WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! ARTICLE 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Truth! - Our British Cousins dealing with the Readiness Crisis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: From the ITN (UK-TV News) Website. Living up to his position and responsibility, the British Defense Chief confronts the readiness crisis head on and with brutal honesty. Most issues are identical to ours. **************************************************************************** Humanitarian help weakens Army "The Government says that defense should be a force for good. But being a force for good does not just mean cuddling orphans and giving aspirins and cups of tea to old ladies. It also entails producing a highly effective, well-equipped, trained fighting force." The fighting capability of Britain's armed forces should not be allowed to be sacrificed in favor of involvement in humanitarian operations, the country's most senior serviceman has warned. Critics of the Government's defense policies have claimed that the commitment of British troops to numerous humanitarian missions is a key factor leading to the departure of thousands of troops from the services. The Chief of Defense Staff, General Sir Charles Guthrie, said that retention of troops was a problem, and admitted that the Army would not be fully manned for the next five years. He blamed the retention problems on continual "turbulence" disrupting servicemen's family life. The difficulties in holding on to trained men and women particularly acute in the Army, despite recent improvements in recruitment. With a manning level of 100,064, the Army is more than 8,000 below the numbers promised by the Government in its Strategic Defense Review two years ago. General Guthrie said: "We are hoping the Army will be fully up to strength in 2005. Retention remains a problem, however. I think that one of the reasons why we can't retain them is that there is a huge amount of turbulence - and this is especially true for the families - in certain parts of the services." Under Labour, British forces have not only been involved in conflict abroad in Kosovo and the Gulf, but have also taken part in a high number of humanitarian and peace-keeping missions, including Sierra Leone, Mozambique and East Timor. Critics have warned that these missions are overstretching the forces, damaging morale among troops as they are deployed to one overseas posting after another. General Guthrie said: "The Government says that defense should be a force for good. But being a force for good does not just mean cuddling orphans and giving aspirins and cups of tea to old ladies. It also entails producing a highly effective, well-equipped, trained fighting force." He said that both military chiefs and Government ministers were aware that too many troops were deployed on operations, and were working to "drive numbers down". Tory shadow defense secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "We have warned the Government time after time that they faced not just a problem but a crisis in retention in the army, as well as serious problems in the other services. "Massive cuts in the defense budget, followed by increases in levels of operational commitments, have put huge pressure on those who continue to serve. "Many see their families for less and less time and, when they are back from operations, cutbacks mean that equipment often does not work as it was meant to and fuel, flying hours and training are cut back for financial reasons. "The Government has created this crisis and they now risk destroying the exceptional quality of our armed forces through a combination of budget cuts, complacency and incompetence." Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat defense spokesman, added: "We cannot have a defense policy on the cheap. If Britain is going to undertake responsibilities as far apart as East Timor and Sierra Leone, it is essential to have the resources with which to cope. "Overstretch has become a way of life and it is hardly surprising that the strain is beginning to show." ============================================================== ARTICLE 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tell us about ROTC -- the Female Readiness Factor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: SFTT wanted to know if ROTC and other programs are modifying standards to graduate female participants at a higher rate. Here are two of several junior officer feedbacks that raise concern about the quality of some future leaders. Before any of you pull the race or gender card, let me clarify the concern: it is about appropriate standards for all and combat readiness. Good troops depend on competent leaders for their success in combat. Since both commentators are still serving, I have protected their names. ***************************************************************************** Comment A - By a Junior Officer I cannot verify the stories posted in the most recent SFTT newsletter, but here is my own experience: I attended ROTC Advanced Camp at Fort Lewis, WA. In my platoon, we had a cadet who served with the 2d Ranger Battalion in Desert Storm and had a scroll to prove it. He had an EIB, and the Drill Sergeant patch. He was exceptionally squared away and was a great resource for the other cadets. He barely scratched the top five at the end of camp, despite exemplary leadership and performance. We had another cadet who earned a CIB in Desert Storm with the 3d Armored Division, who was in peak physical fitness, and who demonstrated fine leadership ability. He did not make the top five. A third cadet served on Active Duty with the 3d ACR, successfully completed the Sapper Leaders Course, was a tremendous resource for the cadets, and had exceptional leadership ability. He too barely made the top five. The top three cadets in my platoon were females, and in my opinion, did not deserve the accolades that they received. For each, the claims to fame were her gender (and the physical attributes that accompany it) and the ability to look attractive in a uniform. Another female cadet sprained an ankle during the hand grenade assault course and remained in crutches for the duration of camp. She was commissioned at the end of AC, despite neither successfully completing the squad and platoon operations, nor participating in many of the other training activities such as the Audie Murphy obstacle course. I believe that my TAC Officer was an honorable person, but I also believe that the females curried favor simply due to their gender. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Comment B - By a Junior Officer Not only is this happening in ROTC, but when I attended the Military Police Officer Basic Course (MPOBC) we had a Female Lieutenant who fell out of the first PT run we did as a class. She had severe cramps and when she went on sick call it was determined she was pregnant! Not only did she not do any PT from that point onward, but never participated in any field training or anything that would violate her profile. Academically she did great and was commended on her performance at OBC at graduation, it was absolutely pathetic!!! I have been angry about this for sometime and really made me wonder what kind of leaders the Army is trying to produce. =============================================================== ARTICLE 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seniors MUST mentor Junior Officers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Although there are still many excellent senior NonComs in the field who try to impart tactical, maintenance and specialty specific wisdom on their junior officer leaders, times have changed. The comment about the "Enlisted General" is sad but TRUE! **************************************************************************** By M. P., US Army I have to comment on one of the articles I just read in your letter because I am sick and tired of this belief that subordinates now "mentor" their seniors. NCOs can teach young officers; they generally can't really mentor them in the sense of being a true mentor. In the Army, that's a senior's job. If the senior officer leadership spent as much time mentoring their young officers as they do trying to make worthless command sergeant majors 'feel' like generals, we would not have the problems we do today. NCOs do not "mentor" officers-they might teach'em' small unit tactics and the basic wisdom of soldiering, but they can't mentor them to be good officers. But then again, why should anyone be surprised for an Army that now has "change of command" ceremonies for E9s that command nothing? As a last note, I think it's interesting that the US Army is now offering lack of lieutenants as one of the excuses for the death of the soldier at Fort Campbell. In an Army that is so politically correct that an NCO no longer even has to listen to a company grade officer and where all lieutenants are "stupid", "bad", etc., it's amazing that now a lack of these poor stupid officers is partially a cause for the death of a soldier. Perhaps we should hold the enlisted commander, the CSM, legally accountable for the death. ============================================================ ARTICLE 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Proper Mentoring - Key to Readiness and Retention ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed: An important lesson by negative example. Oftentimes competition among officers destroys the fertile ground for mentoring. Personal leadership involvement builds camaraderie, and combat ready units. *************************************************************************** By CPT A.A. After reading 1SG Davidson's assessment of why many of the best officers are leaving the Army, I couldn't agree more! Officers are eating their own! As a new LT, I showed up to my combat engineer unit ready to take on the world. Like many other fresh "butterbars," I was drinking from the proverbial fire hose as I left the schoolhouse and entered the real Army. The BN S-1 assigned me another LT as a mentor, someone who I hoped would take me under his wing and prevent me from having to "reinvent the wheel." In our meeting with the Battalion CDR, the Senior Lieutenant (LT) told the boss how he would "poop me up" on everything, since he had written the SOPs for just about everything already. Impressed with the Senior LT's seeming preparation and devotion to his assigned duty of mentoring me, the BC sent us out of his office. Once we left the BC's office, I asked for the promised "poop," but the Senior LT blew me off. Since he had already convinced the BC that he was squared away, his job was done...actually mentoring me, in his mind, was hurting him - I was a new threat! Needless to say, I figured things out on my own and with the assistance of some (not all) NCOs. As a Company Commander (now) in the National Guard, I place a lot of emphasis on the mentoring program for my new officers. Mentoring, as my Senior LT "friend" had thought, is not window dressing to make yourself look like an expert in front of the boss, but a way to get new LT's up to speed and on the right track in minimum time. It also makes them feel like they belong....which can't hurt retention. ============================================================== ARTICLE 7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Army Shell Game - Existing Force Structure should be Sufficient ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: One of many responses to my latest editorial. A portion of the readiness crisis, the overabundance of peacetime missions, is probably self-inflicted. How about those extra 5,100 noncoms dedicated to Army recruiting? The number translated to a BRIGADE 's worth of NCOs! **************************************************************************** By Carlton M. I agree with more deployment pay, and I liked your idea about a forced leave periods each year. Could SFTT push for a peacetime Army policy that each battalion have a one month stand-down each year for leave. No training scheduled, and everyone with more than 30 days on the books must take leave. As for the low pay because of long hours, why the long hours? There is no war going on, Congress doesn't mandate training schedules. If soldiers are overworked, it's the General's fault. What kind of Army policy can limit long work weeks? If units lack personnel, eliminate some units. An 8 division Army at 110% strength would be much better, except fewer senior officer command billets. The need for 10 divisions for OPTEMPO is complete nonsense. There is one brigade in Kosovo, one in Bosnia, two in Korea, and one in Kuwait. 10 divisions, plus two cavalry regiments provide a 32 brigade base; more than enough to keep 5 deployed. The 300% OPTEMPO is an Army marketing game to preserve force structure. ============================================================ ARTICLE 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Navy: The All Volunteer--Hollow Force ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Another look at Junior Officer attrition and its impact on readiness. ***************************************************************************** By a 21st Century Navy Top Gun It IS about money. Not necessarily money in everybody's pockets. It's about having enough money to do the job you've been assigned to do. It's about having leaders with the guts to tell their superiors that the emperor is in fact naked. It's about training in aircraft with second-rate sensors and systems, and no plan from the Navy leadership to do anything about it. It's about never getting to train with the ordnance that will supposedly be your bread and butter in combat. It's about coming back from a 75 trap cruise and seeing half of your squadron's aircraft cannibalized and thrown into preservation for 6 months just a day after the fly in. It's about going to the Parachute Rigger's shop in the second quarter of the fiscal year to turn in your threadbare flight suits for new ones and being told that we're already out of money. It's about watching how little medical care retired veterans are getting from those who want to socialize medical care for everyone. While it's easy to say we'll solve the retention problem by looking to the leadership styles practiced by the COs in the "good" and "bad" squadrons. Junior Officers (JOs) aren't leaving the Navy out of the fleet squadrons, although most of the Department Heads are leaving. JOs are leaving in droves after tours as instructors in the Replacement Air Groups, Training Command, and Weapons Schools. JOs are quitting the Navy after tours as project officers in the Test Community. JOs are leaving because they realize the promised fixes to the above-mentioned problems simply aren't going to happen. It's not that they don't want to put the "ball" down and "play hard" when it's their turn to do some of the "blocking." They are tired of the same old lame excuses. This probably sounds like a lot of whining, especially to the men who launched off of the Yorktown at Midway, attacked the bridges at Toko Ri, delivered the mail to downtown Hanoi, and took night cat shots in partially mission capable Crusaders and Phantoms to confront the Soviet menace. In the midst of the strongest economy that the country has seen in years, defense budgets continue to fall below what's required to maintain our global presence. The Soviet menace is no more. Instead, US power and prestige is squandered in half-baked political actions in places like Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo, while the Commerce Department is allowed to pave the way for increased technology transfer to potential adversaries in places like China and Iran. While some JOs certainly aspired to careers in the airlines even before their first flights in the training command, most did not and most still do not. They continue to wait for fixes promised by the Navy's leadership. Seeing only 10 hours of flight time per month, continued parts shortages, the gross disparity between the support given to the Reserves and the Active forces, and with no end in sight, they feel that they have little choice but to move on. Call them back from their airline jobs when the next menace storms across the South China Sea. I assure you that they'll gladly drop what they're doing to put up a fight. Perhaps the DOD should consider contracting-out its combat arms like it has everything else. That's the way it is in day to day life. *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... 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