thedrifter
01-31-06, 11:43 AM
February 06, 2006
Marine News Briefs
Learning to laugh
When the stress of the war on terrorism becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn to laugh.
With help from the Pentagon’s chief laughter instructor, families are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt “ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho.”
No joke.
“I laugh every chance I get,” said the instructor, retired Army Col. James “Scotty” Scott. “That’s why I’m blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives.”
Scott, 57, is certified as a laughter training specialist by the World Laughter Tour, which promotes mirth as medicine.
The program was Scott’s idea. It costs the military virtually nothing, because he already travels to states as a director of military family support policy.
As foolish as students might feel, Scott said he’s lost only one participant: a Marine sergeant major who fled the room with a bad case of the giggles.
Lejeune’s first female CO
Camp Lejeune, N.C., has a female commander for the first time in its history, a Marine Corps news release said.
Col. Adele Hodges assumed command Jan. 23. Her predecessor, Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson, was recently appointed commander of Marine Corps Installations-East during a base structure realignment, the release said.
Hodges enlisted in the Corps in 1978 and worked as a supply administrative clerk before she was commissioned.
According to the release, this is Hodges’ fourth time getting orders to Lejeune. She said she never thought she’d assume command of the base one day.
“My only aspiration when I first joined the Corps was to be the best Marine I could be for four years,” she said. “Even after I was commissioned, the thought of commanding Camp Lejeune, or any other installation, was something I thought could never happen to me.”
Hodges previously served as the chief of the Joint Training Division at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Joint Headquarters North in Stavanger, Norway.
How your pay stacks up
Think the size of your military paycheck doesn’t match your expertise or responsibilities? Ever wonder what you could make in civilian life for what you’ve learned while in uniform?
Each year, Marine Corps Times publishes a special report called “How Your Pay Stacks Up” that aims to answer those questions by comparing the earnings of active-duty service members in various military skills and their private-sector counterparts with similar levels of experience.
The 2006 edition of this special section is slated to run in our May 9 issue, and we’re looking for volunteers. You must be on full-time active duty, either regular military or mobilized National Guardsman or reservist, to be considered.
If you’d like to take part, visit www.marinecorpstimes.com and fill out a brief questionnaire. If you are selected, a member of our staff will contact you for a more thorough interview that will cover the details of what you do, how much you earn, and how you feel about your job and military pay. You will also be asked to provide a high-quality, head-and-shoulders photograph of yourself. Digital images are preferred, but prints are acceptable.
Is the grass really greener on the outside? This is your chance to find out.
Barracks brings back bugle
Marines at the service’s oldest post have brought back a piece of the old Corps.
According to a Marine Corps news release, leathernecks at Marine Barracks Washington are using the valveless bugle.
Sgt. Clint Owens, a soprano bugler, played morning colors Jan. 19 with the horn, which the United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps had not used since the 1950s.
According to Owens, the instrument’s sound is determined completely by lip movement and air speed.
“We’ve reinstated these straight bugles for the same reason we still fly the 1801 flag at evening parades,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brian Dix, director of the Drum and Bugle Corps. “This is our heritage, and it represents where we have come from.”
Future vision?
Service members don’t have superpowers, but defense officials hope to give them supervision.
PixelOptics of Roanoke, Va., will receive $3.5 million from the Defense Department to develop “SuperVision,” a Jan. 17 report from Windsofchange.net said. The firm’s technology could improve the vision of service members beyond 20/20 via electro-active prescription lenses, the report said.
According to the report, the technology uses sensors and electro-active transparent material to alter the index of refraction of the lens dynamically, without any moving parts. This allows the wearer to instantly achieve optimal vision no matter where he looks.
The lenses could also significantly reduce momentary blurring caused by head tilt and movement, the report said.
Base access for salesmen
In February, the Pentagon is scheduled to release new rules governing insurance agents’ access to bases, Stars and Stripes reported.
Defense officials have already posted the names of more than 20 agents who have been banned from conducting business on military installations because of abusive practices, the report said.
That list is available at www.commanderspage.dod.mil, under the Personal Commercial Solicitation Report.
In November, the Government Accountability Office reported that at least six insurance companies operating in 40 states have for years been targeting junior service members with confusing and questionable insurance policies, but little has been done to stop the practice.
Officials said they would not implement an outright ban on salesmen accessing bases.
“You don’t want to put [troops] at risk, but you don’t want to suppress the marketplace, either,” said John Molino, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy. “You want them to be able to make objective and independent decisions.”
Molino said officials will monitor the changes to see if they address the problem and said the department is looking for more ways to work with state officials in identifying abuse.
Marine News Briefs
Learning to laugh
When the stress of the war on terrorism becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn to laugh.
With help from the Pentagon’s chief laughter instructor, families are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt “ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho.”
No joke.
“I laugh every chance I get,” said the instructor, retired Army Col. James “Scotty” Scott. “That’s why I’m blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives.”
Scott, 57, is certified as a laughter training specialist by the World Laughter Tour, which promotes mirth as medicine.
The program was Scott’s idea. It costs the military virtually nothing, because he already travels to states as a director of military family support policy.
As foolish as students might feel, Scott said he’s lost only one participant: a Marine sergeant major who fled the room with a bad case of the giggles.
Lejeune’s first female CO
Camp Lejeune, N.C., has a female commander for the first time in its history, a Marine Corps news release said.
Col. Adele Hodges assumed command Jan. 23. Her predecessor, Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson, was recently appointed commander of Marine Corps Installations-East during a base structure realignment, the release said.
Hodges enlisted in the Corps in 1978 and worked as a supply administrative clerk before she was commissioned.
According to the release, this is Hodges’ fourth time getting orders to Lejeune. She said she never thought she’d assume command of the base one day.
“My only aspiration when I first joined the Corps was to be the best Marine I could be for four years,” she said. “Even after I was commissioned, the thought of commanding Camp Lejeune, or any other installation, was something I thought could never happen to me.”
Hodges previously served as the chief of the Joint Training Division at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Joint Headquarters North in Stavanger, Norway.
How your pay stacks up
Think the size of your military paycheck doesn’t match your expertise or responsibilities? Ever wonder what you could make in civilian life for what you’ve learned while in uniform?
Each year, Marine Corps Times publishes a special report called “How Your Pay Stacks Up” that aims to answer those questions by comparing the earnings of active-duty service members in various military skills and their private-sector counterparts with similar levels of experience.
The 2006 edition of this special section is slated to run in our May 9 issue, and we’re looking for volunteers. You must be on full-time active duty, either regular military or mobilized National Guardsman or reservist, to be considered.
If you’d like to take part, visit www.marinecorpstimes.com and fill out a brief questionnaire. If you are selected, a member of our staff will contact you for a more thorough interview that will cover the details of what you do, how much you earn, and how you feel about your job and military pay. You will also be asked to provide a high-quality, head-and-shoulders photograph of yourself. Digital images are preferred, but prints are acceptable.
Is the grass really greener on the outside? This is your chance to find out.
Barracks brings back bugle
Marines at the service’s oldest post have brought back a piece of the old Corps.
According to a Marine Corps news release, leathernecks at Marine Barracks Washington are using the valveless bugle.
Sgt. Clint Owens, a soprano bugler, played morning colors Jan. 19 with the horn, which the United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps had not used since the 1950s.
According to Owens, the instrument’s sound is determined completely by lip movement and air speed.
“We’ve reinstated these straight bugles for the same reason we still fly the 1801 flag at evening parades,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brian Dix, director of the Drum and Bugle Corps. “This is our heritage, and it represents where we have come from.”
Future vision?
Service members don’t have superpowers, but defense officials hope to give them supervision.
PixelOptics of Roanoke, Va., will receive $3.5 million from the Defense Department to develop “SuperVision,” a Jan. 17 report from Windsofchange.net said. The firm’s technology could improve the vision of service members beyond 20/20 via electro-active prescription lenses, the report said.
According to the report, the technology uses sensors and electro-active transparent material to alter the index of refraction of the lens dynamically, without any moving parts. This allows the wearer to instantly achieve optimal vision no matter where he looks.
The lenses could also significantly reduce momentary blurring caused by head tilt and movement, the report said.
Base access for salesmen
In February, the Pentagon is scheduled to release new rules governing insurance agents’ access to bases, Stars and Stripes reported.
Defense officials have already posted the names of more than 20 agents who have been banned from conducting business on military installations because of abusive practices, the report said.
That list is available at www.commanderspage.dod.mil, under the Personal Commercial Solicitation Report.
In November, the Government Accountability Office reported that at least six insurance companies operating in 40 states have for years been targeting junior service members with confusing and questionable insurance policies, but little has been done to stop the practice.
Officials said they would not implement an outright ban on salesmen accessing bases.
“You don’t want to put [troops] at risk, but you don’t want to suppress the marketplace, either,” said John Molino, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy. “You want them to be able to make objective and independent decisions.”
Molino said officials will monitor the changes to see if they address the problem and said the department is looking for more ways to work with state officials in identifying abuse.