This week’s main topics: The total Army in Peacekeeping action, the Chinese Dragon
growls, Leadership, and more voices on Defense Contracting.
Thanks again for the mail on last week’s edition. The main item of discussion seemed to
be Tig Dupres comments on the M16 and NATO small arms calibers. Tig sent me a big
letter of apology (mainly for getting me blasted for what he wrote) and recognizes that
most NATO nations and other allies are using the 5.56 mm cartridge. I believe Germany
is currently the only NATO country that still uses 7.62 but was considering going to an
even smaller, caseless round of 4.73mm for its HK G11 rifle, if it ever makes it into
production. It is important to note that most sniper weapons continue to use caliber
7.62mm. The preferred ammo for them is Winchester Magnum. If you would like to keep
the pressure up on old Tig, here is his e-mail Tigger84@ptinet.net. Actually we like the
discussion with all of you for the leads we develop into other topics as well. Education is
ALWAYS a two-way street!
Still Problems with the mailing? The SFTT listmaster, Woody Groton, is working
overtime to get the problems resolved. If you are having problems with multiple mailings,
attachments, or can't read the entire newsletter and wish to receive a condensed version
please send mail to listmaster@sftt.org.
Volunteers. Thanks for the many applications. We are still organizing our Volunteer
branch. If you haven’t heard from us yet, don’t despair. We’ll get to you! Since I am
trying to establish an ops center in Colorado Springs, I am especially interested
in volunteers who live in the area. Please contact me.
SFTT Website. <<www.sftt.org>> Please check out our updates, i.e. objectives, mission
statement etc. Please write us. As soon as we have a better funding situation, we’ll
further upgrade and become interactive. If you didn’t get the complete newsletter, you
can find it archived on the website.
If you write us an article, please submit in Word format, if you have it. Also, include a
good web address and let us know if you want to receive some of the personal feedback.
International contacts. I am pleased to tell you that we are having quite a few readers
from other countries. I would like to acknowledge the many readers from Canada and a
German website which helps to link veterans of the 75th Infantry Division to places and
contacts of their wartime actions – if you’re interested-- (www.plettenberg.de/75th)
Remember last May when President Clinton and his cabal were crowing over how Serbia
was whipped by NATO air power, and Defense Secretary Madeleine Albright was
leading the chorus in "Happy Times Are Here Again"?
Kosovo was saved, right?
I don't think so.
Kosovo's become just one more major foreign-policy screw up. But it's no small wonder
that few folks on Main Street have gotten the word about how bad things there really are.
The Clinton hype machine has been extra-busy covering up, with no small assist from all
the fuss over the primary-campaign follies.
In fact, Kosovo remains a blood-filled, bottomless hate pit where things get worse with
the explosion of every grenade, booby trap and rocket. Not exactly Happy Valley.
The place is as bad as Dodge City during its wildest days. NATO troops are being shot
or fragged on sight. American paratroopers were recently chased out of Mitrovica by
angry mobs hurling sticks and stones. Now they've been ordered not to leave their sector
or return to that divided city by the Pentagon -- which these days believes high-tech wars
fought from 3 miles up is the way to win fights down in the mud.
Our paratroopers are now basically confined to their bunkers. U.S. casualties mean
headlines and maybe some of our citizens waking up and asking tough questions like:
Why are we there anyway when the Balkans have nothing to do with our national security?
Ironically, Gen. Klaus Reinhardt, NATO's high sheriff of Kosovo, finds himself stuck in the
same Balkan swamp as his German predecessors during World War II. The Nazis tried
to quell the natives with bayonets and brutality and learned the hard way there's no way to
tame the crazies.
Reinhardt, who apparently hasn't studied German history, actually allowed himself to be
disarmed by the very Albanians he's there to save. His pistol was lifted from his holster
while he was in the middle of an Albanian crowd in downtown Mitrovica last month! A
neat metaphor for the whole ex-Yugoslavia mess: The people you come to liberate steal
your weapon -- and then might even shoot you with it.
As our troops in Vietnam -- on another senseless mission -- used to say, "That says it
all!"
Besides using NATO troops for target practice, Albanian terrorists are now cranking up a
fresh reign of terror in southern Serbia designed to snatch another 500 square miles of
Serb land for Kosovo.
These rebels are supported by the same drug-running thugs -- the former Kosovo
Liberation Army -- who triggered the Kosovo crisis in the first place. The same hoods
embraced by Albright, who's trying to clean them up with a new title -- the Kosovo
Protection Corps. It's kinda like renaming the Mafia "Citizens For A Better Tomorrow."
The Serbs will react to this land grab the same way they'll respond to a planned NATO
military takeover of Montenegro -- with bullets. Leakers from the NATO head-shed say
blueprints are drawn, invasion troops are ready and when the green light from the
president of Montenegro blinks, it's off to another swamp. Kosovo has already cost us
too many lives, too many scars and too many bucks -- $6 billion for the "Air War Victory"
-- and Clinton has just about fast-talked Congress out of another $2 billion to make it
through the rest of this year.
Clinton and his military-industrial-congressional-complex pals clearly envision a long-term
commitment. Millions are being spent on permanent facilities such as barracks and
infrastructure. Recently, $2.4 million alone was approved for two GI gyms.
One high-ranking NATO insider suggests our forces will slowly pull out of Europe -- where
we're not wanted or needed -- and stealthily slide into the Balkans. Closer, incidentally, to
our future gas stations near the Black Sea.
So look for even more blood to flow in the Balkans. And also expect a long-time U.S.
troop commitment -- unless we citizens demand that George W. Bush and Al Gore
debate the why-are-we-there issue and come up with a couple of fast exit plans.
Wouldn't it be less dangerous, less costly, far better for our national security -- and a
whole lot smarter -- to make the United States oil-independent and let the Europeans
worry about their Balkan back yard all by themselves?
***
c 2000 David H. Hackworth
Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc.
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.
Army recognizes itself and Techno Warriors for Y2K Combat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
03/10/00
Ever wonder, why medals in our Army and the other services don’t mean much
anymore? Well here’s another example why.
In a recent message to the field, the Deputy Commander of Forces Command, Army
Lieutenant General (LTG) Lawson Magruder, outlined the criteria for awards and
decorations for the arduous fight against Y2K:
“… the great success of the recent Y2K rollover requires an appropriate, equitable, and
consistent approach to related awards/recognition to participating personnel.”
“ …to minimize duplicative efforts, the command Y2K Plaque will be designed and
fielded by this headquarters….”
Then come the specific instruction s for all types of awards. I’ll only mention the medals:
“Army Achievement Medal (AAM) – Y2K efforts of more than 2 months aggregate
duration…”
“Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM) – Y2K efforts at least one year in duration with
significant planning and operational impact…”
“Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) – Y2K efforts of 2-3 years of duration at the Major
Command level…”
If we continue to hand out ribbons at the current pace, we soon have to look at
redesigning our service dress uniforms. Kevlar fabric seems the only fabric with the
adequate tensile strength to hold the weight of all the awards we’ll be hanging on our
Force XXI techno warriors.
This reminds of my second command assignment in Europe, 1988. I was transferred to
a tank battalion in 3rd Armored Division. The battalion had just returned from gunnery
training in Grafenwoehr and the awards clerks in the battalion were working overtime.
They were processing over 300 medals, mostly AAM’s for successful qualification runs
and that for a battalion with about 600 personnel.
When I took over the battalion’s HHC, I was confronted with stacks of medals behind my
desk, many belonging to soldiers who had already departed the outfit. Trying to do the
right thing, the “First Shirt” and I began handing out the awards to the folks still in the unit.
One of the guys in line was a hardworking Specialist tanker. When I looked at his awards
certificate, I recognized that the AAM was awarded with 14 oak leaf clusters.
I congratulated the young tanker and he requested to speak – “Sir, could I request
something?” “Yeah, what do want?” I responded. “Sir, I got so many of these darn
medals, but I haven’t had a three day pass in over a year.” Shocked, I threw the guy his
medal folder and told him not to show up until Tuesday morning and take another pass
the following weekend.
The lesson? It’s like printing too much money – the more you print, the less it’s worth!
Medals have become cheap payments standard duty performance. They substitute for
time off which leaders don’t want to grant because there’s too much going on. They have
become lazy replacements for letters of commendation and appreciation – medal forms
are a lot easier filled out and processed. Medals today do not distinguish between front
line service and admin accomplishments.
What’s the answer? Clamp down on who gets what. Establish clear criteria, and maybe
LTG Magruder’s letter was a subtle attempt to do so. Give certain awards to admin guys
but reserve others for the troops that freeze in the trenches, on patrols, in the cupolas…
Establish an elite feeling that makes people want to be front line troopers. Maybe we
could learn something from the German Army in WWII. It reserved certain awards, such
as the Armor Assault Badge, Close Combat Infantry Badge, Iron Cross, and Knight’s
Cross for the guys who were doing the fighting with the purpose to induce in others a
desire to volunteer for front line duty.
I just recently learned my own lesson about awards. For my twenty plus years in the
combat arms, from enlisted man to battalion commander, including combat duty in
Desert Storm, I received a Meritorious Service Medal. Remember, the same award
given to guys working on Y2K problems for 2-3 years.
As a combat veteran, I decided not to participate in my retirement ceremony and award
presentation. I explained my decision in a memorandum to my commanding general:
“true recognition and feeling of accomplishment comes from the inside of the soldier –
the camaraderie, the commitment, the mutual respect among combat soldiers. Looking
at it from that perspective, the battalion change of command ceremony was the best way
to recognize my departure from the Army and the job that fulfilled me the most – lead
American combat troops.” Honor can’t be bought!
Ed.: the Total Army in action! As the situation in Kosovo intensifies, a National Guard
Commander takes the reigns in Bosnia. This is a big mission for our Citizen Soldiers. It
is their chance to prove that, when given the proper training and opportunity they can
carry their weight, as they have during many conflicts. A great opportunity to rectify the
Total Army deployment failure of the 48th Brigade (mech.) during Desert Storm. God
Speed, Lone Stars!
EAGLE BASE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - A National Guard general took command of
U.S. forces in Bosnia on Tuesday, the first time active duty American soldiers have come
under a part-time officer's command.
Maj. Gen. Robert Halverson, commander of the 49th Armored Division based in Austin,
Texas, took command from Maj. Gen. James Campbell, commander of the 10th
Mountain Division from New York.
Since the end of the Cold War, the Army's active-duty force has shrunk by more than
one-third and the 880,000-member National Guard and Army Reserve have been called
upon more regularly to support not only combat operations, but also peacekeeping.
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