MILITARY MILITARY FACES Violations of US Luong hands Netflix baffles airspace by drones over command of with trailer for a growing issue US Army Japan ‘Sexy Beasts’ Page 4 Page 5 Page 18 Clippers in deepest hole yet after Game 3 loss to Suns ›› NBA playoffs, Page 24 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 51 ©SS 2021 MONDAY,JUNE 28, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Ramstein center provides a place to decompress post-deployment BY KARIN ZEITVOGEL Stars and Stripes RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Ger- many — Leaving Bagram Airfield near Kabul last week after a five- month deployment was bitter- sweet for Tech. Sgt. Anthony Res- cigno. He was doing what he loves in Afghanistan as part of the 405th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron — picking up critically wounded patients and “keeping them alive until we can get them to the higher echelon of care,” he said Friday at the De- ployment Transition Center at Ramstein, where service mem- bers decompress after an over- seas deployment and are given the tools they need to ease back into life at home. Rescigno’s commander at Ba- gram had recommended that he pass through the DTC on the way home so that he could let go of some of the stress he and his unit were under in Afghanistan. Oth- ers, particularly security forces, have been referred to the program NATHANIEL GARCIA/U.S. Army before deploying because their Staff Sgt. Naomi Graham throws a right to the chin of Briana Che during a USA nationals bout at Salt Lake City, Utah, in December 2019. commanders know what they're likely to go through. SEE CENTER ON PAGE 4 Fighting for her country Army staff sergeant will make history when she boxes for Team USA at Tokyo Olympics BY SETH ROBSON 23. Graham will be the first female ac- of Graham’s life when she enlisted in Stars and Stripes tive-duty U.S. service member to box February 2013. rmy Staff Sgt. Naomi Gra- for gold, according to Team USA. “I just wanted to serve my country,” ham’s jab is the boxing equiv- Ranked No. 1 among U.S. middle- she told Stars and Stripes during a tele- alent of a Hellfire missile weights and eighth in the world, Gra- phone interview Friday. Alaunched from an attack hel- ham has steadily climbed the interna- Her first duty station was with the 1st icopter at a distant opponent. tional ladder, taking fifth at the 2016 Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th KARIN ZEITVOGEL/Stars and Stripes The 32-year-old ammunition special- World Boxing Championships before Aviation Regiment at Fort Carson, Colo. A service member returning from ist from Fayetteville, N.C., is one of the moving up to third in 2018. In 2019, she In addition to issuing ammo for the deployment plays a video game United States’ best hopes for a medal at Army Staff Sgt. won gold at the Pan American Games. at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. the Tokyo Olympics, which kick off July Naomi Graham But boxing was only a peripheral part SEE HISTORY ON PAGE 5 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Monday, June 28, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER J&J will pay $230M to settle NY opioid claim EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1,129.31 Associated Press fire, but today they’re committing nouncement. It said the settle- Switzerland (Franc) 0.9180 Euro costs (June 28) $1.17 Thailand (Baht) 31.79 NEW YORK — Johnson & John- to leaving the opioid business — ment involved two prescription Dollar buys (June 28) 0.8151 Turkey (New Lira) 8.7959 British pound (June 28) $1.36 son has agreed to pay $230 million not only in New York, but across painkillers — developed by a sub- Japanese yen (June 28) 108.00 (Military exchange rates are those available to New York state to settle claims the entire country,” she said. sidiary and accounting for less South Korean won (June 28) 1,100.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ that the pharmaceutical giant The deal involving a lawsuit than 1% of the market — that are many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain (Dinar) 0.3769 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ helped fuel the opioid crisis, Attor- brought by James in 2019 removes already no longer sold in the Unit- Britain (Pound) 1.3875 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2307 your local military banking facility. Commercial ney General Letitia James said Johnson & Johnson from a trial ed States. China (Yuan) 6.4563 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.2327 Saturday. that is slated to begin this week on The settlement was “not an ad- Egypt (Pound) 15.6697 when buying currency. All figures are foreign The drugmaker also agreed to Long Island — part of a slew of liti- mission of liability or wrongdoing Euro 0.8381 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7616 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ permanently end the manufactur- gation over an epidemic linked to by the company,” Johnson & John- Hungary (Forint) 294.42 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2521 ing and distribution of opioids nearly 500,000 deaths over the last son said. It added that its actions Japan (Yen) 110.84 INTEREST RATES across New York and the rest of two decades. “relating to the marketing and Kuwait (Dinar) 0.3013 Norway (Krone) 8.4979 Prime rate 3.25 the nation, James said in a state- In its own statement on Satur- promotion of important prescrip- Philippines (Peso) 48.53 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.78 Federal funds market rate 0.09 ment announcing the settlement. day, Johnson & Johnson down- tion pain medications were appro- Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7504 3­month bill 0.06 The company “helped fuel this played the attorney general’s an- priate and responsible.” Singapore (Dollar) 1.3425 30­year bond 2.17 WEATHER OUTLOOK MONDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST MONDAY IN EUROPE TUESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 66/60 Kabul Seoul 88/66 80/67 Baghdad 114/78 Osan Tokyo Kandahar Drawsko 81/66 71/67 99/60 Mildenhall/ Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 75/56 74/69 61/55 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 75/71 103/89 Zagan Sasebo 91/85 Brussels Ramstein 78/58 78/70 Guam 71/61 79/62 84/81 Riyadh Lajes, 112/77 Doha Azores Stuttgart 108/84 69/66 85/62 Pápa Aviano/ 90/65 Vicenza 87/64 Naples 91/71 Okinawa Morón 81/78 89/60 Sigonella Djibouti Rota 100/68 The weather is provided by the 75/62 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 99/83 82/75 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Classified .................... 13 Comics .........................16 Crossword ................... 16 Faces .......................... 18 Opinion ........................ 14 Sports .................... 19-24 Monday, June 28, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY Analysts: Russia ups deception ahead of drills BY ALISON BATH fusion or dissension, much as peo- Stars and Stripes ple are always trying to trick you NAPLES, Italy — Spoofing the with spam calls or email.” location of NATO ships, spreading But so far, Moscow’s efforts disinformation on social media seem to have had little effect, and and threatening military reper- the U.S. and its allies have contin- cussions are typical ploys from a ued preparations for Sea Breeze, well-worn Moscow playbook, one of whose aims is to send a firm analysts said ahead of an interna- message to Moscow that they tional naval exercise in the Black won’t be intimidated. Sea co-hosted by the United States “If Moscow believes we will and Ukraine. stand together in wartime and The annual Exercise Sea have enough military might to ful- Breeze comes ahead of Russian fill our goals — in this case uphold- threats to potentially fire on par- ing Ukrainian sovereignty — then ticipants if they intrude in their Russia will be deterred,” Holmes territorial waters, and following a said. “At the same time our allies, heated dispute over the passage of partners, and friends will take a British destroyer through the heart and feel confident enough to Black Sea on Wednesday. oppose Russian demands.” This year’s Sea Breeze drills Jorge Benitez, an expert on Eu- will include 32 countries from six ropean security with the Atlantic continents. Thirty-two ships, 40 Council think tank, said the inci- aircraft and 5,000 servicemem- dent amounted to a “dangerous es- Ukrainian navy bers will take part,” the U.S. 6th calation” by Moscow. The USS Porter sails the Black Sea during the annual Sea Breeze exercise in July 2020. Fleet announced. On Wednesday, the Russian “The continuation of this exer- military said it had fired warning mal commercial shipping away ton, Va. ognize Russia’s claim to Crimea, cise program is a visible demon- shots at and dropped bombs in the from Ukrainian ports, he said. While there is some risk for a which it occupied and annexed in stration of our enduring commit- path of HMS Defender, which The U.S. and other allies taking miscalculation as tensions rise 2014. ment to work closely with our NA- sailed offshore of Sevastopol in part in Sea Breeze should contin- and Russia continues to escalate, Last weekend, the location TO allied and partner nations to Crimea. ue as planned while expanding he described it as “low.” tracking data of a British and a enhance maritime security in the Russia said the actions caused NATO ship patrols in the Black “It can happen, especially when Dutch warship was altered to Black Sea,” said Lt.