MBN, Monte Bubbles Network

For the past six months, troops overseas have been getting a high dose of caffeine thanks to a partnership between a group dedicated to supporting combat troops and a family-owned coffee company. In December, Lindsey Coffee Company, in Phoenix teamed up with "Packages From Home," an Arizona nonprofit group, to send over 1,500 pounds of coffee to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then, the two groups have teamed up twice more, sending more than 3,000 pounds in total. "They stepped up to the plate and did something the major coffee companies aren't doing," said David Whitten, director of marketing and media relations for Packages From Home.

The partnership began after Whitten appeared on a local radio show to talk about the troop-support efforts Packages From Home has made since its inception in March 2004, he said. The nonprofit group was sending an average of 1,500 care packages per month to deployed troops, but good coffee donations were hard to come by. Dave Lindsey, the Lindsey Coffee Company's owner, and Josh Parrott, its vice president, heard about the broadcast and got in touch with Packages From Home founder Kathleen Lewis, offering a large supply. "Then in February, they contacted us again and said, 'Well, it's time to ship some more coffee, Dave,' so they made another big donation," Whitten said. "We went to their plant and packed it up." The Pentagon Channel filmed the latest packing party in March, in which more than 700 pounds of coffee were boxed up in two hours. Whitten said he appreciates the volunteers who have worked on the project and become coffee-packing pros. State and nationwide connections have helped the effort as well. Packages From Home is part of "America Supports You," a Defense Department program highlighting grassroots and corporate support for the nation's troops and their families. Local military members also play a big role in the group's efforts. "Our local Marine Corps Reserve unit is just absolutely awesome," Whitten said of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, Bulk Fuel Company C, based in Phoenix. "Whenever we need somebody in uniform, the Marines are always there," he said. "Whenever we need a color guard presentation for an event, they're always there."

To date, the group has shipped over 26,000 packages to combat troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. "Anybody that's in an area of combat operations and signs up on our Web site, we'll see that they get care packages," Whitten said. He added that the group provides pen pals and answers e-mails too. "Receiving packages out here is like gold," said Marine Lance Cpl. Brandy Wilson, an administration clerk responsible for distributing mail to the Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force on Camp Fallujah, Iraq. "To get little goodies and hygiene products and special things from complete strangers feels like a million bucks." Wilson said she was amazed when the coffee shipments started arriving to her unit, not only at the volume of coffee, but at how her fellow Marines reacted. "People were coming in with their coffee cups and canisters begging for it. It was hilarious!" she said. To spread the wealth, Wilson said her unit plans to send several boxes out to Marines on the Iraqi borders and other areas that have little chance at such coffee conveniences. "I can't thank the American people enough," she said. "It's awesome, & truly amazing to know we have people out there supporting us."

A new agreement between the United States and Australia opens the door to more information sharing and cooperation in research and development related to combating terrorism. Thomas O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, and Peter Shergold, Australia's secretary for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, today at the Pentagon signed a memorandum of understanding that promotes closer counterterrorism collaboration between the two countries. The MOU provides cost sharing over the next 10 years for combined research and development across technology areas and activities. These will focus on identifying and detecting terrorists and terrorist groups, foiling their efforts, neutralizing their weapons, and reducing the probability of terrorist incidents.

The bilateral agreement is similar to those already in place between the United States and the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel and Singapore. O'Connell called today's agreement "a significant effort" between the U.S. and Australian governments that will enable them to share more sensitive, proprietary information as they collaborate in fighting terror. The association is particularly meaningful to O'Connell, who served alongside Australian forces as a soldier during the Vietnam War. "This advances the partnership between our two countries in a very tangible way," said Ambassador at Large Henry Crumpton, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator. The agreement enables the United States to tap into Australia's extensive technological, intelligence and special operations capabilities to better serve warfighters and first responders on the front lines against terror, he said. "This agreement is geared to the field," he said. Australia's representatives at the signing ceremony agreed the memorandum represents a win-win in the war on terror. "This is tremendous from our point of view, and continues the process of binding together two strong allies," Shergold said. "It offers a real opportunity for us to work together at the preventive end, to prevent and combat the effects of terrorism." Gary Quinlan, Australia's deputy chief of mission to the United States, said the agreement represents "a new frontier" in cooperation between the two countries as they wage what both recognize as a long war that demands endurance. Australia remains one of the United States' "closest partners in the global war on terror" and stands "on the front line against terrorism in Southwest Asia," he said.

Pooling their resources and promoting collaborative research and development will enable the two countries to build on their strengths as they stand up to terrorists. "We have to be able to defeat these people," Quinlan said. The Technical Support Working Group will manage the arrangement in the U. S. DoD's Office of Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict and the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism jointly administer this interagency research-and-development activity. In Australia, the National Security Science and Technology Unit within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet will administer the program. Today's memorandum of understanding signing comes one day after President Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard met at the White House and affirmed their commitment to fighting terrorism and promoting freedom around the world.

President Bush's proposal to temporarily boost the National Guard's contribution to U.S. border security stands as a testament to the Guard's flexibility but in no way signals a new, long-term Guard mission, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress today. Under Bush's plan, announced May 15, up to 6,000 National Guard members will provide mobile communications, transportation, logistics, training, and construction support to the U.S. Border Patrol, the secretary said in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee.

Rumsfeld emphasized that the National Guard will not provide law enforcement support. "Military forces will not be involved in apprehension or detention of illegal immigrants," he said. To those concerned that the mission will put too much stress on the force, Rumsfeld noted that the number of troops proposed represents less than 2 percent of the Guard's 400,000-plus members. During the mission's second year, Guard participation is expected to drop to 3,000 or less, he said. These troops will operate during their two- or three-week active-duty-for-training periods. The National Guard already operates this way in support of counternarcotics missions along the border, he noted. Rumsfeld said the mission will provide Guard members real-life training without disrupting other missions or causing undue personal hardship, he said. "This will not only not adversely affect America's ability to conduct the war on terror or respond to other domestic emergencies," Rumsfeld said. "It will actually provide useful, real-life training for the members of the National Guard. "It will be beneficial to the Guard because they'll be doing the very same things they would be doing if they were training their two weeks on an exercise basis, as opposed to doing something that the country really needs."

California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the four border states involved, would use their own National Guard members to the extent they have the skill sets the Border Patrol needs, the secretary said. The National Guard Bureau will work with other state governors to provide troops, as needed. No state governor will be required to commit Guard troops to the mission, Rumsfeld said. The secretary emphasized that the arrangement is not a long-term commitment. Bush's proposal would commit the National Guard only "on an interim basis as the Department of Homeland Security ramps up to a greater level of capability," he said. Army Lt. Gen. H Stephen Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told subcommittee members that the concept of using the Guard temporarily while developing other, long-term capabilities has become "a long-lasting, time-proven model." He noted the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when the National Guard provided airport security until the Transportation Security Administration could recruit and train enough people to take over the mission. "The Guard provided that capability for this nation on an interim basis until the proper federal agency could stand up, train and equip their people, and then they took over the mission, and the Guard left that mission and went back to doing other things," he said. Similarly, the National Guard conducted cargo-handling inspections along the southwest border for several years as the U.S. Customs Service recruited, trained and equipped its own people for the job, Blum said. "It would be my intent to work the National Guard out of this (Border Patrol support) mission as quickly as the Department of Homeland Security can stand up their capabilities," the general told the subcommittee members. "I think the National Guard is superbly ready to be the military force of choice for this interim mission until the Department of Homeland Security can stand up and assume this mission," Blum said.