The young lieutenants at West Point represent the future and the World War II veterans represent the past.
"What's missing? The present. That's us, and we have to do whatever we can on behalf of the troops overseas and support them when they get back so they can lead a normal life again," said Wong, a member of a Legion post in New York's Chinatown.

Health care is one of the main issues for the Legion, officials said.
R. Michael Suter, a retired Marine from Jamestown, said it's fair to say "the Legion battles the VA" as one of its primary functions.

All veterans are entitled to health care, the Legion feels, and delegates passed resolutions in support of increased funding.

"Service-connected disabilities are an extension of the cost of war," according to one resolution, which will be forwarded to the national Legion convention in Nashville, Aug. 27-Sept. 2.

The fact the Legion exists "is the result of failed foreign policy," said State Legion Adjutant Richard M. Pedro.
Because other means failed, it was necessary to go to war and create veterans and the need for veterans' organizations, he said.

"It is the government's responsibility to take care of" people it sends into war, he said.
Veterans room and plaque dedicated in Pawlet
article date: 07/09/2004
By Linda Maness
Journal Correspondent
PAWLET - On the morning of Sunday, July 4, nearly 75 community members, two dozen or more of them being war veterans, gathered in the Pawlet Town Hall to witness and celebrate the dedication of the "Armed Forces Veterans Memorial Room" and the unveiling of a new memorial bronze plaque.

Pawlet's Steve Leach, U.S. Army, led the dedication ceremony.
Leach was the driving force behind the movement to get the Pawlet townspeople's approval for installing a veterans memorial plaque at the Town Hall. Last February Leach was able to garner 186 signatures on a petition which led to a resounding "yes" voice-vote at the annual March Town meeting.

Sunday's brief but heartfelt ceremony began with Jeff Kelly, member of Pawlet Boy Scout Troop #324, posting the Colors, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer led by William Leach, U.S.M.C., VFW Post 6471 Chaplain.

Steve Leach went on to acknowledge American Sign and Graphic, maker of the plaque, and the generous donors who, through their financial gifts, made the plaque a reality.

He went on to recognize and thank West Pawlet's John Davis, a Vietnam veteran, who, "... brought his tools and expertise to install the plaque."

The dedication included the reading of three poems, "It is the Veteran" read by Judy Coolidge, Pawlet Town Treasurer, "The Veteran" read by Charles Leach and "Brothers to the End" read by Steve Leach.

Leach also offered a quote from General George S. Patton which included the words, "It is honorable and necessary to remember and honor our citizen service members both Men and Women who have sacrificed so that we would remain free, Though it is also fitting to thank God that such Men and Women exist in our presence and have always served us."

The program notes included the phrasing provided by Leach to mark the occasion, "Pawlet Veterans both Men and Women have lived the creed, 'Duty, Honor Country,' Veterans of Pawlet, Men and Women Peacetime and War, We Salute you."

Veterans Memorial Committee member Rod Prevost, U.S. Navy, gave an explanation of the Blue Star Banner and Lorraine Prevost and Edie Mach unveiled Pawlet's own Blue Star Banner, which will hang in the newly dedicated room.

World War II veterans and Pawlet citizens Duane Parks, U.S.M.C., Walt Redenbacher, U.S.M.C., Jim Waite, U.S. Navy and Hiram Evans, U.S. Air Force, unveiled the memorial veterans plaque signifying the completion of the dedication of the "Armed Forces Veterans Memorial Room."

Leach offered his opinion afterwards, "Pawlet has always been behind their service men and women," and indicated that the memorial plaque was but one way to show the town's ongoing support.

The money left over from the memorial plaque project and steel flag pole installed at the Veterans Memorial Park at Butternut Bend were presented in the form of a check in the amount of $201.28 to Prevost to be put into the Veterans Memorial Fund.

Rahall wants to extend VA benefits

By Staff reports
WASHINGTON - Working with West Virginia veteran John Jarrett Peters and veterans groups, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., wants to expand benefits to veterans who served where there was hostile fire.

The two bills Rahall introduced would "extend eligibility for veterans' pensions to those who served in the Korean Peninsula, Lebanon, Grenada and other [places], where their service involved hostile fire or aggression," Rahall said. "Today, these veterans are not eligible for a VA pension because they are not considered to be wartime veterans under current law."

Right now, unless the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs waives a "period of war" requirement, veterans cannot receive the benefit.

Peters with American Legion Post 93 is urging passage of House Bill 4763. "After what they have sacrificed and endured, I do not feel their dignity should be stripped should they need financial help by having to ask for welfare. It should be noted this expanded eligibility would only entitle them to monetary benefits in the event of permanent and total disability and financial hardship and to members of what I feel is a deserving group of veterans."

Peters is asking people to contact their representatives through the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge

Vets: Comfort from home Legion supports Navy Reservist in Kuwait  By KURT MOORE The Marion Star        
American Legion Post 584 member Rick Bingley held onto the flag, its red, white and blue colors weathered from a month of flying over Camp Spearhead near Kuwait City.

Robert Sisson, a Navy Reservist, had sent it to the post along with a message.
"As you can see it took a beating," he wrote. "Keep in mind that is the same environment your troops are in every day while on duty over here. They also are taking the same beating from the sand, wind, heat and humidity.

"Please keep them in your thoughts as you look at this flag, for what they do is for each and every one of you."
Bingley, who served with Sisson during two tours in Vietnam, and other members of the post are trying to do just that by sending a bit of a thank you from home.

Badminton sets. Patriotic gliders. Footballs. Golf clubs. The items stretched over the post's back tables. They ranged from fundamentals like razors and socks to a microwave and more recreational items like puzzle books. They also sent calling cards so the troops could call their loved ones back home.

"This is what they need to get their minds off sniper fire and the killings over there," Bingley said. "We always try to take care of the home boys. They're protecting our backside, our country so we don't get this 9/11 again."

Sisson, who serves with the Columbus-based U.S. Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 9, has been stationed overseas since January. His wife, Sharon, said they are working alongside the Army in the largest mobilization of personnel and equipment since D-Day in World War II.

She said he had told her he wanted gifts to give to the men and directed her to go to the post for help.
"It's hard," Sharon Sisson said about her husband serving overseas. "But that is where Bobby needs to be so we're hanging tough."

She paused, pointing to the legion members preparing to package the donations.
"And I have all my friends," she said. "I'm going to say they're my guys."
Her guys took up a collection at the post and spent more than $4,000 on the goodwill offering. Wyandot Inc. and Golden Valley Microwave Popcorn donated the snacks.

"It's important because we like to support our troops," said post commander Jack Kauble. "A little comfort from home always helps."

Bingley and Sharon Sisson, reflecting to how poorly troops were supported during the Vietnam War, said they want this time to be different. During that war, Bingley said, soldiers didn't see such support.

"We are making sure it never happens again," Sharon Sisson said.
WASHINGTON, July 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. House of Representatives has joined the 2.7 million-member American Legion in calling for President George W. Bush to "posthumously award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harry W. Colmery."

Colmery, a World War I veteran and American Legion past national commander, is widely recognized as the author of the original GI Bill. The Kansas lawyer's penciled outline of the GI Bill is contained in a glass display case at American Legion National Headquarters at Indianapolis. Since June 17, 2002, a plaque dedicated to Colmery's work has marked the suite, Room 570 of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where the World War I veteran on Dec. 15, 1943, penned his remarkable vision. Rep. Jim Ryun of Kansas took the lead on a "sense of Congress" resolution that the House approved on Tuesday.

"Millions of GIs bought homes, started businesses and attended college on the original GI Bill, thusly creating a middle class and raising expectations for future generations of Americans," American Legion National Commander John Brieden said. "In addition to boosting today's Montgomery GI Bill to the educational buying power of its prototype, awarding the Medal of Freedom to its author, Mr. Colmery, is a long-overdue gesture. My thanks to all members of the House who voted in favor of recognizing the efforts of Mr. Colmery."

In an op-ed commemorating the 60th anniversary of the GI Bill's signing, June 22, Brieden chronicled the impact of the legislation: "The suburb was born. The shopping center followed. Roads had to be built to connect communities. The engine of economic growth churned. Dreams came true. Men and women of a variety of backgrounds, who served their nation honorably in the U.S. armed forces, made something of themselves. Their accomplishments raised expectations for their children and for future generations... And the GI Bill worked! The noble impulse of Colmery and his American Legion comrades poured '...the pursuit of Happiness' out of the history books and into the aspirations of our finest citizens. The vision of Past National Commander Colmery, as he is known within The American Legion, changed America. He deserves the Medal of Freedom."

President Truman established the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1945 to recognize notable service during war, and in 1963 President Kennedy reinstated the medal to honor the achievement of civilians during peacetime.

The bill is House Concurrent Resolution 257.
Military vote vital for a Bush victory

By Ralph Z. Hallow
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
President Bush could not have won the Electoral College in 2000 without the military vote, and that vote is shaping up to go his way again on Nov. 2, military analysts and pollsters from both sides say.
"When we look at the veterans' vote and the military vote, it looks like it's going pretty solidly for the president," Democrat pollster Celinda Lake said.

Total voter turnout - civilian, current and retired military - was 105 million in 2000. Last year, the Defense Department reported that 1.4 million men and women were on active duty and an additional 882,000 were in the reserves. But experts define the military vote as far larger than that.
"Among the electorate, 30 percent of households have at least one member on active duty or a veteran," Republican pollster Ed Goeas said. "These households tend to vote Republican by a six-point margin over Democrats."
If the election were held tomorrow, those active-duty, reserve and veteran votes would go to Mr. Bush by a margin of 52 percent to 44 percent, according to the June 20 to 23 bipartisan Battleground Poll of likely voters that Ms. Lake conducted with Mr. Goeas.
The poll confirms that, so far, Sen. John Kerry's status as decorated Vietnam War veteran has given him no boost in this military vote, both pollsters agree.
They also agree that large populations of military voters and their families are not scattered evenly across the country, but are concentrated in a number of states. And many of those states - most notably Florida - are considered battlegrounds in the war to win the Electoral College, where presidents are chosen.
"Perhaps the best way to understand the importance of the military vote is to look at the outcome of 2000 in Florida," said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a think tank focusing on national defense issues.
"If Eglin [Air Force Base] were in Alabama instead of Florida, Al Gore would be in the White House," he said. "The margin was that close, and the military vote went heavily Republican."
Because television networks have promised not to declare a winner before the polls close as they did in 2000 in Florida and other states, the military vote is expected to be even more important. This is expected to be especially true in Florida, where a contentious recount, including absentee military ballots, and a Supreme Court decision finally tipped the Electoral College in Mr. Bush's favor.
The Republican's victory margin in Florida was 537 votes, which gave the president the state's 25 electoral votes, for a 271 vote total in the Electoral College - one more vote than the 270 needed to win.
All sides agree that the military vote, including absentee ballots from active-duty warriors abroad, made the difference - even though Democrats succeeded in having thousands of those ballots declared invalid because the military had failed to postmark the envelopes containing the ballots.
Duval County has the greatest concentration of military families of Florida's 67 counties. In Duval alone, 618 ballots came from overseas absentee voters in 2000.
Of the 469 overseas ballots declared valid, more than twice as many went to Mr. Bush than went to Al Gore. No record was made, however, of how many of the overseas absentee total were military ballots.
But experts say that since the advent of the all-volunteer armed services 31 years ago, recent veterans - such as current active-duty members - tend to be more conservative than those from the military draft era.
"If you are military now, you are more likely to be Republican and conservative than your civilian counterpart," said Peter D. Feaver, director of the Triangle Institute for Security Studies at Duke University. "If you are black and in the military, you are also more likely to be conservative and Republican than blacks not in the military."
Nine out of every 10 black votes overall went to Al Gore in 2000. Mr. Bush won 54 percent of the overall white vote. No national figures are available for what the total military votes were or how many went to each candidate.
Democrats predict that more of the military than usual will go their way this November because extended-duty tours and continuing causalities have antagonized a growing number of families of those serving in Iraq and have driven some to Mr. Kerry.
"Usually active-duty military follows the commander in chief, but in this election, I think their families are going to vote for John Kerry," said Scott Maddox, Florida Democratic party chairman.
Ms. Lake says "there is evidence" that Democrats are doing better with the spouses of active-duty military people. But experts say predictions about the families of those on active duty are based on anecdotes, not polling.
Even so, Mr. Thompson says in "an electorate almost evenly split on many key issues, the military vote can be critical to carrying at least 10 states. There are only four states in the entire nation that don't have military bases."
The military vote may help Mr. Bush even in a nonbattleground states such as California, where there is a large concentration of military, including between 60,000 and 75,000 on active duty.
The state went for Al Gore in 2000, but that was before the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, the surprise election of movie idol Arnold Schwarzenegger as the first Republican governor of California since Pete Wilson's re-election in 1995, and Mr. Bush's becoming a wartime president.
Mr. Goeas said the Democratic presidential candidate's normal 12 percentage-point edge in California "seems to be diminishing." One explanation might be the state's heavy military vote. Hispanics, who are disproportionately represented in that vote, now show signs of moving toward Mr. Bush, he said.
He said New Jersey also bears watching. It usually votes for the Democrat, but has several large military bases and an unpopular Democratic governor.
Yet another possible surprise in the making: Hawaii, which voted Democratic in the past three presidential elections, but has a tendency to vote for the incumbent. That coupled with its high concentration of military-related families makes it "winnable" for the president, Mr. Goeas says.

Other Services Eyed by Army for Recruiting
By ERIC SCHMITT

Published: July 9, 2004

WASHINGTON, July 8 - The Army is looking for a few good sailors and airmen. Actually, more than just a few.
In what some military experts see as another sign of how the Army's commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan have strained it, the service for the first time will soon begin aggressively recruiting thousands of sailors and airmen who are otherwise scheduled to leave the Navy and Air Force because of cutbacks.

Under a new program called Operation Blue to Green, the Army plans to offer bonuses of up to $10,000, in some cases, and four weeks of extra training to airmen and sailors willing to trade in their dress-blue uniforms for Army green fatigues. The Army is especially interested in men and women who have jobs that are readily transferable to Army positions, like mechanics and logisticians.

Many details must still be worked out and final Pentagon approval is still pending, but Army officials say the new program is a marriage of convenience. The Army is temporarily increasing its ranks by 30,000 soldiers by 2006, and will need to recruit at least 77,000 soldiers this year and 80,000 next year to meet that goal.

Meantime, the Navy and Air Force are shrinking. The Air Force intends to cut its forces by 22,500 next year, the Navy by 7,900.

"This is an opportunity for all the services to work together," said an Army officer who is working on the new program. "It's a way to make sure those men and women who want to serve can continue to serve."

If all goes according to plan, the program will begin around Oct. 1, Army officials said Thursday. While the program has not been formally announced, the Army two weeks ago posted details about the program on its Web Site, www.goarmy.com. So far, officials said, more than 100 people have already expressed interest in switching services.

"Operation Blue to Green will allow you to continue to serve your country, to maintain the benefits of military service, and to expand your horizons by gaining new training and trying new things," said a description of the program on the Web site.

Army officials said transferring enlisted personnel from one service to another would require a change in Pentagon policy, but could also save as much as $10,000 per service member in training and recruiting costs.

On Capitol Hill, senior House and Senate leaders, including Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, endorse the plan. Representative John M. McHugh, a New York Republican who heads the House Armed Services total force subcommittee, said the concept kept valuable service members in the armed forces, although in a different branch.

"Is it wise to just let those folks go with those kind of skills just because they are caught up in downsizing?" Mr. McHugh said in a telephone interview. "This is common sense."

But some military personnel experts said the move was yet another last resort by the Army to fill its ranks. In recent weeks, the Army has said it will call up 5,600 members of the Individual Ready Reserve, former soldiers who have left the Army and not joined the Reserves. The Pentagon has extended the tours of thousands of soldiers bound for Iraq or Afghanistan who had been scheduled to retire or leave the service. And, for the first time, the military deploying combat troops to Iraq from South Korea.

"It's further evidence of the strain the Army is undergoing," said Richard I. Stark Jr., a retired Army colonel who is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There is a short-term manpower crunch in the Department of Defense, especially in the Army."

Army officials insist that recruiting and retention for active-duty, Reserve and National Guard forces remain strong and, in some cases, have exceeded goals for the year to date.

But at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans assailed the Pentagon's top personnel official, David S. C. Chu, and a panel of senior generals for wearing out active-duty and reservist soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"How do we keep it up, Dr. Chu?" asked Representative Ike Skelton of Missouri, the senior Democrat on the committee. "How do we keep going and meet the rigid requirements?"

The "blue to green" program, was first reported in the current issue of U.S. News & World Report, was conceived by mid-level Army personnel officials in February. But the idea was so novel, it took several weeks for it to catch on with senior Pentagon officials, Army officers said on Thursday. "We're in uncharted waters here," said one officer.

Under the plan, airmen and sailors, typically with fewer than eight years' experience who are leaving the military with honorable discharges, would be eligible for the program. Most applicants would be enlisted personnel, but junior officers could also apply. Applicants who switched services would remain at the same rank. Air Force and Navy personnel would be required to take a modified, four-week Army basic-training course, officials said.

Additional training would depend on how similar the new Army job was to the Navy or Air Force job, officials said. Service members transferring to the Army would be required to serve a minimum of three years, according to an internal Air Force personnel notice that advertised the new program.

Small numbers of officers now switch services - doctors are common, for instance - but Army officials said they were still working out recruiting projections for the new program.

Navy officials said about 3,200 sailors and officers who are leaving or have left the service for various reasons in the past year might be eligible for the program. "The Navy believes this offers a unique opportunity for a departing sailor or officer to continue to serve for his country," said Cmdr. John Kirby, a Navy spokesman.

Pentagon Says Bush Records of Service Were Destroyed
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

Published: July 9, 2004
HOUSTON, July 8 - Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.

It said the payroll records of "numerous service members," including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. No back-up paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25.

The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question.

The disclosure appeared to catch some experts, both pro-Bush and con, by surprise. Even the retired lieutenant colonel who studied Mr. Bush's records for the White House, Albert C. Lloyd of Austin, said it came as news to him.

The loss was announced by the Defense Department's Office of Freedom of Information and Security Review in letters to The New York Times and other news organizations that for nearly half a year have sought Mr. Bush's complete service file under the open-records law.

There was no mention of the loss, for example, when White House officials released hundreds of pages of the President's military records last February in an effort to stem Democratic accusations that he was "AWOL" for a time during his commitment to fly at home in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director who has said that the released records confirmed the president's fulfillment of his National Guard commitment, did not return two calls for a response.

The disclosure that the payroll records had been destroyed came in a letter signed by C. Y. Talbott, chief of the Pentagon's Freedom of Information Office, who forwarded a CD-Rom of hundreds of records that Mr. Bush has previously released, along with images of punch-card records. Sixty pages of Mr. Bush's medical file and some other records were excluded on privacy grounds, Mr. Talbott wrote.

He said in the letter that he could not provide complete payroll records, explaining, "The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) has advised of the inadvertent destruction of microfilm containing certain National Guard payroll records."

He went on: "In 1996 and 1997, DFAS engaged with limited success in a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. During this process the microfilm payroll records of numerous service members were damaged, including from the first quarter of 1969 (Jan. 1 to March 31) and the third quarter of 1972 (July 1 to Sept. 30). President Bush's payroll records for these two quarters were among the records destroyed. Searches for backup paper copies of the missing records were unsuccessful."

Mr. Talbott's office would not respond to questions, saying that further information could be provided only through another Freedom of Information application.

But Bryan Hubbard, a spokesman for Defense finance agency in Denver, said the destruction occurred as the office was trying to unspool 2,000-foot rolls of fragile microfilm. Mr. Hubbard said he did not know how many records were lost or why the loss had not been announced before.

For Mr. Bush, the 1969 period when he was training to be a pilot, is not in dispute. But in May 1972, he moved to Alabama to work on a political campaign and, he has said, to perform his Guard service there for a year. But other Guard officers have said they had no recollection of ever seeing him there. The most evidence the White House has been able to find are records showing Mr. Bush was paid for six days in October and November 1972, without saying where, and the record of a dental exam at a Montgomery, Ala., air base on Jan. 6, 1973.

On June 22, The Associated Press filed suit in federal court in New York against the Pentagon and the Air Force to gain access to all the president's military records.

The lost payroll records stored in Denver might have answered some questions about whether he fulfilled his legal commitment, critics who have written about the subject said in interviews.

"Those are records we've all been interested in," said James Moore, author of a recent book, "Bush's War for Re-election," which takes a critical view of Mr. Bush's service record. "I think it's curious that the microfiche could resolve what days Mr. Bush worked and what days he was paid, and suddenly that is gone."

But Mr. Moore said the president could still authorize the release of other withheld records that would shed light on his service record.

Among the issues still disputed is why, according to released records, Mr. Bush was suspended from flying on Aug. 1, 1972. The reason cited in the records is "failure to accomplish annual medical examination."

Mr. Bartlett, the White House spokesman, said in February that Mr. Bush felt he did not need to take the physical as he was no longer flying planes in Alabama. Mr. Lloyd, the retired colonel who studied the records, gave a similar explanation in an interview.

But Mr. Lloyd said he was surprised to be told of the destruction of the pay records that might have resolved some questions.

Friday, July 9, 2004           
U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan at 17,900, and expected to hold steady

By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, July 9, 2004
ARLINGTON, Va. - U.S. military forces in Afghanistan now number 17,900 and are likely to remain at that level at least through the New Year, according to senior Pentagon leaders.

Lt. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, the Joint Staff's Director of Operations, gave the size of the current U.S. presence in Afghanistan during testimony Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee.

His revelation that there are close to 18,000 U.S. troops involved in Operation Enduring Freedom appeared to surprise some members of the committee - including Rep. John Spratt, a Democrat from South Carolina - who had presumed a considerably smaller presence.

"We have a huge ongoing mission" in Afghanistan, Spratt said. "Yet we've only got 12,000 troops there. ... Are we slighting and undersizing, under-resourcing the mission in Afghanistan because of the demands on the mission in Iraq?"

"In point of fact, right at the moment we have about 17,900 U.S. troops in Afghanistan," Schwartz replied. "And that number is adequate for the mission."

Schwartz said the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan "has grown over the last few months for several reasons, including anticipation of [Afghan presidential] elections in the early fall."

Schwartz said that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan would remain steady "for months to come."
"I believe that after the first of the year we'll begin to see some adjustments," Schwartz said.
Troops currently in Iraq represent the fifth major rotation since the United States became involved in that country in late 2001.

According to Schwartz, the bulk of the U.S. force is made up of soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division from Hawaii.
Those troops include the 25th ID Headquarters, Division Artillery Headquarters, its Aviation and Support Brigades, and the 2nd and 3rd Combat Brigade teams.

The training mission for the Afghan National Army, meanwhile, is now the responsibility of the Oklahoma National Guard, Schwartz said.

Augmenting the 25th ID are Marine aviation and ground forces, many of whom are from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp LeJeune, N.C., Lt. Gen. Jan C. Huly, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for Plan, Policies and Operations, said during the hearing.

The 22nd MEU "has been on the ground for three or four months," Huly said.
The Marines are at Forward Operating Base Ripley in south-central Afghanistan, according to the official 22nd MEU Website (www.usmc.mil/22ndmeu <http://www.usmc.mil/22ndmeu>).

The amphibious ships assigned to the MEU, meanwhile, have remained in waters "near Afghanistan" and "these ships will bring them out and home," Huly said.

Various news reports have also indicated that other U.S. elements now in Afghanistan include the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group, the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment (the unit Arizona Cardials safety Pat Tillman was assigned to when he was killed in Afghanistan in April), and about 250 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment.

The sixth rotation for Operation Enduring Freedom, which will begin later this year, will include a division headquarters element from U.S. Army Europe's Southern European Task Force and the 173rd Infantry Brigade from Vicenza, Italy.

Training of the Afghan National Army will be taken over by the 76th Infantry Brigade of the Indiana National Guard, Schwartz said.

Neither Huly nor Schwartz said which Marine units would be tapped for the coming rotation. However, the 11th MEU, from Camp Pendleton, Calif., and the 24th MEU, from Camp LeJeune, are presently deployed to Iraq, which leaves only the U.S.-based 13th, 15th, 26th MEUs as candidates.

The Corps' remaining MEU, the 31st MEU, is based in Okinawa, Japan.
Keeping tabs on the number of U.S. forces deployed overseas -- information that military analysts and commanders call the "order of battle" -- is challenging.

Top-level military leaders will almost always respond in public hearings to direct questions about such levels when posed by lawmakers. But the Pentagon does not routinely disclose orders of battle, citing "operational security issues."

Meanwhile, some think-tanks and military watchdog organizations use press reports and other sources to attempt to reconstruct U.S. orders of battle, including the website Global Security, (globalsecurity.org).

According to Global Security, as of May 19, the most recent date available, the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan totaled "nearly 10,000 soldiers" and "roughly 4,200 Marines --" considerably fewer than the 17,900 cited by Schwartz.

Army to Recruit 'Downsized' Airmen, Sailors
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2004 -- After they "Cross Into the Blue" or "Accelerate Their Life," the Army hopes service members leaving the Air Force or Navy will join the "Army of One."

A new program, Operation Blue to Green, seeks to recruit airmen and sailors leaving their service due to force reductions into the Army, which is temporarily increasing its ranks.

Plans call for the Air Force to reduce its numbers by 16,000 and the Navy, by 7,900 by the end of 2005, officials from the two services confirmed.

An Army spokesperson called Operation Blue to Green a win-win opportunity that "will definitely benefit the Department of Defense as well as these individuals."

Details of the program are still being worked out, but an Army Web site says the program tells potential recruits it "will allow you to continue to serve your country, to maintain the benefits of military service and to expand your horizons by gaining new training and trying new things."

Candidates for the program are airmen and sailors in grades E-5 and below who qualify for an honorable discharge from active duty. Participation in the Operation Blue to Green program, the Web site says, "is dependent upon your service's willingness to release you from your current active duty obligation."

Marines and Coast Guardsmen interested in the program must first complete their current active-duty service obligations before enlisting in the Army, the site advises.

New soldiers recruited under Operation Blue to Green will go through a four- week "warrior transition course" being developed by the Army Training and Doctrine Command. "This will further orient them in terms of what it means to be a soldier in the Army," the Army spokesperson said.

This new course in basic combat skills will substitute for the nine-week course currently used to train airmen, sailors and Coast Guardsmen enlisting in the Army, the Web site noted.

Bonuses will be offered to recruits for selected military occupational specialties, although details were not yet available.

While the Army finalizes details about the program, it's wasting no time getting the word out to potential candidates. An online information form encourages interested candidates to sign up for more information. However, the site notes, "Until formal policies have been approved, Army recruiters cannot accept applications, process paperwork or reserve training seats."

Joe March, Director
National Public Relations
The American Legion
(317) 630-1253