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By no means at any point in the diatribe that follows do I intend to discredit the incredible sacrifice of anyone serving in our nation's military. I'm not the sort of person who enjoys "sitting on the bench" while someone else is out there playing the game.
The same goes for my conduct in the military. If there's a fight out there, I don't want to miss out on it, I want to contribute. Whether or not Iraq is a worthy cause is not for me to question and is not the intent of this article. Certainly one has to recognize the enormous sacrifice that the Army and Marine Corps are making on the ground in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).
Almost everyone in the armed forces agrees that we need to focus our energy and attention on our current campaigns in the Middle East, meaning everyone in the military needs to do their part. Whether you're a ground-pounding infantryman, medic, cook, machinist mate, pilot, airplane technician, special warfare operator or surface warfare officer, all servicemen/women should realize that they are important and that they are contributing to our nation's defense. Service isn't easy; otherwise, why would they call it service? When Uncle Sam says jump, we're supposed to ask, "How high?" More
It's been six years since members in Congress first proposed legislation that, if enacted into law, would permit military reservists to draw retirement pay prior to age 60. Why the sudden interest in reserve retirement pay?
According to a 2006 resolution by the Reserve Officers Association (RAO), "The realities of Guard and Reserve military service in the 21st century offer an unparalleled opportunity for reform of the Reserve Component retirement and benefits system." Moreover, ROA "…urged the Congress to recognize the increasingly seamless relationship between Active and Reserve components of the Total Force and enact legislation that modifies the current Reserve compensation, retirement and benefit systems, enabling Reservists with at least 20 years' satisfactory service to draw their retirement earlier than age 60." More
There are two bills on Capitol Hill of the utmost importance to all military members, be they active duty, guardsmen, reservist or retired: the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Defense Appropriations Act.
These two important pieces of legislation occur on an annual basis and have an enormous impact on military life. If you're having trouble remembering the difference between them, you're not alone. Try thinking about it like this: the authorization bill puts the money in the bank and prescribes a lot of policy changes to the US Code – and particularly to Title 10, which governs the administration of the US Armed Forces. The appropriations bill simply writes the check. More
Active duty Armed Forces personnel could see some Federal tax relief next year, that is, if Congressman John Culbertson (R-TX) has his way. On March 19, 2007, Rep. Culbertson introduced HR 1559, the Armed Forces Tax Relief Act. If signed into law, this bill would exclude all active duty members of the Armed Forces from paying Federal income taxes. Currently only personnel operating in designated combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan receive this exemption.
According to Rep. Culbertson, "US Soldiers are fighting hard to protect our freedoms, and they should be protected from the long arm of the IRS. The Armed Forces Tax Relief Act will allow Soldiers to concentrate on defending America, rather than worrying about paying their taxes. We owe our military men and women an enormous debt of gratitude for keeping us safe and honorably serving our country. Exempting Soldiers from income taxes is the least we can do to repay them for their service." More
Welcome to "What's Happening on the Hill," an insider's guide to things you care about in the legislative branch.
As members of the US military, we owe it to ourselves to be familiar with the legislative process because it impacts everything we will ever do while wearing the uniform and in retirement. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the legislative process, a little history on the role of Congress in national security.
Article (1), Section 8 of the Constitution delegates to the legislative branch certain powers that conflict with the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief's position on how national security policy is derived and implemented. More
"It's called DIME, not M!" – Army Infantry Battalion Commander, Baghdad
Leaders in all branches of service are taught that DIME is the summation of the four elements of national power. In order to successfully implement any policy, the four cornerstones – "diplomatic," "information," "military" and "economic" power (DIME) – must complement one another. It's up to the various agencies, particularly the State Department and Department of Defense, to collaborate to ensure that these elements work together effectively. Unfortunately, interagency cooperation is still more theory than fact, and in practice it is not working well.
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It's tough to explain to the uninitiated why something as trivial as too much paper could persuade me to abandon a promising Navy career. I'm a US Naval Academy graduate, attended graduate school, followed by the nuclear pipeline. I served my JO tour aboard a fast-attack submarine. During my post-JO shore tour, I've had time to think about my experiences on the boat and speak with many other officers. I've come to a conclusion about the fast-attack submarine community: Archaic and inefficient administrative processes are bringing it down.
Administrative burden hurts personnel, particularly supervisory personnel. It undermines tactical readiness and quality of life. Supervisory personnel spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with daily administrative tasks. In addition to processing basic paperwork, supervisors are required to spend too many hours overseeing simple maintenance and repair evolutions. The administrative burden on supervisors, both officers and chiefs, is excessive. The mentality that, "If it's not documented, it didn't happen," permeates the submarine force. In my experience, every hour wasted on superfluous administrative tasks could have been better spent working to improve myself or my personnel. More
What do elite big-game hunters and video game-like virtual simulators have to do with the future of war-fighting in the Marine Corps? A lot, in fact. Times are changing. The Marines are starting to empower small unit leaders down to the lance corporal level with making decisions based on real-time environmental information, training to this objective and providing the necessary equipment to make you the best combat hunter in the world.
At "the lab" (as the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory is commonly known), a team of subject matter experts recently concluded a series of experiments designed to make Marines battlefield predators, not prey. The experiment was called Combat Hunter, and in its wake the lab has developed the training and necessary equipment to make this capability a reality. It will be coming soon come to a battlefield near you – if it's not already there. Welcome to the world of distributed operations. More
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Irony full steam ahead. When Ms. magazine named the 'Women of Afghanistan' among their "Top 10 Women of the Year" in 2001, they failed to mention any of the women who fought to free them from the Taliban's oppression. However, they did include Rep. Barbara Lee, the only member of Congress to vote against using military force to free these same Afghan women.
Nor is it surprising that Ms. dedicated much of its Winter 2006 issue to Afghan women voters (apparently Iraqi women voters did not rate, despite having participated in three elections), and without any sense of incongruity, in the same issue, also lauded Jane Fonda, Cindy Sheehan and others who oppose the war in Afghanistan and Iraq — truly a piece of breathtaking hypocrisy. Again, not a word about the female soldiers who daily risk their lives to keep these women free. Every time the war is mentioned it's only to bewail the plights of those poor Afghan and Iraqi women, who apparently lived in perfect peace, harmony and freedom until the evil patriarchal US military showed up to destroy their utopias. More
Did you know that the U.S. Coast Guard now operates the second-oldest naval fleet in the world? Some of the cutters still in service were commissioned during World War II. The age of these vessels and facilities, coupled with the Coast Guard's sharply increased OPTEMPO since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has led to a surge in equipment failures—and the loss of several hundred patrol days for each of the past several years.
I wish this trivia were made-up, but it isn't. More
An hour after the CO christened me "First LT" (First Lieutenant), the leading officer to Deck Division, the largest and most junior division on the ship, I was required to greet my Sailors and tell them what I expected. The only advice the CO gave me was, "Being First LT is like herding cats. Good luck."
As I walked to the forecastle where they were mustered, waiting for me, I crossed the quarterdeck and heard, "Hey First, isn't he one of yours?" I turned to see another officer pointing at a Sailor who was dancing to some music on his iPod and scraping paint, oblivious to the announcement ordering him to the forecastle with the rest of his shipmates. His sleeves were rolled up above his elbows, revealing colorful tattoos covering both arms, and his uniform was speckled with gray paint. I noticed tiny letters tattooed across his knuckles on both hands and naively thought "street gang." More
You're excited. You've managed your time wisely and now have 45 minutes to knock out the last remaining "SWOS-in-a-Box" engineering modules. If only you could find a free computer …
"ASWO!"
Blast! Tasking from your department head. "Sir, I have the next watch and I'm trying to finish …"
Your entreaties go unheard. No problem, you can route the overdue E-5 evaluation for the required signature in 15 minutes, with time to spare for the modules. The eval is done and your three roommates are finally off the one computer you share. A knock on your stateroom door. A chit requires your signature. Back to the computer. Knock, knock. Your division was just reprimanded by the XO for goofing off and your chief is nowhere to be found. More
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue and the long-term nature of the Global War on Terror becomes more apparent, it's clear that the US Navy must adapt. To that end, CNO has taken the position that our service must rise to the task and carry our fair share of the load. This means many of us find ourselves serving on or near the front lines in battlefields, primarily in the Middle East.
While I applaud our leaders' efforts to make us more relevant and ultimately do agree that it's right for us to do our fair share in this fight, I can't help but have my reservations about the long-term effect this will have on Sailors and officers currently in the Navy and on those who contemplate joining. More
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