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MILITARY MATTERS
Newsletter #65
7/17/00
Howdy all, and welcome to the 65th 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 available to read online at:
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Changing your Military Records.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa071700a.htm
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Previous Poll: Should Military Doctors Give Equal Priority to Enemy POWs as They do to U.S. Servicemembers?
35 percent of you said: (A) - Yes - Medical Ethics and our View on Human Rights Demand This; 65 percent of you
said: (B) - No - Combat Readiness Dictates that U.S. Servicemembers be given Priority Treatment.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/polls/blpowmedical.htm
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This Issue's Poll: Should the U.S. Support the Creation of a Permanent U.N. Peacekeeping & Police Force? (A)
Yes - This would be more economical and improve reaction time; (B) No - This gives the U.N. too much power.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/polls/blun.htm
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NEWS AND COMMENTARY:
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Out of Shape Recruits Common: WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army gets enlistees who can't do a sit-up. ``It's very common.
They can't do sit-ups. None. I could not believe it when I saw it,'' said Staff Sgt. Terry J. Dokey, who was a
drill instructor at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. After the drill sergeants are through with them, the recruits will meet
or beat the minimum physical requirements, said Dokey, now at the Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe,
Va., as the Army's 1999 Drill Sergeant of the Year. But the enlistees must overcome the effects of too little physical
education in public schools, and too much easy modern living. In fact, Army training experts wonder if even the
Army's standards have gotten too soft, and fail to prepare troops adequately for combat.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=3018.1
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Retired Navy Commander Critisizes TWA 800 Crash Investigation: PRESS CONFERENCE
7-17-2000, National Press Club, 1030 AM, Advance Statement of CDR W. S. Donaldson, USN Ret., ARAP Air Crash Investigations:
We are at a critical point in the investigation into the air disaster known as the downing of TWA Flight 800. This
is the fourth anniversary of that event. During this 48-month period, virtually the entire second term of the Clinton
administration, the political leadership in both the Justice Department and the National Transportation Safety
Board have taken aggressive and sometimes illegal proactive steps to ensure the American people remain ignorant
of the cause of the loss of this aircraft with 230 souls aboard.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=3017.1
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Early Release of Boat cause of SEAL Accident: NORFOLK - The accidental release of
their rubber boat from a helicopter while it flew 167 feet above the water likely persuaded a pair of Navy SEALs
to jump from too great a height, killing one and injuring another, the Navy's investigation into a March 9 accident
near the Bahamas concluded. While SEALs are trained to immediately follow their boat into the water, they normally
do so from about 10 feet in the air and only after a direct command. Rear Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander Naval Special
Warfare Command and the Navy's top SEAL, said in the accident investigation that a culmination of factors led the
two SEALs to believe the helicopter was flying lower and slower than it was.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2994.1
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Guard Gives Computers to Navajo School: Utah National Guard officials had a better idea about disposing of outdated
computers: They donated them to a Navajo school in Arizona. Ordinarily, said Lt. Col. David A. Thomas of the Utah
Air National Guard, when computers are replaced, the older ones go to Hill Air Force Base, where they are auctioned
to the public. But recently, the Guard located a good use for computers that were replaced. The 100-plus computers
replaced by the Utah Air National Guard were donated to Tiisnazbas Elementary School in Tee Nos Pos, Ariz. They
were Pentium-class computers, generally about 200 megahertz in speed.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2993.1
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UN Committee Recommends End to Vieques Bombing: NEW YORK, New York, (ENS) - A United Nations committee has decided
to recommend that the organization officially urge the United States to stop military training activities on the
Puerto Rican island of Vieques, and return military lands there to Puerto Rico. The resolution, approved Wednesday,
marks the first time in 28 years that the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization has reached consensus
on the issue of Puerto Rican sovereignty on Vieques.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2988.1
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Get Rich Airmen: Master Sgt. Carlton Hill wants to be a millionaire -- and he's well on his way. And you could
be on the way with him, with just a little bit of effort and a whole lot of discipline. For most people, becoming
a millionaire takes more than answering questions correctly on a TV game show. For Hill, it's been an 11-year effort
and remains a work in progress. But he and his wife, also a master sergeant, are working steadily toward a goal
that makes it all worthwhile: "To have a million dollars by the time we're 40 -- and we're well on our way
to doing that." Like a handful of other investment-savvy service members, Hill is living proof that you can
indeed get rich in the military -- if not from high wages, then at least by careful saving, investment and effort.
All of them allocate a hefty portion of their pay to investments, both blue-chip and new-technology stocks, as
well as mutual funds and real estate. They keep themselves well-informed about financial matters and trends. And
they're careful with their family's spending, generally sticking to a precise budget. That self-discipline, paired
with a plan and a strategy, is helping them achieve a goal that, it seems, almost anyone can achieve -- as long
as you have the commitment to stick to your goals, experts say.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2955.1
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Anthrax Threat May Be Increasing: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Tuesday the threat to U.S. troops
from anthrax biological attack could be growing even as a short supply of vaccine is forcing a slowdown in the
program to immunize all troops. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Randall West said U.S. intelligence indicated countries
and groups had increased efforts to obtain anthrax agent since 1998 when the Pentagon first moved to immunize 2.4
million active and reserve military personnel. West, the Pentagon's principal adviser on chemical and biological
warfare defenses, was reluctant to discuss details of the threat at a news conference to announce a temporary cut
in the military immunization program. "I can't go into the specifics of that here,'' he said. ''But I can
tell you that, of the people that we have identified that were pursuing the (anthrax) capability, there have been
some technology improvements and there have been some activity increases."
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2935.1
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U.S. Military Aid to Columbia Brings Focus on Abuses: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One day after President Clinton boosted
military aid to Colombia, a U.S. senator called on his administration on Friday to investigate recent massacres
by death squads linked to the Colombian army. ``This is no longer Colombia's business. It is our business because
we provided the money for a military that is complicit in human rights violations and the murder of innocent people,
including small children,'' Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat, said on the floor of the Senate. Wellstone
wrote to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright seeking an investigation into massacres of Colombian peasants last
weekend and in February by right-wing paramilitary groups that rights groups say are backed by Colombia's army.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2987.1
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AF Special Ops to Lose Helicopters: The Air Force Special Operations Command is getting out of the helicopter business.
Starting next year, the Air Force will give many of its special operations helicopter missions in Korea to Army
MH-47E Chinooks and begin phasing out the command's MH-53 Pave Lows. By 2007, the Air Force command will have replaced
all of its Pave Lows with CV-22 Ospreys. "They are a great aircraft, but we need to move on," said Lt.
Gen. Maxwell Bailey, who oversees the command. Six Pave Lows stationed at Osan Air Base, Korea, with the 31st Special
Operations Squadron will be replaced next year by six Army Chinooks flying out of Taegu Air Base, Korea. The Army
helicopters are special operations versions of the twin-rotored Chinooks. Like the Pave Lows, the Chinooks can
be refueled in the air and fly with an infrared camera and radar gear that enable crews to run low-level night
missions. The Air Force command will begin stationing Ospreys in the Far East with the 353rd Special Operations
Group at Kadena Air Base, Japan, in 2006.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2966.1
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The Return of Recon: CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Here, at Camp Margarita, history has a way of repeating itself,
most recently during the June reactivation of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. The move restores a battalion to the
1st Marine Division, eight years after the post-Gulf War Corps planned to eliminate recon battalions as a downsizing
measure. Pushed by the commandant's mandate to "fix recon," top Marine Corps officials wanted a recon
battalion, instead of a recon company, at each of the Corps' three divisions. So the 1st Recon Company became the
1st Recon Battalion on June 8, several days after a redesignated 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion -- a combination
of the 3rd Recon Company and the 5th Force Recon Battalion -- officially stood up June 2 on Okinawa, Japan. In
addition to a new structure, 1st Recon also has changed its philosophy, roles and missions.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2961.1
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Navy Considers Creating a Command Master Chief Rating: Master chief petty officers might have the option of changing
their ratings to become full-time leadership specialists, if a plan now circulating in Washington wins top officials'
approval. Instead of being identified only by a special job code, or Navy Enlisted Classification, E-9s could change
to a command master chief rating and close out their careers in that role. Although more than 600 E-9s serve as
full-time command master chiefs today, they retain their original ratings -- such as boatswain's mates, operations
specialists and aviation electronics technicians -- and can transfer back into billets for those job skills. Many
of them don't transfer back into their job skills, however, and creating a CMC rating would recognize them formally
as leadership specialists.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2952.1
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No More Navy "Torture Racks": Navy officials have some comforting news for sailors tired of sleeping
on their old brick-like racks: Starting this fall, many shipboard sailors will get new, more comfortable mattresses.
The Navy is deep-sixing the fleet's hard foam-core mattresses that have been bruising sailors' backs for 30 years.
The goal is to switch every at-sea mattress for a cushier one by 2003. "The question is not whether we will
make these improvements, but how fast can we bring them to the fleet," Navy Secretary Richard Danzig said
in a statement. "I am in a hurry." The new mattresses feature a pocketed inner spring, a design that
allows more give, and won't curve or bend into odd shapes over time.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2949.1
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The Murder of a Navy Wife: In his sailor's dreams, Billy Bosko imagined his homecoming: His 18-year-old bride would
be waiting at Pier 5 when the guided-missile frigate Simpson pulled into Norfolk just after 3 p.m. On that day,
her dark brown eyes would be searching for him. Maybe she would spot his confident stride and start running. Maybe
she'd be wearing the green cowboy boots she had on when they married three months before. Maybe she'd jump into
his arms and squeeze him so hard he'd yelp with joy. But on that day -- July 8, 1997 -- Michelle Moore-Bosko was
not on the pier. Instead she lay dead on the bedroom floor in the Ocean View apartment the couple had shared.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2995.1
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Congress Covers Funding Shortfalls: It took some unusual twists and turns, but Congress finally delivered June
30 on the military's request for money to cover budgetary shortfalls, including the $2 billion cost of peacekeeping
operations. Along the way, the supplemental funding bill ballooned to $11.2 billion, with $6.4 billion going to
the Defense Department and $1.3 billion to the Plan Colombia drug initiative, which will include sending military
trainers to Latin America. Final passage of the bill came only after a top Army official, Gen. John M. Keane, vice
chief of staff, warned that the service would cut its budget if it did not get the money. The proposed cuts included
a hiring freeze for civilians and layoffs of all temporary workers beginning July 5. The draft memo Keane gave
lawmakers June 30 also would have ordered the cancellation of all unit training for September and the deferral
of facility maintenance other than health and safety repairs. Keane's letter -- and some last-minute promises from
congressional leaders -- allowed the Senate to overcome opposition from Republican Sens. Phil Gramm of Texas and
John McCain of Arizona. Gramm objected that the bill violated an earlier agreement to cap spending. McCain complained
that $4 billion of the total would be wasted on lawmakers' pet projects.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2957.1
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Change Slow for Military Divorce Law: Bitter differences between military retirees and ex-spouses over the Uniformed
Services Former Spouses Protection Act explain a decade of political inertia. Thousands of retirees and ex-spouses
view the law as grossly unfair and look to Congress for relief. But the likelihood of meaningful change remains
slim. And this seems true even as the Defense Department struggles to complete a report for Congress on the legislation
that has taken almost three years to complete and is nine months overdue. Lt. Cmdr. Catherine Wdowiak, of Tucson,
Ariz., is one retiree who favors reform. Because of the law, she said, the Navy each month sends 18.5 percent of
her retirement pay to a man she divorced in 1996 after he revealed he was having an affair. Her ex-spouse remarried
and that couple now earns more than $100,000 per year, said Wdowiak, while she struggles to keep a fledgling business
afloat on what remains of her retirement pay, about $24,000 a year. Her ex-spouse gets a chunk of her retirement
pay, Wdowiak said, even though it was her military pay and benefits that gave him the freedom to earn a degree
during their 11-year marriage. But the Arizona judge, she said, refused to consider fault in dividing marriage
property. "He said his hands were absolutely tied by the (law)," Wdowiak recalled.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2997.1
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Congress Doubles Funds for Base Improvements: Despite a tight budget, Congress managed to almost double the number
of family housing units that will be built on military bases beginning next year. Lawmakers also increased the
number of fitness centers, barracks and child-care centers. The $8.8 billion construction-funding bill for fiscal
2001 cleared Congress June 30, the first of 13 separate appropriations bills needed to fund the government. Attached
to the construction bill is a larger $11.2 billion emergency funding bill to cover unexpected costs this year,
including military costs of ongoing contingencies. The final bill includes $874 million for new family housing
or improvements to existing units and $2.7 million for the maintenance and upkeep of family housing. The bill provides
for 2,132 new or renovated family-housing units, 1,031 more than the Pentagon requested when it submitted a construction
plan to Congress in February. The Army gets 854 new units, the most of any service and 382 units more than it requested.
The Navy and Marine Corps receive a combined 813 units, 456 more than requested, while the Air Force gets 465 family
housing units, 193 more than requested. Also included is $758 million for construction of 47 barracks, nine more
than the Pentagon requested, and $43 billion to build 10 child-development centers, six more than had been sought.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2956.1
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Pay Review Tackles Deployment, COLA: Deployment pay, enlisted pay and overseas cost-of-living allowances are among
the issues the Pentagon is studying in its lastest comprehensive review of military pay. The Ninth Quadrennial
Review of Military Compensation should complete its work in late 2000, said Curtis Gilroy, the Pentagon pay expert
who is directing the review. Changes suggested by the eighth QRMC, held in 1996, led to the 1999 law that rejiggered
the basic pay table to reward promotions more than time in service. But while that review was conducted by a panel
of outside experts focusing on the long-term "strategic view," Gilroy said, the current review is "right
down in the weeds" and involves mostly in-house economists discussing the dollars-and-cents details of pay
recommendations.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2954.1
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Marines in Okinawa Turn on the Charm: NAGO, Japan (Reuters) - U.S. marines in Okinawa, faced with mounting protests
against their presence, launched a charm offensive on Monday that could prove vital as President Bill Clinton and
other world leaders gather in Japan this week. Those opposed to the huge numbers of U.S. troops stationed on on
this semi-tropical island for more than half a century opened a peace park. The marines opened two bases to the
press and tried to send out the message that they were good neighbours and good allies, as well as essential for
maintaining peace and stability in Asia. In recent days, opposition has been mounting against the heavy concentration
of U.S. military in Okinawa following two crimes allegedly committed by U.S. servicemen.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=3023.1
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The Kosovo Tapes: In all, there are 94 videotapes. Some are as short as 45 minutes, a few go on for several hours.
The pattern is always the same: Gen. Wesley Clark opens up the sessions, there is a weather and an intelligence
briefing, followed by staff updates and discussion. And then there are the fireworks. They are tapes of the video
teleconferences (VTCs) held during the 78-day Yugoslav war last year. All of the critical planning and targeting
was done over such VTCs. It may have been a paperless war, but it is not without records. At an obscure barracks
in the tiny town of Einsiedlerhof in the south German Rhineland, officers and analysts of the Air War Over Serbia
(AWOS) study group have methodically gone through the 275 or so hours of Top Secret television. One officer dryly
comments that the tapes are "painful to sit through but invaluable."
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=3014.1
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The Email Navy: It's Sunday night, and a queue of impatient sailors forms outside a brightly lit room aboard the
USS McFaul. It's not the chow line; the main evening meal is over and the late-night ''midrats'' snack is some
hours away. Nor are they waiting for permission to enjoy a night on the town; the McFaul is cruising at 18 knots,
heading eastward into the Atlantic from New York. Instead, the men and women of the destroyer McFaul are lined
up waiting to check their e-mail. There was a time when sailors would be out of touch with home for weeks or months.
The youngsters aboard McFaul will never know such a world. These days, the Navy depends on an intricate system
of global communications that ensures that a ship is never out of touch. Neither are its sailors.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2953.1
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Two U.S. Military Ships Collide: HONOLULU (AP) -- Two U.S. military ships collided in the Pacific, causing significant
structural damage to the vessels but no injuries, the Navy said Friday. The San Diego-based USS Denver and USNS
Yukon continued to operate on their own power after Thursday night's accident 180 miles west of Oahu, the Navy
said. The Denver, an amphibious transport dock ship, was scheduled to arrive at Pearl Harbor later Friday. The
Yukon, an oiler that is part of the military Sea Lift Command and includes civilians among its crew, was expected
to arrive back at its base in Pearl Harbor this weekend, said Lt. Cmdr. Conrad Chun, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific
Fleet.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages/?msg=2989.1
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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:
Gays in the Military - The Logistics.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa011000a.htm
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Link</A>
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Military Museums: Visit online military museums
http://usmilitary.about.com/msubmenumuseum.htm
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Link</A>
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Women - U.S. Military Women History & Information.
http://militaryhistory.about.com/msubwomenusmil.htm
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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
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MILITARY HUMOR: Three U.S. soldiers were on a special ops
mission deep in the jungles of South America. The three man team consisted of one Marine, one Navy SEAL, and one
Army Ranger. The team was on patrol and was captured by a band of headhunters. The headhunters took the team back
to the village to stand trial for trespassing on sacred grounds.
The three men were tied up and placed in the middle of the village to be questioned by the chief headhunter. The
first to be questioned was the Marine. "You have been found guilty of trespassing and will be executed. We
will use your skin for canoes, your bones for weapons, and your meat to feed our people. Do you have any last requests?"
the chief asked.
"Yeah," the Marine replied. " I want my rucksack".
"Your rucksack?" the chief replied.
"Yes, my rucksack."
The chief gave the Marine the rucksack. The Marine opened it and pulled out a .45 pistol. He then shot himself
in the head.
"Oh well, we can still use his body," the chief said. He then turned to the SEAL and asked if he had
any last requests.
"Yeah. Give me my dog tag chain," the SEAL said.
When the chief handed him the chain, the SEAL opened a locket on the chain, took out a cyanide pill and swallowed
it. Within 30 seconds he was dead.
"That's okay," the chief said. "We can still use his body."
He then turned to the Ranger and asked him if he had any last request.
"Give me my mess kit," replied the Ranger.
"Your mess kit?" the chief asked, thinking that this was an odd final request.
"Yeah, jackass. My mess kit," said the Ranger.
When the chief handed the Ranger the mess kit, the Ranger opened it and took out his fork.
"Look here chief," the Ranger said, " you might be able to use my bones to make weapons for your
people. You might be able to use my meat to feed your people. But," the Ranger said as he began stabbing himself
all over his own chest, " to Hell with your damn canoes!"
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
