MOWW SCRIPTURE AND COMMENTARY January 2010 (Chaplain Ernie Dean)    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.     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. What a blessing!

Navy Surface Fleet. Sleep Requirements Under Review. The Navy's surface fleet crews are tired. But unlike their brethren in the aviation and submariner communities, there are no service regulations that ensure a crew is sufficiently rested and less prone to error. That may change in 2018. In the wake of the fatal collisions involving the destroyers Fitzgerald and J ohn S. McCain, sailor sleep aboard surface combatants is under the Navy's microscope. The Navy began to formalize sleep requirements in the surface fleet for the first time this fall, and 2018 will prove to be a testing ground for whether these directives will actually work. In September, the Navy issued new guidance requiring ships to establish watch schedules and shipboard routines that better sync with natural circadian rhythms, ensuring sailors have enough opportunity for rest. However, the guidance falls short of setting firm regulations, as Navy officials say a ship's skipper must have flexibility on such matters given crew size, mission requirements and other variables. Still, skippers will, for the first time, have to choose from several watch schedules. The results will likely vary from ship to ship, but the surface fleet is taking a step toward making sure their sailors are better rested. [Source: NavyTimes | Geoff Ziezulewicz | December 27, 2017 "Be decisive. Right or wrong, make a decision. The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn't make a decision." `Unknown` Coffee Benefits Robin Poole, Specialist Registrar in Public Health at the University of Southampton says their latest research shows drinking about three or four cups a day of just black coffee is more likely to benefit our health than harm it. Their study showed a lower risk in cirrhosis and cancer of the liver. [Source: The Conversation| Robin Poole| November 22, 2017 Is Premium gas better? AAA along with the Automobile Club of Southern California's Automotive Research Center found that you probably couldn't tell the difference in using premium gas over regular with just typical city or highway driving. It might make a difference under extreme driving situations like towing or aggressive acceleration. Using a number of different cars, economy improved 2.7% and horsepower improved 1.4 %. AAA concluded it wasn't worth the extra cost. [Source: MoneyTalksNews | Karla Bowsher |December 12, 2017++] Credit Card Debt. In the United States, credit card debt has reached $900,000,000,000 with the average interest rate charge of between 14 and 20%.

 

Medal of Honor           For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:    Sergeant First Class Bennie G. Adkins distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Intelligence Sergeant with Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces, during combat operations against an armed enemy at Camp A Shau, Republic of Vietnam from March 9 to 12, 1966.     When the camp was attacked by a large North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force in the early morning hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins rushed through intense enemy fire and manned a mortar position continually adjusting fire for the camp, despite incurring wounds as the mortar pit received several direct hits from enemy mortars. Upon learning that several soldiers were wounded near the center of camp, he temporarily turned the mortar over to another soldier, ran through exploding mortar rounds and dragged several comrades to safety. As the hostile fire subsided, Sergeant First Class Adkins exposed himself to sporadic sniper fire while carrying his wounded comrades to the camp dispensary.     When Sergeant First Class Adkins and his group of defenders came under heavy small arms fire from members of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group that had defected to fight with the North Vietnamese, he maneuvered outside the camp to evacuate a seriously wounded American and draw fire all the while successfully covering the rescue. When a resupply air drop landed outside of the camp perimeter, Sergeant First Class Adkins, again, moved outside of the camp walls to retrieve the much needed supplies. During the early morning hours of March 10, 1966 enemy forces launched their main attack and within two hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins was the only man firing a mortar weapon. When all mortar rounds were expended, Sergeant First Class Adkins began placing effective recoilless rifle fire upon enemy positions. Despite receiving additional wounds from enemy rounds exploding on his position, Sergeant First Class Adkins fought off intense waves of attacking Viet Cong. Sergeant First Class Adkins eliminated numerous insurgents with small arms fire after withdrawing to a communications bunker with several soldiers. Running extremely low on ammunition, he returned to the mortar pit, gathered vital ammunition and ran through intense fire back to the bunker. After being ordered to evacuate the camp, Sergeant First Class Adkins and a small group of soldiers destroyed all signal equipment and classified documents, dug their way out of the rear of the bunker and fought their way out of the camp.     While carrying a wounded soldier to the extraction point he learned that the last helicopter had already departed. Sergeant First Class Adkins led the group while evading the enemy until they were rescued by helicopter on March 12, 1966. During the thirty-eight hour battle and forty-eight hours of escape and evasion, fighting with mortars, machine guns, recoilless rifles, small arms, and hand grenades, it was estimated that Sergeant First Class Adkins killed between one hundred thirty-five and one hundred seventy-five of the enemy while sustaining eighteen different wounds to his body.     Sergeant First Class Adkins' extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces and the United States Army.[1]     Adkins was born in Waurika, Oklahoma and was drafted in 1956. He was assigned to a garrison unit in Germany, with a follow-on assignment to the 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Georgia. After attending Airborne School, he volunteered for Special Forces in 1961, serving with Special Forces for more than 13 years with the 7th, 3rd, 6th and 5th Special Forces Groups (Airborne).[2] During that time he deployed to the Republic of Vietnam three times between 1963 and 1971. In April 1967, Adkins is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions with Detachment A-102 during his second tour in Vietnam. After Vietnam, Adkins was assigned to Fort Huachuca. Graduating in the third-class of the Sergeant Major Academy, Adkins finally retired from the Army in 1978.] Before retiring, as a sergeant major he returned to the Special Forces at Fort Bragg, then went to Fort Sherman and led training at its Jungle Operations Training Center.    After the Army, Adkins earned a bachelor's and two Master's degrees from Troy State University.[1] Additionally, he ran his own accounting company, and taught classes at Southern Union Junior College and Auburn University. On May 12, 2017, Troy University Chancellor, Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr. awarded Adkins with an honorary doctorate of laws.