MOAA: Rapid Fire

The first combat-configured CV-22 Osprey has arrived. The keys to the Osprey were handed over to Defense leaders at the Bell Boeing manufacturing facility in Amarillo, Texas, March 1.

“It’s an honor to be here for this historic milestone in aviation history,” said Lt. Gen. John L. “Jack” Hudson, commander of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. “When our nation chooses to deploy forces into combat, we do our best to send them well-equipped and well-trained.”

The Air Force plans to purchase 50 CV-22s for long-range infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces in hostile or denied territory. The Osprey provides twice the speed, up to five times the range, and significantly enhanced survivability over other conventional rotary wing platforms. Previous CV-22s were built for test or training, but from this aircraft onward, Air Force Ospreys will be built for training and combat.

“Our warfighters will be the beneficiaries of this one-of-a-kind aircraft that combines speed, range, operational flexibility, and survivability thanks to a truly ‘purple’ program — Air Force, Marines, and Navy — all with different missions but the same core values,” Hudson said. “I look forward to handing the keys over to Lt. Col. Jim Cardoso, commanding officer of the 71st Special Operations Squadron at Kirtland AFB, N.M.,” he said.

Giving to MOAA’s Scholarship Fund

Most of our donors give cash in the form of a check or credit card. Another easy way to support the education of children of military families is to donate appreciated stock. You help future generations and earn a tax deduction. Col. Michael Tymchak, USA-Ret., has done just that. By giving appreciated securities, he received a tax break from Uncle Sam, is helping children of military families, and has joined the Chairman’s Club, whose members donate between $5,000 and $25,000. If you would like to follow Colonel Tymchak’s example, call Cindy Amos, (800) 234-6622, ext. 169.

Stemming the Tide

The Navy has released a new video to help stem a recent increase in private motor vehicle and motorcycle mishaps. In the first few months of 2006 alone, more than 32 sailors and 20 Marines died in motor vehicle accidents, including nine sailors and five Marines who died on motorcycles. “Facing the Challenge” talks about wearing seatbelts or helmets, reducing speed, checking road conditions, avoiding aggressive driving, getting plenty of rest, and not drinking and driving.

TRICARE Update

Obesity: TRICARE Management Activity has created a demonstration project that will test ways to inform and educate active duty family members and retired beneficiaries about the negative effects of obesity.

Surveys show that poor diet and inactivity were among the leading causes of death from 1994 to 2000. From 1995 to 2002, the percentage of overweight active duty servicemembers increased by 10 percentage points.

The Healthy Eating and Active Living in TRICARE Households (HEALTH) program will be launched in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan. The project will provide non-active duty adult, Prime-enrolled, overweight and obese beneficiaries with 12-month access to behavior modification targeting diet and physical activity. To be eligible, beneficiaries must be age 18 to 64, not entitled to Medicare, not enrolled in the TRICARE Extended Care Healthcare Option, and living within 50 miles of the research centers.

In Review

Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times By H.W. Brands. Doubleday, 2005. $35. ISBN 0-385-50738-0.

Best-selling author H.W. Brands presents the best biography yet of Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), the seventh U.S. president. This is an exciting and revealing story of Old Hickory, the western lawyer, land speculator, and soldier.

Brand tells dramatically of Jackson’s wild and woolly rise to public office, his many duels of honor, the nearly ruinous scandals involving his wife, and his bitter feuds with personal and public enemies. Brands also vividly describes Jackson’s imperial quests to annex Florida and Texas and his overriding desire to ensure that strong nationalism trumped the dangers of sectionalism.

Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors, and Secret Intelligence By Adm. Stansfield Turner, USN-Ret. Hyperion, 2005. $23.95. ISBN 0-7868-7682-5.

With the CIA under constant scrutiny and criticism for its secrecy, failures, and seeming ineffectiveness, Adm. Stansfield Turner offers an interesting analysis of the sometimes warm, often contentious relationships between presidents and CIA directors. He explores the relationships between 12 presidents and 19 CIA directors, from Franklin Roosevelt to George W. Bush and William Donovan to George Tenet, revealing how some presidents worked well with the CIA, but others despised, mistrusted, or just ignored the nation’s foremost intelligence agency.

Turner describes the rivalries and politics between the CIA, the White House, and cabinet members, as well as the power plays among the other intelligence agencies, highlighting strong and weak personalities, loyalties, successes, and failures.

He also provides his provocative thoughts on the ban on assassinations, the use of businesses to further intelligence collection, and recommendations for yet another reorganization of the CIA and the intelligence community.

Today’s Pinup Girls

In the old days, men went off to war — and took with them pinups of Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth. Today, our troops in Iraq and other hot spots around the world now can hang up sultry photographs — of their wives and girlfriends — in their lockers.

A new trend sees wives and girlfriends of servicemembers stationed overseas posing in retro costumes and sending the photographs of themselves in the form of prints, posters, and even calendars.

“The look the women are going for when they come in for a photo shoot is that vintage-style posing made famous by such classic pinups as Betty Grable and Jayne Mansfield,” says Lori Mann, photographer and co-owner of Pink Kitty Studios in Los Angeles. “The gals often wear classic clothing, and we have lots of props that are throwbacks to that World War II era.” The women also can get vintage hairstyles and makeup done before their shoot.

Technology has enhanced the possibilities for sending photos, and women also are choosing to send an accompanying CD of all the images for their men to view on their computers.

Nutrition Notes: What’s for Dinner

Chicken is a staple in the American diet. With a little attention to selection and preparation, it can be one of the healthiest sources of animal protein.

Chicken was first domesticated in India, about 2000 B.C. For comparison, sheep were domesticated around 9000 B.C., goats 7500 B.C., and cattle 6500 B.C., all in the Middle East. Chickens were brought to America on the Mayflower and other sailing vessels from Europe. They were brought for food on board and to breed once reaching land. In the colonies, chicken was often boiled and added to succotash, a bean and corn dish. Because of the abundant supply of wild game and seafood, domesticated chicken had a special place in the diet.

Today, chicken is a part of the diet on every continent, though it is still a luxury in many third-world countries. Chicken is a more efficient protein source to produce than pork or beef. It takes about 2 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of chicken, in contrast to 4 pounds of grain for a pound of pork and 8 pounds for beef.

Chicken is a healthy and versatile meat. When adding chicken to the menu, three things should be considered — shopping for chicken, storage and preparation, and the actual cooking. Each of these is discussed on MOAA’s Web Base.

Miscellany: Bring Home Pay, Go Travel

DFAS Benefits Newsletter Sign-Up Sign up for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service Military Pay Newsletter or Retired Pay Newsletter and updates to be delivered directly to your inbox. To sign up, go to the myPay page (http://mypay.dfas.mil/mypay.aspx) and scroll midway down the page under the red Notice! banner.

>> Operation homecoming Head to Branson, Mo., June 11-18, for a weeklong celebration to show respect and appreciation for America’s Vietnam veterans. The festivities are expected to attract more than 50,000 attendees. You can find more information and register by visiting www.welcomehome2006.org.

The Truth About Bird Flu

Many people fear a global outbreak of disease when they hear stories of bird flu. What do you need to know about avian influenza?

The bird flu spreads through migratory birds to other bird populations and to humans exposed to infected birds or poultry. Currently, the bird flu virus does not have the ability to spread effectively from human to human.

Bird flu can be contracted orally or through the respiratory system and is spread by contact through saliva, nasal secretions, and feces of infected birds. The initial symptoms of the illness are deceptively similar to those of the normal flu.

There is currently no effective or approved vaccine to prevent bird flu in humans. Antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu or Relenza can ease symptoms of the virus, if given within 48 hours of initial symptoms. If a human pandemic of the bird flu did occur, it would take about six to nine months to produce an effective vaccine.

Outbreaks have occurred recently among poultry in a number of countries in Asia, as well as in some European countries. Human infections of the virus have been reported in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Iraq. Individuals traveling in those areas are advised to avoid contact with sick birds or poultry.

Helping Hand

Plans are afoot to develop a next-generation mechanical arm that mimics the properties and sensory perception of the real thing. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently awarded a $30.4 million contract to The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., to start the first phase of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program.

APL will lead a team of universities, government agencies, and private firms to focus on neural control strategies that will allow the user to feel and manipulate objects as that person would with a real hand. The team will work with the amputee program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and others to determine patient needs. Clinical trials are expected in four years.

Smells Phishy

Have you heard the one about phishing? Identity thieves using the Internet get a hold of your personal financial data to gain access to your financial accounts, run up charges on your credit cards, or apply for new loans in your name. Scammers pose as representatives of a financial institution and send out fictitious e-mails in an attempt to trick consumers into disclosing private information. Sometimes scammers pose as the IRS itself.

>> Resources: If you have questions about any contact from the IRS, call (800) 829-1040.

Scholarship Spotlight

The next time you call MOAA’s headquarters, the person on the other end of the line may be 23-year-old Courtney Landwermeyer, a former MOAA scholarship recipient turned employee.

How long have you worked at MOAA? I began working in MOAA’s Member Service Center (MSC) in June 2005.

Where did you go to college? I received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas A&M University.

You received several volunteer awards in college. Are you still volunteering? Yes, I volunteer at the chapel at Fort Belvoir, Va., coach a kids’ soccer team, and teach children to swim. I love working with kids because you can see them improve and learn, and that’s really rewarding.

How has The Scholarship Fund of MOAA helped you? My dad received orders to Japan before my junior year in high school, but my parents decided he would go unaccompanied so I wouldn’t have to switch schools. Even though he made that sacrifice, it still was a burden financially because we were running two households. When it came time for college, the interest-free loans I received from the scholarship fund helped me alleviate some of the burden instead of adding to it.

What are your future career plans? I’m starting graduate school this fall, and I plan to get a master’s degree in public administration. Eventually I’d like to run for public office.

Attention!

BOOK >> Fallujah, With Honor (Caisson Press, 2006): Gary Livingston uses personal accounts to describe the First Battalion, Eighth Marine’s attack into Fallujah as part of Operation Phantom Fury.

MUSIC >> Voices From the Frontline (Crosscheck Records, 2006): This hip-hop album, featuring original material from U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq, reveals the difficult reality of life for the troops. It includes 12 musical tracks and 12 spoken-word vignettes.

BOOK >> The American Civil War: 365 Days: From the Library of Congress (Abrams, 2006): Margaret E. Wagner draws from the collections of the Library of Congress to portray the epic drama and grand sweep of America’s watershed domestic crisis.

Bond Funds Got You Down?

With 15 straight short-term interest rate hikes in a row by the Federal Reserve (as of March 2006), are bond mutual funds the place for short- to intermediate-term money? Maybe not. Unlike individual bonds, where there is no principal risk if held to maturity (assuming good quality bonds and no default), bond funds carry the risk of principal loss, particularly in a rising interest rate environment. Returns on many top-rated bond mutual funds over the last 12 months have been a measly 1 percent to 3 percent. With yields on short-term CDs approaching 5 percent or more, rotating money out of suffering bond funds and into a short- to intermediate-term CD ladder may provide better returns and lower risk.

When interest rate policies change — as they inevitably do — and rates start heading back down, then bond funds may prove to be more attractive.

Ready for Combat