-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! SOLDIERS FOR THE TRUTH "DEFENDING AMERICA NEWSLETTER" 18 October 2000 - "USS Cole and American Vulnerabilities" "When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen." General George Washington, New York Legislature, 1775 "Our militia will be heroes, if we have heroes to lead them." Thomas Jefferson Soldiers For The Truth Foundation, PO Box 63840, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3840 HTTP://WWW.SFTT.ORG *********************************************************** TABLE OF CONTENTS: SITREP from the President HOT BUTTONS! Hack's Column No More Coles and No More Snow Jobs "Through the Primary Gun Sight" Article 1 - Remember the USS Cole The Big Picture: Article 2 - Anthrax Shots Cause Military Exodus Article 3 - Officer calls refueling stop at Aden port 'buffoonery' Voice of the Grunt: Article 4 - SITREP: SNAFU in Kuwait Article 5 -- Navy: Former Radford Commander Battles to Save Reputation Article 6 - Navy: The Reduction of US Navy Repair Capabilities Article 7 -- USMC: Life in the Mass Production Scheme Article 8 - USMC: Marine Warriors treated like Children Article 9 -- SFTT Survey: Money Wasters Article 10 - Comments from the Frontlines Article 11 - Army: Thin out the Officer Ranks and Rebuild the NCO Corps Article 12 - Come Talk to Us! Article 13 -- Quality of Life Update G.I Humor: Article 14 -- GI HUMOR - Joint Rules for Army-Navy Game Medal of Honor: Article 15 -- GARY, DONALD ARTHUR, WWII - Pacific SITREP: 1. Main topics: 1) The USS Cole 2) US Vulnerabilities 3) Military waste 4) Morale and discipline 5) Voices from the Frontlines 6) Quality of Life/Healthcare 2. Hot Buttons: A. I am interested in the following feedback: * Do you think the USS Cole bombing could have been prevented? * Are our forces vulnerable to sabotage and terrorism by political neglect? Feel free to send me hot topics directly if you can't get through the admin/log net -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] B. The WEBPAGE. Webmaster, John Cloven is continually working on improving the site. Thanks for your feedback. C. DONATIONS. Thank you for your continuing support. Please continue you donations to help the peasant Army grow. WE ARE making a difference! Thanks for supporting an organization that stands for the Truth, even if it questions every rule of political correctness. D. Keep the mail coming!!! We won't reveal your true identity unless you give us your approval. We know how vindictive the "system" is. 3. How to help: !!! Credit Card donation via our WEBSITE at www.sftt.org. !!! If you think we HIT a target, forward the newsletter to TV, radio and your local papers. YOU are the frontline recruiters and intel gatherers for SFTT. Check or Money order: Send to and make payable to: Soldiers For The Truth Foundation, PO Box 63840, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3840. Your donation is tax deductible! SFTT is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit educational foundation, IRS # 31-1592564. If you send us an E-MAIL address with your donation we can immediately mail you a RECEIPT. Multiple contributions: Please remind us when you submit your donation. We will send you a cumulative statement. Prepare for Action -- "Crew Ready! -- LOAD SABOT - DRIVER MOVE OUT!" R.W. Zimmermann President SFTT [EMAIL PROTECTED] =========================================================== Hack's Column ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No More Coles and No More Snow Jobs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By David Hackworth Seventeen American sailors were killed last week. Did these young men and women die because their seniors failed to do their duty? That's the question Congress should ask President Bill Clinton, Defense Secretary Bill Cohen and the uniformed brass from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton to Navy Chief Adm. Vern Clark to the skipper of the destroyer USS Cole. Last month, U.S. intelligence warned that an attack on an American warship in that dangerous region was in the wind. Simultaneously, superterrorist Osama bin Laden and some like-minded rats ranted on Arab TV about making Americans bleed. So why did the brass send sailors into the Port of Aden like grunts onto Hamburger Hill, when only days before our State Department had closed its embassies in that area because of terrorist threats? If State was worried about the risk to embassy personnel in Aden -- long known as a terrorist snake pit where only two days before thousands of Yemenis took to the streets calling for a holy war -- why didn't the brass show the same concern for our sailors? And why didn't the Cole refuel at sea or at least in the outer harbor of Aden, where the ship could've been protected by gun crews capable of blowing a suicide craft out of the water before it got danger-close? Almost before the smoke drifted away from the Cole, the White House launched into its too familiar after-the-terrorist-attack damage control. First Clinton addressed the nation using the identical words he uttered in 1996 when 19 U.S. airmen were killed by terrorists in Saudi Arabia -- "a despicable and cowardly act" -- followed by the now well-worn threat that we're going to get 'em and extract an eye for an eye. Then he ordered his spinners to flood the media with the party line. The following, culled from a dozen similar snow jobs, says it all: * Gen. Wesley Clark of Serbian War shame -- now retired and working for the same Arkansas gang that contributed so generously to Clinton's taking over the White House in 1992 -- told TV journalist Geraldo Rivera that the U.S. military must take risks; that big guys don't hide from trouble; and that because we're a superpower, we had to enter this terrorist hangout to "show the flag." * Navy Chief Adm. Vern Clark followed the Wesley Clark act by stating, when asked why the destroyer wasn't refueled at sea, that there weren't enough oilers to go around. America is engaged in an undeclared but very real war against terrorism, but as with the Vietnam War, our senior military types are thinking and acting conventionally. In Vietnam, the brass refought World War II while their opponent fought -- and won -- a nonconventional war. Showing the flag may have worked when Teddy Roosevelt dispatched the Great White Fleet. But it doesn't make a lick of sense when a high-tech warship capable of mass destruction can be taken out by two martyrs in a small craft who pulled off a kamikaze attack with a tactic as old as the Trojan Horse. Adm. Clark, along with the most of the Navy's top brass, has long been silent regarding the state of naval readiness. Candidates George W. Bush and Dick Cheney rightly say readiness stinks, while their opponents Al Gore and Joe Lieberman say it's just peachy keen -- and the Navy brass continue to duck and weave just as the Pentagon did in 1993 when 18 soldiers were killed in Somalia because there were no tanks to protect our troops. Have Adm. Clark and his fellow gold-stripers shirked their duty by allowing our fleet to be downsized in the past seven years from 435 ships to 311 without telling the president and the candidates that the Navy doesn't have the ships to do the job? Had they stood tall, an oiler would have been available. Had they fulfilled their sworn duty to their country and their sailors, the USS Cole would have stayed with its battle group -- instead of being dispatched by itself to pick up the slack in the Gulf because there aren't enough warships to accomplish all assigned missions. Come January, let's hope our new president rebuilds our broken military not only materially, but morally, by putting in top leaders with the guts to hold to their sworn duty. *** 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. (c) 2000 David H. Hackworth Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc. =========================================================== ARTICLE 1 - "Through the Primary Gun Sight" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remember the USS Cole ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By R.W. (Zimm) Zimmermann President SFTT 10/16/00 The bombing of the USS Cole shook all of us as the country approaches an important crossroads and reminded us that critical defense issues must be resolved to preserve our standing as a credible power in this so-called new world order. As the Navy celebrated its 225th Birthday, of proud service to our Nation on 13 October, it would do well to examine if it has the right capabilities to project American power in so many places. Why for example, wasn't the Cole refueled from a US fleet oiler and why couldn't she be directed to a more friendly port in the area of operations? The Navy's key vulnerability centers on a shortage of critical refueling and repair ships. The Navy currently has only 23 refueling ships that won't allow it to assign support packages to single ship deployments, such as the Cole. As for the repair ships, the "draw-down" of the last ten years reduced the number of tenders from 16 tenders to 4. As a result, our forward deployed naval forces are now highly reliant on foreign ports. For complex repairs, the Navy uses ports like Toulon, Haifa, Bahrain and Yokosuka. Some of these facilities provide good support, others don't make the grade. Most importantly however, with the dependence on foreign facilities and labor, American ships have now become much more vulnerable to sabotage and acts of terrorism. Similar vulnerabilities are threatening our ground forces in critical areas around the world, but especially in the Middle East. Just look where our Army has placed its pre-positioned Brigade sets -- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The storage areas are mainly manned by contractors and are highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks, especially in the draw-phases at the beginning of a potential conflict. A gutsier Saddam Hussein could easily prevent US reinforcements by sabotaging the pre-stocks or hitting them with chemical/biological munitions. Then a quick strike to render the port facilities useless and the US would hesitate to reinforce because of the high risk of casualties a full-scale invasion would entail. Add the sorry state of our communications systems that connect the marshalling areas with the dispersal areas and the forward defensive positions and you're asking for a military disaster. How do I know? Because I deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1996 and participated in a pre-stock draw exercise that involved downloading equipment from ships and drawing gear from Kuwait. I was appalled when I saw how much we couldn't remember since Desert Storm and how little interest and security effort our Saudi allies mustered for the re-enforcement drill that was ultimately designed to save their tails. Now, I am disgusted to hear that not much has changed since then and how little our armchair strategists and paper killers have learned about preparing for war. But our vulnerabilities aren't only military in nature. Another element that threatens our national security is our over-reactive media and a business community that thrives on "calculable" wars. I almost couldn't stomach the news voyeurism that hyped-up the events of the USS Cole bombing. By overstating every firefight in the Middle East and suggesting that Iraqi Forces were already on the move south, you almost felt as if our media tried to fan Pearl Harbor like emotions, predicting escalation into full-scale WWIII. And with all the attention they paid Bin Laden, they succeeded in raising that thug's stature as a terrorist mastermind. Worst of all, the money-grubbers, who really don't care how many Americans get killed as long as their own hide is safe, quickly triggered Wall Street to fluctuate and produce new energy profits. As a man of faith and a former combat veteran of the Gulf, I join David Hackworth and others who predict that terrorism will be the most costly kind of combat America will face in future years. The men and women of the USS Cole won't have died in vain if we learn our lesson and unite America to face our new vulnerabilities inside and outside of our borders. Last week, we were once again reminded that America means great hope to many, but also great Satan to some. As George Bush pointed out in the last debate, we must remind the world that we can't be the solution for everything and everyone. We must also remind allies, such as France and Germany who are reducing their forces in the near future, that they too have to share responsibilities with us. Most importantly, we must maintain military capabilities to preserve peace with strength and remember that freedom isn't free. Oftentimes it can only be secured by the sacrifice by patriotic Americans such as the sailors of the USS Cole. (c) R.W. Zimmermann, LandserUSA [EMAIL PROTECTED] ============================================================ ARTICLE 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anthrax Shots Cause Military Exodus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Whom do you believe, the GAO or the Pentagon Spin Doctors? This report only confirms what SFTT reiterated last week. We're taking irreplaceable losses in skills and readiness while the brass is playing games with the health of patriotic citizen soldiers. It's time to stop the insanity and regroup. Would be a good question for the next presidential debate. From the Washington Post, October 11, 2000. ********************************************************** By Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post Staff Writer The Pentagon's policy of requiring service members to be immunized against anthrax is causing many more pilots to leave the National Guard and Air Force Reserve than the military has acknowledged, according to a report by the General Accounting Office. The GAO report, scheduled to be released a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, says that unhappiness with the mandatory anthrax program is the top reason cited by pilots and other air crew members who have left the Guard and Reserve over the last two years. The GAO said that in the last five months it surveyed 829 current and former members of the Air Guard and Air Force Reserve. Since September 1998, the GAO said, about 25 percent of pilots and other air crew members, such as navigators and crew chiefs, in the Guard and Reserve have left the military, transferred to other units, usually to non-flying positions, or moved to inactive status. One in four who left said the anthrax program was the most important factor in their decision to leave, the GAO said. On top of those who already have left, an additional 18 percent who are still in the Guard or Reserve said they plan to leave within the next six months, the GAO said. In that group, 61 percent said the biggest reason for deciding to leave was the anthrax program, the study said. Overall there are about 176,000 people in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, of which about 13,000 are pilots or other air crew members. The Pentagon view of the anthrax controversy has been that while there have been many complaints, few service members actually have left because of it. "I'm sure you can find some individuals who have left the Guard and Reserve rather than proceed with their anthrax vaccination, but I don't think we've considered [it to have] a significant impact," Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, said yesterday. The GAO survey tends to confirm anecdotal evidence that the anthrax controversy is having a greater impact than the Pentagon contends. Retired Lt. Col. Tom Heemstra, a former squadron commander in the Indiana Air National Guard who has become an anti-anthrax activist, said that unhappiness with the anthrax program "devastated our unit." The GAO findings also could have an impact in the current debate over military readiness. The report noted that in recent years the Pentagon has relied heavily on the Guard and Reserve to provide personnel for overseas operations. Twenty percent to 40 percent of pilots patrolling Iraq's no-fly zone are from the Guard or Reserve. The Pentagon announced the mandatory inoculation policy in December 1997 and began immunizations in August 1998. It aimed to inoculate all 2.4 million people on active duty and in the Guard and Reserve. But several hundred service members have refused to be injected, citing concerns about possible side effects. Several dozen have been court-martialed, and others have been allowed to leave the military. In July the Pentagon effectively called a cease-fire in the anthrax fight. It said that because of production problems at the sole maker of the vaccine, it would suspend trying to vaccinate all troops for the rest of this year and focus on those serving in Korea and the Persian Gulf, where the military sees the highest risk of a germ attack. =================================================================== ARTICLE 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Officer calls refueling stop at Aden port 'buffoonery' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: The USS Cole bombing raises the question why she had to take on fuel in a terrorist infested country. Why does our Navy not have sufficient refuel, rearm and repair capability afloat to be able to avoid these kinds of dangerous logistics operations? Please see Article 6 for a critical look at our neglected repair capabilities afloat. *********************************************************** By Rowan Scarborough Military officers are privately questioning the decision to schedule a stop for the USS Cole at a fueling port in Yemen, a known safe haven for Arab terrorists for whom suicide bombings are trademarks. "I think it's buffoonery that a U.S. warship is refueling in Yemen while things are coming apart in Jerusalem," said a Marine Corps officer in Washington who has deployed to the Persian Gulf. "The place is a snake pit. I can't believe we are sending U.S. warships there, especially when there is so much unrest in the region. "A senior retired Navy officer said, "As the force has been stretched too thin, it requires commanders to change some operational behavior, not always to the advantage of the United States Navy." The destroyer Cole's mission typifies how a busy Navy shifts assets to cover two theaters - the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. The Cole was part of a battle group led by the aircraft carrier George Washington and would normally be refueled at sea with its sister ships. But the Cole broke off from the group and was traveling alone through the Red Sea. U.S. Central Command, which oversees Gulf operations, wanted the Cole to replace a Tomahawk-missile-firing ship which was leaving the region. A Navy spokesman said battle groups often break up, sending ships to both theaters in response to tensions in the Balkans and the Gulf. The military's readiness woes have gone front and center in the presidential campaign. Republican George W. Bush argues that a decade of budget cuts and increased deployments have left the armed forces worn out and ill equipped. One issue is whether the Navy's 315-ship fleet is sufficient to carry out far-flung deployments in the Pacific, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and other hot spots. Adm. Vern Clark, the chief of naval operations, said at the Pentagon yesterday that the Navy is short on the type of oiler that can refuel the Cole and other warships at sea. "We do not have enough ships to assign one to - this ship was transiting independently - and we don't have enough resources to," Adm. Clark said before cutting short his sentence. "Let me say today I have 101 ships in the United States Navy deployed to the four corners of the earth. Cole is one of those 101." Adm. Clark recently told the House and Senate Armed Services committees that the Navy is not building enough ships to maintain the current 315-ship fleet. Navy experts say ships are going to sea without critical working components and, in some cases, remaining deployed longer than the normal six months. Adm. Clark, the former Atlantic fleet commander, said the shortage of oilers - the Navy has 23 -means a refueling ship has never been assigned to a single ship such as the Cole. "They don't have as many as they need for the pace of operations," said A.D. Baker III, a naval analyst. But Mr. Baker said the real issue is port security. For diplomatic reasons, the U.S. Navy does not provide adequate topside security as a ship enters a foreign harbor, he said. Pentagon officials say explosives, detonated by two men in small boat alongside the Cole, blew a huge hole in the destroyer's hull. Six sailors were killed, 11 more were missing and presumed dead, and 35 were injured. The Clinton-Gore administration inherited a fleet of more than 500 ships. In 1993, it announced a plan to shrink the armada to 346. But eventually, even that floor was breached as the defense budget tumbled during the 1990s. Pentagon officials said refueling stops in Yemen were started by U.S. Central Command in July 1999 as a way to establish strategic relations with a generally U.S.-friendly Yemeni government. The Cole's stop was the 12th for a U.S. warship. The administration is trying to maintain support among Gulf nations such as Yemen for its policy of isolating Iraq and its leader, Saddam Hussein. Kenneth Katzman, a terrorism analyst at the Congressional Research Service, said Central Command officials have talked of prepositioning fuel and equipment in Yemen.... =========================================================== ARTICLE 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SITREP: SNAFU in Kuwait ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Hope the brass read this! If not, please pass it on to them. Our NonCom observer identifies some major operational issues, such as vital battlefield communications. The latest ticket punch option for "Baby Generals" in a so-called "war zone" really disgusts me. Thank God for truth telling NCOs. *********************************************************** By a Concerned and Disgusted Army Sergeant Since it's ten plus Years now since the invasion of Iraqi forces into the very small and mostly unknown state of Kuwait, I thought that I might give a current state of affairs to all who might care. Having just returned not too long ago from my second deployment there (Kuwait) in the last 20 months I have witnessed a few unsettling things. First things first, it would be wise to say that The Kuwaiti Forces are totally dependent on the fact that our presence there is a deterrent and a show of force against any further actions from Iraq. Not only that, but they Know that we are there for that purpose, and that we will step in to help them out again, should the need arise. Second, it would also be notable to say that there has been a renewed 10 Year contract for all of the civilians and other employees that work at the Doha Facility. There is also a new compound being built further south to move the Doha facility soon. What does all of this mean? It doesn't look like we are going to be pulling up the stakes and bringing anyone home from the Gulf anytime soon. Now, that we have been there for a prolonged period, you would think that we would be all kinds of prepared to combat Silly Saddam's forces toe to toe, right? Think again! Right now there is not any real extensive communications plan for the troops. We cannot talk from Doha (outside Kuwait City) to the northern border, much less our forces out in The Kabal area (NW Desert) on simple Fm frequencies. Of course, there is a SATCOM system, but this is a very hard system to use with multiple users and while on the move (both most certainly, and most certainly impossible). I am almost certain that having a good comms network would come in handy if the All Mighty Rulers in the rear, sitting in their "Virtual Battlefield" command posts might want to have timely updates (Eyes and Ears) of what is actually going on. This would also come in handy knowing that our facilities are moving even further south (about another 60 miles). You would also think that there would be all kinds of air assets at our disposal. No way! They send all kinds of Guard pilots over to the Gulf to sit on their tails because there is no more airtime available! So our guys can't get in the air and do any kind of aerial recons, but every time (a lot) some Big shot Dignitary shows up what happens? Blades turn so we can keep that guy's ass kissed to 100th degree! Its no wonder our Leaders are out of touch! Don't even get me started on the General of the Month! That's right some new One Star "bigwig" shows up every month to take over a major overseas command in a "Hostile Fire Zone" just to get his ticket punched, the TDY and Tax free money to go with it! What a joke! Areas of concern? You would be surprised to hear that the main day to day concern in Kuwait is not what's going on out in the desert, but what happens within the fine walls of Doha. The Camp CSM walks around on the "Airs" of Authority, making on the spot corrections and being The Lone Sheriff in Town. He has the local law (overpaid American contractors) out with their Radar guns, speed limit in most areas is 10-20 km, everyday. He will go out of his way to make sure that you are 100% compliant with anything he wants, to include pulling you over himself if he thinks you are going too fast. Other major points of concern for most of the officers are that they don't have more computers and PowerPoint projectors! There are all kinds of concerns from others, such as not having specific brands of clothing in the PX. It would also be interesting to find out exactly how expensive our gas really is? We are spending all kinds of money to be over there. I know that some is supplied to us by the Kuwaiti government, but it would be notable to figure out how much money we are spending to keep oil at a low price, just to find the bill stuck to us at the gas pump! And if Saddam knew what he was really doing he would mount up and head south now while Gore is busy depleting our tactical reserves in the name of politics. What has happened to Our Battle Focus? Where is the Leadership? I might not be the brightest guy out there, but I do know that we should be more worried about being able to train and have ammo, than what luxuries I don't have while I am serving in the name of Democracy. We have been set up for failure, and the blood of my brothers and myself will be the sacrifice! *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. 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