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Overcoming Adversity: How an Italian Became a Special Tactics Operator

June 28th, 2020

Sometimes in order to achieve one’s goal in life, one has to overcome a great deal of adversity and life lessons to do so. No one appreciates this more than Master Sgt. Stefano Guadagnuolo, a Special Tactics operator assigned to the 125th Special Tactics Squadron, Portland Air National Guard Base, Ore. His teammates prefer to call him G for short.

G grew up in the town of Piacenza, Italy in an 80 person condominium, where there was an ‘army of kids’ for playing and snowball fights. Italians are used to being very social, it’s a cultural thing, said G. Every weekend is a celebration and you don’t have to walk far to be with friends and family.

He attended college in Parma and at the age of 18 he was drafted into the Italian Army as a Mountain’s Troop Officer, where he served for two and a half years. After going back to Parma for college, he decided it was time to venture out and try something new. He ended up in Costa Rica to be a diver, and from there travelled to Honduras for a year to become a Dive Master as an underwater tour guide. G met many American friends there vacationing who told him he should come to the states, so he sold all of his scuba gear and flew to Houston.

After arriving in the U.S., he toured the country for a while eventually ending up in San Diego, again as a Dive Master on a boat. He remembered how he always wanted to join the Air Force’s Combat Control career field because he learned about them during his time as an Italian officer, but he couldn’t get a security clearance at the time. Air Force recruiters told him to join the Marines or the Army to get jump and dive certified and then try again. He then joined the U.S. Army Airborne Infantry, and ended up with an Army Ranger contract.

“I had only been in the states for less than a year when I joined the Army, so I had to pick up English very quickly,” said G. “The American culture is very different from Italy, also. Everyone is so spread out and you have to make plans to see each other.”

Once he had gotten used to the culture, the Army realized there was a mix up with his security clearance, and as a result the Army sent G back to Italy where he was assigned to an Infantry Airborne Brigade. He served as a gunner in Vicenza, Italy for four years, but still dreamed of joining the Air Force. He decided to give it another try and called up an Air Force recruiter to apply to become a Special Tactics Combat Controller, but found out he would have to be stateside to apply for Active Duty. Once again G had to veer away from his goal and decided to re-enlist in the Army, as a Deep Sea Diver and was stationed in Virginia for four years. Eight years later, he still had hopes of joining the Air Force, and worked on his citizenship to do so.

“It felt like the target would keep moving past me, and I had to keep asking myself ‘should I do this,’ said G “…but I had already made it this far so I might as well keep going.”

The year he tried to get into the Combat Control pipeline, was also the year the 142nd stood up the 125th Special Tactics Squadron. The squadron saw his resume and concluded he had the qualifications to join, so G moved his family to Portland to take on the extremely difficult two-year pipeline at 35 years of age.

While his 20-year-old teammates were out on the town, he would be at home icing up and letting his body recover after long days of intense training.

Despite some difficulties he was already qualified in many of the required skills and was even named honor graduate at Combat Control School. Thanks to his hard work and determination, G was offered a full-time Active Guard Reserve position at the base. He now currently serves as the Squadron’s Superintendent 13 years later.

“Don’t stay comfortable in what you do,” said G. “Plan on trying new roles and career developments, and take on new challenges. Know your limits and stick to your goals.”

He enjoys what he does, so it made the challenges worth it. He stuck to his goal that he had his heart set on, but had to go through years of experience first to achieve it. Besides the challenges he’s faced in learning English, the cultural differences in the states, and joining the Army to reach his ultimate goal, he has also had to deal with challenges as a Special Tactics operator during conflicts in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The Air Force has a much better lifestyle than the Army he said. He now has an 18-year-old daughter, Kate Guadagnuolo, who wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and join the U.S. Air Force as well. Kate is scheduled to attend Basic Military Training by the end of the summer after she graduates high school.

“My dad has taught me to take life in strides and that’s how you venture through life and get through it,” said Kate.

G will be retiring in a year, but is proud of his daughter for wanting to follow in his Air Force footsteps and even more glad he stuck to his goal of becoming a Special Tactics Combat Controller by staying resilient, keeping his heart set on his goals, and overcoming the adversity he has faced in his career.

“I know she will be able to handle the military as she is mentally tough,” said G. “You have to be able to stay positive and resilient, but the rewards are worth it.”

She was able to meet his family in Italy and said that they are very intense, but sweet and are very family oriented. Kate enjoys playing in the water, like her dad, through water polo and said that he is goofy and likes to embarrass his kids.

She’s excited to join the Air Force and follow in her dad’s footsteps, but she will be going in to Public Affairs as a Photojournalist. She said G makes fun of her for not being able to run as fast as her old man, so she’ll have to work on that, but has told her that the military can offer her more opportunities for education and travel.

Story by Tech. Sgt. Emily Moon

142nd Wing Public Affairs

Posted in AFSW, Air Force, Guest Post, SOF | 1 Comment »

SCUBAPRO Sunday – Operations Red Wings

June 28th, 2020

On 28 June 2005, U.S. Special Operations suffered our its biggest loss since WWII. Please take a moment today and think about the fallen and their families. Long Live the Brotherhood

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Lt. (SEAL) Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y.

Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew G. Axelson, 29, of Cupertino, Calif.

Machinist Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Eric S. Patton, 22, of Boulder City, Nev.

Senior Chief Information Systems Technician (SEAL) Daniel R. Healy, 36, of Exeter, N.H.

Quartermaster 2nd Class (SEAL) James Suh, 28, of Deerfield Beach, Fla.

SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two, Virginia Beach, Va.

Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny P. Dietz, 25, of Littleton, Colo.

SEAL Team Ten, Virginia Beach, Va.

Chief Fire Controlman (SEAL) Jacques J. Fontan, 36, of New Orleans, La.

Lt. Cmdr. (SEAL) Erik S. Kristensen, 33, of San Diego, Calif.

Electronics Technician 1st Class (SEAL) Jeffery A. Lucas, 33, of Corbett, Ore.

Lt. (SEAL) Michael M. McGreevy Jr., 30, of Portville, N.Y.

Hospital Corpsman 1st Class (SEAL) Jeffrey S. Taylor, 30, of Midway, W.Va.

Army Night Stalkers

3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare, 29, of Danville, Ohio.

Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, 35, of Clarks Grove, Minn.

Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby, 21, of Pompano Beach, Fla.

Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles, 33, of Shelbyville, Ind.

Maj. Stephen C. Reich, 34, of Washington Depot, Conn.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell, 31, of Stafford, Va.

Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach, 40, of Jacksonville, Fla.

HQ Company, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III, 36, of Franklin, Tenn.

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A Message from the 3rd SFG(A) Chaplain

June 28th, 2020

Posted in Morale | 4 Comments »

Domestic N95 Mask Production Expected to Exceed 1 Billion in 2021

June 28th, 2020

WASHINGTON — Thanks to work by the Defense Department’s COVID-19 Joint Acquisition Task Force, U.S. industry is expected to greatly increase the production of N95 masks next year, the task force’s director said.

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, Stacy Cummings told lawmakers that nationally, the U.S. was consuming about 50 million N95 masks each year. During the COVID-19 crisis, demand for masks increased substantially to about 140 million during a 90-day peak-use period.

DOD investments to help domestic industry ramp up production of those masks and other equipment will help ensure that in the future the U.S. will better be able to meet demand for personal protective equipment with domestic production, she said.

Based on the investments made by the department, Cummings told the House panel, an increase in production of 450 million masks a year will be attained by October, with a rate of more than 800 million masks per year by January.

“Starting in 2021, we anticipate our total domestic production to be in excess of a billion per year,” Cummings said.

Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told lawmakers that increasing domestic production capabilities has been a focus of the department.

“In order to decrease our dependence on foreign suppliers for medical resources, DOD has focused on increasing domestic industrial capacity and capabilities,” she said. “To that end, we executed some $284 million in industrial expansion efforts during the first two weeks of May 2020. Reconstituting domestic production or creating new production that shifted offshore years ago often requires capital expenditure, capital equipment expenditures, retooling and retraining of the workforce.”

Lord also said DOD has been focused on maintaining the health of the defense industrial base during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DIB includes a wide array of businesses that produce weapons, equipment and supplies for the U.S. military.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses that make up the DIB suffered as other U.S. businesses did, Lord said. Should some of those businesses fail as a result of COVID-19-related disruptions, it might result in the department not being able to procure important defense-related supplies, equipment or weapons, she added.

Lord said the department is using $688 million of CARES Act funding to address impacts to the DIB by directly offsetting financial distress and providing investments to regions most severely affected.

She also said that increased communication between the department and the DIB were key in allowing defense officials to better understand where the industry was hurting most, and where the need existed most. When first she stepped into the A&S leadership role in 2017, she said, she set up quarterly meetings with DIB representatives to better assess their needs. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated that communication.

“When the pandemic hit and we saw how catastrophic it could be to our defense industrial base, what we did was just really amped up those engagements,” she said. “So starting on March 17, we had our first [teleconference] with industry, and we broadened beyond just the three industry associations that we worked with, to really start including nontraditionals and others.”

The number of industry representatives involved in those meetings also increased, Lord said, “For multiple weeks, we had calls three times a week. One of those calls per week was focused on small business, and we listened to what the problems were,” she said. “As a result of that, … a lot of the leadership of A&S listened to what the issues were, and we tried to start taking the first small steps.”

Lord said as a result of that communication, the department worked to simplify how to do business with the military, including raising the threshold for micropurchases and increasing the progress payment rate from 80% to 90% for large businesses, and from 90% to 95% for small businesses.

“This change will infuse an estimated $3 billion in cash to all levels of the DIB,” Lord said. “Further, the department has partnered with the major primes to ensure this increase in cash makes its way throughout the supply chain.”

By C. Todd Lopez, Defense.gov

Posted in Army, COVID-19 Pandemic, Guest Post, Medical | Comments Off on Domestic N95 Mask Production Expected to Exceed 1 Billion in 2021

Bushnell Pros Cooper and Gilliland Continue Hot Streak on PRS Circuit with Elite Tactical Riflescopes

June 27th, 2020

Elite Tactical Optics Help Claim Two Titles at Alabama Precision Regional

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas – June 26, 2020 – Bushnell wishes to congratulate pro shooters Mark Cooper and Melissa Gilliland for claiming two titles at the recent Alabama Precision Regional PRS Match. Cooper used his trusted Elite Tactical XRS II to win the Tactical Division and place 4th overall in the match, continuing his hot streak in recent PRS competitions. Fellow teammate Gilliland was successful in earning a second consecutive Top Lady title thanks in part to her Elite Tactical DMR II Pro.

For Cooper, his recent win at the Alabama Precision Regional marked his fourth consecutive title in the Tactical Division. Entering the match, Cooper was red hot, earning wins at the Pigg River H.A.M., Red Brush and the K&M Precision Rifle Series matches. Cooper currently sits atop the PRS leaderboard with a commanding lead in the Tactical Division.

“Over the last couple of months, everything has been in sync,” said Cooper. “My gear has been running flawlessly and every shooter knows having that confidence is often the determining factor. I’ve always trusted my XRS II, but after these last few matches my faith in it just keeps growing. Regardless of how rough I treat it or what the conditions are – whether dealing with mirage or just bad weather – it never loses zero and it consistently gives me those clear views so I can keep making impacts.”

Fellow teammate Melissa Gilliland also delivered a strong performance taking home the Top Lady title. Fresh off her win at the MPA Regional PRS Match, Gilliland opted to use the Elite Tactical DMR II Pro to begin this year’s season.

“This year I decided to change things up a little and go with the DMR II Pro vs the scope I normally use – the XRS II,” said Gilliland. “While at first it was different not having the higher magnification range of the XRS II, the increased eye box of the DRM II Pro has helped with identifying and picking up targets faster. Both scopes have outstanding glass so really, it’s just a personal preference. You can’t go wrong either way.”

For more information on the Elite Tactical riflescopes go to www.bushnell.com/products/riflescopes/collections/elite-tactical.

Posted in Press Release, Shooting Sports | 2 Comments »

Cinch-LR Binocular Adapter from Really Right Stuff

June 27th, 2020

The Cinch-LR BA is a semi-permanent clamp mount, that should fit in most supplied harnesses. The RRS 1.5″ dovetail standard, coupled with the Manfrotto RC2 standard, should allow the majority of tripod users to quickly attach and detach their optic from multiple ball head manufacturers.

If using a standard other than one of the two mentioned above, there is a 3/8″-16 mounting socket on the bottom of the Cinch-LR to adapt to a system of your choice.

The Cinch-LR BA can be mounted perpendicular or parallel to the optical plane. The removable strap can be fed through the buckle with the excess strap exposed on the outside, or reversed with the excess following the contour of the optical housing.

soar.reallyrightstuff.com/Cinch-LR-BA

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New research advances Army’s quest for quantum networking

June 27th, 2020

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Two U.S. Army research projects advance quantum networking, which will likely play a key role in future battlefield operations.

Quantum networks will potentially deliver multiple novel capabilities not achievable with classical networks, one of which is secure quantum communication. In quantum communication protocols, information is typically sent through entangled photon particles. It is nearly impossible to eavesdrop on quantum communication, and those who try leave evidence of their tampering; however, sending quantum information via photons over traditional channels, such as fiber-optic lines, is difficult – the photons carrying the information are often corrupted or lost, making the signals weak or incoherent.

In the first project, the University of Chicago research team, funded and managed by the U.S. Army’s Combat Capability Development’s Army Research Laboratory’s Center for Distributed Quantum Information, demonstrated a new quantum communication technique that bypasses those traditional channels. The research linked two communication nodes with a channel and sent information quantum-mechanically between the nodes—without ever occupying the linking channel.

“This result is particularly exciting not only because of the high transfer efficiency the team achieved, but also because the system they developed will enable further exploration of quantum protocols in the presence of variable signal loss,” said Dr. Sara Gamble, program manager at the lab’s Army Research Office and co-manager of the Center for Distributed Quantum Information. “Overcoming loss is a key obstacle in realizing robust quantum communication and quantum networks.”

The research, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, developed a system that entangled two communication nodes using microwave photons—the same photons used in cell phones—through a microwave cable. For this experiment, they used a microwave cable about a meter in length. By turning the system on and off in a controlled manner, they were able to quantum-entangle the two nodes and send information between them—without ever having to send photons through the cable.

“We transferred information over a one-meter cable without sending any photons to do this, a pretty unusual achievement,” said Dr. Andrew Cleland, the John A. MacLean Sr. Professor of Molecular Engineering at Pritzker Molecular Engineering at University of Chicago and a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. “In principle, this would also work over a much longer distance. It would be much faster and more efficient than systems that send photons through fiber-optic channels.”

Though the system has limitations, it must be kept very cold, at temperatures a few degrees above absolute zero, the researchers said it could also potentially work at room temperature with atoms instead of photons.

The team is now conducting experiments that would entangle several photons together in a more complicated state, which could ultimately enable enhanced quantum communication protocols and capabilities.

Entangled particles aren’t just limited to photons or atoms, however. In a second paper published June 12 in the peer-reviewed journal Physical Review X, the same Chicago team entangled two phonons—the quantum particle of sound—for the first time.

Using a system built to communicate with phonons, similar to the photon quantum communication system, the team entangled two microwave phonons, which have roughly a million times higher pitch than can be heard with the human ear.

Once the phonons were entangled, the team used one of the phonons as a herald, which was used to affect how their quantum system used the other phonon. The herald allowed the team to perform a so-called quantum eraser experiment, in which information is erased from a measurement, even after the measurement has been completed.

“Phonons give you a much bigger time window to do things and relieve some of the challenges in doing a quantum eraser experiment,” Cleland said.

Though phonons have a lot of disadvantages over photons—for example, they tend to be shorter-lived—they interact strongly with a number of solid-state quantum systems that may not interact strongly with photons. As a result, phonons could provide a better way to couple to these systems.

This coupling is a critical capability for many quantum networking applications, and may also benefit other quantum information science applications such as quantum computing. Additionally, the wavelengths of phonons are shorter than those of photons for the same frequency, potentially enabling smaller quantum circuits.

“Together, these experiments provide multiple avenues for future research into how we construct quantum networks that function in non-ideal environments, and reliably transfer quantum information between systems,” said Dr. Fredrik Fatemi, researcher at the laboratory and co-manager of the Center for Distributed Quantum Information. “Both are critically important for developing future quantum technologies.”

By U.S. Army CCDC Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs

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