WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! ARTICLE 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An Open Letter to Your Presidential Candidate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: James H., our Medal of Honor Editor, raises concerns about Military Readiness in an open, generic letter to all presidential candidates. As we are approaching the final countdown to Election Day, it would be appropriate for the candidates to discuss the important defense issues with the people that have current experience and do the heavy lifting. More panels, studies and speeches by inexperienced scholars won't give us the answers. James suggests that you send your own versions of the letter to your candidate. ************************************************************************ Dear Mr. (BLANK): As an American patriot I have become increasingly uncomfortable with both the attitude of the American people toward our military, and on Capitol Hill. In recent years we have seen China making inroads in to our political process without being challenged by the current administration. We have seen our nuclear secrets left out for anyone to steal. We have seen a former CIA Director who has taken home thousands of pages of classified information that if left in the open could harm the security of this nation. We have seen the American people forget that a whole generation gave up everything for their freedom. Yesterday's generations would risk everything for freedom, but today's generations will risk nothing, but expect everything. Our military has suffered greatly over the past 7 years. We can no longer take the "politically correct" atmosphere that has infected our military leadership. Our military does not exist to be peacekeepers through long, drawn out missions that seem never-ending. Our military is here to provide for the security of the United States of America. In order to restore a realistic level of discipline and standards we need a Commander in Chief who will reinstate the standards of our Fathers Army. These are issues that we think you, as a Commander in Chief should seriously consider as real problems within the US military: Co-Ed Basic Training. Does it really turn out better soldiers? Graduating everyone from their MOS school whether they pass, or fail. Current policy! Graduating Officers from Officer Basic Course who cannot read a map, or pass Land Navigation. Buying weapons systems that are not realistic in the real world combat environments. Eliminating the Zero Defect policy, it is still quietly enforced. Adding more troops to the force (we are short handed) Relying too much on Reserve and National Guard troops. Understanding the real reason why we are having trouble filling the ranks. These are just some of the issues that will need to be dealt with by the next Commander in Chief. If you are a serious candidate for Commander in Chief, then you should arrange to meet the real soldiers in our military. Your campaign staff needs to set up a meeting at an Off-Post site where the rank and file can come and tell you what really is hurting our military. We are not interested in a photo op, but a real question and answer session. Our military is not about women's rights, gay rights, or men's rights: it is about Military Readiness. Come talk to us! Signed =============================================================== ARTICLE 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All Services need help with Recruit Training and Retention ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Tom Ruyle's assessment supplements the Navy point of view from last week from an Army perspective. He hits many salient points that effect retention, none of which is money. **************************************************************************** By Thomas M. Ruyle After reading Pat Nisley's commentary on the initial training and discipline of today's Navy personnel (28 June 00), I got to thinking of my own experience and observations during four years in the U. S. Army (July 1994 - July 1998). Even during the relatively short amount of time I served, I saw a marked decline in the quality and professionalism of the soldiers coming out of Basic Training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training). Not coincidentally, it was during my service that most of the Clinton-induced changes in the Initial Training atmosphere were implemented.and each new "bright idea" became readily apparent in my unit about 4 to 6 months after they were instituted at the Basic Training level.enough time to "train" new recruits and send them off to active duty. For starters, co-ed Basic/AIT is a complete farce. I consider myself lucky to have attended Basic in an all-male unit; but I then spent 13 weeks at Ft. Lee, Va. in a co-ed AIT.where the Drill Sergeants spent more time keeping the boys and girls separated (with less-than-marginal success) than training and molding productive, professional soldiers. As Nisley put it, the AIT graduates, by and large, were not separated from their previous life - people not ready to be soldiers. As I progressed through my enlistment, the attitudes demonstrated by incoming personnel from AIT got worse and worse.to the point that more than one person in my unit simply refused to go to PT in the mornings. This complete lack of discipline is what get large amounts of good soldiers killed in a battle zone - and it is not the fault of the Drill Sergeants. Their ability to enforce discipline and mold professional soldiers has been compromised by the Clinton administration's concept of a 'kinder, gentler Armed Forces' - an Armed Forces with no teeth. Speaking of discipline: as Nisley said, nothing can be handled at the NCO level anymore. So much for some effective one-on-one disciplinary training, which generally gets the message through to the folks with potential.it all has to go through the company CO or higher, which invariably results in ruined careers or disillusionment of a first-termer who made a small goof-up. And the Armed Forces wonder why first-term retention rates are so low. Lack of faith in the leadership. I sometimes struggle to remember if I (and many fellow soldiers) ever had faith to begin with. Senior personnel (NCO's and officers alike) are not willing to go to bat for their soldiers - they fear the perception that if there is something wrong in their platoon/company/battalion/etc., it will reflect badly on them personally. Therefore, they feel they must take the position of "I'm listening, but I really don't hear you.sucks to be you, and I hope the problem goes away, soldier. Suck it up and drive on." I have seen several good, high-quality folks get bad paper simply because no one in their chain of command would take the time to support them. With friends like that, who needs enemies? And we're supposed to trust these folks in a combat situation? Our Armed Forces - supposedly an apolitical arm of the United States Government - are rapidly suffocating at the hands of politics, on three fronts. First, social engineering (i.e., co-ed Basic Training, restriction on Drill Sergeant-enforced discipline) is making a shambles of the training of our young enlisted soldiers. Second, career officers and NCO's (O-4/E-6 and above) are forced to make the decision of furthering the careers of their subordinates vs. their own.rather than enforcing good discipline and training for the good of the unit. Third, rather than "defending and protecting the Constitution of the United States," as the serviceman's oath reads, our forces are being committed to breaking up civil conflicts in places like the former Yugoslavia - which has little, if any, bearing on the interests of our nation. Nor did our involvement in Somalia - or for that matter, Kuwait. As they were in the late 1930's, our Armed Forces are not a fighting machine anymore, I'm afraid.and I'm afraid it will take another World War II situation to bring that back. Let's not allow it to happen again. ============================================================= ARTICLE 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~ It isn't the Pay! ~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed: When do you change into a Perfumed Prince? This piece suggests it occurs at the Major/Lieutenant Colonel level. Pleasing superiors for the promotion seems to take precedence over developing your subordinates. ************************************************************************ By LT K. Walther I have been a fan of yours ever since enlisting in the Army in 1991. Why has the Army steered away from really taking care of their soldiers (officers included)? If they could answer that they wouldn't have problems with retention. They think that paying us more would retain us, but I think that is far from the solution. Although I think that soldiers could benefit from pay raises, it doesn't solve the retention problems unless they want to give us all 100,000 a year! That probably won't happen! Here's what I think is the problem. The senior officers, at least the ones I have worked with and for, do not understand how important their mentorship means to junior officers. That also goes for young soldiers too. My old Battalion Commander only spoke to me on a few occasions. And then, when it comes time for an evaluation, he just performed his duties as a senior rater with a cookie cutter attitude. All Lieutenants got the same basic evaluation. The junior officers that cared for their soldiers and worked their butt off received the same as the ones that didn't do anything. That is why the good officers are leaving and the bad ones stay. The bad ones know that they can always progress by not caring and accomplishing the minimum standards. This problem trickles down to the NCOs and junior enlisted. I am getting ready to pin on Captain bars. I never thought I would make it to this position when I was a Private. Sometimes I remember back to when I was enlisted and I thought my Commander was untouchable and flawless. Now, I will be in that very position. But, I will tell you, I was a lot happier with my Army career back when I was a Private and I felt my NCOs cared about me. Now, it just seems that there are no officer mentors out there for me to emulate. I have had superiors tell me to change reports of survey and efficiency reports. I don't think I want to stick around long enough to get into a position to change things. I also don't think that the senior officers really want to hear this. Well, I just wanted to vent to you since I believe you and your opinions would be heard by the senior officers, instead of sweeping you under the rug because you dared to speak up on important issues. I would like to think that I have let my feelings known to my superiors as you have. I guess that is why I have been pushed aside by my superiors, who, in my opinion, have lost the ability to listen to their subordinates and to use their rank and position in support of their soldiers. ============================================================== ARTICLE 7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Air Force Monument - Hell No! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: The squeeze is on to build another monument, this one for the Air Force. After being pestered for donations, this retired Airman reminded himself of the many times he was forced to donate to causes he didn't believe in while the chain of command was competing for "numero uno" in the collection contest. We have all experienced it --- AUSA membership drives, club memberships, Combined Federal Campaign and many others - the troops at the low end of the totem pole are the easy prey. This letter was addressed to a retired Air Force Major General. *************************************************************************** Duane L. Mitchell TSgt USAF Retired Hello Chuck, Since you chose to not give me the courtesy of addressing me by my rank, in both of the solicitations that you have sent to me, I will reciprocate by addressing you informally also. For my twenty years in the Air Force, I received approximately $60,000 in salary. At the end of the pay line, each month was someone who tried to separate me from my meager pay, by soliciting donations for the United Way or some other group or asking me to buy bonds that allowed Congress to spend our country deeper into debt. If I refused to participate in the above, which I always did, I would be visited by some Perfumed Prince masquerading as an officer. I would usually get him pissed off at me by presenting to him, a dog-eared clipping from the Business Mirror, which stated that investment in US Savings Bonds was a poor investment. It stated that if bonds were held until maturity, inflation alone caused you to pay for holding the bonds, rather than you making any profit on your investment. Refusing to donate meant his Squadron didn't get 100% participation and he wouldn't get his quota of brownie points. He would then attack me by challenging my patriotism and then I would get pissed off. For my independent attitude, I got to remain a SSgt for ten years and four months. I made TSgt two years before I retired. I will say that although I got shafted by being passed over many times for promotion I learned the electronics business very well while in the Air Force. That allowed me to take and pass the FCC exam for a Radiotelephone First Class License. I also passed the test and received a radar endorsement on this license. My last duty assignment was with the 23rd Air Division at Duluth IAP Minnesota. My OIC was a snot-nosed 1st Lieutenant who was in the 1st grade when I entered the Air Force. He was a Slob. I had to tell him when to get his shoes shined and when to get his haircut. He was a hell of an example for the young troops who worked with me. I would get questions like, "why are you always chewing my ass about my hair or shoes when LT XXXX runs around looking like shit." I was elated when retirement time came. After retirement, I was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration, as an Electronic Technician. My starting salary was more than three times what I was making at the time I retired from the Air Force, although I was working on equipment identical to what I had worked on in the Air Force. I was working for the same Government but I was being paid from FAA pocket instead of the Air Force pocket. I wondered, why as a civilian are my services of so much greater value than when I was a GI. I am not getting shot at, I don't get called out at night for alerts, I won't be separated from my family by long TDY tours. Unlike in the Air Force, when I was called out at night, I got paid for it and rather well. I didn't have to tell any my supervisors in twenty years with the FAA that they looked like shit and needed to get their act together. I got promoted on my abilities not because I donated to some Perfumed Princes favorite charity. After twenty years with FAA, I retired at ten times the pension I was receiving when I retired from the Air Force. Not bad for a guy with only an eighth grade formal education. I'll give the Air Force its due; I couldn't have done it without the training I received there. Now as to your request for my donation to assist in building an Air Force monument, I say Hell No. It is a pompous ass who wants aggrandizement, for himself. If the civilian citizens of this country want to create a monument to the servicemen, I say fine but I find it profane for the military to erect a monument for itself. The one monument I will contribute to: If you can get a sculptor to sculpt a figure bent over with its trousers down around its ankles and label it "The Retired GI." Then sculpt a huge phallus ready to penetrate the posterior opening of the retired GI figure -- label that "Our Government's" Broken Promises to the Military Retirees. If you can arrange such a monument as this, I will personally contribute $1,000.00 immediately. ============================================================= *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 ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! ****************************************************************************** ******************* A vote for Bush or Gore is a vote to continue Clinton policies! A vote for Buchanan is a vote to continue America! Therefore a vote for Gore or Bush is a wasted vote for America! Don't waste your vote! Vote for Patrick Buchanan! Today, candor compels us to admit that our vaunted two-party system is a snare and a delusion, a fraud upon the nation. Our two parties have become nothing but two wings of the same bird of prey... Patrick Buchanan <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions 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, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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