-Caveat Lector- VOICE OF THE GRUNT Newsletter, 1999-07-28-B ===================================================== ARTICLE 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "STAND UP...HOOK UP....SEX AND GENDER..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUMMARY: As part of Airborne Training I would recommend that each trooper and officer read Ambrose's BAND OF BROTHERS. It'll give you some perspective on what being Airborne was all about; you'll miss it. ********************************************* By An "All-American" Warrior Enclosed is an article that was published today, 22 July 1999, in the Fort Bragg Paraglide, the weekly rag published here at the home of the 82d Airborne and XVIII Airborne Corps. Each month units must report up thru their respect channels to the XVIII Airborne Corps EO office: o Total number of 1st Sgt.slots in the group, Bn. or Div. etc o How many of these slots are filled by a female NCO o How many Sergeant Major positions there are o How many are filled by a Female SGM/CSM o How many senior NCOs (E-7 thru E-9) are in the command o What the senior NCO breakdown is by race and gender o Total awards of the Army Commendation Medal and Meritorious Service Medal o Break down by race and sex of who received the medals o UCMJ action by race and sex This is just a sample of some of the data collection that goes on here at Fort Bragg. I know as I have had to collect and pass some real nonsense up to higher HQ. With the do more with less mentality and lack of training funds and personnel, this is all we have left to worry about. Maybe we should all just dress up as Tele-Tubbies and Big Hug our enemies. It is that weak here at the home of the big bad Airborne. Here's the article from The Paraglide: "CSM Wendell Samuel, HQ, 55th Medical Group, received the Unity in Diversity Award Sunday. He can now boast that the 55th Medical Group is balanced in both racial and gender for positions of enlisted leadership. He has appointed the only female 1st Sgt. In the entire medical brigade of more than 3,000 soldiers and also appointed a female driver for the group commander. He also worked diligently to make promotions and awards given to worthy soldiers based on their hard work and not on whether the soldier was the right color or sex. He also leveled the playing field in disciplinary actions taken, making certain that no one ethnic group was the recipient of a disproportionate amount of punishment." ===================================================== ARTICLE 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P-38 WAS A 1930's F-22? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUMMARY: Hack caught quite a bit of flack over his F-22 triple "A" piece. Here's one of the more tempered rebuttals. Although I can see the need for advanced technologies all I would like to remind our Air warriors about is the dwindling pool of pilots to fly these new age "Lightenings" and the real need to rebuild our Air Forces post Kosovo. Without pilots and weapons, all a new F-22 will be is a $200 million tarmac paperweight. ******************************************* By Maj. George A. Kuck, USAF (Ret) I enjoy your columns and get your Hacknotes. However, I must disagree with you on this one. We entered WWII with obsolete fighter aircraft. The best aircraft that we had around at the time, in my estimation, was the P-38 Lightening. It was only when the P-51 was joined with the Rolls Royce engine did we have a better aircraft. And remember the P-38 was expensive for its time also. It was an aircraft that flew with durability and distinction throughout the war, especially in the Pacific. Medal of Honor recipient Richard Bong II flew a P-38 and was our highest scoring ace. It could be a similar situation for the F-22. I agree that Lockheed does not do an outstanding job in designing and building fighters -- but that is what the AF chose over the MDAC alternative. I do believe we need a stealthy fighter. The F-15 has too great a radar cross section. In addition, what makes you believe we will purchase the 4 F-15's with the money we save by canceling the F-22? It will be wasted on some civilian "social program" instead of buying needed hardware, i.e. like all the stuff we depleted during Kosovo. I agree that we need to replace the equipment being worn out by these many Clinton wars that we have seen. However, I do believe that we will need the F-22 or some low radar cross section fighter in the future. ==================================================== ARTICLE 7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ONE FULL COLONEL OPENLY LAUGHED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUMMARY: A response piece to Captain Leigh Losher's "Broken Parts" piece last week. Some of what this SFC witnessed first hand makes "Frank Burns" look serious. ************************************** By Ed Lane, SFC, USA (Ret) Amen to former CPT Mosher's article. He is on target with his comments regarding US Army Recruiting Command (USAREC). I was with USAREC for 17 years as a field recruiter. He is telling the truth. During my time there (1981-1998) I served under MG Jack Wheeler during Desert Storm at Ft. Sheridan, IL and then came to Ft. Knox when USAREC was relocated there in 1992. MG Wheeler, when he received the word we were going to Saudi, had a TOC set up in a side office near his office. I was the first NCO to pull a tour in the TOC. He sent to Fourth Army HQ to get overlays for his maps. He was sent packing...USAREC had no 'need to know.' Our maps were copies of a US News & World Report magazine that I provided! Additionally MG Wheeler had red cellophane installed over the lights and a camouflage net strung from the ceiling. I guess that was to preserve our night vision (in the middle of the day) and give us a feeling of a Patton-type headquarters. To make matters worse we three who were standing guard were outfitted with Kevlar and LBE complete with flash lights. The entrance to the TOC was protected by small strands of concertina wire mounted on plywood board approx 3 x 5 feet square! The appearance was so ludicrous that one full Colonel (O-6) openly laughed at us as he passed. I made some smart comment and he only shook his head. It was said that that episode might have cost MG Wheeler his third star (almost traditional for any CG leaving USAREC at that time) and forced his early retirement. It should have. Since that time USAREC has only gone down hill. For the first time in the history of the all volunteer force USAREC (and the other services for that matter) will not make their missions (read quota). About two years ago MG Lennert immediately blamed the NCOs under his command when USAREC didn't make their accession mission for the first time in almost 20 years. He was immediately relieved and retired. At least someone in the Pentagon had the guts to do the right thing that time. ==================================================== ARTICLE 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *******Medal Of Honor******* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PENRY, RICHARD A. Rank and organization: Sgt., USA, Co. C, 4th Bn., 12th Regt., 199th Infantry Brigade. Place and date: Binh Tuy Province, RVN, 31 January 1970. Entered service at: Oakland, CA Born: 18 November 1948, Petaluma. CA. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Penry, Company C, distinguished himself while serving as a rifleman during a night ambush mission. As the platoon was preparing the ambush position, it suddenly came under an intense enemy attack from mortar, rocket, and automatic weapons fire which seriously wounded the company commander and most of the platoon members, leaving small isolated groups of wounded men throughout the area. Sgt. Penry, seeing the extreme seriousness of the situation, worked his way through the deadly enemy fire to the company command post where he administered first aid to the wounded company commander and other personnel. He then moved the command post to a position which provided greater protection and visual communication and control of other platoon elements. Realizing the company radio was damaged and recognizing the urgent necessity to reestablish communications with the battalion headquarters, he ran outside the defensive perimeter through a fusillade of hostile fire to retrieve a radio. Finding it inoperable, Sgt. Penry returned through heavy fire to retrieve 2 more radios. Turning his attention to the defense of the area, he crawled to the edge of the perimeter, retrieved needed ammunition and weapons and resupplied the wounded men. During a determined assault by over 30 enemy soldiers, Sgt. Penry occupied the most vulnerable forward position placing heavy, accurate fire on the attacking enemy and exposing himself several times to throw hand grenades into the advancing enemy troops. He succeeded virtually single-handedly in stopping the attack. Learning that none of the radios were operable, Sgt. Penry again crawled outside the defensive perimeter, retrieved a fourth radio and established communications with higher headquarters. Sgt. Penry then continued to administer first aid to the wounded and repositioned them to better repel further enemy attacks. Despite continuous and deadly sniper fire, he again left the defensive perimeter, moved to within a few feet of enemy positions, located 5 isolated wounded soldiers, and led them to safety. When evacuation helicopters approached, Sgt. Penry voluntarily left the perimeter, set up a guiding beacon, established the priorities for evacuation and successively carried 18 wounded men to the extraction site. After all wounded personnel had been evacuated, Sgt. Penry joined another platoon and assisted in the pursuit of the enemy. Sgt. Penry's extraordinary heroism at the risk of his own life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army. ===================================================== ARTICLE 9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NATO ADMITS AIR CAMPAIGN FAILED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Tim Butcher and Patrick Bishop UK Telegraph NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia had almost no military effect on the regime of President Milosevic, which gave in only after Russia withdrew its diplomatic backing. This is the gloomy assessment of a private, preliminary review by NATO experts of the alliance's 78-day Operation Allied Force bombing campaign against Yugoslavia over Kosovo. At the same time, British diplomats have concluded that Milosevic had no intention of honoring any diplomatic agreement which reduced his hold on Kosovo - despite his vaunted willingness to enter the negotiations at Rambouillet and the peace talks in Paris which preceded the bombing campaign. The experts nevertheless judge that, diplomatically and politically, the operation was a success because the 19-member alliance remained united throughout and left Belgrade so isolated that it was forced to submit to NATO's terms. Despite the outcome, preliminary inquiries into the war are revealing some uncomfortable truths for soldiers and politicians seeking lessons from the Kosovo operation. Their findings will shape new military and diplomatic approaches as to how the West deals with maverick leaders and rogue states that confront them in future. The main finding of the Nato inquiry is that despite the thousands of bombing sorties, they failed to damage the Yugoslav field army tactically in Kosovo while the strategic bombing of targets such as bridges and factories was poorly planned and executed. Changes are being considered within Nato, including the radical overhaul of how strategic targets are identified and considered for attack. Any future operation by Nato is likely to involve heavier, more ruthless attacks on civilian targets such as power stations and water treatment plants at an earlier stage of the campaign. There is also an urgent operational requirement for more sophisticated surveillance equipment including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to find small hidden tactical targets such as tanks and artillery pieces. As it was, by parking a tank, for example, in the ruins of an old house, the Serbs made it invisible from the air. A team of NATO bomb damage experts is yet to complete its work on the ground, but so far the assessment is that only a handful of tanks, guns and armored personnel carriers were damaged. Military sources said that it was likely that the damage would have been greater had the Serb forces been actively engaged on the ground by the Kosovo Liberation Army and forced into the open. Without adequate surveillance assets, including low-level UAVs such as the British Phoenix system which only arrived in the Balkans in June, Nato was simply unable to spot well-hidden Serb military units in Kosovo. A wave of new air-launched missiles, including the RAF's Brimstone, will give NATO jets a more sophisticated missile for destroying targets on the ground. The second part of the campaign was the strategic bombing of military targets, including air defence systems, as well as the civilian infrastructure of Yugoslavia and the Milosevic regime. Military experts now concede that by breaking down this part of the campaign into phases, the alliance made a serious error. The political leaders of NATO wanted to threaten Belgrade with bombing and believed that a series of steps would be most effective, because it would gradually increase the pressure on Milosevic to negotiate. The Yugoslav leader was told at the outset of the bombing that Phase I targets such as command bunkers would be hit and that, if he did not comply, he could expect Phases II and III - which would be wider bombing. NATO sources now concede that this was an error as Phase I did not cause any significant military pain to the regime -- all the main military assets and personnel had long been evacuated from obvious targets. Furthermore, Milosevic was able to use the state-controlled media to prepare the wider Yugoslav public for a long campaign, kindling a sort of Blitz spirit that reduced public opposition to his rule. NATO believes that the bombing in the latter weeks of Operation Allied Force against bridges, factories and other civilian targets was more effective but it could have been much more so had it been done earlier. On the diplomatic front, Foreign Office officials have concluded that Milosevic never had any intention of cooperating with the outside world to find a solution to the Kosovo problem that would reduce Serb control of the province. The undertakings he gave to the American special envoy Richard Holbrooke last autumn which averted an earlier threat of NATO punishment were worthless. They now accept that the numerous ultimatums issued to Milosevic during the course of the Kosovo crisis should have been backed up with the credible threat of force. Like NATO, they judge that Russia's withdrawal of support played a significant part in Milosevic's capitulation, along with other factors including the realisation that invasion was a real possibility if he remained defiant. NATO plans for ground war options which included a full-scale occupation of the whole of Yugoslavia were drawn up a year ago and updated throughout the crisis. Diplomats now say that with NATO's credibility at stake, a ground war was inevitable if Milosevic had not caved in. They believe that pressure from his cronies in the demimonde that controls Serbia's disintegrating economy also played a part in his decision. British officials concede that the Kosovo problem should have been dealt with at the 1995 Dayton talks which ended the Bosnian war. One said: "Unfortunately, it got put in the 'Too Difficult and Not Absolutely Pressing' in-tray." They are now hoping that the alliance's ultimate willingness to go to war in Kosovo will convince future troublemakers that it does not pay to defy international opinion. But despite the talk of the need for urgent preemptive action in future crises, they conclude that the innate reluctance of democracies to project power means that history is likely to repeat itself =================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VOICE OF THE GRUNT Volunteers: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ David H. Hackworth, Taker of Names and Spiritual Leader Robert L. McMahon, Editor and Chief bottle-washer Kate Aspy, Contributing Editor and Oracle Barry "Woody" Groton, Assistant Editor and Medicine Man Ed "Edgar" Schneider, Copy Editor, Man of Letters and gentleman: Ed's e-mail address - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Larry Tahler, WebMaster Guru and Crack-shot Judy Bowyer Martin, Administration and Brains of the Outfit Kyle Elliott, Book List Editor and Most Over-worked *********, MOH Editor and NCOIC =================================================== EDITOR'S NOTE: Please address all "Letters To The Editor" to Edgar Schneider at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ed has agreed to be our repository for correspondence from the field. As a rule of thumb, please try to keep article for possible publication to 700 words or less. We do make exceptions and will not turn away an 800 to 900 word piece, but please make every editing effort not to exceed these guidelines. If you believe you have a story that is longer than 700 words we will consider running it in parts. Keep the piece focused on the story you want to express, not impress upon the reader. Please make submissions in open format as we can no longer download file attachments due to inadvertently receiving and passing along viruses and worms. Thanks to everyone for keeping the communication lines open and the ideas flowing. Semper Fi, Bob McMahon [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.freeyellow.com:8080/members7/rlmcmahon ============================================= HACK'S DEFENDING AMERICA COLUMN: Many readers have asked for guidance/help/ideas for getting Hack's column in their local newspapers. See http://www.hackworth.com --- NEWSPAPERS for a few suggestions. Much appreciate your effort. What we're into is getting the word to as many citizens as possible about what is causing our military machine to sputter like an old WWII Sherman tank. Thanks, Bob McMahon ============================================= ARCHIVED DEFENDING AMERICA COLUMNS: You can now find copies of Hack's previous columns at: http://www.hackworth.com These are found in the Defending America Section, under Archived Copies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GLOSSARY OF MILITARY ACRONYMS: We've had numerous requests from troops in different branches of the military to establish this link so that we will all know how "all you others" talk that talk. Please see below: http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/acronym_index.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONGRESSIONAL E-MAIL ADDRESSES Congressional e-mail addresses can be found by going to (www.hackworth.com) and accessing Congressional e-mails at the bottom of the first page. ********************ORDERING BOOKS************************* We still have Trade copies of About Face. These are exactly the same as the hardback, except they have a soft cover. Cost for an autographed copy: $26.00 (including handling and postage). If you are interested in ordering Hack's books (About Face*, Hazardous Duty**, or The Vietnam Primer), check out the instructions at our web page: http://www.hackworth.com. It takes about 3 weeks to process the book orders. Your patience is appreciated. Please mark on outside if envelope "Book Order" and make check out to: Twin Eagles Ink PO Box 5210 Greenwich, CT 06831 *About Face available in trade copy. **Hazardous Duty available in hardback. ==================================================== **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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