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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
SOLDIERS FOR THE TRUTH
"DEFENDING AMERICA NEWSLETTER"
29 November 2000 - "The Rome Syndrome and Voting Rights"
"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:
American Soldiers Are Citizens Too
"Through Zman's Gun Sight"
Article 1 -- Rome vs. America
The Big Picture:
Article 2 -- EU To Start Building Defense Force
Article 3 -- NATO Criticized by Yugoslav Leader
Article 4 -- Gay Man Doesn't Have To Repay Navy
Voice of the Grunt:
Article 5 -- The Interim US Army Brigade - Interim at Best!
Article 6 -- Military Absentee Voting
Article 7 -- USMC Double Standards and Weak Recruits - Saga Continued
Article 8 -- USAF: Recruiting Warm Bodies Isn't Enough!
Article 9 -- Army: Morale Crisis Is Real
Article 10 -- Taunting the Flood Gates
Article 11 -- More Voices from the Frontlines
Article 12 -- Troop Health Issues: Certification Eludes Anthrax Vaccine
G.I Humor:
Article 13 -- GI HUMOR - New Study reveals Politicians Best Bt for Successful
Surgery
Medal of Honor:
Article 14 -- *MILLER, OSCAR F., WWI
SITREP:
A. Main topics: 1) Military Vote and the Future 2) Army in Transition 3)
Standards and Training 4) Voices from the Front
B. HOT BUTTONS:
* It appears that we are closer to the election solution. Once we have a
winner, if only by a hair, the rebuilding needs to begin. The new millennium
harbors quite a few challenges.
I am interested in the following feedbacks for next week:
* Should Europe become more independent of US defense policy? How should we
adjust?
* Do you agree with the Army going LIGHT? Do you foresee duplication problems
with the Marines or do you suspect the Army wants to make peacekeeping its
primary "business"?
* Do you think another Kosovo flare-up is inevitable?
Feel free to send me hot topics directly if you can't get through the
admin/log net -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
!!! Despite the national turmoil, I wish all of you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING with
family and friends.
C. The WEBPAGE. Webmaster, John Cloven is continually working on improving
the site. Thanks for your feedback.
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get the word out. Thanks for supporting an organization that stands for the
Truth, even if it questions every rule of political correctness.
E. Keep the mail coming!!! We won't reveal your true identity unless you give
us your approval. We know how vindictive the "system" is.
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HACK ATTACK:
Hack will have a book signing at Fort Jackson on Friday, December 1st from
12:00 to 2:00 PM at the U. S. Army Training Center, Building 4712 (PX
Building), Jackson Boulevard, Fort Jackson, SC 29207. For further information
please call (803) 787-1950/1951/1952.
Prepare for Action -- "Crew Ready! -- LOAD SABOT - DRIVER MOVE OUT!"
R.W. Zimmermann
President SFTT
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
=======================================================
Hack's Column
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American Soldiers Are Citizens Too
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By David Hackworth
Ronald Scott Owens, who hailed from Vero Beach, Fla., recently made the
ultimate sacrifice along with 16 shipmates when the USS Cole was attacked in
Yemen's Aden harbor.
Now, from what I'm hearing, the ballots of Ronald Scott Owens and almost 700
other Florida military voters may have been deep-sixed for reasons that
former President Carter and the Arbiters of Good would already be decrying if
we weren't America the Beautiful.
This skulduggery was exemplified in a five-page letter -- a tip sheet,
really, on how to zap military absentee voters -- sent by Florida lawyer Mark
Herron to like-minded attorneys who've been storming the Sunshine State.
The word is that this injustice took on a life of its own when Democratic
Party leaders both in Florida and in Washington did the math and decided the
military vote would favor the opposition. Instead of emulating Lincoln's
example during our Civil War, Herron and cohorts chose instead to follow
Stalin's credo: "It doesn't matter who votes, it only matters who counts the
votes." As a result, many of those who risk their lives in dangerous places
were flat-out disenfranchised.
Adding insult to injury, according to The Miami Herald, "At least 39 felons
-- mostly Democrats -- illegally cast absentee ballots in Broward and
Miami-Dade counties."
Felons get to vote, but ballots from GI Joe and Jill are tossed in the reject
pile over trivia such as the addresses of signature witnesses. Or because
envelopes lacked a stamped postmark, even though federal law says one's not
required.
Torpedoing other ballots required more twisted logic. For example, according
to The Wall Street Journal, a ballot bearing "a domestic postmark because a
soldier had voted, sent his ballot home to his parents and asked them to mail
it in on time, is thrown out. A ballot that comes with a note from an officer
explaining his ship was not able to postmark his ballot, but that he voted on
time -- and indeed it had arrived in time -- is thrown out."
In Florida, signatures of our defenders were compared with signatures on
registration cards, and if one said Jim Patriot and the other James Patriot,
the ballot was trashed. No one seemed to take into consideration that
PFC/Sergeant/Captain Patriot's concentration when he voted might have been
diverted to scope for terrorists off Aden or land mines in Kosovo or missiles
over the skies of Iraq. Ballots postmarked "Queens, New York" or
"Jacksonville, Florida" were denied, although even Disney World's Mickey
Mouse probably knows these post offices routinely handle overseas military
mail.
I still have letters mailed by me from Italy at the end of World War II and
from Korea and Vietnam during those conflicts. Not only are none postmarked,
I never did run across a U.S. Post Office out where danger lurked and bullets
sang, and I would be happy to testify accordingly.
The same no-post-office rule holds true in the conflicts I've covered as a
reporter. Our sailors and soldiers in nasty places like ex-Yugoslavia, Latin
America and the Gulf scribbled "FREE" on the envelope as their dads did and
stowed their letters in empty ration boxes to find their way from platoon to
division and finally on a bird to the USA. It's always been and still is: No
stamp, no postmark.
The troops are angry -- they feel they're second-class citizens whose votes
go uncounted because they don't count. I average 500 e-mails on normal days;
this injustice has quadrupled the input, and the fire from those messages has
almost melted my computer.
Sure the courts will make their judgments and hopefully cut our warriors some
slack, but this shameful episode will leave its wounds. Healing can only
begin when we truly honor and respect those who lay it all out there for you
and me. A good start would be to bring a military voting system that's
presently as obsolete as the blunderbuss into the age of the laser-guided
missile.
Of course, we also must set up a fair national standard for the vote -- one
guaranteed to prevent a replay of what's been going down in Florida, a state
that's produced more than its share of the heroes who keep our great country
on course with their ballots as well as their bullets.
***
(c) 2000 David H. Hackworth
Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc.
===========================================================
ARTICLE 1 - "Through Zman's Gun Sight"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rome vs. America
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By R.W. (Zimm) Zimmermann
President Soldiers For The Truth
11/27/00
What a circus the millennium presidential election has been. I normally worry
about foreign threats but I'm changing my assessment. The enemy is much
closer: He is us!
I recently refreshed my Roman history and was stunned how much we resemble
Rome during its more decadent years. It was militarily overextended,
overspent and threatened by uncontrolled immigration. Despite all that, the
masses rolled along, pacified by cunning rulers with lavish and brutish
entertainment. The love of money, sex, and religion, exploited for personal
gain, dominated life. In politics, careerism and corruption blossomed.
Elections were rigged and opponents often stabbed or poisoned.
Thank God that we are slightly more civilized. We now use lawyers to do the
stabbing and poisoning. What's worrisome is America's latest polarization.
More than ever, political parties are pitting old against young, minority
against white, soldier against civilian and wealthy against poor.
Today, there is much spin and screaming about the rightful outcome of our
elections. Whatever happens, I believe that America will arise from the
dilemma with renewed strength, if we avoid falling prey to the spin of
ruthless power seekers.
The biggest reason for the standoff: Neither candidate was a clear winner
with the American people. Had either been able to address issues more
convincingly, one or the other would have won by a much safer margin.
The stalemate also indicts the party platforms. The difference between "Dems"
and "Reps" isn't clear any longer. It's mainly who fills their coffers. One
party runs on the entertainment machine and foreign donors, while the other
side feeds on big oil and the defense contractors.
On the positive side, we learned that every single vote counts, especially
the military absentee vote. What's appalling is the bickering over the
validity of military absentee votes. Understood, every state has special
rules but maybe we should examine the rules so they aren't just bureaucratic
booby traps.
During my research, I noted that most officers and senior NCOs, stationed
abroad, had very few problems with their ballots. The majority of complaints
came from junior personnel, oftentimes first-time voters, and ship-deployed
units.
Maybe it's an educational problem that the States and to a lesser extent, the
military, must address. Ballots and procedures could be too complex. I don't
believe military commanders stalled the shipment of votes or were illegally
influencing the elections.
Remember, the average young troop gets his voting wisdom from a voting
assistance officer. The voting assistance officer is normally a second
Lieutenant with 1-3 years in service. Performing many other duties, he or she
is probably much more concerned with gunnery ranges or professional
development than ballots.
Then there is overseas military mailing. Unit mail clerks are hardworking
troops but many are on the job trained "grunts," temporarily assigned out of
their specialty because of injury. Considering the training deficit, you
shouldn't be surprised that a few Christmas letters don't arrive until Easter
or a few ballots hit the wrong mailbag. Some errors are plain human.
The bottom line is that we work around the procedural snafus and eliminate
them for the future. Until then, count the absentee votes if they make sense!
The failure of machine counts was a greatest surprise. Why can't a country
that sent people to the moon and wastes billions on useless defense
technologies, make our states buy modern voting equipment? If Wall Street
safely transfers truckloads of money in seconds, why can't we elect our
president more accurately?
As the Nation struggles with the final election outcome and contemplates the
future of dimple ballots, pregnant ballots and pregnant political minds, I
see the appeal for both traditional parties waning.
Whoever wins this election, and it looks like it will be GW, won't make much
of a splash for the future because of the ideological residue. Politicians
will continue to play party-line follies versus working for the common good.
Real change won't come until the next election, hopefully through a strong
third party that embodies our American ideals, opposed to the influence by
special interests.
Our Native American ancestors always cautioned that men who desire power are
generally not good men, and good men generally don't desire power. Not
desiring power is the trait of a good leader, for he will step down when he
has accomplished his mission.
It shouldn't be impossible to find good leaders for America. After all, this
country motivated idealists like Jefferson, Washington, Lafayette, Steuben,
Lincoln and others.
Instead of following the corrupt parties and professional politicians, maybe
we can encourage humble and bright patriots to give us pride and purpose once
again.
There isn't a good reason to become like Rome, even when the new president
offers us 180 days of games.
(c) R.W. Zimmermann, LandserUSA
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