REMEMBERING GEORGE: AFTER 25 YEARS, FAMILY KEEPS HIM ALIVE IN THOUGHTS

By Wilson Brown/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

The family has moved on but after 25 years their memories of their loved one are as strong as they were when they heard the news at 9:30 a.m. on April 25, 1980.

George's helicopter had gone down.

Cpl. George N. Holmes Jr. had graduated from Pine Bluff High School four years before joining the Marines.

"It's still very vivid in our minds," said Sallylu Holmes, George's mother. "My sons were teenagers."

While George, the eldest, joined the Marines, Richard went onto the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and James Douglass was a Pine Bluff High sophomore.

Twenty-five years ago, Mrs. Holmes and her husband, George Holmes Sr., (now deceased) woke up at 6:45 a.m., turned on the television and heard then-President Jimmy Carter announce that eight servicemen were killed in Iran. Their son was presumed dead in the aborted rescue mission.

Holmes died in the mission to rescue the U.S. Embassy hostages from Tehran when the helicopter he was riding in collided with a U.S. transport plane over the Iranian desert.

"The memories really stay the same," Mrs. Holmes said by phone Monday from her North Little Rock home. "They stay fresh."

Her son was supposed to be discharged from the Marines in August and planned to return to school.

"Those were trying times," said George's uncle, Joe Holmes of Pine Bluff. "They certainly affected the family."

He wasn't able to tell his parents about the secret mission he was preparing for, his parents told The Commercial in 1980, but on his visits home, Mrs. Holmes said she could tell he was preparing for Iran.

Memorial ceremonies were held in the Florida Panhandle at the operation's base and in Arlington National Cemetery at Washington, D.C., on Monday, Mrs. Holmes said.

"Several of the hostages will attend," she said. "It's a very, very nice ceremony."

The commemoration at Arlington was previously held every year, but was later changed to every five years, she said. The last time Mrs. Holmes attended was on the 15th anniversary.

Her niece, who lives at Arlington, Va., will represent the family this year, she said.

"I'm just glad that he's being remembered," Mrs. Holmes said.

Joe Holmes has fond memories of taking his nephews fishing on Lake Hamilton at Hot Springs and showing George the proper way to chop wood.

"We had a lot of laughs," he said.

According to the uncle, James Douglass now works with computers at Little Rock while Richard is a pilot for Delta Airlines at Atlanta.

After 25 years, George still hasn't left his uncle's thoughts.

"I took my first cousin back to the airport and he said 'I want you to take me out next time I'm in town to visit his grave site,'" he said.

"I sure do miss him. He was a very good boy."

http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2005/04/26/news/news3.prt

House recalls failed Iranian hostage rescue operation

By JEFFREY SAULTON

Belpre native John House was a senior airman in U. S. Air Force, who had joined three years earlier.

"Electronic warfare systems was my career area and I maintained electronic warfare equipment on special forces aircraft that were variations of C-130 aircraft and helicopters that were used in the rescue attempt," House said.

During that time House had been stationed at Hurlbert Field in Florida that was also known as Elgin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field No. 9. House said the AC-130H Spectre Gunship was the most notorious weapons deployed by the unit, but provided many air and ground components for special operations missions.

House said the hangars where they lived were poorly constructed and because the hangars were too small for the aircraft, they had to work on them outside where the daytime temperatures reached 110 to 115 degrees.

House said the mission, which was based at an abandoned air base in the deserts of Egypt built by the Soviet Union called Wadi Kena, was the first real-world mission by the top secret, elite Delta Force counter-terrorism unit. It has been cited as the first attempt before 2001 to battle terrorism around the world.

House said the Delta Force was formed one year before the hostages were taken when Iranian students stormed the United States embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, taking 60 hostages, seven of whom were released in the early days of the crisis.

"Col. Charlie Beckwith, who founded Delta Force, foresaw the need for this, an anti-terrorist unit," he said. "He had them formed and ready; they had just been certified right before the hostages were taken in Iran."

House said the mission was planned and ready to go in less than six months. House was part of a small group of support specialists sent to the abandoned base.

"My part started shortly after the hostages were taken in 1979, when I volunteered for a series of training missions to outfit an MC-130E Combat Talon with specialized equipment for the mission," he said. "One of our first trips was to a Lockheed facility in California to install the equipment."

They teamed with a chief petty officer with expertise on the new equipment.

While House was not where the accident occurred that caused the mission to fail, he said, it has been written about, especially in the books "The Guts To Try" written by the on-site commander, Col. James Kyle, and "Delta Force" written by Beckwith.

"It looks like a little bit of training was overlooked and the Navy helicopters that were used were stored on an aircraft carrier (the U.S.S. Nimitz) in the Indian Ocean for several months before the attempt," he said. "We found out later they had to be flown regularly to keep them in good shape.

"Although the attempt was made to get them ready before the mission, they still had a failure and there was a sandstorm coming in that nobody predicted."

House said two of the eight helicopters were lost to the storm on the way in, so they were left with six, the minimum needed. Added to that was a partial hydraulics failure on one and the commander refused to fly in that condition.

"At that point they aborted the mission and as they were leaving one of the pilots became disoriented in the dust trying to fly out and crashed into one of the C-130, causing an explosion," he said.

Panic set in and everyone fled to the remaining C-103s and left the landing site. Left behind were the helicopters and mission plans that blew the cover of an agent in Tehran.

There were eight casualties and their bodies were left behind. House said five of the eight were stationed at Hurlbert Field.

House said they learned of the tragic end of the mission from a BBC radio broadcast of then-President Jimmy Carter's press conference announcing the mission and its failure. House said he knew one of the men killed in the mission. He said rumors of a mission failure had circulated at their temporary base since the day before.

"One of the casualties was pilot Maj. Hal Lewis, with whom I had played darts in a dart league back at Fort Walton Beach, Fla.," he said.

A week later they returned to Hurlbert Field to a somber crowd waving flags and cheering for them, but there was no celebration.

"Our unit received a humanitarian medal for an Air Force outstanding unit award for our part in the rescue mission," he said. "Our Air Force special operations component performed flawlessly in the mission, living up to our motto of 'Anytime, Anyplace.'"

A year later they received another outstanding unit award for their work in a second rescue mission that was nearly launched before hostages were released in January 1981.

House related a story of how Kyle got the title for his book on the attempt "The Guts to Try."

"One of the returning mission crew told me that some British Royal Air Force pilot had dropped off several cases of beer at a small island air base in the Indian Ocean where they had stopped on their way to marshal their forces and take stock," he said. "The beer included a note from the Brits congratulating our guys for having 'the guts to try,' which became the title of Col. Kyle's book on the rescue mission."

House said he will attend the 25th anniversary ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery.

Contact Jeffrey Saulton via e-mail at jsaulton@newsandsentinel.com

http://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/story/0423202005_new04_houserescue042305.asp

Long Beach Press Telegram

Anniversary recalls a mission to forget
L.B. airman, 7 others gave their lives trying to free hostages in Iran.
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press

Saturday, April 23, 2005 - A desperate mission to rescue 53 American hostages from Iran ended in failure and the deaths of eight servicemen, but it is being remembered 25 years later as a turning point for U.S. special forces that eventually led to successes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and elsewhere.

Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force veterans of Operation Eagle Claw, families of those who lost their lives and a support group are gathering in Florida this weekend for an anniversary remembrance.

Mere failure turned into fiery disaster when a helicopter collided with a transport plane at Desert One, a desolate rendezvous spot in Iran, after mechanical and weather problems had already aborted the mission.

Among the dead were Long Beach native Maj. Richard L. Bakke, who was 33 when his plane died in the Iranian desert. He left a wife, Kassandra K. Bakke, according to Press-Telegram articles on the crash.

The Cal State Long Beach graduate is buried in a common grave with two other soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. At Forest Lawn Cemetery in Long Beach he is honored with a plaque that states, "He gave his life for his country in the Iranian rescue mission, April 25, 1980."

The tragedy shocked the Pentagon and Congress into building up special forces for clandestine missions and small-scale warfare against terrorists and guerrillas.

"The U.S. got better prepared to deal with terrorism quicker because of Desert One," retired Air Force Col. Roland Guidry said in recent interview.

He was a squadron commander at Desert One and later served as chief of air operations for the U.S. Special Operations Command, now headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Fla.

Organizational, logistical and equipment flaws coupled with interservice rivalry contributed to Eagle Claw's failure, but the audacious rescue plan and training that went into it still are paying dividends.

"There's a lot of missions that are occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan we don't know anything about, but they're using some of the same tactics and procedures we developed," Guidry said.

Guidry, 65, now a real estate broker at Destin, Fla., will be the principal speaker at an Eagle Claw symposium Monday, the mission's anniversary date, at Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Hurlburt is headquarters for the Air Force Special Operations Command, and it was the home base of five airmen who died at Desert One. Three Marines also were killed.

Tonight, the Tampa-based Special Operations Warrior Foundation will hold a 25th anniversary dinner and remembrance in Fort Walton Beach. The foundation provides college scholarships for children of special operators killed or disabled in the line of duty.

Jody Powell, then-President Jimmy Carter's press secretary, will be master of ceremonies. Carter's inability to free the hostages was an issue in his 1980 re-election defeat.

The crisis began Nov. 4, 1979, when a mob seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. One hostage was freed because of illness after the rescue attempt. The other 52 were released as President Ronald Reagan was being inaugurated in 1981.

Eagle Claw was aborted after mechanical problems disabled two of the eight Navy and Marine helicopters and a third turned back in the face of a dust storm. The five remaining helicopters were one short of the minimum needed to continue.

Six Air Force transports had flown in Army Delta Force troops and fuel for the helicopters, which were supposed to take the soldiers to a clandestine staging area near Tehran. The mission never got that far.

"I honestly don't feel we had much of a chance to complete the mission," said Wade Ishimoto, a Delta Force intelligence officer at Desert One and now a senior adviser for special operations at the Pentagon.

"So you look at me and say 'Why did you go?" Ishimoto said. "Well, because I was a soldier and the commander in chief, the president, said go."

After the abort order, one helicopter tried to leave Desert One in a cloud of dust but crashed into a parked C-130 cargo plane loaded with 44 Delta troops.

"We didn't hear anything. We just felt sort of a jar," said retired Air Force Staff Sgt. J.J. Beyers, a radio operator in the C-130's cockpit where five other airmen died. "We thought we might have been shelled or something. It never occurred to us what happened."

Beyers, 62, suffered severe burns and was forced to retire.

The transports had taken off from Misirah, an island off Oman. When they returned, British airfield workers sent over two cases of cold beer.

One case had a message scrawled on it. That piece of cardboard, displayed in a frame at Hurlburt, reads:

"To you all from us all for having the guts to try."

On the Net
Special Operations Warrior Foundation:
www.specialops.org

http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2832771,00.html#

Friday, April 22, 2005

Dawn of terrorism

Roanoker Marine Sgt. John Davis Harvey died with seven other servicemen 25 years ago in the failed rescue attempt of American hostages in Iran.

By John Cramer
981-3140
The Roanoke Times

File photo

Photos: Sgt. John Davis Harvey and the Iran hostage crisis

John Davis Harvey — a Roanoke native son, born on Memorial Day, killed at America's dawn of terrorism a quarter-century ago — lives on. In yellowed news clippings. In marble monuments. In his family's dreams.

"It seems like yesterday," said Jean Harvey, 82, whose son was one of eight U.S. servicemen killed April 25, 1980, during an aborted mission to rescue Americans taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran. "I think of Davis every day of my life — something he's done or hasn't done. You have to go on, but you don't ever get over losing a child."

While America's global war on terrorism officially started Sept. 11, 2001, many people consider Nov. 4, 1979, as the first major terrorist act against the United States, when Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. In January 1981, after failed negotiations and the aborted rescue effort, the 52 hostages were freed when the U.S. government released nearly $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets and signed an agreement prohibiting the hostages from suing Iran for damages.

The ill-conceived 1980 rescue attempt prompted America to reorganize its military speci

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al forces, creating the U.S. Special Operations Command. The failed mission also hurt the re-election chances of President Carter. And some say America's handling of the Iran hostage crisis emboldened terrorists and laid the groundwork for the U.S. campaign against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

"There's no question Sept. 11 and the [Iraq] war are rooted" in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East, said Richard Kohn, the chairman of the curriculum in peace, war and defense at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former Pentagon chief of Air Force history.

But Kohn said the Iran hostage crisis is just one of many factors that led to America's war on terrorism today, including U.S. intervention in Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf War and other results of U.S. foreign policy.

"We have to look at that [Iran hostage] crisis in the context of its time rather than as helping to build a worldwide terrorism threat," he said.

The Harvey family doesn't dwell on the larger ramifications of the Iran hostage crisis. Their loss 25 years ago Monday was personal — a son, brother, husband and father, embodied in one young man they loved deeply. His grave is on a grassy hillside in Sherwood Memorial Park in Salem. His name is engraved in war monuments in downtown Roanoke and in Arlington National Cemetery. He left his wife, Alisa Hillman Harvey, and daughter, Lauren Beth Harvey, who today live in Richmond, and his parents, Jean and John Harvey, and sister, Jaye Harvey, who live in Roanoke.

Western Virginia has a second connection to the Iran hostage crisis. Army Maj. Richard "Dick" Meadows, a Covington native who grew up in poverty as the son of a moonshiner, was a highly decorated Green Beret and a legendary figure in the U.S. Special Forces.

In 1980, he was retired from the military, but he volunteered to lead a team of U.S. agents into the Iranian capital to scout out the embassy where the hostages were held. When the rescue mission was aborted, Meadows, who posed as an Irish businessman, and his team of agents were left behind. All eventually escaped safely.

Known for his quiet heroism and a lifetime of adventure, Meadows was the subject of books and magazine covers. There is an 8-foot bronze statue of him at Fort Bragg, N.C., home of the Army Special Forces. He died of leukemia in Florida in 1995.

A quarter-century after the Iran hostage crisis, after all the history books and news articles and broadcasts and memorial services, there's not much left for the Harvey family to say publicly that hasn't been said. They remember Davis Harvey privately, in their thoughts, their prayers, their dreams.

"We think of him all the time," especially whenever Marines are killed in the Iraq war, said his father, John Harvey, 89, an Air Force veteran of World War II.

A remembrance ceremony is held each April 25 at Arlington National Cemetery, where a monument's brass marker lists the names of the three Marines and five Air Force crew members killed in the Iran hostage rescue crash at an aircraft refueling site code-named Desert One.

The servicemen's families used to stay in touch, but those ties have faded over the years. Monday, the eight families — and some ex-hostages — are expected to reunite for Arlington's 25th anniversary remembrance service.

Harvey was a 21-year-old Marine sergeant when he volunteered for the rescue mission, which was aborted because of a sandstorm and equipment failure. A Marine helicopter hit one of the Air Force transport planes at a clandestine refueling site in Iran's Great Salt Desert, creating a massive explosion that killed eight and injured four servicemen. Harvey was the youngest of the troops to die.

"I don't think they ever knew what hit them," Jean Harvey said. "I hope not."

A former choirboy and Boy Scout, Davis Harvey graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 1976. He was gregarious, tall and handsome. He was also an average student who was unmotivated, quick-tempered, unsure what to do with life.

He worked construction until the next spring, when he decided to join the Marines. He thrived under the discipline, impressing his superiors, moving up the ranks, becoming a specialist in helicopter electronics. The Marines matured him, helped him settle down. He married his high school sweetheart. They had a daughter.

Jean Harvey's memories of that long-ago morning, April 25, 1980, remain clear — hearing on the radio about the rescue attempt, the call from her husband to come home from work right away, knowing before she arrived that it was the worst.

"It's horrible," she said, remembering the Marine officers standing in her family room. "You know why they're there."

She remembers how Iranians cheered as the U.S. servicemen's bodies were paraded through the streets of Tehran.

"It was ghoulish, desecrating the bodies that way," she said.

Sitting in their home recently — a tidy brick ranch on a tree-lined street near Patrick Henry High School — the Harveys leafed through their two scrapbooks on their son. They bulge with clippings, photos, citations, condolence letters from President Carter, generals, other dignitaries, the yellowed telegram from the Marine commandant informing them of their son's fate.

On the family room wall is a gold-framed oil painting of Davis — 7 years old and smiling — next to a similar portrait of his sister. His boyhood sports trophies are still in the basement. A bookcase that he made is down there, too. He was handy with wood. His parents think often of their only son.

"I wonder what he'd be doing today," Jean Harvey said softly.

President Carter, who ordered U.S. flags flown at half-staff around the world, considered the young servicemen to be heroes.

"We know that it is not the length of a life that determines its impact or its meaning or its quality, but the depth of its commitment and the height of its purpose," Carter told hundreds of mourners at the memorial services in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Harveys said their son wouldn't have considered himself a hero.

"He would have said he was just doing his job and serving his country," his mother said.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made the Harveys reflect anew.

"It makes me sick to think of what the families [of servicemen killed in action] are going through," Jean Harvey said. "There's so much happening in the world today, and I think people do forget" about the Iran hostage crisis. "So, I'm very grateful for these [remembrance] services. It shows some people remember."

In the twilight of their own lives, the Harveys visit their son's grave on his birthday, Christmas and Easter. They remain close to his widow, who remarried, and to his daughter.

"That means so much to us," Jean Harvey said. "They're a part of Davis."

Alisa Harvey Dick said she thinks of her former husband every day. Easter, the day of resurrection and the day they were last together, and the April 25 anniversary of his death are the hardest times.

"It's not something you ever really get over," she said, "but life goes on."

Dick and new husband have two children. They, along with Lauren, who was 2 when her father died, call Jean and John Harvey their grandparents.

"I claim them all," Jean Harvey said, smiling.

Dick calls the Harveys her surrogate parents.

"My parents have been deceased for a long time, so a blessing for me is that Davis' family has become my family," she said. "It's a godsend to us. They're such a great family. I think if I hadn't maintained those ties that life would have been much harder for me."

Dick made sure her daughter understood from an early age that her father was a noble man who died serving his country.

"She's always known and talked about it," Dick said. "Ever since she could read, she's had a speaking part" in the April 25 remembrance service at Arlington.

Lauren Harvey, 27, has few memories of her father, but he has been an important part of her life. His death prompted her to become involved in No Greater Love, a nonprofit foundation that sponsors wreath-layings, remembrance tributes and memorial dedications for families who have lost loved ones in military service or terrorist attacks.

"It's important to support our military personnel even if you don't support going to war," she said.

Lauren Harvey said she thinks most Americans have forgotten the Iran hostage crisis and the servicemen who died.

"If you went up to 20 people on the street, probably five people might know of it," she said. "A lot of things happen in history, and if you don't know anybody who's related to it, you don't remember. That's why they [remembrance ceremonies] are so important. They're not just for the families. They're to help educate people."

Dick said she is consoled whenever people do remember the eight servicemen who perished in the Iranian desert.

"When it happened, there was an incredible outpouring of love and support from people all over the world," she said. "You can't imagine how much comfort that was. And our whole family [the Harveys and Dicks] will be there" at Monday's remembrance service. "There's comfort in family."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/22326.html

Army chief recalls 'Desert One' 25 years later

Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen Pfc. John Brothers with the 3rd U.S. Infantry stands by a wreath as part of the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., for the 25th annual tribute to the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission.

by Lt. Col. Michael Negard
Army News Service

Twenty-five years ago this week, then-Capt. Peter Schoomaker stood in the Iranian desert on a moonlit night at a place called Desert One.

After nearly five months of preparation to rescue 53 Americans taken hostage by Iranian militants, an aborted mission turned worse, and eight servicemen lost their lives in what would become a "watershed" event for the U.S. military.

On the eve of the anniversary, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, now the Army chief of staff, addressed an audience of more than 500 active military, veterans and family members of those killed.

The audience included fellow members who formed Task Force 76, the elite group of Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine servicemen, whose failure in the Iranian desert that night set the stage for the development of what would become the U.S. Special Operations Command.

"There was the fire, the confusion, the courage, the leadership, the frustration and the disappointment, and the sadness," Schoomaker said. "Then there was the recommitment to try again.

"But in reflection, from where I stand today, 'Eagle Claw' was a watershed event for this nation," he said.

Eagle Claw plan

The planning for Operation Eagle Claw began almost immediately after Iranian militants stormed the U.S. embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, and took 99 hostages, 46 of whom later escaped or were freed.

The bold concept called for members of the newly-certified US Army Special Forces Operational Detachment ? Delta (Airborne), and a team of ground controllers, translators and truck drivers to fly in three MC-130s to a remote location south of the capital of Iran called Desert One.

Three EC-130s were to land at Desert One and refuel eight Marine RH-53 helicopters that would launch from the USS Nimitz stationed in the Indian Ocean. The helicopters would refuel while the rescue force transloaded from airplanes to helicopters.

Once refueled and loaded, the helicopters would fly the task force to Desert Two, an intermediate spot on the outskirts of Tehran. There the force would meet up with team members already in country who would lead them to a safe house for the following night's assault.

The plan then called for the EC-130s and MC-130s to transport 100 Army Rangers the following night with the mission to secure and hold Manzariyeh Airfield. At the same time, three AC-130s would support the main assault at the embassy, provide cover for the Rangers, and suppress any attempts by the Iranian Air Force to counter the rescue.

Delta troops would assault the embassy where the hostages were located, free them, and rally with the helicopters loitering at a nearby university stadium. The freed hostages would then be flown to Manzariyeh Airfield where two C-141s would fly them to freedom.

That was the plan, but it was not to be.

'Night of 'carnage'

As fate would have it, the Marine helicopters quickly became plagued by maintenance problems and an unforgiving desert sand storm enroute to the first rally point. Two of the eight RH-53s were unable to reach Desert One. The first three helicopters arrived an hour past the scheduled link-up time and the remaining flight arrived 15 minutes later.

The mission required a minimum of six operational aircraft. As men and equipment were quickly being moved between fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft, one of the six helicopters experienced a hydraulics failure. On-scene commanders assessed the situation and determined that there was no other choice but to abort the mission with the hope of preserving manpower, equipment, and the element of surprise for another chance to try again.

As one of the helicopters was repositioning, its rotor blades contacted the tail of a parked EC-130. The collision was horrific and turned an aborted mission into a deadly catastrophe.

The RH-53 and EC-130 erupted in flames. Five Air Force personnel and three Marines perished and many more were injured.

The Iranians in Tehran reacted by scattering the 53 hostages around the country making it all but impossible for another attempt by US forces to free them.

The legacy

Dr. Jim Lewis, son of Capt Harold Lewis, a C-130 pilot who was killed at Desert One, told attendees at Monday's gathering that events which occur in our lives inevitably come to shape us to what we are today.

That sentiment was shared by many who attended the celebration, to include retired Army Lt. Gen. Jim Vaught, who commanded the rescue task force.

"Eagle Claw was a successful failure," Vaught said. "We wanted with all our being to rescue the Americans. However, had we succeeded, conventionalists in all likelihood would have said we did not need a full-time training and ready force which could quickly and successfully rescue Americans the world around.

"[Without Desert One] we would not have the competent, proven, ready Special Operations forces that are today the envy of the world."

Seven years after the failed mission, the U.S. Special Forces Command (SOCOM) was established as a result of the Goldwater-Nichols and Cohen-Nunn acts.

"This nation has a history of never being ready to go to war. We didn't do it in WWII. We didn't do it in Korea and we didn't do it here," Schoomaker said. "I keep a photo of the carnage that night to remind me that we should never confuse enthusiasm with capability.

"Eight of my comrades lost their lives," he said. "Those of us who survived knew grief and we knew failure, but we committed ourselves to a different future."

(Negard serves a public affairs officer for the Army Chief of Staff.)

http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/10_17/national_news/34689-1.html