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February 2002
“The Monthly Diamondhead”
February 2002
Editor-Reporter-Chief Cook-Web Slave-
Ron Leonard
304-728-7012
E- mail rollayo@earthlink.net
Company Stuff:
This month brought several new people to the fold of long lost 25th Aviation Personnel. Newly found personnel for the month. For the Diamondheads Larry Roscoe, Dr. Joel Price, Chuck Shaw, Bill Banner, Darryl Drew, Phil Frager, and Don Nelson. To the Little Bears we have added, Ernie Decoito to HHC Steve Slayton .The contact information for these additions can be found on the proper roster on the web page. I have many more phone numbers and addresses posted to the rosters. If they are in red, they still need contacted, and I have mailed post cards so it should speed it up allot now since they are all sent.. I have supplied the addresses and phone numbers to call, if you have a notion, pick up the phone and call one. If the notation under the name says <card sent> that means I have mailed them a card but they have not responded as of yet. For additional new personnel, their contact information will be added as I find it, and also posted in red
Medical Stuff
February 22, 2002 Friday 12:14 PM
HEADLINE: Agent Orange Conference Viewed as 'Giant Step'; AMVETS Cites Joint U.S.-Vietnam Scientific Gathering
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Feb. 22
Within two weeks, researchers from around the world and representatives of America's veterans service organizations will meet in Hanoi to explore ways to reduce exposures to Agent Orange/Dioxin in humans and the environment.
Slated for March 3-6, the U.S.-Vietnam scientific conference is viewed by AMVETS as an "excellent opportunity" to delve further into the health problems encountered by U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War.
"Whatever we can do to increase our knowledge of Agent Orange through an exchange of this sort is well worth the effort," said Robert L.Jones, the organization's national executive director. The AMVETS leader cited the identification of research gaps as a major goal. "If the experts at this historic conference can come away from it with a better understanding of what we know and don't know, it'll be a giant step toward closure on some of the problems associated with dioxin exposure," said Jones. "The outcome of the conference will have global implications-helping, not only the people of Vietnam and the United States, but also anyone else who has been exposed to these deadly chemicals."
Topics to be discussed during the four-day conference include health and environmental problems in Vietnam after the war, reproductive outcomes in U.S. military women veterans of the war and the risk of cancer among U.S. Vietnam veterans. Jones commended Rep. Lane Evans (D-17-IL) for his "staunch support" of veteran representation at the conference. "We owe it to those who served in Vietnam to see that the scientific community doesn't forget them-and it's something Congressman Evans has stayed on top of."
U.S. planning for "The United States-Vietnam Scientific Conference on Human Health and Environmental Effects of Agent Orange/Dioxins" has been handled through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at Research Triangle Park, N.C.
A leader since 1944 in preserving the freedoms secured by America's Armed Forces, AMVETS provides, not only support for veterans and the active military in procuring their earned entitlements, but also community services that enhance the quality of life for this nation's citizens.
CONTACT: Dick Flanagan or Francesca DiMarco, 301-459-9600, both of
AMVETS; Web site: http://www.amvets.org
Eye Exams/Glasses [Update]: Tricare Standard and Medicare for non-active duty and dependents does not cover routine eye exams and most eyeglasses. However, care not considered routine is covered. Under the Clinical Preventive Services of Tricare Prime a comprehensive eye exam is allowed every two years without a co-pay for all Prime enrollees ages 3 to 64.
Medicare and Tricare will pick up their share of the bill if a patient has a disease impacting on the eyes. Glaucoma, cataracts, torn retinas, the variety of eye disorders related to diabetics, etc. would apply. If you report to your doctor or ophthalmologist that you are having a problem with your eyes and that you are not there for a routine or annual exam you/they should be able to submit the claim. It is advisable that you first check
with the doctor/nurse to see if the exam qualifies for Medicare/Tricare reimbursement. If they indicate it will not, call your Medicare office or Regional Tricare contractor and ask why not. Inconsistent interpretations by providers and payers of claims regarding the regulations do occur. If the claim is filed and is not honored you can request a review.
If you are rated 10% disabled or more by the VA you can get one pair of free prescription glasses a year from the VA even if the eye glasses are not for a service connected disability. This does not apply overseas. If you are a 100% disabled veteran who lives more than 100 miles from the nearest VA medical care facility in the states you may be eligible for local eye care through their Fee Basis Care program. Check with them to see if you can apply for a fee basis card to meet your dental, eye care, eyeglass needs up to a specified amount paid for by the VA to local participating providers.
If you are a retiree check out your local military treatment facility MTF if given a new prescription in the course of your visit They will fill optical prescriptions for retirees, subject to local capacity and funding. Retirees can now obtain eyeglasses from DoD by mail without an examination by a military optometrist. Have your civilian optometrist
complete and sign DD Form 771 and mail to NOSTRA/NWS, PO Box 350, Yorktown
VA 23691-0250. This form can be obtained from your local RAO or downloaded in PDF fillable format at http://web1.whs.osd.mil/icdhome/FORMS.htm.
Glasses provided will be standard brown frame and are only authorized for
the retiree, not dependents.
VA Headstones & Markers: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) furnishes upon request, at no charge to the applicant, a headstone or marker for the unmarked grave of any deceased veteran discharged from the US Armed Forces under conditions other than dishonorable. Service after September 7, 1980, must be for a minimum of 24 months or be completed under special circumstances, e.g., death on active duty. Persons with 20-years service in the National Guard or Reserves who are entitled to retired pay
subsequent to October 27, 1992, are also eligible for a Government-furnished headstone or marker. A copy of the Reserve Retirement Eligibility Benefits Letter must accompany the application. Active duty service while in the National Guard or Reserves also establishes eligibility. Service prior to World War I requires detailed documentation
to prove eligibility such as, muster rolls, extracts from State files, military or State organization where served, pension or land warrants, etc. Headstones and markers are provided for eligible spouses and dependents of veterans only when buried in a national, military post/base, or State veterans cemetery.
The Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001 included a provision that upgraded the original benefit. The VA will now accept applications for markers under the provisions of Public Law 107-103 for those whose deaths occur on or after December 27, 2001 regardless of whether the grave is already marked with a non-government marker. VA Form 40-1330, Application for Standard Government Headstone or Marker for Installation in a Private or State Veterans' Cemetery must be submitted by the next of kin, funeral director or cemetery representative, along with a
copy of the veteran's military discharge documents, to request a Government-provided headstone or marker. The form can be downloaded at www.cem.va.gov/pdf/401330.pdf. Do not send original documents, as they will not be returned. Until this form is revised, applicants should ignore references to "unmarked graves" and should note in Box 27, Remarks that this will be a second marker to mark a veteran's gravesite. This new provision will be codified at 38 U.S.C. § 2306(d). [Source: Veterans Resources Network msg. 2 FEB 02 & http://www.cem.va.gov/whatsnew.htm ]
Military Medical Record Availability: Military Treatment Facilities [MTF]
hospitals and clinics "retire" a patients records after a statuary period, normally two years after the last visit. The patient is assumed to have moved or died so all records are forwarded to a central depository. The MTF or the patient can legally request these records if desired. However, a sponsor cannot request records for adult family members. They have to request their own. To request records provide the patients full name and
SSN, sponsor's full name and SSN, and place and date of last treatment. If request specific information be as exact as possible with dates and places of treatment, and if possible the doctor(s) names. For veterans/retirees send your request to National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis MO 63132-4199. For family members send your request to National Personnel Records Center, 111 Winnebago St., St. Louis MO 63132-4199. [Source: Patrick AFB 1 OCT 01 Newsletter]
TFL Denied Claims [DEERS]: Payment for some health care claims were initially denied by TRICARE for individuals recorded as being ineligible for TRICARE in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Records System (DEERS). In many cases, these denials were based on persons who have "expired eligibility" in DEERS, meaning that their eligibility has not been re-verified in the last four years as required by DoD policy. DoD announced 5 FEB 02 that TRICARE claims will be paid for a limited time for TRICARE For Life (TFL) beneficiaries with "expired eligibility" in DEERS. Claims filed beginning October 1, 2001 but denied due to "expired eligibility" will be automatically reprocessed. Neither beneficiaries nor providers will be required to resubmit the denied claims. Beneficiaries are required, however, to ensure their eligibility is updated in DEERS by
August 1, 2002. To learn how to update or re-verify eligibility for those persons 65 and older, beneficiaries who have received an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) stating that they need to get a new military ID card should call 1-800-361-2620. For more information on TRICARE for Life, interested persons can visit the TRICARE Web site at www.tricare.osd.mil, or call the TRICARE Information Center, toll-free, at (877) 363-5433. [Source: TRICARE News Release at www.tricare.osd.mil.
If a TFL spouse dies and the ID card had expired prior to her death TFL will pay the allowable expenses expenses for the period from the date her card expired till death. However, because the eligibility is seen in DEERS as indicating "Ineligible", any claims received at the TRICARE FI would be denied until the eligibility is reestablished. The important thing is to have the deceased spouse's eligibility updated as soon as possible. To do so the sponsor (if still living) or someone else needs to go to an ID Issuing Facility and bring the DD214, Marriage Certificate, Death Certificate, and a Photo ID (Drivers License, etc.). Original documents are preferred but Certified Copies will be acceptable. Once the DEERS system is updated it will indicate that the individual was eligible from expiration of eligibility to date of death. There may be some difficulty with the processing of the claims at first, but TFL will kick in after Medicare processes claims. Any denied claims by TRICARE will need to be resubmitted to TRICARE; if eligibility is established, then claims will be paid.
[Source: B Gen Bob Clements USAF ret p38bob@deepwell.com ]
Military Lodging: Active duty and military retirees can check on the availability of billeting at military facilities anywhere in the world through one toll-free call. The toll-free number (800) 462-7691 connects callers with a central reservation system that can provide information on availability's and book rooms. Navy Lodge guests can reserve rooms by logging onto NEXCOM's Website www.navy-nex.com. Guests can reserve a room or change, cancel, or confirm a reservation by accessing the Navy Lodge online registration link on the Website. The request is sent to the Navy Lodge Program's Central Reservation Center (CRC) in Jacksonville, Fla., for processing. Guests should receive an e-mail confirmation on any change made within 24 hours. If no confirmation number is given, guests can call the CRC at 1-800-NAVY-INN. Internet reservations cannot be made, changed, or canceled later than two days prior to the arrival date. For more information, visit http://www.navy-nex.com/ or telephone 1-800-NAVY-INN and speak with the customer service representative.
Personnel can also check on the availability of billeting and make reservations at Air Force facilities worldwide at (800) 235-6343. A military Bed & Breakfast Club is available for a fee at (703) 525-3372 or retrveille@aol.com [refer to Bulletin article]. The Armed Forces Vacation Club Space "A" rental program allows retirees for a fee to stay seven nights at condominium resorts worldwide. Call [800] 724-9988 or check out
www.offdutytravel.com [refer to Bulletin article].
Eye Exams/Glasses: TRICARE and Medicare do not cover routine eye exams, ophthalmologist's care, or treatment of eye conditions. However, if given a new prescription in the course of your visit check out the local Military Treatment Facility [MTF]. MTFs will fill optical prescriptions for retirees, subject to local capacity and funding. Retirees can now obtain eyeglasses from DoD by mail without an examination by a military optometrist. Have your civilian optometrist complete and sign DD Form 771 and mail to NOSTRA/NWS, PO Box 350, Yorktown VA 23691-0250. This form can be obtained from your local RAO or downloaded in PDF fillable format at
http://web1.whs.osd.mil/icdhome/FORMS.htm. Glasses provided will be standard brown frame and are only authorized for the retiree, not dependents.
Space "A" Travel Update: Air Mobility Command [AMC] is still operating passenger flights for military and other eligible travelers. There are fewer flights and a few changes that passengers need to remember when they are planning to use military aircraft or contract aircraft for either official or space-available travel.
AMC operated missions are now under tighter security restrictions because of the recent terrorist attacks. There is now enhanced passenger processing measures. Under the new procedures, all passengers must present two forms of ID when checking in for a flight. One of these must have the passenger's photo. Any sharp edged objects, regardless of length, must be placed in checked baggage where they will be inaccessible to the passenger. All hand-carried items are subject to 100% inspection. Checked bags will also be randomly inspected for all AMC missions. You should anticipate a slowdown in processing and it is recommended that you call the AMC terminal to keep current on flight status to allow you to arrive up to three hours prior to takeoff. Passengers leaving on Space-A flight from military terminals should stay aware of current force protection conditions which may cause delays in accessing military installation.
There have been no reductions in Patriot Express flights to the Atlantic or Pacific theaters from AMC gateways at commercial terminals. However, travelers should be aware there are additional precautions at those airports, and should plan their arrival time
accordingly. [Source: AMC News Service]
AFRH Fees: Fees for the Armed Forces Retirement Home were reduced by a provision in the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act. The new fee structure is: 35 percent of all income for independent living, to a maximum of $1,000 per month (a change from 40 percent and maximum of $1,500); assisted living is 40 percent of all income, to a maximum of $1,500; and skilled, long term care is 65 percent to a maximum of $2,500. Additionally, residents at the Gulfport, Miss., location will benefit from a temporary reduction in fees -- $800 maximum for independent living, and $1,300 for assisted living, until renovated quarters are available in December 2006.
Both locations, Washington DC and Gulfport, Miss., have vacancies. For information on the Gulfport location, call toll free 1 (800) 332-3527 or write to them at 1800 Beach Dr., Gulfport MS 39507. The Washington DC location can be reached at 1 (800)422-9988, or 3700 N. Capitol St NW, Washington DC 20317.
[Source: Retired Digest 8 FEB 02
Cancer Resource Web Site: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has an easy to avigate, one-stop cancer resource web site called Cancer.gov at http://cancer.gov . Cancer.gov provides immediate access to critical information and resources on cancer, helping people with cancer become better informed about their disease and able to play a more active role in their treatment and care. The site includes the reorganization of the NCI's web sites, CancerNet and CancerTrials, into Cancer.gov's Cancer Information and Clinical Trials portals. The site's information is arranged by topic, while a search function allows convenient keyword searching across all NCI Web space. The site enables users to quickly find accurate and up-to-date information on all types of cancer, clinical trials, research programs, funding opportunities, cancer statistics, and the Institute itself. [Source: NAUS Update 1 FEB 00]
FEBRUARY 08, 02:38 ET VA Health Deductible Draws Fire
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's proposal to require veterans with incomes as low as $24,000 to pay a $1,500 deductible for using the Veterans Affairs health care system is drawing heat.
The government has to adequately fund the system, said Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, ``but pricing people out of it with a high deductible isn't a viable way.''
The deductible was included in Bush's 2003 budget plan as a means of coping with rapidly growing participation in VA health care programs. The administration estimated savings of more than $1 billion from the deductible, predicting reduced costs of $885 million and increased collections of $260 million.
The need for new revenue grows out of a 1996 law that opened VA medical facilities to nearly all veterans, not just the very poor and those with military disabilities.
Since then, the number of veterans enrolled in VA health care has doubled, to 6 million, and one-third of those are now higher-income veterans with no service-related disabilities. Those ``priority 7'' veterans have incomes of at least $24,000 if single or $28,000 if married and have no service-related disabilities.
The VA pointed out that many veterans - such as those with illnesses related to the Gulf War or Agent Orange, those exposed during atomic tests or recipients of the Purple Heart - would not pay the deductible regardless of income.
The Veterans Affairs Department said the increased usage, along with higher costs for drugs, health care inflation and new mandates such as emergency, mental health and long-term care, ``have all contributed to a financial challenge and hard budget decisions.''
``We have an explosion in our workload,'' said VA chief financial officer Mark Catlett. In order to keep the system open, those in the higher-income category are going to carry a larger share of the cost, he said.
Last November, the administration was ready to tell veterans groups of a decision to freeze new enrollments by the higher-income group. At the last minute, it instead announced that Congress and the White House would search for new ways to find additional funding.
The outcome was the proposed annual deductible. Under the plan, veterans or their insurance companies would pay 45 percent of charges each time they receive medical care until they reach the $1,500 annual ceiling. After that, they would continue to pay minimal copayments for outpatient and inpatient care. There would be no change in care for the VA's core groups, the poor and those with service-related disabilities.
Catlett estimated that the $1,500 deductible would cause some 121,000 higher-income veterans to instead turn to other health care services, saving the VA system money.
Jim Fischl, director of veterans affairs and rehabilitation at the American Legion, said his group understands the need for higher-income veterans to pay something toward the cost of their care. But ``we do not like the way the VA is handling it. Fifteen hundred dollars is grossly out of line.''
Richard Fuller, head of government affairs at the Paralyzed Veterans of America, said they were ``deeply troubled'' by what they perceived as an attempt to discourage people from getting health care at the VA.
The chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is also concerned, said his spokeswoman, Wendy Frankson. The administration has made clear it wants to keep the doors of the VA health care system open, she said, but the deductible ``would clearly do just the opposite.''
She said it could be a hardship even for those veterans who could turn to Medicare because the VA, unlike Medicare, offers prescription drug coverage.
If Congress refuses to go along with the deductible, lawmakers and the White House would have to explore other ways to come up with more money. Those could include seeking reimbursement from Medicare for services provided by the VA, asking higher-income veterans to pay something like a health insurance premium or returning to the idea of terminating new enrollment.
Rep. Smith said the government should be willing to pay the extra money for VA care because it has been shown to be 25 to 30 percent cheaper than the same care provided by Medicare. ``It's a savings that is largely unrecognized.'' --
Toll Free Numbers for Contacting the VA
=======================================
1. VA Benefits: 1-800-827-1000
For information about:
Education
Home Loan
Disability
Medical Care
Burial
Life Insurance
Sexual Trauma
2. Life Insurance: 1-800-669-8477
3. Education (GI Bill): 1-888-442-4551
4. Health Care Benefits: 1-877-222-8387
5. Income Verification and Means Testing: 1-800-929-8387
6. Mammography Helpline: 1-888-492-7844
7. Gulf War/Agent Orange Helpline: 1-800-749-8387
8. Status of Headstones and Markers: 1-800-697-6947
9. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD): 1-800-829-4833
10. For health care services, contact your nearest VA medical facility. To
locate the nearest VA medical facility, go online to
11. CHAMPVA:
by E-mail.. hac.inq@med.va.gov
by phone... 1-800-733-8387
by FAX..... 1-303-331-7804
by mail.... VA Health Administration Center
CHAMPVA
PO Box 65023
Denver CO 80206-9023
-----------------
SOURCE: Veterans Administration web site, http://www.va.gov and
Reunion Stuff: 44 Days and counting down
For the benefit of the new guys I am going to repost the reunion Informational Letter. It will save answering many questions again, and remind the rest of you who have not responded by now. If you are planning on attending, we need to know NOW so enough rooms can be reserved.
If you are planning on attending please let me know if a Diamondhead. I need to know 1: If you plan on attending, 2: How many people, and 3:If staying at the Holiday Inn
To all Little Bear Reunion Attendees;
The Little Bear Association Reunion will be held on April 12, 13, 14, 2002 in beautiful, historic Charleston, SC. The reunion hotel is the Holiday Inn Mt. Pleasant, 250 Johnnie Dodds Blvd, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464. The Holiday Inn, Mt. Pleasant is conveniently located three miles from the famed Historic District just across the Cooper River from downtown Charleston and near most of the tourist sites and only five miles from the sun and sand of the Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island. They also offer more in-hotel facilities for the value spent. A tour representative will be present at registration so attendees can sign up for tours as desired.
A special room rate of $99.00 plus 11% tax has been negotiated for those attending the reunion. This room rate includes Continental Breakfast, newspaper and late checkout for those who join the "Priority Club". There is no cost to join the Priority Club, just ask about it and signup when you register. This rate will also be available for those of you who may want to stay longer in the Charleston area. Many other hotels are available in and around Charleston, however most are $125 to $350 per night, plus tax. The Holiday Inn, Mt. Pleasant is currently undergoing a complete remodeling and will be almost brand new for us in April 2002. All rooms have been remodeled and the common use areas will be completed by November 2001.
Reunion costs (banquet, hospitality rooms, and gratuities) will be covered by registration fees and Little Bear Association funds. Therefore, all Little Bears attendees are expected to be a member of the Association. If you are not a member, please send your membership dues ($25) to our Treasurer:$10 for Diamondhead and HHC.
This needs to be taken care of by March 31 so enough of everything is on hand to supply everyone.
Terry Mix
4610-176 Avenue S.E.
Bellevue, WA 98006
Registration for the Little Bear Reunion is as follows:
Little Bears (members and guests) - $45 per person
Other Battalion personnel <Diamondhead, HHC etc>and guests - $45 per person plus $10 for the sponsor only<Diamondhead or HHC etc>
Each attendee will be responsible for their transportation, lodging and other associated costs.
Holiday Inn-Mt. Pleasant reservations can be made from now until March 2002. However, you should make them early to assure your room is available.
Contact: Susie York, Reservations Manager:
Phone 1-800-290-4004 ext. 122
Tell them you will be attending the Little Bear Reunion. The code for our blocked rooms is "COA".You can view the hotel at http://www.holidayinn-mtpleasant.com
A parade and ceremonies is being held at the Citadel at 3:45 PM on Friday April 12, 2002. Reunion attendees are invited to attend as "Honored Guests”. If you would like to attend the Citadel parade and ceremonies, plan accordingly
Below is a list of Diamondheads that are tentatively planning on attending as of today. This list grows constantly, and we are still finding people weekly, so it will grow much more. If you are not on the list and plan on attending let me know ASAP so we have enough rooms blocked and reserved. At this point 95 rooms have been reserved. 30 have been reserved so far so I suggest you take care of that soon. If it over fills the Holiday Inn will make arrangements with other Hotels within a 2-minute walk of the Holiday Inn.
Also do check “The Reunion Bulletin” the link, which is located on the front page of the Web site.
Diamondhead Members attending as I know it as of today
Attendee.............number.............Staying at Holiday Inn
Ron and Carol Leonard-Holiday Inn
Don Cannata-?
Dianne and George Pendleton-?
Danny Driscoll-?
Steve Thorp-?
Bert Rice and wife-Holiday Inn
Ray and Michelle Huntington-?
Bob Seger-Holiday Inn
Phil R. Frager-Dianne-Holiday Inn
Sam Boswell-wife -No
David Stock-wife-Holiday
Charlie Burnett-Wife -Holiday Inn?
Ron White-?-Holiday
George Heneveld- Wife- Holiday Inn
Robert Michaels-?-?
Robert Giaccone-Mary Jo-Holiday Inn
Jerry Boyington-Linn-Holiday Inn
Steve Thorpe-?-Holiday Inn
Gary Tompkins-no-Holiday
Earl Schmuck-?-Holiday
Jay Marion-wife-Holiday Inn
|
Attendee…..........number…..........Staying at Holiday Inn
Ed Schenk-wife-Holiday
Sarah Blum -?-Holiday Inn
Charlie Edwards-wife-Holiday Inn
Sal Ambrosia-GF-Holiday Inn
Ron Skamanish-Wife-Holiday
Gonzalo Salazar-wife-Holiday Inn
Al Lewis- Holiday
George Smith-Wife-Holiday Inn
Jack Mosely-Wife-?
Troy Thomas and Paula-Holiday Inn
Don Nelson-wife-Holiday Inn
William Connell-Wife Holiday Inn
Richard Eichler-?-?
Don Helmeich?-?
Greg Bucy-wife-holiday inn
Jake Jacobs-?-Holiday Inn
Chuck Moore-alone-holiday
Hayne Moore-brother-no
Jim Remmel-?-Holiday
|
Notifications:
Dimondhead patches have been ordered and will be available by the reunion. I will be collecting the money. The cost is 3.95 per patch if picked up at the reunion. If to be mailed add $1 per shipment.
Mail to
Ron Leonard
109 S. Forrest St #109
Ranson,WV
25438
Little Bear patches will also be available through Harold Dye peapod2926@aol.com costs are $10 plus one dollar for shipping if mailed.
Little Bear Coin and Medallion on e-bay
This URL is for The Nam Online Magazine....you will see some familiar names in there such as Jim Schueckler ...you can register to receive this online magazine or just go to the website occasionally and read the articles.
Travel:
Several people have asked me about organizing a trip back to Vietnam. If you wish to make the trip please let me know. The number is six now without looking. The Airfare prices right now are excellent..
I just received this and for anyone that is contemplating a trip to anywhere in Asia-This is the best deal I have ever seen. To extend it beyond 30 days is cheap and the cities you can go to are fantastic. I realize it is hard to get some of you off the couch to the fridge but thought maybe some might get enthused.;-)))
Tay Ninh Area Business Opportunity
News Items:
Green Beret Tricked Afghanistan's Taliban Into Targeting Selves
Bloomberg.com | February 13, 2002 | Tony Capaccio
Washington -- An Arabic-speaking Green Beret on the first U.S. team into Afghanistan last October established radio contact with Taliban commanders and tricked them into disclosing their positions - a tactic that enabled the U.S. to perfect its air strikes and to cement an alliance with the Northern Alliance, according to the team's leader.
``They would assume that since we were speaking Arabic we were part of their forces,'' Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Diaz said. ``They would tell us `the command headquarters is fine, the bombs hit 500 meters to our left.'
``We continued to call on the radio until the command was eliminated. That was the technique we used for the next two and half weeks until we killed their radios and most of the commanders.''
In interviews last week, Diaz and his second-in-command gave some of the most detailed accounts to date of how special forces convinced skeptical Northern Alliance commanders that the U.S. could topple the Taliban regime and was worth supporting.
Diaz's team began calling in strikes Oct. 21, near Bagram air base north of Kabul. The team is credited with prompting the offensive led by General Fahim Khan -- now Afghanistan's defense minister - that ultimately liberated the capital, Kabul, on Nov. 13, said Lieutenant General
William Tangney, deputy commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.
One Team's Effect
``You had one team operating with Fahim Khan that essentially was able to set in motion a number of dominoes, taking them all the way from Bagram to the liberation of Kabul,'' he said. ``It's pretty significant.''
The 11-man team included an Air Force combat controller from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida, who called in many of the 175 bombing strikes over 25 consecutive days, including one Nov.14 that apparently killed Mohammed Atef, the No. 2 leader of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.
``It was confirmed,'' Diaz said. ``We were told a couple of days after the fact. Everybody was looking for Osama bin laden and Mullah Omar. They were also at the back of your mind -- those two and Mohammed Atef. It was the idea of maybe we will get them.''
Overall, strikes called in by the team were said to have killed as many as 3,500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters and destroyed up to 450 vehicles, said Diaz, 38, a 17-year special forces veteran who also conducted covert Afghan missions in the late 1980s.
Going In
Diaz's team arrived secretly on Oct. 13 at Karshi Kanabad, Uzbekistan, from its base at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. It planned to enter neighboring Afghanistan and link up with Khan's forces on Oct. 16 but was delayed two days by bad weather.
The troops were dropped by helicopter on Oct. 20, dressed in Afghan burkas, trousers, vests and flat Chitrali hats. They also sported thick beards.
Each Green Beret carried up to 125 pounds of combat gear, including high-tech radios made by Thales SA, Special Operations Forces Laser designators made by Litton Laser Systems, and communications equipment for transmitting intelligence and receiving satellite imagery.
No one carried physical reminders of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, Diaz said.
``We carried it in the memories and pictures of what we saw because the only thing carried in was our military ID cards,'' he said.
On Dec. 17, less than two months after entering Afghanistan, the team joined New York City firemen in burying a piece of the World Trade Center near the U.S. flag at the newly opened U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
Quick Rapport
Less than 48 hours after arriving in Afghanistan, ``we were dropping bombs,'' said Green Beret Master Sergeant Greg McCormack. ``That's what (Northern Alliance troops) understand. They understand soldier things -- immediate rapport.''
McCormack, who turned 40 on Nov. 23 in Kabul, 10 days after the capital city was liberated, said the quick action helped build credibility after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ``had been there three months before us, and they promised stuff, promised stuff, promised stuff -- but never delivered.''
Team members noticed that Khan's commanders held radio conversations with Taliban counterparts, Diaz said. Using these frequencies, a Green Beret and Northern Alliance troops speaking Arabic fooled Taliban commanders into providing near-instant bomb damage assessments that allowed in air strikes using a combination of maps, grid coordinates, high-powered optics, and laser designators.
``It was cause for some amusement,'' McCormack said. ``We were going with what we were given. If they were going to tell us where to drop these bombs, by all means we were not going to guess.''
'Huey' to join Vietnam War memorial
(EXCERPT) Helicopter will add touch of authenticity to display at Fruita, by The Associated Press
FRUITA -- A Vietnam-era "Huey" helicopter is making rounds in Grand Junction and Fruita on the back of a flatbed trailer in advance of becoming part of a new war memorial.
The UH-1H helicopter is destined to become part of a memorial that will be inscribed with the names of up to 300,000 veterans at the Fruita visitors center along Interstate 70. Ground will be broken next month, and the memorial should be complete by the Fourth of July 2003.
"I look at this bird and it just sends shivers up my spine," said retired Marine Col. Roger Hagerty as he welcomed the Huey to the visitors center on Friday.
Creators of the memorial hope the 1,600-pound machine will help draw visitors to the memorial and help pull in part of the $293,000 still needed to finish the project.
The Huey will be taken around Fruita and Grand Junction to raise support, making appearances at schools, car dealership parking lots, in front of discount stores, in parades and at patriotic events.
The faded olive-painted machine that once evacuated wounded soldiers and ferried food and mail will be the crown on a 42-foot, By 54-foot granite memorial shaped like a military shield. It will hold names of veterans, living and dead, who served during the Vietnam War from 1959
through 1975.
The project is Jim Doody's longtime dream to build a memorial in honor of his brother Tom, who was killed in the Vietnam War, and his brother's best friend, who was later killed in a helicopter crash.
Doody linked up with Bill Martin, a Vietnam chopper pilot, and the idea grew.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has donated land for the memorial. The city of Fruita has agreed to maintain it. Businesses and i...
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HEROES of the VIETNAM Generation
By James Webb
The rapidly disappearing cohort of Americans that endured the Great Depression and then fought World War II is receiving quite a send-off from the leading lights of the so-called '60s generation. Tom Brokaw has published two oral histories of "The Greatest Generation" that feature ordinary people doing their duty and suggest that such conduct was historically unique.
Chris Matthews of "Hardball" is fond of writing columns praising the Navy service of his father while castigating his own baby boomer generation for its alleged softness and lack of struggle. William Bennett gave a startlingly condescending speech at the Naval Academy a few years ago comparing the heroism of the "D-Day Generation" to the drugs-and-sex nihilism of the "Woodstock Generation." And Steven Spielberg, in promoting his film Saving Private Ryan, was careful to justify his portrayals of soldiers in action based on the supposedly unique nature of World War II.
An irony is at work here. Lest we forget, the World War II generation now being lionized also brought us the Vietnam War, a conflict which today's most conspicuous voices by and large opposed, and in which few of them served. The "best and brightest" of the Vietnam age group once made headlines by castigating their parents for bringing about the war in which they would not fight, which has become the war they refuse to remember. Pundits back then invented a term for this animus: the "generation gap." Long, plaintive articles and even books were written examining its manifestations. Campus leaders, who claimed precocious wisdom through the magical process of reading a few controversial books, urged fellow baby boomers not to trust anyone over 30. Their elders who had survived the Depression and fought the largest war in history were looked down upon as shallow, materialistic, and out of touch. Those of us who grew up on the other side of the picket line from that era's counter-culture can't help but feel a little leery of this sudden gush of appreciation for our elders from the leading lights of the old counter-culture. Then and now, the national conversation has proceeded from the dubious assumption that those who came of age during Vietnam are a unified generation in the same sense as their parents were, and thus are capable of being spoken for through these fickle elites.
In truth, the "Vietnam generation" is a misnomer. Those who came of age during that war are permanently divided by different reactions to a whole range of counter-cultural agendas, and nothing divides them more deeply than the personal ramifications of the war itself. The sizable portion of the Vietnam age group who declined to support the counter-cultural agenda, and especially the men and women who opted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, are quite different from their peers who for decades have claimed to speak for them. In fact, they are much like the World War II generation itself. For them, Woodstock was a side show, college protestors were spoiled brats who would have benefited from having to work a few jobs in order to pay their tuition, and Vietnam represented not an intellectual exercise in draft avoidance or protest marches but a battlefield that was just as brutal as those their fathers faced in World War II and Korea.
Few who served during Vietnam ever complained of a generation gap. The men who fought World War II were their heroes and role models. They honored their fathers' service by emulating it, and largely agreed with their fathers' wisdom in attempting to stop Communism's reach in Southeast Asia. The most accurate poll of their attitudes (Harris, 1980) showed that 91 percent were glad they'd served their country, 74 percent enjoyed their time in the service, and 89 percent agreed with the statement that "our troops were asked to fight in a war which our political leaders in Washington would not let them win." And most importantly, the castigation they received upon returning home was not from the World War II generation, but from the very elites in their age group who supposedly spoke for them. Nine million men served in the military during the Vietnam war, three million of whom went to the Vietnam theater. Contrary to popular mythology, two-thirds of these were volunteers, and 73 percent of those who died were volunteers. While some attention has been paid recently to the plight of our prisoners of war, most of whom were pilots, there has been little recognition of how brutal the war was for those who fought it on the ground. Dropped onto the enemy's terrain 12,000 miles away from home, America's citizen-soldiers performed with a tenacity and quality that may never be truly understood. Those who believe the war was fought incompetently on a tactical level should consider Hanoi's recent admission that 1.4 million of its soldiers died on the battlefield, compared to 58,000 total U.S. dead.
Those who believe that it was a "dirty little war" where the bombs did all the work might contemplate that it was the most costly war the U.S. Marine Corps has ever fought-five times as many dead as World War I, three times as many dead as in Korea, and more total killed and wounded than in all of World War II. Significantly, these sacrifices were being made at a time the United States was deeply divided over our effort in Vietnam. The baby-boom generation had cracked apart along class lines as America's young men were making difficult, life-or-death choices about serving. The better academic institutions became focal points for vitriolic protest against the war, with few of their graduates going into the military. Harvard College, which had lost 691 alumni in World War II, lost a total of 12 men in Vietnam from the classes of 1962 through 1972 combined. Those classes at Princeton lost six, at MIT two. The media turned ever-more hostile. And frequently the reward for a young man's having gone through the trauma of combat was to be greeted by his peers with studied indifference or outright hostility.
What is a hero? My heroes are the young men who faced the issues of war and possible death, and then weighed those concerns against obligations to their country. Citizen-soldiers who interrupted their personal and professional lives at their most formative stage, in the timeless phrase of the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, "not for fame or reward, not for place or for rank, but in simple obedience to duty, as they understood it." Who suffered loneliness, disease, and wounds with an often contagious illnesses. And who deserve a far better place in history than that now offered them by the so-called spokesmen of our so-called generation. Mr. Brokaw, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Spielberg, meet my Marines.
1969 was an odd year to be in Vietnam. Second only to 1968 in terms of American casualties, it was the year made famous by Hamburger Hill, as well as the gut-wrenching Life cover story showing the pictures of 242 Americans who had been killed in one average week of fighting. Back home, it was the year of Woodstock, and of numerous anti-war rallies that culminated in the Moratorium march on Washington. The My Lai massacre hit the papers and was seized upon by the anti-war movement as the emblematic moment of the war. Lyndon Johnson left Washington in utter humiliation. Richard Nixon entered the scene, destined for an even worse fate.
In the An Hoa Basin southwest of Danang, the Fifth Marine Regiment was in its third year of continuous combat operations. Combat is an unpredictable and inexact environment, but we were well-led. As a rifle platoon and company commander, I served under a succession of three regimental commanders who had cut their teeth in World War II, and four different battalion commanders, three of whom had seen combat in Korea. The company commanders were typically captains on their second combat tour in Vietnam, or young first lieutenants like myself who were given companies after many months of "bush time" as platoon commanders in the Basin's tough and unforgiving environs.
The Basin was one of the most heavily contested areas in Vietnam, its torn, cratered earth offering every sort of wartime possibility. In the mountains just to the west, not far from the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the North Vietnamese Army operated an infantry division from an area called Base Area 112. In the valleys of the Basin, main-force Viet Cong battalions whose ranks were 80 percent North Vietnamese Army regulars moved against the Americans every day. Local Viet Cong units sniped and harassed. Ridge lines and paddy dikes were laced with sophisticated booby traps of every size, from a hand grenade to a 250-pound bomb. The villages sat in the rice paddies and tree lines like individual fortresses, criss-crossed with trenches and spider holes, their homes sporting bunkers capable of surviving direct hits from large-caliber artillery shells. The Viet Cong infrastructure was intricate and permeating. Except for the old and the very young, villagers who did not side with the Communists had either been killed or driven out to the government-controlled enclaves near Danang.
In the rifle companies we spent the endless months patrolling ridge lines and villages and mountains, far away from any notion of tents, barbed wire, hot food, or electricity. Luxuries were limited to what would fit inside one 's pack, which after a few "humps" usually boiled down to letter-writing material, towel, soap, toothbrush, poncho liner, and a small transistor radio.
We moved through the boiling heat with 60 pounds of weapons and gear, causing a typical Marine to drop 20 percent of his body weight while in the bush. When we stopped we dug chest-deep fighting holes and slit trenches for toilets. We slept on the ground under makeshift poncho hootches, and when it rained we usually took our hootches down because wet ponchos shined under illumination flares, making great targets. Sleep itself was fitful, never more than an hour or two at a stretch for months at a time as we mixed daytime patrolling with night-time ambushes, listening posts, foxhole duty, and radio watches. Ringworm, hookworm, malaria, and dysentery were common, as was trench foot when the monsoons came. Respite was rotating back to the mud-filled regimental combat base at An Hoa for four or five days, where rocket and mortar attacks were frequent and our troops manned defensive bunkers at night.
Which makes it kind of hard to get excited about tales of Woodstock, or camping at the Vineyard during summer break. We had been told while in training that Marine officers in the rifle companies had an 85 percent probability of being killed or wounded, and the experience of "Dying Delta," as our company was known, bore that out. Of the officers in the bush when I arrived, our company commander was wounded, the weapons platoon commander was wounded, the first platoon commander was killed, the second platoon commander was wounded twice, and I, commanding the third platoon, was wounded twice.
The enlisted troops in the rifle platoons fared no better. Two of my original three squad leaders were killed, the third shot in the stomach. My platoon sergeant was severely wounded, as was my right guide. By the time I left my platoon I had gone through six radio operators, five of them casualties. These figures were hardly unique; in fact, they were typical. Many other units-for instance, those who fought the hill battles around Khe Sanh, or were with the famed Walking Dead of the Ninth Marine Regiment, or were in the battle for Hue City or at Dai Do-had it far worse.
When I remember those days and the very young men who spent them with me, I am continually amazed, for these were mostly recent civilians barely out of high school, called up from the cities and the farms to do their year in Hell and then return. Visions haunt me every day, not of the nightmares of war but of the steady consistency with which my Marines faced their responsibilities, and of how uncomplaining most of them were in the face of constant danger. The salty, battle-hardened 20-year-olds teaching green 19-year-olds the intricate lessons of that hostile battlefield. The unerring skill of the young squad leaders as we moved through unfamiliar villages and weed-choked trails in the black of night. The quick certainty with which they moved when coming under enemy fire. Their sudden tenderness when a fellow Marine was wounded and needed help. Their willingness to risk their lives to save other Marines in peril. To this day it stuns me that their own countrymen have so completely missed the story of their service, lost in the bitter confusion of the war itself.
Like every military unit throughout history we had occasional laggards, cowards, and complainers. But in the aggregate these Marines were the finest people I have ever been around. It has been my privilege to keep up with many of them over the years since we all came home. One finds in them very little bitterness about the war in which they fought. The most common regret, almost to a man, is that they were not able to do more-for each other and for the people they came to help. It would be redundant to say that I would trust my life to these men. Because I already have, in more ways than I can ever recount. I am alive today because of their quiet, unaffected heroism. Such valor epitomizes the conduct of Americans at war from the first days of our existence. That the boomer elites can canonize this sort of conduct in our fathers' generation while ignoring it in our own is more than simple oversight. It is a conscious, continuing travesty.
James Webb was an Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration.
War Stories:
Flight,
This is a piece by an ex-USAF S/Sgt Larry Hughes http://chancefac.net who asked:
Did they really teach you Army types to "never fly higher than you were willing to fall"?
------------
I forwarded to Fred in Indonisia who writes on Low Level:
Roy
Dear Larry,
Your proverbial question, "Did they really teach you Army types to 'never fly higher than you were willing to fall'?" was forwarded to me by Roy Kauffman. Irene Bulmer was also cc'ed. I'm moved to write <g>.
Actually, the military didn't dare teach us to fly that low. In fact, it was probably a court martial offense <g>. It's just that when several fortuitous elements came together, it would be almost assured that a helicopter could be made to look like an all-terrain vehicle doing 80+ knots across a rice paddy <g>.
The first needed element was that the pilot was a WOJUG (warrant officer,junior grade ). Commissioned officer (RFO) pilots couldn't help being career officers first, and pilots second. That's fair, though; somebody had to do that job. Warrant officers were career pilot's first, and sometime womanizers next. While being a warrant was a great rank (I'd been an enlisted aircraft mechanic first), you could be certain that no matter how
long you stayed in the military, no one would ever call you "general". That fact alone, tended to make warrant officers explore the limits of their world and the machines in it.
Another needed element was that the WOJUG would be flying in SE Asia. Low-level flight was taught and practiced in the USA, but in the States 20 feet AGL would be considered really pushing it. That's probably because in the USA most citizens speak English and know how to report a "public nuisance" by telephone <g>. In Vietnam, the citizenry didn't speak much English and didn't have many telephones. What some of them *did* have, however, was AK-47s and heavy machine guns. Obviously then, low-level flying was the aviation equivalent of the infantry "low crawl".
Finally, and perhaps the most important element needed to bring low-level flying to its -- shall we say -- "lowest" state of the art <g>, was that the WOJUG flying was doing it in a *scout-type* helicopter. This is just like the one you mentioned, the OH-6 (Hughes 500). Even earlier models were the OH-23 (Hiller 12) and the OH-13 (Bell 47). The reason you needed to be flying one of these helicopters is because they were the only ones in Vietnam that had only *one pilot*! The OH-6 did have an observer/gunner (and is very fast), but those aircraft still only had one "Big Cheese on Board" . It's much easier to tell your side of the story to the accident investigation board when, conveniently, there are no other witnesses.
I flew the OH-23 part of my tour, so I know what drives WOJUGs to "push the
flight envelope". When you first get to RVN, you fly low level just like they teach you in flight school. But even with that, you quickly remember that some people out there reportedly want to kill you, so you drop the aircraft down another foot or so. At that point, the only thing keeping you from going lower is the nagging question in the back of your mind: "would mother approve?" . Then, after a few days of doing it like that, the
old BB King blues song starts reverberating around in your brain: "The Thrill is Gone"
By the time you've worked your way down to flying two feet off the deck and can do that reasonably well without peeing in your pants, it's easy to imagine VC or NVA gunners hiding in every tree line. Before you know it, you've got the standard, "30-yard stare in a 10-foot room". You've got to keep your gaze fixed about 30 feet in front of the aircraft. Too long spent looking elsewhere, either inside or outside the aircraft, at those speeds,
and it's easy for the helicopter to imperceptibly glide down a few inches and the earth reach up to smite you <g>.
I knew that I'd finally "arrived" in Vietnam when I could fly low level for long distances and have to *climb* to clear the berms around dry rice paddies. It's true . . . you'd be going flat out through a large, dry open paddy and then have to pull back an inch or so on the cyclic stick so the helicopter nosed up and climbed over the earthworks (usually 18-24 inches high?) surrounding the field. Then you eased the stick forward and the
helicopter sunk back down into the *next* rice field.
Note: as a word in my defense, your Honor <g>, I almost never flew low level like that with passengers (two + a pilot was the max in the OH-23). The infantry guys in my unit (the 196th Lt. Inf. Bde. near Tay Ninh and then Chu Lai, 66-67) wouldn't hesitate staring down VC gunners, but many of them saw helicopters as necessary evils or quick taxis for getting to and from their units. I scared myself often enough, so I didn't have to do that to
others for any thrills <g>.
Fred Startz
Jakarta, Indonesia
Slick Pilots Lament
After flying Slicks , B & C model Guns prior to my getting into Cobras, I can second this post. In fact it took awhile to convince me that the Cobra would be a better gunship, because I didn't have the GIB. Those guys had did too much to prove their worth to me. The worst thing about getting used to Cobras was that I no longer heard " Clear left, clear right, clear up sir". GIB's did a great job during and after the flight.
To the GIB, who made Viet Nam possible The helicopter was the lifeblood of the Grunt. It took him to war, and it brought him home. It supported him with everything from water and ammo to air support and medevac. It hauled the Artillery, it scouted , it flew convoy cover, it did things the designers would never think it could. If someone could think of it, theAircrews would, and did, get it done.
But GIB was the one who made it work.
You had it ready to fly sometimes for a 0400 takeoff after getting back at 2300. You'd fly all day, protecting us with your guns and your eyes, loading and unloading anything and everything. Sometimes jumping out in a Hot LZ to find and bring back the wounded, and then try to keep them alive en route to the hospital, there many people alive because of the GIB.
After a long day you'd come home, clean the mess, patch the holes, clean the guns and get ready to do it all over again. There were good pilots and there were some that could have been better, but I've never heard of a aircraft that couldn't find some GIB that wasn't Crazy enough to give it a try. We flew days, we flew nights, we flew good weather, we flew bad weather, but if we were needed, we'd kick the tire and light the fire, pull pitch and fly into whatever was awaiting us and the GIF always knew the GIB would take care of him first no mater what.
You earned your wings in combat. Please accept these from this GIF who would not
have made it home without MY GIB.
To the 173rd AHC Crewmembers at the
Louisville VHCMA Reunion June 23, 2001
WO2 Chuck Broadhurst
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers,
For he today that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother."
-Wm Shakespeare-
Well guys Until next month..keep a smile on your face and your skids out of the TreesJ--Ron