-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! ARTICLE 7 International Views: Reason Defeats Rhetoric - Switzerland’s soldiers are finally allowed to protect themselves in a war-zone Ed.: A contribution from a Swiss brother in arms on the recent decision to finally allow Swiss troops to carry arms during out of country deployments. The article shows that many political issues and reluctant decision-making are not only limited to our own country. A salute to all Swiss troops for their contributions to world peace and their courage to speak out on important topics. By 1st Lieutenant Baches, Swiss Army Infantry On Sunday, June 11, the Swiss decided by a very narrow margin that our troopers serving abroad will finally be allowed to carry their personal weapon. What may seem ridiculous, going into a war zone unarmed, actually caused an extremely emotional and heated debate over the issue. The Swiss Army has been involved for decades in international peacekeeping missions in places such as Korea, Namibia and the Balkans, but apart from a small security detail were not allowed to carry a weapon. What is outrageous about this is the fact that the Swiss government and the general staff wanted our troopers in the Kosovo mission to carry a weapon to protect themselves, but the decision was put on hold by a referendum, which was possible because it required federal law to be adjusted accordingly. Colonels micromanaging squads and companies is already ridiculous (although, unfortunately, becoming more and more commonplace), with this issue, we face a situation where a whole people decides over tactical questions concerning the extent of armament of a company-sized element. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch self-proclaimed experts who never fired a gun, discuss tactical issues on national TV. Many officers, myself included, seriously considered quitting the army if the law would have been torpedoed. A big part of the army’s new mission statement and training focuses specifically on such missions rather than on the sole WW II/Cold War purpose of defending our national territory against soviet tank divisions and hordes of massed infantry, and all this preferably within our own borders. A second issue of the referendum proposed changes that would tighten Switzerland's links to NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) by permitting Swiss troops to train abroad or foreign forces to conduct joint military exercises in Switzerland. This is already the case anyway and the purpose of the law is to cut through some of the red tape. Our Leopard II tankers have been training in Sweden due to our lack of bases in country where tankers can train as a battalion or even as a company, furthermore, our F-18 pilots have been flying in neighboring France as well as in Sardinia, Norway and the United States for years, whereas we had French tankers conduct live-fire exercises in the alps and German tankers battling it out at our tank simulators in Thun (ELSALEO). Picture this extreme: opposing the bill was an unholy alliance of nationalists led by billionaire and Congressman Christoph Blocher and elements of the pacifist far-left! Whereas not much weight was given to the pacifist argumentation in this particular case, the fact that the far right was so decidedly against our government’s and the armed forces‘ policy raised quite a few eyebrows. The nationalist opposition’s million-dollar campaign itself was led on a very dumbed-down and emotional level and was also criticized by Swiss president Moritz Leuenberger as "poisoning our political climate," which it really did, as images of military cemeteries and a picture of WO Bill Cleveland being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu were used in Blocher’s campaign against letting our soldiers carry weapons. I still don’t see the connection, since we are conducting the missions anyway and it’s just a question of whether our grunts are allowed to effectively defend themselves or not. Ultimately, this kind of emotional argumentation was completely off target. Mr Blocher, who is still so strongly promoting the idea of a self-sufficient "army of resistance" was - by the way - a colonel in the reserves, commanding a rescue regiment. I personally confronted Congressman Blocher about this issue with the argumentation that today’s and tomorrow‘s conflicts were very likely low-intensity conflicts and terrorism probably within our own borders and we had better prepare our army for that mission. His answer, next to a long string of rhetoric, was something like "Lieutenant, I just hope you never get your war". I was amazed and a bit worried about the quality of our selection system for field-grade officers. Besides the obvious safety issues of our soldiers being armed, the Swiss were also a bit embarrassed by the fact that our troops had to be protected by the Austrian battalion they are integrated into. As much as partly jeopardizing our neutrality touches the Swiss soul, even more so does the idea of Austrians having to look after us. The same Austrians were kicked out of our country by our ancestors in their struggle for independence some 700 years ago. Switzerland may be officially neutral, but we also do have a very proud military heritage. Swiss infantrymen were the most sought-after mercenaries for centuries and our medieval infantry is even credited as being the first to employ guerilla tactics against a much stronger and better armed enemy –be that the Habsburg knights of Austria or the armies of Burgundy. It is no coincidence that the Pope chose Swiss troopers to be his Praetorian Guard. All in all the Swiss army is very happy with the outcome of the referendum. Whereas the whole issue of whether peacekeeping is worth doing is a separate issue, it is a nation’s duty to support its troops with all means possible once it committed itself to a mission. Any mission. ARTICLE 8 Is The Light Finally On At The Pentagon? Ed.: Dave Galland finds hope in words from the Pentagon. Zimm says hope isn’t a method. Political talk is cheap and mass-produced by both political parties, especially with a Macedonia involvement looming large on the horizon, expanding the commitments that the last regime had gotten us into. The lights are dim at best. By J. David Galland After years of countless deployments, millions and millions of taxpayer dollars spent, military units cut to the bone to support the knee jerk, "make it happen" taskings, we finally have a leading Pentagon official who is honest about the military. I am specifically talking about Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who, this past week was quoted as saying "we want to get the military out of non-military functions". Call it what you will… but too many American soldiers have died on peacekeeping Duty, your most prevalent non-military function. I knew it, if I said my prayers every night and watched my language; someday a shining knight would come along. I will admit that I was starting to lose hope, as the Army's BDU uniform seems to be morphing into a "Peter Pan Type" fashionable leotard, in the vein of the Clinton liberalism of the past eight years. We even had a, "Hillary's favorite General", who has since moved on from what she termed, "this is not your father's army", Yeah! Claudia………. Too bad it isn't! I prayed that this pillar of common sense would come to earth and straighten out the tail of the dragon that has whip-lashed our military into a uniformed variant of Care International, Doctors without Borders, OXFAM, and UNICEF all rolled into one non-confrontational military force. Our current Army, which, according to General Paul Eaton at Fort Lewis, Washington, is training the new "International Rapid Deployable Force" to strike a balance between timidity and aggression, may very well finally be saved, or, at least on the right road to salvation. Our new # 2, official at the Pentagon has further asserted, "U. S military forces should focus on fighting wars and leave peacekeeping duties to Norway, Canada, and other nations". On a personal note, I can nominate a few other countries for this mission who are not readily distinguishable, in my view, as "globally military significant". What's up with the Polish Army these days? Maybe the Swiss, yes………….great, The Chief War Crimes Prosecutor can give her own soldiers, from Switzerland, a task. I hope that they are not all out of hairnets for field duty under their helmets. I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing photographs of American soldiers, in newspapers and magazines, putting the finishing touches on sandboxes in Bosnia, birthing clinics in Montenegro, and setting up chiropractic adjustment tables in the foothills of Laos. Soldiers, and their family members in Germany, and in other locations, have to wait long periods of time for medical care due to staffing shortages. These shortages are caused by the philanthropic misuse of our Combat Service Support assets in America's attempt to create a perfect world. This has to stop! I never saw any soldiers pulling teeth and erecting swing sets in East Boston when I was a kid. We sure could have used a few distractions to the "in-town - less than positive influences" that seemed to surround us, and for which American soldiers have been routinely dispatched for the past eight years. "The trouble with peacekeeping missions, and commitments, is that they never seem to end". There is great merit to this statement by Mr. Wolfowitz. Take a look at Korea and, as well, our two-decade presence in the Sinai. United States' participation in peacekeeping missions, and missions other than war, received energetic focus, as did some other issues, from our Clinton administration. In what, I can succinctly describe as a "severely out of focus view" of what the military force of the strongest nation in the world ought to be doing; Cohen and Clinton spread ill-trained and improperly equipped American soldiers around the world, like watery mustard at a weenie roast. Naturally severe mission creep prevailed. Commanders, who actually believe that infrequent static patrolling of a town in Bosnia constitutes a challenging tour in a combat zone, don't know what they are doing or what they should be doing. This is evidenced in the assertions of General Eaton, again, in his description of training soldiers to better kick down doors and use plastic handcuffs. Yes, it is true, American soldiers have played an indispensable role in peacekeeping in the Balkans, but Wolfowitz asserts, "let's figure out how we can play our part within reason". A fitting analysis and comprehension indeed, Mr. Wolfowitz. You are in a unique position of leadership, now continue to lead Sir! We, out here in the field, like what we hear. Your position is the substance of my most ardent prayers. I can only hope that the fighting force, that we are supposed to have, will get behind and lend support. Hoooooaaaah! Sir! ARTICLE 9 The Sergeant’s Corner How Officers Shouldn’t Be! Ed: A Sergeant’s story about an officer in the days of the Inner German Border (IGB). Although this happened in the 70s, we’re still fighting the same leadership deficiencies. By Ken Howes Former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant When I was in an intelligence unit in Europe in the 70s, they used to shift officers into and out of our unit. We had a nitwit Captain, a West Pointer, who invented various eyewash projects for us. Hi s main goal was to take advantage of us or sabotage our military records and then to move on. His last day, he said to one of the warrant officers in the unit, "Well, Pat, I guess I know all there is to know about the border." As soon as he: was out the door, Pat said, "Well, he knows all he's ever going to know about the border." Pat had it right. A few months later, this captain, now in an armored cavalry unit, was appointed by the regimental commander to be its border operations officer. The commander requested a briefing. Suddenly, this captain who had never missed an opportunity to shaft me is on the phone to me asking me to put together a briefing that he could present to the commander. I don't remember what exactly I said to him, but I agreed to do it and reminded him about something he had done and asked that he remedy it. He did. So the commander got a briefing prepared by someone who actually knew something about the border--me. But of course this captain was the one presenting it and appearing knowledgeable, when the only knowledge he really had was regurgitated info from a Staff Sergeant who knew about the border and could write a good briefing. I heard that he later went on to be a professor at West Point and wonder whether he produced officers as shallow and two-faced as he was. Probably so! I don't think he'd have lasted two months in a unit commanded by Hack, or in one commanded by another officer born in the same area where he was born--Erwin Rommel. *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. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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