European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                              July 2007 stars and stripes Mideast edition Page 9 Dod defends Security clearance proposal by Leo Shane Iii stars and stripes Washington defense department officials insist a proposal to allow some drug mentally incompetent individuals and Dis honorable discharged troops to get High level clearances is needed to simplify the current Security the among thousands under consideration in the Senate version of the 2008 defense authorization was first reported last week in the political newspaper the department officials requested lawmakers repeal restrictions on the Security Clear Ance rules that automatically eliminate de sense candidates who have been sentenced to a year in were deemed mentally incompetent by a were Dis honorable discharged from the military or have admitted to being addicted to an illegal defense department spokesman Patrick Ryder said the Pentagon has not kept statistics on How Many employees or contractors have been denied clearance under the but said they Are relatively but repealing that language would allow that handful of worthy candidates to get Security he the Law provides for the denial or Revo cation of a even if a qualifying crime took place Long ago and the subject has redeemed his or her he individuals who have been determined Trust worthy by National adjudicative standards Are affected negatively by this the change would affect Only defense and not other government depart House officials said the request was made by Pentagon officials when the House armed services committee put to Gether its authorization but the Lan Guage was not included in the final the Senate armed services committee included the request in its draft of the legis noting that officials said the current rules unduly limit the ability of the depart ment to manage its Security clearance pro but in its review of the authorization members of the Senate intelligence com Mittee blasted the saying it could Lead to mishandling of classified inform we would be deeply concerned about the Grant of Security clearances to persons who have been imprisoned for More than a year or who Are current drug the committee wrote in its report on the defense officials do have authority to Grant waivers to candidates barred from receiving clearances under the current but Ryder said that Appeal process takes the repeal of these mandatory disqualifying would eliminate a few cases being forwarded for consideration under the Dod procedures for due he senators Are expected to debate the Issue this and pass their version of the defense authorization Bill later this to a year in were deemed mentally Are affected negatively by this we would be deeply concerned about email Leo Shane at  nose forty hours of surgery Fletcher can smell again from Page 8 j i Fletcher needed every ounce of Fletcher nose were removed in r Wop 44 the whole Thina is positive Outlook when he was with his Mother and wife by u wheeled into the operating room it will take some time for the with his Mother and wife by his Fletcher recuperated quickly at Walter he urgently Fletcher to get Home to his children the thought of his wife left All alone to Deal with the responsibility made me feel life at Home at Fletcher continues to work at mastering life with one which he said was never such a big Deal for if you think about he what do you really need two arms for i i i i diaper my i even Fletcher i taught it was scary Ashell when i first jumped in the but i might not have an but its More Torso to float you know but the facial Cally the Hole in Fletcher face where his nose had been were an entirely different even for someone who is basically a really positive Fletcher there was the problem of people i was so tired of those Dou ble takes every time i went Fletcher i just wanted not to be people forget what a luxury it is just to walk Down the Street and not have anyone then there was the Issue of most people dont give it much the whole thing was a House of if one part came it All would come Patrick Byrne surgeon at Johns Hopkins medical Center Fletcher but the sense of smell is very much tied into the sense of losing your Fletcher is like having a really bad head cold All the except youre not All stuffed up every thing tastes the Chicken tastes like fish tastes like when youre from new or losing your sense of and by association taste is the thing you dont want to he not having that was killing the ordeal one of the military surgeons at Walter Ife had trained in facial plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins under Patrick an assistant professor in or head and neck at the Johns Hopkins University school of Medicine in Byrne has pioneered several nasal reconstruction techniques for cancer who some times lose their noses to who was treating Fletcher at the referred his patient to Byrne in january 2006 to see if there might be some Way to reconstruct the airmans Byrne assembled a team of sex who agreed they could give Fletcher a nose but at huge Byrne the rollover had left Fletcher with very Little underlying facial Structure Strong enough to sup port the new and since Fletcher is he is prone to or the process required Fletcher to endure at least six major opera each one requiring full Anes the whole thing was a House of Byrne if one part came it All would come Fletcher needed every ounce of his positive Outlook when he was wheeled into the operating room on july that which lasted eight was a Complete Suc Fletcher it eventually took More than 40 hours of surgery and 60 checkups and tests before Fletch ers nose was completed one of the most complicated nasal reconstructions Ever performed at Johns Byrne throughout the Fletcher refused to take pain the he is that after the doctors at Walter Reed had kept him deeply so his badly wounded body and brain could begin but the pain Medicine gave him terrifying he when i woke up in the ice in Tensive care unit everyone was a and my head nurse was fish Fletcher it sounds but it was so i hated and whenever i take pain Medicine i Start get Ting that woozy feeling that makes me feel like in going Back into the id rather Deal with the no mat Ter How bad it than Deal with that Fletcher in a the pain helps me focus on finally finished the last of the stitches on Fletcher nose were removed in it will take some time for the swelling to completely but Fletcher new nose is almost As Good As the old the scar ring is minimal and no one stares when he goes out in Public any the nose int just decorative its also Fletcher can and most important of All to the airman he had been told that his sense of smell might come but until he caught his first whiff of he haunt quite believed Fletcher i had a plate of oranges in my Hospital and the first time i smelled i thought i was trip he like most Byrne is careful to keep a certain Dis Tance and Semi detachment be tween himself and his it allows us to make intelligent choices about patient care with out allowing emotion to get in the he As he has worked with Fletcher Over the past year it has been if not Imossi to maintain that psychological distance from the i found id almost have to pull myself Back because i had this tendency to want to do anything and everything for Byrne you just cant not Root for the email Lisa Burgess at  military services we do what we say say what we do roup from construction to maintenance from supplies to weve got it All f i located at Afghanistan Qatar Kuwait Iraq email us 1raq@wmgrqup.net