Archive for March, 2007

Military Is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts

March 22, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News

Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight a major ground conflict elsewhere, senior U.S. military and government officials acknowledge.

More troubling, the officials say, is that it will take years for the Army and Marine Corps to recover from what some officials privately have called a “death spiral,” in which the ever more rapid pace of war-zone rotations has consumed 40 percent of their total gear, wearied troops and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies now at hand.

More support sought for vets

By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Veteran Benefits

CANANDAIGUA – U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is calling for mandatory funding for veterans health care that would be based on demand for services rather than a fixed figure that might not reflect current needs.

“If we designate the V.A. as mandatory funding, that will ensure federal support for health care that will be responsive to demand,” Schumer said Monday at the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Bush Meets With Military Care Panel

March 20, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Veteran Benefits

WASHINGTON – President Bush said Friday he would fix problems in the medical system for military members and veterans to make sure they get the best care.

“We owe it to those who wear the uniform and their families to make sure that our troops have the best, and that’s what this commission is meant to do,” Bush said as he met with the newly appointed members of a bipartisan commission that will look into troubles at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military health facilities.

Army pledges to investigate injured troop charge

By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News

March 15, 2007 | Top Army officials pledged during a Senate hearing Wednesday to investigate whether a brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division is dispatching injured troops to Iraq as part of the so-called surge into Baghdad, Iraq. Pete Geren, the acting Army secretary, told a Senate panel that the Army was troubled by such charges, raised in a March 11 Salon article. “These allegations are serious and any allegations of that sort, I can assure you, we are going to follow up on and investigate,” Geren told Washington Democrat Sen. Patty Murray.

Bush Prods Congress on Supporting Troops

March 19, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in News

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Thursday challenged lawmakers to prove their support for troops in Iraq by agreeing to more war spending without attaching a timeline for withdrawal or any other conditions.

Bush used a fundraising speech for House Republican candidates to push back on Democrats opposed to his Iraq plans.

The House is nearing a vote on a bill that would require a troop withdrawal from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008. It is part of a $124 billion spending bill that includes $95.5 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Friendly-fire” widow begs Bush for transcript

By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News

LONDON (Reuters) – The widow of a soldier mistakenly killed by a U.S. air strike in Iraq pleaded on Thursday for Washington to declassify a page of a U.S. report into his death.

A coroner is reaching the end of an investigation into the death of Lance Corporal Matty Hull, killed by a U.S. air strike in March 2003 after pilots mistook orange panels on British vehicles for Iraqi missile launchers.

The case has exposed apparent differences in the two allies’ procedures, and provoked indignation in Britain.

Veteran and his wife moved by story of fellow vet’s widow

By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Veteran Benefits

The original piece appeared three weeks ago today, telling of the plight of a Chelsea widow whom the federal government was aggressively pursuing.

When her husband, a Vietnam veteran who spent 20 years in the military, died in 1987, she began receiving a monthly pension of $570.

It wasn’t until 18 months ago that she discovered she should have been receiving $1,177 because his death was service-related. In the process of correcting their oversight, government officials mistakenly sent her both checks.

“It happened only once,” her friend and advocate Mike Resca pointed out. “She didn’t catch the mistake, so she spent them both, having gone so long with so little.”

Military System Offers Worldwide Cell Access

March 18, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News

coondoggie writes to mention a technology in use by the U.S. military in remote regions of the world, which allows high-quality cell reception to reach troops. A portable box, called the Tactical Base Station Router, can serve as a gateway for cellular communications and VoIP network calls. Developed by Alcatel-Lucent, it allows deployment of reliable services in disasters, search and rescue operations, and (as has seen use in recent years) military encounters.

American Legion to help at Walter Reed

By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News, News

The Army has reached an unusual agreement with the nations largest veterans organization to help ease discharges for wounded service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

A memorandum of understanding between the American Legion and the Army, signed today, will put two paid Legion staffers in the administrative offices at the hospital to help process veterans disability claims, set up appointments at veterans hospitals in a wounded members hometown and other services, said Peter Gayton, the groups director for veterans affairs and rehabilitation.

Pentagon Struggles to Find Fresh Troops

March 15, 2007 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News

The other day, we mentioned how officer shortages were looming in the Army. On a related note, Military leaders are also struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.

Faced with a military buildup in Iraq that could drag into next year, Pentagon officials are trying to identify enough units to keep up to 20 brigade combat teams in Iraq. A brigade usually has about 3,500 troops.

The likely result will be extending the deployments of brigades scheduled to come home at the end of the summer, and sending others earlier than scheduled.