-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! SOLDIERS FOR THE TRUTH “DEFENDING AMERICA NEWSLETTER” 08 November 2000 - “Veterans Day and Cultural Change” “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 *********************************************************** TABLE OF CONTENTS: SITREP from the President HOT BUTTONS! Hack’s Column: Veterans or Victims “Through the Primary Gun Sight” Article 1 -- On Veterans Day The Big Picture: Article 2 -- Army Colonels reject choice assignments Article 3 -- Cash Payout for Gulf War Vets Article 4 -- Destroyer May Not Have Fulfilled Security Rules Voice of the Grunt: Article 5 -- Why Our Young Lions are Leaving Early Article 6 -- What needs to be Fixed? Article 7 -- Special Deals for Drills with Problems Article 8 -- And while America worries about Overseas Threats… Article 9 -- SFTT has a Duty Chaplain Article 10 -- History: TAPS Article 11 -- More Voices from the Frontlines Article 12 -- The Battle of the Beret Continues Article 13 -- Quality of Life Update G.I Humor: Article 14 -- GI HUMOR - The Ballad of the Black Berets Medal of Honor: Article 15 -- *COLE, DARRELL SAMUEL, Pacific 1945 SITREP: 1. Main topics: 1) Veterans Day 2) Retaining Talent 3) Close-in threats 4) Quality of Life/Healthcare 2. Hot Buttons: A. Excellent feedback last week. Keep it coming. I am interested in the following feedback for next week: * How do you propose to resolve the Army’s Beret/uniform crisis? * Do you think it is worthwhile to strive for battalion-level command (includes command of ships etc.)? Feel free to send me hot topics directly if you can’t get through the admin/log net -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] . B. SFTT Veterans with Happy Birthdays: Best wishes to my friend and mentor BG (AUS, ret.) and Judge Keith McWilliams who is celebrating his 77th birthday on 10 November. Keith is one of the original founders of SFTT and has dedicated much time and legal support to keep us in the fight. C. The WEBPAGE. Webmaster, John Cloven is continually working on improving the site. Thanks for your feedback. C. DONATIONS. THE WEB DONATION OPTION SHOULD BE UP AND WORKING ONCE AGAIN! Thank you for your continuing support. Your donations are helping us to get the word out. 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 You can 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. Important: 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Veterans or Victims ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By David Hackworth What a week! First we picked a new broom for the White House. And then, once the confetti and champagne corks are policed up and the pundits explain what happened, we honor our veterans. Except we seem to have lost track of our priorities, or have them backward, so that Veterans Day has become almost an afterthought these days. But if it weren't for the vets, we'd probably be speaking with a British accent or in French, Spanish, German, Japanese or Russian. And chances are we wouldn't have been able to hold free elections this week! Despite Abraham Lincoln's admonition "... to care for him who shall have borne the battle," the American veteran has always paid the price and then gotten the shaft. Since 1776, it's been "use 'em, abuse 'em and forget 'em." And since the end of the Cold War, respect and concern for our veterans have gone downhill faster than a runaway 70-ton tank. Take most Veterans Affairs hospitals. It's tough enough that our vets have risked their lives in dangerous places, but now going to many VA hospitals means putting your life on the line all over again. It's full-on double jeopardy, shameful and unfair. Especially when compared with the Platinum Card medical care laid on members of Congress, less than 7 percent of whom bothered to suit up when the slugs were snapping. Surely vets should receive medical benefits at least equal to the pols. Even great-aunt Nelly -- on Medicare at your local facility -- has a better deal. Go see her and then check out your local VA hospital. Compare the difference in standards, treatment and staff attitude. And sure, Nelly did her thing, but does the country owe her for charging a machine-gun nest, swimming from a sinking warship or coming home on a shot-up "wing and a prayer"? If the seedy VA hospital system doesn't ruin your day, then try some other broken promises: * Career soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were guaranteed by a supposedly "grateful government" that if they'd agree to be moving targets and live under conditions that PETA would call unfit for animals, they'd have free medical care for life. Not so. Today, many veterans are going bankrupt trying to stay alive while the outgoing commander in chief -- who's spent almost a billion dollars in the past eight years on legacy-searching junkets alone -- will have only the most deluxe medical treatment for the rest of his life. * Gulf War soldiers and sailors trusted that if they were wounded protecting the world's biggest gas station, they'd receive appropriate medical benefits. Now, almost 10 years down that sandy track, more than 100,000 of these vets suffer from a Gulf War illness, which in thousands of cases has been far more painful and disabling than a bullet wound. But -- like the victims of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War -- these brave and patriotic vets have been left hanging by a government fixed on full denial. The latest insult to our vets is that for the past eight years -- whenever there's been a military blunder -- the spin doctors have covered up by painting the participants as heroes rather than the victims of wrongheaded policy or military ineptitude. Take Capt. Scott O'Grady, shot down over Bosnia by a SAM-6 missile that the Pentagon denied was there. He was made an instant hero, put on display, then quickly released from active duty. It was the same old sideshow all over again with those three soldiers captured by the Serbs in Macedonia because of dumb Rules of Engagement. Now there's the lionization of the crew from the USS Cole, another example of theater over truth. In all cases, these vets were used as window dressing to cover up flawed policy or Pentagon screw ups. Let's hope the new administration will do an about-face and enforce the dictum of Teddy Roosevelt, himself a veteran not unlike our president-elect: "A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards." Only when the men and women who've served so nobly are at last honored with decent care as well as words can there be a meaningful Veterans Day. *** 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. =========================================================== ARTICLE 1 - “Through the Primary Gun Sight” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Veterans Day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By R.W. (Zimm) Zimmermann President Soldiers For The Truth 11/06/00 Veterans Day is approaching, so it seems appropriate to reflect on its meaning and its future. We seem to be missing the day’s true meaning more and more in this decade of rapid social change and material overindulgence. Veteran’s Day today translates into mega sales events, normally another long weekend, kids off from school, and new Hollywood film releases. When I mentioned Veteran’s Day to a local merchant, she just shrugged her shoulders: “That’s just a holiday for military guys and the feds - ordinary civilians have to work for a living.” Although there are attempts to give the day dignity, Veteran’s Day signifies a divide between the average citizen, who has never served, and the veterans, including the troops, currently wearing the uniform. With exceptions, parades have become shallow and nostalgic - mainly to make the old guys feel better. Newspapers are retelling war stories, mainly focusing on WWII. Somehow, we prefer WWII because it defined us as a triumphant nation - victory of good over the dark powers of fascism. Focusing on WWII also helps overcome the guilt towards the veterans of the Greatest of American generations. Fifty years after they made the world safe for democracy, we are finally looking for proper ways to care for them in old age and provide them with dignified military burials when the time comes. Many parades are now dedicated to the “victories” since Grenada, while Korean War vets and Vietnam vets are still left on the sidelines but are given credit for their experiences in brutal, ill-defined political conflicts and for the suffering as POW’s. The worst of our “strip-mall” events is probably the National celebration at Arlington Cemetery. It has morphed into a festival of political correctness, shamelessly exploited by politicians and social engineers. An affront to everyone who has ever worn the uniform, you hear our President, with his history of draft evasion, lecture on sacrifice, combat, and responsibility for world peace. Behind him, you see an array of questionable “servants of the Nation,” led by a Secretary of Defense without service record. Last year there was even Togo West, the guy in charge of veteran’s affairs and under investigation for exploiting of executive privileges. What will Veteran’s Day will look like ten or twenty years from now? Besides being in danger of becoming more exploited politically and for money making, will there still be interest in the men and women who sacrifice in war and peace for our Nation’s freedoms? Right now, it seems more probable that the distance between citizens and veterans will widen. In an age characterized by a declining sense for individual and collective responsibilities, most Americans equal war to a domestic crisis. To handle war, we have created the ALL VOLUNTEER 911 force. We pay for it and expect quick and bloodless service. It is a modern day mercenary force without close ties to its people, its ranks more and more filled with the social outcasts of society, while the more qualified youth moves on to college and high-tech jobs. But life always comes full circle and all is never lost. Yes, we can salvage Veteran’s Day as another opportunity to strengthen the ideals handed us by our founding fathers. It deserves to be preserved for future generations of patriotic Americans and not just be for “the guys in the service and the federal government.” Here are some ways to give it meaning again: * Connect the generations. Use Veteran’s Day as an opportunity to let our kids speak with those who served or let the kids visit military installations to talk to serving troops. Go beyond the parades and interest our youngsters in service to the nation. * Support veterans in local and national politics. Let experience and sacrifice weigh into the election process against money, scheming, social engineering, and empty promises. * Offer our youth an opportunity to rediscover our national values through teamwork and self-discipline. Consider some kind of national service through our National Guard or Reserves. * Reaffirm our commitment to never abandon those who stood by the colors when called. Veteran’s Day presents wonderful opportunities to reaffirm our national values and rekindle a healthy idealism in young Americans and bridge the gap between generations. Proper observance can strengthen the common bond that makes us unite and defend our values when challenged. Uncle Sam and the Nation still need Americans to serve proudly into the new millennium. © R.W. Zimmermann, LandserUSA [EMAIL PROTECTED] *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 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. 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