FACES MILITARY NFL DeGeneres says Sexual assault reports Former Navy DB she will end show increased by small given a chance by after 19 seasons amount in 2020 defending champs Page 13 Page 3 Page 24 Hamas-Israel hostilities escalate as negotiators conduct talks ›› Page 11 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 20 ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION FRIDAY,MAY 14, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas AFGHANISTAN US transfers Kandahar Airfield to Afghan forces BY J.P. LAWRENCE Stars and Stripes KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. forces have left Kandahar Air- field, a southern Afghanistan base that was once one of the largest NATO and coalition installations in the country, Afghan and U.S. of- ficials said. The airfield has been trans- ferred to the Afghan security forces, a U.S. defense official said Thursday on condition of anonym- ity because they were not autho- rized to speak on the matter. The official did not say when the base was transferred or when the last U.S. service members left, cit- ing security concerns. The NATO Resolute Support press office declined to comment Army pursues on the airfield’s status Thursday. The Afghan Defense Ministry said earlier this week that the hand- over wouldn’t occur until some- time after the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which ends Saturday. ‘thermal toughness’ The United States did not hold a handover ceremony at the base, ALEX SKRIPNICHUK/U.S. Army which housed an estimated 30,000 Paratroopers with 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, participate in an assault exercise at Donnelley Training troops and contractors at the Area, Alaska, on Feb. 11. Army scientists are looking into methods for keeping soldiers warm and preventing frostbite and hypothermia. height of the war. American forces left the base without coordinating with Afghan Bodybuilding technique for getting pumped could warm troops in Arctic forces, said Khwaja Yahya Alvi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s BY JOHN VANDIVER medical solutions needed to fight and win in that involves restricting blood flow with a 205th Atal Military Corps. The Stars and Stripes the frigid temperatures,” the U.S. Army Re- tourniquet-style band while exercising. SEE KANDAHAR ON PAGE 4 Bodybuilding tourniquets and cocoa bean search Institute of Environmental Medicine The technique, popular among some supplements could find their way into soldier said in a recent statement. weightlifters in search of bigger biceps bulg- toolkits as the Army looks for ways to keep Army scientists are looking to enhance the es, causes a burst of blood flow into the exer- RELATED troops warm in the Arctic, where the service “thermal toughness” of soldiers and make cised muscle once the band is released. Defense officials give expects more forces to be headed in the com- sure they don’t succumb to frostbite and hy- John Castellani, a physiologist who leads ing years. pothermia, the statement said. Army research efforts in management of cold Congress few answers “As an increasing number of Soldiers pour The techniques go beyond just bundling up. weather injuries and treatment, said recent about Afghan stability into the Arctic, it’s important that Army scien- To improve blood flow, the Army is examining tists ensure that Soldiers will have the bio- a bodybuilding technique known as occlusion, SEE THERMAL ON PAGE 6 Page 4 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Friday, May 14, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER Facebook­backed digital cash shifts to US EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1129.31 Associated Press The Diem Association, which real-world currency and whose Switzerland (Franc) .9056 Euro costs (May 14) $1.18 Thailand (Baht) 31.33 A once-ambitious Facebook- includes Facebook and 25 other price has ranged between roughly Dollar buys (May 14) 0.8033 Turkey (NewLira) 8.5004 British pound (May 14) $1.38 backed digital currency project — companies, said Wednesday has it $9,000 and $63,000 over the past Japanese yen (May 14) 106.00 (Military exchange rates are those available formerly known as Libra, now entered a partnership with Silver- year. South Korean won (May 14) 1100.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ called Diem — is shifting oper- gate Capital Corp. to issue a “sta- Facebook announced the Libra many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) .3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ ations from Switzerland to the blecoin” backed by the U.S. dollar. project in 2019, at the time envi- Britain (Pound) 1.4056 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2121 your local military banking facility. Commercial U.S. and said it plans to launch a A stablecoin is a digital currency sioning it as a stablecoin based on China(Yuan) 6.4516 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.1471 cryptocurrency tied to the U.S. backed by real-world assets such a basket of national currencies. Egypt (Pound) 15.6611 when buying currency. All figures are foreign dollar later this year. as national currencies or other Since then, the effort has been Euro .8266 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7678 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ As part of the move, Diem said it commodities. scaled back considerably amid Hungary (Forint) 294.81 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2931 is also withdrawing its application As the name implies, stable- regulatory and commercial back- Japan (Yen) 109.54 INTEREST RATES for a payment system license from coins are designed to not fluctuate lash. Kuwait (Dinar) .3010 Norway (Krone) 8.3467 Prime rate 3.25 the Swiss Financial Markets Au- wildly in value. That’s in sharp Wednesday’s announcement Philippines (Peso) 47.86 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.74 Federal funds market rate 0.06 thority, which it has not been able contrast to cryptocurrencies like represents a further scaling back Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7506 3­month bill 0.02 to secure thus far. Bitcoin, whose value is not tied to a as Diem shifts focus to the U.S. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3325 30­year bond 2.41 WEATHER OUTLOOK FRIDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST FRIDAY IN EUROPE SATURDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 60/49 Kabul Seoul 74/50 72/65 Baghdad 106/74 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 69/62 70/60 91/55 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 61/48 63/60 54/44 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 62/59 Brussels Zagan Sasebo Guam 104/83 90/83 Ramstein 56/50 70/67 58/45 57/39 84/81 Riyadh Lajes, 103/79 Doha Azores Stuttgart 108/77 64/61 59/42 Pápa Aviano/ 58/50 Vicenza 57/51 Naples 66/55 Okinawa Morón 76/73 83/54 Sigonella Rota 77/53 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 69/53 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 102/81 69/61 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 12 Comics .........................16 Crossword ................... 16 Faces .......................... 13 Opinion ........................ 14 Sports .................... 18-24 Friday, May 14, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY Small increase in 2020 military sex assault reports BY LOLITA C. BALDOR Such a change would be a major Associated Press reversal of military practice and a WASHINGTON — Reports of shift long sought by congressional sexual assaults across the U.S. lawmakers. Austin has given ser- military increased by a very small vice leaders 30 days to review the amount in 2020, a year when recommendation and come back troops were largely locked down to him with their input. for months as bases around the The military’s handling of sex- world grappled with the CO- ual assaults and other violence in VID-19 pandemic, according to the military has come under sig- U.S. officials. nificant scrutiny in the aftermath TIMOTHY HAMLIN/U.S. Army Officials familiar with the data of a series of violent crimes, in- A U.S. Army Stryker Mobile Gun System variant belonging to the 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, said sexual assault reports went cluding murders and suicides last fires at targets during a 2019 gunnery exercise at the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany. up by about 1%, compared with year at Fort Hood, Texas. More the 2019 totals. They said the Ar- than two dozen Fort Hood soldiers my and Marine Corps saw slight died in 2020, including Spc. Va- increases in the number of re- nessa Guillen, who was killed by a US Army to retire older ports, while the Navy and Air fellow soldier. Force saw small decreases. Offi- Her death prompted an inde- cials spoke on condition of ano- pendent review, which found that nymity to discuss data not yet military leaders were not ade- Stryker vehicle variant made public. quately dealing with high rates of In 2019, there were more than sexual assault and harassment at BY JOHN VANDIVER technology. The system enabled neuver Short Range Air Defense 7,800 reported sexual assaults, up the post. The chairman of the in- Stars and Stripes Stryker brigades to support infan- system, known as M-SHORAD, from more than 6,000 the previ- dependent review panel told STUTTGART, Germany — trymen by destroying or sup- mounted on its Stryker A1 vehi- ous year. It is unclear how much members of Congress in a hearing The Army is eliminating the pressing hardened enemy bun- cles. of a role the pandemic played in earlier this year that the base Stryker Mobile Gun System, a ve- kers and sniper positions in urban The system will “defend ma- the small increase in assaults last leadership was focused on mili- hicle that played a large role dur- combat zones.