Archived Military Matters
The About.com U.S. Military Newsletter
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MILITARY MATTERS
Newsletter #35
1/20/00
Howdy all, and welcome to the 35th edition of Military Matters, the newsletter for About.com's U.S. Military Information Page. If you need information about anything concerning the Military, please try http://usmilitary.about.com. If you know anyone who is interested in military matters, please feel free to email them a copy of this newsletter.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, go to:
http://usmilitary.about.com/gi/pages/mmail.htm.
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** CORRECTION ** In the previous edition, we forgot to mention the final chapter in the seven-part multi-series, "What the Recruiter Never Told You." The final chapter, "Which Military Service Should You Choose" may be viewed at http://usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa010500a.htm
<A HREF="http://usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa010500a.htm">AOL Link</A>
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** SPECIAL EVENT ** Join us TONIGHT (Thursday, Jan 20)for a special chat event with Vietnam War Hero and best-selling military author Dale Dye at 9:00 PM (EST), 6:00 PM (PST).
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/bldaledye.htm
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Last Poll: Should the U.S. establish a civilian-manned, "World Police Force?" 84 Percent of you said, "No - We're already involved too much in peacekeeping.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=833.1
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This Issue's Poll: Should the Military spend more money on fixing/building onbase housing, or increasing the offbase housing allowance?
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=867.1
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NEWS AND COMMENTARY:
To read the full stories, click on the link below. If you are not a member of our Forum, and don't wish to join, you may still read the story by clicking on "Enter as a Guest" when you see the login screen. You can join very easily at: http://usmilitary.about.com/gi/membership/join.htm Members, of course, may post responses to any of these story items.
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Marine Granted Hardship Discharge: ROCHESTER MILLS, Pa. - A year ago, James O'Neil's concerns about having to take mandatory anthrax shots made his mother sick with worry. Yesterday, he was granted a hardship discharge under honorable circumstances by the Marine Corps, which concluded O'Neil's mother would not recover from severe anxiety unless he was released.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=865.1
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Two Lawyers Appointed for Accused Soldier: Staff Sgt. Frank J. Ronghi, the 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper charged with the sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old ethnic Albanian girl, has been appointed two military lawyers, an Army spokesman said Wednesday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=859.1
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Abuse Alleged at Dyess AFB Jail: SAN ANTONIO -- A former senior airman has charged that he was systematically abused for months while in pretrial detention at the Dyess Air Force Base jail. Keno Armstrong, a 31/2-year Air Force veteran who lives in Mississippi, said he was not permitted to wear clothes in several instances and was led to believe that jail personnel at the Texas base planned to sexually assault his then-pregnant wife.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=852.1
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Widow Suing Marines Over Suicide: The widow of a high-ranking colonel who the military said killed himself in 1991 testified Wednesday that she believes her husband's death was not a suicide and that top U.S. Marine Corps brass refused to answer questions about the death investigation.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=836.1
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Tribes Try to Reclaim Military Land: WASHINGTON A dozen California tribes, some facing desperate poverty, are trying to reclaim prime waterfront property in San Diego. They have filed a federal lawsuit claiming ancestral right to the land, onetime home of the Naval Training Center that the city of San Diego wants to develop.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=864.1
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China Snarls at "Paper Tiger.": BEIJING--In China's eyes, America looks like a "paper tiger" once again. Paper tiger was the pithy phrase coined by Mao Tse-tung to convey the notion that American military power was overestimated. In the decades since the end of the Vietnam War and Mao's rapprochement with the United States, the phrase fell out of use. But, the phrase is back in use.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=863.1
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Davidian Relatives Want More Evidence: WACO, Texas -- Relatives suing the government over the deadly Branch Davidian standoff claim they are getting stonewalled on a key question in their wrongful death case -- whether anyone under the direction of U.S. authorities fired shots on the compound.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=860.1
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No Gun Ri - A Korean's Viewpoint: Is it necessary to open this Pandora's Box? Recall the raw emotions that erupted over the investigation of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Then, as now, coverage of the tragedy by major newspapers and television fostered a national angst over a war that Americans wanted to forget. Opening that Pandora's Box was necessary and for the same reason, this one is too: to remind people of the sadness of war.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=848.1
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US/Russia to Share Secret Missile Data: WASHINGTON - The United States and Russia plan to open a joint military center near Moscow this year to reduce the chances of war between the world's two largest nuclear powers.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=840.1
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The Real Korea: Brigadier General Edward Hirsch, US Army, Ret., gives his views on the terrible opening days of the Korean War, and the challenges faced by American G.I.s.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=838.1
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McCain Calls for More Base Closings: Rochester, NH - Arizona Senator John McCain hit a raw nerve in this seacoast city Tuesday, when he called for the closing of additional military bases.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=862.1
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McCain the Rebel: McCain, now 63, is often described as a "maverick" and his willingness to buck his own party's orthodoxy on some issues, and to feud with its leadership, is part of his political profile and an underlying theme of his presidential campaign. But McCain's contrarian streak did not begin when he entered politics by winning a House seat in the Phoenix area in 1982. Throughout his life, he has always stood slightly apart, and seemed most comfortable there.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=861.1
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Gays in the Military Hot Political Issue: BOSTON - The issue of gays and lesbians serving in the military has reemerged as a hot political issue for the presidential contenders of both parties.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=858.1
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Bush Speaks on China/Iraq: Texas Gov. George W. Bush says that if he became president, he would change the relationship between China and the United States from "strategic partners" to that of "competitors." On another foreign-policy issue, Mr. Bush said he would put pressure on Iraq to allow weapons inspectors back into that country. "And if we found out that they're developing weapons of mass destruction, they wouldn't exist anymore," he warned.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=849.1
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McCain does not Recommend Military Career: Sen. John McCain, a career Navy pilot whose bid for the presidency is fueled largely by his image as a war hero, says he would not recommend a military career to his children. "I would encourage all of my children to serve, but I could not at this moment say that I would recommend a career," McCain, R-Ariz., told the Boston Globe.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=844.1
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The Issues: From military pay to gays in uniform, service members and veterans are examining the policy positions of the candidates for president in both major parties.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=839.1
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POWs Defend McCain: WASHINGTON - On some back streets of the Internet, a campaign is under way to discredit GOP presidential candidate John McCain's character and conduct when he was a Vietnam War prisoner of war. Many who were POWs with McCain have had enough.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=837.1
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Pay Raises Will Help Narrow Pay Gap: The fiscal year 2001 defense budget will include a 3.7 percent all-ranks' pay raise that would continue to close the gap between military and private-sector salaries, Pentagon sources say.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=857.1
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AF E-8s Given Wrong Promotion Test: SAN ANTONIO -- Senior master sergeants testing for promotion to chief last year took the wrong supervisory test at several Air Force bases, personnel officials confirmed Jan. 12.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=853.1
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1 in 7 Selected by SGTMAJ Board: Only about one in seven of the 3,600 master sergeants whose files were screened by last fall's sergeants major board made the cut for promotion. The same board designated nearly 300 sergeants major and promotable master sergeants and first sergeants for appointments and possible appointments to command sergeant major.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=847.1
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Child Care Fee Hikes Upset Parents: Upset about a $40-a-week increase in child-care fees at the Pentagon Child Development Center, parents are taking their complaints straight to the top. "The rate of the tuition increase is alarming and, for many parents, out of the realm of their financial capabilities," Meg Smith, president of the center's parents advisory group, wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary William Cohen, received Dec. 14.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=845.1
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Most Would Prefer Living Off Base: If you took away the financial benefits of living in base housing, most military members would prefer to live off base, according to a new study.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=842.1
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First Millenium Military Baby: Meet the military's millennium baby: Lauren Matthews, born to two young airmen stationed at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=856.1
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New Device Tests Steathiness on the Ground: You need more than a screwdriver and sheet metal to keep the fuselage of a stealth fighter or bomber ready for combat. The Air Force and Boeing Co. are developing a radar scanner that flight-line maintenance crews would use to keep a plane's stealthy design intact.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=855.1
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Missle Test Fails: WASHINGTON -- The failure of a prototype missile interceptor to hit its target 140 miles above the Pacific Ocean apparently can be traced to the breakdown of heat-seeking devices aboard the interceptor.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=854.1
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North Korea Might be Obtaining Uranium: LONDON - North Korea is believed to be obtaining uranium for its secret nuclear weapons program in return for providing military training to the cash-strapped Congo government of President Laurent Kabila.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=851.1
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Sex Policing Eats up Training Time: They get detention for passing love notes in class, holding hands, kissing, giving foot massages, smiling suggestively and uttering sexually tinged language. An American high school? No. It's basic training in the new U.S. military.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=850.1
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Army Aviation in a Crisis: One of the Army's most senior aviators said his branch is "in a crisis" that threatens its future, and called for a major review of Army Aviation's role in future operations.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=846.1
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Military Humanitarian Help Rejected: TANAGUARENA, Venezuela -- The United States will keep helping victims of Venezuela's deadly floods despite President Hugo Chavez's recent decision to reject hundreds of American military engineers, the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela said Wednesday
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=843.1
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Russia Says Key Sites Captured: GROZNY, Russia - Troops fought street by street in the capital city Grozny while helicopter gunships and cannons pounded the southern mountains as the Russian military redoubled its drive Wednesday to conquer rebels in Chechnya.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=841.1
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DO YOU HAVE A MILITARY WEB SITE? If so, and you would like to make a little money, plus give your viewers access to the latest and greatest in military information, About.com will pay you for traffic you drive to the About.com U.S. Military Web Site. Details are at:
http://affiliates.about.com
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LINK OF THE WEEK: Vietnam War Hero and noted military author Dale Dye invites you to make your views known on the "Rules of Engagement."
http://rulesofengagement.com
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CHAT: Dennis Fauchier (DennisHOST) will be hosting General Military Chats every Saturday from 6:00 PM (EST) to 7:00 PM (EST) and every Wednesday from 12:00 PM (EST) to 1:00 PM (EST). Edward Hanrahan (AssassinHOST) will host every Saturday night from 9:00 PM (EST) to 1:00 AM (EST).
http://usmilitary.about.com/mpchat.htm (<A HREF=" http://usmilitary.about.com/mpchat.htm">AOL Link</A>)
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MILITARY HUMOR: A chaplain, a first sergeant, and a fighter pilot were playing golf one morning, and found themselves waiting for a particularly slow group of golfers.
The first sergeant fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!"
The fighter pilot chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!"
The chaplain said, "Hey, here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him - - - Hi, George. Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind firefighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."
The group was silent for a moment.
The chaplain said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The fighter pilot said, "Good idea. And I'm going to see if the Officer's Wives Club can do anything for them."
The first sergeant said, "Why can't these guys play at night?"
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With those words of wisdom, I once again leave you.,
Rod Powers
About.com's U.S. Military Information Site
