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ABOUT.COM MILITARY MATTERS
Newsletter #75
09/25/00
Howdy all, and welcome to the 75th 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: When you enter the United States Military, you become subject to an entirely new justice system. Here is Part III of a multi-part article all about Military Justice. In this part, all about administrative discharges (separations).
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa092500a.htm
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Previous Poll: How Should the
Next President Handle Deployments to Kosovo & Bosnia? 2 percent said (A)
- We made a commitment and we need to stick it out; 74 percent said (B) - No
U.S. National Security issues involved -- We should withdraw our troops; 23
percent said (C) - We should signifcantly reduce our troop presence, requiring
more NATO/UN participation; 0 percent said (D) - Withdraw troops from Bosnia,
but remain in Kosovo; and 1 percent said (E) - Withdraw troops from Kosovo,
but remain in Bosnia.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/polls/blbosniakosovo.htm
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This Issue's Poll: President Clinton has been America's Commander-in-Chief
for almost 8 years. If you were writing his report card, how would you grade
the President for his performance as Commander-in-Chief for the past 8 years?
Grade A - An outstanding job as Commander-in-Chief; Grade B - A commendable
job as Commander-in-Chief; Grade C - About average as Commander-in-Chief; Grade
D - A marginal Commander-in-Chief; or Grade F- Failed completely as Commander-in-Chief
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/polls/blclinton.htm
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NEWS AND COMMENTARY:
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Bush Endorsements Raise Concerns: The endorsement
of Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president by scores of former generals and
admirals earlier this week is raising some eyebrows inside the military community.
Many in the military seem comfortable with the retired brass stepping into the
political arena. After all, they note, retired Adm. William J. Crowe, former
chairman of the Joint Chiefs, supported Bill Clinton in the 1992 election. But
a minority objected to Crowe's action then, and find the endorsements for Bush
even more troubling because some of the top officers had retired just weeks
ago. They worry that this runs counter to the U.S. military tradition of refraining
from public participation in elections. "I think you're seeing a politicization,
leaning to the right," said retired Army Col. Richard Dunn. "A retired four-star
general represents the institution that produced him--and by definition should
remain apolitical."
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Viva What Difference?: Dick Cheney blasted the Clinton administration this past week for letting Saddam Hussein "slip off the hook" and for being "helpless" to do anything about Saddam's ongoing weapons program. It's an excellent point. Except for one problem: Don't ask Dick Cheney what he would do differently. Only a month ago Tim Russert did ask Cheney what he thought the United States should do if Saddam refused to allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Iraq. Cheney's answer? "I think we have to monitor the situation very carefully." According to Cheney, the "ultimate sanction" would be to launch air strikes against "specific targets" related to weapons production. Never mind that the Clinton administration has already tried this "ultimate sanction" a couple of times to no effect. And Cheney isn't really sure he wants to go that far. As he told Russert, "I think we want to maintain our current posture vis-a-vis Iraq." Keep the international coalition together. Keep the economic sanctions in place. "And hopefully, there'll be a change to the government of Iraq before too long." No wonder Cheney's upset at the Clinton-Gore administration: They're carrying out his policy!
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages?lgnF=y&msg=3960.1
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The Cause of the Civil War: For years, Civil War battlefield sites have had almost every kind of chart and diagram explaining troop movements, military strategies and death tolls. But on one subject, there was precious little information: the cause of the Civil War. Last year, in three paragraphs buried in a huge spending bill, Congress encouraged these federal sites to emphasize the causes of the war--specifically, slavery. "It gives you more insight," 12-year-old Mark Russell said recently as he read through the new text panels discussing slavery at Manassas National Battlefield Park. "You get to really know what they're fighting about." That simple shift in emphasis, however, has reignited a long-standing debate in the South. Historians say the absence of information about slavery at battlefield sites probably was because of debates about what did cause the war. "It's been very contentious," said Edward Ayers, a University of Virginia history professor who is writing a book about the Civil War. "It's been, from the first gun until today, the crucial question we keep arguing about."
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Pentagon Moves of 1960s Chemical Tests: WASHINGTON
–– The Pentagon has agreed to search its records for the names of ships and
crew members who participated in a series of 1960s exercises designed to test
ships' ability to withstand attack from chemical and biological weapons. The
Pentagon notified Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., of the decision last week, following
a request by the Department of Veterans Affairs in August to provide information
that could help the department process claims filed by veterans who believe
they suffered health damage from their participation in the tests. The decision
to provide the names and other information was first reported Wednesday by CBS
News. The fact that the exercises were held has been known previously, although
originally the work was classified secret. The tests were among 113 conducted
as part of a project called SHAD, or Shipboard Hazard and Defense. Some apparently
involved the use of chemical and biological agents, although the Pentagon said
the two of interest to the Department of Veterans Affairs used simulants rather
than live chemical or biological agents.
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IG Issues Scortching Report About Naval Aviation: Naval aviation is stretched
too thin, hurting for spare parts, wearing out too quickly, strapped for cash,
struck with training shortfalls and facing a giant exodus of sailors if the
service doesn’t restore money for parts and streamline itself, according to
a report by the Navy’s inspector general. Following a five-month investigation
involving visits to 11 Navy and Marine Corps air stations and survey results
from 3,700 personnel, Navy Inspector General Vice Adm. Lee Gunn said in an Aug.
28 report the results were informative yet “troubling in what they portend,
especially in the area of retention.”
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Air Force Memorial Cleared for Launch: A nearly decade-long effort to build the Air Force Memorial has cleared another hurdle. The House of Representatives unanimously voted Sept. 12 to grant a five-year extension to the deadline for breaking ground on the memorial. “As with other armed service memorials, the Air Force Memorial would not only honor those who have served and those who continue to serve, but I think in the end it would inspire future generations to serve this country with pride,” said Rep. Clifford Stearns, R-Fla., during remarks on the House floor Sept. 12. If the Senate follows suit and approves its version of the bill, HB4583, construction could begin on Sept. 18, 2001, the Air Force’s 54th birthday.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages?lgnF=y&msg=3930.1
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DODDS Schools Excel on Student Tests: WASHINGTON — Pupils in Domestic Dependent
Elementary and Secondary Schools and Department of Defense Dependents Schools
are proving in scholastic testing that they can compete successfully against
youngsters in other school systems across the United States. On the National
Assessment of Educational Progress writing tests from 1998, for which the latest
results for individual school districts are available, no school system scored
higher than DDESS, which consists of schools on military bases within the United
States. Eighth-grade pupils from Domestic Dependent schools led the nation in
the writing tests, while DODDS pupils took the No. 2 spot. According to the
report that is commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, only Connecticut
scored higher on the writing test than DODDS, which consists of schools on military
bases overseas,
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E-5s, E-6s, and E-7s May Get Extra Pay Raise: In addition to a 3.7 percent pay
raise for all ranks in January, congressional negotiators have approved targeted
pay increases for E-5s, E-6s and E-7s, effective July 1, 2001. The pay plan
would provide $32 more a month for all E-5s, $51 a month for E-6s and $58 a
month for E-7s, according to congressional sources. They credited Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., for getting the raises approved. Congressional negotiators
working on the final version of the 2001 defense authorization bill also approved
a new food allowance for some low-income service members and reduced the maximum
out-of-pocket medical expenses for retirees enrolled in Tricare Standard or
Tricare Extra.
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Reduced Health Care Cap: Some retirees and their families would face substantially
lower maximum out-of-pocket medical expenses under a provision unexpectedly
inserted into the 2001 defense authorization bill. The upper limit on costs,
known as the “catastrophic cap” because it protects people from devastating
financial loss if they suffer a serious illness or injury, would drop from $7,500
a year to $3,000 a year, effective Jan. 1. The change would affect only retirees
covered by Tricare Standard, the military’s fee-for-service medical plan, or
Tricare Extra, the preferred provider plan. The $3,000 cap would bring Standard
and Extra in line with the military’s third health-care option, Prime, a health
maintenance organization plan. The catastrophic cap for active-duty families
is not affected by the legislation and will remain at $1,000 a year under all
three Tricare options.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages?lgnF=y&msg=3923.1
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More Navy SRBs: Nothing succeeds like success, and the Navy is proving it by
calling for a hike of nearly 40 percent over the selective re-enlistment bonus
budget set a year ago. By earmarking $165 million for SRBs in fiscal 2001, which
starts Oct. 1, 2000, the Navy continues a steady escalation of the bonus budget
since it was first set at $120 million early in fiscal 2000. The SRB pot was
then hiked twice, finally to $154 million. The payoff for the Navy came in the
form of sailors shipping over in record numbers, for longer hitches. SRBs are
the Navy’s big weapon in the war to convince sailors to stay in uniform – but
they’re not the only weapon. Even as they called for hiking the bonus budget,
personnel officials announced plans to roll back “high-year tenure” rules that
forced retirement of sailors stuck in paygrade.
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Long Term Care Insurance Act Passed: President Clinton yesterday signed into
law a bill that extends long-term care insurance for 13 million federal employees,
members of the military and their families. "The long-term care act," he said
in a White House ceremony, "is worth celebrating for what it does, for the indirect
benefits it will have for people who are not covered by it but whose employers
will be able to get this kind of group insurance, and for what it says about
our values and what we can do in the future." The employees will pay the premiums,
but because of the size of the group, rates are expected to be 15 to 20 percent
below the cost of individual long-term care policies.
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Marines Discharge Princess' Husband: SAN DIEGO –– The U.S. Marine husband of
a Bahraini princess who used fake military documents to flee to the United States
has been discharged from the service at his request. Officials at Camp Pendleton
confirmed Thursday that Pfc. Jason Johnson was granted an administrative discharge
last week. Capt. Patricia Restrepo, a base spokeswoman, said she could not disclose
Johnson's reasons for seeking the discharge. Johnson met 19-year-old Meriam
Al Khalifa last year at a mall in Bahrain, where the 25-year-old Marine was
assigned to a security unit.
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Retired Marine Was Behind Targeted Pay Raise: Credit a 75-year-old Marine Corps
retiree for the targeted pay raises Congress approved for E-5s, -6s and -7s
in July 2001. Congressional sources say the man behind the pay increases is
C.A. “Mack” McKinney, a retired Marine sergeant major and legislative counsel
for the Fleet Reserve Association. McKinney has spent almost as long pushing
for personnel-related legislation as he spent in the Marine Corps. McKinney’s
Feb. 7 report to Congress got lawmakers interested in providing extra raises
for E-5s, E-6s and E-7s. He pointed out that officers received bigger raises
than enlisted personnel under the pay table reform that took effect July 1,
and argued that midcareer enlisted people needed more raises to restore the
balance between the pay of noncommissioned officers and petty officers and the
junior personnel they lead.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages?lgnF=y&msg=3928.1
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Army Spouse Strikes First Gold at Olympics: SYDNEY, Australia -- A United States
Army spouse was the first athlete to strike gold Down Under in the 2000 Summer
Olympic Games. Nancy Johnson, wife of Staff Sgt. Kenneth Johnson, scored 9.9
points to break a first-place deadlock on her 10th and final shot in the women's
10-meter air rifle finale Sept. 16. She defeated Korea's Cho-Hyun Kang, 497.7
to 497.5, in a climactic frenzy for the first gold medal of the 28th Olympiad
at Cecil Park Shooting Centre.
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"Comfort Women" Sue Japan in U.S. Courts: Fifteen Asian women filed a class
action lawsuit in Washington yesterday against the government of Japan, alleging
they were kept as sex slaves--or "comfort women"--during World War II and repeatedly
raped and abused by Japanese soldiers. The lawsuit seeks to hold Japan accountable
in U.S. courts for the enslavement of an estimated 200,000 women who were forced
to serve as sex slaves for soldiers fighting across Asia during the war. The
vast majority of the captives, now in their sixties, seventies and eighties,
came from Korea, but others were from the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Indonesia
and other countries. Lawyers said the case marked the first time the Japanese
government has been targeted in U.S. courts for its treatment of women during
the war. The complaint was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a 211-year-old
law that gives foreigners the right to file federal lawsuits for crimes committed
in violation of international law.
http://forums.about.com/ab-usmilitary/messages?lgnF=y&msg=3884.1
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Army's New Ad Campaign - Stay in School: Not a single gun or soldier appears
in a new advertising campaign that the U.S. Army unveiled yesterday. Instead,
teenagers speak plainly from the TV screen about surmounting hardships--such
as a pregnancy or a brush with the law--to finish high school. Strictly speaking,
the Army's stay-in-school campaign is not even a recruiting effort. The public
service announcements, produced in conjunction with the Advertising Council,
are aimed at 12- to 14-year-olds. But the Army plans to spend as much as $6
million on the three-year effort, which conveys a different image than camouflaged
commandos being all they can be. "The Army has a very clear interest in broadening
the pool of potential recruits with high school diplomas. But fundamentally
this campaign is an opportunity for the Army to gain good will by showing the
American people that we do much more than fight and win wars, that we are an
educator and trainer of the nation's youth," said Army Secretary Louis Caldera.
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The Trap that Suits Saddam - And the US: In the northern Iraqi city of Irbil,
greengrocer Muhammad Hadi offers political analysis along with the bananas,
grapes and cucumbers that cascade from his sidewalk cart. Leaders in far-off
Washington "want Saddam Hussein to remain in power," he says matter-of-factly.
"This is good for their interests." It's a conspiracy theory that's common in
Iraq's souks, which makes it tempting to dismiss. Yet there is a germ of truth
in what Hadi says. On a trip to Iraq, during which we had unusual access from
the Kurdish enclave in the north to the Persian Gulf coast in the south, we
became convinced of a dirty little secret about U.S. policy toward Iraq: The
status quo suits all parties concerned, thank you very much. All parties, that
is, except the vast majority of Iraq's 23 million people. But unfortunately
for the United States, hewing to the status quo could have disastrous unintended
consequences as well.
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More Chaplains will Go to Sea: Navy chaplains are getting marching orders to
take their ministry wherever it’s needed, says the service’s new religious leader,
and where it’s needed most is the fleet. Shortly after he relieved Rear Adm.
Byron Holderby as chief of chaplains last month, Rear Adm. Barry Black said
in an interview, “I resonate with the sentiment of Adm. Clark when he says,
‘the fleet, the fleet, the fleet.’ ” That would be Adm. Vernon Clark, who has
said repeatedly since becoming chief of naval operations July 21 that the Navy’s
main focus should be on meeting the needs of the fleet. Does that mean more
chaplains will be going to sea? “That is correct,” Black said, though he didn’t
specify how many of the Navy’s chaplains now serving ashore will pack their
bags and head for the waterfront.
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The Navy 20 Years from Now?: OK, Petty Officer Jones, time to evaluate your
CO. Words you never thought you’d hear, right? Maybe so. But the future leaders
of the Navy are taking a hard look at ways to shape the way the sea service
operates in the coming two decades, and have come up with ideas far removed
from the standard line. Sparked by a group of up-and-coming officers with some
blank sheets of paper and lots of imagination, the ideas show dramatic shifts
in mind-set when it comes to the way in which you are evaluated, how you’re
paid, how long you deploy and what types of ships you’ll be driving. Imagine
a Navy in which you review your skipper, earn performance-based bonuses, deploy
for four months instead of six and work with teammates instead of shipmates.
Some or all of the ideas may one day become reality; then again, maybe they
won’t. The ideas rest with the Navy’s upper echelons and are viewed as a possible
springboard for change.
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Enlisted Overhaul in Store for the Army: Fewer enlisted MOSs. More skill training
in units. Younger warrant officers. A common job coding system for officers
and enlisted soldiers. These are just some of the issues that will be on the
agenda Oct. 2 when the Army Development System XXI Task Force presents its recommendations
to Gen. Eric Shinseki, chief of staff. Shinseki chartered the task force last
fall to examine the enlisted and warrant officer personnel systems. Since then,
the 50-member task force has addressed not only some of the manning and personnel
readiness challenges Shinseki faced in the early days of his tenure, but also
long-term issues affecting the development, training and management of enlisted
soldiers and warrant officers.
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For Russians, Chechnya is Out of Control: ACHKHOI-MARTAN, Russia –– At the side
of a road near this town in west-central Chechnya, Russian soldiers sitting
atop a broken-down armored car scan the horizon nervously. The soldiers ride
on top of the tracked vehicle, explains one, so that in case it hits a mine,
"we're just thrown off, instead of burned alive." "They are everywhere," says
the soldier, Boris M., referring to Chechen rebels. "This is their home. We
are just like cosmonauts. If we step too far from our ship, we are lost." This
is Chechnya behind the facade of victory declared by Russia seven months ago
in its war against the separatist rebels. The Russians occupy almost all of
the breakaway region, yet control little of it. After besieging its towns and
cities, they now are the besieged.
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Around and About:
Military Regulations. Up-to-date Regulations, Guides, Manuals, and Directives
from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Department of Defense.
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Locating Military People -- How to find active
duty, separated, and retired members of the U.S. Military.
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U.S. Politics -- The Latest on the U.S. political
scene.
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Shopping About -- Buy your favorite items on the Internet.
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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: This is the transcript of a radio conversation of a U. S. naval
ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995.
Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10-10-95.
Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."
Canadians: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision."
Americans: "This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, DIVERT YOUR course."
Canadians: "No. I say again, you divert YOUR course."
Americans: "This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers, and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north...that's one-five-degrees North, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship."
Canadians: "This is a lighthouse. Your call."
For more military humor, check out the Military Humor Netlink on the About.com
U.S. Military Site at
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With those words of wisdom, I once again leave you.,
Rod Powers
About.com's U.S. Military Information Site
