OLYMPICS FACES WORLD Biles hopes US team can ‘Space Jam’ American father, son get can remain successful amid soars to No. 1 Japan prison terms for gymnastics culture change at box office helping Ghosn escape Page 24 Page 14 Page 12 Capitol rioter who breached Senate gets 8 months for felony ›› Page 10 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 67 ©SS 2021 TUESDAY,JULY 20, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas VIRUS OUTBREAK With pandemic worsening in States, surgeon general worried BY JAY REEVES Associated Press The U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that he’s concerned about what lies ahead with cases of CO- VID-19 increas- ing in every state, millions still unvaccinat- ed and a highly contagious virus variant spread- ing rapidly. Noting that Murthy nearly all coro- navirus deaths now are among the tens of millions of people who haven’t received shots, despite widespread vaccine availability, Dr. Vivek Murthy painted an un- settling picture of what the future could hold. “I am worried about what is to KARIN ZEITVOGEL/Stars and Stripes come because we are seeing in- Air Force Tech. Sgt. Hazel Cochran, left, cleans the axle of a C-130J’s nose landing gear wheel while showing German military academy cadet creasing cases among the unvac- Tom Palzer how to remove a tire from the plane at Ramstein Air Base on Thursday. cinated in particular. And while, if you are vaccinated, you are very well protected against hospitaliza- SEE STATES ON PAGE 8 The tools to succeed Future Luftwaffe pilots learn aircraft maintenance 101 at Ramstein BY KARIN ZEITVOGEL C-130J Super Hercules. Stars and Stripes “To have them actually “I also had them pulling out a toilet, taking RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Air off floor panels, and they just do it and knock ALBERTO PEZZALI/AP Force Tech. Sgt. Hazel Cochran threw the do maintenance tasks, it out,” she said. RELATED seven future Luftwaffe pilots into the deep Bringing the seven cadets to the largest end from the start of their two-week intern- they get an idea of U.S. air base in Germany to train with the US bases ease a few ship with maintainers at Ramstein Air Base. what it takes to Aerospace Ground Equipment crew was a restrictions as others “They’ve been getting dirty,” she said first for the Germans and Americans. Thursday as she guided two of the cadets generate an aircraft.” The main aim of the internship, which is a in UK celebrate from the University of the Armed Forces in required part of the aeronautical engineer- ‘Freedom Day’ Munich — Germany’s equivalent of a service Senior Master Sgt. Dominik Gutierrez ing curriculum at the German academy, was academy — through the steps required to re- Aerospace Ground Equipment flight chief Page 8 move the nose landing gear wheels of a SEE TOOLS ON PAGE 5 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Tuesday, July 20, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER OPEC, allies to boost oil production, ending dispute EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1,152.74 Associated Press nounced that Iraq, Kuwait, Rus- to improve. Switzerland (Franc) 0.9168 Euro costs (July 20) $1.15 Thailand (Baht) 31.85 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates sia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE “Economic recovery continued Dollar buys (July 20) 0.8264 Turkey (NewLira) 8.5738 British pound (July 20) $1.34 — OPEC and allied nations agreed would see their limits rise. in most parts of the world with the Japanese yen (July 20) 107.00 (Military exchange rates are those available Sunday to raise the production Under the new production lim- help of accelerating vaccination South Korean won (July 20) 1,116.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ limits imposed on five countries its, the UAE would be able to pro- programs,” the cartel said. many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain (Dinar) 0.3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ next year and boost their produc- duce up to 3.5 million barrels of Oil prices collapsed amid the Britain (Pound) 1.3715 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2753 your local military banking facility. Commercial tion by 2 million barrels per day by crude oil a day beginning May coronavirus pandemic as demand China (Yuan) 6.4884 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.2923 the end of this year, ending a dis- 2022. That’s below the 3.8 million for jet fuel and gasoline dropped Egypt (Pound) 15.6702 when buying currency. All figures are foreign pute that roiled oil markets. barrels it reportedly sought. Saudi amid lockdowns across the globe, Euro 0.8460 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7697 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ The disagreement, sparked by a Arabia’s limit of 11 million barrels briefly seeing oil futures trade in Hungary (Forint) 304.28 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2956 demand by the United Arab Emir- a day would rise to 11.5 million, as the negatives. Demand since has Japan (Yen) 109.21 INTEREST RATES ates to increase its own produc- would Russia’s. Iraq and Kuwait rebounded as vaccines, while still Kuwait (Dinar) 0.3007 Norway (Krone) 8.9220 Prime rate 3.25 tion, temporarily upended an ear- saw smaller increases. distributed unequally globally, re- Philippines (Peso) 51.02 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.88 Federal funds market rate 0.10 lier meeting of the cartel. In a In its statement, OPEC ac- ach arms in major world econo- Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7506 3­month bill 0.05 statement Sunday, the cartel an- knowledged oil prices continued mies. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3616 30­year bond 1.93 WEATHER OUTLOOK TUESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST TUESDAY IN EUROPE WEDNESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 74/70 Kabul Seoul 89/60 91/76 Baghdad 117/88 Drawsko Osan Tokyo Kandahar 90/75 86/72 Mildenhall/ Pomorskie Busan 99/74 Lakenheath 70/55 77/57 80/75 Iwakuni Kuwait City 78/73 Bahrain Brussels Zagan Sasebo Guam 108/90 97/92 Ramstein 66/58 86/74 75/59 74/55 84/81 Riyadh Lajes, Stuttgart 109/86 Doha Azores Pápa 71/68 73/58 105/89 Aviano/ 77/62 Vicenza 82/64 Naples 81/70 Okinawa Morón 84/81 94/59 Sigonella Rota 88/64 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 74/66 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 99/85 79/73 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Classified .................... 13 Comics .........................16 Crossword ................... 16 Faces .......................... 14 Opinion ........................ 15 Sports .................... 18-24 Tuesday, July 20, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY US power on display during Pacific drills BY MATTHEW M. BURKE Home Air Force Base, Idaho; 25 F-22 Rap- Stars and Stripes tors from the 525th Fighter Squadron, Joint The U.S. military with its allies is produc- Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and ing twin displays of air, land and sea power the 199th Fighter Squadron, Hawaii Air Na- in Guam, the Northern Marianas and Aus- tional Guard at Joint Base Pearl Harbor tralia this month in a demonstration for po- Hickam, Hawaii; and two C-130J Super tential adversaries of its ability to move and Hercules from the 374th Airlift Wing from fight. Yokota Air Base, Japan, according to the Air Force commands in Alaska, Idaho, statement. Hawaii and Japan are fielding more than 35 Anderson Air Force Base posted photos aircraft, many of them fifth-generation of F-22s arriving Sunday and F-15Es arriv- stealth fighters, to Guam and Tinian for Pa- ing Thursday for Pacific Iron on its website. cific Iron 2021, according to a Pacific Air They will operate from Anderson and its Forces news release from July 12. That ex- Northwest Airfield and A.B. Won Pat Inter- ercise, scheduled through the remainder of national Airport, both on Guam, and Tinian this month, will test the Air Force’s ability to International Airport, according to PACAF. disperse its aircraft and fight them effec- They aim to practice “agile combat employ- tively, according to PACAF. ment,” or the ability to create robust air- power in a contested environment. “Pacific Iron 2021 is a PACAF dynamic The 2018 National Defense Strategy calls force employment operation to project on military commanders to use ready forces” into the Indo-Pacific Command ar- forces to “proactively shape the strategic ea of responsibility as part of the 2018 Na- environment” while also standing ready to tional Defense Strategy, according to the re- respond quickly to contingencies and main- lease. The exercise will entail simulated taining long-term combat readiness, PA- combat flight operations from local airports CAF said. on Guam, a U.S. territory, and Tinian, 106 Speaking Friday during the 18th Wing nautical miles to the northeast in the North- change-of-command ceremony at Kadena ern Marianas. Air Base Okinawa, 5th Air Force deputy Meanwhile, a biennial exercise in Aus- commander Maj. Gen. Leonard Kosinski tralia involving 17,000 U.S., Australian, directly called out INDOPACOM’s poten- New Zealand, Japanese, South Korean and tial adversaries. British troops got underway Wednesday. “As the U.S. National Security Guidance Talisman Sabre hones the military and hu- KEVIN IINUMA/U.S. Air Force highlights, China has become rapidly more manitarian capabilities of the participating Airmen assigned to the 389th Fighter Squadron inspect an F­15E Strike Eagle after assertive,” he said.