Cross that Payne was Wildfires grow in heavily populated an area devastated by the initially awarded in 2017. He will Almeda Fire, in Phoenix, become the second living service northwest Oregon as 500K flee Ore., on Thursday. member to receive the nation’s highest honor for combat valor Page 7 JOHN LOCHER / AP for actions in Iraq. In an interview Wednesday, Payne, 36, struggled to describe his feelings about receiving the Medal of Honor, which he said should be credited to the troops Pentagon reverses order to close Stars and Stripes SEE RESCUE ON PAGE 5 BY COREY DICKSTEIN 4 tweeted Stars and Stripes funding would “It’s good to get written assurance from Stars and Stripes not be cut “under my watch.” the director that the shutdown memo will In Army Col. Paul Haverstick’s email, he be rescinded,” Gates said Thursday of the ‘ I consider myself WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will re- wrote Stars and Stripes would no longer be reversal. “Beyond that assurance, it’s signifi- scind its order for Stars and Stripes to cease required to submit to the Defense Depart- cant that Col. Haverstick called off his direc- a guardian of this publication by Sept. 30, according to an email ment a written shutdown plan that had been tion that Stripes’ publisher provide a detailed sent to the news organization Thursday. due Sept. 15. That plan would have detailed shutdown plan by next Tuesday.” medal, and the The Pentagon was also working Thursday Though Stars and Stripes retains its edi- to withdraw its request that Congress not how the news organization would close by legacies of my Jan. 31. Haverstick, the acting DMA direc- torial independence and is congressionally fund Stars and Stripes in fiscal year 2021, ac- mandated to be governed by First Amend- teammates will live cording to the email from the acting director tor who issued the original August order for ment principles, it is part of the Pentagon’s of the Pentagon’s Defense Media Activity to Stripes to prepare to stop operations, wrote on with this Medal Defense Media Activity. The Pentagon fund- Stars and Stripes ombudsman Ernie Gates. to Gates that he aimed to provide the new The apparent decision comes nearly a memorandum to Stars and Stripes leader- ing, about $15.5 million, makes up roughly of Honor. ’ week after President Donald Trump on Sept. ship by the weekend. SEE PENTAGON ON PAGE 5 Sgt. Maj. Thomas Patrick Payne PAGE 2 •STARS AND STRIPES• Saturday, September 12, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Smithfield Foods plant faces fine from outbreak Military rates Switzerland (Franc) ...........................0.9094 Euro costs (Sept. 14) ............................$1.16 Thailand (Baht) .................................... 31.29 Dollar buys (Sept. 14) ...........................€0.82 Turkey (New Lira) .............................. 7.4776 British pound (Sept. 14) ......................$1.25 (Military exchange rates are those Associated Press navirus. It also found that leading Smithfield Foods, which is Japanese yen (Sept. 14) ....................103.00 available to customers at military banking South Korean won (Sept. 14) ........1,159.00 up to the first known infections based in Virginia, said it planned Commercial rates facilities in the country of issuance SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Fed- for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Bahrain (Dinar) ...................................0.3771 at the plant on March 23, Smith- to contest the citation and $13,494 Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For eral regulators said Thursday British pound ....................................$1.2794 field did not do enough to space fine. Keira Lombardo, a spokes- nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., Canada (Dollar) ..................................1.3188 they have cited Smithfield Foods purchasing British pounds in Germany), them out or provide other safety woman for the company, called China (Yuan) .......................................6.8323 check with your local military banking for failing to protect employees Denmark (Krone) ...............................6.2832 measures like face coverings or the citation “wholly without facility. Commercial rates are interbank Egypt (Pound) ...................................15.7627 from exposure to the coronavi- rates provided for reference when buying physical barriers. merit” in a statement and argued Euro .......................................$1.1842/0.8445 rus at the company’s Sioux Falls The citation included the latest the company had taken “extraor- Hong Kong (Dollar) ............................7.7503 currency. All figures are foreign currencies plant, an early hot spot for virus Hungary (Forint) ................................301.80 to one dollar, except for the British pound, assessment of the virus’ impact dinary measures” to protect em- Israel (Shekel) ....................................3.4531 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, infections that hobbled American at the Sioux Falls plant, with four ployees from infections. Japan (Yen) .......................................... 106.11 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) meatpacking plants. workers killed by COVID-19, at OSHA conducted an investi- Kuwait (Dinar) ....................................0.3060 INTEREST RATES The Occupational Safety and Norway (Krone) ..................................9.0502 least 1,294 infected and 43 hos- gation that spanned months as it Philippines (Peso) ................................48.56 Prime rate ................................................3.25 Health Administration found that pitalized. Only two deaths among conducted 60 interviews and re- Poland (Zloty) .........................................3.76 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ..........................3.7509 Federal funds market rate ...................0.09 employees were working closely employees had been previously viewed over 20,000 pages of doc- Singapore (Dollar) .............................1.3670 3-month bill ............................................. 0.11 together and exposed to the coro- known. uments, according to Lombardo. South Korea (Won) ..........................1187.07 30-year bond ...........................................1.43 WEATHER OUTLOOK SATURDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SATURDAY IN EUROPE SUNDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 64/61 Kabul 91/57 Seoul 78/62 Baghdad 112/75 Kandahar 92/55 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 80/62 77/72 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 70/52 70/50 78/67 Iwakuni 78/75 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 93/89 Brussels 73/53 Guam 104/83 65/51 Ramstein 78/73 85/82 Lajes, 75/57 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 105/74 102/80 71/68 74/56 79/59 Aviano/ Vicenza 78/62 Naples 85/69 Okinawa Morón 82/79 98/63 Sigonella Rota 79/69 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 100/85 84/65 76/73 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ............ 11 Comics ............................. 17 Crossword ........................ 17 Entertainment .............. 14-15 Health and Fitness ............13 Opinion ............................16 Sports ......................... 18-24 Video Games .....................12 Saturday, September 12, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• PAGE 3 MILITARY DOD says F-35 program falls short by $10B BY TONY CAPACCIO Bloomberg ‘ This shows that The Pentagon’s five-year bud- the programs costs get plan for the F-35 falls short by are once again as much as $10 billion, the military’s independent cost analysis growing faster than unit has concluded, a new indica- tion that the complex fighter jet expected. ’ may be too costly to operate and Todd Harrison maintain. Center for Strategic and International Studies J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP The Defense Department’s blueprint for the next five fis- Taps is played during a ceremony at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial to honor the 184 people cal years calls for requesting killed in the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, in Washington, on Friday . $78 billion for research and de- next president, whether Donald velopment, jet procurement, op- Trump is re-elected or Democrat erations and maintenance and

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