-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! SOLDIERS FOR THE TRUTH "DEFENDING AMERICA NEWSLETTER" 06 December 2000 - "Remember the Little Guy and Pearl Harbor" "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: Relaxin' At Jackson "Through Zman's Gun Sight" Article 1 -- NATO and Forgetting The Little Man The Big Picture: Article 2 -- Air Force Authorized Aviator Recall Article 3 -- Russia Says Could Join EU Military Force Article 4 - U.S. Navy Gulf Commander Seeks Reserve Units to Protect Ports Voice of the Grunt: Article 5 -- The Interim US Army Brigade - Interim at Best? Article 6 -- Military Absentee Voting Article 7 -- Navy: Carrier Escorts Need Escorts Article 8 -- Army: Let's Get It Right or Stop Gender Integration Article 9 - Army: Tragedy Changes Opinion Article 10 -- Another "BioPort" Scam? Article 11 - More Frontline Feedback Article 12 - Troop Health Issues: Gulf War Symptoms Linked to Brain Damage G.I Humor: Article 13 -- GI HUMOR - US Army Oath of Enlistment (CONFIDENTIAL) Medal of Honor: Article 14 - PEARL HARBOR: *HAMMERBERG, OWEN FRANCIS PATRICK SITREP: A. Main topics: 1) Leadership 2) Army in Transition 3) Standards and Training 4) Voices from the Front 5) Troop Health Next Week: Into a New Year with new Leadership B. HOT BUTTONS: * If we are all good, maybe Santa will bring us a new Prez by Christmas. As I watched the latest History Channel series on the Founding Fathers, I was again encouraged that our system is designed to overcome the trials and tribulations of centuries. Whoever takes charge of our Nation, come January, please let him be more frugal than the last man. It looks like our current ruler just squandered $ 63 million of our tax money on an expedition to Vietnam which involved an air armada fit for a small war: 26 C-5's, 33 C-17's, 4 C-141's, 10 KC-10's, and 1 C-130. * I am proud to report that SFTT is gaining supporters worldwide. I have received e-mails from Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway and just last week from Russia. It seems that in Russia they have a group that is called "A Defender of the Fatherland", with many similar goals. As I told all others and the Russians, I am glad that we are communicating, because it is normally the little grunts who have seen war, who want to build additional bridges to improve mutual understanding and lasting peace. * Fellow troops, we still need your financial support. We're still saving to rent us a full time small-office headquarters with administrative support by mid next year and to become more aggressive on radio shows. We want to be able to buy time and hit the airwaves like the BBC in WWII. I am interested in the following feedbacks for next week: * Should military personnel refrain from making political statements? * Should Russia become part of the European Defense structure? * Do you think G.W. Bush would pull us out of Kosovo. Please continue the comments on the army Light concept. Feel free to send me hot topics directly if you can't get through the admin/log net -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] C. The WEBPAGE. Webmaster, John Cloven is continually working on improving the site. Thanks for your feedback. D. 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. 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. 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Relaxin' At Jackson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By David Hackworth FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- Earlier this year, Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, who achieved the highest rank ever held by a woman in the U.S. Army, said, "This is not your father's army." I just spent a week here at the Army's biggest basic-training center, and Kennedy -- who, just before she retired, accused a male general of hitting on her -- was dead on target. This is especially true at Fort Jackson, where about 55,000 young men and women swap flab for muscle, and pop and hip-hop for martial melodies, every year. But the one thing that hasn't changed since soldiers swung swords are the sergeants. They wake up the roosters, then their young charges -- and they're still all over them, like a small T-shirt on a Ram linesman, at lights-out, 16 hours later. Then most of these professionals, who are carefully picked and trained for this vital job, go home to families who long before have snapped off the lights. This marathon goes on seven days a week for nine weeks, until their platoons proudly pass in review on graduation day. And then the training cycle begins again. Noncoms are the steel backbone of any military force. Unlike the colonels and generals, who rotate in and out of command jobs, they're in the trenches with the troops for a minimum of 20 years or until a bullet stops them. They do the hands-on training, and in combat they're the ones who shout "Follow me" as they lead their units into the Valley of the Shadow. Here at Fort Jackson, and at other Army training bases across our nation, the sergeants who take the newly sworn-in couch potatoes and mold them into trigger-pulling soldiers are called "drills." Male drills, who wear the stiff old Army campaign hat, look like tight ends; females, at least as fit, sport dashing Australian-style headgear. They're awesome figures: starched and tailored, boots spit-shined. Most are combat vets, and many have college degrees. A standout among exceptional leaders is SFC Orfeo Provost, who guided me and my partner Eilhys England through the obstacle and confidence courses, ranges, classrooms, barracks and training areas so we could get a snapshot of the modern making of a soldier. Drill Sgt. Provost, presently tasked with training new drills, says, "We take what society gives us and do the best job we can to make them soldiers." And so the drills do, considering the many restrictions placed on them. The training's no longer "Full Metal Jacket" mean, designed to break down recruits and then rebuild those who soldier through. Sociologists and enlightened generals have eliminated or adulterated the techniques that forged the Private Ryans from 1776 to the 1980s. The drills' job is no longer to "break 'em but to make 'em in a stress-free environment," commented a sergeant who's swapping his lot as a drill for college. This easy-does-it way of training soldiers has put the drills in the center of a minefield. If they slip into the no-nonsense mode of how they lead their soldiers in the real rubber-hits-the-track Army, they're immediately in a world of hurt with the brass, who say they're not in tune with the Army's new standard. And at Fort Jackson, boys and girls train together, many bringing their anything-goes values to the barracks. Drills say keeping them apart greatly distracts from their primary mission of pounding out disciplined soldiers. Hey, if Gen. Kennedy got stuck in a sex mess, what about 18-year-olds? But in spite of the risks, the dedicated drills still try to instill the hard lessons of old in these mainly good but soft kids. They take career-killer chances because they know if the recruits don't get it right in training, they won't make it when the slugs start to fly. That's what motivates the dozens of drills I spoke to on base during the day and at night over a beer when Big Brother wasn't listening. But most of the drills -- off the record, of course -- worry that the training's not hard enough, that the fire they've built on the sly isn't hot enough to forge the right stuff needed to make it on the battlefield. Maybe the generals should take off their stars and have a few beers with their drills. *** 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 Zman's Gun Sight" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NATO and Forgetting The Little Man ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By R.W. (Zimm) Zimmermann President Soldiers For The Truth 12/04/00 You really wonder if our illustrious leaders are blatantly trying to ignore the guys in the trenches. A "father knows best" attitude seems to predominate everywhere. No, it's not cultural change that's triggering the leadership void but a generational divide. With the business training of the 80'ies, many seniors have become experts at advertising their own greatness and fooling the public with sound byte successes. Desert Storm offered, General Schwartzkopf and the smart weapons makers, a grand opportunity to brief themselves into the hearts of the news anchors, while the grunts only received marginal mention. During Bosnia and Kosovo, once again, the generals monopolized the news with sporadic exposure for the little man. Some heroes were conveniently "created" from tactical snafus, just think of "Wag-the Dog" hero Scott O'Grady. When the Apache attack choppers became a no-go, the Army found the fix in sending a "promotable" Brigadier General to supervise a task force that is normally run by a Lieutenant Colonel. I personally know Major General Cody and respect him as a common sense guy, but his appearance wasn't a vote of confidence for our forces. Now, the Army is going light and hails its morale-boosting black berets without input from the rank and file. By the number of e-mails I'm getting, I know that the grunts don't like the black beret idea free for all, but have decent proposals for a fix. The average tanker, grunt or Cavman would also have appreciated a bit of say-so in the selection of the wheeled armor platform that the Army bought. The big guys just plain ignored the voices for a better vehicle mix, more armor protection, better long-range fire capability and more cross-country mobility with tracks. It's father knows best, until one day, the super-light Army faces a foe with a modern Tiger tank that blasts its Light Armored Vehicle, two for the price of one. Briefing spin rules even in my own state. When several canisters of deadly nerve gas were found at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, our military responded not with disposal but brass talk. No, the Pentagon didn't send a team of non-commissioned officer/explosive ordnance experts who could have resolved the situation on the spot, together with the fire department and common sense civilian experts. To appease our Governor, two generals arrived. General Coburn, a four-star and Doesburg, a two-star, reassured our Senator Allard and the Governor that they would take care of everything. Well, if the brass can do it all, then we should leave them to their own devices to disarm the darn bomblets. Pushed aside by the CEO's, the decent little guys are voting with their feet everywhere, seeking other employment. Just like in business, no loyalties are left. The military's attrition problem has very little to do with lazy and stupid generation X-ers, who lack values and morality. It has everything to do with leadership arrogance. Younger Americans want to be appreciated and recognized for accomplishments and human qualities, just like we appreciated it, before we categorized people as types A and B and researchers hammered aggressive self-promotion tactics into us. X-ers are also rediscovering that it's okay to live life and prioritize time for the family, whereas the military business leaders, now in their forties and fifties still believe in sacrificing life and limb for job and promotion. For them, subordinates are slaves, until they finally get their shot at the top. Maybe it isn't the X-ers who have to learn to be tougher and more self-promoting. It's my generation and the subordinates we've cloned, who must learn that good leadership and teambuilding requires more than corporate checklists. Participatory leadership and character are things that aren't well defined in business books and five-minute manager manuals. That's why our current rulers are having a hard time understanding these skills. It's all about human gut instinct and feeling with the fingertips, learned and experienced over time and by making small mistakes. Participatory leading is the sharing of accomplishments. It's letting subordinates do their jobs and giving credit when it's due. The word spreads, morale rises and a bright light automatically reflects on the organization and its leaders, thus eliminating excessive need for self-promotion. Leadership by example hasn't changed much over centuries. Our human choices have become harder however, especially the choice of refraining from superficial talk. The more we become connected with more phones and new layers of Internets, the more we must learn that true wisdom oftentimes resides in silence. Right now, our universal motto seems to be NATO = No Action, Talk Only - and too much of it. And they're forgetting the little man. (c) R.W. Zimmermann, LandserUSA [EMAIL PROTECTED] ============================================================ ARTICLE 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Air Force Authorized Aviator Recall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Here we go again. First the Army recalls retired aviators, now the Air Force. And it all happens silently so you don't suspect a retention problem. On a positive note, a chance to fly a desk for those who really miss it! From Air Force Retiree News. ********************************************************** The Air Force has been authorized to recall up to 208 retired aviators to fill staff positions as part of the Air Force's plan to alleviate a headquarters rated staff shortfall. According to Blanche Thompson, Air Force Personnel Center, pilots, navigators and air battle managers retired in the last five years in the grades of lieutenant colonel and below may apply. Applications must be submitted to HQ AFPC/DPPAES, 550 C Street West, Ste 10, Randolph AFB TX 78150-4712 before July 1, 02 in order for members to be accessed to active duty before the Sept. 30, 02 deadline. Officers permanently retired for physical disability are not eligible to apply, Mrs. Thompson said. Applicants can apply for varying periods of service but must be released from active duty by Sept. 30, 03. Additional information on this recall is available on the HQ AFPC website http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/enlskills/specact.htm. Also, interested individual who are eligible may contact Mrs. Thompson at the above address or call (210) 565-2288 or e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance in submitting the application and other necessary documents. =================================================================== ARTICLE 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Russia Says Could Join EU Military Force ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: A new development in efforts to create an independent European Intervention Force. Russia wants to play a part. ************************************************************ By Adam Tanner BERLIN (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Saturday that Russia was ready to cooperate with the European Union's new military force. ``We consider it completely natural, the effort by Europe with their own forces to provide for their own security,'' Ivanov told leading European policy makers and analysts at a forum on Europe. ''And in a crisis situation we are ready for constructive cooperation.'' European countries announced this week they would form their own rapid reaction force outside NATO, the Atlantic alliance heavily dependent on U.S. military might which formed the West's primary Cold War buffer against the former Soviet Union. EU countries said they would create a force of up to 60,000 ground troops from the EU's 15 member states by 2003 to deal with regional conflicts and humanitarian crises. ``The possibility of a Russian contribution in the conduct of European Union operations in regulating crises will be studied,'' Ivanov said. ``I am sure that this will open good possibilities for our joint contribution to strengthening stability and security in Europe.'' Ivanov's proposal could raise U.S. fears of losing influence in European peacekeeping operations, and his remarks sought to highlight cases where U.S. and European interests diverged. For example, Ivanov mentioned Europe's differences with Washington over the possible development of a ballistic missile defense system. ''We very much appreciate that a whole series of leading European governments have come out with us and the overwhelming majority of the world in defense of strategic stability,'' he said. ``One would like to believe that the series of supporters on our continent for the preservation of the ABM treaty will expand.'' Warning that a failure to following international norms would lead to chaos, Ivanov cited the 1999 U.S.-led NATO air war against Yugoslavia as an example of NATO gone astray. ``Unfortunately, the well-known events in the Balkans in the spring of 1999 are evidence that such an alternative cannot be excluded,'' he said. ``After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, there was again talk in the world that maintaining security was only possible by military means, including through the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. ``I am sure that such a negative development of events is not in the interests of a single European government.'' He called for the European Union to be more involved in the peace process in the Middle East. ``Russia, as a co-sponsor of the Middle East peace process believes that the European Union should take a more active role in its international mediation,'' he said. ``The very proximity and approaches on these questions between Moscow and Brussels allows us to act in tandem and if necessary, in a joint effort.'' In another proposal, Ivanov called for the creation of a European monument to the victims of repression during the Nazi era and Stalin's iron rule in the former Soviet Union. =========================================================== *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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