COLLEGE FOOTBALL MILITARY VIDEO GAMES Army hosts Navy for Airman honored for Demon’s Souls is 1st time in 77 years protecting fallen the ideal title for due to coronavirus Green Beret in fight launch of PS5 Page 24 Page 3 Page 13 US government panel gives green light to use of Pfizer vaccine ›› Page 6 stripes.com Volume 79 Edition 170A ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION SATURDAY,DECEMBER 12, 2020 Free to Deployed Areas McKenzie: Drawdowns to limit future operations BY CAITLIN M. KENNEY Stars and Stripes WASHINGTON — The troop drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq planned to be completed by mid-January will restrict the re- maining forces in both countries and limit how the United States as- sists with future operations there, the top general for U.S. Central Command said Thursday. “We’re just going to have to be very careful and focused when we do it,” Marine Gen. Frank McKen- zie said during a virtual event with DefenseOne, a news organization. On Nov. 17, acting Defense Sec- retary Christopher Miller an- nounced President Donald Trump had decided to reduce the U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan by Jan. 15, just five days before Presi- U.S. Space Force dent-elect Joe Biden is sworn into The U.S. Space Force is one of eight teams participating in this year’s Call of Duty Endowment video gaming event to raise money for veterans. office. The force reduction will leave roughly 2,500 troops in Afghanis- tan and 2,500 in Iraq as both coun- tries continue to see violence Heeding the Call to help against government forces and ci- vilians by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and the Taliban. With less troops, the work of ad- Military gamers participate in event to assist veterans transitioning to long-term careers vising and assisting Afghan forces with counter-terrorism oper- BY ERICA EARL said Dan Goldenberg, the endow- ations will be done “at a higher Stars and Stripes ment’s executive director. level,” McKenzie said. daylong video gaming Competitors include players “We will have to be very careful event raised nearly $1 from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and very smart how we pick and million to help veterans Marine Corps and Space Force choose where we go and where we Afind work and careers and the United Kingdom’s British don’t go. And the margins will be before it even went live Friday, ac- Army, Royal Air Force and Royal less, but we believe it still will en- cording to a nonprofit affiliated Navy. able us to carry out our core objec- with the popular Call of Duty fran- The C.O.D.E Bowl kicked off at tive” of preventing ISIS and al- chise. 10 a.m. Friday on the U.S. West Qaida from attacking the U.S. or The Call of Duty Endowment is Coast; however, the virtual event other partner countries from Af- hosting a livestream face-off of was to stream all day across time ghanistan, the general said. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, zones on the Call of Duty Twitch The United States will not have the most recent version of the and YouTube channels. trouble getting down to less than first-person shooter game, to raise The Call of Duty Endowment Activision 3,000 in Afghanistan by January, awareness and money to place Modern warriors are returning to the Cold War for a video game veterans in long-term careers, SEE GAMERS ON PAGE 5 tournament featuring the latest edition of the first-person shooter. SEE DRAWDOWNS ON PAGE 4 BUSINESS/WEATHER Airbnb shares more than double PAGE 2 •ESXCHANGE RATESTARS AND STRIPESSaturday,• December 12, 2020 Military rates So. Korea (Won) 1094.09 Associated Press Nasdaq Stock Market under the crazy after all,” Chesky said. Switzerland (Franc) .8895 Euro costs (Dec. 14) $1.18 Thailand (Baht) 28.18 Airbnb proved its resilience in a symbol “ABNB.” “Airbnb is rooted in the funda- Dollar buys (Dec. 14) 0.8047 Turkey (NewLira) 7.8262 British pound (Dec. 14) $1.29 year that has upended global trav- Instead of the traditional ring- mental idea that people are good Japanese yen (Dec. 14) 102.00 (Military exchange rates are those available el. Now it needs to prove it can live ing of the bell prior to the trading and we’re in this together.” South Korean won (Dec. 14) 1060.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ up to investors’ sky-high expecta- day, Airbnb presented a video of Airbnb raised $3.7 billion in its many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) .3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ tions. Airbnb hosts from around the offering, making it the biggest Britain (Pound) .7573 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2775 your local military banking facility. Commercial The San Francisco-based home world ringing their doorbells. In a U.S. IPO this year, according to China(Yuan) 6.5470 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.1414 sharing company made a trium- video message, CEO Brian Ches- Renaissance Capital, which tracks Egypt (Pound) 15.7103 when buying currency. All figures are foreign phant debut on the public market ky also thanked the millions of IPOs. The company had initially Euro .8252 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7513 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ Thursday. Its shares closed at guests who have stayed at its list- set a price range of $44 to $50 for it Hungary (Forint) 292.53 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2517 $144.71 apiece, more than double ings. In 2019 alone, 54 million shares, but raised that to a range of Japan (Yen) 104.00 INTEREST RATES the $68 price that Airbnb had set. guests stayed at an Airbnb. $56 to $60 earlier this week indi- Kuwait(Dinar) .3051 Norway (Krone) 8.8157 Prime rate 3.25 The closing price gave the compa- “You gave us hope that the idea cating rising investor demand. Philippines (Peso) 48.12 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.66 Federal funds market rate 0.25 ny a valuation of just over $100 bil- of strangers staying together, in Airbnb wants to add more hosts Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7509 3­month bill 0.08 lion. The shares are trading on the each others’ homes, was not so and properties. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3365 30­year bond 1.64 WEATHER OUTLOOK SATURDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SATURDAY IN EUROPE SUNDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 46/36 Kabul Seoul 40/29 49/30 Baghdad 66/49 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 49/29 61/41 50/31 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 34/30 48/33 51/33 Iwakuni Kuwait City 57/43 Bahrain Brussels Zagan Sasebo Guam 68/52 79/65 Ramstein 40/31 59/45 47/38 45/40 86/79 Riyadh Lajes, 69/45 Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 64/59 44/38 77/65 Aviano/ 43/36 Vicenza 43/35 Naples 56/49 Okinawa Morón 73/68 66/58 Sigonella Rota 57/48 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 65/60 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 84/76 64/48 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Comics ........................ 19 Crossword ....................19 Video Games................ 13 Movies ................... 14-15 Opinion ........................ 18 Sports ................... 20-24 Saturday, December 12, 2020 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 WAR ON TERRORISM Airman honored for protecting fallen soldier BY PHILLIP WALTER ation to clear some 450 ISIS fight- WELLMAN AND CHAD ers from the rugged terrain in GARLAND Nangarhar province turned into Stars and Stripes 17 days of continuous close com- KABUL, Afghanistan — Staff bat, Barrett said. Sgt. Alaxey Germanovich dozed The actions Germanovich was off briefly during a break in a har- honored for came about a week rowing two-week fight to oust Is- into the mission, on April 8, 2017, lamic State fighters from a re- when ambushed coalition forces mote valley in eastern Afghanis- fought a grueling 8-hour gun bat- tan, but he awoke to the sound of a tle under machine gun and sniper belt-fed machine gun. fire from all sides, the award cita- The Air Force combat controll- tion says. er rushed into the fight, calling in Germanovich is the 12th mem- Hellfire missiles to take out two ber of the Air Force’s Special Tac- suicide bombers, then directed tics community to receive the bombing and strafing runs medal for extraordinary heroism against an overwhelming enemy since the 9/11 attacks. Special PHOTOS BY MICHAEL WASHBURN/U.S. Air Force force that had pinned down an Ar- Tactics airmen are ground spe- The father of Staff Sgt. Alaxey Germanovich, 26th Special Tactics Squadron combat controller, pins the my Special Forces team he was cial operations troops that direct Air Force Cross medal on his son, Thursday at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. accompanying. airstrikes, recover personnel and He later used his body to pro- conduct battlefield surgeries. wasn’t working, so we started pended all of their ammunition have.” tect one of the Americans, 7th Spe- ISIS opposition had been heavy dropping 2,000-pound bombs. and grenades, but there were still Germanovich’s actions protect- cial Forces Group (Airborne) from the get-go, with gunfights That worked for a little bit.” enemy fighters all around and the ed over 150 friendly forces, Bar- member Staff Sgt.