A small cadre of military members and veterans will run Tuesday night en masse four miles down the Charles River in Boston to honor Monday’s fallen and to send a message: “Keep moving forward,” say the organizers, a veteran’s group called Team Red, White & Blue.

That event — and similar four-mile runs planned for veterans and active-duty members in New York, Houston and Los Angeles — are meant to be an orchestrated response to the bombings Monday at the end of the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured scores, said Larry Olson, spokesman for Team Red, White & Blue.

“What we decided to do is, rather than focusing on the tragedy, is get people out carrying the American flag as we always do in our races,” said Olson, whose group uses sports to entice veterans to mingle and participate with other military members. 

“I’ve been thinking about it because there are so many unanswered questions," Olson said. "(Our) message is we’re going to do what we do: get out, run, and do it in a positive way.”

"I like to think of veterans as resilient people. This is an opportunity for us to look at the larger community as it grieves and processes everything that transpired (Monday),” said Brennan Mullaney, 30, an Army veteran, former armored officer who served two deployments in Iraq, and Team RWB member. “I view tonight's run as a chance for us to be there for whoever is interested in participating to demonstrate our unity as a community." 

Team RWB had 17 runners — some of them veterans, some active-duty troops — participating in the 2013 Boston Marathon. All were reported safe Tuesday.

One of their members, an active-duty service member who has earned a Purple Heart in combat, was photographed after the two bomb blasts, removing his red Team RWB shirt near the finish line and wrapping it around the bloody leg of a female bystander. That member has declined to be interviewed, asking only that people pray for that woman and others hurt and killed. 

“Normally, we what do is make sure is that people feel they are a part of our team. So often the vets we work with have this crushing sense of isolation. When we bring them together for triathlons or trail running, they feel that camaraderie again, that team spirit,” Olson said. “That’s going to be our way of addressing this whole situation.

“We’re calling the race ‘Go Boston.’ ”

Related: Amid the chaos and carnage in Boston, heroes emerge

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday eliminated the Distinguished Warfare Medal, overturning one of Leon Panetta’s last acts in the position.

The award — which had come to be known as the Nintendo Medal — recognized drone pilots and cyber operators.

Now, instead of a medal, individuals will receive a pin that will be placed on another existing medal — similar to a V that is pinned to a Bronze Star to indicate an award with valor.

The medal was established to “recognize the achievements of a small number of service men and women who have an especially direct and immediate impact on combat operations through the use of remotely piloted aircraft and cyber operations,” Hagel wrote in a statement.

Hagel ordered a review of the medal after hearing feedback from veterans groups, Congress members and others. The review “confirmed the need to ensure such recognition,” Hagel said, but “it found that misconceptions regarding the precedence of the award were distracting from its original purpose.

“The service men and women, who operate and support our remotely piloted aircraft, operate in cyber, and others are critical to our military's mission of safeguarding the nation,” Hagel continued. “I again want to thank my predecessor, Leon Panetta, for raising the need to ensure that these men and women are recognized for their contributions.”

Related:

• New military medal for drone operators under fire
• Medals for cyber troops draws Whiskey Tango Foxtrots
• 'Vet ink' shares tales of battle, loss and life-long pride
• Long-missing WWII medals awarded in Los Angeles

Seth Wenig / AP file

The USS Iwo Jima passes the Statue of Liberty during Fleet Week in New York on May 25, 2011.

The annual Fleet Week in New York City may not be canceled this year, but a U.S. Navy official says it will be scaled back significantly from recent years because of sequestration.

"It's not going to look like anything we've seen in the past," the official said, adding that the Navy "is not going to be able to support it like we have in the past."

Read more at NBCNewYork.com

Department of Defense policy about spending during sequestration states that no branch of the armed forces may participate in community relations or outreach events that incur additional cost to the government or that rely on anything other than local assets and personnel.

"DoD policy is clear," the official said, adding that, "we will follow that direction, to include participation in Fleet Weeks."

The official stressed that the Navy will strive to see how it can participate in events with local assets and lower costs. "We're still looking to see what parts of the larger celebrations we can salvage."

Also as part of the cuts, this week the Navy officially canceled remaining performances in 2013 by the Blue Angels precision flying team. The Defense Department has said the budget cuts would force the military to slash ship and aircraft maintenance, curtail training, and give up to 14 days' unpaid leave to most of its 800,000 civilian employees.

Fleet Week is run by the city of New York, not the Navy. It is scheduled to begin May 22. Last year, 21 ships from the U.S. and its allies participated, but it's unclear how many would appear this time. 

The official said that city officials are disappointed, but understand the constraints.

"We are working with them to see what we can provide," the official said, adding, "but it will not be the five, six, seven big decks (aircraft carriers) and ships that we've had in the past."

NBCNewYork.com contributed to this report.

The Pentagon offered up a $526.6 billion budget on Wednesday that calls for closing bases, slashing the civilian work force and scrapping weapons programs, holding out hope the Congress might still opt for an alternative to even more draconian cuts already on their way.

President Barack Obama's proposed Pentagon budget for the 2014 fiscal year asks Congress to take a series of politically difficult steps, including starting a new round of U.S. base closure proceedings, increasing healthcare fees for military retirees and slowing military pay increases.

Defense officials said the department also planned to reduce its civilian workforce by 40,000 to 50,000 over five years and take new steps to reduce the cost of healthcare, including overhauling military treatment facilities. 

"The costs of infrastructure, overhead, acquisitions and personnel compensation must be addressed in order to put the Department of Defense's budget on a sustainable path - particularly given the pressures on our top-line budget," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said at a budget briefing. 

The budget is part of Obama's spending plan sent to Congress. It stands little chance of being enacted into law and is meant to serve largely as a negotiating tool with Republicans, who have outlined budget proposals of their own. 

The budget proposal included $88.5 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas operations, the same amount as requested last year. Comptroller Robert Hale said the figure was a placeholder and would ultimately be somewhat lower, but still high because of the cost of removing equipment from Afghanistan. 

The Defense Department is in the midst of a long-term budget drawdown after a decade of increases. It began implementing $487 billion in cuts to proposed spending in 2012 and was hit by an additional $500 billion over a decade starting on March 1. 

Obama's proposed Pentagon budget is still $52 billion higher than spending caps set by law, which is likely to mean another year of financial uncertainty for the department. 

While looking for ways to cut back in the current tight fiscal environment, the 2014 Pentagon budget would continue to fund high-priority programs and initiatives, including the strategic "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific announced last year. 

$8.4 billion for Joint Strike Fighter
The budget includes $8.4 billion for continued development of the three variants of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's most expensive procurement program.

It also includes $10.9 billion for new ship construction, $9.2 billion for missile defenses, $379 million for development of a new long-range bomber, $4.7 billion for cyberspace operations and $10.1 billion for space technologies. It aims to save $9.9 billion by restructuring and canceling arms programs. 

"This budget made important investments in the president's new strategic guidance - including rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region and increasing funding for critical capabilities such as cyber, special operations and global mobility," Hagel said in a statement. 

Obama's overall federal budget plan seeks new taxes and spending cuts that aim to replace the automatic, across-the-board reductions known as sequestration that went into effect on March 1. The Pentagon's share of the March 1 cuts is about $500 billion over 10 years, or about $50 billion a year. 

The president's budget proposal unveiled on Wednesday would replace the $500 billion sequestration cut with a $150 billion reduction, most of it spread over a five-year period beginning several years from now. Some $34 billion in cuts would be implemented over the next five years. 

The proposal depends on Congress agreeing to eliminate the sequestration budget cuts. The White House and Republicans have been trying for two years to reach a deal to eliminate sequestration, without success. 

The Pentagon budget asks Congress to begin a new round of U.S. Base Realignment and Closure proceedings, a politically unpopular request that was rejected by lawmakers last year and has already produced hearings this year, even before the decision was announced. 

The budget request includes $2.4 billion over the next five years to pay for the process. Base closures disrupt local economies and cost a huge amount upfront, saving money only over the long run. 

Based on estimates from the last round of base closures that started in 2005, the Pentagon is believed to have more than 20 percent surplus of infrastructure. 

The 2014 budget renews a request to Congress for increased fees for pharmacy co-pays and healthcare enrollment for retired military personnel. The Pentagon also proposed a 1 percent pay increase for military employees, lower than the 1.8 percent increase in the Employment Cost Index ordinarily used to determine pay increases. 

Congress has been resistant in the past to increasing healthcare fees for military retirees and has often approved pay increases above those recommended by the department, a factor analysts say has led to military pay rising at an unsustainable pace over the past decade. 

Related:

• Tuition Assistance flows once again to soldiers
• It's official: Navy grounds Blue Angels for rest of 2013

The Army and Air Force have reopened their Tuition Assistance pipelines to service members — following a Congressional mandate — yet similar funding remains stalled within the Marine Corps, a leading veterans’ advocate complained Wednesday.

The federal sequestration had previously blockaded all money that’s normally funneled to troops to help them pay for college classes in order to further their educations and their military careers. In most branches, that tab reaches $4,500 per year for each service member who takes the classes.

On March 21, Congress voted to order the Defense Department to locate the necessary funding to relaunch Tuition Assistance across the branches. That directive has now become law. Navy leaders had already opted to keep that program alive for sailors despite sequestration, “and we’re quite proud of that, too,” said Lt. Shawn Eklund, a Navy spokesman.

At midnight Tuesday, the Army turned on the web portal used by soldiers to formally ask for Tuition Assistance money.

“This will allow soldiers to request Tuition Assistance for the remainder of fiscal year 2013. For the balance of (this year), the eligibility rules for use of TA, the $250 semester-hour cap, and the annual ceiling of $4,500 remain unchanged,” said Lt. Col. S. Justin Platt, an Army spokesman.

On Wednesday, the Air Force also reinstated Tuition Assistance for its members, said Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Laurel Tingley.

"The program is going to remain exactly the same as it was before the suspension," Tingley said. 

Marine Corps public affairs officers didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions on when that branch will again offer Tuition Assistance.

“Here’s the issue: It’s been passed by Congress and signed by the president. There’s no reason this shouldn’t (already) be reinstated at the branch level,” said Michael Dakduk, executive director of Student Veterans of America, a support network with more than 500 campus chapters.

At some military posts, including North Carolina’s Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, the attendance of Marines who once used on-base college classes has been cut by more than half since DOD halted all tuition help amid the sequestration, Dakduk said.

“It’s absolutely extreme,” he added. “And that’s exactly kind of thing we don’t want to see as far as supporting service members. Especially as our military force in total begins to draw down and we have folks exit the military.”

Related:

• It's official: Navy grounds Blue Angels for remainder of 2013
• Tens of thousands of veterans homeless despite billions in spending

Courtesy WILL Interactive

A screen grab from "Team-Bound," the interactive video game used by the Army to educate soldiers about sexual assault.

The Army is using an interactive video game to train soldiers how to prevent sexual assaults in the ranks, and the technology has proven so popular, the branch just ordered a sequel, according to a spokesman for the company behind the video.

But advocates for military-rape survivors vilify the video — and the philosophy behind it — as “a waste of taxpayer dollars,” an “affront to victims of sexual assault” and a tool “of limited value.”

Titled “Team-Bound,” the program streams laptop-generated scenarios, allowing users to assume the roles of a male or female specialist who witness on-base sexual harassments and eventually — at a bar favored by soldiers — the warning signs of an alcohol-induced date rape. Players must choose multiple responses throughout the episodes then watch the consequences of either intervening or ignoring the observed behaviors.

If the video’s users pick passive reactions, an intoxicated female private is eventually raped in an Army barracks after leaving the bar with an aggressive, male private. In the video, the victim is shown ultimately reporting the attack then opting to leave the service, prompting an Army official to tell viewers: “A life damaged, a career ended, a unit falling apart. But it didn’t have to be this way. All you had to do was stand up and be strong.”

Word of the Army's requested sequel — currently in production and scheduled to film this summer — follows Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s decision on Monday to crack down on generals who now possess the power to overturn sex-assault sentences rendered by military juries.

Courtesy WILL Interactive

Screen grab from "Team-Bound" video game.

A spokeswoman for the Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response Prevention (SHARP) Program did not immediately respond to emailed questions about the cost, content or implementation of "Team-Bound" or its sequel.

But a spokesman for WILL Interactive, the Maryland company behind both videos, said: “As part of its overall program to address and eliminate sexual assault, the military commissioned WILL Interactive to develop ‘interactive video simulations’ that combine behavior modification role-playing with a video game element.”

In 2010, the Army “engaged” WILL Interactive to produce “Team-Bound,” said Caleb Barnhart, an account executive with New York-based BLJ Worldwide, an outside communications firm employed WILL Interactive.

“The program was so well received by service members and Army administrators that they asked WILL to develop a sequel,” Barnhart said.

'Limited value'
The original episodes were written after focus groups consisting of Army members suggested several real-life scenarios, said Marc Smrikarov, a vice president of BLJ Worldwide.

In one scene, five Army buddies wearing civilian clothes arrive together at a nightclub where several female soldiers are relaxing, also wearing casual outfits. A narrator says: “Loud music, cold beer, hot girls, game on.” The actors then portray various behaviors, each triggered by users’ responses. Information about the Army’s sexual harassment policies, definitions, and how to prevent such behavior — and, ultimately, stop a rape — is offered throughout that segment and others.

Courtesy WILL Interactive

Screen grab from "Team-Bound" video game.

But the program is being slammed by some experts on the topic. 

“For decades, leaders in our military have thought that they can end the epidemic of sexual assault in the military simply through training programs, like the ‘Ask Her When She’s Sober’ campaign,” said Nancy Parrish, president of Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for military sex-assault victims. “This video game is another example of that line of thinking. Not only is it a waste of taxpayer dollars, it is affront to victims of sexual assault.

“Rape and sexual assault in the military is often about the abuse of power. It is a violent crime and should be treated as such. According to the DOD’s own statistics, the majority of these crimes are committed by an individual of higher rank,” Parrish said. The video “continues to portray rape and sexual assault as a misunderstanding of a social situation — (as with) ‘Ask Her When She's Sober’ — and places the emphasis on the victim and bystanders to intervene in an assault, instead of placing the responsibility squarely on the perpetrator.”

A leader of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) — which seeks to curb sexual discrimination, harassment and assault inside the military — similarly criticized “Team-Bound” as an example of the Army trying to teach its way out of the sexual-assault problem rather than focusing on disciplining and removing offenders. 

“My take is that it’s of limited value to focus on behavioral aspects (without) addressing the role of institutional deterrents,” said Rachel Natelson, the legal and programs director at SWAN. “Outside of the military, companies can’t simply ‘train’ their employees not to commit offenses — they also have to correct offenses once they occur or they’ll be held liable under the law.”

Related:

• Defense Secretary Hagel demands rape reform in military
• Guidelines protect sex assault victims seeking security clearance
• Training aims to improve how military sexual assaults are investigated
• Senate panel members suggest overhaul of military justice system 
• Accuser in Air Force sexual assault case 'frustrated' at overturned verdict
• Civil Rights Commission urged to order audit of military sex-assault cases

Four different branches of the U.S. military are spending millions of dollars to equip troops with combat uniforms in seven different but similar camouflage patterns, says the Government Accountability Office, wasting money and potentially exposing some troops to increased risk on the battlefield.

That’s one of the findings in the GAO’s latest report on government waste, its third annual report on overlapping, redundant and/or wasteful federal government programs and spending. (GAO is the independent, nonpartisan investigative and auditing agency that works for Congress.)

The report identifies 31 new areas in the federal government "where agencies may be able to achieve greater efficiency or effectiveness" – 17 areas where the GAO found evidence of "fragmentation, overlap or duplication" and 14 where it found opportunities for significant cost savings and "revenue enhancement."

On combat uniforms, the GAO found that the military services “employ a fragmented approach” in acquiring them.

Have a look at the visual included in the report (below). It shows images of seven different camouflage patterns for uniforms separately ordered by the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines.

Government Accountability Office

Before 2002, all the military services had used only two basic camouflage patterns – one woodland pattern and one desert pattern.

Contracting separately for similar uniforms, GAO says, has resulted in “numerous inventories of similar uniforms at increased cost to the supply chain.”

GAO found that if the services partnered together in procuring uniforms, the Defense Department could save tens of millions of dollars.

Previously the Army has estimated it could save $82 million by partnering, and the Navy has estimated it could save $6 million.

Spending watchdog groups say the uniform waste is one example of a widespread problem.

“When you look at combat fatigues it's like a microcosm of the whole problem,” says Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group. “Combat fatigues are an example of how, left to its own devices, government creates more complication, and it's up to Congress to reign them in and to make them concentrate and only do one thing.”

Of the 31 new areas the GAO identified, here are a few examples of areas the GAO found with overlap and duplication:

• Drug abuse prevention and treatment programs: “Federal drug abuse prevention and treatment programs are fragmented across 15 federal agencies … in fiscal year 2012, about $4.5 billion was allocated to these 15 agencies that administer 76 programs that are, in all or in part, intended to prevent or treat illicit drug use or abuse.”
• Renewable energy initiatives: “23 agencies and their 130 sub-agencies implemented 679 renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010…9 agencies implemented 82 overlapping duplicative wind-related initiatives in fiscal year 2011 … including 7 initiatives that have provided duplicative … financial support to the same recipient for a single project.”

Here are a few examples of areas GAO found with significant potential cost savings or increased revenue:

• Crop insurance subsidies: Congress could save up to $1.2 billion if it reduced or limited subsidies for individual farmers.
• Medicaid supplemental payments: by identifying improper Medicaid payments, HHS could save up to hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Tobacco taxes: the federal government lost as much as $615 million to $1 billion between 2009 and 2011 “because tobacco manufacturers and consumers substituted higher-taxed smoking tobacco products with similar lower tax products.

The entire list is in the full report, GAO-13-279SP - "2013 Annual Report: Actions Needed to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Other Financial Benefits." The report runs 293 pages and is available here.

The GAO’s report includes recommendations for policy changes in each area. But the report includes some positive statistics about the impact of the GAO’s previous efforts.

Since its first report in 2011, the GAO found that the Obama administration’s executive branch agencies and Congress “have made progress.”

As of the latest report’s completion last month, the GAO found, a majority of the areas it identified in the first two reports in 2011 and 2012 got attention from the agencies involved: 16 of the 131 areas “were addressed”; 87 were “partially addressed”; and only 27 were “not addressed.” 

Of approximately 300 “actions needed” within these areas, more than half were addressed or partially addressed: 65 were addressed, 149 were partially addressed and 85 were not addressed.

The GAO’s recommendations to reduce waste and duplication on combat uniforms were originally provided to the Defense Department in September 2012. The department responded with a statement saying, “the DOD plans to provide joint criteria and policy guidance for camouflage uniforms to the military departments by March 2013, and plans to … provide additional oversight and further pursue active partnerships for joint development and use of uniforms.”

Logistics Spc. 2nd Class Darlene Kemble / U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy Seabees display Navy Working Uniform Type III in January 2012 in Pearl Harbor.

Contacted Tuesday by NBC News for a response, representatives of the Defense Department referred to the previous statement. 

At a hearing Tuesday afternoon before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, GAO staffers testified about the report's findings and answered committee members’ questions.

In his opening statement, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the committee’s chair, expressed disappointment that only 16 of the 131 areas the GAO previously reported got fixed.

“As budget pressure increases and the American taxpayer says I cannot afford to pay for the same services twice,” he said, “both Congress, including the GAO, and executive branch must find these programs, must find this waste and must do our job differently.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the committee’s ranking Democrat, blamed Congress for failing to act and said he hoped that Republicans and Democrats could “join forces to reduce waste, fraud and abuse.”

“We should all be able to agree that a dollar wasted here is a dollar that is not put to better use elsewhere,” Cummings said.  “I think Republicans and Democrats will agree that we want to see taxpayers' dollars spent in an effective and efficient manner.”

U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who runs the GAO and was the hearing's main witness, summed up his testimony with this observation:

“My term goes to 2025.  I hope that I won’t be reporting all these same issues in that year. But I can tell you that it won’t change unless the Congress gets involved in this process with active oversight.” 

Related story: Uncloaked: How Army is testing new camo to replace flawed design

Handout / Getty Images

The Blue Angels perform their precision aerobatics over the Florida Keys during the Southernmost Air Spectacular at Naval Air Station Key West on March 24. All remaining performances for 2013 have been canceled due to budget constraints.

The high-speed, high-altitude acrobatic maneuvers and tight formations of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels will be missing from dozens of festivals and air shows across the country this year. All Blue Angels performances for the remainder of 2013 have been canceled, the Navy announced Tuesday.

The decision is a result of budget constraints caused by sequestration. “Recognizing budget realities, current Defense policy states that outreach events can only be supported with local assets at no cost to the government,” the Navy said in a statement.

“The squadron will continue to train to maintain flying proficiency until further notice at its home station in Pensacola, Fla,.” the Navy said.

Organizers of Seafair, an annual summer festival in Seattle, broke the news to the community, saying: “The Blue Angels have flown at Seafair for over 40 years and are an important part of our history. The team will be deeply missed by Seattleites.”

The grounding is a sentimental loss for fans but not as serious as other reductions to defense spending, which President Barack Obama said could threaten military readiness. The Defense Department said the cuts would slash ship and aircraft maintenance, curtail training and result in up to 14 days' unpaid leave for most of the Pentagon's 800,000 civilian employees.

For the Navy, programs such as the Blue Angels would take a back seat to "making sure ships are seaworthy and planes are airworthy for the war fighters who are operating overseas," Lt. John Supple, spokesman for the Chief of Naval Air Training in Corpus Christi, Texas, said last month.

The Blue Angels program began in 1946 and costs about $40 million a year. Canceling the bulk of the performing season would save about $28 million, according to Navy officials.

NBC News' Joe Myxter and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related: Military spending cuts ground Blue Angels, Thunderbirds

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday cracked down on generals who now possess the power to overturn sex assault sentences, ordering the first substantive shift of his tenure in how the military handles rape convictions in the ranks.

But victims’ advocates quickly lashed the move as merely a meager tweak that fails to meet mounting calls to remove all sex-assault investigations from the chain of command and to inject civilian oversight into a controversial system of justice further exposed by the recent Aviano case. 

Hagel directed the Pentagon's General Counsel to strip the authority of commanding generals to void military court convictions. The Pentagon must seek fresh Congressional legislation to rewrite a section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to make the planned change legal.

The decision follows a firestorm ignited last month when Air Force Lt. General Craig Franklin overturned the sex-assault conviction of Air Force Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, an F-16 combat pilot. Wilkerson was court martialed and convicted by a military jury in the assault of a civilian woman at the U.S. Air Base in Aviano, Italy. He was sentenced to one year in the brig and booted from the Air Force.

But using current UCMJ laws, Franklin reversed that jury's ruling for apparent lack of evidence. Wilkerson was subsequently released from jail, reinstated and assigned to a staff job at an Arizona air base.

The head of the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), which seeks to help women serve without discrimination, harassment or assault, said she is "encouraged" by Hagel's proposal to reform a portion of the UCMJ, particularly "in light of the perceived travesty of justice in the recent Aviano case." But she added that the modification is not enough.

"The Department of Defense has effectively acknowledged that commanders currently have undue influence on post-trial decision-making," said Anu Bhagwati, executive director of SWAN and a former Marine Corps captain. "However, post-trial review is only one component of the command-driven system that currently governs how military crimes are handled.

"Unless pre-trial decision-making around investigation and prosecution of offenses is also removed from the hands of commanders and given to impartial prosecutors, military criminal justice will remain a lesser form of justice, both for victims and defendants."

Measures 'fall short'
Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for military sex-assault victims, called the generals’ current prerogative to toss out sex-assault convictions "only one part of much larger fundamental problems."

"Today’s proposed changes from the Pentagon fall short of the necessary fixes to end the epidemic of sexual assault in the military," said Nancy Parrish, president of Protect Our Defenders. "The military has always contended that incidences like Aviano are extremely rare and we have never disputed that. But, we have always contended that the more insidious problem is that convening authorities can unilaterally lessen sentences, and today’s announcement does not change this.

"Commanders now have the power to reduce any sentence for any reason or no reason," Parrish added. "Under the current proposal ... this will not change. In the Aviano case, rather than setting Lt. Col. Wilkerson’s sexual assault conviction aside, Lt. General Franklin could have simply reduced the sentence to no punishment.

"For the system to be legitimate — the reporting, investigation and adjudication must be taken completely out of the chain of command if we are to avoid another case like Aviano," she added.

Under UCMJ, Hagel and Congress are powerless to change Franklin's decision to overturn the conviction of Lt. Col. Wilkerson.

In a written statement released Monday, Hagel said he is seeking to eliminate the ability of commanders who are the "convening authority" to override convictions for sexual assault or other serious crimes.

Defendants still will retain the right to appeal convictions through the military judicial system, Hagel said. He also wants to require the convening authority to put into writing any changes they may make in sentencing for major offenses.

"From the survivors we talk with," Parrish said, "a written explanation as to why their perp's sentence was lessened unilaterally will be of no comfort to them. This still constitutes an extraordinary power resting in the hands of one person with no equivalent in the civilian criminal justice system."

Related: 

• Guidelines protect sex assault victims seeking security clearance
• Training aims to improve how military sexual assaults are investigated
• Senate panel members suggest overhaul of military justice system 
• Accuser in Air Force sexual assault case 'frustrated' at overturned verdict
• Civil Rights Commission urged to order audit of military sex-assault cases

U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs

Carlos Figueroa monoskis in Aspen Snowmass on Thursday as part of a VA sports clinic for disabled veterans.

An Iraq war veteran who yearns to snowboard next March at the Sochi Paralympics recently told a priest he would give his left leg to compete for his country. And then, he did.

Six weeks ago, retired Army Sgt. Carlos Figueroa allowed a surgeon to amputate below his left knee — 10 years after an IED blast rendered the limb nearly useless. The decision was surprisingly simple, he said, because it sliced away a decade of mounting pain. Yet he also acknowledged: “I did give it up because I want to get into the Paralympics.”

“When I went in, my doctor asked me: ‘What’s your biggest goal?’ I told him: ‘Be on my board within three months.’ He just said, ‘Dude, most people aren’t walking within three months,’ ” Figueroa recalled. 

Walking will come. What he can do — already — is carve down a mountain, the lone place Figueroa, 34, feels at peace: “Up there, I’m no different from anybody. No PTSD. I’m at my happiest.” On Thursday, Figueroa beamed while manhandling an Aspen, Colo., slope atop a monoski at a sports clinic for disabled veterans. As a familiar, cool breeze brushed his face, he also dreamed about racing in Russia.

“My love for snowboarding is about loss, the loss of what I had in the military, where you’re used to being on the move, on patrols, on raids. That’s how I treat my races. The moment that gate drops, it’s like the door opening on a raid. I go full blast. I’m able to get something back that I felt was taken away. That rush. I love it.”

U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs

"Up there, I'm no different from anybody. No PTSD. I'm at my happiest," said Carlos Figueroa of the feeling of carving down slopes.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have borne a bittersweet byproduct: scores of American Paralympic hopefuls. The Sochi Paralympics, to be held just after the 2014 Winter Games in that city, marks the inaugural Paralympic snowboarding event for disabled athletes. The U.S. men’s Paralympic snowboarding squad will consist of five members.

'Slim chance'
Figueroa (and those close to him) knows he’s the longest of long shots. His own coach, Mike Shea, estimates he took two years to, literally, make the leap from his own leg amputation to landing jumps. The raw nerve endings in an amputated limb must become desensitized to the harsh pounding. When the board hits the snow, the stump pushes into the prosthetic leg, “sending chills up your spine,” Shea said. “It doesn’t feel good.”

Then there’s the calendar. If Figueroa is indeed back on his board by autumn, he’ll have a limited number of sanctioned races — beginning in January 2014 — to rack up enough points to rank among the top five American men. And the U.S. Paralympic snowboarders, including Shea, compose the world’s deepest talent pool in that sport. The roster likely will be named in February.

“It’s a slim chance, a super, super small window,” Figueroa said, “but we’re still going to push.”

He needs only a sliver of possibility to kindle his hope — or better yet, someone telling him he can’t. He certainly doesn’t need two legs.

The Feb. 15 amputation came 10 years after a bomb detonated beneath his armored vehicle, ejecting him through an open roof hatch. A decade spent lugging a useless left limb (with no heel), suffering increasing back and knee pain, instantly convinced him to say “Let’s do it,” when an orthopedic surgeon in San Diego suggested, “Let’s cut.” He was done, he said, wasting another day “in a bubble” due to his injury, calling the operation “liberating.”

'Go fast and have fun'
Nobody who has heard that account is betting against Figueroa.

“With any military athlete, you can definitely see that sense of pride and determination above and beyond what you see with other athletes. Part of it is just a chance to represent their county again,” said Kevin Jardine, high performance director of Parlaympic alpine skiing and snowboarding for the U.S. Olympic Committee. “They’re willing to sacrifice a lot.”

Added Shea, who lost his leg in a 2002 wake-boarding accident: “Anything you tell Carlos, he’ll get it done. He always seems to find a way. He has no fear up there. He has passion. And I’ve learned from him the smiling gets you a long way in life.”

This week at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Aspen, organized by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Figueroa has been tempted to grab a board and shred. This is his fourth year attending. As a testament to his disregard for other people’s timelines, he couldn’t even stand on a snowboard four years ago due to his injury, yet he competed in a World Cup event for disabled snowboarders not long after that.

Until his prosthetic leg arrives, he’ll stick to monoskiing, during which he sits in a “bucket” atop one ski, using his arms to hold smaller, balancing skis.

“The first run, I took it slow. After that, I opened it up,” Figueroa said. “I just want to go fast and have fun.”

When the instructor noticed his raw speed, he warned Figueroa: “You do realize if you go down, you may peel off half your face.”

Figueroa simply grinned: “That’s alright.”

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• 'Vet ink' shares tales of battle, loss and life-long pride
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Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released guidelines Friday that protect victims of sexual assault who fear that coming forward for help or counseling may jeopardize their security clearance.

Clapper's new guidance now mandates that someone seeking mental health counseling cannot be the sole reason that individual is denied security clearance.

So-called "Question 21" on the standard security clearance questionnaire has been criticized in recent months as discouraging victims of sexual assault from seeking help, spurring a long review of its use by the intelligence community.

Victims may now answer “No” to the question, which asks if the respondent has consulted a health care professional regarding an emotional or mental health condition or if he or she was similarly hospitalized.

This language will be added to the question:

"Please respond to this question with the following additional instruction: Victims of sexual assault who have consulted with a health care professional regarding an emotional or mental health condition during this period strictly in relation to the sexual assault are instructed to answer No."

“The U.S. Government recognizes the critical importance of mental health and supports proactive management of mental health conditions, wellness and recovery,” Clapper said in a release.

“The guidance which was issued on an interim basis pending formal revision of the policy, applies to all executive branch departments and agencies,” the release said.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence issues guidance for all 17 of the agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community.

Related:

• Training aims to improve how military sexual assaults are investigated
• Senate panel members suggest overhaul of military justice system 
• Accuser in Air Force sexual assault case 'frustrated' at overturned verdict
• Civil Rights Commission urged to order audit of military sex-assault cases