Austin, Texas Chapter

The Association for all Military Officers
Companion Bulletin-March 2008

Companions, We owe our thanks to Companion Stanley Bullard for February's Valentine's Day meeting at the Holiday Inn which was enjoyed by all. While there, we experienced two significant experiences, the first of which was the retirement of our Chaplain, Companion David Cochran. After twenty years of temporary duty as the Chapter's Chaplain, CDR Cochran, holder of the Silver Patrick Henry award, was properly replaced by Companion Ernest Dean, our newest Perpetual Member. We must all congratulate both Companions at our March meeting. The second significant experience at the February meeting was an outstanding show and tell by Companion Joe Studak on his involvement in the historic event known by us all as the "Berlin Airlift". Thank you LtCol Studak for sharing your invaluable service to our country during those times of peril. I was unable to attend this exciting meeting as I was presenting the facts and circumstances involved in the Youth Protection Program portion of our Youth Leadership Conferences to the Conference of Grand Masters in North America, at Louisville, Kentucky. As you know, the 26 regional Youth Leadership Conferences conducted yearly across our great land are cosponsored by the Military Order of the World Wars and the National Sojourners, a Masonic organization.

My task at Louisville was to convince the Masonic leaders of our 50 states that the leaders of our YLCs are properly screened and trained before those volunteers are allowed to have control over the high school students we entrust to their care. More than likely, several of the YLCs this summer will receive evaluations of their Youth Protection Programs. Liability litigation is deemed a serious subject by the MOWW and National Sojourners. Last month we were honored to have Mrs. Virginia Holt as the guest of Companion Bullard and Mrs. Flo Kerr as the guest of Colonel Wes Lokken. We were fortunate to have Lavon and Col. Verne Philips' daughter Susan visit with us again. We missed Mickie Burrill, Peggy Holland and Lois Howard who were temporarily under the weather. Companions, on the evening of Thursday, 13 March we are honored to have LTC (P) Jeanne Arnold speak on the changes wrought on the Texas Army National Guard by our continuing struggle against Islamo-Fascist terrorism. We look forward to this very knowledgeable and talented Officer's presentation. The social gathering is at 1830 hours. Come early and bring a new member. Andrew J. McVeigh III Chapter Commander

 

Schedule: 1830-1900 - Social 1900-1905 - Invocation & Salutes 1905-1945 - Dinner 1945-2000 - Break 2000-2045 - Speaker 2045-2100 - Adjourn.

Meeting.  13 March   2008 Holiday Inn Northwest (Mopac & Hwy 183) The cost for the evening is $18.00. If you are not called by 10 March., contact Andrew McVeigh at 261-6272 At a Car Dealership: "The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment."

 

Program Gene Arnold will discuss the current state of the Army National Guard Quote to Ponder: A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror. ----- from www.thoughtfortoday.org.uk

"Time is what keeps everything from happening at once." Staff Meeting The next staff meeting will be at the call of the Commander.  If you would like to receive the newsletter earlier, send me your email to jr99howard@austin.rr.com

 

RAO Baguio   SENIOR CITIZEN BENEFIT COST: The cost of government benefits for seniors soared to a record $27,289 per senior in 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis. That's a 24% increase above the inflation rate since 2000. Medical costs are the biggest reason. Last year, for the first time, health care and nursing homes cost the government more than Social Security payments for seniors age 65 and older. The average Social Security benefit per senior in 2007 was $13,184. The federal government spent $952 billion in 2007 on elderly benefits, up from $601 billion in 2000

Of the 2 million American soldiers sent to the trenches during World War I, only Frank Woodruff Buckles is still alive. The retired Army corporal,  turned 107 this month,  The total number currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 73,769; Navy Reserve, 5,029; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 7,128; Marine Corps Reserve, 8,703; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 343. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been mobilized to 94,972

 

 

Austin Chapter Website and Newsletter  If you have items, contact  LTC Howard  848-0285 or e-mail: jr99howard@austin.rr.com Inspiration Selection For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 In a Counselor's office: "Growing old is mandatory. Growing wise is optional."

Chapter Officers Commander - COL McVeigh 1st Vice Cmdr. - MAJ Bullard Adjutant - Patricia Eagan Treasurer - CAPT Burrill Chaplain - LtC Dean Youth Leadership Conference Coordinator - LTC Tom Anderson ROTC Coordinator - Col Leon Holland

 

Who are the PKK?    Founded in the 1970s, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' party) launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984.    The PKK initially wanted an independent Kurdish state within Turkey, but has since scaled back its demands and now favours more cultural rights for Turkey's estimated 15 million Kurds and the release of imprisoned PKK members.    Eighteen months ago, Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader captured by Turkish troops in 1999, called on the organization to begin an unconditional ceasefire. The PKK, estimated to have around 3,000 fighters in northern Iraq, ignored his appeal. How popular is the PKK among Turkey's Kurds?    Although Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) party has recently made political gains in the south-east, many Kurds - and the EU - say the government needs to do much more to improve the rights of the country's Kurdish minority. The PKK remains popular with many people there.    The Kurds have a long history of suppression. Estimated to number between 20 million and 25 million, they are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East and form the most numerous stateless people in the world, spread over regions of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.    According to one of their sayings, they have "no friends but the mountains".

Why has the PKK stepped up its attacks?    The PKK seems to be deliberately goading the Turkish military into launching an attack in the knowledge that such action would damage Turkey's relations with the US and Europe at a time when Ankara is seeking EU membership.    In 2004, the party resumed its violent campaign and the fighting has been escalating steadily, despite several unilateral ceasefires. More than 30,000 people have died since the conflict began. What has happened now?    In October, Turkey began demanding the extradition of all Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq and considering the closure of airspace to and from Iraq to put pressure on Kurdish authorities.    On December 16, it launched its biggest bombing raid on rebels, sending more than 50 warplanes to target suspected Kurdish insurgent bases in attacks that also killed at least one civilian.    Two days later, Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas, angering the Kurdish regional government and Baghdad authorities. The move caused widespread concern in the US that the attacks would destabilize the region.    Today, several hundred Turkish troops crossed the border to target PKK camps in northern Iraq, following fighter jets and heavy artillery attacks on PKK forces.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he had given advance warning of the attacks to Iraq and the US and defended the operation. What has been the impact of past incursions?    Previous major attacks have failed to crush the PKK, which is still able to strike against Turkish forces with deadly effect.    For years, Turkey has been pressing US and Iraqi authorities to clamp down on PKK fighters, including its leaders.    However, Iraqi Kurds, while calling on the PKK to lay down its arms in favour of political struggle, are reluctant to hand over their fellow Kurds to Turkey.    In October, the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said: "We will not hand any Kurd over to Turkey, not even a Kurdish cat." Today, Talabani warned Turkey not to "violate" the country.    Even so, the presence of the PKK along Iraq's rugged border with Turkey is a growing headache for Iraq's Kurdish leaders, who suspect the Turkish military of using the PKK issue as a pretext to disrupt Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.    Kurdish leaders say Turkey must get over its "paranoia" about Kurdish nationalism.  The Guardian

The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War, taking place on August 2, 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy. The Carthaginian army under Hannibal decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman army under command of the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. Following the Battle of Cannae, Capua and several other Italian city-states defected from the Roman Republic. Although the battle failed to decide the outcome of the war in favour of Carthage, it is regarded as one of the greatest tactical feats in military history and the greatest defeat of Rome. Having recovered from their previous losses at Trebia (218 BC) and Trasimene (217 BC), the Romans decided to confront Hannibal at Cannae, with roughly 87,000 Roman and Allied troops. With their right wing positioned near the Aufidus River, the Romans placed their cavalry on their flanks and massed their heavy infantry in a deeper formation than usual in the centre. Perhaps the Romans hoped to break the Carthaginian line earlier in the battle than they had at the Battle of Trebia. To counter this, Hannibal utilized the double-envelopment tactic. He drew up his least reliable infantry in the centre, with the flanks composed of Carthaginian cavalry. Before engaging the Romans, however, his lines adopted a crescent shape — advancing his centre with his veteran troops at the wings in echelon formation. Upon the onset of the battle, the Carthaginian centre withdrew before the advance of the numerically superior Romans. While Hannibal's centre line yielded, the Romans had unknowingly driven themselves into a large arc — whereupon the Carthaginian infantry and cavalry (positioned on the flanks) encircled the main body of Roman infantry. Surrounded and attacked on all sides with no means of escape, the Roman army was subsequently cut to pieces. An estimated 60,000–70,000 Romans were killed or captured at Cannae (including the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus and eighty Roman senators). In terms of the number of lives lost in a single day, Cannae is estimated to be within the thirty costliest battles in all of recorded human history. Ernle Bradford, a biographer of Hannibal, claims that the 50,000 Romans killed represent the largest number of troops felled in battle in a single day.  ...... Wikipedia