NATION FACES MLB Dorian shreds roofs, Joaquin Phoenix Astros’ Verlander hurls cars in Bahamas discusses preparing becomes 6th hurler on its slow trek to US for his ‘Joker’ role with 3 no-hitters Page 6 Page 17 Back page Coast Guard: More than 30 feared dead in Calif. dive-boat fire » Page 9 stripes.com Volume 78, No. 99 ©SS 2019 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas BY CHAD GARLAND Stars and Stripes 7-foot-tall former NBA player gradu- ated from Ranger School last week alongside the first woman in the Air AForce to complete the grueling Army small unit tactics and leadership course. First Lt. Chelsey Hibsch, an Air Force se- curity forces officer, graduated from the two-month course Friday in a ceremony at A tall order Fort Benning, Ga., overlooking Victory Pond. Second Lt. Marshall Plumlee, a member of Duke University’s 2015 NCAA Championship basketball team and former New York Knicks Ranger School graduates include player, was “baptized” later in that pond after having a Ranger tab pinned on. 7-foot former NBA player and SEE RANGER ON PAGE 3 1st female airman to earn tab Second Lt. Marshall Plumlee stands in formation in this screengrab from a video. U.S. Army The Navy’s newest recruiting strategy: YouTube influencers BY BROCK VERGAKIS Osman’s 1.3 million YouTube subscribers. He’s one The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian-Pilot of a trio of YouTube influencers the Navy chose for a series of “sailor vs.” videos that showcase various William Osman appears thrilled that he’s about to jobs in the Navy to millions of subscribers focused perform an egg-drop experiment. on niche topics. Each video ends with a link to a The challenge is the same one that generations of Navy recruiting website that features other videos students have done before: Engineer a way to stop in the series. an egg that’s dropped from a high elevation from The use of paid influencers is a first by the Navy. obliterating on impact. It underscores the service’s strategic shift away But Osman is no student. And the location of this from traditional media as it works to find a new egg drop is anything but typical. generation of recruits for jobs like cryptologic tech- Osman is an engineer and professional YouTube nicians, nuclear machinist mates and explosive ord- influencer who was invited aboard the USS Theo- nance disposal technicians. The jobs are plentiful dore Roosevelt to compete in an egg-drop competi- in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area and are among tion against a pair of sailors while cameras — lots of the most difficult to fill because the standards for cameras — captured every moment on the aircraft them are among the highest in the Navy, prodding YouTube carrier. the service to try new tactics to reach a new genera- From left, U.S. Navy cryptologic technicians Kayren Vicknair and The entertaining videos that resulted were never tion of recruits. Brittnie Raybon and YouTube influencer William Osman compete in intended to appear on television but were targeted at SEE RECRUITING ON PAGE 5 an egg-drop competition aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Tuesday, September 3, 2019 MILITARY US must compete for contractors for work in Japan BY SETH ROBSON next year’s Summer Olympics, Stars and Stripes Funkhouser said. “The market is flush and there YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — are a finite number of contractors Military planners are looking for available,” he said. ways to encourage contractors to Adding to the squeeze, Japan’s bid on billions of dollars of proj- population is aging, putting pres- ects aimed at transforming U.S. sure on employers. bases in Japan, according to U.S. “In Japan the number of peo- Army Corps of Engineers deputy ple in specialty trades is aging,” commander Maj. Gen. Anthony Funkhouser said. “The age of Funkhouser. their construction folks is prob- Engineers from the Army, ably above average. I think there Navy, Air Force and Marine is a concern that they need more Corps, as well as Japanese gov- folks getting experience in con- ernment officials, met Funkhous- struction trades.” er for a brainstorming session Robots won’t replace human U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Friday at the home of U.S. Forces contractors anytime soon, so the Maj. Gen. Anthony Funkhouser, left, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deputy commander, checks out Japan in western Tokyo. engineers are looking at ways to construction of a military port in Naha, Japan, where military planners must compete for the services of “Japan is one of our largest help companies get local national busy local contractors. construction programs,” he said workers onto U.S. bases, Funk- ahead of the meeting. houser said. standards also increase costs for tion, he said. tion and bringing new capabili- The Japanese government will “If you are a contractor with contractors who sometimes must “It is a complex movement … ties to the alliance,” he said. spend more than $20 billion and 200 guys, how much time and redo work because it doesn’t meet almost like a Tetris game,” Funk- At Yokota, $200 million of work the U.S. another $2.5 billion on money does it take to get every- American specifications, he said. houser said. will be done to accommodate CV- projects supporting the U.S. mili- body vetted to come onto a base?” “We will go back to (Wash- On mainland Japan, there are 22 Osprey aircraft. That will in- tary in the country over the next he asked. “In Okinawa, trucks ington) D.C. and look at how we renovations, new schools and new clude new taxiways, utilities and decade, said Col. Thomas Verell, back up trying to get onto bases can provide cost savings for the medical facilities going up on facilities such as hangars, main- commander of the Army Corps and that costs time and money.” contractors and maybe make it a many bases. tenance, operations and adminis- of Engineers’ Japan Engineer Engineers have recommended little easier for them,” he said. For example, the Navy just fin- tration facilities, he said. District. meeting base provost marshals Contractors are key to base ished moving Carrier Air Wing “Those projects will take three To get the work done the mili- and commanders to come up with realignment on the island of Oki- 5 from Naval Air Facility Atsugi tary needs to compete for the solutions that might include fenc- nawa, where U.S. forces are sup- in Kanagawa prefecture to Ma- to four years with the horizontal services of contractors. Japan’s ing off construction areas near posed to vacate Marine Corps Air rine Corps Air Station Iwakuni construction due to start before construction industry has gone base perimeters to make it easier Station Futenma in Ginowan. Vir- in Yamaguchi prefecture, which the end of the calendar year,” into overdrive as the country pre- for contractors to get to work, tually every base on the island is involved $4.9 billion of construc- Verell said. pares for an influx of visitors for Funkhouser said. expanding to accommodate some tion, Verell said. [email protected] this year’s Rugby World Cup and Different U.S. and Japanese of the forces leaving the air sta- “We’re doing major construc- Twitter: @SethRobson1 T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ............ 16 Business .......................... 15 Classified ................... 19, 23 Comics/Crossword ............ 22 Faces ............................... 17 Opinion ....................... 20-21 Shifting Gears................... 18 Sports .........................24-32 Weather ........................... 15 Tuesday, September 3, 2019 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 WAR/MILITARY US envoy shows deal draft to Afghan leaders Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. envoy showed the draft of a U.S.- Taliban agreement to Afghan leaders on Monday after declar- ing they were “at the threshold” of a deal to end America’s longest war, officials said. Under the deal the first 5,000 U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan in less than five months, the envoy said. However, reflecting the sensi- tivity of the U.S.-Taliban negotia- tions and the Afghan government’s sidelined role in the talks so far, it was not clear whether the draft was actually given to President Ashraf Ghani and his team. BASHIR KHAN SAFI/AP Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met twice with Ghani after arriv- Afghan men bury the bodies of security forces on Sunday, a day ing Sunday evening from Qatar, after they were killed in a Taliban suicide attack in Kunduz province. where the ninth round of U.S.- Taliban talks ended without a “We are on the verge of end- The official spoke on condition of final agreement. He is expected ing the invasion and reaching a anonymity because the official RAHMAT GUL/AP to meet with other political lead- peaceful solution for Afghani- was not authorized to discuss the ers this week. Afghan presidential spokesman Sediq Seddiqi told reporters Monday stan,” the Taliban spokesman in matter with the media. “We have reached an agree- in Kabul, Afghanistan, that the Afghan government likely would take Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, said over The official added that a deal ment with the Taliban in principle a “couple of days” to study the draft of a U.S.-Taliban agreement to the weekend. would lead to “intra-Afghan nego- but, of course, until the U.S. presi- make sure it addresses the government’s main goals. For its part, the U.S. seeks Tal- tiations where the Taliban will sit dent agrees with it, it isn’t final,” iban assurances that Afghanistan with other Afghans and together Khalilzad told the local TOLO goals of a lasting ceasefire and di- The Afghan government has will not be a safe haven for ex- they will commit to a permanent news channel.