-Caveat Lector-
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********** VOICE OF THE GRUNT
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********** 28 July 1999
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTICLES
Hack's Column
For Whom The Bell Tolls 1
Mac Notes
2
>From The Field:
So Why Were The Russians Really In That Big Hurry 3
If Our Military Is Comprised Of People 4
Stand Up...Hook Up...Sex and Gender 5
P-38 Was A 1930's F-22? 6
One Colonel Openly Laughed 7
Medal of Honor:
Penry, Richard A, Sgt., USA, Co. C, 4/12, 199th Infantry Bde. 8
Binh Tuy Province, RVN, 31 January 1970
News Commentary:
NATO Admits Air Campaign Failed 9
No Humor This Week
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ARTICLE 1
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FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By David H. Hackworth, 27 July 1999
Maybe you didn't get the word that two American soldiers died in
Kosovo last week. The media were so busy bludgeoning the nation with JFK
Jr.'s sad story that none of the major networks bothered to report on the
deaths of these two Army grunts. Brokaw, Jennings and Rather and the 24-hour
news channels were all too busy wailing over past and present Kennedy
misfortunes, which -- more than incidentally -- kicked - up TV rating numbers
and brought in big bucks.
Thousands of newspapers around the nation also joined the mourning.
But few carried even a mention of the names of the two soldiers who died in
Kosovo, let alone told their stories.
These two soldiers were not Kennedy famous, so they didn't rate much
media time. They were just plain grunts from ordinary American families with
the bad luck to be on patrol when their armored vehicle rolled over. They
were G.I Joes, not much different from the tens of thousands of American
soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen deployed around the world as the
spearhead of "The Clinton Doctrine." Like JFK Jr., our two dead warriors had
loved ones, hopes, dreams and aspirations. But unlike Kennedy, they died
doing their duty while trying to bring peace to a province ripped asunder by
600 years of civil strife.
Sherwood Brim and William Wright have now joined David Gibbs, Kevin
Reichert and Anthony Gilman, soldiers who also recently died in the Balkans.
Let's not forget any of them or the scores of other service men and women
who've paid the supreme price just since 1993, when "The Clinton Doctrine"
received its baptism by fire and 18 American warriors were killed in the
streets of Mogadishu.
Since then, more than 100 uniformed guardians of this country have
died while on global duty executing Madeleine Albright's "indispensable
nation" strategy. But you seldom hear about these deaths unless the
catastrophe is so big it can't be hidden or ignored -- like the shootout in
Somalia or the U.S. Air Force hotel bombing in Saudi Arabia.
We take for granted the grave dangers our warriors face in places
like Bosnia, Colombia, Haiti, Kuwait and now Kosovo, where, as I write this,
soldiers are at maximum alert for terrorist rockets, ambushes and incoming
hand grenades. Perhaps the reason so many Americans and the majority of our
media are so cavalier regarding these dangers is because those serving are
all volunteers from other towns, other neighborhoods, other families.
Perhaps the attitude expressed by Albright prevails among most citizens who
don't have loved ones securing the new American Empire -- that if they get
hurt, so what, they're Regulars, they signed up for it.
Maybe we should go back to the draft. Get back to sharing the pain
between the rich and the poor, the black, the brown and the white. In
Vietnam, once the upper classes started dying side by side with those at the
bottom, that bad war suddenly became every U.S. citizen's concern, not just
the poor's.
Had JFK Jr. bought it in that armored vehicle in the killing fields
of Kosovo instead of while winging off to the Cape for a weekend of wedding
fun, the media and certainly the powerful Kennedy family would be asking
some hard questions.
You can bet your 401K that if an Albright, a Gore, a Bush or a Gates
were blown apart in one of Clinton's global villages, these questions would
be asked: "Why are we trying to police the world? Why are so many of our
soldiers put at such high risks? Why are so many body-bags being filled with
our youth when our national security isn't involved? Why is Clinton still
trying to fix all the problems in the world on our warriors' backs when
those being "saved" want Yankee to go home?"
On the seventh day of the media extravaganza on JFK Jr.'s death, an
Army recon plane went down over Colombia. All five missing soldiers are
presumed dead. Again, this story got little press coverage.
If we had a draftee Army again, the bell would not toll just for our
royalty, but for every American in this land of the free and the equal. Bet
you a buck, it would toll a lot less frequently, too.
==================================================
ARTICLE 2
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*******MAC NOTES*******
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Robert L. McMahon, Editor, 28 July 1999
Thanks to all of you who sent in your comments on MPRI. I'm still
sorting through them and plan to put a responses piece together after I edit
them. Good stuff.
This past week saw an interesting story come out of the Air Force.
It seems a missile silo officer has been refusing to serve with a female
counterpart because he's afraid he may be tempted into having a relationship
with a woman. How absurd does this have to get? And please, no half-baked
associations between his freedom of religious expression and the "Witches
Coven" down at Ft. Hood Texas.
The trouble, as he sees it, is that he's married and is a devout
Catholic. Although I have many difficulties with females training for combat
and serving as frontline troops at the bayonet point, I clearly question the
emotional stability of an officer in a missile silo that finds himself
sexually distracted by his female counterpart.
Could a relationship develop? Maybe, but that's beside the point. If
he were a lawyer partnered with a female will he complain to his boss about
his level of temptation? Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart too, but he
remained faithful to his wife. My advice to him: Love your wife, go to
church and do your ever-lovin' job. Otherwise you'll be on a "hardship"
tour to Attu staring at female polar bears and counting canteen cups!
If any of you out there have visited the website I set up (see
below) you'll notice a "Hot-Link" labeled "Goodies For Grunts". This was
setup at the request of a couple in Alabama named Pete and Norma.
Seems they were searching the web for sites that had information on
sending stuff to our troops overseas and they came across an excerpt of one
of Hack's old columns about sending "care packages" to troops at Christmas.
They contacted us with the idea that we should permanently post this
information and "zap" I did it. They have also secured a donation of some
6,000 cookies from a manufacturer and are currently working with transport
companies and such to get this stuff shipped to an Air Base for a flight to
the Balkans.
If any of you active duty types have any additional input on this
issue, please drop me a line and I'll incorporate that info on my website
under the "Goodies" link.
Incidentally, it's not just cookies you can send. You can put
together care packages of toiletries (please be gender specific on this
one), games, writing materials, video movies (none of the
"you-know-what-kind" either), individual condiments (Tabasco, ketchup,
mustard, honey, sugar,) all sorts of stuff - be creative, but not foolish.
Don't try to sneak in booze for God's sake. Our Soldiers and Marines may be
old enough to kill, die, get married, have kids, and vote for some fool, but
they're not yet old enough to drink!
Have a good week. Don't bunch up.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.freeyellow.com:8080/members7/rlmcmahon/
====================================================
ARTICLE 3
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SO WHY WERE THE RUSSIANS REALLY IN THAT BIG HURRY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUMMARY: We offer two stories regarding the reasons for the Russian mad dash
for Pristina Airport and the reasons why NATO didn't level the place, but
nonetheless flubbed getting there. We wonder if any regular news
organizations has asked any of these questions.
**************************************
By Ranger Rick, Warrior
Question: Why did the Russians make a mad dash to get to the Pristina
Airport before KFOR?
Answer: Because they didn't want KFOR to see what's inside the
(fake)mountain that one of the runway's ramps lead to.
Question: Why did NATO drop only one surgical bomb just off to the side
where the two runways crisscross and not on the runway itself?
Answer: Because that's the best place to put it out of action if you only
want to turn off the water and power and you intend to use it (the runway)
at a later date.
Question: Why didn't NATO bomb the (fake) mountain at the end of runway?
Answer: Because they know there's a whole bunch of military goodies inside
of it and they know who it belongs to.
Question: Why are the Russians still guarding the entrance to this (fake)
mountain and not allowing any NATO forces to see what's inside of it?
Answer: Because there's a whole boatload of MIGs inside and it appears the
Serbs are NOT the real property owners. Go figure.
Source of info: An old Army buddy of mine who just returned back from
Pristina today after working there for about a month. And nope, he wasn't
working for MPRI neither, but the UN. And it was a buddy of his, a RAF
officer who confirmed this info too.
Interesting, huh? Have you heard this before? If not, let me know. And if
you are, don't release my name nor the source where I got it.
**********************************
By Tom Walker
At Slatina Airfield, Pristina
http://www.lineone.net/times
19 July 1999 - (And there are NO misspellings in this piece; it's BRITISH!)
RUSSIA'S initial dash to Kosovo may have had less to do with politics than
with the protection of military secrets in underground hangars at Pristina's
Slatina airport, it was suggested yesterday.
The 270 soldiers who embarrassed NATO by beating alliance forces to the
Kosovo capital returned to Bosnia yesterday as mysteriously as they had
arrived. The airfield was one of the jewels in the crown of the late
President Tito's formidable defence network.
The two western taxiways of the north-south runway lead directly into a
mountain, continuing for hundreds of yards inside.
In Tito's day schoolchildren would be taken on trips to the facility. During
the decade of President Milosevic's repression, it has become one of the
inner sanctums of his security machine, with civilian access barred.
Sources at Jane's Defence Weekly speculated yesterday that the Russians may
have had an interest in keeping NATO nations away from Slatina while the
hangars and storage areas were cleared. The sources suggested that Slatina
could have housed air defence and missile systems unfamiliar to the West
that had been recently sold or hired to Belgrade in breach of sanctions.
Among the hardware the Yugoslav Army may have had inside the underground
facility are SA10 surface-to-air missiles and a Czech-designed triangulation
device, known as "Tamara," capable of tracking Stealth aircraft.
An RAF officer in the British sector of Slatina said that during the first
few days of Russian control, "the stuff was pouring out of here." The
officer, who was allowed into the Russian sector of the base only days ago,
said Slatina was one of the most impressive military facilities he had seen.
Louis Garneau, NATO's Kosovo spokesman, said the Canadian Army had been
unsuccessful in monitoring what the Russians were up to. On Saturday night,
for the first time in their month-long occupation of the airfield, the
Russians allowed a few reporters on to the western taxiways.
Attempts to view the tunnels into the mountain were thwarted and officers
insisted that the hangars inside the mountain were empty. There was evidence
that NATO had attempted to bomb one of the massive steel doors protecting
the tunnels but the Russians said it was still possible for aircraft to taxi
in and out.
Local Albanians have always maintained that Slatina was used to house
chemical weapons, and a source at Jane's Defence Weekly said that similar
facilities in Iraq had been used in this way. He pointed out, however, that
accusations that the Serbs had used chemical weapons in the Bosnian conflict
were largely unfounded, and there was little proof that they had been
employed in Kosovo. Officially, the Yugoslav Army said Slatina was always
used to house Mig21 and 29 aircraft.
Major Paul Young, a British KFOR spokesman, said Slatina's tunnels may at
last be opened to the press this week. The Russians, however, were less
sure, and Lieutenant-Colonel Mikhail Koftunyenko said permission could only
come from senior levels within the Russian Army.
As the initial and most controversial deployment of 270 Russians drove north
to Podujevo yesterday, there was a sense at Kfor headquarters that the
mystery of what was in Slatina will remain unsolved.
==================================================
ARTICLE 4
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IF OUR MILITARY IS COMPRISED OF PEOPLE....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUMMARY: The author writes that perhaps some of our budget "surplus" (I know
it's not a surplus at all!) could be wisely spent giving our military a much
needed infusion. Something that will rebuild our military after this Balkans
Blunder.
*****************************************
By William F. Sauerwein, 1st Sgt, USA (Ret)
My correspondence has nothing to do with the current "Balkan Blunder," or
our general strategic incompetence. Unless of course you consider that our
Armed Forces are made up of people. These are people who place their lives
in jeopardy at the whim of this ungrateful president. But these people are
not even mentioned when discussing what to do with the "budget surplus."
When Clinton "found" this magical trillion dollars he right away put forth
plans for creating new entitlements. I sent e-mail to the White House and my
congressional representatives with my suggestions. First, I asked them to
restore the medical benefits taken from military retirees through the
Defense Appropriations Act of 1993. I explained how I did not imagine this
benefit, every time I reenlisted it was promised me as a total benefit
package. I also explained how angry I was that this President would break
this contract with me. But would use this "peace dividend" for increasing
entitlements for welfare recipients.
Second, I asked them to provide a real pay raise for military personnel,
many of whom draw public assistance. If they want to recruit, and retain,
quality people they must be willing to pay them adequately for risking their
lives. Quality of life issues are more important since a majority of our
junior enlisted ranks are married. This is especially important, as the
OPTEMPO has increased along with the force reductions. I remember a
reenlistment poster in the late '80's which read, "We recruit the soldier,
but we reenlist the family." Apparently no one cares about the personnel
shortage our Armed Forces are facing.
Third, I mentioned how depleted our Armed Forces were, especially following
the "Balkan Blunder." Quality people need quality equipment and quality
training to deter, and defeat, our enemies. I remember when President Reagan
faced opposition to his Defense budgets he mobilized the JCS to justify
these expenditures. This became crucial when Congressional Democrats wanted
to end the 20 year retirement package. Today the President, and the JCS, has
been amazingly silent on the "hollow forces" which make up our military.
So far I have received no response from either the White House or Congress,
but I never expected one. I guess military personnel are way down on the
priority list for receiving adequate compensation. I know military retirees
are not even on the list, we are like a used rag, discarded when no longer
useful. It will be interesting to watch this President deploy our high-tech
equipment with no personnel to man it.
*************
Editor's Note:
I know how the term "budget surplus" gets under many of your skin
out there. I understand that it is not a true surplus as long as we have a
deficit to pay down and that, in fact, it's really not the government's
money at all - IT'S OUR MONEY!
We elect these dolts to go to Washington and represent US, yet we
allow them the fiction that our money is theirs to spend and they believe
us. If you want your money back as a refund, let YOUR ELECTED representative
know. Likewise, if you believe this money should go to retire debt, let them
know. And if you want it spent rebuilding our armed forces - LET THEM KNOW!
They work for US. They report to US. If they do not listen to you, VOTE TO
FIRE THEIR CARCASS!
=====================================================
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