Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson

The Army has scheduled a Wednesday court-martial for a Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson soldier accused of sexual abuse, Anchorage's third military sex-crimes case to be publicly announced this month. A Monday statement from U.S. Army Alaska spokesperson Maj. Joshua Camara says Chief Warrant Officer Guillermo Castillo, 33, was charged Dec. 13, 2012 with abusive sexual contact in connection with an Oct. 6, 2012 incident. “Castillo is also being charged with violating the orders of two commissioned officers on Nov. 6 and Dec. 8, 2012, and with driving under the influence of alcohol on Dec. 8, 2012,” Camara wrote.

Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson is on Road Condition Red. Officials say those who haven't yet reported to work should contact their supervisor. The base said essential personnel only should report to work, and others should stay home.

A 22-year-old airman was found dead on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Saturday, August 11 near Six Mile Lake, according to military officials. JBER said members of the 673d Security Forces Squadron found Senior Airman Brandon Cox.   His death remains under investigation. Cox was an explosive ordinance disposal technician.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson officials said the investigation into last week's C-17 crash would be continuing Tuesday, but we're now able to take a look at the crash in a whole new perspective. Channel 2 News has obtained pictures of the C-17 on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson taken shortly after the crash. In the photos, you can see the wreckage still burning and how close the crash was to the railroad tracks that had to be repaired over the weekend. Channel 2 received the photos from a source wishing to remain anonymous.

If you live near Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, then you might familiar with the sound of reveille. JBER said the bugle song will played at 6:30 a.m. instead of 7 a.m., effective August 27. Military officials said the change will synchronize playing of the song across the base, and ensure that physical training for soldiers begins at 6:30 a.m. sharp. For more on information on bugle protocol, click here .

Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson officially became Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Friday. The activation ceremony also saw a unit established to support the joint base -- the 673rd Air Base Wing. The merger has been in the works since 2005, when the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closure Commission decided Anchorage's military bases would merge. They're just two of 26 installations across the nation BRAC ordered to integrate into 12 joint bases. In JBER's case, the Air Force was selected as the lead agency.

The Alaska Army National Guard will hold a change of command ceremony Saturday morning to welcome its new commander, Col. Leon M. “Mike” Bridges. The ceremony will take place on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson at the Alaska National Guard armory. Brig. Gen. Julio R. “Randy” Banez will retire on February 1 after serving as commander since November 2009. Bridges is scheduled to be promoted to brigadier general on Friday. He has served as a National Guardsman for more than 31 years in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, and was recently the deputy chief of staff for logistics for the Alaska National Guard.

The Special Olympics Alaska bowling tournament wrapped up Sunday afternoon following three days of competition. More than 400 athletes, coaches and volunteers participated in the event held at the Polar Bowl on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Six communities from around the state were represented including anchorage, central peninsula, homer, Juneau, Kodiak and the Mat-Su valley. Bowlers played a total of nine games.  “Everyone's very excited as you can see the joy in the athletes eyes,” said JBER Commander Cmdr.

Two wolf packs are causing concern at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson after wolves were spotted near a housing area. Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials say the two packs have historically lived in the JBER area, but the northern pack has become increasingly habituated to humans. Officials say this is alarming since the chance for attacks increases when wolves become habituated to people. Fish and Game says it is keeping a close eye on the packs, and will decide in the future whether any action needs to be taken.

A mall on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was temporarily cordoned off Wednesday as base security forces investigate a suspicious package in the area which turned out to be an empty suitcase. John Pennell, JBER's chief of media operations, says military police responded at about 11:45 a.m. to the Shopette convenience store, near the PX/BX Joint Military Mall at the intersection of the Grady Highway and Provider Drive, to investigate the package. According to Pennell, a 500-foot cordon was set up around the store which blocked off the mall due to its location.

The Army has scheduled a Wednesday court-martial for a Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson soldier accused of sexual abuse, Anchorage's third military sex-crimes case to be publicly announced this month. A Monday statement from U.S. Army Alaska spokesperson Maj. Joshua Camara says Chief Warrant Officer Guillermo Castillo, 33, was charged Dec. 13, 2012 with abusive sexual contact in connection with an Oct. 6, 2012 incident. “Castillo is also being charged with violating the orders of two commissioned officers on Nov. 6 and Dec. 8, 2012, and with driving under the influence of alcohol on Dec. 8, 2012,” Camara wrote.

The federal sequestration crisis has made its way to Alaska, with military civilian employees in Anchorage already bracing for forced days off that will affect their pay. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson held four town hall meetings Thursday to inform civilian employees on how the crisis would affect their jobs. With lawmakers in Washington, D.C. unable to avert automatic federal budget cuts that took effect March 1, the Department of Defense has laid out its plan to cut budgets by 10 percent across the board.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is seeking public comment on the proposed demolition of two World War II-vintage buildings on base that have exceeded their originally planned service lives by more than 50 years. According to an Air Force environmental assessment posted by the base (PDF), Buildings 5303 and 5312, near the intersection of Arctic Warrior Drive and Jerstad Avenue, were both built on Elmendorf Air Force Base in 1944 as Alaska Air Depot supply warehouses. Their demolition has been suggested to help JBER comply with a “20/20” challenge from President Obama for federal agencies to reduce their real-property and operating costs by 20 percent each by the year 2020.

An infantryman soldier from South Carolina and stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson has been charged in connection with the deadly Christmas shooting of Private First Class Grant Wise. 23-year-old Spc. Marshall D. Drake was charged Tuesday with failing to obey regulations and the negligent killing of 25-year-old Pfc. Wise, according to Army officials. Wise was allegedly found dead from a gunshot wound in Drake's barracks on Christmas morning. Spc. Drake is accused of violating US Army Alaska Regulation 190-1, paragraph W-4 by wrongfully storing his personally owned firearm and ammunition in his assigned barracks room.

A mall on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was temporarily cordoned off Wednesday as base security forces investigate a suspicious package in the area which turned out to be an empty suitcase. John Pennell, JBER's chief of media operations, says military police responded at about 11:45 a.m. to the Shopette convenience store, near the PX/BX Joint Military Mall at the intersection of the Grady Highway and Provider Drive, to investigate the package. According to Pennell, a 500-foot cordon was set up around the store which blocked off the mall due to its location.

The Special Olympics Alaska bowling tournament wrapped up Sunday afternoon following three days of competition. More than 400 athletes, coaches and volunteers participated in the event held at the Polar Bowl on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Six communities from around the state were represented including anchorage, central peninsula, homer, Juneau, Kodiak and the Mat-Su valley. Bowlers played a total of nine games.  “Everyone's very excited as you can see the joy in the athletes eyes,” said JBER Commander Cmdr.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson released a mini-documentary last week on the Colony Glacier military plane crash that killed 52 people in 1952 and the crash site that was uncovered this past June of this year. JBER Historian Douglas Beckstead provides much of the insight on the history and recovery of the C-124A Globemaster that crashed almost 60 years ago. The video was made in late September by Airman 1st Class Sarah Trachte. In late Sep., Tonja Anderson, the granddaughter of Isaac Anderson, traveled from Florida to Alaska and has helped bring closure to others that were affected by the deadly crash.

400 more soldiers from the 4th combat brigade 25th infantry division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson have made it home safe, back from nearly a year-long tour in eastern Afghanistan. The group arrived back around 10 a.m. Thursday, and the return marked the biggest group of soldiers from this redeployment to come back to JBER. It also means that now more than half of the 3,500 soldier brigade is safely home -- about 1,800 of them. The remaining 1,700 troops will return home in a series of additional flights over the next week and a half.

A fuel pod from an F-4 Phantom II jet fighter was recovered as scheduled Tuesday morning from the Port of Anchorage by Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson crews, according to base officials. JBER spokesperson John Pennell says the recovery of the 20-foot-long tank, recently discovered by port workers about 75 feet from the facility, began at about 1 a.m. Tuesday. Crews laid down plywood boards as work platforms atop mud near the cracked tank as they prepared for a low tide. They then used a saw to cut it in half and high-pressure water hoses to clear it of mud and silt inside, which could have resulted in a tenfold increase of the tank's own 250-pound weight.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson will send crews to the Port of Anchorage early Tuesday morning to recover a fuel pod from an F-4 Phantom II fighter jet recently discovered in the area. JBER spokesperson John Pennell says port personnel found the cracked fuel pod, buried in mud and silt, about 75 feet from a rocky bank at the facility. The 20-foot-long tank doesn't contain fuel and has an estimated weight of 250 pounds, but could weigh 10 times that if it's filled with additional mud and silt.