Manufactured by Lacroix Pyro-Technologies of France, the HIWS will be marketed by the FNH team. It is capable of hurling the 2.2-pound payload of a 3.3-pound round more than 700 yards in an indirect-fire mode. In a direct-fire role, the HIWS can engage targets out to 300 yards.Touting a sophisticated recoil-mitigation system, the weapon produces no back blast and no overpressure, making it possible to fire the system from an enclosed space - even from inside a vehicle. The HIWS is also relatively quiet: Ear protection isn't needed when firing the system.
Flag Day - 2008
Today is Flag Day. The flag of these United States of America is a powerful symbol. People all over the world look for it in times of need.
It flies over public buildings.
The flag has had songs written about it not the least of which is "The Star Spangled Banner" but also "That Grand Old Flag" and other patriotic tunes.
It is draped over the coffins of deceased Presidents AND servicemen and women.
It is honored in many places in many ways by many people... Between the fields where the flag is planted, there are 9+ miles of flower fields that go all the way to the ocean. The flowers are grown by seed companies. It's a beautiful place, close to Vandenberg AFB. Check out the dimensions of the flag. The Floral Flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions, as described in Executive Order #10834. This Flag is 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars, comprised of White Larkspur. Each Star is 24 feet in diameter; each Stripe is 30 feet wide. This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants, with 4-5 flower stems each, for a total of more than 2 million flowers.
The Lockheed Plant in WWII
Most chain e-mails are just crap. This one was interesting.
Lockheed During W.W.II (unbelievable 1940s pictures) This is pretty neat--special effects during the 1940's: I have never seen these pictures or knew that we had gone this far to protect us.
During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from Japanese air attack. They covered it with camouflage netting to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air. Imagine the materials and labor needed to create this. Look at the large dimensional lumber used to support the netting. Just amazing.
Unfortunately, as is so with most such e-mail, I don't know to whom to attribute either the photos or original e-mail. However, I hope you'll enjoy the photos.
D-Day, June 6th 1944
We should remember these young (and many not so young) men who struggled ashore, who died, who strove to fulfill their duty 64 years ago today.
Among those men was one Gano Haynes "Sonny" Jewell. Sonny was my dad's first cousin and they were close. Sonny had been pre-med at Cornell but he felt he wasn't doing his part. He thought he needed to do more and he enlisted in the army. Wonder of wonders, he was made an aideman probably recognizing his pre-med training and perhaps with a bit of work towards that end by Sonny himself. Nobody in our family is known for being a shrinking violet. He came to be assigned to work in the aide-station of the 2d Battalion, 116th Infantry, 29th Infantry Division. The 116th was one of the assault regiments and attached to the 1st Division for the landings. Sonny made the landing. He likely was very busy from June 6th through August 6th when he was wounded near Vire, France by German artillery fire. On August 7th, 1944 PFC Gano Haynes "Sonny" Jewell was killed by a fragment from a German artillery shell. He was 21 years old, an only son and a beloved cousin/nephew. Dad once told me how when his mother and aunt (Sonny's mom) went to get the body, he followed them as they drove a car and he drove a borrowed truck. He remembered how he watched the sidewall of old right rear tire on the car suddenly balloon out and burst and how they had to get the tire replaced before they could continue and get Sonny's body. A small thing to us but Dad's eyes would mist up a bit.
On VE Day (I think this was May 8th, 1945) the government released farm labor from enlistment restrictions and Dad enlisted in the Army. In fact, when he heard the news on the radio he telephoned home and told his mother that he didn't know when he was coming back but that he was going to Oneonta to enlist. Dad allowed that this was at least in part because of Sonny.
In 1985 I was sitting in my office in the home armory of the 116th Infantry and met Winston Morris. Winston had gone into service at age 35 and was 80 years old when we met. Prior to the war he'd been photographer and got command permission to carry and use his camera in theater. As NCOIC of the Regimental aide-station he got to move around quite a bit and take photos of a number of the Regiment's activities. He had a quite collection of photographs from those years and included in them was a photo of Sonny Jewell the day before he died. He was sitting at the edge of his foxhole in the aide station. Winston remembered him fondly. Unfortunately, I didn't get a copy of the photograph.
Sonny Jewell was one of millions, like Winston Morris, who did their duty and I hope that today, you'll take a moment and remember the Sonny Jewell or Winston Morris in your family and somehow thank him or her.
Today, by law, we observe Memorial Day
This morning, I walked out into the sunshine and crossed the street to the bandstand in Gypsy Hill park for the Memorial Observance. As speakers spoke and musicians played I was struck both by the large number of cars which brought people in ones and twos to the ceremony and by the larger number of folks going on with their daily business of jogging, walking the dog, prepping their chosen site for the afternoon picnic and at one point the jarring backing horn of the city trolley. I couldn't help but think that while there were a number of citizens who had come to today's observance ceremony, the vast majority had no apparent interest. They never even paused in their run, never slowed the pace as they walked their children in strollers or their dogs on the leash. I thought, too, of those in our family who had offered themselves to the service of their country and those who had died in that service, far from home.
I hope you will join me at 3:00 PM on the 30th of May (the traditional Memorial Day) for a moment (or more) of silent prayer for these men and women who gave us so very much.
Help Me ID a WWII Army Unit
Some photos, unclassified, were mailed to my grandparents. The return address is:
MAJ P. C. Bosse Hdqs WPBC, APO 244 c/o P. Va. San Francisco
The postmark is June 28, 1945 by the US Army Postal Service.
I think MAJ Paul C. Bosse is the mustached gent in the photos. I'd like to find out more about the unit, MAJ Bosse, and his connection to my grandparents. An internet search for "Paul C. Bosse" or "P. C. Bosse" turned up nothing. This link seems to indicate that the WPBC was a Personnel Center & Casual Depot. There are more photos, however, which made me think it might be something else (not withstanding the one officer's Adjutant General branch insignia). These photos show the troops, mixed race(!), in the field with white and black NCOs. However, just as in the beach photo, the officers wearing "helmets" are actually only wearing the "Liner, Helmet"! That's not what would have happened in combat operations. Any information on this subject you send me would be welcome but please avoid the BS.
What I have found on Paul C. Bosse: Born in New York state 4 Dec 1907, residence was New York City, he was married and had children on 17 Jun 1942 when he enlisted. His dad was worth $840,000 in 1930! He died 13 Dec 1973 in Warrensburg, New York. His wife was Anne Gillette Bosse and they had 3 daughters (Anne, Susan and Constance). So I believe I've found the connection. Paul Bosse knew my grandmother from Lake George where he met his wife Anne Gillette at or near Sabbath Day Point. I'd like to know more...
U P D A T E
I've been given the following info: - WPBC APO 244 for 1945 is for Western Pacific Base Command, Saipan. - Maj Bosse was Asst Chief of Staff of G2 for WPBC. Here is an article he wrote assessing Japanese civilians: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2745220
Stephen King, Renowned Author and Ignoramus
The renowned author, Stephen King, set forth his ideas about our US service people in an interview said this:
I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV but the fact is that if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you got the army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's not as bright. So that's my little commercial for that.
If Mr. King wants to promote reading he might better say something such as:
If you can't read you will not be able to pass the tests necessary for acceptance into the US military.
That would be closer to the truth. You see, in today's military you must, in nearly every case, have a high school diploma (although GEDs are sometimes accepted) and a meet a minimum level of intelligence as measured by various tests depending on the positions for which one applies. Every single one of those tests requires that you be able to read and read fairly well.
In some ways I find Mr. King's ignorant statement ironic in that his books are/were fairly popular with soldiers with whom I served.
This idea that US service men and women are somehow the dregs of society is a liberal/socialist idea which seems to be part and parcel of the socialist dogma imported from communists in Europe and the far East (i.e. China). It was indeed true, in those areas, that the common soldier was the among the lowest classes and often uneducated. In many instances it was either the army or starvation for the soldier but most of the time it was an excellent way for the the state (as in the nation/government) to control the trouble makers and use them to its own advantage.
The thing is that people like Mr. King and Senator John Kerry (who has said very nearly the same thing) never seem to expect better of the military when they are in power. We saw little effort to reverse this trend by politicians during the Carter or Clinton presidencies. All such initiatives came from either conservative political leadership or, mostly, within the military hierarchy.
The truth is that today a soldier/sailor/Marine/airman who can't read can't perform to expected standards. They can't use the equipment they are issued, can't complete the paperwork they must complete, can't complete the training they must take, can't train the soldiers they must train and so forth. It is also true that the military services today have the highest education levels of any military at any time in history. Perhaps it is Mr. King and Senator Kerry and their comrades who need an education...
Mixed Feelings
I've put off posting on this subject for a bit. I've been trying to come to terms with myself. You see my old unit, now called HHC 116th IBCT, left the armory for deployment on the 3rd of May 2007. I was sorry to see them go but glad I wasn't with them. My problem isn't that I'm relieved I didn't go. After all, I'm 53 years old. I think that's really too old for an infantryman even though they've been out there in the past and current conflict. I also feel that I gave God, the Fates, or whomever you care to blame/credit with running the world 27½ years of opportunity to put my butt in harm's way.
Oh, I know I might just be in more danger here. After all we've had a drive-by shooting right in front of the house (unsolved) and a fugitive hiding out on the front porch (caught now but he was armed as the chase began and the wife was in the backyard. The neighborhood seems to be going down hill with more trash thrown in the yard, and more frequent incidents such as those I just mentioned. But I've no desire to be constantly thinking that I need to watch out for having folks for whom I'm responsible.
After 27½ years one of the downsides is that you get more and more responsibility. Not just for things though, one is responsible for people, too. I'm not really excited about the need to write consolation letters home to family members. I understand that a Virginia Guard member was killed by an IED in Iraq recently. I'm glad I didn't have to write his family.
Welcome Home 3d Battalion 116th IBCT
They actually arrived home yesterday. Thanks guys. You done good.
April 22, 2008
Charlottesville, Leesburg and Woodstock area Va. Guard Soldiers return from Iraq
Soldiers from infantry companies headquartered in Charlottesville, Leesburg and Woodstock assigned to 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team returned to the United States April 20 and 21 after serving in Iraq and Kuwait since September 2007. The Soldiers flew into the demobilization station of Camp Shelby, Miss., and will conduct a number of different administrative activities to transition from active duty back into traditional National Guard status prior to returning back to Virginia. Approximately 150 Soldiers are assigned to each company.
The units will spend four or five days at Camp Shelby, but the exact arrival date for their return back to Virginia has not been determined at this time. The Virginia National Guard Public Affairs Office will issue a follow up advisory once the return date has been set.
All three infantry companies were assigned to convoy escort duty in Iraq and had numerous enemy engagements via improvised explosive devices, small arms fire and complex ambushes. A and B Companies operated in Al Anbar Province or Multinational Division West. A Company operated and in some of the most dangerous areas in Iraq to include Fallujah and Ramadi, and B Company operated in hot spots west of the Euphrates River and the far western portions of Iraq near the Syrian border.
C Company provided convoy escort in Multi-National Division North and operated in some of the more recent danger areas around Mosul and Kirkuk. Nine of the 10 Soldiers wounded in action from the battalion were from C Company. The battalion had no fatalities.
In addition to the three infantry companies, the Battalion is made up of approximately 100 Soldiers from the Winchester-based Headquarters Company, approximately 125 Soldiers from Fredericksburg-based D Company and approximately 125 Soldiers from Fredericksburg-based F Company, 429th Brigade Support Battalion. These three units will return to the USA in the coming weeks. Additional information about their return will be provided once the units have landed at their demobilization station.
Additional Background Information on 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry
The 3rd Battalion, 116 Infantry, also referred to as Task Force Normandy, was alerted Feb. 3, 2007 for mobilization and overseas deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This alert came 19 months after the battalion returned from Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The battalion entered active duty in late June 2007 for mobilization training prior to leaving the United States.
In the span of four months, the unit was able to staff and equip the battalion for the mission, calling upon Soldiers and equipment from 42 different units across the Commonwealth to form the largest battalion task force the Virginia National Guard has mobilized in support of the Global War on Terror. The battalion numbered nearly 800 Soldiers when the embarked upon their mission.
The battalion's deployment was also the first time a Virginia National Guard rifle battalion ever deployed from Virginia with the new organizational structure of the Army’s new modular brigade system.
The battalion deployed with its Headquarters Company, three rifle companies, (A, B and C Companies), a special weapons company (D Company) and a forward support company (F Company).
While at the mobilization station, Camp Shelby, Miss., the battalion was unexpectedly forced to accelerate the deployment timeline for two of its six companies. Due to urgent needs in Iraq and in support of the troop surge, A Company and C Company were required to accelerate their training timeline in order to arrive in theater to begin combat operations.
Both A and C companies successfully completed six back-to-back collective training exercises with no rest in between.
“These exercises were physically and mentally intensive ranging from mounted combat patrols to urban warfare,” said Lt. Col. John Epperly, commander of 3rd Battalion. “This is significant because the change from light infantry to mounted warfare represented a significantly new way of fighting for these Soldiers and one which they had never been trained in previously Fire teams and squads were re-organized into gun truck crews and trained in new tactics, techniques and procedures for mounted convoy escort. Under intense time pressure, both A and C companies validated for deployment and departed the United States on time under the new schedule.”
Upon departure from mobilization station, Task Force Normandy deployed to both Iraq and Kuwait. The three rifle companies were assigned to convoy escort duty in Iraq. Each rifle company was assigned to a Combat Sustainment Support Battalion and provided convoy escort to an area of operations ranging from 750 to 1,000 square kilometers.
Headquarters Company, D Company and F Company were assigned to Security Force (SECFOR) missions in Kuwait. D Company provided protection to the strategically important deepwater port at Ash Shuaybah. F Company provided port security at Kuwait Naval Base and protection to ammunition sustainment operations and re-deploying coalition forces at Kuwait Naval Base. The Headquarters Company provided command and control to the battalion's port security missions as well as the Area Reaction Force for all of southern Kuwait, an area that covered over 6000 square kilometers of battlespace known as SECFOR South.
“During its time in Kuwait and Iraq, 3rd Battalion was integral to the success of several operations, events and activities,” Epperly said. “The units stationed in Kuwait made significant gains and innovations in securing critical infrastructure vital to the war effort in all of southwest Asia.”
For a period of over 8 months, Headquarters Company, D and F companies, in concert with Naval Coastal Warfare Squadrons 5 and 21, provided joint security to the two strategic deepwater ports in Kuwait. “These ports were absolutely critical to the entire coalition war effort in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan since over 95% of all supplies coming into theater used these ports,” Epperly said.
While securing these ports, the battalion searched over 100,000 vehicles and 300,000 people without disruption to the ports. The battalion's local combat patrols around the port facilities logged over 10,000 vehicle hours without a serious incident. The battalion also secured the loading and unloading of over 8,000 combat vehicles as several brigade combat teams flowed into and out of Iraq.
The Headquarters Company provided an Area Response Force for all of southern Kuwait. Soldiers provided personal security detachments for distinguished visitors and aerial quick reaction forces for both the President's and First Lady's visits. They worked in a joint security environment with Naval Coastal Warfare Squadrons 5 and 21 as well as the Air Force's 586th Expeditionary Warfare Group.
D Company provided fixed site security and a Quick Reaction Force for the Seaport of Debarkation at Ash Shuaybah, Kuwait. This is the theater logistics center of gravity because over 90% of supplies for the warfights in Iraq and Afghanistan flow through this port. Delta's mission had strategic implications. They also worked in a joint security environment with Naval Coastal Warfare Squadrons 5 and 21 as well as the Air Force's 586th Expeditionary Warfare Group.
F Company provided fixed site security and Quick Reaction Force for Kuwait Naval Base. Their mission secured the Naval Base where all ammunition enters the theater. Further, they secured the deployment and re-deployment of five Marine Expeditionary Groups. They also worked in a joint security environment with Naval Coastal Warfare Squadrons 5 and 21 as well as the Air Force's 586th Expeditionary Warfare Group. F Company worked closely with Navy Inshore Boat Units to provide seamless sea and land side security for the Naval Base.
Must be a poetry corner now...
The Sands of Christmas
I had no Christmas spirit when I breathed a weary sigh, and looked across the table where the bills were piled too high. The laundry wasn't finished and the car I had to fix, My stocks were down another point, the Dolphins lost by six.
And so with only minutes till my son got home from school, I gave up on the drudgery and grabbed a wooden stool. The burdens that I carried were about all I could take, and so I flipped the TV on to catch a little break.
I came upon a desert scene in shades of tan and rust, No snowflakes hung upon the wind, just clouds of swirling dust. And where the reindeer should have stood before a laden sleigh, eight hummers ran a column right behind an M1A.
A group of boys walked past the tank, not one was past his teens, Their eyes were hard as polished flint, their faces drawn and lean. They walked the street in armor with their rifles shouldered tight, their dearest wish for Christmas, just to have a silent night.
Other soldiers gathered, hunkered down against the wind, To share a scrap of mail and dreams of going home again. There wasn't much at all to put their lonely hearts at ease, They had no Christmas turkey, just a pack of MRE's.
They didn't have a garland or a stocking I could see, They didn't need an ornament-- they lacked a Christmas Tree. They didn't have a present even though it was tradition, the only boxes I could see were labled "ammunition".
I felt a little tug and found my son now by my side, He asked me what it was I feared, and why it was I cried. I swept him up into my arms and held him oh so near and kissed him on the forehead as I whispered in his ear.
There's nothing wrong, my little son, for safe we sleep tonight, our heroes stand on foreign land to give us all the right, to worry about the things in life that really mean nothing at all, instead of wondering each day if we will be the next to fall.
He looked at me as children do and said it's always right, to thank the ones who help us and perhaps that we should write. And so we pushed aside the bills and sat to draft a note, to thank the many far from home, and this is what we wrote,
God bless you all and keep you safe, and speed your way back home. Remember that we love you so, and that you're not alone. The gift you give, you share with all, a present every day, You give the gift of liberty and that we can't repay.
Michael Marks, 2003
Mr. Marks must be one of the least known but most prolific authors of pro-military poetry of our time. Please, attribute this work and the previous to him and correct those who may very well not know better.
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. "What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at Pearl on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas Gram' always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam, And now it is my turn and so, here I am I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.. Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall." "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled. Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg--or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.
So what is a vet?
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Iraq sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
She is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the drill instructor that has never seen combat--but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks, city boys, and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another--or didn't come back at all.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor die unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket--palsied now and aggravatingly slow--who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
They are fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers. Sisters and brothers. Aunts and uncles. The quiet ones who are your neighbors, who may not even fly the flag they served under, not shouting their victories or showing off their medals. They are the ones who know the smells that go along with the pictures and memories.
They are ordinary and yet extraordinary human beings, people who offered some of their life's most vital years in the service of their country, and who sacrificed their ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, "Thank you." That's all most people need, and in most cases, it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot: "THANK YOU."
____________________________________________
In other countries like Australia and the United Kingdom, it is Rememberance Day from the end of the first world war which ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Our heartfelt thanks to our allies also remembering their veterans on this day.
____________________________________________
In Flanders Fields By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
____________________________________________
Written by Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams, Performed by Bryan Adams
If you like the video, please take the time to donate to PoppyScotland from their homepage - www.poppyscotland.org.uk
In rememberance of the Men of the 116th Infantry Regiment and most particularly my father's first cousin PFC Gano H. Jewell killed in action, August 7, 1944, in the vicinity of Vire, France.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (NBC) -- When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge.
and
Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.
Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.
"Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.
That money would help him pay for his master's degree in public administration. It would help Anderson's fellow platoon leader, John Hobot, pay for a degree in law enforcement.
and
Both Hobot and Anderson believe the Pentagon deliberately wrote orders for 729 days instead of 730. Now, six of Minnesota's members of the House of Representatives have asked the Secretary of the Army to look into it -- So have Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman.
Lest anyone who has never been in the military misunderstand something let me explain.
Benefits authorized by Congress are often contingent on a minimum amount of time served on active duty. The law has changed over the years dependent on Congress's desire to spend money on the benefits the military receive. It is VERY common to cut orders for National Guard troops such that they will end just prior to the soldiers qualifying for benefits that the state must pay from their federal funds and thus cut into the money they have to spend on other things. It is also common for the National Guard Bureau (a federal sub-organization of the DOD) to direct federalization orders (orders bringing individuals or units to active duty) are written to minimize the federal government's committment to benefit payments.
So, that this happened as noted in the article is very believable and actually to be expected. I'm certain the command or at least the full-time members of the unit's command structure were aware that this was part of the reason the orders were so written.
I don't think this is the right thing to do. Some bean counter officer (perhaps a clique of bean counters) got carried away and forgot that these men (and women) actually served a longer time in theater than some of our WWI soldiers served in Europe in 1918-1919! These soldiers DESERVE the benefits and I see no reason why Congress can't re-write the law again to ensure that they get the benefits they earned.
Perhaps more egregious is how the Democrats offset the cost of the new benefits. Because of House PAYGO rules, any new entitlement spending (such as the Filipino Veterans Equity Act) must be funded by either a corresponding cut in existing spending or matching revenue gains.
In this case, the Democrats on the Veterans Committee voted to save nearly $1 billion by eliminating a $2,200 special monthly payment to veterans who are less than 100 percent disabled, but 60 percent or greater disabled.
Just how would you feel if you thought you had a contract with your government that you'd be taken care of and suddenly lost $2200 a month in income?
VAJoe
I had no idea that this site existed. VAJoe doesn't exactly have my endorsement but I found the candidate calculator interesting.
The site also has a lot of other features. Now, I've very little experience with the site so I can't just come right out and endorse it but I think it is worth a look.
Snow Wolf Commando Unit (Beijing Special Police) - 雪狼突击队
I once thought that the PRC military, while having huge numbers and dedicated soldiers, was relatively unsophisticated. As you can see here they at least have the public relations angle down pat.
Royal Australian Air Force F-111 sinks North Korean drug ship. After being caught trying to smuggle drugs into Australia the Pong Su was sunk by two 2000-pound (900 kg) laser-guided bombs dropped from an RAAF F-111 aircraft. The deliberate destruction of the freighter was said to deliver a strong message to international drug smuggling rings that the Australian Federal Government would take all measures necessary to stop illegal drug importation.
Do you think that did the trick? I'm thinking North Korea is now working on using an old diesel sub to do their exporting work now.
