-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Soldiers For The Truth Foundation "The Guard" Save it for National Emergencies Save it From Itself! TABLE OF CONTENTS SITREP From The President - 20 JUNE 2001 Through Zman’s Gun Sight - The National Guard HACK’s Target For The Week - 'Good Fellas ' Guard America The Big Picture: Article 01 – An Army Of One Feeling: Angst Article 02 – Study: US Must Help Colombia Article 03 – China Broke U.S. Military Codes After Taking Plane Voice of the Troops: Article 04 – To Field Grade Officers: Be Decent Mentors & Leaders Article 05 – Changes Needed to Develop Better Officers Article 06 – Facing Revolution in Military Affairs... Dire Consequences Article 07 – Marine Reserve Has a Decent NCO to Officer Program Article 08 – E-mail And Its Role in the Decline of the U.S. Military The Sergeant’s Corner: Article 09 – Retraining Should Fit The Training Failure Article 10 – The Guard: We’re Wasting Our Time Article 11 – Egotistical Leadership Dominates Our Navy Article 12 – Military Life: Concurrent Receipt isn’t Dual Compensation Help Request: Seeking Members of 8055 MASH - Korea 1951? GI Humor: Article 13 – GI HUMOR – Military Time Medal of Honor: Article 14 – O'HARE, EDWARD HENRY, Pacific 1942 Admin / Log Net Editors Note - Article Submission - Contacts - Service Editors Donations - Subscribe - Unsubscribe - Archives Text Only - Printer Friendly Version SITREP: SITUATION REPORT: 20 JUNE 2001 Thanks for the responses to our recent questions. Keep the mails coming and let me know if there are topics you’re interested or concerned about that SFTT should cover with a little burst of fire. Keep forwarding the word to your political representatives. Questions of the Week: 1. Army Troops: What do you think of the black beret after you finally get to wear it? 2. National Guard and Reserves: Do you feel you’re properly integrated and part of a "Total Force concept?" 3. Enlisted troops: Give us your top three priorities to improve morale in your unit? Support - Admin / Logistics: Donations: Keep us in the fight and growing! Make secure online donations from the web site at URL: http://www.SFTT.org/donations.html. For Check or Money Order Contributions, make your check payable and mail to: Soldiers For The Truth Foundation Post Office Box 63840 Colorado Springs, CO 80962-3840 SFTT is a 501 (c) 3 Non-Profit Educational Foundation. The SFTT IRS EIN is 31-1592564. All donations to Soldiers For The Truth Foundation are tax deductible. 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POC on Network Security is "Top Viking" E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] SFTT Contacts: Send Articles and Information to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Talk to the Boss: If your message is urgent and you think Zimm needs to see it now, fire it directly to the President/Editor in Chief at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SFTT Contacts - www.SFTT.org/contacts.html Volunteer Editors: www.SFTT.org/volunteer.html SFTT Team Members: You are our most valuable asset. You are the frontline recruiters, information sources and intel gatherers for Soldiers For The Truth. Keep up the good work. Thank you for your support. Prepare for Action -- "Crew Ready! -- LOAD SABOT - DRIVER MOVE OUT!" Ralf W. Zimmermann President / Editor in Chief E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Zman Through Zman’s Gun Sight The National Guard: - A Force With Purpose, If Properly Used By Ralf W. (Zimm) Zimmermann President, Soldiers For The Truth SFTT Dateline USA - 20 June 2001 As vague bits and pieces of the defense review keep surfacing, fears are growing that the Army could be the major bill payer for high tech weapons, possibly in the two-division price range. As Army leaders have a history of protecting the regular force and deflecting cuts to the Guard and Reserves, the Guard, despite recent successes in the Balkans and the desert, should prepare for the budget knife. A believer in the citizen-soldier concept, I would like to see National Guard capabilities preserved and trust rebuilt, but with an improved sense of reality. Since the Army is morphing into a lighter force, the Guard can play a significant role in providing emergency medium and heavy forces for conflicts beyond quick-fix cruise missile resolution. The Guard must also be a player in the home defense against terrorism and for disaster relief activities, for which federal troops aren’t appropriate. In national emergencies, the Guard should assume a main responsibility in training a draft pool of young Americans in basic combat skills through dedicated cadre units in each brigade. After final readiness certification within a reasonable time window, these units could ultimately deploy as cohesive companies, battalions and brigades. To reach its full combat potential the ARNG must undergo significant internal reforms: * Its leadership must recommit to training for combat and their prescribed mission spectrum, versus mainly serving for the additional retirement check. Guard soldiers too often tell me that their chains of command are more interested in attending extraneous ceremonies and VIP tours to increase face-time, especially during annual training, when there is a non-stop flow of general officers. * Training must be a tough and demanding. It must really happen, and not just exist as a nicely packaged slide show. In a recent letter, a Guard grunt described his last weekend drill: "We sat on our butts the whole time. Other than mediocre classes in map reading, we didn’t do anything. Most guys went to the movies…nonetheless, I made close to $200.00 for doing nothing." * Shockingly, an evaluation of a Texas Guard unit indicated that the unit wasn’t ready for annual training. Evaluators noted that it took 3-4 days, just to set up a simple assembly area. Combat training was dismal and the unit couldn’t issue the MILES engagement system until day three and then failed to properly zero its weapons. There wasn’t a defined training objective for the limited and precious field training. * Attendance of training appears to be big problem as well. Horror stories are abundant about units reporting 120% daily strength, while at annual training, no more than 60% of the troops show up. * Morale, with unit exceptions, is mediocre. Many troops report that their chains of command are too worried about being popular, as if they were running for office. The troops ridicule leader obsessions that they are worked too hard, that the chow is hot enough and that everybody gets a trip to the rear for showers and movies. Despite the coddling, retention isn’t getting better. Troops are leaving for the lack of purposeful training they expected and which also would add a little spice and adventure to boring weekend lives. * Also adding to the disillusionment is the crappy equipment, with many units still fielding M16A1 rifles and worn-out M60 machine guns, while the Pentagon sells new and much deadlier equipment to Third World nations. Now don’t get me wrong, there are many Guard units that are doing their best and which are being used and abused on missions that include peacekeeping in the Balkans and guarding objectives in Southwest Asia. Similar to their regular Army brethren, their officers complain that they are pushed too hard, working too many extra hours on briefings, and that they don’t get much recognition for it. I say if we are serious about OUR Guard, America’s Guard, we have to tighten up and stop the lip service about the elusive "Total Army" and integrate our citizen soldiers beyond political rhetoric. Integration cannot, however, mean exactly the same readiness end-state expected for the regulars but assigning missions and requirements that would allow sufficient train-up time and missions that logically extend regular force capabilities. Making some ARNG units into LAV brigades is once again, only a political ploy and doesn’t eliminate the good ole’ boy network of mediocre leaders or better define the mission distribution. Despite the criticisms, the Guard has a role to play, especially for continued balance between citizens and professional military. Once the Guard deploys, it sends the message that we are moving beyond just a short police action. © R.W. Zimmermann, LandserUSA [EMAIL PROTECTED] Note: This article is copyrighted by the author and requires his approval for other than newsletter further dissemination. HACK HACK’s Target For The Week - 'Good Fellas' Guard America By David Hackworth The Army National Guard is a vital component of the forces that defend America. They're no longer the second team that follows the regulars into the breach. Today our Guard soldiers stand tall in hot spots all over the world. A decade ago, Secretary of the Army Mike Stone asked what I thought of the Guard. Having served in that outfit in both combat and peacetime, and having observed them in action since, I replied: "Great soldiers with a lot of hands-on experience down at the bottom and corrupt porkers up at the top," I said. Stone asked, "What would you do about it?" "I'd give 'em back to the states to do floods and fires, and transfer their federally underwritten assets to the Reserves," I replied. "That way, the Army's got the clout to shape 'em up without fighting city hall." "Hack, getting rid of God would be easier," Stone shot back. And he was right. The Army National Guard has powerful friends in Congress and state governments who work overtime protecting the pork, keeping billions of federal bucks pouring into state coffers. I'm besieged with reports from Guard soldiers giving me chapter and verse about who stole what from where and whom and the sad status of readiness of many Army NG units. I could write a weekly horror report. This week's mailbag brings the following dirt about what's going on in the Garden State of New Jersey: *An out-of-shape major who hadn't taken the required Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) for years -- which made him ineligible for promotion -- was promoted after a master fitness trainer gave this officer a private test and passed him. Of course, it just so happens that the new lieutenant colonel's secretary is the master fitness trainer's wife. *A lieutenant colonel who was so out of shape he couldn't pass either the Army's weight or APFT -- and thus didn't qualify for promotion -- was made a full colonel anyway. Maj. Gen. Paul J. Glazar, the state adjutant general, apparently did the deed because the officer is instrumental in getting money from the feds and the Guard Bureau. *A warrant officer has a debilitating disease, making him unfit for Guard duty, but he's allowed to remain on the active rolls until he can retire at the taxpayers' expense. *A senior commander carried ghost soldiers on his unit's books. These are soldiers who don't show up for training and aren't listed on the unit's rolls, but they're still shown on the overall state strength. These ghost soldiers receive their pay while AWOL, and the colonel involved makes brownie points for having the division's best overall unit strength. The South Vietnamese army was famous for ghost soldiers, and look what happened to it. *Many of the state's armories are falling apart because there's no money for repairs, but half a million bucks is being questionably spent at the Sea Girt National Guard post for campsite and bathhouse renovation. Glazar has a National Guard-provided summer house there that was renovated with funds earmarked -- yes, you guessed it -- for armory rehabilitation. *A lieutenant colonel used a military credit card for gambling in Atlantic City but didn't have to sweat it when his losses ran into big bucks. His pal, the general, allowed him to retire with full pay and honors. *Funds that could have been used for the improvement of Guard facilities for the soldiers were used for what the general calls a "classroom," although it's never served as such. Instead, the "classroom" has a full bar and has been used on many occasions for entertaining. In fact, the "classroom" had to be completed by a date that coincided with the general's daughter's wedding shower, which, of course, was held in the so-called "classroom." These charges would be easy to check out. All the Army inspector general has to do is to visit New Jersey and have a look for himself. Hopefully soon. America can no longer afford this kind of waste and abuse. The Guard must either soldier or fold, and the Pentagon must set up an IG hotline so good Guard soldiers everywhere can blow the whistle on the crooks and porkers who too often end up in charge. David Hackworth's home page is at - http://www.hackworth.com Send mail to P.O. Box 5210, Greenwich, CT 06831. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. 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