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  • Archive for the 'Email worth reading' Category

    No Longer Recognizable

    HERE’S WHAT’S NEW WITH HR 3997

    HR 3997 was hung up in the Senate and House just before they broke for the Christmas recess. Now it appears to have lost its momentum. From checking Thomas, it looks like the Senate did it’s thing and sent it to the House on 20 Dec, then nothing. I have seen references to S.1974 but no text. Is there a relationship there?

    What is happening? continue reading

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    VA Expansion

    VETERANS ADMINISTRATION ADDS 20 NEW VET CENTERS
    Philadelphia, February 27, 2008

    Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake today said an expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of its Vet Centers, which provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to returning combat veterans, is well ahead of schedule.

    In February 2007, VA announced it would open 23 new centers during the next two years. Fifteen of those centers are already operational, and five others are seeing patients in temporary facilities while finalizing their leases. The other three facilities will begin operations later this year.

    “Building on our past successes, 2008 will see a permanent increase in the number of Vet Centers, as we bring the remaining facilities on line to reach a record 232 Vet Centers by the end of the year,” Peake said. continue reading

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    Request for Support

    WEST POINT GRADUTATE IN SERIOUS LEGAL TROUBLE

    Captain Sargent Binkley, USA (RET), USMA 1997, has found himself in a pretty tight spot. He is facing 12-24 years for Armed Robbery.

    Background information may be found at http://www.supportsarge.org/

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) will play a major role in the defense strategy. I am interested in talking with any graduate who specializes in PTSD either from a law or clinical background.

    Troy Ryder, USMA ‘94
    tfryder@gmail.com

    2 Comments »

    Satellite Shoot-Downs

    THE FUTURE IS NOW
    by Fred Edwards
    Feb. 22, 2008

    China used a ballistic missile on Jan. 11, 2007, to shoot down one of its aging weather satellites. It seemed that the Chinese Foreign Ministry was unaware of this. Or did Chinese officials want to keep their intentions hidden in case of failure?

    U.S. officials, on the other hand, openly declared their intention to shoot down a disabled American satellite before it could re-enter the earth’s atmosphere, and that’s exactly what happened. On Feb. 20 of this year, a single SM-3 missile fired from the USS Lake Erie, an Aegis-class cruiser, hit the dead satellite at 10:26 p.m. Eastern Time. The missile struck the satellite about 150 miles above earth while it was traveling more than 17,000 miles per hour. Military officials said they had hoped to rupture the satellite’s fuel tank to prevent 1,000 pounds of hazardous hydrazine from crashing to earth like a deadly bomb. Or did they want to prove to powers like China and Russia that the United States can destroy satellites — or missiles — at will? continue reading

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    A Good Cause

    LET’S SUPPORT LEGISLATIVE WOMENS CAUCUS ACTIVITIES

    I have been approached by the Legislative Womens Caucus to support their activities with a financial contribution for their 501(c)4 account.

    The Womens Caucus has declared March to be Women Veterans History Month and they will have a Women Veterans display in the Capitol Rotunda for the month of March.

    They also conduct an annual Woman of the Year ceremoney each year (this year on 3/7) in which each of the 120 legislators honors a Woman of the Year from their district.

    These are very wortwhile causes. continue reading

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    From a Chaplain

    OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM IN IRAQ

    For those of us who are unaware, at a military theater, the National Anthem is played before every movie.

    I recently attended a showing of “Superman 3,” here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium we use for movies, as well as memorial services and other large gatherings.

    As is the custom back in the States, we stood and snapped to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. all was going as planned until about three-quarters of the way through The National Anthem the music stopped. continue reading

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    Taiwan Update

    THE INSCRUTABLE CHINESE
    by Fred Edwards
    Feb. 15, 2008

    In my column of Feb. 2, (Crosshairs on Taiwan), I referred to the interplay between the Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan as if the PRC were solely a military monolith whose actions are inscrutable. Consequently Edward Van Court, an international affairs researcher, reminded me that, based on foreign trade information from basic sources such as the CIA Factbook, Taiwan is essential to both U.S. and foreign trade. Consequently, the PRC’s military option might lie somewhere down the list of Chinese priorities.

    Noting that China is less than a century out of feudalism, he pointed out indications that the current situation is a hybrid of geographical and functional feudalism under the leadership of the Central Party in Beijing. This suggests a feudal melange among several ministries and agencies, with residual warlord tones. To carry Chinese inscrutability a step further, just overlay the PRC’s Military Regions on an ethno-linguistic map of this disparately populated land mass. Now compare the bios of the leaders of the Central Military Commission and it becomes evident why the MRs are established “for centralized control and decentralized operation.” continue reading

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    From A Military Doctor

    SOON TO BE GONE
    by Captain Stephen R. Ellison, M.D. US Army.

    Note:
    This was written by a doctor. This Captain, a US Army doctor, deserves a medal himself for putting this e-mail together. This is for medical, dental, any and all in the profession of
    healing…. nurses, aides, etc., but it has great general appeal.

    I am a doctor specializing in the Emergency Departments of the only two military Level One-Trauma Centers, both in San Antonio Texas, and they care for civilian emergencies as well as military personnel. San Antonio has the largest military retiree population in the world living here. As a military doctor, I work long hours and the pay is less than glamorous. One tends to become jaded by the long hours, lack of sleep, food, family contact, and the endless parade of human suffering passing before you. The arrival of another ambulance does not mean more pay, only more work.

    Most often, it is a victim from a motor vehicle crash. continue reading

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