DoD Will Terminate Unvaxxed Civilians

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The Pentagon has outlined punishments for civilian employees if they fail to get vaccinated, reports CNN. The guidance says civilian employees who refuse to be vaccinated will face an escalating series of punishments, including five days of education and counseling, 14 days of unpaid suspension, and finally termination “for failing to follow a direct order.” These enforcement actions can begin November 22.

Sailors who refuse COVID-19 vaccine could have to repay bonuses, reports Task & Purpose. The Navy’s COVID-19 vaccination program could require sailors to repay bonuses, special pays, and the cost of their training if they are discharged for refusing to get vaccinated. “Anytime a sailor enters into an agreement for special pay, they sign a contract that explains they are subject to repayment if they fail to fulfill the terms of the contract,” said LT Travis Callaghan, a spokesman for the chief of naval personnel.

The USS Bonhomme Richard fire spread wildly due to “repeated failures,” reports Navy Times. While the Navy has charged a junior sailor with starting the fire last summer, a command investigation lays blame for the botched response at all levels of command. The ship’s force’s training and readiness was plagued by “a pattern of failed drills, minimal crew participation, an absence of basic knowledge on firefighting in an industrial environment and unfamiliarity on how to integrate supporting civilian firefighters,” the report states.

The Senate directs NASA to choose another company to build a lunar lander, reports Space.com. In April, NASA announced that SpaceX alone had won the contract to build the agency’s next moon lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon’s surface by 2024. After much legal back-and-forth following NASA’s original decision, the Senate Appropriations Committee is directing NASA to now choose a second company to develop a crewed lunar lander.

The Colonial Pipeline hack shows the peril of ignoring military cyber vulnerabilities, says USAFSec Frank Kendall, according to Breaking Defense. In May, Russian-based hackers breached Colonial Pipeline’s networks, causing a gas shortage, skyrocketing fuel prices, and ultimately costing the company $5 million in ransom money — and all those hackers needed was one password, Kendall said. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. If we don’t protect our data, it is wide open for our competitors to steal or manipulate and to disrupt our military operations.”

The White House has weighed tapping National Guard to address mounting supply chain backlog, reports The Washington Post. (Paywall.) The officials have explored in recent weeks whether the National Guard could be deployed to help address the nation’s mounting supply chain backlog. The idea appears unlikely, but reflects government’s attempts to use its resources to spark outside-the-box solutions.

 

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs will start over after a seven-month search failed to name a candidate to lead the largest health care system in the country, reports Stars and Stripes. (Paywall.) The VA has been without a confirmed leader of the Veterans Health Administration for more than four years, since David Shulkin was nominated in February 2017 as the VA secretary. Dr. Richard Stone served as the acting undersecretary but resigned in June, once it was clear the initial search commission would not nominate him to remain permanently. The position is responsible for hundreds of thousands of employees and an annual budget of about $61 billion.

The Navy surpasses the other services in contraceptive care, reports Stars and Stripes. (Paywall.) A recent study credits the walk-in contraceptive clinics offering same-day services the Navy launched in 2016. As of February, the Navy operated 22 such clinics, usually held once weekly, including at bases in Europe. The Army had five, including a monthly clinic at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, and the Air Force had one.

For the first time, a flotilla of five Russian and five Chinese warships transited a narrow waterway separating the major Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, reports Stars and Stripes. The Tsugaru Strait from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific Ocean, is 12 miles wide at its narrowest point. Russian and Chinese forces have been training together since 2005 but the latest drills are sending messages about the “Quad” grouping involving the US, Japan, Australia, and India which also conduct joint training exercises in the region.

The Taliban praised suicide bombers and are offering their families cash and land, reports Reuters. The Taliban offered families of suicide bombers who died during the war against the former government and its Western allies sums of cash and promises of land, according to a statement from the Taliban’s interior ministry. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister, called them heroes of Islam and the country.

Lorraine Mulvaney Vogelsang, who joined the WAAC in 1942, turned 100 years old on August 29, 2021, reports Military.com. She joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps when its mission was, “Your Job: To Replace Men. Be Ready To Take Over.” Vogelsang spent the most of her enlistment at Lubbock Army Air Field in Texas. At first she was tried “out as a butcher, they taught us how to use the sharp knives and which ones to use on what parts of the carcass. Then, two men came in from a truck outside carrying a dead lamb, and that’s all I remember. I guess I passed out, because I don’t remember anything else after that. I didn’t last very long in that job.”

Are Russia’s nuclear battlecruisers the last battleships floating or a waste of steel? asks 19fortyfive. At 827 feet long and with a displacement of more than 24,000 tons, they are the largest surface combat ships in the world that are not aircraft carriers. Their massive armament of missiles makes them among the most powerful warships ever built.

The US and ally nations need more mines to boost the rare earths supply chain, reports Reuters. (Paywall.) Danielle Miller of the Pentagon’s Office of Industrial Policy,  said, “mining is a necessity to increase resilience in global supply chains.”

Mary Pastrana has been named Pax River’s new Exceptional Family Member Program case manager and liaison, reports The Tester. Pastrana is a military wife and has an undergraduate degree in social work, a master’s degree in general counseling, more than 12 years of experience.

The Army is considering digital engineering, 3D virtual models, and simulations to design a new armored combat vehicle to replace the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, reports Military Aerospace. The Army is still working out how to implement digital engineering, which cloud environment to use, and if they want a contractor or to do it themselves.

BAE Systems was the only bidder for a $137.1 million contract to support the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division with a variety of services including engineering, integrated product support, technical data, and configuration management, mostly at Pax River, St. Inigoes, MD, reports Washington Technology.

Contracts:

TRAX International Corp., Las Vegas, Nevada, was awarded a $654,824,767 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide US Army Aberdeen Test Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with test and test support services including planning, conducting, analyzing, and reporting the results of developmental tests, production tests, and other tests. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 26, 2026. US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W91CRB-22-D-0001).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a not-to-exceed $206,832,036 undefinitized modification (P00012) to a cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee order (0097) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001914G0020). This modification adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering, detailed aircraft modification execution planning and technical data packages in support of modifications to the F-35 developmental test fleet aircraft. These modifications are necessary to support flight tests for the F-35 developmental test fleet and for the capabilities delivered under the F-35 Block 4 modernization in support of the Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (60%); Patuxent River, Maryland (20%); and Edwards Air Force Base, California (20%), and is expected to be completed in December 2025. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $5,000,001; fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,000,001; and non-U.S. DOD participant funds in the amount of $2,202,771 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Leebor Services LLC, Williamsburg, Virginia, is awarded a $10,027,337 firm-fixed-price modification to a task order (N6945021F0726) under previously-awarded multiple award construction contract N69450-17-D-0508 to exercise Options One through Four, which provide for design-build Hurricane Sally recovery work at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Exercising these options brings the total cumulative task order value to $16,780,462. Work will be performed in Pensacola, Florida, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,027,337 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity.