Austin, Texas Chapter
The Association for all Military Officers
Meeting. Our first program for 2010 will be out of this world! In an informal
setting, we will be privileged to hearing, first hand, about the emotions,
feelings, and up-close and personal tidbits from someone very close to the
Austin Astronaut…Timothy L. Kopra (Colonel, USA). The mother of Col. Kopra, Marty Kopra and Step father, Dr. Tom Gretzinger
will share with us an overview and details about the recent adventures of
their son on the 29th mission to the International Space Station aboard the
space shuttle Endeavor (STS-127), July 15, 2009. As you may recall, the
launch was originally scheduled for May 15, 2009, but was delayed several
times for various reasons. Colonel Kopra returned from the Space Station
aboard space shuttle Discovery (STS-128) on September 11, 2009. Make your plans early to join us for an outstanding and unique program.
Bring your relatives, neighbors and friends.
Someday there will be a king who rules with integrity, and national
leaders who govern with justice. Each of them will be like a shelter
from the wind and a place to hide from storms. They will be like
streams flowing in a desert, like the shadow of a great rock in a barren>
land. Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of the people.>
(Isaiah 32:1-3)
The title of this section of scripture in the Bible is "A King with
Integrity." Gracious goodness! Is our world ever in need of an epidemic of
integrity-and fairness and justice, mercy and righteousness, too.
1830-1900 - Social
After several defeats and near misses, the Mexican Army of the North, about
2,638 men (1st, 4th & 10th Line, two companies of the 6th & 2d Light
Regiments, Mexico & Morelia Activos, 7th, 8th & Light Cavalry
Regiments, and 13 pieces of artillery) attempted to retreat south and refit
before engaging United States forces under General Zachary Taylor. Near the
old fortress town of Monterrey, General Pedro de Ampudia received orders from
Antonio López de Santa Anna to retreat further to the city of Saltillo, where
Ampudia was to establish a defensive line. But Ampudia, who was hungry for
victory and conscious that his men were nearing mutiny through constantly
being forced to retreat, refused the order and chose instead to make a stand
at Monterrey.
Tricare beneficiaries can now receive select vaccines with no
out-of-pocket expense at retail pharmacies. For the first time ever,
beneficiaries can visit Tricare retail network pharmacies to receive
seasonal flu, H1N1 flu and pneumonia vaccines at no cost. This expanded
coverage is available to all Tricare beneficiaries eligible to use the
Tricare retail pharmacy benefit.
Companion Bulletin-January 2010
The holidays are now over and all the guests have gone home. I had
planned to "hold it down" on the gifts this year and also on the
many cookies and other goodies that seem to call my name. Well, it didn't
seem to work out that way. On Christmas Eve the amount of packages under
the tree seemed to exceed any previous year. No one, including me seemed
to be disturbed by this. And when it came to the "goodies", they
still call loudly, so much so that I just have to succumb once in a while.
I hope your holidays were equally as satisfying as mine.
On a different note; The Dept of Labor's Bu of Statistics has released the
Quarterly Cost Index which measures private sector pay growth. This
determines the standard for Military pay raises. If the President and
Congress will let it alone, the Active duty, the Guard, and the Reserves
will get a 1.4% pay raise in Jan 2011. This will be the smallest
Military pay raise since 1962. (There were no raises 1959-62).
Remember to be on the lookout for potential new members for MOWW.
R. B. Rudyo
The average 65-year-old senior can now expect to live another 19 years or so,
to nearly age 84.Want to improve your longevity? In addition to getting
exercise, regular medical checkups, and eating healthy food, researchers say
that making time to travel and making new friends help to increase our
longevity. Travel can increase longevity by helping people establish and
maintain a healthy lifestyle, says Dr. David Lipschitz, director of the Center
on Aging at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Our next meeting will be January 14th at the
Holiday Inn Northwest (Mopac & Hwy 183)
Program
MOWW Scripture and Commentary
January 2010
(Chaplain Ernie Dean)
Greed and corruption, graft and theft, lying and cheating are problems of
gigantic proportions, almost the norm, it seems. We read of billions of dollars
of fraud yearly in Medicare. Contractors in our war efforts in Iraq and
Afghanistan (and other locales, too) are reported as raking off huge sums of
illegal profits from war contracts. The get-rich-and-richer schemers of Wall
Street almost brought the whole world to its knees. All of the issues raised
above, and many, many more of a similar nature in every institution and
organization, are out and out treason. We crumble from within.
We are beginning a new year. We want to celebrate the past
year and we want to believe in a new year of hope. But what to celebrate? What
signs of hope do we see? Like the people of Judah in the times of the great
prophet Isaiah, when the conditions of life were so deplorable for the masses,
today we struggle to discern meaning and purpose in lives visited with turmoil
and outrageous examples set by world leaders.
This does not have to be. God offers us love and guidance. We are not alone.
Even when we choose purposely to live solely by our own standards, God remains
near. Therefore, we can always have the gift of hope at the times when we reach
out and follow the ways of the Lord. But hope is not a passive gift. Hope has a
mind and eyes and arms and legs. Hope comes because we have faith; hope comes
from taking a leap of faith; hope comes with one small success building upon
another. The final verse of the section of Isaiah is most helpful:
But an honorable person acts honestly and stands for what is right.
(Isaiah 32:.8)
It may not be easy to discern the correct thing to do and to say, but being
honest places us squarely on the right path where we will meet others holding to
the priority of honesty, for mercy and righteousness, for fairness and justice.
With such commitment we can make the year 2010 all it should be, a year of hope.
What a blessing!
Chapter Officers
Commander Major Rylen Rudy 452-9923
1st Vice
CommanderCol
Leon Holland 335-1224
Treasurer Col Andrew McVeigh 261-6272
Adjutant Mrs.
Patricia Egan 750-1399
Chaplin LtCol
Ernest S. Dean 477-5390
Youth Leadership
ConferenceLtCol
Thomas W. Anderson 445-4480
ROTC Awards Col
Leon Holland 335-1224
Newsletter & Web Site LtCol
J. Robert Howard 848-0285 Schedule:
1900-1905 - Invocation & Salutes
1905-1945 - Dinner
1945-2000 - Break
2000-2045 - Program
2045-2100 - Adjourn.
Staff Meeting
The next staff meeting will be at the call of the Commander.
MEDICARE HOME HEALTH CARE: Miami-Dade County received about half a billion
dollars from Medicare in home health care payments intended for the sickest
patients in 2008, which is more than the rest of the country combined,
according to a report released 7 DEC. The county accounted for a little more
than half the country's claims even though only 2% of those patients receiving
home health care live here, according to a report by the Department of Health
and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Authorities say it's just
another example of Medicare fraud from the county that accounts for more than
$3 billion a year in false claims.
Estate Tax Update 03 (U.S.): Unless Congress changes the law, the federal
estate tax will disappear on 1 JAN 2010. For the first time since the 1916
inception of the tax, the estate of anyone dying in 2010 will go to heirs
tax free, a result of the 2001 tax law that phased out the estate tax over
10 years. But that law itself expires in 2011 and the estate tax will revert
to pre-2001 law.
VA CONTRACTOR USE: Even as the Obama administration develops an
administration-wide effort to increase the federal employment of veterans, the
agency responsible for their welfare is being criticized for giving their jobs
to outside contractors. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
wants the Department of Veterans Affairs to place a moratorium on the use of
contractors, who the union says now do the work veterans once did. The use of
outside contractors is widespread in government and organized labor does not
object to all of the work they do. But according to a union press release,
"the VA -- the agency that strives to be the model employer of veterans --
has contracted out more jobs held by veterans than most other agencies."
Before the Bush administration took office, almost all blue-collar VA jobs, in
such areas as housekeeping, laundry, food services, and maintenance of hospitals
and cemeteries, were held by vets, but now many of those have been farmed out to
contractors, union officials said in a phone interview.
Opening
hostilities in the Mexican American War
The Siege of Fort Texas began on May 3, 1846 Mexican artillery at
Matamoros opened fire on Fort Texas, which replied with its own guns. The
bombardment continued for 160 hours and expanded as Mexican forces
gradually surrounded the fort. Thirteen U.S. soldiers were injured and two
killed during the bombardment. Among the dead was Jacob Brown, after whom
the fort was later named. On May 8, Zachary Taylor arrived with 2,400
troops to relieve the fort. However, Arista rushed north and
intercepted him with a force of 3,400 at Palo Alto. The Americans employed
"flying artillery," the American term for horse artillery, a
type of mobile light artillery that was mounted on horse carriages with
the entire crew riding horses into battle. It had a devastating effect on
the Mexican army. The Mexicans replied with cavalry skirmishes and their
own artillery.
The U.S. flying artillery somewhat demoralized the Mexican side, and
seeking terrain more to their advantage, the Mexicans retreated to the far
side of a dry riverbed (resaca) during the night. It provided a natural
fortification, but during the retreat, Mexican troops were scattered,
making communication difficult. During the Battle of Resaca de la Palma
the next day, the two sides engaged in vicious hand to hand combat. The
U.S. cavalry managed to capture the Mexican artillery, causing the Mexican
side to retreat - a retreat that turned into a rout. Fighting on
unknown terrain, his troops fleeing in retreat, Arista found it impossible
to rally his forces. Mexican casualties were heavy, and the Mexicans were
forced to abandon their artillery and baggage. Fort Brown inflicted
further casualties as the withdrawing troops passed by the fort. Many
Mexican soldiers drowned trying to swim across the Rio Grande.
Wikipedia
The Battle of Monterrey September 21-24,
1846
Joining Ampudia at this engagement were reinforcements from Mexico city
totaling 3,140 men: 1,080 men of the Garcia-Conde Brigade (Aguascalientes
& Queretaro Battalions, two squadrons 3d Line Cavalry, three guns), 1,000
men of the Azpeitia Brigade (3d Line, two squadrons Jalisco lancers, two
squadrons Guanajuato Cavalry Regiment, six guns & an Ambulance), 1,060 men
of the Simeon Ramirez Brigade (3d & 4th Light, three guns) and an
artillery unit, the largely Irish-American volunteers for Mexico called San
Patricios (or the Saint Patrick's Battalion), in their first major engagement
against U.S. forces.
Battle
For three days, U.S. forces assaulted the city. Casualties were heavy on both
sides. On the third day a Texas Ranger Division and an infantry division under
the command of General William J. Worth managed to take four hills to the west
of the city. These were emplaced with heavy cannon that were used to attack
retreating forces fleeing the hill. A diversionary tactic allowed American
divisions to stream into the city from the west and east.
Heavy hand to hand combat within the city walls followed. The Mexican Army
congregated in the city plaza. Trapped in the city plaza and bombarded by U.S.
forces with howitzers, General Ampudia decided to negotiate. Taylor, still
facing a larger army in enemy territory, negotiated a two month armistice in
return for the surrender of the city. The Mexican Army was allowed to march
from the city on the 26th, 27th and 28th of the month, with their arms and one
battery of artillery (six guns). Left behind were some 25 guns.
Aftermath
The resulting armistice signed between Taylor and Ampudia had major effects
upon the outcome of the war. Taylor was lambasted by some in the federal
government, where President James K. Polk insisted that the U.S. army had no
authority to negotiate truces, only to "kill the enemy". In
addition, his terms of armistice, which allowed Ampudia's forces to retreat
with battle honors and all of their weapons, were seen as foolish and
short-sighted by some U.S. observers.
For his part, some have argued that Ampudia had begun the defeat of Mexico.
Many Mexican soldiers became disenchanted with the war. In a well-fortified,
well-supplied position, an army of ten thousand Mexican soldiers had resisted
the U.S. Army for three days, only to be forced into surrender by American
urban battle tactics, heavy artillery and possibly further division in the
Mexican ranks. Wikipedia.