The Wake Up Project

Story Number: NNS090918-14 Release Date: 9/18/2009 2:40:00 PM By Mass Communication Specialist David P. Coleman, FA PANAMAX 2009 Public Affairs PANAMA CITY, Panama (NNS) -- Representatives from 10 U.S. government agencies are holding a two-day table-top exercise in cooperation with the government of Panama to assist in responding to any future influenza pandemic Sept. 16. The agency representatives are in Panama in conjunction with Fuerzas Aliadas PANAMAX 2009, a 12-day military security training exercise involving 20 countries. The representatives discussed how the United States and the Panamanian government can manage an influenza outbreak by utilizing their agencies' assets to combat a pandemic. "Our goal is to work as close as possible with the Panamanians in case there is a real threat, such as a pandemic influenza," said U.S. Navy Capt. Miguel A. Cubano, a medical doctor and command surgeon for the U.S. Southern Command. "We want to help them set up a plan so a...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi and American troops seized a rocket launcher loaded with about a dozen Iranian-made rockets aimed at an American base in the southern city of Basra, Iraqi officials said Tuesday. The United States military said in a statement that Iraqi and American forces conducted a search operation on Basra’s outskirts after hearing explosions near the base Monday night. The American statement said that Iraqi security forces confiscated 16 rockets and arrested three in connection with the operation without giving further details. No casualties were reported. A spokesman for the Basra police force, which took part in the operation, said that a rocket launcher loaded with 13 Grad rockets, positioned on the back of a pickup truck, was found in the Shatt al Arab district northeast of Basra. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in the number of rockets. “They came from a neighboring country,” said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Rafie al-Jawad, but he refused to specify which one. An Iraq...