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MILITARY MATTERS
Newsletter #47
3/03/00
Howdy all, and welcome to the 47th 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.
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BACK-ISSUES: Back-issues of Military Matters are now available to read online at:
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Last Poll: Should college credits (degrees) be a promotion consideration for enlisted personnel? 58 Percent of you said, Yes; 19 Percent of you said, No; and 24 Percent of you said, Only if directly related to the MOS/AFSC/Rating.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1372.1
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This Issue's Poll: If China Attempts to Invade Taiwan, Should the U.S. Become Militarily Involved? Yes or No
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1348.1
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NEWS AND COMMENTARY:
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G.I. Joe Goes Undercover: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A new G-I Joe speaks in his native tongue - but it isn't English. Toymaker Hasbro has issued a version of the action figure to honor some of the unsung heroes of World War II. The code talker G-I Joe can say seven phrases in Navajo, followed by the English translation. The phrases include "request air support," and "attack by machine gun."
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1328.1
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The Two Week Rule: For all the preparation friends gave me as my husband departed for his first deployment since our marriage, no one bothered to explain the "two-week rule." Now our kitten is sick and the Washington area has had its biggest snowfall since the blizzard of 1996. In telling a co-worker about this very small barrage of problems, she informs me of the "two-week rule." Everything will fall apart within two weeks of your spouse's departure, she says. She suggested to me either my car or a major household appliance will be victimized by this rule next.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1403.1
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Guard & Reserve - Serving the Country: In the Army today, Guard and Reserve soldiers outnumber those in the regular force, 564,000 to 479,000. In the late 1980s, reservists spent less than 1 million days on active duty supporting military operations; last year they spent nearly 13 million.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1437.1
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US Troops Head to Mozambique: WASHINGTON -- As many as six U.S. Air Force special operations helicopters will be transported to southern Africa beginning this weekend to attempt to rescue flood victims in Mozambique, the Pentagon announced Thursday. The Pentagon also will send a team of medical and communications specialists to the area this weekend from Europe aboard C-130 aircraft. They are being diverted from an exercise planned in the central African nation of Cameroon.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1434.1
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Mozambique Troops will only number 600: WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has scaled back the number of U.S. troops it intends to send to southern Africa to provide humanitarian relief to victims of heavy flooding in Mozambique, officials said today. Spokesman Kenneth Bacon had said on Thursday that as many as 900 troops could be involved, but today officials said it would not exceed 600.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1433.1
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Chinese Military Action Unlikely: WASTHINGTON - The Chinese military will not likely repeat its 1996 military intimidation of Taiwan as the island's March 18 presidential election approaches, China watchers say.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1432.1
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Army & Marines Stage Food Fight: FORT LEE, Va. - Nobody ever joined the Army for the food. Ask a GI about his memories of military cuisine and prepare for tales of green, blob-shaped entrees with misleading names and, if you were lucky, a little flavor. But at Fort Lee this week, at least a few soldiers are eating like four-star generals: Pork schnitzel with minestrone. Jalapeno cornbread. Upside-down pineapple cake and fruit salad. And all from the Army's best cooks - plus one team from the Marines- who are doing battle against each other in a kind of culinary war game.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1431.1
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Chechen Rebels Kill 20 Russian Police: DUBA-YURT, Russia -- Twenty Russian riot police were killed and 29 were injured during an ambush in Grozny by Chechen rebels, the Russian military said on Friday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1425.1
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E. Timor Peacekeepers Under Fire: DILI, East Timor - United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor have come under fire in four separate attacks near the border with Indonesian West Timor in the past 36 hours, a force spokesman said Friday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1423.1
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Meanwhile, in Iraq: ISTANBUL, Turkey - U.S. warplanes bombed an Iraqi air-defense system Thursday after the Iraqis fired surface-to-air missiles at allied aircraft patrolling the northern no-fly zone, the U.S. military said.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1419.1
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Keeping a Tough Peace: KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo -- Spc. Jim Keaton never thought his proudest moment as a peacekeeper would be when he was pelted with rocks by people he was sent to protect. The 26-year-old 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper was among 350 soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment who were rushed here Feb. 19 to help French peacekeeping forces restore order in a town separated by hatred.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1411.1
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When at First you Don't Succeed: KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia -- A day after being turned back by stone-throwing Serbs, ethnic Albanians said they would try again today to return to their homes in the Serb-dominated sector of this divided town.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1389.1
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Taiwan Wants Aeigis Destroyers: TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's navy, citing China's latest invasion threat, wants to purchase four U.S. Aegis-class destroyers, a move the army and air force opposes due to funding constraints.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1436.1
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High Tech Command: SAVANNAH -- Forget about battlefield command posts where colonels found shelter in a canvas tent and studied crinkled paper maps on splintered wood tables. The military's modern command post looks like Microsoft went camping. Smooth metal tubes provide the framework for a rainproof plastic shelter. Video projectors hang from metal tubes supporting the tent's roof. They project images onto four large video screens angled around the front. Sleek laptop computers sit on top of office desks shaped like trapezoids so they'll fit inside the tent's close quarters. The camouflaged chairs are cushioned and have movable back rests.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1435.1
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Loss of C-141s Hurt Med Evac Mission: The loss of more than 40 percent of the Air Forces' C-141 Starlifters, one of the workhorses of aeromedical transport, has prompted Air Mobility Command to study ways to keep the movement of patients going smoothly.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1414.1
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Have You Seen my Missile?: WASHINGTON - The Navy acknowledged that it has not kept accurate records indicating that weapons it ships between storage sites are received at their destinations, but the service said it expects to solve the problem this year.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1404.1
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Destroyer to be Named for War Hero: Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig has announced his decision to name the 41st ship of the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer, "Pinckney." Pinckney (DDG 91) will honor Navy Cook Third Class William Pinckney, (1915-1975), recipient of the Navy Cross for his courageous rescue of a fellow crewmember onboard the USS Enterprise (CV 6) during the Battle of Santa Cruz.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1399.1
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KC-135s Grounded: More than a third of the Air Force's 546 KC-135 air tankers have been grounded because Ogden Air Logistics workers failed to properly manufacture a stabilizer part, Air Force officials said Wednesday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1393.1
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China, Russia Discuss Military Ties: BEIJING -- In a step to further strengthen military ties between Russia and China, a Chinese general discussed military cooperation today with visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1430.1
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Vaccine Scandals Won't Go Away: It wasn't just idle words when Bill Clinton said he "loathed" the military. He has damaged U.S. Armed Services in so many ways that it's no wonder morale, recruitment and retention levels are at all-time lows. Clinton has used the military to indulge in social experimentation to appease the feminists and gays, and in interventionist experimentation to please his globalist friends. He has also ordered medical experimentation through compulsory anthrax vaccination.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1427.1
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Shooting Ourselves in the Foot: WASHINGTON - On top of all our other recruiting problems, at least 600 high schools accross the country have banned military recruiters, officials said, while countless others won't supply directories, making it difficult for recruiters to contact juniors and seniors.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1426.1
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Nuke Fallout Found in Las Vegas Attics: Traces of radiation and banned pesticides lie in the attic dust of older homes in Las Vegas -- undisturbed footprints of decades of nuclear bomb tests and use of poisons no longer allowed.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1418.1
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Seems Like Cold Times: An ominous new arms race is quietly gathering momentum in East Asia, a struggle for strategic advantage that has all the Cold War's deadly potential but none of the restraints that helped keep the U.S.-Soviet conflict from exploding out of control. The competition in East Asia is powered by accelerating technical advances in ballistic missiles and missile defenses. And it feeds on the deep insecurities and bitter rivalries that have long kept the region in turmoil.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1406.1
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Falling Short: Now it's the Corps' turn to sweat. After sailing by as the other military services fell short of retention goals in recent years, the Corps is at risk of missing its first-term re-enlistment requirements this year. The Marine Corps must re-enlist 5,788 first-term Marines in fiscal 2000, the most since instituting the First Term Alignment Plan in 1993. But that higher goal, coupled with the hottest civilian job market in a generation, has manpower experts worried that this might be the year the Corps falls short.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1405.1
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Um....Used Base Salesman?: SAN ANTONIO -- Defense Secretary William S. Cohen received a standing ovation, Mar. 2 for giving Texans a $102.8 million break on the bill for Kelly Air Force Base. During a speech, he announced the price for the Air Force base dropped from $108 million to $5.2 million. The 250 local officials and members of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce attending the luncheon at the Adams Mark Hotel were pleased.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1401.1
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Security Chief Vows to Clear Backlog: WASHINGTON -- Charles Cunningham is the first to acknowledge his goal is daunting, but the head of the Defense Security Service is determined to clear up a backlog of 505,000 background checks for both military and civilian personnel. Cunningham has pledged to get all investigations up to date by the end of 2001. The goal, he said, is complicated by the fact that clearing the backlog means DSS also must keep up with the approximately 400,000 new background checks it routinely processes annually.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1400.1
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Saddam's Staying Power: Saddam Hussein counts the days, if not the hours and minutes, that remain before he can crow about having outlasted a second U.S. president. Each Inauguration Day in Washington represents a huge psychological victory and an important political boost for the Iraqi dictator.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1395.1
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45 Year Sentence for War Crimes: THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Yugoslav war-crimes tribunal today sentenced Croat Gen. Tihomir Blaskic to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence it has issued and the first verdict against a senior military officer in the Balkan conflict.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1429.1
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Air Force Man Charged with Nonconsensual Sex: Prosecutors have charged an enlisted man from Grand Forks Air Force Base with having nonconsensual sexual intercourse with a Grand Forks woman while she slept. William David Edwards, 21, was charged with gross sexual imposition after the woman told police that Edwards attempted to have sex with her at a Grand Forks residence while she slept in the early morning hours Sunday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1422.1
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Woman Testifies Fondling too Often to Recall Details: HURLBURT FIELD - A 22-year-old woman testified at a court-martial Thursday that a highly decorated Air Force officer groped and fondled her as a minor so often that she could not recall how many times it happened. Col. James A. Sills, 48, of Fort Lauderdale, is charged with molesting two girls under 16, including the woman who testified Thursday. He also is being tried on charges of assaulting his estranged wife and having an unprofessional relationship with his secretary.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1421.1
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Retired AF NCO Charged with 1970 Murder: ST. AUGUSTINE - A retired Air Force master sergeant has been arrested and charged with the 1970 murder of a woman in Missouri. Donald A. Vanderbent, 50, was picked up at work Wednesday and charged with the strangulation death of Barbara Jean Galliher, a newly married 22-year-old Air Force wife in Sedalia, Mo., while her husband was overseas.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1420.1
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Dependents Held in German "Stoning" Deaths: With thousands of U.S. military personnel in Germany, police are used to dealing with the occasional Army brat who runs a red light or lifts beer from a supermarket. But three teenage Americans who allegedly spent their nights hurling rocks at cars from a pedestrian bridge are facing something far more serious: murder charges in the deaths of two drivers.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1417.1
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NCO Found Not Guilty in Test Cheating Case: SAN ANTONIO -- A 16-year Air Force veteran who was found innocent Feb. 8 of cheating on his promotion test is worried that people believe he was acquitted only because he beat the system. Handed down by an all-officer jury, the acquittal brought to a close a 10-day trial and a year-long investigation into allegations that Standfield illegally shared test information on the 1998 E-6 promotion fitness exam while at the 67th Fighter Squadron at Kadena Air Force Base in Japan.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1413.1
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Russia in Denial: It is decreasingly deniable that Russia's armed forces have committed major abuses--war crimes--in Chechnya. The most vivid recent evidence is videotape from a German television network, which shows Russian troops roughly disposing of the handcuffed bodies of executed Chechen fighters. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has just surveyed 326 Chechen refugees in next-door Ingushetia. Fully 44 percent had seen civilians killed by Russian fire. PHR has also compiled firsthand accounts of systematic torture and extortion at the notorious Chernokozovo "filtration camp," where Russian forces send military-age male Chechens and interrogate them about their links to the Chechen rebels. Foreign journalists who have interviewed former inmates have heard similar accounts.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1392.1
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AF General to Head New Nuke Agency: WASHINGTON -- Congressional critics of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's revamping of the government's nuclear weapons programs, nevertheless, are welcoming his selection of the man who will head the new weapons agency. Richardson on Thursday announced that a four-star general, who currently is the No. 2 official at the Central Intelligence Agency, will be nominated by President Clinton as administrator of the new National Nuclear Security Administration.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1424.1
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Military Nurse Saves Iwo Jima Vet: He fought for her freedom and she saved his life. A participant in the reunion for veterans who did battle on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima lost conciousness at a casino last week. Fortunately, there was a nurse in the house.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1391.1
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Bride Never Wore Desert Camos: NEW YORK - The woman whose televised wedding on "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" is headed for annulment, is being criticized for claiming that she is a Gulf War veteran. Although she has said she was a Gulf War veteran, her records show she never served in the Persian Gulf.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1390.1
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Air Force Reserves Wants More Pilots: Increased commitments to train new pilots and plans to take over aircraft flight testing duties from the active duty have the Air Force Reserve looking to increase its cadre of Active Guard and Reserve pilots by 30 percent over the next two years. To help do that, the Reserve in January started offering continuation bonuses of up to $25,000 a year to AGR pilots willing to make three- to five-year service commitments.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1416.1
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Up, Not Out: Army Secretary Louis Caldera has approved a policy change that extends by two years the mandatory retirement points for sergeants first class, promotable staff sergeants and certain other staff sergeants. The new tenure rules, called retention control points, or RCPs, take effect March 1.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1412.1
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More Targeted Raises?: Noncommissioned officers and midgrade petty officers would get targeted pay raises of around 3 percent -- in addition to the raises they will get July 1 -- under a plan pushed by an influential lobbying organization. The Fleet Reserve Association, which represents career enlisted personnel in the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, is spearheading an effort to increase the basic pay of enlisted members in paygrades E-5 through E-7.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1410.1
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Pay Should be Every 14 Days: Struggling families could manage their finances much more easily if the military switched paydays from twice a month to once every 14 days, according to an economist and a retired sergeant major of the Marine Corps. The traditional practice of paying military personnel twice a month "creates very erratic intervals" where families sometimes have to stretch their paychecks over three weekends, said Aline Quester, an economist with the Center for Naval Analyses, a think tank in Alexandria, Va.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1409.1
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Navy Reserve Enlisted Fliers Eligible for New Pay: Reserve enlisted aircrew members are now eligible for a bonus already extended to their active-duty counterparts -- extra pay to stay in the service. Career Enlisted Flier Incentive Pay is now available to reserve enlisted aircrewmen in 13 ratings. (see Reservewide message AlNavResFor 08/00 for a complete list).
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1408.1
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Pentagon to Offer Commuting Incentives: - Some of the Defense Department's 177,000 military and civilian personnel in the Washington area will soon be allowed to pay some of their commuting costs in pretax dollars, according to Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.). The program won't be as generous as many other federal transit incentives. It will be more like private-sector programs.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1398.1
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Mixed Feelings on Base Closings: WASHINGTON - Even as Defense Secretary William Cohen presses Congress to authorize more military base closures, some of the service chiefs are sounding a less enthusiastic note. Only the Air Force avidly support future closings.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1415.1
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Past Greets McCain: WESTMINSTER, Calif.-An old brigade of South Vietnamese soldiers in fading fatigues lingered near the stage in silence, waiting to salute him. Hung Nguyen rushed from work to march alongside the passing rush-hour traffic, waving a banner to defend him. By the time Arizona Sen. John McCain arrived here Wednesday night for an outdoor rally in the heart of Little Saigon, a roaring crowd of several thousand political exiles and onetime refugees had swarmed a shopping mall parking lot to hear the presidential candidate and former Vietnam POW praise them as a community that "epitomizes what America is all about."
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1397.1
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Military Chiefs for Hire - $300 Billion an Hour: Who can keep the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the heads of the most powerful armed forces on Earth, cooling their heels for an hour? The Senate Armed Services Committee, that's who. There were the four chiefs, backed by 40 staffers--"more stars in there than in the Hayden Planetarium," said one observer--on hand Wednesday for the annual hearing on the military "posture" and the $300 billion or so in the budget for defending the country. Well, as they say, you want $300 billion, you can wait an hour.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1396.1
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New Navy Aviation Plan: Navy leaders are proposing sweeping changes in carrier aviation that would radically alter the makeup of the air wings, including cutting the number of strike fighters by 10 percent per wing and forging a more powerful force off the flight deck.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1407.1
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Is Marine Boot Camp Growing Soft?: PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- By the end of the second week of boot camp, when most recruits have adjusted to the regimented discipline and physical conditioning, Recruit Ronnie McGregor kept struggling. He didn't want to do the drills. He balked at cleaning his rifle. He hated running and PT. Instead, he was throwing his canteen against the wall in fits of anger. He was becoming a poison pill. Not so very long ago, the Corps would have tossed McGregor's butt out of boot camp in a DI minute. But not anymore.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1402.1
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US Kosovo Troops will stick to own Turf: U.S. troops in Kosovo will stick to their own turf under orders announced by the Pentagon yesterday that sharply limit missions to assist the peacekeepers of other nationalities. The new restrictions reflect concerns in the Defense Department and the White House over a violent encounter last week between a Serbian mob and American soldiers who had been sent to help French peacekeepers with a police action in the French sector, according to a senior military official.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1394.1
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LINK OF THE WEEK: Destroyers Online. Everything you ever wanted to know about Navy Destroyers.
http://www.plateau.net/usndd/
<A HREF="http://www.plateau.net/usndd">AOL Link</A>
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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: This has got to be the all-time classic comeback. This is a recount of a National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster, and US Army General Reinwald who's about to sponsor a boy scout troop visiting his military installation.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: "So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?"
GENERAL REINWALD: "We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting."
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: "Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?"
GENERAL REINWALD: "I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range."
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: "Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?"
GENERAL REINWALD: "I don't see how, ....we will be teaching them proper rifle range discipline before they ever touch a firearm."
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: "But you're equipping them to become violent killers."
GENERAL REINWALD: "Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?
The radio went silent and the interview ended.
For more military humor, check out the Military Humor Netlink on the About.com U.S. Military Site at
http://usmilitary.about.com/msubmenujokes.htm
A HREF="http://usmilitary.about.com/msubmenujokes.htm">(AOL Link)</A>
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With those words of wisdom, I once again leave you.,
Rod Powers
About.com's U.S. Military Information Site
