No meeting next week because of Labor Day Holiday.
Chris Kimple announced that nominations for this year’s Eisenhower Humanitarian Award closes this Wednesday, September 2, 2020.
Eric Gladhill announced that he is still looking for host families for students next year to host a student for a third of the school year. We do not know what country the student will be from but it is usually from European countries.
Mike Hanson announced that he had programs filled through November but would take suggestions after November.
Mike Hanson introduced Lieutenant General (retired) Ralph Jodice, (shown above, from our Zoom meeting) who retired from United States Air Force on July 1, 2013 after 36 ½ years of service. Currently, General Jodice serves as a Senior Mentor for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He is one of 13 retired generals and admirals from eight different countries who advise senior NATO commanders and their staffs for high level exercises and specific training events.
He is the President and serves on the Board of Directors of his fraternity’s alumni association and is a Past President and serves on the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Hanover, Pennsylvania. He serves on the Board of Directors for F3…Fitness, Fellowship, Faith.
General Jodice flew over 3,500 flight hours in the F-111A/E, F-15E, T-38B and the UH-1N. He served in multiple assignments in the U.S., England, South Korea, China and Turkey. He commanded the 335th Fighter Squadron, the 4th Operations Group, the 80th Flying Training Wing home of the Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, the Air Force District of Washington DC, NATO’s Allied Air Command Izmir, Turkey, and the Combined Forces Air Component for NATO’s Operation Unified Protector. He was on the Joint Staff, J-33, as the European Command Division Chief. He was the Defense Attaché in Beijing, China and was the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs. He holds a bachelor and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering, and a master’s degree in National Strategic Studies from the National War College. He’s a graduate of Squadron Officers School, Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the Air War College.
His military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the NATO Medal, and the French Legion of Honor Medal.
He and his wife, Judy, moved to Hanover in February 2014. They have 3 sons who are all married and have children. They have 6 grandchildren. Ralph and Judy are often seen on their tandem bikes, cycling on the back roads in our area.
The NATO Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949 with 12 original countries. There are 30 member nations today as there have been 8 Expansions since 1949. English and French are the official languages of NATO. www.nato.int is the website if you want additional background information. The original 12 countries in NATO were: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, and United States.
NATO is a political and Military Alliance, with cooperation in Security and Defense. It is a Trans-Atlantic Link for Political and Security Cooperation. NATO provides collective security and collective defense (Three Musketeer Clause—and attack against one should be considered an attack against all.) Each country has a permanent delegation at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The political decision making body within the Organization is NAC (North Atlantic Council). NATO Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg from Norway. Decisions are made by consensus. Consensus means “not saying no”. There is also a Military Committee at headquarters consisting of a 2 or 3 star General or Admiral from each country. The USA has a 3-star general on the Committee.
Militarily, SHAPE HQ is located in Mons, Belgium, about 1 1/2 hours from Brussels. The SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander Europe) is always an American. Deputy is British; Chief of Staff is German; and rest of positions rotate. NATO also has partnerships: Partnership for Peace (PFP) grew after the end of the Cold War and includes Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, and Ireland and others. Mediterranean Dialogue includes Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and several others. ’There are 13 senior mentors from 8 different countries whose purpose is to provide advice and counsel. All are retired generals or Admirals and nominated by their nation. The tenure of senior mentors is 6 years and Lt. General Jodice is in his last year.
As he said, “No matter what, you can have the best fighter jets, the best submarines, the best rifles and equipment, but in the end, it comes down to people working together and toward a common goal.”
Questions followed. Answers to Questions: 1) There is not really a problem with leaking of classified information because many of those involved distrust Russia; 2) The President cannot take us out of NATO on his own. 3) There is still a strong alliance of countries in NATO even though there has been some ruffling of feathers as the President has insisted that members pay their fair share. 4) Every country in NATO pays its share of the day-to-day operating costs but some do not pay 2 % of Gross Domestic Product for special operations. NATO has very little hardware for special operations and must rely on member nations to carry out its missions.
Some other pictures from the presentation by Lt. General Jodice:
