Archived Military Matters
The About.com U.S. Military Newsletter
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MILITARY MATTERS
Newsletter #52
4/05/00
Howdy all, and welcome to the 52nd 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:
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/newsletters/blnewsletters.htm
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Last Poll: Do you think the Government OWES Free lifetime Health Care to Military Retirees? A whopping 98 percent of you said, "Yes - Promises were made and not kept."
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1796.1
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This Issue's Poll: Should General Kennedy have made her Sexual Harrassment Complaint Official? No - It's only washing dirty laundery in public; or Yes - She tried to handle it unofficially and got no results.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1892.1
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NEWS AND COMMENTARY:
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Moving is too Costly for Troops: Service members are withdrawing savings, getting pay advances, taking out loans and selling possessions to help finance their military-ordered permanent change-of-station moves, according to a draft of a survey by defense officials. Then they're reimbursed on average only about 62 cents on the dollar for authorized expenses. The shortfall in reimbursements makes it difficult to replace savings and pay back advances and loans. Faring much worse, junior enlisted members get only about 27 cents on the dollar for authorized expenses.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1882.1
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Study says Retirement Should be based on Job: A Pentagon study group says the military's traditional retirement at 20 years is out of step with the times and recommends different lengths of service for different career specialties. The Defense Science Board also recommends vesting some retirement-plan benefits after five years of service. This would reduce today's "winner take all" mindset and give younger people an incentive to stay past their first enlistment, the board says in a report released in March.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1878.1
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Making good on the "Promise.": PENSACOLA - Older military retirees are afraid they may die before what they call ''the promise'' - free lifetime health care - is kept, a Medal of Honor winner told a congressional panel Monday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1856.1
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Late Fitness Reports can Damage Careers: In the digital age, it's the little things that usually cause the biggest problems. Late fitness reports, a norm in the Corps since evaluations were invented, cause headaches for manpower officials preparing for promotion boards. And computers are turning headaches into migraines.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1891.1
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Personnel Shortages too Costly to Fix: Army leaders will have to wait at least a year before knowing whether or not they'll get the 25,000 more troops they require for full mission readiness. Personnel shortages across the four services are sapping military readiness and morale, but eliminating them would add $13.2 billion to the defense budget over the next five years, according to congressional budget analysts. The price tag guarantees there will be no serious attempt this year to fill gaps in military units, according to congressional aides.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1881.1
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Major War within Decade Likely: OTTAWA - There is a good possibility of at least one major war within the next decade between a great power such as the United States and a regional power such as North Korea or Iraq, a study on the future of the Canadian Forces warns.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1876.1
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Kennedy's Accusations win Little Praise within the Army: There was widespread irritation within the Army at Lt Gen Kennedy yesterday. This was partly because she brought up an old charge. But it was also because her work as chief of Army intelligence has won few admirers. Pentagon insiders also speculated that Kennedy may be acting now because she recently lost out in a competition for one of the top slots in the Army. Kennedy was strongly considered by the Army to become the next head of its Training and Doctrine Command, a key position that oversees how the Army trains its soldiers and also plans how they will fight and operate in future wars. In that position, she would have become the first female four-star general in U.S. history.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1863.1
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Air Force Faults Pilot, Crew in Kuwati Deaths: JACKSONVILLE, Ark. -- The Air Force has determined that the deaths of three U.S. servicemen during the aborted landing of a C-130 transport in Kuwait last year stemmed from pilot and crew error.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1862.1
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CIA Discloses Korean War Spy Records: WASHINGTON--Nearly all Korean agents sent behind enemy lines by the CIA during the Korean War were killed or doubled to spy for the communists, causing the agency to conclude that its use of American-trained loyalists was "morally reprehensible," according to declassified records. That judgment is significant not only for the internal conflicts it exposes but also because the CIA had never before publicly acknowledged the scope or the outcome of its covert operations during the war.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1855.1
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GAO says DU Training Insufficient: WASHINGTON - The Pentagon needs to do better job of training soldiers who may be exposed to depleted uranium, a toxin blamed by some for Gulf War ailments, congressional investigators said Monday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1854.1
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2 Sides of the MIA Issue: Although Vietnam has aided the U.S. military extensively in its search for the 1,519 American servicemen still listed as missing from the war, the Hanoi government says it cannot afford to mount a similar effort to find its own 300,000 missing men. As a consequence, thousands of relatives have embarked on their own searches, trekking through jungle, querying military officials, consulting psychics and beseeching volunteers for assistance, all in an effort to close a chapter in their lives that officially ended a quarter-century ago.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1851.1
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Marines Offering Show and Tell to Teachers: The Marines, hoping to land more of the area's finest high-school graduates, are flying teachers and counselors to a workshop in San Diego this week to help them do just that. About 40 teachers and school counselors from Washington will take part in the Marine Corps' Educators Workshop, a five-day seminar designed to give them a sampling of recruit training, job opportunities and educational benefits the Marines offer.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1835.1
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Military Schools are Making a Come back: FORK UNION, Va. - Military schools, with their square notions of crisp uniforms and strict discipline, were once as trendy as a buzz cut. In 1950, there were 160 of the institutions nationwide. Today, there are just 40, but their concept - and their enrollment - are both making a comeback.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1832.1
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Proposal for Base Closure Commission Unlikely to Pass: The Pentagon sent Congress a 50-page proposal to create a new base-closing commission in its effort to get rid of more unneeded military installations. Defense officials propose base-closing rounds in 2003 and 2005, which they say would save $3 billion a year that could be applied to anemic modernization accounts. But officials concede the measure has only two chances of passing this year -- slim and none.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1890.1
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Plan Frees up $4B for Defense Spending: With a 2001 defense budget taking shape in Congress that adds just $1 billion -- perhaps less -- to the Clinton administration's plan, the House of Representatives moved March 29 to skirt budget rules and find another $4 billion for defense. By a 289-130 vote, the House agreed to shift the costs of several initiatives -- including improvements in housing allowances, health care and re-enlistment bonuses -- from the annual defense budget into an emergency funding bill. Emergency appropriations do not count against annual spending caps, so the shift's effect is to boost military funding, said Rep. Floyd Spence, R-S.C., House Armed Services Committee chairman, who helped engineer the move.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1884.1
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Coast Guard Tweaks Uniform Rules: A petty officer at Coast Guard Station San Francisco seemed genuinely surprised to hear about the latest change in the uniform rules. "Buttoned? Unbuttoned? I don't even own a cardigan. I don't think anyone here does," he said. Coast Guard officials admit their recent tweaks in the dress code are nothing earth-shaking, but they hope the changes will at least make Coasties a little bit more comfortable.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1886.1
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Army to Integrate Reserve/Active Duty Training: FORT MONROE, Va. -- The Army is moving into overdrive with a long-planned program to establish a single school system for active duty, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers. Since the early 1990s, officials here at Training and Doctrine Command headquarters have been building a new system of fully accredited and integrated active and reserve schools to provide standardized training and education to all officers and enlisted soldiers.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1883.1
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Ideas to Attract and Keep Recruits: SAN ANTONIO -- The only dumb idea was the one not offered. That's the attitude Air Force leaders took while soliciting proposals for tactics to battle chronic retention and recruiting problems. They declared war on personnel shortages and are taking no prisoners. So what's the best weapon? Persuading commanders to become more involved in retention? Cutting down on additional duties most airmen have? Providing more incentives to become a recruiter? All those ideas -- 120 in all -- come from airmen of various ranks and career fields. And they're getting a serious look from the folks at the top.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1877.1
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Complete the Mission, or Avoid Casualties?: The cautious approach to combat and peacekeeping operations - termed "casualty aversion" - is a growing trend that is not only jeopardizing the success of missions where U.S. troops are involved, such as Bosnia and Kosovo, but also corroding the military ethos of self-sacrifice and protection of noncombatants, say active-duty officers and military analysts.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1847.1
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US Resumes Military Aid to Nigeria: Lagos, Nigeria - Nigeria is to receive a 10 million-dollar military aid from the United States, marking an effective resumption of military co- operation between Washington and Abuja, suspended during the last military rule.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1837.1
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US Blasts Israeli AWACS Sale to China: OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - US Defense Secretary William Cohen told Israel Monday the United States opposed the sale of Israeli AWACS radars to China, calling it "counterproductive" at a time of rising tension over Taiwan. "With tensions running as high as they are between China and Taiwan we see this as being counterproductive," Cohen said at a news conference here with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1846.1
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2-Year-Old Takes Charge: Fire Controlman 3rd Class Kimberly Hoell was at sea when tragedy struck: Her husband was killed in a traffic accident. And, though it seems unimaginable, the news got even worse, far worse: No one knew the whereabouts of her two young daughters. It was March 23. Hoell was aboard the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Mediterranean Sea. She was thousands of miles from home. She was helpless to do anything. Meanwhile, however, a miracle was unfolding inside her Norfolk, Va., apartment. That's where her oldest daughter, just two and a half, was caring for her 14-month-old sister, the two of them suddenly all alone in the world.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1887.1
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Marine Killed in Training Accident: LAS VEGAS -- One Marine was killed and another injured during a training exercise at Nellis Air Force Base Wednesday night.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1825.1
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Dependents in Korea get Gas Masks: OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea -- With the help of a few airmen, 5-year-old Matt Meyers slid on a child-sized gas mask. Matt looked like a junior astronaut in the gas mask, which is more of a clear, vinyl hood than a mask. A yellow, plastic-enclosed fan connected to a hose blows filtered air into the hood. "Who do you feel like?" Matt's mother, Donna Meyers, asked him. "Buzz Lightyear," Matt said, thinking of the "Toy Story" movie hero. While the hood is something of a costume to Matt, it is serious business to the U.S. military in South Korea. Last November, the Defense Department began handing out gas masks and hoods to military dependents living in South Korea.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1880.1
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11 G.I.s Injured in Kosovo: SEVCE, Yugoslavia -- Eleven U.S. soldiers were injured in a clash with angry Serb civilians -- the largest number of American injuries in a single incident during the 10-month Kosovo peacekeeping mission.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1873.1
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First Female Warship Commander: For much of the past decade, the US Navy has hardly seemed like a place of equal opportunity for women. First there was the chief of Naval operations, Admiral Frank Kelso, testifying before Congress that women had no place on warships. Then there was the Tailhook Association incident, in which Navy men sexually assaulted 83 women at an annual convention. Today, however, there's a new story.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1817.1
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Pearl Harbor Movie Filming Begins: HONOLULU - With vintage World War II planes rumbling overhead the stars, director and producer of Disney's $135 million epic ``Pearl Harbor'' kicked off their Hawaii filming schedule on Sunday with a solemn wreath laying ceremony on the Arizona Memorial.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1850.1
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General's Case Raises Worries on Harrassment: The filing of sexual harassment charges by the first female three-star general in the Army is forcing many women in the U.S. military to conclude that high rank is no protection against harassment and to question whether they can report it without damaging their own careers.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1875.1
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Russia says no Reason to Investigate War Crimes: MOSCOW - Russian officials reacted coolly Wednesday to calls from the United Nations for an investigation of accusations of abuse by Russian troops in Chechnya, saying that federal troops rarely commit crimes. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson urged Moscow to set up a commission to look into allegations that Russian troops raped, executed and tortured Chechens. She made the call Tuesday after a brief visit to Chechnya.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1872.1
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Key Bosnia Leader Arrested for War Crimes: PARIS -- French-led NATO troops burst into the Bosnian home of Momcilo Krajisnik, a former key Bosnian Serb leader, and arrested him early today on charges of genocide, making him the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb taken into custody in connection with Bosnian war atrocities.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1861.1
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Marine Group Accuses Navy of Killing Whales: MIAMI - A marine wildlife conservation group Monday accused the U.S. Navy of conducting exercises off the Bahamas that caused the beaching and deaths of several whales. At least 14 whales beached after the Navy conducted anti-submarine exercises off the northern Bahamas in mid-March. Eight of the marine animals soon died.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=1859.1
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You can read more military news on the About.com U.S. Military Site at:
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LINK OF THE WEEK: Looking for a military boarding school or military prep school? We have a very long list of links for almost all grades in our Education and Training Area.
http://usmilitary.about.com/msub7.htm
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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
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MILITARY HUMOR: Two privates (who were roommates) were always getting into trouble. One day, while being marched up and down the drill field by their first sergeant as punishment for yet another infraction, the three came upon a latern.
One of the privates pick up the lantern and rubs it. A Genie pops out.
"I will give you each one wish; that's three wishes total," says the Genie.
The first private says, "I want to be back in my warm dry barracks room, surrounded by beautiful women with all the pizza and beer I can handle.
*POOF* the first private disappears.
The second private says, "Good idea!" I want to be there also." Looking at the First Sergeant, the private adds, "and surround our room with a large wall, so we can't be bothered by sergeants!"
*POOF* the second private disappears.
The First Sergeant says, "I'm very curious. Please tell me more about this wall."
The Genie explains, "Well, it's about 150 feet high, 50 feet thick and nothing can get in or out."
The First Sergeant says, "Fill it up with water."
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
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With those words of wisdom, I once again leave you.,
Rod Powers
About.com's U.S. Military Information Site
