-Caveat Lector-
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********** VOICE OF THE GRUNT
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********** 08 September 1999
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTICLES
Hack's Column
Harry Truman Had It Right 1
Mac Notes 2
>From The Field:
The Long Grey Line Has Become A Rainbow… 3
Manpower 4
An Air Force Anthrax Story 5
Medal of Honor:
Zabitosky, Fred W., SFC (then SSgt.), USA, 5th Spec. Forc. Grp.
Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 19 February 1968 6
A spouse's Commentary and Thank You:
By Tammy Dominski
Somebody Cares About Our G.I.'s 7
* Indicates posthumous award
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ARTICLE 1
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HARRY TRUMAN HAD IT RIGHT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By David H. Hackworth, USA (Ret)
In 1947, at President Harry Truman's behest, a commission studying
Universal Military Training (UMT) unanimously recommended that every young
man serve in our armed forces. But Congress, weary from WWII, said no. They
were into cutting the ranks, not building them up.
The man from Missouri saw UMT as a program that would give our youth "a
background in the disciplinary approach of getting along with one another,
informing them of their physical makeup, and what it means to take care of
this temple which God gave us. If we get that instilled into them, and then
instill into them a responsibility which begins in the township, in the
city ward, the first thing you know we will have sold our Republic to the
coming generations as Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson sold it in the first
place."
The fact that 34 percent of candidates for WWII service had been rejected
because of defects bothered him greatly. He felt that a large number of
these young men could have been made "physically fit and self-supporting
citizens" if they'd had the advantage of a training program.
Imagine Truman's reaction if he got a look at today's youngsters. He'd be
heartbroken by the fact that more than 60 percent -- almost twice the WWII
rejection level -- of young males couldn't make it into the service in 1999
because of poor condition, past drug use or past trouble at school or with
the law.
As a nation, we march around the world trying to save every village in
sight. Yet on Main Street USA, millions of young Americans aren't being
imbued with the right stuff that will give them the strength and character
to lead America when Generation X, Y and Z end up in the boss's chair.
A number of congressmen want to bring the draft back -- partially to
address this problem, but mainly to resolve the military's critical
manpower shortage. The fix here should be to close down redundant
headquarters and bases and merge Army, Navy and Air Force legal, medical,
administrative and logistics departments. The personnel spaces saved by
this consolidation alone would take care of the 10,000-man recruiting gap
the lawmakers are worried about and give the Pentagon enough bodies to
activate at least four combat infantry divisions.
But besides reforming our military, Congress needs to revisit the UMT
study for all the reasons Truman cited. Establishing the UMT would help
save our youth -- who are fast becoming an endangered species
Here's how it would work:
At age 18 every boy and girl, less the disabled, would report for Basic
Training. For six months they'd be put through a demanding and separate-sex
boot camp where they'd encounter what too many young people don't get at
home, church and school: discipline, patriotism and a footlockerful of
values. There would be no Oxford University deferments for the Bill
Clintons, no plush National Guard hideaways for the George W. Bushes, no
cozy tours in safe headquarters for the Al Gores. In boot camp they'd learn
the basics -- drill, discipline, teamwork, leadership, responsibility and
citizenship -- while getting physically hard and mentally together.
After basic training, the new citizen-soldiers would spend one additional
year serving America in (pick one): the ghetto, police, hospital,
education, environmental or assisting-the-elderly corps -- or sign on for
another 18 to 36 months and join the Regulars. Those who opted for the
longer tour in the military would receive a WWII-type GI Bill education
package upon discharge.
The rich would rub elbows with the poor; the black and white and brown
would sweat together and become one. Not only would they pay the price of
admission to "this temple" and enrich America, they'd join those vets who
take great pride that they served our country and are better citizens for
their sacrifice.
With vets again filling their ranks, Congress, the media and industry
would be stronger, too -- not to mention better informed -- just as they
were after WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
The bottom line? The annual cost of military operations in Bosnia, Kuwait
and Kosovo would easily pay for UMT. What's more important -- a
well-rounded, carefully constructed program to save our country's youth
before they self-destruct, or more self-righteous policing of an ungrateful
world?
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ARTICLE 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*******MAC NOTES******
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Robert L. McMahon, 06 September 1999
Last week's "Anthrax Issue" was rather timely. No sooner had I put it
together than the September '99 issue of U.S. Naval Institute's PROCEEDINGS
arrived and in its POINTS OF INTEREST column, was an article by Tom
Philpott titled "The Anthrax Controversy." Accompanying the article was a
picture of SECDEF Cohen receiving "one of the six shots necessary for the
anthrax vaccine."
The responses to this issue have been coming in fast and furious too.
Plenty of you have sent in articles and websites that we will provide to
you in a week or two. However, I would like to say something regarding a
quote or two from the PROCEEDINGS article.
Mr. Philpott writes about an editorial written by Tobias Naegele for the
independent newspaper *The Navy Times* and the subsequent reactions from the
SECDEF and General Shelton, USA. His editorial was roundly criticized as a
"significant disservice" to our country's military. But then the author
weighs in with this "stunner" from Lt. General Ronald Blanck, USA, the
Army's Surgeon General: "Long term health studies have not been conducted
because 'vaccines don't cause long-term problems,' Blanck said." I'm sure
that some of you out there are doctors, nurses and other qualified medical
personnel. Would you agree that death is a long-term effect from a vaccine?
As parents we still sign waivers for our children to be inoculated, don't
we? That's because vaccines can cause long-term effects. Lt. Gen. Blanck
was also quoted as saying that Mr. Naegele's editorial "follows no logic
and makes no sense."
Well, here's something for all of you to logically think about. Why is the
military giving a vaccine for "hair born" anthrax when a weaponized
delivery will be for aerosol spores meant to be sucked into the lungs; from
what I have read, these are two completely different things (pathogens?).
An analogy would be wearing a "helmet and body armor" to protect you from
grenade fragments, but you've found yourself on a beach under fire from the
Iowa's main batteries. That Kevlar "hat and shirt" are gonna be pretty
useless.
Keep the channel on anthrax open and keep firing away. A follow-up issue
is brewing.
****ATTENTION*****ATTENTION*****:
Due to a change in my employment situations, I will unfortunately be
giving
up my tour as "Editor" as soon as we can find a replacement. Until that
time however, we have a real need for some more back-up editors to assist
Hack with topics, articles, letters and generally getting the Newsletter
together for our Wednesday mailings. An Anthrax editor would be a good
beginning.
It's been a great experience working with Hack during the past year and
was quite an honor to be given space with a weekly column beside his.
However, with my accepting a new position with more demanding
responsibilities, I will not be able to function to the levels that you, our
readers, rightly deserve.
Please let me know if any of you would like an assistant editor slot.
Remember, Hack's first novel, "The Price of Honor," will be out around 12
October and his book tour schedule will be made available in these pages
soon. If any of you have looked the book up at http://www.amazon.com you
would have noticed that the "rankings" number has been rising (from 96,000 to
534) during the past two weeks. At this rate it may become a best-seller
before it ever hits the bookshelves!
Have a good week. Don't bunch up.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.freeyellow.com:8080/members7/rlmcmahon/
====================================================
ARTICLE 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE LONG GREY LINE HAS BECOME A RAINBOW.
"ISN'T THAT SPECIAL?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUMMARY: A young Army officer relates his disillusionment with an Army he
doesn't recognize.
***********************************************
Editor's Note: Think about these questions. What would happen to any
professional sport if the rules and regulations were lessened so that
"almost anybody" can play? Would the quality of the play increase/decrease?
How would we judge greatness in athletic competition if competition were
weakened? Would the best be attracted to even play?
***********************************************
By Lt. Dan, (USA), (not his real name)
There has been a lot of discussion among my peers about LTC R.W.
Zimmermann's resignation letter. Many of us read the letter and strongly
agreed that his message needed to be heard. We also agreed that there is a
different perspective that needed to be heard, our perspective. I do not
claim to speak for all, or even most. But…
There is a generation of junior officers in our Army today that is looking
for something. Groups of young lieutenants and captains wandering through
units searching for that certain feeling that made them join the ranks of
the officer corps. A strong sense of duty and patriotism brought them to
the Army, but sadly many are leaving our ranks to search for this feeling
of fulfillment in the civilian world. Why are so many good young officers
leaving the Army at the earliest opportunity? What it amounts to is that
the Army we signed up for, the Army we were taught about in our
commissioning sources, just doesn't exist anymore. We all made a career
choice based on legend instead of fact.
As young cadets, we were taught a myth about an Army that supposedly
existed in a magical time called the Cold War. I've heard of this mythical
Army, and some of my peers actually believe it still exists somewhere. From
what I understood at the time, there was what was called a "work hard --
play hard" attitude among the officer corps. Unit functions were actually
fun, and blowing off a little steam was not seen as an indication of a bad
leader. I've also heard that junior leaders could lead a patrol along the
Iron Curtain without five higher levels of the chain-of command looking
over their shoulder to assure they did it the "right way" or chose the
"approved solution." Amazing, almost unbelievable in fact. I've heard
whispers that during this time, defeating the enemy and reaching the
objective was more important than the planning process you used before the
battle began. I'll have to check on that one though. Even when you weren't
conducting a real world mission, you could "roll your platoon out the back
gate and train." I don't think that any of my peers ever found the right
paperwork to apply for the Act of God that it would take to make such an
event possible today.
I've also heard of an Army where your vehicles actually ran, and repair
parts were readily available when they didn't. It was also a time when the
Army had enough soldiers to fill the seats of those vehicles. On that note,
there weren't only "bad leaders," there were bad soldiers too, and you had
the ability to get rid of them instead of spending your days as a social
worker. There was also a slogan, something like "We own the night," and the
Army acted like they meant it. Now training at night is considered too
dangerous, or maybe we made a pact with all our potential enemies that we
would not wage war at night and I just haven't heard about it yet. It was a
time when if you had a better way to do something, you were encouraged to
do it and share the concept with others. I guess that my generation of
officers is lucky that the Army has since discovered the best way to do
everything and we simply need to follow procedure. Initiative - the one
intangible that used to set us apart from our Soviet counterparts, is a
rare quality in today's Army. We are taught (and encouraged) to go choose
the safe course of action.
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