The Association for all Military Officers
Companion Bulletin- May 2011

Words from the Commander: The "renowned" Wikipedia tells us that "the month of May has been named for the Greek goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman era goddess of fertility, Bona Dea, whose festival was held in May. Conversely, the Roman Ovid provides a second etymology in which he says the month of May is named for Maiores, Latin for 'elders,' and the following month (June) is named for the Iuniories, or 'young people'" For the Austin MOWW, the month of May means the end our regular meeting season and the term for your current officers. [More about this critical issue later] On a merrier note, we were wonderfully entertained and beautifully graced by the lovely voices and charm of The Women of Heart Song last month. The beautiful (and sometimes humorous) songs and antics were well received by the audience. Once again, we sincerely thank Companion Bullard for his extraordinary sponsorship and support of our chapter programs. At the close of the year, I sincerely thank each chapter officer for his or her support this year. Pat Eagan for her untiring support in keeping our records and correspondence in great shape and keeping in personal contact with members; Andrew and Ervalyn for keeping the chapter financially solvent and coordinating with our host hotel; Chaplain Dean for his dedication and spiritually uplifting messages and constant comforting presence; Webmaster and Editor J R. Howard for his many hours of diligent work to keep the communication channels filled with current and historic (and often times humorist) information; and Tom Anderson for his continued service to ensure that the chapter's support of our youth through participation in Youth Leadership Conferences.

I thank all of you regular attendees who faithfully attended our meetings and shared your time in fellowship and comradery. It was a fast, but wonderful year and to close it Companion Derdeyn has arranged for the Commander of the Texas Army National Guard's Recruiting and Retention Battalion to be our speaker. Colonel Joanne MacGregor will share interesting and timely information with us, so plan to attend our final meeting of the year on May 12. In closing, I extend one last plead for a few members to step forward and assume a position to keep our Chapter viable, engaging and well represented within the Capital City's military community. -Colonel Leon Holland, USA, (Ret.) Next Meeting. May 12  at the Holiday Inn Northwest (Mopac & Hwy 183).  Please join us for the  National Resource Directory at NRD.gov Veterans' Court : When a Veteran returns home from war, they trade adrenaline-soaked firefights for mall shopping and combat patrols for classrooms. When life screeches to a relative halt, there tends to be a common question among Vets: Now what? The false sense that life will fall perfectly back in place, coupled with the idea of what is supposed to come next and the realization that the rush felt during deployment is gone forever can lead some Vets to go heavy on alcohol and drugs, ultimately catapulting them into a legal system that, until recently, was unable to adequately deal with the unique challenges faced by Vets....ROA

MOWW Scripture and Commentary May 2011   (Chaplain Ernie Dean) LIFE IN GOD'S SERVICE     Life in God's service can, and should, be our foremost calling in life. To get this right is to find the solution to what troubles us personally and collectively.  The following words of scripture are a perfect guide for our decision: So then, my brothers, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)     God calls us to a way of "a living sacrifice, dedicated to God's service and pleasing to God." (v.1) But the ways of the world tempt us all of the time to take the easy and selfish way, the way without honor and value and fellowship. The world would have us sacrifice God's ideal and give ourselves over to the worldly. This is, as we experience over and over, a dead-end journey. We can be transformed by God (v.2), unless, of course, we opt to deny God. Indeed, we have the freedom to do as we choose, but the cost can be very, very heavy. The better way is to come to God in scripture, prayer, and worshipful service, thereby building up ourselves in that which is good and pleasing to God. (v.2) Reflect on some of the major issues facing the world population today: chaos in matters of finance, education, politics, environment, food and water, and, yes, religion. Behind the chaos are decisions and actions based on greed, graft, meanness, selfishness, and destruction. The only "good" these decision-makers honor is "What is in it for me?" The cost is unbearable! More attention to needs on the part of all of us is a step in the right direction. God can transform us in mind, body (heart) and spirit, and do so completely if we surrender to the tender loving care of this Holy One. It is our choice, our decision, our action that makes the

difference so God's will becomes supreme. God is God of all of creation. All of life is sacred. There is no second or third class, only first class love in the heart of God. This is a magnificent blessing for us! Speaker: Colonel MacGregor has attended airborne parachute training, a signal officer course, rotary course, instructor pilot course. She has been a platoon leader, Battalion S-4, Battalion S-1, Battalion commander, Operations officer, Brigade S-1, and Battalion XO. For five cilvian years, she was a machine sales marketing manager at Caterpillar in Dallas. Quilts of Valor: For the next six months, the Minneapolis VA is no longer accepting the donated, handcrafted quilts that volunteers have been making for wounded soldiers and other vets who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Twin Cities leaders of the charitable group got the word earlier this month. They were told the decision was part of a nationwide directive for VA facilities because of an outbreak of bedbugs at a VA homeless shelter in another state. Page Johnson, the southern Minnesota coordinator for Quilts of Valor, said 20 APR that the VA's concerns are understandable, though she gave just a hint of offense at the suggestion that her group's quilts could be carriers of bedbugs. The fabric is new, the process for making them is clean and there has never been a hint that any of the quilts delivered to the VA were tainted.  For 20-24 year old Vets, March statics reflect a 27% unemployment rate. Paul Lovell, 99, Bridgeport WV,is a World War Two veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was also held in Germany as a prisoner of war in 1945. Lovell is the second oldest living World War II veteran in the US. Kill weeds dead with a good shot of undiluted vinegar.   Household vinegar is around 5% acetic acid concentration which will do the trick for baby weeds. Pickling vinegar, about 9%, will give better results for more mature (and stubborn) weeds.

 

Chapter Officers Commander Col Leon Holland 335-1224 Vice Commander 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. Ballot boxes.   The rule from South Texas was never be the first "late" box to show up, unless you saved another one as backup.

 

Battle of Saint-Mihiel General John Pershing thought that a successful Allied attack in the region of St. Mihiel, Metz, and Verdun would have a significant effect on the German army. German defensive positions Prior to the American operation, the Germans installed many in-depth series of trenches, wire obstacles, and machine-gun nests. The Germans knew many details about the Allied offensive campaign coming against them. One Swiss newspaper had published the date, time, and duration of the preparatory barrage. However, the German Army stationed in the area of St. Mihiel lacked sufficient manpower, firepower and effective leadership to launch a counter-attack of its own against the Allies. Thus, the Germans decided to pull out of the St. Mihiel Salient and consolidate their forces near the Hindenburg Line. The Allied forces discovered the information on a written order to the German Group Armies von Gallwitz. Allied tank support Although the AEF was new to the French theater of war, they trained hard for several months in preparation of fighting against the German armies. The use by the British of tanks at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 impressed General Pershing so much that he ordered the creation of a tank force to support the AEF's infantry. As a result, by September 1918, Colonel George S. Patton Jr. had finished training two tank battalions - 144 French-built FT-17 light tanks organized as the 344th and 345th battalions of the United States Tank Corps - at Langres, France for an upcoming offensive at the St. Mihiel salient. Battle The St. Mihiel offensive began on 12 September with a threefold assault on the salient. The main attack was made against the south face by two American corps. On the right was the I Corps (from right to left the 82d, 90th, 5th, and 2d Divisions in line with the 78th in reserve) covering a front from Pont-à-Mousson on the Moselle westward to Limey; on the left, the IV Corps (from right to left the 89th, 42d, and 1st Divisions in line with the 3rd in reserve) extending along a front from Limey westward to Marvoisin. A secondary thrust was carried out against the west face along the heights of the Meuse, from Mouilly north to Haudimont, by the V Corps (from right to left the 26th Division, the French 15th Colonial Division, and the 8th Brigade, 4th Division in line with the rest of the 4th in reserve).

 

A holding attack against the apex, to keep the enemy in the salient, was made by the French II Colonial Corps (from right to left the French 39th Colonial Division, the French 26th Division, and the French 2d Cavalry Division in line). In First Army reserve were the American 35th, 80th, and 91st Divisions. The Allies also mobilized 1,481 aircraft to provide air superiority and close air support over the front. Defending the salient was German "Army Detachment C," consisting of eight divisions and a brigade in the line and about two divisions in reserve. The Germans, now desperately short of manpower, had begun a step-by-step withdrawal from the salient only the day before the offensive began. The attack went so well on 12 September that Pershing ordered a speedup in the offensive. By the morning of 13 September the 1st Division, advancing from the east, joined hands with the 26th Division, moving in from the west, and before evening all objectives in the salient had been captured. At this point Pershing halted further advances so that American units could be withdrawn for the coming offensive in the Meuse-Argonne sector. Aftermath General Pershing's operational planning of St. Mihiel separated the salient into several sectors. Each Corps had an assigned sector, by boundaries, that it could operate within. The American V Corps location was at the northwestern vertices, the II French Colonial Corps at the southern apex, and the American IV and I Corps at the south-eastern vertices of the salient.  Furthermore, General Pershing's intent was obvious; to envelope the salient by using the main enveloping thrusts of the attack against the weak vertices. The remaining forces would then advance on a broad front toward the direction of Metz. This pincer action, by the IV and V Corps, was to drive the attack into the salient and to link the friendly forces at the French village of Vigneulles, while the II French Colonial Corps kept the remaining Germans tied down. One reason for the American forces' success at St. Mihiel was General Pershing's thoroughly detailed operations order. Pershing's operation included detailed plans for penetrating the Germans' trenches, using a combined arms approach to warfare. His plan had tanks supporting the advancing infantry, with two tank companies interspersed into a depth of at least three lines, and a third tank company in reserve. The result of the detailed planning was an almost unopposed assault into the salient. The American I Corps reached its first day's objective before noon, and the second day's objective by late afternoon of the second. Another reason for the American success, was the audacity of the small unit commanders on the battlefield. Unlike other officers that commanded their soldiers from the rear, Colonel Patton and his subordinates would lead their men from the front lines. They believed that a commander's personal control of the situation would help ease the chaos of the battlefield.