15 Marines cited for mistreating Iraqi detainees

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Posted on Wed, Dec. 15, 2004 <br />
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ABUSE SCANDAL <br />
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15 Marines cited for mistreating Iraqi detainees

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Iraq Accuses Iran, Syria of Backing Terror <br />
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By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer <br />
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s defense minister on Wednesday accused neighboring Iran and Syria...

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Weekend Proves Deadly For Camp Pendleton Marines

The Pentagon (news - web sites) released the names Tuesday of three Camp Pendleton Marines killed in combat in Iraq (news - web sites), including a man who reportedly had survived the deadly 1999 shooting rampage at Colorado's Columbine High School.


Lance Cpl. Gregory Rund, 21, of Littleton, Colo., suffered fatal wounds Saturday while fighting in Al Anbar province, the Department of Defense (news - web sites) reported.


Rund, who was on his second tour of duty in Iraq, reportedly was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton when students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives.


Rund entered the Marine Corps in July 2002. His military honors include a Combat Action Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.


According to the DOD, Staff Sgt. Melvin Blazer, 38, of Moore, Okla., and Lance Cpl. Hilario Lopez, 22, of Ingleside, Texas, died Sunday also in Al Anbar province, site of the former insurgent strongholds, Ramadi and Falluja.


All three men were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force. Blazer was a platoon sergeant, Lopez and Rund riflemen.


Blazer enlisted in July 1988. His personal awards include a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.


Lopez, who joined the USMC in December 2002, was the recipient of a Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Two Wisconsin Marines serving in the same platoon died the same day...

Associated Press


Two Wisconsin Marines serving in the same platoon died the same day in an explosion in Iraq, including one whose twin brother is to be married during the Christmas holidays, authorities said Tuesday.

Lance Cpl. Richard D. Warner, 22, of Waukesha, and Pfc. Brent Vroman, 21, of Omro, died Monday from wounds received in an explosion during combat operations in Babil Province, the military said.

Both riflemen were with the Marine Corps Reserve's 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, headquartered in Chicago, and assigned to the first platoon of Fox Company in Milwaukee, said 1st Sgt. Cecil Goodloe, a spokesman for the company.

"This is the fourth comrade that Fox Company has lost and it's really a deep and sad occasion that this has happened during the holiday season," Goodloe said.

Families remain "incredibly proud" of the two Marines, both of whom were single, he said.

Warner and Vroman are the 30th and 31st soldiers from Wisconsin to die in fighting in Iraq.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The state Public Service Commission and We Energies asked the state Supreme Court to directly overturn a judge's ruling that has thrown the energy company's plans for two new power plants in southeastern Wisconsin into legal limbo.

The PSC and We Energies argued Tuesday that Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan's ruling could substantially delay work on the coal-fired generators planned on the Lake Michigan shore in Oak Creek, driving up ratepayers' bills and crippling the state's power grid.

Dan Ebert, executive assistant for the PSC, said bypassing the Court of Appeals and going straight to the Supreme Court offers the fastest route to clearing up the legal logjam surrounding the project.

More delays could drive up construction costs that may ultimately be paid by ratepayers, as well as create energy reliability problems statewide, the PSC said. Construction was slated to begin in early 2005.

"Prompt resolution of the court case is an issue of statewide importance and critical to meeting future energy needs in Wisconsin," PSC officials said in a statement.

We Energies issued a statement warning if construction is delayed until summer, the company may have to renegotiate its construction contracts. That could cost customers hundreds of millions of dollars, the statement said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle urged a federal panel to issue permanent duties against Japanese manufacturers of outboard motors, arguing that the companies are dumping their products in the United States and hurting a Wisconsin company.

Doyle testified at a U.S. International Trade Commission hearing Tuesday on behalf of Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac, Wis., one of the largest U.S. makers of outboard motors with $1.8 billion in annual sales.

The company claims that its Japanese competitors, like Yamaha, are undercutting its business by selling the motors at less than fair value. In August the U.S. Commerce Department issued a preliminary ruling in Mercury's favor, ordering a 22.5 percent import tax on Japanese-made outboards, such as Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki.

Tuesday's hearing was to determine whether to make those duties permanent.

"The domestic outboard engine industry is threatened by the aggressive pricing strategies used by Japanese manufacturers who are looking to unfairly gain market share by dumping their products in the U.S. market," Doyle said.

Also testifying on Mercury Marine's behalf was U.S. Rep Tom Petri, a Republican whose district includes Fond du Lac.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Lawmakers and WisconsinEye have reached an agreement for the C-SPAN-style network to begin broadcasting debate from the floor of the Assembly and Senate next year, giving Wisconsin residents a firsthand view of their elected representatives.

The network, first proposed in late 1999, still would need more than $5 million in additional funding before it could get on the air. It also would face a six-month deadline to have its system of cameras installed in the Capitol and broadcasts on the air, or the deal would fall apart.

WisconsinEye president Jeff Roberts said Tuesday he was confident the network will meet the deadline and begin broadcasting in mid-2005.

"We are on an absolute timeline in which we must get on the air. That's a good thing," Roberts said.

WisconsinEye was proposed as the state's version of C-SPAN, providing gavel-to-gavel coverage of debate from the Assembly and Senate as well as committee hearings, Supreme Court deliberations and coverage of the governor. But it has faced a series of delays.

The agreement released Tuesday would only involve coverage of the Legislature, with negotiations ongoing with the other branches of government.

Under the deal, WisconsinEye would have parameters placed on what it could shoot during debate, requiring it to primarily focus on the presiding officers of each chamber and the lawmakers they call upon to speak. The deal also would include language prohibiting shots that the network deems embarrassing.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Units For Deployment Announced
Associated Press
December 15, 2004

WASHINGTON - Soldiers from the 101st Airborne, 4th Infantry and 10th Mountain divisions will comprise a significant part of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan starting next year, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

The troop rotation will bring other units home. The deploying units, to arrive in-country between mid-2005 and mid-2006, would keep about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and another 18,000 in Afghanistan.

Each unit's deployment will last roughly a year, with the final units expected back home in 2007.

Senior officials at the Pentagon said plans could change as the security situation in either country changes.

"It may very well be less than this. It may be the same amount. It may be more," said Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita. The Pentagon has increased forces in Iraq by 12,000 soldiers in an effort to provide security for the coming elections, but the deployment is expected to be temporary.





Both the 101st Airborne, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., and the 10th Mountain, based at Fort Drum, N.Y., have sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It is also the second trip to Iraq for the 4th Infantry since the U.S.-led invasion in March and April 2003.

In addition to the entire 101st Airborne and 4th Infantry, other units going to Iraq during the rotation include the following:

-48th Infantry Brigade of the Georgia Army National Guard.

-1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division.

-1st Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Riley, Kan.

-172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

The units going to Afghanistan include these:

-3rd and 4th Brigades, plus the headquarters, of the 10th Mountain. These are newly formed brigades.

-Headquarters element, 53rd Infantry Brigade, Florida National Guard.

Brig. Gen. David Rodriguez, deputy director of regional operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said other deployments will be announced in coming weeks. This may include Marine Corps combat units as well as support units, which draw more heavily from the National Guard and reserves.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

New Number Shows Lower NG Death Rate
USA TODAY
December 15, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The National Guard released a new figure Tuesday for the number of Army National Guard troops who have served in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, provided numbers Tuesday that showed about 86,000 Guard soldiers have served or are currently serving there and a total of 142 have been killed, or one in every 606 who have deployed to Iraq. That figure is lower than the death rate for active-duty Army soldiers. According to numbers provided by the Army, a total of 250,000 active-duty soldiers have been to Iraq or are still there, and 659 have been killed, or one in every 379.

On Monday, USA TODAY reported that Guard soldiers in Iraq were more likely to be killed than active-duty Army soldiers. The story was based on faulty numbers provided by the Guard last week.

The Guard initially blamed the wrong numbers on an internal error. Later, the Guard said it had misunderstood the question and provided a total only for troops who had gone to Iraq and come home, not for all those who had set foot in Iraq. Based on that misunderstanding, the Guard said, it gave USA TODAY a figure of 37,000 troops.




The death rates for Guard and Army Reserve troops are significant because the Pentagon is relying heavily on citizen soldiers to fight the war in Iraq. About 40% of U.S. forces there are part-time troops from the Guard and reserves, who typically train one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer -- unless there's a war. In its effort to keep sufficient troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has called up thousands of Guard and reserve troops for active-duty tours of a year or more.

Several other military branches told USA TODAY last week that they could not determine how many of their troops had served in Iraq.

Death rates notwithstanding, the numbers of deaths for Army Guard and the Army Reserve are significantly higher than for part-time troops in past conflicts. During the 12-year-long Vietnam War, for example, fewer than 100 Guard troops were killed. The deaths of 142 Guard soldiers and 59 reservists in Iraq reflect sharply higher deployments to Iraq -- relatively few Guard and reserve troops served in Vietnam -- and the fact that Guard and reserve troops are taking on some of the most dangerous missions in Iraq, including convoy duty and guarding facilities.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

The Army Wants 30,000 More
Boston Herald
December 15, 2004

Hoping to take some of the load off beleaguered Army Reserve and National Guard units, the Army plans to increase its active duty force by about 30,000 this year to meet the demands of war in Iraq.

In Boston yesterday for a recruitment ceremony and to announce a youth partnership with the Boston Fire Department, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody said he expects Army recruiters to meet their quotas despite bitter combat in Iraq.

"It speaks to this generation that everyone was concerned about," said Cody, a Vermont native. "These young people have the calling. When you ask them why they joined, they say their country is at war. When I asked 10 years ago why they joined, they said, `I want the benefits. I want the college credits.' "

With an active duty force of nearly 500,000, the Army met its recruiting goal of 77,500 last year, and Cody expects this year's goal of 80,000 to be achieved. While National Guard units have had trouble attracting recruits because of long Guard deployments overseas, Cody said recruiters will turn their focus away from people leaving active duty because many of them are being retained.




"The National Guard retained well, but recruiting fell off because a lot of their recruiting came from the active Army force," he said. "Because we retained so many (active duty soldiers), there was a dip (in National Guard recruiting.)"

Cody said that despite tough combat in Iraq, the morale remains high and he believes the Iraqi insurgents will eventually be crushed.

"The part that is still out is how well the Iraqi people will rally around being a free, democratic Iraq," he said. "That's what a counterinsurgency target is. They target the Iraqi population. I think the Iraqi people will see these insurgents care not about them. I think over time they will realize that."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Even in Iraq and Afghanistan, troops do their holiday shopping


By Ward Sanderson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, December 13, 2004



American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are clicking and catalog-ordering their way through the holidays.

Troops serving a year in the war zone just can’t hop down to Macy’s to buy a gift for their sweetie, so they’re ordering merchandise from afar, and apparently more so than ever before. According to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, online and catalog sales from both operations are up 29 percent over last holiday season.

Troops without Internet access are also ordering through “Operation Forward Santa,” an AAFES initiative allowing them to simply pick an item from a downrange brochure. All troops have to do next is drop the completed order form off at the exchange at their post. Everything but gift baskets and flowers are gift-wrapped for free. So far, troops have spent about $10,000 via the brochures.

“Some guys are obviously in locations where they don’t have an Internet connection, or even a phone,” said Judd Anstey, spokesman for AAFES headquarters in Dallas.

Beyond the Santa number, Anstey didn’t have a separate figure isolating gift purchases per se. “You can’t say what they’re buying for,” he said. But the most popular items being purchased via catalog, brochure or online from Iraq and Afghanistan are flowers, electronics, jewelry, video games, toys and lingerie. It’s probably safe to say the flowers, jewelry, toys and lingerie will find their way under a tree.

Other online retailers may well be seeing the same trends from deployed troops, but proving it is tough. Amazon.com offers gift-wrapping and mailing, but isn’t saying how successful it is. Craig Berman, a company spokesman, said the company typically doesn’t discuss traffic numbers, and wasn’t sure whether Amazon could even discern a servicemember in Baghdad from anyone else.

J.C. Penney maintains a Web page and telephone hot line specifically for customers with military addresses. However, spokeswoman Daphne Avila said the company didn’t track the numbers separately.

What are troops buying for themselves as well as others? Electronics and electronic media, at least at AAFES.

“Electronics are a big deal,” Anstey said. “There’s a lot of free time on their hands.”

The exchange has muscled up its online offerings of video games, computers, portable DVD players, music and movies.

Apparently, it’s been noted. The December 2004 edition of Consumer Reports said that in a poll of 10,180 readers, AAFES ranked second only to Amazon in the “Best Price” category for home electronics. Just like exchanges in calmer regions, locations downrange sell electronics in store as well as online or via catalog. And holiday catalog spree or not, physical stores apparently still have advantages.

“AAFES sells electronics on and offline,” exchange commander Maj. Gen. Kathryn Frost said in a news release. “Offering electronics in brick and mortar environments provides several benefits, not the least of which are the ability to see, touch and compare products as well as the instant gratification mail order can’t provide.”


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine From Columbine Killed In Iraq
Associated Press
December 15, 2004

LITTLETON, Colo. - A Marine who was a freshman at Columbine High School when two students killed 13 people there was killed in action in Iraq, his family said.

Lance Cpl. Greg Rund, 21, was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed Saturday, his family said in a statement released Monday. He had talked about joining the Marines throughout high school and enlisted shortly after graduating in 2002.

The Marines on Tuesday confirmed Rund's death, saying he died in Iraq's Anbar province. He was assigned to the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Rund was a freshman when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris shot 12 students, a teacher, and then themselves on April 20, 1999.

"Greg made us so proud, but he never wanted to be recognized for his actions," said the statement from his family. "Neither Columbine nor Iraq was to define him."




Rund was on the 2000 state championship football team, and his younger brother, Doug, now plays football at Columbine as a sophomore.

"It seems so unfortunate that you get through some things, but it catches up with you," Ken Holden, Rund's former high school counselor, told the Denver Post.

Rund's family described him as "reckless, smart, off-key and wonderful."

"He never did anything like everyone else did," the statement said. "He did everything to the extreme and always knew that somehow with his humor and a little luck, he would make it through."

Ellie

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Marines burned, shocked prisoners, documents reveal <br />
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By Richard A. Serrano <br />
Los Angeles Times <br />
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WASHINGTON — Marines in Iraq conducted mock executions of juvenile prisoners last year, burned...

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Corps' top leaders address concerns in Iraq Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group <br />
Story by: Sgt. Luis R. Agostini <br />
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CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq(Dec. 15, 2004) -- From future troop rotations to...

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Battalion's IRRs Readily Answer Call to Duty <br />
By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA <br />
American Forces Press Service <br />
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CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. Dec. 14, 2004 -- Like thousands of former active duty...

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'Chaos in Iraq could produce another Hitler'
By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor
(Filed: 14/12/2004)

The chronic instability and widespread feeling of humiliation in Iraq could give birth to an "Iraqi Hitler", the country's president, Ghazi al-Yawar, said yesterday as a suicide car bomber killed at least seven people in Baghdad.

The explosion at the entrance of the "Green Zone", the capital's fortified government and diplomatic compound, left 19 people wounded. All the victims were reported to be Iraqis.

The blast came on the anniversary of the capture of Saddam Hussein.

The arrest of the former Iraqi dictator has not stemmed the insurgency, which is concentrated on the Sunni triangle, with daily bombings, shootings and kidnappings.

Mr Yawar, who has in the past criticised US operations, said the political climate in Iraq could bring a new era of political fanaticism.

"This could in the long term create an environment in which an Iraqi Hitler could emerge like the one created by the defeat of Germany and the humiliation of Germans in World War I," he told Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic newspaper.

Mr Yawar – a Sunni Muslim appointed to the largely symbolic post of president in June – urged Iraq's neighbours to break their "negative silence" about violence in Iraq and help stabilise the country.

"When a fire breaks out in your neighbour's house you should act quickly to put it out, not only for the sake of your neighbour but also so that you are not forced to put it out in your own home when it spreads there," he told the paper.

Interviewed by the BBC's Today programme, the president predicted a surge in attacks ahead of the Jan 30 elections to choose a transitional parliament.

"Their tactical target is to undermine the electoral process and to stop us having our first elections. This is why we see it is a challenge we have to meet," he said.

Most of the parties representing the once-dominant Sunni Arabs, who make up about a fifth of the population, have called for the elections to be delayed, saying that a fair poll was impossible amid daily violence.

But America and the Iraqi interim government believe that holding the elections on schedule, even if imperfect, offers the best way of turning the corner in the crisis.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

America Supports You: Dog Tags Journey to Servicemembers, Families
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2004 – Rose Sliepka routinely saw engraved messages for customers at her trophy shop in Lancaster, Calif., and one day she decided to use her expertise to help military members serving overseas in the global war on terrorism.

Sliepka, who served four years in the Air Force during the 1970s, realized that "dog tags would be the perfect item to send" to families of servicemembers.

"What soldier's child," she asked, "doesn't want a dog tag of their own" from a deployed parent?

She said her "Dog Tags for Soldiers' Kids" program has so far produced 38,000 aluminum dog tags bearing messages of support from deployed military fathers and mothers to their families at home.

The tags come in colors, Sliepka explained, to represent the different armed services: red for Marines, green for soldiers, and blue for sailors, airmen and Coast Guardsmen.

After engraving, she explained, the dog tags are shipped to deployed servicemembers, who then mail them to their families.

A typical tag message, she noted, might read: "With Love, From Dad, U.S. Army, Iraq 2004."

The program, which began in April, is funded by donations made through the Rotary Club of Lancaster, Sliepka said. Servicemember mailing lists for the program, she said, have been solicited from military chaplains and other sources.

After convincing an engraving machine company to loan her an engraver, Sliepka was off. That company, she noted, has since donated the engraving machine to the effort.

The initiative "just started growing," Sliepka recalled, noting she and volunteers began shipping engraved dog tags around the end of May. She said the dog tags, complete with chains, have been sent to servicemembers in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We try to send them to the chaplain or the first sergeant," Sliepka explained, "so they can hand them out to the unit."

When a new address is obtained, 135 dog tags are shipped out, she said, "because that's what fits in a priority mail envelope." An explanation of the program and Sliepka's e-mail and postal address are included in the packet.

The program has shipped out about 38,000 dog tags to servicemembers, she said, with 10,000 more on order.

Navy Reserve Cmdr. Thomas W. Sutton, a logistics officer who returned to his home in Palmdale, Calif., in September after nine months of service in Kuwait and Iraq, praised Sliepka's dog tag program.

The father of four said his youngest son, Kristian, age 6 at the time, became angry and initially wouldn't talk to him on the phone after he'd deployed in January for training and follow-on duty in the Middle East. But, after sending letters and dog tags home to his children, Sutton noted that Kristian improved dramatically.

"It really touched him," Sutton said. His wife observed that Kristian immediately kissed the dog tag and placed it around his neck, he added. "A couple of days later, he ran to the phone and wanted to talk with me," the commander recalled.

Sutton said he also helped to distribute dog tags, noting that 15,000 had been delivered to servicemembers in his area of operations.

"This thing has just taken on a life of its own," he said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

High school buddies now brothers in arms
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By TOM ERNST
Buffalo News Southtowns Bureau
12/15/2004

They were buddies in high school, and now they are about to go to war together.

Five young men from Hamburg are members of a Marine Corps Reserve unit preparing to be deployed to Iraq.

Three were full-time college students and two held full-time jobs. Now three are machine gunners and two are riflemen, and the jobs are full-time - and then some.

They are among about 170 members of India Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, which has been told it will be deployed for a year beginning in January.

The unit, based at the Marine Corps Reserve Center on Porter Avenue, is expected to spend about two months training in the California desert and then be sent to Iraq in March or April.

All five said they are looking forward to it.

While agreeing it is unusual that five friends should end up where they are, they all said they took separate routes to the same destination: being Marines and serving their country.

Cpl. Jim Thompson was the first, enlisting in 1998, and was joined by Cpl. Jon Monaco and Lance Cpls. Chris Manns, Will Maher and Jason Florea. All are in their 20s and all are graduates of Frontier High School, except Monaco, who attended St. Francis.

"Being friends probably had something to do with it, but it wasn't the primary reason," Monaco said.

"I joined to serve my country," Thompson said, adding he expected "I would see a war sooner or later."

Maher enrolled at Buffalo State College to play football and after the first year "decided I needed a change."

"I couldn't see joining anything but the Marines," he said.

The attacks of 9/11 helped push Florea along.

All five are bachelors and apparently the strong, silent type not given to sharing their feelings with a stranger.

Thompson came the closest when he said "I can't wait" to face combat in Iraq.

Maher said the bond among them is "like a brotherhood. We'll definitely watch out for each other" in Iraq, he said.

The five will be honored at a farewell party beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday in Sure Shots Bar on Lakeview Road, Hamburg.

Capt. Christopher Reynolds, who will serve as second in command of the company in Iraq, said his men are enthusiastic about the challenge, and the deployment will give them "the opportunity to go someplace and be something greater than themselves."

Among those staying behind is Staff Sgt. George Kurtz, who has already served in Iraq twice.

He is receiving training he hopes he never needs.

It would be his job to break the news to a family that a Marine has been killed or wounded.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Army women and combat
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From the Editorials/Op-Ed section
The Washington Times
Dec. 15, 2004

The Army's 3rd Infantry Division is scheduled to head to Iraq next month to bolster security before the Jan. 30 elections. When they leave, they could be the first division that deploys mixed-sex units near all-male combat units. The reorganization is part of Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker's plan to change the basic combat brigade into self-contained "units of action" that train and deploy with their support teams. The mixed-sex units, known as Forward Support Companies, would be on the ground near fighting, but not actively involved in combat.

As Rowan Scarborough has reported, the redesign has created a stir inside the Pentagon, as well as among civilian defense organizations, as some allege that "collocating" mixed-sex units with combat units violates a ban imposed in 1994. While the Army admits that it has considered altering the ban, it says the current proposal allows forward support units to collocate only with brigade-support battalions, which are not considered combat units. The Army also notes that the roles women would be performing would not be much different than the ones they perform now in other support units. It should be emphasized that this new method would not permit women to take on direct combat duties. What it does do is increase the risk to female soldiers performing their traditional combat support duties.

Those crying foul see a degree of political correctness sneaking into the one government department that should resist such pressure. While it is true that in the past the armed forces have not been immune to such tinkering, the Army's current reorganization doesn't seem to be one of those cases. In May, an internal Army briefing paper set forth a sober analysis of its current personnel problems: "Army manpower cannot support elimination of female soldiers from all units designated to be units of action elements," the document states. In other words, for the Army to go forward with Gen. Schoomaker's transformation plan, it would not have enough male personnel to fill out the forward support units. The paper further states, all-male FSCs "creates potential long-term challenges to Army; pool of recruits too small to sustain force."

As Mr. Scarborough has reported, some inside the Pentagon see the proposal as "skirting" the existing 1994 ban, if not violating it. That very well could be the case. Events in Iraq have shown that insurgencies do not operate on a front, thereby removing the safety support brigades enjoy being "behind the line." Placing mixed-sex forward units with support brigades could endanger more female soldiers than would otherwise be the case.

Even so, it would be far more detrimental to the Army's transformation objectives to deplete other units, possibly combat units, of needed manpower. To secure the highly mobile, self-contained fighting units Gen. Schoomaker envisions, combat units must be in close contact with support brigades. Allowing women to serve in such support units might not be the best alternative, yet until the Army increases its retention and recruitment, it seems to be the only available one.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

The old C-130 ‘Herk’ ~ designed for the long haul
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BY PETER BACQUE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Dec 16, 2004

Even when that's the way to bet, the race is not always to the swift nor love to the lovely.

This year, the aircraft that is arguably the greatest plane to fly in American military service celebrates 50 years of continuous production, a remarkable testimony to its hardy usefulness.

The plane is not the mighty B-52, not the redoubtable F-4 Phantom, not the artist's-dream P-51 Mustang, none of them: This foremost of U.S. military aircraft is the Dumboesque C-130 Hercules.

"I am convinced that the C-130 is one of the greatest aircraft ever built," said Air Force Gen. John W. Handy, chief of the U.S. Transportation Command.

Lockheed Martin Corp. has been building the rugged plane without interruption to the assembly line since early 1954, longer than any military aircraft. Its production has spanned essentially half the history of powered flight.

With its distinctive pudgy shape tugged along by four mighty - and mighty noisy - turboprop engines, the Hercules is a transport plane that no news reporter can resist calling "lumbering," though it can zip along at almost 400 mph.

And the plane has landed nimbly - without the aid of an arresting tailhook to stop it - on one of the Navy's aircraft carriers. It landed on only one carrier, the USS Forrestal, during tests of the feasibility of landing and launching such a large plane on carriers.

The C-130 has landed or airdropped cargo at every flashpoint from the Congo to Vietnam to Kosovo to Afghanistan and Iraq. It has dropped bombs and then turned around and hauled relief supplies to every Godforsaken outpost and calamity on the globe.

During the Vietnam War, a Coast Guard C-130 pilot even outmaneuvered a North Vietnamese MiG-21, luring it into apparently crashing in a canyon as the Hercules evaded the little fighter's cannon fire. The kill was not confirmed, but the C-130 flew out of the valley and the MiG didn't, according to Coast Guard aviation sources.

First flown Aug. 23, 1954, in Burbank, Calif., the C-130 entered operational service in 1956 with the U.S. Air Force. Since then, more than 2,270 Hercules have been delivered to 60 countries, and 67 countries - counting those that bought pre-owned C-130s - fly the beefy plane.

Because of its ubiquity, the "Herk" is the standard by which military equipment is measured. As one official told Army magazine, "if it doesn't fit into a C-130, it doesn't go."

An array of technical, economic and historical factors vaulted the Hercules to its pre-eminence.

From its high wing to low-hanging belly to its upswept tail, form follows function in the Herk's design.

"The C-130 is only the second airplane designed from the ground up as a military cargo airplane," said Bill Mikolowsky, Lockheed Martin's senior manager for air mobility at the Hercules plant in Marietta, Ga. "They got it about just right."

After generations of underpowered cargo craft, the C-130's turbine engines - a first for American production transports - endowed the plane with plenty of power. Those turboprop power plants gave the aircraft the ability to carry more, go faster and get into and out of tiny rough-country strips.

"That made the airplane an instant success," Mikolowsky said.

The C-130 is as tough as the Greek hero it's named for.

"It's a very robust aircraft," said John McDonald, the C-130 chief engineer with the Air Force's Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia.

Compared with temperamental jets, he said, Herks are happy on dirt runways, where their high-set wings and propellers keep the engines from sucking up buckets of rocks.

Its cargo compartment is high, wide and long, and you can drive right into it from the rear-opening ramp.

"You can do roll-on, roll-off stuff all the time," McDonald said.

"Aerodynamically, the C-130, though not pretty - except to those of us who love its rugged good looks - represents a reasonably clean figuration," which contributes to its performance, Mikolowsky said.

Buying and flying the Herk won't break the bank. The Air Force says a C-130 costs $48.5 million, which, while not Georgia peanuts, is inexpensive for a military transport.

"Compared to most aircraft, the cost per flying hour is very, very low," McDonald said. And "if you're going to modify an aircraft, the C-130 is a lot cheaper" to redesign for those odd little special missions.

There's strength in numbers.

With so many Herks flying around the world, a solid industrial base grew up to support the plane, making it attractive for armed forces to operate.

"You can buy more," McDonald said, "so you use them for more things."

Good publicity goes a long way.

Two dramatic, widely reported events demonstrated how useful the Hercules could be to military customers, Mikolowsky said.

In the 1968 siege of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War, a massive airlift shouldered primarily by the Hercules supplied cut-off U.S. Marines for 70 days.

Then in 1976, the Israelis flew four C-130s 2,000 miles to rescue 105 hostages held by terrorists in Entebbe, Uganda, demonstrating how the plane could be turned into a weapon of power projection.

International sales took off.

"If you're going to have a serious air force, you've got to have Herks to go with your fighters," Mikolowsky said.

Pilots love it.

"It's a damn good airplane," said Bob Hill, Lockheed Martin's chief production and delivery pilot in Marietta, Ga.

Hill is 71, and he has flown approaching 10,000 hours in the Herk.

"I'm not retired," he said, "cause there's no way in the world I can get hold of an airplane like this."


Ellie