Austin, Texas Chapter

The Association for all Military Officers
Companion Bulletin- March 2010

Words from the Commander:   Words from the Commander; As I write this at the end of February, this has been a bitter sweet weekend. Friday the 26th I spent honoring one of our own. I attended the Celebration of Life Service and Inurnment of Brig. Gen. Morton McD. Jones, Jr. US Army. Gen. Jones was a Perpetual member of the Austin Chapter of MOWW and although he has not been able to attend our meetings for quite some time, you could tell how proud he was of the organization. At the funeral along with other placards and awards was his MOWW certificate of Perpetual membership, and during the service MOWW was mentioned several times as an organization he was very proud to be part of. A big family and many friends to honor the General and a life well lived. He was buried with full Military honors. Also this weekend we drove to San Antonio to attend a retirement party for a friend who had served 25 years in the Army. Not only was the BBQ good but his brothers, sisters friends and other relatives "roasted" him with stories of his youth and adventures in the service. Most embarrassing and lots of fun. It was a fine fine party.                                      R. B. Rudy Meeting. Our next meeting will be March  11th  at the Holiday Inn Northwest (Mopac & Hwy 183) Join us for an evening of socializing, dining, and an informative presentation.

Program      This month we have scheduled another very interesting program. Our speaker for the March dinner meeting will tell us about the local Ronald McDonald House and Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). In addition to learning about the function and mission of Ronald McDonald House, our speaker will share with us the relationship they have with area military communities.    Did you know that the first Ronald McDonald House was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1974? Today, there are over two hundred and seventy Houses and core programs operating in over fifty countries.    The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas is located very near the Dell Children's Hospital Center at the old Mueller Airport site and provide services to 49 surrounding counties. This operation is not owned by the McDonald's restaurant chain. Each House is owned and operated by its own nonprofit corporation.     Dear AMOWW  Friends,    How very grateful I am to you for your kindnesses shown to me during my open heart surgery and recuperation process.     Visits, phone calls, cards and letters, and many, many prayers uplifted me. The show of friendship and care was so magnificent. I believe your support was a major contributing factor in my success at regaining a healthy balance in my life.    We can all rejoice that we have each other as friends, and that we are attentive to the various needs that surface in our lives.          Blessings,      Stanley Bullard.

 

MOWW Scripture and Commentary March 2010 (Chaplain Ernie Dean) How precious, O God is your constant love! (Psalm 36:7) Constant love! Steadfast love! Love that is forever! We, as believers, subscribe to these traits of God. The world may appear to be all out of kilter; relationships with family, friends, or co-workers may be tarnished; truth in business may seem to be relic of the past; yet, there is one eternal truth-God's love is constant, steadfast, endures forever. Many feel that now is a time we need desperately to feel this love; others may wonder if there really is such love. Yes, it is fact! I believe each one of us must take the first step, reaching out in faith. We turn to holy scripture (like this Psalm 36) and encounter words of hope. We feel secure in wholesome exchanges with other folks. We do not have to be stuck in deadening situations, but can search out folks who are on a faith journey of their own and, thereby, attempting to encourage and uplift those whom they meet on the journey. Our best opportunity to feel the security of such love is when we are at one with God and with one another. Steadfast! We can count on God's love. It is real, touches us, is not diminished by us. God relishes holy relationships, love that is lively, evident, healing. Close you eyes. Turn all thoughts to God. Feel the embrace. Give thanks. Watch the love grow! God's steadfast love endures forever. Thanks be to God (Chaplain Ernie Dean) War does not determine who is right, war determine who is left.

About Our Speaker Beverly Seffel, Director of Community Relations for the Roland McDonald House Charities since 2008 has an outstanding reputation in the Central Texas Community. She has worked with more than 500 nonprofit organizations in 60 central Texas counties. Prior to joining the RMHC staff, Beverly retired after 32 years from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). While at the LCRA, she was Manager of Community Assistance and Volunteer Services. She implemented a number of innovative programs including he Cooperates Volunteer Program, Dollars for Doer's, the Rural Teacher Grant Program, Employee Matching Gifts and the Employee Emergency Assistance Program. She also served as the executive director for the LCRA employees' United Charities program, which disturbed more than $500,000 a year to local nonprofit's. Seffel has also served on the board of directors for the Wildlife Rescue, the Capital Area Volunteer Center, Family Eldercare, the Retired Senior Citizens Center, Settlement House, and the Humane Society of Austin. VA CLAIMS BACKLOG UPDATE 34: The 2011 Veterans Affairs Department budget unveiled 1 JAN by the White House includes what VA officials called an "unprecedented" 27% funding increase for the Veterans Benefits Administration, some of which will be used to hire 4,000 permanent employees to process benefits claims. The increase does not mean disability, pension and survivors claims will be processed faster, however. In an admission that comes as no surprise to few who have been watching VA struggle with a backlog of benefits claims, Michael Walcoff, VA's acting undersecretary for benefits, said veterans should be prepared for the average claims processing time to be longer in fiscal 2011 than it is today. The reason? Even though more workers are being hired, VA officials expect a big jump in the number of Vietnam-era veterans filing Agent Orange-related claims due to newly expanded eligibility.

 

Chapter Officers Commander Major Rylen Rudy 452-9923 1st Vice Commander Col 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 Conference LtCol Thomas W. Anderson 445-4480 ROTC Awards Col Leon Holland 335-1224 Newsletter & Web Site LtCol J. Robert Howard 848-0285

Schedule: 1830-1900 - Social 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.

 

We must keep alive the flame Though darkness grip the Earth; For in the love we find in friends Is our chance for rebirth.   Nicholas Gordon   Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.                Erica Jong Man who drive like hell, bound to get there TRICARE USER FEE UPDATE 45: Tricare recipients will see no increase in their premiums next year, if Congress approves that provision of the fiscal 2011 defense budget request, as expected. However, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters 1 FEB he wants to work with Congress to find ways to help control escalating military health-care costs that are consuming an ever-increasing chunk of the budget. Noting the skyrocketing costs of the military health-care system - from $19 billion in 2001 to $50.7 billion in the fiscal 2011 budget request - Gates questioned during the Pentagon briefing how sustainable the program can remain without cost controls or higher premiums. "It's only going to go up," he said, with Military Health System officials estimating 5 to 7 percent annual cost increases through fiscal 2015. "And it is absorbing an increasing percentage of our budget." Officials predict that the program will grow from 6% of the defense budget to more than 10% by fiscal 2015. "We absolutely want to take care of our men and women in uniform and our retirees," Gates said, "But at some point, there has to be some reasonable tradeoff between reasonable cost increases or premium increases or co-pays or something and the cost of the program."

 

The Invasion of Sicily Begins   On the night of 9-10 July 1943, one of the largest combined operations of World War II, the invasion of Sicily, was launched. The Allied flotilla of 2,590 vessels was the largest fleet ever assembled for an invasion.     Sicily had between 200,000 and 300,000 Italian troops of questionable quality and about 30,000 German troops under the overall command of General Alfredo Guzzoni's Italian VI Army. At the outset, the German commander in Italy, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, committed a critical blunder by refusing Guzzoni's orders to concentrate on the beaches and instead transferred the most capabile German troops to a reserve in western Sicily, held ready for a counterattack.

 

Fighting Across Sicily        Both the British in the east and the Americans in the west overcame German and Italian counterattacks, then made rapid progress off the beaches and along the coastlines. Seventh Army took Gela, Licata and Vittoria on the first day and Biscani and Niscemi on 14 July, while Montgomery's Eighth Army took Syracuse on the first day, followed by Palazzolo on 11 July, Augusta 13 July, and Vizzini on 14 July.    Encouraged by the success, in a controversial decision on 13 July, Gen. Alexander assigned a larger territory to Montgomery, squeezing Patton to the west and allowing the Eighth Army to bypass German resistance by going through Central Sicily, allowing the Eighth Army to monopolize the primary approaches to Messina and giving it complete responsibility for the Allied main effort.    Patton was furious, but turned his attention to an ambiitous goal: Palermo, Sicily's capital. On this course, never authorized in detail by Alexander, Patton sent General Truscott to seize Agrigento on 15 July, providing a port for Seventh Army in the west. Patton then sent a provisional corps under Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes on a 100-mile dash to Palermo while General Bradley's II Corps pushed north to cut the island in two east of Palermo. Seventh Army secured Palermo on 24 July.    Palermo's capture by Patton conincided with Alexander's recognition that Eighth Army had bogged down at Catania, and was unlikely to get to Messina on schedule. On 23 July Alexander ordered Patton to move toward Messina from the west while Montgomery continued to push from the south.    Massina was protected by the heavily fortified Etna Line, backed by mountainous terrain, where a stubborn defense could be anchored. But Italian units were disintegrating and the German high command decided to withdraw from Sicily with as much of its force intact as possible, changing the nature of their defense to a fighting withdrawal.  Onward to Messina, the Last Sicilian Objective   Patton was stung by the obvious mistrust the British commanders had for the American forces. He became determined to get to Messina first, ahead of the British, to redeem American honor. The deeply entrenched Axis forces in the Sicilian mountains held up the advance, especially at Troina where days were needed to take the small town. Allied success at Troina, San Fratello, and in the British sector finally broke the Etna Line, but the Germans still were able to manage their withdrawal to Messina, keeping the Allies at bay. Several amphibious assaults attempted to leapfrog the lines and cut off the retreat, but the Germans and Italians continued to withdraw to the Italian mainland. On the morning of 17 August, elements of the 3d Infantry Division's 7th Infantry Regiment entered Messina, just hours after the last Axis troops shipped out for Italy and also before the British got there. Patton won the race. Summary of Operation Husky, the Invasion of Sicily   Sicily was the first opportunity in World War II for a complete U.S. field army, the 200,000 man U.S. Seventh Army, to fight as a unit. The U.S. ability to team with the British in combined Allied air, sea and land operations was put to the test and largely succeeded, although with many rough spots. Sicily was a training ground for many of the officers and enlisted men who eleven months later landed on the beaches of Normandy, 6 June 1944.    Sicily was the first Axis home territory to fall to Allied forces during World War II. Allied advances in Sicily destabilized the Italian government, and Mussolini's opponents ousted the dictator on 25 July, although it did not end Italy's participation in the war.    In thirty-eight days on Sicily, U.S. and British soldiers inflicted 29,000 enemy casualties and captured over 140,000 more. American losses were 2,237 killed plus 6,544 wounded and captured. The British suffered 12,843 casualties, including 2,721 dead. Allied aircraft losses were 274 planes, while 1,691 enemy aircraft were destroyed.    At Messina, the Allied failure to interdict allowed the Axis to evacuate over 100,000 German and Italian troops and 10,000 vehicles from Sicily, August 1-17. When the Allies invaded the Italian mainland in September 1943, they were confronted by many of the same units who had escaped from Sicily.    Sicily revealed many weaknesses of combined operations, but was a needed victory for the Allies. The hard fighting up the Italian ’boot’ eclipsed the fervor over the fall of Mussolini. The rough terrain would cause the Italian front to stagnate.