Here are five news stories and events to start your week:
F-22 Stealth Fighters Fly to South Korea Amid Tensions With North
A half-dozen U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets over the weekend arrived in South Korea for a joint exercise, "Vigilant Ace," set for this week. The move marks the first time so many of the fifth-generation stealth jets flew into the country at one time, according to the South's Yonhap News agency. The U.S. also plans to dispatch F-35A and F-35B stealth fighters, F-16C fighters and an unspecified number of B-1B conventional bombers. North Korea, which last week launched its biggest ICBM to date, called the drills a "dangerous provocation" bringing the region "to the brink of a nuclear war."
Senator: US Military Families Should Leave South Korea
Via Associated Press: Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Sunday called for the spouses and children of the nearly 30,000 U.S. service members stationed on South Korea to leave the peninsula amid the rising tensions with the North. "I'm going to urge the Pentagon not to send any more dependents to South Korea," he told CBS. "South Korea should be an unaccompanied tour. It's crazy to send thousands of children to South Korea, given the provocation of North Korea. So, I want them to stop sending dependents, and I think it's now time to start moving American dependents out of South Korea."
Iwo Jima Flag Raiser's Name Is Wrong in Government Brochure
Via Richard Sisk at Military.com: "Another mistake in one of history's most extraordinary cases of mistaken identity was made in a Nov. 21 ceremony at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Brochures on the epic battle for Iwo Jima handed out by the National Park Service at the ceremony attended by Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Commandant, still listed Navy Corpsman John "Doc" Bradley as one of the six flag raisers captured in the iconic photo and now immortalized in bronze at the memorial."
US Troops to be Trained on Reporting Child Sex Abuse by Afghans
Via Richard Sisk at Military.com: "As part of the new strategy in Afghanistan, U.S. troops will get training on reporting child sex abuse by the Afghan army and police. The new policy will be aimed at the practice of "bacha bazi," or "boy play," in which boys dressed as women dance at parties and are passed around among warlords and other authority figures.Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO Resolute Support mission, said that the new policy "sets out procedures for monitoring, reporting and investing violations by any [Afghan] Ministry of Defense personnel" suspected of child abuse."
Navy: Aviators Who Drew Sky Phallus Have Been Punished
Via Hope Hodge Seck at Military.com: "Two U.S. Navy aviators who caused a stir by skywriting a giant phallus over Washington State have been disciplined, the Navy has confirmed. Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, commander of Naval Air Forces, convened a Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board to address the matter and hand down discipline, said Cmdr. Ronald Flanders, a command spokesman. While the specific punishment was not made public as it was meted out in an administrative proceeding, an official told Military.com that the individuals were permitted to retain their status as aviators."
-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
