What is everyone's problem with the US Army runners being Kenyan?

Lickety Split wrote:

- I'd appreciate appropriate "peer review" on the 1st draft of my formal request to the Department of Army ... specifically, the Commander of Installations Command ... LTG Ken Dahl ... on the WCAP. Looking to formally submit this tonight ... look forward to the discussion. Dropping this to select media as well ... lot of "softball" interviews to date with respect to WCAP's hijack of these trials. Let's get past being intimidated by Duty, Honor, Country for their's nefarious activities occurring in this program. As you can imagine, I'm not pulling for Chelimo later tonight --- it was all about him at UNC-G & not being part of the winning program ... furthermore, he's joined the Army/become a US citizen under false pretenses. Don't let their comments full you in the media ... no doubt "Big Army's" loaded them up w/Mom & Apple Pie Talking Points. And don't even get me started on Maj Dan "The Scam" Browne: a fake soldier and Coach!!

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TO: LTG Kenneth Dahl, CDR USARMY INSCOM

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION INTO THE WORLD CLASS ARMY PROGRAM’S TRACK AND FIELD PROGRAM

1. Introduction. The World Class Army Program’s (WCAP) track & field program’s success during this year’s 2016 Olympic Track & Field Trials proved significant and deserves an appropriate formal review to ensure it’s integrity and respect for federal taxpayer funding versus those derived from non-appropriated funding. Moreover, WCAP deserves review for it’s success has created an unsavory perception amongst American track & field enthusiasts that it deliberately targets promising NCAA Division I Kenyan athletes, world renowned for their distance running prowess, offering both fast-track citizenship and pseudo-service in the US Army. As a result, many US citizens conclude that this successful effort leveraging federal taxpayer funds simultaneously undercut USATF and NCAA developmental programs for American athletes during the 2016 US Olympic Track & Field trials. Evidence suggests that the WCAP leadership transformed a Department of Defense non-appropriated funded (NAF) program designed for deserving soldiers that “just so happened to be athletes of international caliber” into a systemic professional program.

2. CHALLENGES TO WCAP TRACK & FIELD’S OPERATING CONCEPT

WCAP Track & Field’s Recruiting Model. Success deserves scrutiny for credibility whether it’s through drug testing or in this case w/the phenomenal ascent of the WCAP Track & Field program. Is it WCAP leadership’s intent to target and lure lawful permanent residents (LPR) that meet it’s outrageously demanding criteria with promises of fast-track citizenship and full-time track and field following their basic training and advanced individual training (AIT)? This practice appears legal; however, it’s questionable whether such practice is ethical given both the expense to the US taxpayer and the expectation that soldier’s are recruited to serve in the military as opposed to professionally compete in track and field over a sustained period of time.

Evidence suggest that WCAP began working its Kenya Elite Athlete recruiting plan just prior to the 2012 Olympic Trials and in the wake of the 2009 federal law that allowed fast-track citizenship to LPR (green-card holders) during basic training. Primarily, this group comprised of the following:

1st Lt Robert Cheseret

Specialist Aron Reno

Specialist Augustus Maiyo

Specialist Joseph Chirlee

None of these athletes made the Olympic team; however, based on circumstantial evidence, it’s clear that WCAP made concerted efforts to further target NCAA Division I Kenyan athletes in preparation for the 2016 Olympic Trials, but in a more refined manner. That backplanning from Summer 2016, WCAP leadership recognized the following:

That based on WCAP's 2012 results, that NCAA post-collegiate Kenyans were willing to enlist. Thus a successful recruiting model that targeted those Kenyan’s that had met or likely to meet the demanding WCAP requirements. Furthermore, was the importance of targeting those from the classes of 2013 and 2014 to ensure citizenship, maximize their WCAP eligibility, and stabilize their training prior to the 2016 trials. In other words, for those recruited —- a tacit promise for an unlikely assignment in the operating forces. Specifically, the following soldiers:

Specialist Robert Chelimo: UNC-Greensboro (2014)

Specialist Shamrock Kipchichir: Oklahoma State (2014)

Specialist Leonard Korir: Iona (2013)

Spc. Joseph Chirlee

B. WCAP Track & Field Implementation Model. Perhaps most disconcerting from a federal taxpayer perspective is in the manner in which it appears that WCAP adjusted it’s implementation model in preparation for the 2016 Olympic Trials. WCAP strayed from it’s standard model of leveraging the US Army’s Fort Carson and access to the adjacent USOC’s Olympic Training Facility at Colorado Springs to both reduce expenses and ensure access to the state-of-the-art training.

Instead, WCAP secured the talents of one of its former athletes, and a current serving active duty Oregon National Guard Major Dan Browne, as it’s Long Distance Running coach. One might assume that given WCAP’s NAF status, that a Coach be hired and funded via the NAF program. In essence, it appears that WCAP leveraged federally tax-funded Active Duty officers for temporary duty coaching 3 of it’s WCAP soldier-athletes. Furthermore, it appears that either WCAP with NAFI funds or the US Army with federal funds provided both the travel and Temporary Duty (TDY) for Specialist Kipchirchir, Korrir, and Chelimo to train in vicinity of Major Browne’s Oregon residence. There, apparently WCAP negotiated access to Nike’s campus there in Beaverton, Oregon and even made arrangements for high-altitude training in Mammoth Lakes, California.

C. Recommendations for Review

Questionable ETHICS:

Did the US Army WCAP move from encouraging serving talented soldiers currently serving in the US Army to actively expending funds to recruit talented NCAA foreign athletes from the Class of 2013 & 2014 and enabling them to become US citizens and prepared to compete at the highest level at the Olympic Trials?

Did tacit agreements exist between the WCAP recruiters and NCAA students that following basic and advanced individual training that they would be allowed to simultaneously pursue a professional track and field career in addition to their military duties?

Does the WCAP exclude US Army soldiers that are foreign citizens from training to represent their country of origin in international Olympic competitions? If so, why?

In addition to their US Army pay and military benefits, do the WCAP track and field soldier-athletes simultaneously profit from endorsements and sponsors?

What relationship does Major Browne and the WCAP have with their soldier’s private sector sponsors? Financial? Training? Meet/Race Scheduling?

* What is the chain-of-command between Major Browne and the WCAP soldier-athletes he coaches during Temporary Duty?

Questionable WASTE:

* Why is an active duty/federally funded Oregon Army National Guard officer, Major Dan Browne assigned to lead and manage a NAF program as his primary military duty versus leveraging currently serving MWR professionals?

What military actions ARE NOT being accomplished in the Oregon National Guard given Major Browne’s apparent Temporary Duty (TDY) with WCAP?

* What were the conditions of the US Army WCAP’s access to Nike facilities? Under what conditions or cost? What advantage did WCAP training in Beaverton, Oregon and Mammoth Lakes, California have over Fort Carson and Colorado Springs? How much extra did this cost the respective MWR NAF and/or the taxpayer?

Questionable ABUSE

What is the record of service for WCAP Track & Field soldier-athletes following their termination of the program? Ex. Assignment to Operating Forces, years of enlistment, etc. Specifically, the following:

Major Dan Browne

Specialist Augusta Maiyo

Specialist Paul Katam

Sgt Elkanah Kibet

Specialist Aron Rono

Lt Robert Cheseret

Specialist Paul Chelimo

Speciallist Shadrach Kipchirchir

Specialist Leonard Korir

Sergeant Elkanah Kibet

* Following the 2016 Olympics, what follow-on assignments are envisions for Olympian’s Specialist’s Kipchirchir and Korrir as well as Major Browne's?

3. WCAP Track & Field Program Review

For track & field, most acutely middle and long-distance running, there exists a significant negative impression of the Army’s WCAP. That it disrupts the brittle United States post-collegiate athletic development model by offering the following to the NCAA Kenyan student-athletes:

Leverages the power of fast-track US citizenship

Full-time training w/military compensation and benefits

Funded Travel to events

Opportunity for secondary compensation via sponsors, endorsements, etc.

Kenyan’s dominate both world-class and NCAA competitions to the degree that United States running shoe companies have established programs such as the Nike Oregon Project, Bowman Track Club, Hanson Brooks, etc to serve as a means to develop the post-collegiate running community to compete at the distances which the East and North Africans dominate. WCAP works directly against these models leveraging the resources of either the federal government taxpayer or respective non-appropriated funds raised by the respective services Morale, Welfare, and Recreation. Thus a combination of talented student-athletes with limited economic-athletic opportunities back in Kenya coupled with the US Army resources.

This scenario, juxtaposed at the phenomenally high requirements for WCAP, quite frankly leads to a requirement to indeed recruit these Kenyan athletes for the program given the paucity of US runners ability to qualify. As a result, discussed earlier, WCAP appears to target these NCAA Division I Kenyans for service because their extreme standards are unlikely to be met by serving US Army soldiers. Thus their’s little opportunity for the Army rank and file officer or soldier to aspire for the WCAP program. These standards are to such an extreme that not 1 x US Military Academy school record holder would qualify for this program. Thus these standards appear absurd and targeted for a specific population: NCAA East African long-distance runners.

As a result, these pre-gifted soldier-athletes raise the bar every four years for those post-collegiate athletes to earn Olympic or World Championship births. Furthermore, the WCAP program does absolutely nothing compared to the shoe and apparel companies to support the development of US track and field programs at the youth, teen, collegiate, or professional level. This may well be completely legal, but is it fair and ethical? At what point does WCAP invest or does it just “take”?

Conclusion. Request that CDR, INSCOM take action on an appropriate review of the WCAP track and field program to ensure that it truly reflects the outstanding reputation that the US Army maintains in this society. Success brings scrutiny and should cause a positive pause on how the WCAP serves the Army and nation.