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DEFENDING AMERICA Newsletter, 1999-05-26-B
====================================================
ARTICLE 5
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DOES THIS MAKE SENSE AND SAVE MONEY?
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SUMMARY: An Air Force warrior wants to know if any thought or proper
assessment is given to "readiness" when all this maintenance "Ponzi"
shuffling is through. Or is it just a congressional funding fox-trot?
==========================================
By A USAF Warrior
I have witnessed the closing of Kelly AFB in San Antonio, where the
C-5 used to undergo programmed depot maintenance and modification. It is not
only a very large aircraft, but also a very complicated heavy maintenance
bird. We averaged about 2 completed aircraft a month at Kelly prior to its
moving to Warner Robins AFB in Georgia. About 15 percent of the work force
transferred with the work to WR. Now the average number of C-5's being
completed each month there is between one half and one. We are currently in
the mode of transferring the F100 engine from Kelly to Tinker AFB in
Oklahoma. As you may know, this powerful engine is the workhorse of the F15
and F16. These planes are currently in use in the "conflict" in Serbia.
About 1300 mechanics and support staff will need to be moved to Oklahoma in
order to support this work. Current estimates are that about half will move
up Interstate 35 to Oklahoma City. All of this work needs to be fully
operational at Tinker by December of this year.
Would you please explain in one of your columns how this giant shell
game of moving huge workloads around the country is beneficial to readiness?
The GAO bean-counters who said that this will save DoD money refused to look
at how readiness would be affected. With the new Federal Employees
Retirement System (FERS), civilian defense workers don't lose a penny of
their retirement if they just quit DoD, like they would under the old Civil
Service Retirement System (CSRS). Therefore, just like the pilots who quit
because they don't want to split up their family, so can civilian defense
workers at the closing depots. Inexperience new-hires at the gaining bases
will take 2-3 years of "reinventing the wheel" of old workloads. This is
painfully evident from talking to my friends who moved to Georgia with the
C-5. With future base closings in the news, someone needs to explain that
they were originally to close old, outdated bases, not modern bases with
huge workloads that are vital to readiness.
================================================
ARTICLE 6
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ARMY AVIATION IS A HOLLOW FORCE
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SUMMARY: The author takes aim at his own MOS and branch - Army Aviation.
*************************************
By an Army Kiowa driver
WE ARE BROKE:
Army Aviation is broken from the ground up, we have NCO's who are
brainwashed and worked to hard because they concentrate on playing Army
instead of focusing on the specialized Aviation mission at hand, in fact
while stationed at Ft. Drum while crucial work needed to be performed on our
aircraft but the Division Command Sgt Major had the crew-chiefs watering the
Division HQ's lawn and thought everything was just great..great..great, the
sad thing is that our leadership said nothing for fear of rebuttal by the
command on the coveted OER (officer evaluation report). Moreover, the
(pilots) are given the task of performing duties like digging fox holes due
to the crew-chief shortage during field exercises and rolling commo wire, in
fact one pilot lacerated his cornea while at a JRTC deployment rolling commo
wire after it popped from the spool, but it was no big deal because he was a
commoner in the Army, nothing special, just another guy flying one of the
world's most sophisticated aircraft -- and by the way we picked up trash on
the
side of the road when the rotation was over -- there are so many instances
it's
futile and absolutely----unbelievable.
NOT SUFFICIENTLY VALUED OR REWARDED:
Apache pilots are not alone in this fight, a majority the pilots are
worn out regardless of what they fly and see their jobs as fruitless and
with no reward monetarily or emotionally. Esprit De Corp has long been gone
due to not being allowed to wear unit patches to promote unit cohesion and
morale, and the newest "brainchild" of the Army with the advent of the
unfashionable ABDU ensemble in lieu of a flight-suit and its getting worse.
We have been called as one Infantry General said "Mud Soldiers! HOOAH!"
but they will not be Mud soldiers for long.
HOLLOW ARMY:
Army Aviation is Hollow, we have mighty few Senior Warrant
Officers(CW3's, CW4's and CW5's) in our line troops anymore and if we do the
good ones are getting out. Today we have a vicious circle of coming in to
fly for the 6 year commitment then leave and take all the experience with
you, never reinvesting and passing on; no one stays, we become HOLLOW. You
know as well as I, it's frantic and exhausting always reinventing the wheel.
We need mentors and experience -- not the PT streamer for eyewash. CW2's,
Lieutenants and Captains do not have that much experience; the senior
Warrants do and they are leaving in droves. The Army in Aviation is a
mediocre pilot's dream because his piloting skills don't make the commander
look good, however, the commanders readiness and training statistics do and
that directly effects his OER.
DISTRACTED:
We are distracted in Aviation because we don't DO aviation. Its a
well known fact that if you shoot poorly on a gunnery no one would bat an
eye, but miss a Physical Training formation and you would think the world
was coming to an end, as our former 18th Airborne Corp Commander put
it...."PT....is the most important thing we do all day!", I suppose he has
never performed an Auto-rotation and called out " MAYDAY!, MAYDAY!, LOCK
SHOULDER HARNESS, JETTISON EXTERNAL STORES,NR, NG, AIRCRAFT IN
TRIM" and slammed it to the ground (controlled crash). I do this everyday at
Fort
Rucker training these pilots for the real thing, but they will soon go off
to the line troop full of excitement and hope, but to soon learn the harsh
reality of not training, multitudes of additional duties, eyewash, second
rate facilities and general mediocrity.
DISAPOINTED:
I am disappointed, to say the least. The Army and its resources have
highly intelligent people and they are letting them leave with no fix in
sight, from the crew chiefs to pilots (it's a travesty). Aviation can be shown
the way, but who is going to do this when the Senior leadership doesn't know
what the rest of the Army is doing i.e. Aviation, and it's even harder to get
the Aviation Commanders to admit that there's a problem because everything
as one former battalion commander said is "great!, great!, great!", and it's
NOT, just ask Gen. Shelton, he finally admitted it to Sen. McCain when asked
recently. We as a branch need to accept a few facts: we are soldiers -- that
is
a given, but we are not Infantry men. We support the Infantry. Aviation
needs to be Aviation and let the real soldiers do their thing instead of
pretending to be something that we are not. We do not fly crank-and-go
aircraft anymore; we have highly sophisticated aircraft and systems that
require a large portion of your time "in the books". As one Army Aviation
officer said, "the best move the 'Air Corps' ever made was to leave the
Army." I have to agree. Aviation is the most lethal force in the Army. Now
let's start paying and training our men like what they are. As syndicated
columnist Ralph Peters said:
"But it's equally true that the skills required of a
professional...cannot be attracted and retained if their promotion and pay
scales are the same as those for mechanics and armored crewmen."
In conclusion, it's not that hard attracting "Intelligent Human
Capital" to
Aviation; we in the Army have a huge problem retaining it.
=================================================
ARTICLE 7
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BOOK REVIEW: 13 May 1999
"Betrayal - How the Clinton Administration Undermined American Security"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Lt. Jack Daly, USN
The threat to National Security exposed as the enemy within!
I am LT Jack Daly, United States Navy, the subject of Chapter 2,
"The Kapitan Man". This book would be hard to believe was it not for the
fact, that for the last two years, I have been living as one betrayed by the
deceit of the most powerful people in the Clinton Administration. A decision
to allow a hostile act within U.S. waters to go unchecked, amounting to
permission to do it again. Worse yet, guaranteeing the Russians the freedom
to continue their spying against our most vital strategic asset, the U.S.
Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN's), with impunity.
It is utterly appalling to learn that the very people who have the
power to risk the lives of American servicemen and servicewomen at the drop
of a dime, are the same who have now put every man, woman and child in the
United States at even greater risk with callous disregard. Bill Gertz's
exposure of the threats to National Security, fostered by this President and
his Administration, have far graver implications than that of Monica
Lewinsky's affliction of puppy love.
This book should be read by every American, more importantly every
Democrat and Republican in the Senate and Congress. Ken Starr will probably
realize he has been barking up the wrong tree, and stop dead in his tracks.
"Betrayal-How the Clinton Administration Undermined American
Security," contains some of the most damning evidence yet of the
underhandedness of the man who is supposed to be the leader of the free
world. It will be quite apparent to the reader that the President who wanted
to be remembered for the great things he did for his country, will most
likely be remembered for how he sold it down the river; to our past, present
and future enemies. When reading this expose compiled by a true American
patriot, (Bill Gertz) one will be compelled to ask, what did Bill Clinton
gain from all this? More importantly one should ask, just who has he been
working for, obviously not the American people.
Without a doubt, "Betrayal" will become one of the most important
pieces of investigative journalism in America's history. It's impact depends
simply on people seeing beyond the rosy colored glasses Bill Clinton and his
cronies have placed over the eyes of the American public. What will become
clear are the resultant storm clouds that now loom on the not too distant
horizon.
To Bill Gertz, I commend you for your courage, patriotism and
selflessness. Every citizen in this great country owes you a debt of
gratitude. It is readily apparent that the future freedom, safety and
security of the greatest country on earth were your motives for this
extraordinary book. You truly deserve the accolade of hero.
================================================
ARTICLE 8
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*******Medal Of Honor*******
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*HAMMOND, FRANCIS C.
Rank and organization: Hospital Corpsman (HC), U.S.N., First Marine
Division. Place and date: Korea, 26-27 March 1953.
Entered service at: Alexandria, Va.
Birth: Alexandria, Va.
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life
above and beyond the call of duty as a HC serving with the 1st Marine
Division in action against enemy aggressor forces on the night of 26-27
March 1953. After reaching an intermediate objective during a counterattack
against a heavily entrenched and numerically superior hostile force
occupying ground on a bitterly contested outpost far in advance of the main
line of resistance. HC Hammond's platoon was subjected to a murderous
barrage of hostile mortar and artillery fire, followed by a vicious assault
by onrushing enemy troops. Resolutely advancing through the veritable
curtain of fire to aid his stricken comrades, HC Hammond moved among the
stalwart garrison of Marines and, although critically wounded himself,
valiantly continued to administer aid to the other wounded throughout an
exhausting 4-hour period. When the unit was ordered to withdraw, he
skillfully directed the evacuation of casualties and remained in the
fire-swept area to assist the corpsmen of the relieving unit until he was
struck by a round of enemy mortar fire and fell, mortally wounded. By his
exceptional fortitude, inspiring initiative and self-sacrificing efforts, HC
Hammond undoubtedly saved the lives of many Marines. His great personal
valor in the face of overwhelming odds enhances and sustains the finest
traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his
country.
=========================================
ARTICLE 9
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WHEN WARS FAIL, SO DO DEMOCRATS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Kevin Phillips, Los Angeles Times, Sunday 23 May 1999
WASHINGTON--That rumble out of the Balkans is "four straight": a possible
four Democratic presidents in a row leaving office after failed military
involvement or a botched air-strike. Can peace negotiations be far behind?
This may sound like partisanship and naysaying, but it's hard politics,
public opinion and history. Cold, icy hard. Presidents Harry S. Truman,
Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter all rode military weakness to ignominy,
and President Bill Clinton's nervous political antennae may be responsible
for his recent public doubts about Vice President Al Gore.
The political history of U.S. wars since 1950 has made Democratic
presidential nominations into a game of jeopardy played with aircraft and
howitzers. What old hand can forget--and what young White House hawk can
remember--how, during the Korean War, Truman's 1952 primary defeat and
sudden retirement threw the political race into chaos; or the snarl of the
Vietnam-threaded 1968 primaries; or Carter in the winter of 1979-80,
claiming he was too busy trying to save the U.S. hostages in Iran to go to
New Hampshire to campaign? Glum Democratic situations all.
But more than Clinton's legacy and Gore's year-2000 success could be at
stake in a prolonged overseas fight. The nation's very future could
be--seriously. One failed or costly war too many toppled the last three
preeminent global economic powers: Spain in the 17th century, Holland in the
early 18th century and Britain after this century's two world wars.
The public is ahead of the politicians and the generals on this. The most
recent polls show almost 50 percent of voters regard the bombing as a
failure and a majority believe the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should
negotiate a settlement with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end the
fighting.
That's in the United States. Most of the world is even less supportive. The
American people, and even the White House, have long since come to terms
with the air war's most obvious unexpected consequences: the disastrous
refugee crisis and the resulting destabilization of the Balkans, especially
Montenegro and Macedonia.
But the most dangerous unexpected consequences are overseas, among major
nations and religious blocs. Anti-Americanism and disgust with the war are
taking off. People are talking about the United States as a superpower run
amok.
NATO's bombs are falling mostly on Serbs, who are Eastern Orthodox
Christians. Each week, more civilians and refugees seem to die in villages,
railroad trains and TV stations. Hostility toward the United States has
soared in Europe's Eastern Orthodox nations, not just Russia but also
Macedonia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and even Greece. Bulgarians rioted last week
over a visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a strong war advocate.
Even many Islamic nations decline to applaud NATO's strikes in the name of
Muslim Kosovars because of an awareness that most U.S. airstrikes in the
last 15 years have been against Islamic targets.
With Russia already a mess, increasingly bitter anti-U.S. sentiment there
could be a real threat now that President Boris N. Yeltsin and his Cabinet
are locked in open political combat after Yeltsin's firing of Prime Minister
Yevgeny M. Primakov. Civil war is at least an outside possibility.
Then there's China, bloody-minded after its embassy in Belgrade was
accidentally blown up by a NATO missile attack. Future relations with the
world's most populous country are at risk. Not only are the Chinese
outraged, but disgust is being expressed by the 2 million Chinese Americans
in this country.
In Japan, the bombing seems to be confirming sentiment that Washington is an
international bully. In mid-April, the Tokyo region elected a new governor,
Shintaro Ishihara, who blames the U.S. Treasury Department for Japan's
financial and economic woes and wants to restrict U.S. use of military bases
in Japan. Two weeks ago, anger at the war almost brought down the German
government when the Greens, a junior coalition partner, passed a party
conference resolution that could have ended the coalition.
The last time I looked, Russia, China, Japan and Germany were four of the
world's leading eight nations. For a U.S. president to pursue a policy,
lacking any real U.S. strategic interest, that simultaneously angers or
threatens the governmental stability of all four is foolish.
Worse still, this is a perverse flirtation with historical disaster. The
United States, having been defeated, stymied or denied victory in its last
three wars (Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf), fits the classic
definition of an aging great power beginning to weaken. Think Rome. Spanish,
Dutch and British historians have filled book after book with explanations
of what comes next.
In short: Hapsburg Spain, the great power of the 16th and 17th centuries,
was broken by the military embarrassment and fiscal drain of Europe's 30
Years War (1618-1648). Holland, leading the rest of Europe with its global
commerce, finance and wealth, was dragged down by its overcommitments in the
great European wars of 1689-1713, though the Dutch were on the winning side.
Then the British Empire, at its peak in 1914, was so bled by the two world
wars that, by the late 1940s, Britain depended on the Untied States for
loans. The empire began to crumble and food rationing continued for almost a
decade.
Could the same thing happen again? Of course. The Balkans and Middle East
could prove a devastating double imbroglio, though the full process would
probably take several decades.
Keep in mind that none of the three previous national elites, as they began
their war engagements, had any real sense of the problems ahead. Historical
awareness is far greater today. Even the most hawkish politician knows the
Balkans to be a morass. So peace negotiations seem more likely than a
drawn-out U.S. military involvement.
U.S. domestic politics should reinforce that analysis. By this fall, the
preliminaries of the 2000 presidential elections will be upon us. Clinton is
now starting to face the question of how the war in the Balkans will affect
his place in history.
In March, he might have seen a conquered Yugoslavia as the linchpin of a new
world order. But the more chastened view at the end of May must be of U.S.
Balkan involvement becoming at least a possible political disaster. The
threat is both to Clinton's legacy and historical profile and to Gore's
chances of winning either the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination or the
general election.
Unsuccessful overseas military involvement is a predicament Democratic
presidents have faced in relentless and unhappy succession. In 1952,
Truman's cautious policies in the drawn-out Korean War were unpopular enough
to defeat him in the New Hampshire primary. He retired, and his personal
pick as Democratic presidential nominee, Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson of
Illinois, was defeated. In 1968, Johnson's unsuccessful and unpopular
conduct of the Vietnam War saw him almost defeated in the New Hampshire
primary and he, too, announced retirement. His choice for the Democratic
nomination, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, was defeated.
The next Democrat in the White House, Carter, made it three in a row in
1980, when he was defeated. The November election took place on the first
anniversary of the Iranian government's seizure of U.S. hostages, and
Carter's credibility had been badly damaged that spring, when a U.S.
helicopter raid to free the hostages failed. Military embarrassment wasn't
the only reason Carter lost, but it was a factor.
It would be amazing if White House strategists, including the president,
didn't have this in mind as the 2000 elections loom ever larger. A mess in
the Balkans could have three effects: first, to create a major embarrassment
and public backlash against the administration's military ineptness; second,
to override public happiness with a strong economy; and third, to foreshadow
a major Democratic unraveling, initially in the party primaries and then in
the general election. The first and third difficulties occurred in all three
election years, and the second characterized 1952 and 1968. (In 1980, the
economy was already a mess.)
If the war continues into next year, or even if its memory becomes a major
drag, Gore's ambitions and Clinton's legacy could both be big losers. Some
damage is already done, but the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary are
still nine months away.
The president has to ask himself: What are the prospects? Is a somewhat
embarrassing peace deal in June or July better than the odds surrounding an
escalation that could produce a debacle in 2000--and more ignominy in the
history books?
****
Kevin Phillips Is the Author of "The Politics of Rich and Poor." His New
Book Is "The Cousins' War: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of
Anglo-America."
===================================================
EDITOR'S NOTE:
As a rule of thumb, please try to keep article for possible publication to
700 words or less. We do make exceptions and will not turn away an 800 to
900 word piece, but please make every editing effort not to exceed these
guidelines.
If you believe you have a story that is longer than 700 words we will
consider running it in parts. Keep the piece focused on the story you want
to express, not impress upon the reader.
Thanks to everyone for keeping the communication lines open and the ideas
flowing.
Semper Fi,
Bob McMahon
Editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ARCHIVED DEFENDING AMERICA COLUMNS:
You can now find copies of Hack's previous columns at:
http://www.hackworth.com. These are found in the Defending America Section,
under Archived Copies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GLOSSARY OF MILITARY ACRONYMS:
We've had numerous requests from troops in different branches of the
military to establish this link so that we will all know how "all you
others" talk that talk. Please see below:
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/acronym_index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONGRESSIONAL E-MAIL ADDRESSES
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and accessing Congressional e-mails at the bottom of the first page.
********************ORDERING BOOKS*************************
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If you are interested in ordering Hack's books (About Face*,
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*About Face available in trade copy.
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====================================================
A<>E<>R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
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