European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 stars and stripes thursday March 22 2007 Sailor pleads guilty to smuggling shr Ooms by David Allen stars and stripes Naha Okinawa a 20yearold Sailor pleaded guilty tuesday in Naha general District court to smuggling hallucinatory mushrooms into Japan through the mail Petty officer 3rd class Trent Riley a corpsman assigned to Camp Hansen was arrested by Okinawa police on Jan 15 As a package containing 505 Grams of mushrooms containing Psilocybin a psychoactive compound was delivered to his Home in the Kurokawa District of Okinawa City Riley admitted during a two hour session that he ordered the mushrooms from the nether lands Over the internet he said he had planned to take the mushrooms with his wife to have fun before his scheduled deployment to Iraq in april i was worried about spending a year away from my wife and possibly not coming Back he told the three judge panel hear ing the Case he had been mar ried just More than six months when he was arrested his wife testified that she had no knowledge her husband had or dered the psychedelic fungi Riley from Florida said that despite briefings from his com Mand that using the mushrooms was illegal he had heard from self help web site to counsel troubled troops anonymously by Justin Berton san Francisco chronicle heres a future scene from the Iraq Battlefield circa july 2007 a us service member Battles against the enemy All Day Long at night after returning to base Hes troubled by what Hes seen but he knows better than to speak up he knows that if his comrades see him talking with one of the shrinks on base they would lose Trust in him Label him a head Case a medical file soon would contain records of the visit if he Ever wanted a promotion hed have to explain the weakness of his mind so just outside the View of his fellow troops he logs on to a virtual therapy web site provided by the military called after deploy Mentor researchers therapists and military psychologists who met at the fifth annual military suicide prevention conference in Holly Wood Fla last week believe that the thinking among the male dominated therapy verse troops attendees discussed How to Stem military suicides in 2005 alone the last year for which there Are confirmed Fig ures 22 service members killed themselves in Iraq Kuwait and Afghanistan since the military is 85 percent male and the majority of its Mem Bers Are Ages 17 to 24 conference attendees hailed the planned july 1 launch of  As the Best Way to reach a group sceptical about counselling and most prone to suicide if you told me to try therapy when i was 221 would have told you you were the crazy one said Keith Armstrong a family therapist at us san Francisco who spoke at the conference he is one of the authors of the recently published courage after fire a Book that helps families and sol Diers Cope with Post traumatic stress disorder Armstrong said the military web site which will include an onscreen therapist who can appear in video workshops will not have the nuance and feel of facet face meetings Between Cli ent and therapist but he added if a Large portion of your Popula Tion wont step foot into a therapists office in the first place maybe this is the precursor to therapy that necessary the web site has been under construction for two years As part of a congressional mandate to address Post traumatic stress disorder and after studies showed that service members in Iraq and Afghanistan were reluctant to visit Field Counselor for fear of being stigmatized by their Peers Kubasak student to attend citizenship program Camp Foster Okinawa Emma Elaine Roberts a 16yearold Junior at Kubasak High school has been picked to attend the Texas Bluebonnet girls state summer program this june at Texas lutheran University in Seguin Texas the daughter of Marine it col Mark and Shizue Roberts Emma Roberts is the first student from an Okinawa department of defense dependents school to attend the american legion sponsored program in the United states normally a youth must reside in the state and be nominated by their High school to attend and be sponsored by an american legion group her father said adding that program officials made allowances because he is a member of Okinawa american legion Post and a Texas resident the program is designed to educate Young women in the rights and responsibilities of citizenship according to the organizations web site from staff reports friends that they were not prohibited and were sold openly in Japan he said he did not realize the japanese Law had changed in 2002 he added that he did not be come suspicious when the nether lands company that sold him the mushrooms for sent him an email stating that because the japanese customs Agency was strict the package would be la bleed As a shirt prosecutor Daisuke Tabuchi did not accept Riley ignorance of the Law calling the sailors statements illogical he was going to spread this evil drug in our country he said therefore his act was vicious its difficult to accept that he did not know magic mushrooms were illegal he asked for a sentence of two years and six months in prison at hard labor defense attorney Satoshi Kawa Mitsu asked that any prison time be suspended and Riley who faces discharge from the Navy upon release from custody be Al Lowed to return to the United states to finish his education he said Riley has no prior criminal record Riley who remains in custody in the Naha detention Center faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a Fine of up to 30 million yen about he will be sentenced april 17 according to prosecution Evi Dence the mushrooms were Dis covered when the package arrived at Narita International air port on Jan 8 customs agents then alerted Okinawa police and arranged the bust As the package was delivered to Riley in june 2002 Japan listed hallucinogenic mushrooms popularly known by users As shr Ooms or magic mushrooms As a con trolled substance making the use Sale Possession growing and advertising of the mushrooms Ille Gal under the country narcotic and psychotropic drug control Law there Are More than 180 species of mushrooms that con Tain varying traces of psychedelics email David Allen at the 35th communications squadrons simulated deployed unit puts finishing touches on an alaskan tent through a blizzard during phase two of Misawa air bases operation readiness inspection Ori on saturday Robert Barnett Courtesy of the us air Force Misawa airmen earn excellent rating in operational readiness by Jennifer h Svan stars and stripes Misawa air base Japan members of the 35th fighter Wing Are exhaling a collective sigh of Relief after hearing tues Day that the Wing earned an excellent rating in last weeks operational readiness inspection Wing and base commander col Terrence j Oshaughnessy has declared Friday a Wing Down Day the intent there is to give everyone time off for a Job Well done and also to give time for families to get Back together said col Joel Malone Wing vice commander some airmen in Mission Essen tial services such As the fire department and medical group will have to work Friday Malone added with time off at a later Date the Down Day will Likely be a much needed break the six Day a grueling evaluation that tests a wings combat readiness about every three years had airmen working 12hour or More shifts until the inspection concluded saturday night Pacific air forces inspectors top performers the following Misawa airmen were Given coins from the Pacific air forces inspector general for exceptional individual performances during the operational readiness inspection Mai Cameron carom 35th operations support Squadron Mai Anne Marie Mccain 35th medical support Squadron 1st it Christina sheets i3th fighter Squadron senior master sgt Thomas Mic Alseth aircraft maintenance Squadron master sgt Phillip French 35th communications Squadron master sgt Richard Robinson 35th maintenance Squadron tech sgt Don Hoobler 35th fighter Wing command Post staff sgt Theresa Newell 35th fighter Wing Chapel staff sgt Charice Roberson 35th logistics readiness Squadron senior airman Sergio Rangel 13th fighter Squadron the Acaf inspector general singled out the following As outstanding teams during Theori 35th aircraft maintenance Squadron unit control Center team 13th aircraft maintenance unit generation team 3sth maintenance Squadron Quality Assurance team 35th maintenance Squadron crash recovery team 35th fighter Wing Public affairs team 35th communications Squadron Quick fix team 35th logistics readiness Squadron fuels support team resistance and escape operations team 35th operations support Squadron Airfield management and weather night Shin Post attack reconnaissance team h Svan delivered the results tuesday Dur ing a mass briefing the Grade was an excellent Overall so we were very proud of the Grade Malone said and it was certainly Well deserved we Are excited for the entire Misawa Community and we appreciate everyone help assistance and understand ing As we went about our exercise schedule and training in order to prepare Misaras Grade was based on the air forces Standard five tier evaluation system which delivers Marks for outstanding excellent satisfactory marginal and unsatisfactory efforts email Jennifer h Svan at