WORLD SERIES MILITARY FACES Stars shine for Army chaplain Pearl Jam gets Dodgers in Game 1 jailed for drunken political again win over Rays behavior, gas theft during hiatus Back page Page 3 Page 17 Tricare enrollment fees set to increase for many next year » Page 6 stripes.com Volume 79, No. 134 ©SS 2020 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Esper eyes an ‘enduring’ presence for unit in Europe BY COREY DICKSTEIN Stars and Stripes WASHINGTON — The Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment might re- tain an “enduring” presence in Eastern Europe even after the unit’s soldiers leave Germany, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday. Esper said he is close to or has reached agreements with defense officials in several Eastern Eu- ropean nations to host rotations of American forces as the United States works to withdraw about 12,000 troops from Germany. In July, the defense secretary an- nounced the plan to move troops out of Germany, saying the 2nd Cavalry Regiment — now the only brigade-sized U.S. ground combat unit stationed full time in Europe — would be relocated to the continental United States. “Since that announcement, as well as the signing of the de- fense cooperation agreement with Poland, my recent meetings with defense ministers from Ro- mania and Bulgaria, and corre- spondence received from Baltic KALLYSTA CASTILLO, U.S. NAVY/TNS states, there is now the real op- portunity of keeping the 2nd Cav- Petty officer 3rd class Teddi Young is one of the USS Ford’s all female bridge watch section, known as the Iron 9. alry Regiment forward in some of these countries on an enduring basis,” Esper said in a speech at the Atlantic Council, a Washing- ton-based think tank. Esper’s initial force restruc- Women on the watch turing plan was announced July 29 as President Donald Trump BY DAVE RESS what we can do.” ordered the Pentagon to remove Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) They call USS Ford’s While one of the Iron 9, Seaman Adri- troops from Germany, speeding yanna Jones, thinks the group’s achieve- up a long-planned review of the omen have been serving on all-female bridge watch ment will influence how female sailors are SEE EUROPE ON PAGE 5 Navy ships for a quarter-cen- seen for years to come, she believes they tury, although the deck depart- also showed something about the deck ment — especially the bridge section the ‘Iron 9’ W department. watch sections responsible for steering the “Since we’re on an aircraft carrier, a ship and keeping a lookout for hazards — “They did great. If there’s a grade high- RELATED lot of people focus on flight deck opera- have remained a mainly male preserve. er than ’A’, that’s what I’d give them,” said tions and aircraft maneuvering,” she said. That changed with USS Gerald R. Ford’s Petty Officer 2nd Class Faeline Matthews, 10 NATO members “Sometimes deck department is overlooked underway last month — all the deck depart- the boatswain’s mate who leads the team as an essential asset, but recently there’s now meet 2% ment sailors assigned to the boatswain’s and whose job is to make sure the relatively mates bridge watch teams were women. young sailors in a bridge watch section are been a lot more acknowledgement towards defense spending They call themselves the Iron 9. qualified to do the work. “I think it shows SEE WOMEN ON PAGE 5 benchmark Page 5 PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Thursday, October 22, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES GM’s Tenn. factory to become electric vehicle plant Military rates Switzerland (Franc) .............................. 0.9044 Euro costs (Oct. 22) ..............................$1.16 Thailand (Baht) ......................................... 31.23 Dollar buys (Oct. 22) ........................€0.8217 Turkey (Lira) ............................................. 7.8340 Associated Press and it will also get additional un- expected to announce details of an British pound (Oct. 22) ........................$1.28 (Military exchange rates are those Japanese yen (Oct. 22) ......................103.00 available to customers at military banking specified electric vehicles, GM all-electric GMC Hummer pickup South Korean won (Oct. 22) ..........1,105.00 DETROIT — General Motors Commercial rates facilities in the country of issuance said in a statement Tuesday. truck this week. They’re among for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the plans to spend $2 billion to con- Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................... 0.3770 “We’re investing in U.S. manu- 20 electric models the company British pound ......................................... $1.3117 Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For vert its Spring Hill, Tenn ., assem- nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., facturing to ensure that GM can plans to sell globally by 2023. Canada (Dollar) ....................................... 1.3112 bly plant into a third U.S. site to China (Yuan) ........................................... 6.6537 purchasing British pounds in Germany), build future electric vehicles. build the vehicles that custom- The Spring Hill facility em- Denmark (Krone) .................................... 6.2746 check with your local military banking ers love today as well as transi- ploys about 3,400 hourly workers Egypt (Pound)....................................... 15.6950 facility. Commercial rates are interbank The Detroit automaker also Euro ............................................ $1.1862/0.8430 rates provided for reference when buying says it will spend another $153 tion to an all-electric future,” who make the Cadillac XT5 and Hong Kong (Dollar) ................................ 7.7501 currency. All figures are foreign currencies Gerald Johnson, GM’s executive XT6 gas-powered SUVs as well as Hungary (Forint) .................................... 306.61 to one dollar, except for the British pound, million to upgrade five Michigan Israel (Shekel) ........................................ 3.3775 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, factories for future vehicles. vice president of global manu- a GMC SUV. The complex, which Japan (Yen).............................................. 104.53 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) The company will build the Ca- facturing, said during an online is GM’s biggest in North America, Kuwait (Dinar) ........................................ 0.3055 INTEREST RATES announcement. “We want to put also makes four engines that go Norway (Krone) ...................................... 9.2051 dillac Lyriq, a small electric SUV, Philippines (Peso) .................................... 48.51 Prime rate ................................................3.25 at the Spring Hill factory. Gaso- everyone in an electric vehicle.” into GM trucks and SUVs. Poland (Zloty) .............................................. 3.85 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) .............................. 3.7508 Federal funds market rate ...................0.09 line-powered Cadillac SUVs will The Lyriq is due in showrooms Renovation of the plant will Singapore (Dollar)................................. 1.3544 3-month bill ............................................. 0.10 continue to be built at the plant, sometime late in 2022. GM also is begin immediately, GM said . South Korea (Won) ............................ 1,132.50 30-year bond ...........................................1.60 WEATHER OUTLOOK THURSDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST THURSDAY IN EUROPE FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 63/43 Kabul 79/47 Seoul 54/34 Baghdad 96/64 Kandahar 79/43 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 52/42 70/57 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 61/45 64/53 60/42 Iwakuni 68/54 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 92/77 Brussels 62/55 Guam 98/70 63/50 Ramstein 68/59 85/78 Lajes, 66/55 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 91/57 95/78 65/60 68/54 66/45 Aviano/ Vicenza 63/53 Naples 71/52 Okinawa Morón 75/70 68/54 Sigonella Rota 72/53 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 95/81 68/59 72/61 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 14 Classified .................. 13 Comics ...................... 18 Crossword ................. 18 Faces ........................ 17 Opinion ..................... 15 Sports .................. 19-24 Thursday, October 22, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 MILITARY Drunken behavior, gas theft lands chaplain in jail BY JENNIFER H. SVAN related to that night and another Stars and Stripes incident last spring involving text messages. KAISERSLAUTERN, Germa- Wood pleaded guilty to being ny — A series of bad decisions, absent without leave from his job from stealing gas to smashing the on Panzer Kaserne for U.S. Army window of his estranged wife’s Garrison Stuttgart, where he was car, has landed an Army chaplain a resource manager in the garri- assigned to Stuttgart in jail for a son’s religious support office. month. Wood admitted in court to ig- Chaplain (Maj.) Donald V. noring an email from his supervi- Wood was sentenced Tuesday at sor in late March 2020 revoking a general court-martial, after a his leave early and ordering him NORAD military judge found him guilty to report back to work. Mili- An F-22 Raptor from the North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepts a Russian Tu-95 of larceny, conduct unbecoming tary police picked him up about “Bear” bomber in international airspace near Alaska on Monday. an officer and a gentleman, and of two days later at his home in damaging nonmilitary property. Kaiserslautern. He pleaded guilty to being absent “I was distraught due to life