-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! "Reflecting on Memorial Day" OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS SITREP From The President - 30 MAY 2001 Through Zman’s Gun Sight - Avoid Leadership By E-Mail & Survey HACK’s Target For The Week - Reflection Day vs. Memorial Day The Big Picture: Article 01 – DoD Examines Captain/Lieutenant Retention Article 02 – Can Pentagon Inc. sell its IPO reforms? Article 03 – Beijing Gets Voice Data From Plane Voice of the Troops: Article 04 – The Army Leadership Cult Article 05 – More on Green to Gold Article 06 – Commission Active Duty NCOs in the Reserves... Article 07 – Religious Freedom In The Military Article 08 – USAF Family Support Doesn’t Live Up To The Advertisements The Sergeant’s Corner: Article 09 – Surveys Can Only Be An Additional Tool Article 10 – Air Force - Recruiting Broken! Military Health Care: Article 11 – Anthrax Update: Buck Fined, Avoids Jail, Can Stay In Service Article 12 – Camouflaged Couch Potatoes, and Other Short Stories GI Humor: Article 13 – Never in Line Again! Medal of Honor: Article 14 – ADAMS, STANLEY T. Korea 1951 Admin / Log Net Editors Note - Article Submission - Contacts - Service Editors Donations - Subscribe - Unsubscribe - Archives Text Only - Printer Friendly Version SITREP: SITUATION REPORT: 30 MAY 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. Have you experienced leadership by E-mail and survey? Tell us your story. 2. The Light armored vehicle remains in the crosshairs of many critics (see article 4) – give us your 10 cents worth. Support - Admin / Logistics: Help still needed: Zimm is still taking applications for the position of assistant editor for Air Force and Space topics. Use of pen name is okay. Your chance to make a difference! Donations: Keep us in the fight and growing! Compare and read the AUSA magazine and check how many sergeants, vets and regular troops get a word in, compared to general officers and field grades. 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. How You Can Help: You can help with your continued financial support, with article submissions and by forwarding The SFTT Signal to your local papers and elected representatives. 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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 Avoid Leadership By E-mail and Survey By Ralf W. (Zimm) Zimmermann President, Soldiers For The Truth SFTT Dateline - 30 May 2001 The Department of Defense has again set out to examine why so many Army, Air Force and Marine Captains and Navy Lieutenants are leaving the service in numbers equivalent to the mass exodus after 1973. And as usual, it’s the "hot economy," the pay gap and that life in uniform just isn’t fun. In the experts’ minds, it’s mainly misperceptions by junior leaders who don’t know any better. The key word omitted in the DoD position is "leadership." The up-front and personal interaction with the troops that involves listening, observing and an open exchange of ideas. It’s personable leadership that fosters camaraderie, cohesion, and a feeling that the troops are valued and important contributors. Seeing one’s ideas valued and applied, fosters a large portion of what young leaders perceive as the "fun" to be part of something bigger. What’s happening in most military units today isn’t creative and interactive leadership but cold, McNamara-style management by survey and e-mail. I have lately been inundated with mails and calls telling me that the managers are cloning rapidly. * A senior Warrant Officer in an Intelligence unit told me about personal feedback surveys used to determine the efficiency report ranking for company commanders. The survey results were forwarded to brigade commander who "adjusted" the rating of an outgoing officer. Only the intervention of several dedicated subordinate leaders helped save the company commander from certain death by a below center-mass stickman blocking. * An Air Force NonCom witnessed surveys taking up more and more time on duty schedules. Besides command surveys, he recalls a one-and-a half-hour Internet drill on "social climate" that even demanded social security number, rank and duty position of the respondent. "While everyone was doing the mandated survey, phones were ringing off the hook, planes were launching half-baked, and supplies weren’t processed on time. Meanwhile, an irate senior NCO lectured us that pay, benefits and housing quality had dropped because previous surveys hadn’t returned in appropriate numbers." * A recent Army Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (MEOCS) really hit the funny bone. This "time-burner" asked 115 questions to confirm what good commanders and frontline NCOs should know through personal exposure and leadership. One statement inquired: "The commander assigned an attractive woman to escort visiting male officials around because we need someone nice looking to show them around." You could agree or disagree. I say you bet it happens! But the surveys aren’t as damaging as the addictive leadership by e-mail that keeps leaders in their cubbyholes. I still remember having to send daily situational e-mail reports to superior headquarters, so we could show the Division that we were busier than our brothers in Ft. Hood. I admit that I missed a few of them because I stayed out to be with the troops. Many commanders today don’t visit and assess their training as often as needed. They lead by manipulating perceptions. If the e-mail report from a subordinate says training was great, it’s passed up as even "greater" to the boss. I call it the MSU or Make "S…tuff" Up syndrome. In today’s hyper-information environment, the smoothest operators render lots of superfluous e-mail reports to exploit every opportunity to build the paper/e-mail trail for the next efficiency report as another step to the stars. Leadership by paper and electron has taken a dangerous turn. Now, at even the highest levels, everyone believes whatever is nicely "PowerPoint-briefed" and electronically conveyed. We’ve become so busy talking, that we forget to demand feedback and ensuring that the plan unfolds as intended. Dog and pony shows have eclipsed firing ranges and it isn’t uncommon to see qualification firing cancelled so that all officers can fill seats for the Army Ball. "Face-time" at ad-hoc social gatherings is an important ingredient of successful career management. If DoD, or anyone interested in retention, wants a clear picture of what’s happening where the rubber meets the road, they should leave their safe desks and make the rounds more often than happens today. Visit unannounced, talk to the troops in their foxholes, in the turrets, everywhere they are at work. I haven’t met many soldiers who don’t want to share a story and by just taking time to listen, you can inch a bit closer to the truth. To the young leaders who want to stay and really make a difference I recommend increasing their face-time with the troops and building a fun environment for the small part of the world they can influence, by creating the best platoon and companies they can envision. And for further inspiration, read "Once An Eagle" one more time. © 2001- R.W. Zimmermann, LandserUSA E-Mail: [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 - Reflection Day vs. Memorial Day By David Hackworth Welcome to the week of LWF! You know, it follows the long-lost weekend where millions of Americans get paid for kicking back and having a blast. Most citizens haven't a clue what LWF stands for, and on a multiple-choice test would probably pick Long Weekend of Fun or Let's Wave the Flag rather than Lest We Forget. Ask 10 Americans below the age of 30 what Memorial Day is about. Bet most won't know it's supposed to honor all those who've served our country and preserved our liberty since we booted the Brits out -- with a special salute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Lest We Forget. A recent survey of college seniors -- those who could read and write -- revealed that more than 20 percent of our nation's best and brightest didn't know who our enemy was during World War II or which side, North or South Vietnamese, we took during our eight-year-long Vietnam War. Maybe we should rename Memorial Day, make it a time to ask hard questions about why so many young men died in vain and where our country is going. We could call it Reflection Day, and begin by asking Congress: * Why it did diddly squat in the 1930s when Japan and Germany were huffing and puffing and then executing their plans to kick our butt. Congressional refusal to prepare for war cost tens of thousands of American lives in places like Pearl Harbor, Corregidor, Guadalcanal, Kasserine Pass and in dozens of other early fights where our warriors didn't have the right stuff, right numbers or right training to do the job. * Why it allowed Harry Truman to gut our armed forces after World War II to the point that when North Korea attacked in 1950 with its tiny 110,000-man army, our unmotivated, badly trained forces were almost driven into the sea. Once again, our lack of combat readiness cost thousands of lives, and over the next three years as the war ratcheted up, the Soviet Union and the USA came perilously close to nuking what we euphemistically call modern civilization into a glowing oblivion. * Why it allowed LBJ and his generals and admirals to lie their way into the Vietnam War, and then, once we were stuck in the swamps of Southeast Asia, didn't demand that our commanders use the right tactics -- and save American lives -- instead of re-fighting World War II. And why it sat on its hands for almost eight years before bringing our troops home from that futile bloodbath. * Why it allowed the Gulf War to end on the 100th ground-attack hour after the enormous effort and expense of putting our war machine on the field when one of Stormin' Norman's strategic objectives -- to destroy Saddam Hussein's army -- wasn't achieved. Ten years later, that war rolls on while Iraq's leader continues to give us the bird and enthusiastically plans an American holocaust. * Why it allowed America to go to war with Serbia -- violating every Principle of War -- with tactics so flawed that our oldest European allies openly question our senior leadership's wisdom and military competence. * Why it allowed the precise and professional military machine we had at the end of Desert Storm to be virtually destroyed in terms of spirit, fighting ability and capabilities during the eight year Clinton Reign of Error. It has left a ruptured shell -- amazingly similar to what we had just before the Korean War -- filled with dispirited warriors and disconnected brass who seem to actually believe a black beret can fix Army morale. And on Reflection Day, after evaluating where we've been, maybe we as a nation should look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we're pleased with where our country's going. And ask, too, if we've become what we resolved to defeat, an Evil Empire that's lost touch with what our forefathers envisioned for America. Does the involvement of CIA contractors in the shooting down of a missionary plane over Peru say it all? And does our collective apathy toward this event and thousands of other such USA-sponsored incidents around the world underline the need for us all to take time out and do some hard thinking the next time this supposedly hallowed day comes around? 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? 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