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Vietnam Revisited I just received the December 2001 issue. My hat is off to Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, USA-Ret., for the excellent article he wrote about his two recent not-getting-shot-at visits to Vietnam. I have been haunted for many years by the two tours I spent in Vietnam plus two additional years of in-country support to Vietnam from Thailand. In order to put the demons to rest, I decided to go back with my wife and see if anything was really accomplished by our involvement in Vietnam. To that end, we went back to Vietnam in February 2001 with a group on an Elderhostel trip. We started the visit in Hanoi and then went to Ha Long, Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, Saigon [Ho Chi Minh City], My Tho, and Tay Ninh. For the many thousands of veterans who served in Vietnam, my recommendation is a simple one: Go visit. You will not only enjoy yourself, but the demons will disappear. Lt. Col. James W. Mouw, USA-Ret. Inadvertent Memorial [In "Sounding Taps," November 2001] I was deeply saddened to see the name of a long-lost friend and shipmate ... the ordnance handling officer on board the uss Carl Vinson (cvn-70) when it made its first deployment from Norfolk, Va., in March 1983 and relocated to Alameda, Calif., in October 1983 following an around-the-world tour. [His] legacy was in leading the CVN-70 Weapons Department to ... [earn] the coveted comnavairpac Battle Efficiency "E" Ribbon for that 1983 deployment. Your page 8 testimony, "It Goes On" (with its picture of aviation ordnancemen on the aircraft carrier uss Carl Vinson), was perhaps an unintended but certainly a fitting tribute to Cmdr. Warren G. Seal, USN. Capt. William K. Young, USN-Ret. TROA Members Step Up I read "Past Wars, Future Tests" ["From the Editor," December 2001]. ... Especially enlightening was the part about troa President Lt. Gen. Mike Nelson's, usaf-Ret., letter to Gov. Tom Ridge concerning how this nation's retired officer corps could be a great asset in the war against terrorism. Count me in, and my résumé is attached. Maj. Ben Stancati, USAF-Ret. On page 28 of the November issue, you list seven ways to help our country to recover. An eighth way would be to volunteer to help the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve [esgr] explain and thus reassure reservists and their families about the reemployment rights of activated reservists under the provisions of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act. Contact [the esgr via troa's links page, www .troa.org/magazine/links.asp] to get details about being a part of this volunteer agency of the Department of Defense. Col. Donald B. Martin, AUS-Ret. Letting Down Our Guard? It seems that no matter where we turn the Coast Guard is left out —even in the picture on [the table of contents, November 2001]. ...
I do read all the articles, and I do know [The Retired Officer Magazine] has had articles in the past about the Coast Guard. But it appears to me that our military community does not include the Coast Guard. How about an article that shows what the Coast Guard has been doing since Sept. 11? I think you would be surprised. CWO3 Ralph Savercool, USCG Editor's note: As you mention, we regularly cover the Coast Guard as one of America's armed forces, most recently with a feature on that service's little-known exploits during the Korean War ("Unsung Heroes," August 2001). In this issue, look for an interview with Commandant Adm. James M. Loy on the Coast Guard's changing missions (page 52).
You Do the Math ["Washington Scene," December 2001] has two sidebar articles on pages 20 and 24 that would have been more interesting side-by-side. Page 20: "cola Watch" indicates the Bureau of Labor Statistics has determined that the inflation rate during 2001 was only 2.6 percent. (Have they been to the grocery store lately?) Page 24: "Rate Hike" indicates that the Department of Health and Human Services has seen fit to raise the Medicare Part B premium from $50 to $54 — an 8 percent increase. Interesting the way government entities always can make a case that reduces our ability to maintain an even keel. Col. Kent A. McFerren, USMC-Ret. Tired of Waiting for SBP I am delighted by tfl. It pleases me to no end that concurrent receipt has gained so many cosponsors, and I so hope it will pass on the bill proposed in the Senate. However, as a military widow, my hopes for [the Survivor Benefit Plan (sbp)] are again dashed. Those of us over 62 receive 35 percent (as opposed to the 55 percent for civil service annuitants) of our husbands' retired pay. Given the economy today, the money we saved together with our husbands' life insurance, invested safely, gives us little added income. Most of us moved so often that we missed out on the property boom of the '70s and '80s. Why should we lose 20 percent of the income that rightfully should be ours? Every year we have high hopes that the inequities of sbp will be rectified. Then we hear the same refrain, "Next year it will be a priority." While I appreciate the efforts of troa regarding sbp, I think it is time that we widows take up the fight to correct this incredible wrong. I therefore ask that every military widow and wife, whether on sbp or not, write [her] senator and representatives and demand that at long last this incredible wrong be corrected. Maybe we military widows should "Storm the Hill." Carolyn Epling |
