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Roughly 25,000 active-duty soldiers will rotate into Iraq beginning later this year, the Pentagon announced May 19. Another 14,000 National Guard troops will head to Kuwait beginning next spring. Most of the troops will come from units of the 25th Infantry Division's Fort Wainwright, Alaska-based 1st Brigade and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii-based 3rd Brigade. Other deploying units include: the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; and the 172nd Infantry Brigade, Schweinfurt, Germany. The Guard units, all brigade combat teams from Texas, Pennsylania, Louisiana, and Tennessee, will provide route security and base defense in Iraq and Kuwait. The Pentagon also announced that the 86th Brigade Combat Team, Vermont Army National Guard, will deploy to Afghanistan in two years to provide security forces training to Afghan troops. End strength in both combat theaters will remain the same; the deploying units will replace troops who are scheduled to return home.
Air Force leaders want someone within the service's ranks to come up with a name for the new tanker aircraft, the KC-45A. Names should be no more than two words long, and in the words of Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, "emphasize our heritage or our future horizon." Suggestions, along with a sentence or two explaining them, can be submitted to namethetanker@pentagon.af.mil until May 30. All entrants must include their name, rank, duty station and contact information. Government civilians must identify their office and position.
TRICARE, the health-care program for service members and their families, has issued an explanation of a rule that went into effect Jan. 1 regarding coverage by more than one health care plan. The rule, enacted in the 2007 defense bill, bars employers from offering financial or other incentives to some TRICARE-eligible employees if they decide to decline employer- sponsored coverage. The TRICARE statement explained that the law is intended to thwart any incentive to shift health-care costs to the government and taxpayers, and follows a long-standing policy of forbidding such incentives for other government-sponsored health-care packages, such as Medicare. Companies can offer comparable incentives to TRICARE-eligible employees, however, if those incentives are also available to all employees.
Some Navy veterans who served in Vietnam and now claim they are sick because of exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange during the war now bear a heavier burden of proof if they hope to earn disability compensation and health care for their conditions from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled May 8 that the VA correctly defined "service in Vietnam" as actually setting foot on land or navigating the country's inland waters, rather than off the coast. The ruling overturns an earlier Court of Veterans Appeals decision that would have forced the VA to broaden its definition, and as a result open the doors to compensation and treatment to more veterans. The decision in the case, Haas v. Peake, is available online at find it at: www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/07-7037.pdf.
Marines cannot wear the new physical training (PT) uniforms for anything other than their intended use – to exercise in – with a few exceptions. A May 19 administrative message stated that Marines can wear the PT sweatshirts during leave and liberty as an outer garment or layer of clothing, or under a jacket.
They can also wear the new running suit jackets as outer garments, as long as they wear a shirt underneath it and have the zipper fixed at least half way to the top. Also, they can wear the suits in any combination with the green PT shorts and undershirts, but not with USMC sweat suits. The do's and don'ts are spelled out in ALMAR 019/08.
The Defense Commissary Agency is recalling packages of 85-percent lean ground beef because of contamination recently found in some packages at 10 stores. The tainted meat, which contained possible E-coli virus, was sold at Fort McCoy, Wis., Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Ill., Carlisle Barracks, Pa., Bolling Air Force Base, D.C., Fort Monmouth, N.J., Lakehurst Naval Engineering Station, N.J. New London Naval Submarine Base, Conn., Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pa., Fort Carson, Colo., and Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Anyone who bought the beef at these stores between May 1 and May 10 should stop consuming it. They can then either return the package to where they bought it, or provide a receipt, and receive a full refund.
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, the chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, reacted angrily to reports of an inter-office e-mail circulating through the Department of Veterans Affairs that suggested the agency would save both time and money if VA case-workers stopped approving veterans' claims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The e-mail was "disturbing and disappointing," Akaka said. In a May 16 letter to VA Secretary James B. McPeak, Akaka wrote that the VA "has a responsibility to take seriously the effects of combat trauma, yet there are some who fail to appreciate the significance of this responsibility." Akaka also asked McPeak to ensure that PTSD claims receive thorough examination, and said that he requested a full investigation of the e-mail, which was written by a staff psychologist at the Temple, Texas, VA Medical Center.
Spurred by the popularity of TV's "American Idol," the Air Force's Air Mobility Command wants to find its best singer. Sometime in July or August, AMC commands will hold base-level competitions patterned loosely after "American Idol." Winners of the Karaoke-style "Base Icon" contests will move on to a final round at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., AMC's headquarters, on Oct. 23. Judges will determine which of the contestants offers the best package of vocal ability, style, and showmanship. Base-level winners will get $1,000; command-level winners, $2,000. For more information, visit www.amcsvs.com or contact the service squadron at AMC bases.
The Army will add one week to the basic training course its recruits must complete, beginning Oct. 1. The 10th week will enable drill sergeants additional time to ensure the soldiers they train are up to speed in both endurance and skills they need to know, the senior non-commissioned officer for the Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) said in an interview for June editions of AUSA News, the publication of the Association of the U.S. Army. The additional week gives soldiers "extra time to ask questions" of their drill sergeants and places emphasis on the "outcome-based training" that is the focal point of the Army's new field manual, said Command Sgt. Maj. David Bruner.
Armed Forces News
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Website: http://www.armedforcesnews.com
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Concurrent Receipt Grass Roots
Concurrent Receipt Grass Roots
This page was last updated on: July 6, 2008
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