-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! ***************************************************************** ********** "VOICE OF THE GRUNT" ********** SFTT NEWSLETTER ********** 16 February 2000 ********** "When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen." General George Washington, New York Legislature, 1775 Soldiers For The Truth, PO Box 63840, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3840 ***************************************************************** TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTICLES Defending America: Warrior Ethic: Down, But Not Out 1 Zinger: The Evil Empire strikes back 2 From the Field: Milosevic does the "Right Thing" 3 Navy Readiness -- Navy tests Carriers' Spare Parts 4 USMC -- Bastion of Resilience in Decline? 5 NY Guard Education Bennies boost Recruiting and Retention 6 What ever happened to Private Ryan's Army 7 More on Medals and Recognition 8 Medal of Honor: 9 DAVIS, RAYMOND G. Lieutenant Colonel, USMC, Korea 1950 G.I Humor: 10 Snake Business =========================================================== ARTICLE 1 -- DEFENDING AMERICA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WARRIOR ETHIC: DOWN, BUT NOT OUT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By DAVID H. HACKWORTH, 14 February 2000 An American Army sergeant was shot last week in Kosovo. He's not the first casualty from that ill-conceived misadventure, and he won't be the last. But another Army sergeant -- Brian Heitman -- also made the news when he stood tall and wrote in the Army Times, "The warrior ethos is sadly dead in today's Army. There are, to be sure, warriors left ... but we are a minority." There is a connection between the two sergeants. One was wounded on the field of strife, where combat skills and the warrior ethic keep men alive, and the other told his superiors that realistic combat training has been reduced to the point where men in the famed 82nd Airborne Division are at risk if deployed to a killing zone like Kosovo. "Now the fear of making the wrong decision has led many to become indecisive," he wrote. "This has led to weakened training events of low intensity in which our real enemies are boredom. ... Live-fire ranges are so watered down that there is little or no realism involved. Whenever there is risk involved, soldiers take the training more seriously." Sergeant Heitman is right on target. I hear from about 3,000 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen weekly, and many have the same complaint: The warrior ethic is being bled out of our Armed Forces. Sergeant Jeffrey Barnello, another straight-shooting 82nd Airborne leader, explains why our warriors must be hardened to perfection and steeled with iron discipline to make it through the terror of ground combat: "We don't want to be filling our own body bags to send home to Mom. We know that quality training will make our enemy the recipient of such a fate." During the past 10 years, the two-century tradition of the American warrior has been weakened by technocrats, social engineers, do-gooders and incompetent or uncaring senior leaders. The technocrats say that silver bullet gadgets are the end-all and take the nastiness out of war. These airheads are backed up by the likes of the William Perrys and William Cohens who end up running the Pentagon in spite of knowing as much about what makes a fighting man as I know about how to formulate perfume. Cohen likes gold-plated gadgets because they're made by his pals, the defense racketeers. He's also the guy who gave us the "Victory over Serbia" -- where megabuck silver bullets from 3 miles up had about as much impact as April showers on the fourth-rate Serb army busy down in the mud ethnic-cleansing the Albanians. The other guilty parties responsible for attempting to destroy the vital kill-or-be-killed Spartan ethos are the social engineers, do-gooders and PC politicians whose agenda is to use the services to promote equality, provide opportunity and make America's Armed Forces warmer and fuzzier than the Brownies. Sergeant Heitman had the guts to stand up and tell the truth while a lot of uniformed folks in much higher pay grades shirk their duties. Heitman knows the values necessary to defend a society might well be in conflict with the society itself and that our military must concentrate not on liberal agendas but rather on the life-or-death skills needed to fight and win on the battlefield. And bear in mind that if things are bad in the elite 82nd Airborne Division, which is America's first-to-go Army outfit, imagine what the average unit must be like! No surprise that Heitman has had private sessions with his entire chain of command right up to Gen. Dan McNeill. His bosses must've been almost as shocked by his article as they would've been if the division had turned out for parade in pink tutus. But the big surprise is that -- without reprisal -- they carefully listened to his message: Because of excessive safety restrictions and training distractions, his unit isn't able to train as it will have to fight -- down in the mud -- when the magic silver bullets again fail to do the job. His bosses actually got the word. They actually listened to a caring leader down at the bottom who will be one of the first troopers on the objective on D-Day. And that's a good sign. When the brass fail to listen to the troops, it's all over. Less "Taps." *** Http://www.hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. Box 5210, Greenwich, CT 06831. � 2000 David H. Hackworth Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc. Hack Http://www.hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. Box 5210, Greenwich, CT 06831. ================================================== ARTICLE 2 -- Zinger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Evil Empire strikes back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By R W. Zimmermann 02/14/00 Despite recent positive examples where senior commanders actually listened to the criticism of their junior leaders without repercussions, that type of reaction is by far not the norm. Most often, the military's reaction to any kind of objective criticism can be as interesting as it is frightening. Several weeks ago, in a piece on personal leadership involvement, I used an example of a failed mentorship opportunity. A battalion commander simply ignored the input of young officers in the arrogant fashion of "father knows best," by diverting the discussion to safety and force protection. When I returned from a trip last week, I received several alarming notes that the article had caused serious repercussions in the unit. To prevent further overreaction - no, the info didn't come from the officers who attended the beer call! The battalion command group reacted exactly as you would expect a unit with a "sick" command climate to react. In the finest traditions of the Nazi army of 1944/45 and the political commissars of the Russians and Chinese, officers of the battalion were put through several sets of intimidation briefs and interrogations to "exterminate the traitors." First, all young officers were counseled on having had personal contact with a former battalion commander. Those who had talked to me were labeled as traitors and disloyal to the Army. The commander and executive officer reminded them of the West Point Honor Code and urged to come forward for "further processing." In phase two, all officers who reported themselves were put through interviews with the commander and executive officer. Again, they were described as disloyal, and a "cancer" in the organization. In phase three, the officers were again interrogated and reminded of their loyalties. Most were given the opportunity to leave the unit for new assignments. A decent efficiency report was based on maintaining a "clean nose" and zero contact with the former battalion commander. I would urge the chain of command above that battalion and the post Inspector General (IG) to examine this case of blatant power abuse -- how decent soldiers and leaders were treated, the impact on leader retention, and how much valuable training time was wasted in the "witch-hunt." Army "force protection tactics" from outside critique also includes "Demonization" and "Deglamorization." Hack and I both have experienced these at different times. In a recent e-mail, the former commander of the cavalry squadron of the 4th Infantry Division stated, that my credibility with my peers was near zero and that my unit had always reported 100 % maintenance readiness -- the only commander he had ever personally known to do so. Again, here is an officer who twisted the truth to create his own opportunity as the "savior for the system." Lieutenant Colonel Joe Moore is the only peer who has come forward on Army internal e-nets to perpetuate untruths for his advantage. A fervent proponent of Force XXI digitization, he has a history of riding in the back pockets of his superiors and is, without a doubt, a perfumed prince in the making. Today he claims to be familiar with me, although our units were located in Ft. Carson and Ft. Hood respectively. What was my battalion's maintenance rate - never 100%, especially since the Ft. Carson tanks were much older (13 years average) than Joe's sparkling-new Force XXI vehicles. Our readiness rate fluctuated between 80 and 93% but was consistently better than most on Ft Hood, mainly due to better Ft. Carson maintenance funding. Bottom line: as soon as one decides to speak out on the Army, its leaders begin a campaign to point out that the "quitter" is bitter because of non-success. In my case, as in Hack's, let our combat records speak, let the two below-zone promotions speak, and let tank commanders and soldiers speak. If Joe Moore wants to measure his credibility against mine, he is more than welcome. What are the lessons from all this: The US military is a highly political apparatus that will not tolerate criticism. Only positive "contributions" are welcome. Our troops deserve dignity and respect - they should not become political prisoners in senior leader competition for the next promotion or become guinea pigs for dangerous social programs or medical experiments. That requires oversight by Congress and scrutiny by the media. Our mid-level leaders and soldiers need a voice and a sounding board to work for reform. We need organizations like SFTT to focus the public, Congress, and the media on the shortfalls in readiness, and the corruption in leadership. Despite a glimmer of hope, some of these examples demonstrate, the brass still fear the truth, and oftentimes overreact to criticism. Let's remind them that soldiers are citizens too and keep them on their toes! Zimm � SFTT 00 ========================================================= ARTICLE 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Milosevic does the "Right Thing" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest from the Balkan front. Milosevic is maintaining his power base, while NATO troops find themselves between the firing lines of Serbs and ethnic Albanians. NATO could be in for a "hot summer." ************************************************************************ By A. GALLAND The government of President Slobodan Milosevic, which is fraught and rife with some of the most evil people of contemporary times, has pledged a crack down in the form of an "all-out" campaign against terrorism. Notwithstanding, almost every key figure in the Milosevic political sphere has been indicted for war crimes, most of which are of the most heinous nature that it would make a peace loving Westerner doubt the validity of the allegations. Not surprisingly, the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party has accused American, French, or "maybe" British Intelligence Agents, of being behind the murder of Pavle Bulatovic, as well of the legendary military leader, hooligan, murderer, thief, torturer, and criminal kingpin, Zelijko Raznatovic, aka "Arkan". The Yugoslav Defense Minister was gunned down, with great malice, on February 7th, in a Belgrade restaurant. While in Spain, U. S. Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering told reporters, "Serbia seems to be moving close to a sort of long-knives confrontation" this being brought upon by discontent, instability, and the lack of control in the country. This is to say nothing of Milosevic's charmed approach toward his people and there needs, in general. Further, there have, in fact, been so many murders and assassinations in Yugoslavia in the past decade the motive of Bulatovic's killers may be unclear now and for some time, but let's take a closer look. Who needs a motive or a justification in Yugoslavia, as long as Milosevic holds the strings of power. Milosevic holds the reins power so tightly that standard Western scholars are stunned with surprised. Local opposition to Milosevic's leadership style by the "Democratic Alternative" has made the vague speculation that Bulatovic could have been an "inconvenient witness or opponent". Readers may be surprised to learn that Bulatovic had no reputation as a player in the Yugoslav shadowy network of smuggling and organized crime. However, Bulotovic was a top official in the pro-Milosevic Socialist Peoples' Party in Montenegro. This is significant in that there currently exists a period of high tension between Milosevic and Montenegro, whose leadership has been making profound and frequent moves toward independence from the Yugoslav Federation. In the well-put words of the citizens of Belgrade and Yugoslavia, "we are turning into a real Wild West", and the common man feels that all these murders are too close to Milosevic to be accidental. No! Could it be? Also, just after Bulatovic was laid to rest, The United States has publicly and loudly backed the European Union's plan to suspend the Yugoslavia flight ban. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said, "we, like the United States, are willing to look at a suspension of the flight ban for a period of six months in order that the opposition can demonstrate to the Serbian people that we are willing to listen to the voices of democracy. Just whose voices are they willing to listen to, and are they voices or the frequent staccato and retort of semi automatic weapons or the voices at the grass roots level of humanity in Yugoslavia? ========================================================== ARTICLE 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Navy Readiness -- Navy Tests Carriers' Spare Parts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This article appeared in the Washington Post on 9 Feb 00. Faulty parts threaten carrier readiness and the safety of our sailors. *********************************************************************** By Steve Vogel Washington Post Staff Writer Quality control problems are forcing the Navy to inspect, test and possibly recall nearly 80 types of spare parts that may have reached aircraft carriers and could cause serious accidents, Pentagon officials said. Most of the parts belong to catapults that launch jets from a carrier and cables that hook jets as they land. "These are the most critical parts out there on these weapons systems," said William Finkel, a senior official with the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, which is responsible for acquiring the parts. "If they were to fail, they could cause loss of an aircraft, injury or perhaps even death." The Navy said the faulty parts, which may number in the thousands, have not been blamed for any accidents. But the Defense Criminal Investigative Service is examining the contracts for four types of parts that have been declared unusable, and the Navy is testing dozens of other parts that may not meet quality standards. The manufacturers' identities have not been made public. The seriousness of the problem, and whether to disclose it to the fleet, has been a subject of debate between the Defense Logistics Agency and the Navy. On Jan. 13, the DLA sent a message to two carriers and to naval facilities in Norfolk, San Diego, New Jersey and Japan warning that they had received "suspect" parts. "We recommend that you refrain from using this material," the message said. At the insistence of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, however, the warning was quickly rescinded. The DLA "didn't have authority to send the message," a Navy official said. "The Navy was very careful about what they wanted to tell the fleet, because they didn't have a solution," said Finkel, chief of logistics support for the DLA's management directorate. "There was a great reluctance on the part of the Navy to tell the fleet anything." Rescinding the message, Finkel added, was "like the judge telling the jury to ignore what the witness just said." On Jan. 27, the Navy sent another message directing all aircraft carriers to check their inventories for 79 "potential nonconforming" parts of the launch and recovery systems--including shafts, pistons, axles, rods, cylinders, pins, screws, bolts and nuts. But it did not recommend against using the parts. "We're taking pretty extraordinary steps to ensure that we're safe," the Navy official said, adding that the Navy "at this time" believes it is okay to use most of the parts. The DLA, meanwhile, has ordered 18 depots not to ship any more of the potentially defective items. According to Finkel, the agency already has ensured that all new parts will be manufactured to proper standards. "The fix for future procurements is in place," he said. "Now the problem is tracking down and testing the suspect items." One of the first hints of trouble came in July 1998 aboard the carrier Kitty Hawk. It involved a bolt that holds an aircraft on a catapult and is designed to break at a particular point as the plane is launched. Picking up a bolt after an E-2 Hawkeye aircraft was launched, a sailor noticed that it had broken at the wrong place. Last September, a Navy inspection found widespread problems in the buying of spare parts for aircraft launch and recovery equipment. Of 103 contracts reviewed, in 96 cases the DLA had not properly assessed whether the contractor was capable of producing the part. Moreover, contractors often were not required to maintain quality assurance programs, and Pentagon codes for categories of parts "were routinely changed to less restrictive coding" without the Navy's permission, the report said. The logistics agency was responsible for the changes, which are under investigation. "We're really not sure why it was done. It could have been just oversight," said Finkel, adding that there is no indication of deliberate wrongdoing by DLA employees. Based on the September inspection, the Navy and DLA agreed in October that a review of all critical parts for the launch and recovery systems was warranted. But action was slow in coming. "The Navy knew these parts were defective in September," said a defense employee familiar with the inquiry. "There was no push to step up inspections." A Navy official responded that "it took us a little while to determine" what steps to take but denied that safety was compromised. The suspect parts were produced by dozens of contractors, many of which have good records stretching back many years. For that reason, Pentagon officials expressed optimism that many of the parts will prove to be reliable, even if they do not meet technical standards. The officials said, however, they do not know how much it will cost to test all the items, and to recall and replace defective ones, because the full scope of the problem is still unclear. "We know it's going to be substantial," Finkel said. The DLA, which gradually has assumed responsibility for buying Navy parts during the 1990s, maintains that procurement problems "didn't just start with us" but included faults inherited from the Navy, Finkel said. A Navy official, on the other hand, said "the system broke down" under DLA. ========================================================= ARTICLE 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ USMC -- Bastion of Resilience in Decline? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership observations by a Marine veteran. Long the stronghold for how it's done right during times when all other services are caving in to the social engineers, this article seems to indicate that the Marines have some problems too. I would like to hear from our Marines in the field. ************************************************************************ By Chris D. I am a former enlisted Marine and I am greatly troubled by the trends I see developing in the Marine Corps today. I know that older Marines complain that the latest graduates of boot camp are somehow not as motivated, or dedicated as they were. From what I see daily, it is true. What I see is constant whining and complaining and nearly total lack of patriotism and esprit de corps. I don't blame the individual Marines, but deficient leadership. I personally witnessed the destruction of two Marines because their leaders did not stand up for them when the needed it most. These so called leaders cut these Marines loose when they got into trouble rather than working to help them overcome their problems (underage drinking/alcohol problem). One of the Marines was one of the most highly motivated young men that I have ever met. He had aspirations of becoming a Drill Instructor and training the next crop of the World's Finest. He is now wasting away at one of the worst duty stations for controllers, standing mess duty and any other s**t duty they can find for him. And he can't wait for his enlistment to expire and depart what he now considers to be a totally worthless organization. He is to blame for his under age drinking however, with proper leadership he could have been returned to his former status as an outstanding Marine. The zero defects mentality and cover my own a** attitude is so prevalent that I can barely hold my tongue when I see it (almost daily!). I see the Marine Corps as the last bastion of honor left in a rapidly declining society. It seems the USMC has been swayed the least by the political correctness movement. BUT I see the trend of movement going continually to the left. We just aren't training Marines the way we used to. We need strong leaders to keep the Marine Corps on track, but if they won't stay in due to poor leadership we can't exist much longer. I pray that this Nation will wake up and see the downfall that is sure to come if we maintain our present course. Semper Fi Chris D. ========================================================== ARTICLE 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NY Guard Education Bennies boost Recruiting and Retention ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A military success story. How to recruit and retain our citizen soldiers: ************************************************************************ By Paul Connors (senior VOTG Air Force Editor) New York State is known for a lot of things but leading the National Guard in recruiting and retention has not always been one of them. In an age when the active forces have been downsized to levels that some would call dangerously low, the New York National Guard, especially the Army National Guard has seen a resurgence over the last three years. For years the New York Army National Guard had seen a steady erosion in its numbers. In the beginning, it was the loss in individual soldiers and those losses hurt individual units in the local armories across the state. Then, after Desert Storm, when the active army planners wielded the budget-cutting ax, whole units began to disappear, too. That really started to worry the Army Guard staff at New York National Guard headquarters in Latham, NY. It also worried the professional NCO leadership of the Enlisted Association of New York, the local branch of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS). NY Army Guard leaders discovered that the state had a two-fold problem; the first was recruiting good people up front and the second was retaining experienced guard soldiers. At the time, New York was one of those states that offered few benefits to its guardsmen. Morale was low and the turnover of junior enlisted personnel was staggering. As the Army Guard slowly died on the vine, the Air National Guard maintained its strength. In fact, New York is the only state in the Union that has FIVE flying units in its Air Guard organizational structure. By the end of 1996, when the Army National Guard numbered only 11,000 personnel, the five ANG units totaled approximately 5,500. That meant the ratio of Air Guardsman to every 2 Army Guardsmen was the highest in the nation. By the end of 1996, the NY Army National Guard was dead last (50 out of 50) in recruiting and retention. 1997 was the first year for the renaissance of the Army Guard in New York State. What made the difference? For one thing, an aggressive drive by the Enlisted Association to bring educational benefits to all members of the New York National Guard and Naval Militia. The second major ingredient was the unconditional support of Governor George Pataki. He believed that Guard members should receive some sort of benefit for serving their communities, state and nation. The New York State Tuition Program for Guard members was born out of the cooperation of the Enlisted Association, the Legislature and the Governor's Office. All Army and Air Guard members in New York, who are residents of the state, have completed their entry-level training and are drilling members of their units are eligible. The program applies to first baccalaureates only and pays full tuition at State University of New York colleges and universities as well as the state's community colleges and the City University of New York. If the member elects to attend a private college or university in the state, the program will provide $3,400 per year (the equivalent of state university system tuition) to the guard member. The guard member/student need not take on debt, but they must apply for all forms of grants and scholarships first. The member may keep and use their GI BILL benefits, too. This is a generous plan and after three years, it has had tremendous results. By December 1997, just one year after Gov. Pataki signed the bill into law, the NY Army National Guard had moved from dead last in recruiting and retention to FIRST! The program has provided young people across the State who may not have had the financial ability to attend college, to do so. It has provided incentive for first term airmen and soldiers to reenlist to attend college. It has also resulted in the unforeseen benefit of bringing hundreds of fully trained active duty soldiers and airmen to the New York Army and Air National Guard units around the state, providing these units with a revitalized cadre of personnel with fresh skills. There are the intangible side benefits, too. Morale is up in the Army Guard units, especially among first and second hitch soldiers. Air Guard units, whose enlisted members already benefited from the Community College of the Air Force, have reported increases in enlisted college enrollments as well. Staffing a military organization of any kind is not easy. Retaining good people is even harder. New York State seems to have found that special something that attracts and keeps good people and it is an ingredient that will permit the state and its various guard units to fulfill their mission taskings well into the next century. The senior non-commissioned and commissioned leaders of the National Guard in New York State realized it was up to them to provide the direction that would stop and then reverse the slide in membership in the Army National Guard and the overall reduction in units. The state's tuition program for members of the National Guard and naval militia has done wonders for improving morale, increasing unit strength and creating educational opportunities heretofore unavailable within the state. The Army Guard has already seen another unexpected benefit from the program. Many of their enlisted soldiers are completing degree programs using the program but, they're not leaving the guard. There has been a marked increase in the number of young soldiers who have completed their educations with the program's assistance, who are remaining in the NY Army Guard and are now applying for Officer's Candidate School and Warrant Officer Flight Training. So much for the naysayers. Maybe it's time the federal government looked at New York (and other states with similar programs) as models of how leadership can take care of the troops. ========================================================== more articles in Part B ~~> **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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