Hack's *Voice Of The Grunt* 2002-04-17
Hack is on the Tube tonight...FOXnews, The O'Reilly Factor @ 8pm and 11pm
EDT.

1) Hack Notes & Column: RUMSFELD SAVES THE QUEEN OF BATTLE
2) Letters: from Afghanistan, AWOL, FORCE OF NONE, Terror Timeline, Patton's
Army
3) End Notes; How To Unsub/Undupe, Change eMail Addresses, Ask Questions
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--1-- Hack Notes & Columns

A dear buddy, a retired general who was one of my lieutenants back in Vietnam
a thousand years ago, recently attended a conference at the Army's
prestigious Command & General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The
Deputy Commanding General of the College told the participants to check out
www.SFTT.org to get a good reading what the troops are saying and on how they
feel.

SFTT is getting out the word! Go to www.SFTT.org and take a look.

A big congratulations to Ed Offley and his brilliant crew for turning out
such a fine magazine week after week.

The truth will prevail -- we may not be winning, but we're sure scoring
points. And since we're G's, that's pretty damn good.

Keep Five Yards,

Hack
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Here are the intros to each news item on the Soldiers For The Truth site this
week; go there (http://www.sftt.org) and click on "read DefenseWatch" to find
these great ~ many exclusive ~ military articles:

RUMSFELD SAVES THE QUEEN OF BATTLE
By DAVID H. HACKWORTH
"Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, Bar Nothing" was the logo the legendary
Col. Paddy Flint created for his crack 39th Infantry Regiment in World War
II. Sadly, today's Army has almost run out of senior combat leaders like
Flint, who was killed leading his men. Without such pros at the top, the good
folks at the bottom end up in a world of pain, like our infantry troops did
recently in Afghanistan, where their general didn't have a clue about
guerrilla warfare or mountain combat...."

The U.S. Army needs to know how to conduct high-altitude mountain warfare,
develop the tactics, techniques, and procedures to do so, and share the
experience of other armies to understand and prepare for possible
high-altitude conflicts....

Coast Guard Reservists Busier GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Except
for the antics of "Buddy" the iguana, there is little diversion at the hot,
dusty roadblock to the Navy's camp for detainees from the war in
Afghanistan....

Paul's Corner on Homeland Security: THIS WEEK'S FOCUS: Reminders! We're
living in "Gen-W." Sort of like a few years ago when we were in "Gen-X," for
"Generation - X." Nope, no relation at all to George W., it's "Gen - W,"
short for "Whatever!" It seems so often to me as if the vast majority of
people these days are so focused on themselves, material gain, and instant
gratification, that there is no room in their heads or hearts for the others
around them, or for anything that happened earlier than yesterday or beyond
tomorrow....

Age of U.S. Aircraft Fleets Stirs Concern in Military The Navy and Marine
Corps aviation force is the oldest ever, with the average plane or helicopter
18 years old. The Sea Knight helicopter that went down off Georgia was 37
years old, officials said. And, even with new aircraft joining the fleet, the
average age of the force is scheduled to increase to 20 years during the next
five years....

Opposing View: Misconduct Not Tolerated The National Guard Bureau, the
Department of the Army and Undersecretary of Defense David Chu declined
invitations to write an Opposing View. The following comments are condensed
from Chu's letter to Congress that responds to issues raised by USA TODAY....

National Guard Troubles Raise Doubts on Readiness Thousands of National Guard
troops are patrolling Bosnia, Iraq and Central Asia today, and not just for
show. Increasingly the Pentagon has spliced Guard units extensively into
operational planning. But whether the Guard is up to the task increasingly
seems in doubt....

Editor's Note: The following e-mail message from an Air Force Tactical Air
Control Party officer recounts the intense fighting in Afghanistan during
Operation Anaconda....

The Vietnam War Experience May Save Us The Vietnam War ripped our nation
apart. And, today, in our war for national survival, our leaders should take
another look at this national tragedy. For if our leaders acknowledge our
failure in Vietnam and learn from the mistakes, then our nation may survive
this nightmarish era when an individual has the power to unleash a weapon of
mass destruction. But if our leaders repeat the same errors made in Vietnam,
then the United States as a sovereign nation could well be finished....

The Danger in Lebanon Watch Lebanon. If you want to know where the
Israeli-Palestinian war is going, watch Lebanon. If the war goes -- literally
-- ballistic, the fuse will have been lit by the Iran-backed Hezbollah
guerrillas now firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon....

Other Stories:

Special Report: Flawed Mobilization Hurts the War on Terrorism
- Reserve Call-up Woes Portend Retention Crisis
- Report From Vieques: Navy Reserve Follies
- Why Air Force People Need Ground Combat Training Other Stories
- People, Not Weapons, Key to Transformation
- Pentagon Failure to Manage Funds Is a Disgrace
- Project SHAD: Lesson from a Secret Experiment
- North Korean Missile Program Remains a Threat
- Some Core Beliefs in a Time of War
- Medal of Honor: Craft, Clarence B., Pfc. USA

Plus archives of older columns
________________________________

You can donate to SFTT via a credit card at the site or send checks/money
orders to:

Soldiers For The Truth
PO Box 11179
Greenwich, CT 06831

Thanks to all of you who are helping us help our troops, and please share if
you haven't yet!
________________________________

--2-- Letters From Hack's Mailbag
AKA Letters To The Editor

>> Hack,

Got the following fire support lessons learned from a friend. Looks like the
real lesson is one you've stated time and again...knowing your MOS basics
cold is still one of the most important things in combat.

Keep up the fire!

Zack

>From the boys in Afghanistan

1. The G/VLLD laser designator is not a functional system in sustained
combat, especially Operation Anaconda. The batteries discharge too quickly,
it is hard to get them recharged when deployed forward, it is bulky, and
heavy.

Because of these limitations, it was not used in the operation. CW2
recommends that we obtain SOFLAM or the Light Weight Laser Designator.

2. MELIOS had problems concerning batteries. He recommend that we obtain
VIPER, which they are currently fielding.

3. Focus your training on Polar fire missions. In the steep mountains it
was very difficult to obtain accurate location for grid missions. Thus, the
FOs relied almost exclusively on Polar missions, i.e. direction, distance,
and elevation to the target from their own location. The FOs must keep their
GPS on continuous mode, carry extra batteries, and have a compass easily
available.

4. FSOs should train their FOs how to use contour lines to navigate in very
steep terrain.

5. FSOs and FOs must know how to determine location in both Longitude and
Latitude and grid.

6. 10th MTN DIV used Falcon View for C2 and the BDE used MCS Light which
created a problem for sharing graphics. CW2 stated that Falcon View provide
better resolution for targeting.

7. The FSE Client Device was not functional at BDE level.

8. 3.5 Disk drives did not work because of the dust. Zip drives and CD ROMs
did not have a problem.

9. Bring a lot of compressed air cans to keep the computers functioning.

10. SIDPERS net was critical for long range communications between different
HQs. Division, BCD, DOCC, BDE, and AOC used live chat rooms to provide
instantaneous information and coordination for operations being executed.
CW2 warns that you must control who is your computer operator sending
information over the chat room and have the messages screened by battle
captain or XO before sending them.

11. Plan your battle rhythm to provide soldiers at least one day off a week
to combat stress and take care of personal needs. The staff maintained about
a 20 hour day battle rhythm for about 2 weeks for the operation.

12. At Kandahar airfield the clearance of fires involved clearing fires with
Air Traffic Control tower, thus it took a couple of minutes. The ROE is very
restrictive with HE release authority held by the BDE CDR.

13. All FOs must be trained on Emergency CAS!!!

14. The BDE's Targeting Procedures work extremely well and the 10th MTN
Division adopted it for their use.

15. The BDE FSO, TGT Officer, and FSNCO must be experts at reading ATOs,
ACOs, and Special Instructions (SPINS). During one operation, the BDE FSE
used the IFF squawk code for the helicopters from the SPINs to get feedback
on locations through the AWACS via TACSAT. This is fed into the MCS-light
which displays the updated position.

16. The PRC-117 is a great radio and provide the artillery with the long
range communication that it needs.

17. The BDE FSE used Navy EP-3s and Predators to over fly AASLT routes and
objectives. Also, the FSE used "TARPs" Tactical Fighter Aircraft doing route
recon in front of helicopters for each mission.

18. The BDE FSE has work very closely with SOF in planning operations. The
special operators have their own system for planning fire support--be
flexible. <<
________________________________

>> During the thirties, in the depths of the big depression, the
>> desertion
rate in the US Army was one in four.

During WW2 there were 30,000 deserters allegedly hanging out in Paris by
early 1945.

During WW1 and WW2, guards were posted on each troop train to prevent
desertions each time the train stopped.

During Vietnam, we sent guys to combat after a two week leave, and expected
them to report to the Port of Embarkation on their own ... and they did. The
highly popularized number of GI's deserting to foreign soil never reached the
point the Army had to resort to WW1 and WW2 tactics ... and that in the
middle of a very unpopular war.

I am concerned with the loss of one-third of the recruits to a lack of
compatibility to the modern army. No one ever did that back when I went
through Basic in 1957, back in the Old Army.

Gordon S Fowkes
Lt Col, US Army (Ret) <<
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A FORCE OF NONE

>> Well, I sure am glad we take care of our "men." By golly I was
>> concerned
when I heard they might not get that "cybercafe" and bottled cappuccino. What
a bunch of zeros!

Guess the Navy was afraid to let them through the Fallbrook gate. Good call
since they can't get a Bradley fighting "tank" 15 miles without loosing it
off the trailer. Man I do feel sorry for those sea turtles, though, the whole
First Marine Division with 12,000 schmos could be there, gone, execute the
plan, clean their gear, and be drinking beer in Oceanside in 5 days

Took these guys 19 days to erect/prep before the event. Cripes, in 19 days
the "war" could be over for the force of none...

San Diego Union-Tribune
April 4, 2002
Army Gets A Pendleton Lift

$22 million joint exercise simulates ways to sustain large force overseas By Jeanette Steele, Staff Writer

CAMP PENDLETON - A parade of barges and ferries is delivering tanks, trucks
and metal containers to the beach here.

It's not the Marines, known for hitting a spot fast and light. It's the Army, a military branch not seen much in these parts. With the help of Navy amphibious construction battalions from Coronado, the
Army is leading a $22 million joint military exercise called Native Atlas
2002.

About 2,500 military personnel are simulating the logistics needed to sustain
a large U.S. military force in a foreign land.

Troops fighting the war against terrorism in Afghanistan are supplied by
airlifts because that nation is landlocked. But the military used this
over-the-shore delivery tactic to supply troops in the Gulf War, military
officials said.

"It replicates going into a theater of operation with a denied or degraded
port operation, so we can go in and establish a theater and bring in
equipment over the beach," said Army Maj. Jim Scott, operations officer for
the 143rd Transportation Command from Orlando, Fla.

The barges, causeway, vehicles and a tent city housing the participants are
visible to motorists on Interstate 5. More than 1,600 soldiers under the 32nd
Transportation Group from Tampa, Fla., and up to 700 sailors from Coronado's
Naval Coastal Warfare and Naval Beach groups and underwater construction and
cargo-handling teams are participating.

The exercise, which began last month, has been conducted annually under
various titles. This year it falls under the authority of U.S. Central
Command, the military command responsible for Southwest Asia.

The remaining participants include an Air Force weather squadron detachment,
Pendleton's 7th Engineer Support Battalion, the Coast Guard cutter Steadfast
and the U.S. Transportation Command and Maritime Administration.

The operation's showpiece is an elevated causeway, which juts a quarter of a
mile into the ocean off Pendleton's Red Beach. It took Navy Seabees 19 days
to erect it, and it will be removed when the exercise ends in mid-April.

Large metal containers of inert ammunition, food and small weapons are being
transferred from Navy and Maritime Administration ships to the causeway,
where they are offloaded by a 140-ton crane onto trucks. The containers will
eventually be trucked to Concord in Northern California to practice
resupplying a force about two days away from the beach.

Bradley tanks, Humvees and 5-ton trucks are coming to the beach via barges.
These vehicles are being driven or hauled up Interstate 15 to the Army's Fort
Irwin, near Barstow. The 2nd Brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division will
use the vehicles for training at the National
Training Center there.

A Bradley tank slipped off a truck yesterday morning near the interchange of
state Route 78 and I-15. The upside-down tank snarled traffic during the
morning commute, but there were no injuries or damage to civilian vehicles,
said Marine Maj. Pete Mitchell, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

Another goal of the exercise is practicing fuel delivery to ground forces
from the sea. About 2 million gallons of fresh water will be pumped from a
ship to storage tanks on the beach, simulating how fuel would be delivered
through an underwater pipeline.

An elaborate tent city has grown up on Pendleton's western edge to support
the Native Atlas crews, who came from throughout the nation.

Military personnel are getting five-star treatment. The Navy Seabees who
built the camp provided hot showers, laundry machines, a gym, a cybercafe and
a movie theater -- all in 226 green tents spread across 50 acres. There's
even a restaurant-style gathering spot with big-screen cable television and
bottled cappuccino.

Camp Commandant Jay Bieszke, a Navy Seabees lieutenant, said it's one of the
largest and most elaborate camps his crews have erected. "I kid that I should
change my name to 'concierge,'" he said. <<
________________________________

>> Col. Hackworth,

This is a timeline of attacks on the U.S. that can be reasonably attributed
to Bin Laden and Al Qaida.

Feb 1993 WTC under ground van bombing attempt.
Nov 1995 Riyadi bombing in Saudi Arabia
June 1996 Saudi Arabia barracks bombing
Aug 1998 African Embassy bombings
Oct 2000 USS Cole bombing
Sept 2001 WTC / Pentagon / hijacking attacks.

There have also been at least two credible claims of foiling other Bin Laden
sponsored attacks on the ConUS.

Jan 1995 Project Bojinka. The simultaneous hijacking of several US bound
airlines from the far east with the purpose of crashing into the ocean or
mainland targets.
Jan 2000. The interception of terrorists at the US / Can border targeting the
space needle in Seattle and LAX.

Two foiled attempts on the life of Pope JP2: 1995 and 1997.

There are 3 airline crashes originating from NYC that are suspicious, to say
the least.

July 1996 Flight 800 (possible Stinger)
Oct 1999 Egypt Air 990 (ultimate suicide bomber??)
Dec 2001 (both engines and tail fall off??? come on!!)

Additionally the attempt by the 'shoe bomber' to take down a US bound plane.

The three NY originated disasters have never been properly explained to my
satisfaction. What is the old saying? "The third time is enemy action."

My point here is that while it is never prudent to relax against these punks,
the separation between attacks is roughly 7-14 months. Using that time period
as a (theoretically) deliberate waiting period in order to provide the most
terror (the goal of a terrorist), we are now entering the period of increased
danger at a time when the country is thinking the worst is over. I also
expect the next attack to be more damaging as the general progression of the
attacks has been more severe rather than less. These people have been one
step ahead of us in these attacks, I suspect while we are checking freighters
and shipping containers for nukes, a
small team of suicide Islamic extremists will pilot a small plane into the
country along the established heroin smuggling routes and take out a large
southeastern city or military base.

In addition, Has anybody else noticed the suicide bombings in Israel have
become more frequent and deadly as we began to clean the clocks of the
taliban and al qaida? While the military action in Afghanistan continues, the
political focus has shifted to the Palestinian crisis. My gut feeling is that
this is a deliberate attempt to open a 'second front' to give Bin
Laden and the rest a chance to rest and reorganize.

The suicide bombings have also bought Saddam an additional 9-12 months to
complete his weapons of mass destruction efforts. It is apparent to me that
there is an alliance between these Arab countries, factions and terrorists to
work in cohesion to advance the agenda of all concerned.

Michael Farmer <<
________________________________

>> Hi David! I agree with your assessment of the military brass. Most
>> of
these people
have been elevated during the last 12 years. Many of these people were
elevated for political reasons more than anything else, by Clinton, and also
by Bush, Sr. Despite the victory in the Gulf War, I believe Bush Sr. made
the mistake of emphasizing and following the advice of the Colin Powell types
instead of the Norman Schwartzkopf types. And I don't need to tell you that
Clinton detested the military and hand-picked only foreign-born, non-US
patriot types to lead.

During WW2, both Patton and the German field marshals and generals of the
Eastern Front proved that rapid, speedy deployments of concentrated heavy
firepower were far superior to anything in their path or that was thrown up
against them.

Patton was probably the greatest military mind of all time. Why do we have
so few like him now, when you think nearly every general would be like him?
As for the field marshals on Germany's Eastern Front, without their heroic
efforts, all of Germany would have been in Russian hands by late 1943 or
early 1944. After Hitler's many interventions cost them
dearly at Moscow (he redirected troops south to Kiev, then they were turned
back from the Kremlin by the early and nasty Russian winter), Leningrad
(where he forced a German mechanized unit of artillery, trucks, and light
tanks to stop when they were ready to link up with the Finns and capture
Leningrad), Stalingrad (the biggest disaster in German military
history), and Kursk (where he delayed attacking the Russians until they had
amassed superior defensive positions, firepower and huge reserves), the
German Army on the Eastern Front existed more on paper than in fact.

Yet the field marshals used a tactic (that Hitler forbade) of withdrawals and
feints to draw the Russians time and time again into traps of concentrated
fire. If they had been allowed to continue this strategy, they might have
bled the Soviet Union dry. As it was, Hitler put an end
to this and they were eventually overrun.

I still think we need heavy artillery and tanks, but we also need to think
outside the box. Our infantry needs to be revamped and given newer and
better tools to fight with. This includes better leadership, but it also
includes new and improved technologies. If we could improve the ability of
the fighting men to know what lies ahead of them from a range of a short
distance to say, ten miles, imagine what that could do. Or, becoming engaged
in a fire fight, what if they could change from having a munition that goes
where it's sprayed to specifically homing in on its target? Or, what if they
could disable or immobilize enemy units miles away without ever firing a shot
or giving away their position through use of new technology?

In basic terms, I agree with you 100% on the need to enhance our military
capabilities. We need to be able to be anybody, anywhere, anytime, anyhow.
And we need to be able to do this in such a way that our enemies are totally
confused, perplexed and scared out of their minds. This way, they will
forget about trying to take us on and move on to more peaceful
endeavors. <<
________________________________

>> Hello Colonel Hack, Shinseki reminded me of the kamikazes of WWII,
>> once
he committed himself with his black beret and "Chuck Norris Force of One,"
the only way
to convince him to stop his suicidal approach was to shoot him down in
flames. His attitude, to me, is more like the Asians' loss of face
routine...the "I must remain on my course or I will shame myself. I will not
listen to reason."

You are right about the perfumed princes.

Thanks for staying on their butts.
Sincerely,
George Allen
MSG RET
US ARMY <<
________________________________

--3-- End Notes; How To Unsub/Undupe, Change eMail Addresses, Ask Questions

<< Subject: Prayers

This came to me second hand, but it is worth passing along.

At 10am this morning I received a prayer request from church. Cathy Mitchell,
who attends Spring Hills, called in to our secretary. Her husband, Tony, is
an Air Force Commander in Afghanistan.

She received an urgent email from him this morning. It said, "We need
Believers to pray, pray, pray. We're in a Blood Bath here!" Please pray for
God's protection of our troops and HIS wisdom for their commanders. Pass this
on to as many as you think will respond.

When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our
ground troops in Afghanistan. There is nothing attached.... This can be very
powerful.... Of all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Prayer is the
very best one. <<

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________________________________ Judy