Remains of Vermont soldier killed in Korean War returned
The remains of a 20-year-old soldier killed in the Korean War in 1951 have been returned to Vermont and were being laid to rest in a cemetery next to his family.
Army Cpl. George A. Perreault, of Burlington, was reported missing in action on Feb. 13, 1951, following an attack on his unit by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces in an area known as the Central Corridor in South Korea.
Perreault’s remains were among 208 boxes of comingled human remains returned to the U.S. between 1990 and 1994. His identity was confirmed by DNA tests of a sister and two nieces.
The remains were buried May 13 in a Winooski, Vt., cemetery with full military honors.
The Defense Department says 7,751 Americans remain unaccounted for following the Korean War. AP
Pentagon intelligence chief warns of Afghan gains being lost
The U.S. must “do something very different” in Afghanistan, such as placing American military advisers closer to the front lines of battle, or risk squandering all that has been invested there in recent years, the head of the Pentagon’s military intelligence agency said May 11.
The grim assessment by Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, comes as the Trump administration considers Pentagon recommendations to add more U.S. and NATO troops and to deepen support for Afghan forces. The timing of a White House decision is unclear but is not expected this week.
In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Stewart said he visited Afghanistan about six weeks ago to see for himself what others have called a stalemate with the Taliban, the insurgent group that was removed from power in 2001 by invading U.S. forces.
“Left unchecked, that stalemate will deteriorate in the favor of the belligerents,” Stewart said, referring to the Taliban. “So, we have to do something very different than what we have been doing in the past.” He mentioned increasing the number of U.S. and NATO advisers and possibly allowing them to advise Afghan forces who are more directly involved in the fighting. Currently the advisers work with upper-echelon Afghan units far removed from the front lines.
If such changes are not made, Stewart said, “the situation will continue to deteriorate and we’ll lose all the gains we’ve invested in over the last several years.”
Testifying alongside Stewart, the nation’s top intelligence official, Dan Coats, said the Taliban is likely to continue making battlefield gains.
“Afghanistan will almost certainly deteriorate through 2018 even with a modest increase in military assistance by the United States and its partners,” Coats said, adding, “Afghan security forces performance will probably worsen due to a combination of Taliban operations, combat casualties, desertion, poor logistics support and weak leadership.”
The Pentagon says it currently has about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, about one-quarter of whom are special operations forces targeting extremist groups such as an Islamic State affiliate. Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Kabul, has said he needs about 3,000 more U.S. and NATO troops to fill a gap in training and advising roles.
More than 2,200 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in October 2001. AP
Germany’s Merkel rejects call to reintroduce conscription
Chancellor Angela Merkel is rejecting calls for the reintroduction of military conscription in response to an investigation of an alleged far-right plot by two soldiers to assassinate prominent political figures.
Merkel’s government ended conscription in 2011. A prominent lawmaker in the chancellor’s conservative party, Patrick Sensburg, has argued that conscription should be introduced because citizens in uniform are “a reliable early-warning system to recognize extremism of the left and right.”
Merkel said May 11 Germany made a fundamental decision on conscription, “and we should conduct necessary reforms in continuity with this decision.” She added that “what the Bundeswehr needs is predictability.”
Prosecutors believe the soldiers planned to blame their attack on refugees. One of the soldiers allegedly passed himself off as a Syrian refugee while also serving with the Bundeswehr. AP
Boeing halts test flights of new plane over engine issue
Boeing is suspending test flights of a new airliner because of a possible problem in the manufacturing of a key engine part.
The company said May 10 that it still plans to deliver the first Boeing 737 Max later this month, and production will continue.
The news sent Boeing shares down nearly 4 percent, although they recovered partly to close at $183.18, down $2.31, or 1.3 percent.
Chicago-based Boeing was notified last week of a potential issue involving turbine engine discs produced by a supplier to engine maker CFM International. Boeing said it has not experienced any problems with the discs during more than 2,000 hours of testing.
The Max is designed to be a more fuel-efficient version of the workhorse 737, Boeing’s most popular commercial plane. Malaysia’s Malindo Air plans to take delivery of the first Max in a few days and begin using it for passenger flights before July. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. expects to begin using the plane this fall.
The discs in question are made by a supplier to CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and France’s Safran.
GE spokeswoman Jamie Jewell declined to identify the supplier. She said GE and Safran will work with the supplier to find and correct any shortcomings in the manufacturing process while also turning to a backup supplier to keep production of engines on schedule.
In a written statement, Boeing said it will work with CFM “to understand the precise scope and root cause of the quality issue.”
New planes and parts go through extensive testing to turn up problems before passengers go on board.
Cai von Rumohr, an analyst with Cowen and Co., said “this doesn’t look like a serious concern” because Boeing still expects to deliver the first plane this month and it appears to be a fixable manufacturing problem rather than a design flaw.
Boeing has built about 9,500 single-aisle 737s since the late 1960s. The company said it has taken more than 3,700 orders for the Max, which carries a list price of $112.4 million to $119.2 million, although airlines routinely get big discounts. AP