From: bergman@AFPAN.PA.AF.MIL (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: Army News 09/24/92
Date: 28 Sep 92 13:43:09 GMT
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC


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Correction on "U.S., Kuwaiti paratroopers conduct joint jumps, by Spc. 
Ginger Pence"

      Note to editors: This is not to be run as is, as a correction 
notice.
      In the story released Sept. 23, "U.S., Kuwaiti paratroopers 
conduct joint jumps," 5th paragraph, Capt. Peter Becker was identified 
with Special Forces Command Central. This is incorrect. The command is 
-- Special Operations Command Central.
      If you have not yet run this story, please make this correction.
      Thank you --
      -- ARNEWS


U.S., Kuwaiti armor rumbles together through desert, by Pfc. Larry R. 
Butterfas

      6TH BRIGADE CAMP, Kuwait (ARNEWS) -- Rolling through the desert, 
they made an awesome sight. Four kilometers wide and seven kilometers 
deep, they rolled.
      Task Force 3-32 Armor, 1st Cavalry Division was conducting a  
movement to contact mission in the Kuwaiti desert, Sept. 3 and 4. The 
goal of the mission was to bring the force together at a single point 
in time and focus the combat power on an objective, said Lt. Col. 
Joseph F. Fil, task force commander.
      One of the challenges the force faced during the movement was 
the non-descript desert. "It's difficult to maneuver without the aid 
of distinguishable terrain features," Fil said.
      Yet they pushed on, with the scout platoon leading about six 
"clicks" ahead.
      "Our mission was to locate the enemy," said 1st Lt. Michael 
Brantley, scout platoon leader. "Once we located them, we informed the 
commanders of where they were, what was out there, and then got out of 
the way.
      "It was amazing to see a force that size move to contact that 
quickly," he said. "It's very comforting to know that if it had been 
real, we had that kind of power behind us."
      Fil agreed. "The soldiers did everything we asked them to do," 
he said. "They met and surpassed all expectations."
      However, Fil said that some of the soldiers may have gotten 
bored with the scenery after awhile.
      "There were only three HMMWVs out there playing the part of the 
enemy," he explained. "Next time, we are going to try to go force-on-
force, if we have enough soldiers."
      While the task force rolled through the desert, they were 
watched by the commander of the 1st Cav. Div., Maj. Gen. Wesley K. 
Clark.
      "If called upon, this would be a great fighting force," Clark 
said. "They are ready. This exercise is proof of it."
      Fil said what made this training successful was the prior 
planning. "We went through the crawl, walk, run method of training," 
he said.
      "Crawling consisted of working out the plan on paper. Walking 
entailed a scaled-down version with miniature tanks and vehicles. And 
running was the actual exercise.
      "By the time we got onto the vehicles, everyone had done the 
mission several times. That way, the actual operation ran to a pretty 
high standard," Fil said.
      At the end of the exercise, all the soldiers climbed off their 
vehicles and looked at the high ground to the north. The country they 
were looking at was Iraq.
      "I felt it was important for the soldiers to understand where we 
are in the world," Fil said.
      "We are here for the purpose of showing the commitment that our 
nation has to the protection of this area," he said, "and to show that 
we have established a presence here. It is a presence with some real 
capability."
     (Butterfas is assigned to the 4th Public Affairs Team, 1st 
Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, deployed to Kuwait in support 
of Operation Intrinsic Action.)


Testing officials caution supervisors against test bias

      WASHINGTON (ARNEWS) -- Results from skill development tests 
taken in fiscal year 1992 and 1993 must not be used to determine 
soldiers' promotions, assignments or other personnel actions, ac-
cording to Training and Doctrine Command officials.
      The SDT is in the validation stage until October 1993, according 
to Ed Braddock, of TRADOC's Individual Training Evaluation Directorate 
at Fort Eustis, Va. The SDT replaced the skill qualification test in 
October 1991. It is given annually to sergeants through sergeants 
first class to test technical and tactical knowledge.
      Testing officials report increasing complaints from soldiers 
about SDT results being used on formal evaluation reports, or as a 
discriminating factor for assignments.
      Army guidance stipulates that test results be revealed only to 
the soldier, and that the results be treated as "personal in nature," 
Braddock said. "In this case, personal means only the soldier, not the 
soldier and his commander or first sergeant.
      "If commanders see the results, they may not realize they are 
favoring one soldier or holding his results against him," Braddock 
said. "Others may not realize that they are wrong."
      Testing during the validation stage will familiarize soldiers 
with the test's content, "so they can see what kind of efforts they 
need to put forth to pass," Braddock said. A passing score will not be 
established until after the validation period.
      The plan, according to Braddock, is to use scores from the 
fiscal 1994 test as criteria for attendance at professional 
development schools. The actual uses and passing guidelines will be 
announced before the implementation date.
     (Information for this article was provided by K.R. Clark, a 
Pentagram staff writer.)


COMMENTARY: Army's power leads to responsibility, by Ken Blackburn

      FORT LEWIS, Wash. (ARNEWS) -- It's a classic shot -- a big, 
gruff soldier reaches out with weathered hands to take a hungry, sick 
child in his arms.
      We've all seen this shot or some variation on the theme. And 
every day, somewhere in the world, it's happening again.
      Today it's happening in South Florida, as U.S. troops work on a 
humanitarian assistance mission on their own soil for the second time 
in four months. Before that, soldiers kept the peace on the streets of 
Los Angeles.
      The question is, should we be doing these things? Frankly 
speaking our jobs are meant for war. Where does this caring stuff come 
in?
      Three months ago, I stood outside Camp McCalla III at Guantanamo 
Bay Naval Base, Cuba, watching a soldier supervise the feeding of 
Haitian migrants. After 90 days of viewing this relief mission from 
every angle -- including migrants being picked up at sea and put on 
planes to the States, or on boats back to Haiti -- I had some serious 
reservations about our involvement.
      Watching the LA riots on television put another damper on my 
public spiritedness. I didn't join the Army to keep Americans from 
killing each other.
      In the comic books, this is usually the point where the 
despairing hero hears the phrase, "With great power comes great 
responsibility." The hero squares his shoulders and drives on.
      My wakeup call was more subtle, but had no less an impact. On 
one of my last trips to the migrant camps, I stopped to watch a young 
soldier from Louisiana teach English to Haitian children.
      Her classroom was a GP-medium tent, her instruction materials 
were cobbled together from a dozen sources, and some of her students 
would never get the chance to use their English language skills. Yet 
there she sat, in the dust, patiently repeating words to her fidgeting 
students.
      Yes, it was definitely one of those "you had to be there" 
scenes. But it affected me deeply, making me remember the hundreds of 
similar "mental snapshots" I'd accumulated.
      With great power does come great responsibility -- and who's to 
say that power must only be used to destroy, or that responsibility 
ends with foreign threats.
     (Blackburn writes for Fort Lewis' Northwest Guardian.)


Hurricane-victimized veterans to get special funding

      WASHINGTON (ARNEWS) -- Some veterans whose jobs were lost to 
Hurricane Andrew in Florida have a chance to join in a specially 
funded program of on-the-job training in support of reconstruction in 
Dade County.
      The program, begun recently by the U.S. Department of Labor, 
consists of $250,000 in grants to create jobs for Andrew-displaced 
veterans. That amount is in addition to the $15 million already 
approved for helping displaced workers statewide. It's aimed at 
service-connected disabled veterans and recently separated veterans 
who need employment assistance and may not otherwise be helped.
      "It is important that we move to rapidly retrain these veterans 
so they can participate in the huge rebuilding effort underway," said 
Labor Secretary Lynn Martin.
      She said the funds, which will apply toward training and 
placement of about 107 eligible veterans, are to be disbursed through 
the Florida governor's office. Among the occupational areas on the 
list for job training are carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, truck 
driving and medium-equipment operations.
      The $250-k grant also will provide for minor purchases of such 
needed equipment as saws, hammers and safety gear.
      State officials, who had requested the emergency funds, expect 
the funds to go into use immediately, the goal being to complete the 
training by March.


U.S., Kuwaiti paratroopers conduct joint jumps, by Spc. Ginger Pence

      ALI AL SALEM AIR BASE, Kuwait (ARNEWS) -- Skimming the sky from 
1,500 feet up, his parachute above and his country below, Lt. Kahld 
al-Obdi didn't want to land. The UH-60 Blackhawk he had just left was 
now in the distance, circling the airfield on its descent.
      During the combined airborne operations Sept. 3, Obdi savored 
feeling like a bird. The sensation lasted less than a minute. Then 
Obdi hit the ground in the field beside the tarmac, feet first, and 
hurried to pack his parachute.
      The jump went well.
      More than 60 members of the Kuwaiti and American militaries 
jumped together during training to ensure that everyone can work 
together in airborne operations.
      "Interoperability is a word I use a lot for the airborne 
operations with our Kuwaiti friends," said Capt. Peter Becker from 
Special Forces Command Central. "It's important to familiarize each 
other with the different airborne techniques."
      American procedures prevailed, Sept. 3, although most troops 
said differences between the nations are slight. A Blackhawk took up 
about six people per pass, letting Americans and Kuwaitis jump 
together. All U.S. branches of service were represented, and about 10 
Kuwaiti soldiers participated.
      A plus to the combined training was tightening the bond between 
the two nations. "Paratroopers throughout the world share a love for 
jumping," Becker said. "This develops airborne camaraderie."
      Some of the troopers, like Obdi, had only jumped out of fixed-
wing aircraft, never helicopters. "It was a new experience," Obdi 
said, who has made seven jumps. "It was great -- especially the 
weather was great for this jump."
      He admitted that training with another country's military is 
different, the most obvious challenge being the language barrier. But 
even though communication is sometimes difficult, he enjoys training 
with Americans. 
      "It's good. I've learned a lot from them," he said. "Every day 
we train with them, I learn something else."
      That sharing of experience goes both ways, according to Sgt. 1st 
Class Les Thorton, of Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces 
Group, Fort Campbell, Ky. He's made well over 200 jumps in countries 
around the world; and from those experiences, he knows that combined 
jumping builds a good rapport between two armies.
      "I'm satisfied training with them," Thorton said. "They show us 
what they know, and we show them what we know. It's give and take."
     (Pence is a photojournalist assigned to the 14th Public Affairs 
Team from Fort Carson Colo., deployed to Kuwait in support of 
Operation Intrinsic Action.)


Congress OKs provision for supplemental dental care

      WASHINGTON (ARNEWS) -- The House and Senate have both approved 
the idea of an expanded dental plan for military families, but they 
differ on the specifics.
      The House Appropriations Committee has voted in an extra $50 
million for the fiscal 1993 budget, to support a single integrated 
dental program that would include the current basic and expanded 
benefits. The House wants the new program to begin April 1.
      On the other hand, the Senate Armed Services Committee 
authorized $80 million to revise the Dependents Dental Plan. The 
Senate also authorized an increase in the monthly premium limit from 
$10 to $20. And it authorized DoD to prescribe higher deductibles for 
orthodontic services, crowns, gold fillings, bridges and dentures.
      A joint committee will now consider the subject. But there are 
too many variables to say when the Integrated Dental Benefits Plan 
will go into effect or what it will entail, said an official at the 
Office of the Chief, Army Dental Corps.
      After the legislation is finalized, the Office of Civilian 
Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services will work on 
implementing the dental plan.
      The current DDP covers basic dental care, such as exams, 
cleaning and fillings. 
      The Army community, represented in part by Army Family Action 
Plan members, has said that the high cost of civilian specialty care 
not covered by DDP creates a financial burden for soldiers. An 
integrated program will relieve a large part of the military families' 
cost for civilian dental care, the Dental Corps official said.


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