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MILITARY MATTERS
Newsletter #61
6/19/00
Howdy all, and welcome to the 61st 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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Previous Poll: Should the United States share Missile Defense Technology with the Russians? 90 percent of you said "No!"
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/polls/blmissile.htm
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This Issue's Poll: Is America's military (1.4 Active & 1.3 Guard/Reserve) too big or too small? A - Too Big; B - Too Small; C - Just Right; D - Need More Guard/Reserve & Less Active Duty; E - Need More Active Duty & Less Guard/Reserve
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NEWS AND COMMENTARY:
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AF Special Ops Command 10 Years Old: HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- The Air Force Special Operations Command is celebrating its 10th year this week, a milestone for ``air commandos'' once given short shrift by generals enamored of ballistic missiles and supersonic jets. The secretive special operators, instead, fly low and slow. They focus on low-intensity and psychological warfare, anti-terrorism and combat rescue, the kinds of missions that have been on the increase in the post-Cold War era. While most of the military has been downsized since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Special Operations Command, headquartered at Hurlburt, has grown. It now has 11,500 active duty, National Guard and Reserve members at six bases around the world.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2676.1
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Balancing Work and Service: It’s summer – the season for military reservists to file out of offices, factories and schools to slip into uniform and a new lifestyle for two weeks apiece. But what about those chief executive officers, foremen, or administrators they leave behind? With unemployment rates still at record lows and few people available to fill in for those off serving in the military, aren’t employers being asked to sacrifice as well? Yes, but ultimately no, said Judy Koch.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2675.1
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The "Forgotton War" getting more Attention: For all the shock over China's attack and the 2½ years of bloody fighting that followed, the Korea conflict became the "forgotten war." Coming just five years after World War II, it ended indecisively. The veterans returned to an indifferent home front and kept their experiences to themselves. "We were the silent ones. We didn't come home and say too much," says Mark Winget, a Marine from Oregon, Ill., who fought at Chosin. Recent books and documentaries, the five-year-old Korean War Memorial and news stories about civilian killings in the war's chaotic first weeks have raised the war's profile. But World War II and the Vietnam War probably will always overshadow Korea, many veterans of the conflict believe.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2674.1
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Navy Jet Crashes at Air Show: WILLOW GROVE, Pa.--A military plane crashed in the woods during an air show Sunday at Willow Grove Naval Air Station, killing the two people aboard, authorities said. The F-14 Tomcat was taking part in one of the final performances at the Willow Grove 2000 Sounds of Freedom show when it went down at 4:43 p.m. in a wooded area near houses outside the base, which is 15 miles north of Philadelphia.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2672.1
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RFK Jr. Confronts Navy About Vieques: VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Minutes after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed to stop the U.S. Navy bombing on Vieques island, officials said Sunday the Navy plans to have battleships and aircraft bombard the firing range this week. "We will not allow one more bomb to be dropped on Vieques," Kennedy told 250 protesters outside the gates of the Navy's Camp Garcia base. Kennedy spoke after the Navy refused to allow him and a group of scientists into the camp to collect soil samples from the range as evidence in a suit against the U.S. government over environmental and human rights issues on the Puerto Rican island.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2670.1
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Los Alamos Investigation Narrowing: FBI experts are trying to get fingerprints from two hard drives containing nuclear secrets, which went missing from Los Alamos National Labs and then mysteriously reappeared. Earlier reports said that the Department of Energy’s investigation into the disappearances was focusing on two employees who may have lied during polygraph tests. But a law enforcement official said today that the employees may only have lied about how long the disks were missing, not who took them or how.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2666.1
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Lockheed Fined $13 Million for China Violation: WASHINGTON — The U.S. administration has fined Lockheed Martin Corp. $13 million for violating the rules for sharing rocket technology with China, a State Department official said on Wednesday. The official, who asked not to named, gave no other details. The State Department is expected to elaborate later.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2642.1
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Readiness Depends upon Repayment of Kosovo Bill: The general in charge of all active-duty conventional Army units in the continental United States warns that Army readiness will suffer "tremendously" unless Congress quickly repays the Army for money spent in Kosovo. At issue is the so-called supplemental appropriations bill, which is supposed to compensate the military for money spent on real-world operations during the current fiscal year. Because the Army did not include money for the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo in its 2000 budget request, it is paying for that operation from its operations and maintenance account. If Congress does not refill that account before July 1, the start of the last quarter of the fiscal year, the Army will have to halt almost all training, because of a lack of cash, said Gen. John Hendrix, chief of Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Ga. The supplemental bill stalled in Congress includes $2.2 billion in Kosovo expenses, $1.5 billion of which is owed to the Army.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2659.1
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Industry Partnership Includes 94 MOS's: FORT McNAIR, Washington, D.C. -- Ninety-four specialties are included in
the Army's bold new initiative to partner with industry for the recruitment of quality young people. Called the
Partnership for Youth Success, PaYS links recruits with specific private sector employers before they enter Army
service. Once participating soldiers leave active duty, they go to work for the civilian firm. Participating companies
receive proven workers who not only have received skill training, but who have matured through the Army's leader
development system.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2658.1
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"Ecstasy" Drug Use on the Rise: Each service is required to test all of its members at least once per
year. The Marine Corps takes a much more aggressive approach, however, leading all services by testing Marines
an average of more than 2.5 times each year. Marine officials said a test for ecstasy was added to the standard
urinalysis in 1997. In fiscal 1998, 94 service members tested positive for the drug -- 34 sailors and 17 Marines
among them. But the number quadrupled during the next year, with 432 troops testing positive for ecstasy. Sailors
led the way at 189, followed by 141 soldiers, 95 Marines and seven airmen. But those are just the people getting
caught.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2651.1
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Court Reverses Sex Abuse Conviction Against Dependent: NEW YORK - A U.S. federal appeals court has reversed the
sex-abuse conviction of a man who fathered a child with his 13-year-old stepdaughter at a U.S. military base in
Germany. The appeals court said the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., was not the appropriate place to bring
charges against a civilian for a crime committed in Germany. It then dismissed the indictment against the defendant,
Milton Gatlin. In 1993, Gatlin married Gail Taylor, a U.S. army sergeant stationed at an army base in Darmstadt,
Germany. The appeals court said in August, 1996, while his wife was on duty in Bosnia, Gatlin, who was 34 at the
time, began having sex with Sergeant Taylor's 13-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2668.1
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Court Rules Army Affirmative Action Discriminated Against White Officers: The "affirmative action" race
and gender guidance used by a 1992 Selective Early Retirement Board violated the constitutional rights of some
1,000 white male Army officers, according to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. While the court has yet to specify
a remedy in this reverse discrimination case, the class-action ruling could result in a hefty payday for the affected
officers, all of whom were involuntarily retired eight years ago. In a case involving similar issues two years
ago, the Air Force reached a $10 million settlement with 83 colonels it forcibly retired in 1992.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2660.1
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Senate Votes to End Disability Pay Restrictions: In a move that would help as many as 437,000 disabled military
retirees, the Senate by voice vote agreed to end the practice of reducing military retired pay by the amount received
in veterans disability compensation. The amendment to the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill was sponsored
by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who said a 109-year-old "quirk in law" treats military retirees differently
than those retired from other federal agencies. Military retired pay is reduced dollar-for-dollar for those receiving
disability pay while the retired pay of a federal civilian is not. This is "totally unfair," he said.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2655.1
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Senate Votes to End Disability Pay Restrictions: In a move that would help as many as 437,000 disabled military
retirees, the Senate by voice vote agreed to end the practice of reducing military retired pay by the amount received
in veterans disability compensation. The amendment to the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill was sponsored
by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who said a 109-year-old "quirk in law" treats military retirees differently
than those retired from other federal agencies. Military retired pay is reduced dollar-for-dollar for those receiving
disability pay while the retired pay of a federal civilian is not. This is "totally unfair," he said.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=26374.1
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South Korea - Wearing out our Welcome?: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA -- The guns fell silent nearly a half-century ago, yet
thousands of GIs remain, serving in a protective role that has become a seemingly permanent part of life in South
Korea. Their help in facing down Communist North Korea is widely appreciated, but younger South Koreans are increasingly
questioning the U.S. presence. Scenes of war -- smoking debris, swarming war orphans, barefoot refugees in rags
-- have been replaced by modern Korea: subways, skyscrapers, young people toting mobile phones, designer handbags
and New York Yankees baseball caps. Despite the prosperity, 37,000 U.S. servicemen and women are based here to
help defend South Korea, long after the three-year Korean War came to an end July 27, 1953. The war cost 140,000
U.S. dead and wounded. But postwar Korean generations, which account for 80 percent of the country's 46 million
people, dwell little on past American sacrifices. Instead, they pay more attention to stories of alleged crimes
by a tiny fraction of U.S. military personnel and to the real estate prices of vast stretches of land occupied
by 85 U.S. military installations free of charge.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2671.1
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S. Korean Protesters Demand U.S. Withdrawal: M A E H Y A N G - R I, South Korea — Hundreds of villagers, students,
and labor activists, demanding that U.S. troops leave South Korea, clashed with baton-wielding riot police today,
leaving at least 20 people injured. “This is our land. Let’s drive out U.S. troops,” chanted 1,000 demonstrators,
pumping their fists into the air as protest songs blared from loudspeakers. Protesters hurled rocks and dirt, and
wielded bamboo sticks when riot police locked their plastic shields and batons to block them from marching on a
nearby U.S. Air Force bombing range to demand its closure.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2667.1
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More Civilians may Accompany Combat Deployments: Don't look twice -- the person standing next to you wearing BDUs
and a gas mask case on his belt may be a civil service worker. The Air Force is taking a long look at putting more
civil service workers in jobs that could require them to deploy to overseas contingency operations. Air Force headquarters
personnel officials were unavailable as of June 7 to talk about the proposals. But already, government civilians
have deployed with their units as a result of the service shifting more jobs from airmen to civilians. During Operation
Allied Force, the 1999 air war against Yugoslavia, civilians in roles from deputy squadron commanders to passenger
terminal workers were sent overseas.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2662.1
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No End in Sight to Kosovo Mission: As the Army marks its first anniversary in Kosovo, at least one thing appears
certain: Soldiers can count on deploying there for years to come. In fact, some experts contend, the region may
well become America's next European outpost. It was June 12, 1999, when U.S. ground forces rolled into the war-torn
region after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign put an end to Slobodan Milosovic's attempt to rid Kosovo of its ethnic
Albanian population. One year later, thousands of Albanian refugees have returned home, businesses have reopened
and signs of rebuilding are everywhere. But Kosovo is anything but peaceful. Eruptions of ethnic violence often
follow efforts to build trust between Albanians and Serbs still divided by ancient hatreds.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2656.1
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Defining "Deployment": Although service members might think they know whether or not they're on a deployment,
the Pentagon isn't so sure. The definition is important because Congress last year required the services to pay
$100 a day to any person deployed more than 250 days out of the previous 365. A working group with the Office of
the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness has met weekly since January to discuss the issue, but
the services are weeks away from issuing a uniform policy that will pass muster in Congress, defense officials
say. The services missed a June 1 deadline for reaching a common definition for deployments away from a service
member's base.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2654.1
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AF Academy Changing Honor System: The Air Force Academy is making it harder for faculty members to improperly influence
cases in which cadets are facing Honor Code charges or possible expulsion. Academy officials also plan to have
an outside agency survey students, faculty and staff about whether they believe the Honor Code is fair. The internal
review at the academy was prompted by claims last year from Cadet 1st Class Juan Nieves that Col. Cary Fisher,
chairman of the engineering division, improperly persuaded a faculty-led board to expel him for academic reasons.
Two student-led Honor Boards previously had cleared Nieves of charges that he lied about why he skipped classes
in Fisher's department. Fisher received a letter of reprimand in May following an inspector general investigation.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2663.1
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Nigeria Pocketing Troop's Pay from U.N. FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Nigerian troops who form the backbone of the troubled
United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone have not been paid for four months because their government
has pocketed UN contributions intended for the soldiers. Troops from other countries serving in Sierra Leone --
including Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Bangladesh and Jordan -- have also been receiving less than the full US$1,000-per-head
monthly pay that the UN has handed over for them.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2673.1
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Two Koreas Agree to Cooperate: SEOUL, June 15 (Thursday) –– North and South Korea stepped back from a half-century
of confrontation Wednesday night as their leaders signed an agreement to work toward reunification of the divided
peninsula and begin an epochal process of reconciliation.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2646.1
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You can read more military news on the About.com U.S. Military Site at:
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Around and About:
Army Badges: Pictures of Army qualification badges and details about award criteria.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/arbadges/nlarbadges.htm
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Air Force Assignments. Frequently Asked Questions about the Air Force Assignment System.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blafassignmentfaq.htm
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Displaying the U.S. Flag. Customs and rules for displaying the United States Flag.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blflag.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: An Air Force Captain and an Army Captain were sitting next to each other on an airplane. The Air
Force Captain leans over to the Army Captain and asks if he wants to play a fun game. The Army Captain just wants
to sleep, so he politely
declines, turns away and tries to sleep.
The Air Force Captain persists and explains that it is a really easy game. He says, "I ask a question and
if you don't kow the answer, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay
you $5."
Again, the Army Captain politely declines and tried to sleep.
The Air Force Captain, now somewhat agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5, and
if I don't know the answer, I pay you $50!"
Now, that got the Army Captain's attention, so he agrees to the game.
The Air Force Captain asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" The
Army Captain doesn't say a word, but reaches for his wallet instead and hands the Air Force Captain $5.
Now it is the Army Captain's turn. He asks the Air Force Captain, "What goes up a hill with three legs and
comes down on four?"
The Air Force Captain looks at him with a puzzled expression, takes out his notebook computer, looks through all
his references, and after about half an hour, wakes the Army Captain and hands the Army Captain $50.
The Army Captain politely takes the $50, turns away and tries to return to sleep.
The Airforce Captain, a little miffed, asks, "Well, what's the answer to the question?"
Without a word, the Army Captain reaches into his wallet, hands $5 to the Air Force Captain, turns away and returns
to sleep.
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
