-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! SOLDIERS FOR THE TRUTH (SFTT) NEWSLETTER - PASS THE WORD! 31 January 2001 - "Give the Troops a Chance and continue the Mission" "When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen." General George Washington, New York Legislature, 1775 "In war, Resolution; in defeat, Defiance; in victory, Magnanimity; in peace, Goodwill." Winston Churchill Soldiers For The Truth Foundation, PO Box 63840, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3840 HTTP://WWW.SFTT.ORG Note: This Newsletter contains articles and editorial comments that are copyrighted to SFTT and require the Chief Editor's or author specific authorization before further dissemination. *********************************************************** TABLE OF CONTENTS: SITREP from the President "Through Zman's Gun Sight" Give'em a Chance and Continue Mission HACK's Target for the Week: Basics Before Bells & Whistles The Big Picture: Article 1 - Marines cede Control of Osprey Probe Article 2 -- Pentagon Lacks Iraq Arms Evidence Article 3 -- U.S. Forces placed on Alert -- Patriot Anti-missile Battery deployed to Israel Voice of the Grunt: Article 4 - Desert Storm Remembered Article 5 - Senior Leader Corruption at the Root of our Military in Crisis Article 6 -- "Join the People who Joined the Army" Article 7 -- Pointers for the New Prez Article 8 -- Air Force: Desert Storm - My War Too Article 9 - The LAV - Can it Roll-On and Off a C130 Combat Ready? Article 10 - Rules Of Engagement -- ROE Article 11 - Everybody should be a Trained Rifleman Article 12 - Troop Health: Keesler Doctor awaits Ruling in Anthrax Case G.I Humor: Article 13 -- GI HUMOR - Keep the Loser, as long He's on the Other Team Medal of Honor: Article 14 -- DIX, DREW DENNIS, Vietnam 1968 SITREP: A. Main topics: 1) Military reporting 2) Desert Storm 3) Training and Equipment 4) ROE 5) Anthrax B. HOT BUTTONS: Again, thanks for all the info you're sending. Tour notes are our direct line to the front. With them, you're making a Difference. * Questions/Info requests for next week: (1) What do you think about the Depleted Uranium controversy? Do you think someone is covering up? (2) Please keep sending in your personal Desert Storm or other combat accounts. (3) I need more feedback for my Sergeants' Corner - remember, this is you chance to sound off! * WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND EVERY DOLLAR MAKES A DIFFERENCE. Despite many "nay-sayers," we made it through last year and we're growing. Please continue to support us so we can get on the map and rent us a full time, small-office space with administrative support in 2001. We also want to be able to buy radio time to hit the airwaves more aggressively. And once again THANK YOU to all you SFTT warriors who are sending bucks for fuel ammo and beans. !!! Feel free to send me hot topics directly if you can't get through the admin/log net -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] C. The WEBPAGE. Webmaster, John Cloven is continually working on improving the site. Thanks for your feedback. John is also available to other commercial web designs if you need any help!!! !!! Beta Testers Needed. The web master would appreciate it if our readers could take a look at the new site design he is working on and give him some feedback at [EMAIL PROTECTED] The new page can be found at http://www.sftt.org/development. This test consists of only three or four pages. PLEASE DO NOT REPORT DEAD LINKS. Depending on the volume of responses, he will try to respond personally to any comments received. D. Your donations are helping us to get the word out. Thanks for supporting an organization that stands for the Truth, even if it questions the rules of political correctness. E. Keep the mail coming!!! We won't reveal your true identity unless you give us your approval. We know how vindictive the "system" is. F. How You can help: !!! Credit Card donation via our WEBSITE at www.sftt.org. !!! If you think we HIT a target, forward the newsletter to TV, radio and your local papers. YOU are the frontline recruiters and intel gatherers for SFTT. Check or Money order: Send to and make payable to: Soldiers For The Truth Foundation, PO Box 63840, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3840. Important: Your donation is tax deductible! SFTT is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit educational foundation, IRS # 31-1592564. If you send us an E-MAIL address with your donation we can immediately mail you a RECEIPT. Multiple contributions: Please remind us when you submit your donation. We will send you a cumulative statement. Prepare for Action -- "Crew Ready! -- LOAD SABOT - DRIVER MOVE OUT!" R.W. Zimmermann President SFTT [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================= "Through Zman's Gun Sight" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Give'em a Chance and Continue Mission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By R.W. (Zimm) Zimmermann President Soldiers For The Truth 01/29/01 Army Tank Mistakenly Opens Fire On Ft. Carson! That was just one of the recent headlines that ran in numerous papers to highlight military blunders with very shallow insight. From the sound of it, you would have believed that the target vehicles had become flaming infernos and fried everyone inside. I am normally suspicious of senior leader cover-ups and the growing trend of not holding people responsible for blatant mistakes, but having been in the gunnery and killing business for a while, I'd like to raise the caution flag before hyping up every training accident. Excessive media hype only makes it much more difficult for our dedicated NonComs and soldiers to train for the rigors of combat. More hype produces more career fear in senior leaders who will automatically tighten the micromanagement screws and prevent good troops from doing their jobs. The Ft. Carson firing mishap is typical for many other over-reported incidents. First of all, the accident happened under fairly difficult range conditions -- while firing on multiple lanes with a variety of combat vehicles. But most importantly, no one was killed or injured. That's a GOOD thing! Most comments from the field focused on the career damage done to the officers involved and most assuredly, to the tank commander. The military buzzword, "career-ender" was on everyone's mind. I'd like to remind all the hanging judges out there that training for combat isn't an easy task. Gunnery ranges are the ultimate skills tests and even the slightest mistake doesn't result in just in a paper cut. I'm not advocating accepting training accidents that maim or kill soldiers, but I believe that some accidents will happen. What should happen to the troops involved in such a mishap? First of all, it's important not to undermine their confidence in the plan, their skills, or the weapons systems. Find out what went wrong and attempt to continue mission as quickly as possible. If possible, retrain and re-fire immediately. A good gunny sergeant or master gunner will do miracles in retraining and can determine if the crew should fire again. Maybe he should even go downrange with the boys to monitor crew interaction. Most of the time, a hands-on, sensible approach to an incident will actually create a crew that learns from the mistake and becomes a productive and lethal addition to the unit. If no death or injury occurred, continue mission -- you would in combat! There is however, always the case when a crew can't get it together and retraining doesn't do it. That is when leaders have to take firm action for the benefit of the team. A tank commander, for example, was recruited to build and run a lethal team that can master a 70 ton steel monster, designed to kill the enemy. If you've given him decent people and he can't qualify his machine, it's time NOT to "max" his efficiency report. For many leaders that's terribly difficult because most want to be liked and we were all trained to believe that everyone is wonderful. During my recent years in command, I too often saw efficiency reports for NCOs and officers that stated how wonderful the man was: "Great organizer of Kit Carson Week; helped the First Sergeant with the Christmas party; looks great in uniform and on funeral details etc. When I asked about his ability to qualify a crew, silence prevailed. I think today's Army has problems determining what's critical to accomplish the mission and who is best at the job. We shouldn't rate our troop leaders on the successes of cookie bakes and we shouldn't care if a tank commander's wife attends every family readiness group meeting. We need to remember, that combat soldiers are in the killing business and their number one job is to take down an enemy before he does it to us. Oftentimes, your real killers are the quiet guys or the ones that are a bit gruff. Sometimes they are superstitious and might wear a bag of chicken bones around their necks during gunnery, which could easily offend your religious beliefs. Some even have wives with careers and who won't have anything to do with the military. Please, respect them for who they are and reward them for their soldier skills and not their social correctness. And never forget that we all make mistakes. Mistakes, when forgiven, after the lesson was properly internalized, can make for a more proficient trooper in combat. Don't read too much into all the media panic and continue mission. (c) R.W. Zimmermann, LandserUSA [EMAIL PROTECTED] Note: This article is copyrighted by the author and requires his approval for other than newsletter further dissemination. =========================================================== HACK's Target for the Week: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basics Before Bells & Whistles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By David Hackworth War is in the wind. But you wouldn't know it if you get your news from Brokaw, Jennings and Rather. Here's the skinny: The Israelis are leaning forward in their foxholes. Their troops are locked and cocked, and their logistical types have been roving the world with checkbooks at high port, buying bombs and bullets aplenty. Now the USA is rushing to the rescue: * All our Scud Busters -- Patriot missiles -- in U.S. Forces Europe have been quietly deployed from V Corps in Germany to Israel. But while we're providing that troubled country with theater missile-protection, we've left our soldiers stark naked, unable to stop a single Scud. * Our ground combat forces in Germany -- a complete armored corps -- have moved out into the field "to train." An insider there says, "Training, hell. We're contingency planning for a fight in the Middle East." Armies are always contingency planning. So it could be over the top to say we're going to strip Europe of all our warriors and completely take sides in a conflict that might eventually involve weapons of mass destruction -- nukes as well as chemical and biological weapons. The deployment to Israel of the 69th Air Defense Brigade -- complete with all its Chem/Bio protection gear -- and V Corps' current war games both began last month on Bill Clinton's watch. The Bush bunch was presented with the problem on Jan. 20. Just the way JFK inherited the Bay of Pigs debacle from Ike, and Clinton had the Somali disaster dumped in his lap by Bush the Elder. Bush the Younger signed off on the Patriot deployment plan last week when he gave the 69th the green light to go give the Arabs a live-fire anti-Scud sound-and-light show presently scheduled for next week. Now the nightmare's all his, and we can thank our lucky stars he has Dick Cheney and Colin Powell -- who've walked that desert walk -- securing his flanks. And ours. The Israeli-Arab fight is no new event. Flip open your Bible and you can brush up on the earlier rounds. Like the shootouts between the Hatfields and McCoys, it won't be going away any time soon. Nor will any of the other feuds running hot in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Southern Europe and the former Soviet Union states. Since World War II, we've become increasingly responsible for making things right in a world full of long-term wrongs. Even more so since the Soviet Bear went down. And right or wrong, as High Sheriff, it's critical that our troops always have what they need to do the job and are razor-sharp enough to do it right. Bush's new Pentagon team has taken over a military that's worn out -- not only materially but morally. Not exactly Desert Storm good-to-go, the force is more like a fire department with half of its fire engines sitting on flats while four-alarm fires rage in every direction. Right now, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is eyeballing a shopping list of missiles, ships, fighters and armored vehicles courtesy of the military-industrial-congressional complex, when his No. 1 priority should be rebuilding our force and fixing or replacing whatever basic stuff it needs the most. Sure, all this dough's great for some of the heavies who dug deep to put Bush in the saddle. But ordering up more whiz-bang, gold-plated wonder gear -- unworkable Star Wars missiles, Cold War F-22 fighters, crash-and-burn V-22 helicopters and new armored cars that promise to make the U.S. Army capable of doing what the U.S. Marines already do well -- should go on hold. The new SecDef's first order should be to hammer the nail back in the horse's shoe so we don't lose the horse and eventually the rider. Hopefully Rumsfeld, who comes from the old school of never seeing a weapon system he didn't want to buy, can steer clear of any big-ticket Cold War-type spending sprees for a while. You know, impose a shopping moratorium on the bells-and-whistles wonder weapons while he tends to the basics. Warriors who are well-equipped, well-trained and well-led are far more critical to winning battles than most of that ultrahigh-tech, mainly unnecessary stuff on the wish list that's pretty much just more of the same-old, same-old pork for pals at corporate America. *** Http://www.hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Send mail to P.O. Box 5210, Greenwich, CT 06831. (c) 2001 David H. Hackworth. Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc. ============================================================ ARTICLE 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marines Cede Control of Osprey Probe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Actually the RIGHT way to do business and regain credibility. This investigation should thoroughly look at the trend of false readiness reporting, triggered by chain of command pressure and the possibility of contractor influence through the revolving door job market, that draws departing service members with inside knowledge. An AP report -- 01/24/01. ******************************************************** By ROBERT BURNS WASHINGTON (AP) - The Marine Corps ceded control of its V-22 Osprey investigation to the Pentagon's inspector general, citing the ``nature and gravity'' of allegations that the Osprey squadron commander asked subordinates to falsify maintenance data. In a brief statement Wednesday, Gen. James L. Jones, Commandant of the Marine Corps, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved his request that the Defense Department's top investigator take control of the inquiry. The investigation was begun last Thursday by Brig. Gen. Timothy F. Ghormley, the Marine Corps inspector general. He headed a team that flew to the Osprey squadron's base at New River, N.C., and began interviewing all 241 members of the squadron, including the commander, Lt. Col. Odin Fred Leberman. Jones is one of the strongest advocates of the Osprey, an aircraft that uses unique tilt-rotor technology to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. The Osprey is supposed to replace the Marines' aging fleet of troop transport helicopters. ``While I have complete confidence that (Ghormley) and his staff would conduct a thorough, complete and unbiased investigation into these allegations, I am concerned that the nature and gravity of the allegations may invite unwarranted perceptions of command influence or institutional bias,'' Jones said. He also noted that the $40 billion Osprey program's future affects other military services, particularly the Air Force. A Marine Corps spokeswoman, Col. Betsy Judge, said Jones decided on his own that the credibility of the Osprey investigation would be strengthened if it were conducted independent of the Marine Corps. In a letter released Wednesday, Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., took the same view. ``This program will not be able to move forward unless and until the Defense Department has restored confidence in the integrity of the V-22 program and the people managing it,'' Warner and Levin wrote in a letter to Rumsfeld. Warner is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee that oversees the Pentagon, and Levin is the committee's top Democrat The senators said the investigators should be independent of the Navy Department, of which the Marines are a part, since the allegations bear on the ``integrity of information'' provided to Congress. At the time of a December Osprey crash, the Pentagon was about to decide whether to give the go-ahead for full-scale production. That decision has been put off pending a high-level review. Allegations against Leberman threaten to undermine congressional confidence in the Osprey program, which already is under intense scrutiny as a result of two crashes last year that killed 23 Marines. The Marines have said they believe the alleged doctoring of maintenance records in Leberman's squadron had no bearing on either of the crashes. The first, last April in Arizona, killed 19 Marines and was blamed on pilot error. The second, last December in North Carolina, killed four and is still under investigation. Officials said last week they believe the latest crash was caused by a hydraulics failure. In an anonymous letter to the office of the Secretary of the Navy on Jan. 12, a person who said he was an Osprey mechanic wrote, ``What we have been doing is reporting aircraft that are down, as in they can't fly, as being up, as in full mission capable. This type of deception has been going on for over two years.'' Osprey maintenance personnel were ``being told they have to lie on maintenance records to make the numbers look good,'' the letter said. It was accompanied by an audio tape of Leberman talking to members of his squadron. On Tuesday, Jones said the investigation of alleged fraud at New River would determine whether higher-ups in the Pentagon or elsewhere put undue pressure on Leberman to exaggerate the Osprey's readiness record. ``We will investigate this ... in an unlimited fashion to make sure that all throughout the chain of command people have acted properly,'' Jones said in an interview with PBS' ``Newshour with Jim Lehrer.'' The investigation includes ``looking at ourselves to see what it is that might cause our commanders - or a commander - to feel that he would have to do something like that,'' Jones said in the interview. =================================================================== ARTICLE 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pentagon Lacks Iraq Arms Evidence ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: This isn't good. Before, you launch any attack, you ought to know what you're trying to hit. An AP report -- 01/23/01. *********************************************************** By ROBERT BURNS WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon says it lacks firm evidence that Iraq has accelerated its effort to rebuild a chemical and biological weapons arsenal. Officials wonder what has been missed during the two-year absence of U.N. inspectors and automated video monitors at suspected weapons factories. ``It's the lack of knowledge,'' Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said Tuesday. A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a secret analysis, known as a national intelligence estimate, was done recently on Iraq's progress toward reconstituting its weapons of mass destruction. The official said the analysis concluded that Iraq's efforts have put it in position to produce new chemical or biological weapons quickly. The official cited the example of a rebuilt facility that produces chlorine, which has a legitimate use in water purification systems but also could be used as an ingredient in deadly chemical weapons. Quigley also noted the problem of such dual-use facilities in the hands of President Saddam Hussein. ``There are plausible explanations that the Iraqi authorities have given for the use of these facilities,'' he said. ``We just have no particular confidence in his truthfulness.'' Quigley and others said the United States gained little additional insight into Iraqi activities in recent months. ``I don't think our knowledge of the activities inside those facilities is any greater than it was before,'' he said. Iraq's rebuilding effort began shortly after the United States and Britain bombed numerous Iraqi targets, including missile production plants and special security forces, in December 1998. President Clinton declared immediately after the raid that U.S. forces would strike again if Iraq began reconstituting its chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs. Now a new U.S. administration must determine whether, or when, the use of military force would be an appropriate response. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hardly mentioned Iraq at his Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 11. He did say that deterring the use of weapons of mass destruction is a vexing problem. ``The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery are increasingly a fact of life that first must be acknowledged and then managed,'' Rumsfeld said in a prepared statement. Rumsfeld's predecessor, William Cohen, told Rumsfeld shortly before he came to the Pentagon that containing Iraq's military power will be a pressing issue for the Bush administration. On Jan. 10 Cohen released a report on the global spread of weapons of mass destruction. It said that over the past two years Iraq may have reconstituted its efforts to build such terror weapons and noted that the United Nations has had no inspectors in Iraq since late 1998. In a report last fall, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the U.N. inspection effort was ``dying, if not dead.'' *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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