TRICARE Fee Hikes

I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn that the Joint Chiefs of Staff testified before Congress in support of the administration’s ill-conceived plan to quadruple TRICARE fees [“Fee, Fie, Fumble” in “Washington Scene,” April 2006]. What a colossal breach of faith with the force, especially [with] retirees!

I suspect that some in Congress will attempt to use this testimony for decades as a rationale to save money by cutting our extremely hard-earned benefits. It is bad enough when the administration’s DoD political appointees like Dr. David Chu and Dr. William Winkenwerder provide misguided or misleading testimony to Congress, but having the Joint Chiefs cave in makes [one] want to weep. If these fee increases are enacted, I predict it will cause catastrophic damage to enlistments and retention. …

I was also dismayed to learn that only 40,000 of MOAA’s 360,000 members sent in the tear-out letters from the February 2006 Military Officer urging committee leaders to stop the Pentagon-proposed TRICARE fee increases. While I’m confident that many of our members sent personal letters and e-mails on their own, that still means that only 11 percent of our membership made the effort to utilize the tear-out letters to oppose this unwise increase in our health costs.

That politicians would propose such steep increases in our health care costs at a time of war is telling. Imagine what they will propose in the future when we have been at peace for a few years and the sacrifices of the warriors are distant memories. I urge my fellow MOAA members to get proactive in preserving our hard-earned benefits.

Maj. Michael S. England, USA-Ret.
via e-mail

I appreciate and applaud MOAA for its concern and efforts to ensure retirees have reasonable and affordable benefits, especially health care benefits. While I support the concept of health benefits for life, I do not believe they should be free. … We currently have a $9 trillion budget deficit. While I do not like increases to premiums or copayments, I understand they are a fact of life. It is inappropriate to think just because I am a retired veteran that my premiums and copayments should never increase. The average American has to accept such increases as a matter of having any level of benefit. Why should military retirees believe they should be exempt from such increases?

I agree that if the administration managed the budget the way it is intended by law, the cost increases would not be part of the DoD budget. However, why would they follow the rules in this instance, when they haven’t followed the rules of budget or fiscal constraint? Our current president has made a mess of the budget process and is on a path to bankrupt the government. While it will probably not affect me significantly, my children and grandchildren are going to pay a very high price for the indiscretions of this administration.

… We should all share the costs of putting constraint into the budget process. If that means higher TRICARE For Life premiums, I vote for higher premiums.

James R. Miller, USAF-Ret.
via e-mail

Fighting Spirit

The cover photograph on the April issue is a marvelous one and deserves a thumbs-up. I am a retired U.S. Army infantry officer and had the great privilege of commanding a rifle platoon in Vietnam. …

I was terribly wounded during combat in early June of 1968 at age 20. I spent the ensuing 18 months getting put back together at Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington, D.C. I was on a ward with 15 other company grade officers, and I was the only one intact. Everyone else was missing some body part. My wounds required that I learn to walk all over again.

Your cover photograph reminds me of the spirit I encountered at Walter Reed. Captain Laferrier is pointing down the road for Specialist Bagge and telling him that success can be found there. Specialist Bagge certainly appears to roger that particular transmission.

The staff at Walter Reed were a phenomenal group of professionals. The hospital was crammed with badly wounded soldiers. They cared for us with dignity, discipline, and respect. 1968 was the bloodiest year of the Vietnam War, with 16,489 Americans KIA. It looks like Captain Laferrier and the staff at Brooke Army Medical Center, Texas, are carrying on the wonderful tradition I experienced as a very young infantry officer at Walter Reed.

2nd Lt. James P. Casey, USA-Ret.
Sonoma, Calif.

Does PCA Still Apply?

[The Posse Comitatus Act (PCA), “On Duty,” April 2006] is an area that deserves revisiting. Things have changed since 1878. The knee-jerk reaction of both the public and elected officials following Sept. 11, 2001, demonstrates that blind faith in either the manipulable masses or established institutions does not bode well for the future of constitutional government.

The human propensity to wrap oneself in patriotism — or religion, as happened at the U.S. Air Force Academy — or to mistake one for the other, is easily misdirected. The PCA could easily be misused. Make no mistake: There are individuals within all of today’s political entities who have the will, and possibly the intent, to do so as the opportunity arises.

Maj. Joe Schneider, USAF-Ret.
Surprise, Ariz.

The differences in the role of civil law enforcement and the role of the military are confused by the PCA exceptions. Civilian law enforcement is traditionally local in character and differs from the military mission. Civilian law enforcement requires the cognizance of individual rights and seeks to protect those rights. Police officers are trained to use lesser forms of force when possible and draw their weapons only when prepared to fire. In short, police officers are trained to preserve the peace using lethal force as the last extreme — soldiers are trained to shoot first and ask questions later.

Capt. Frank Campbell Jr., USNR-Ret.
Louisville, Ky.

Right Side = Wrong Side

It’s hard for me to believe my eyes! [MOAA], of all people, publishing a picture of a military person, in uniform, with his medal and campaign ribbons affixed to his uniform on the wrong side [“Navy Log” in “Rapid Fire,” April 2006]. When I was in the Navy, those items were placed on the left side, under my wings.

Cmdr. C. “Chuck” Reed, USNR-Ret.
Visalia, Calif.

Editor’s note: In the photograph inspiring the illustration, the officer had medals on his left breast, and the ribbons were placed correctly. Those medals were omitted from the adapted image; unfortunately, no one on the editorial staff caught the mistake.