Also, a letter from the "Air Conditioner Mom," who has a son in southern Iraq working as an MP.
Account unfair to Kerry
This is in regard to the letter “Not comfortable with Kerry” (May 21). The writer was not “comfortable” with the possibility of John Kerry as president because the writer doesn’t believe Kerry deserved the Silver Star he was awarded for his service in Vietnam.
The writer said: “His actions that day read in part — ‘A Viet Cong was sighted on the river bank — gunners on his boat wounded him with bursts of 50 Cal Machine gunfire. Kerry then ordered his boat to shore where he ran after the Viet Cong ‘to finish him off.’”
After reading this, I, too, was not comfortable, especially since I had friends who received Silver Stars during my service in Vietnam. But I did some Web searching and found the actual document that has the citation on it. Apparently the letter writer was reading someone’s rather biased synopsis instead of the official citation. The one I found reads, in pertinent part: “As the force approached the target area on the narrow Dong Cung River, all units came under intense automatic weapons and small arms fire from an entrenched enemy force less than fifty feet away. Unhesitatingly,
ordered his boat to attack as all units opened fire and beached directly in front of the enemy ambushers. This daring and courageous tactic surprised the enemy and succeeded in routing a score of enemy soldiers. The PCF gunners captured many enemy weapons in the battle that followed.
“On a request from U.S. Army advisors ashore, ordered FPCs 94 and 23 further up the river to suppress enemy sniper fire. After proceeding approximately eight hundred yards, the boats were again taken under fire from a heavily foliated area and a B-40 rocket exploded close aboard PCF 94. With utter disregard for his own safety and the enemy rockets, he again ordered a charge on the enemy, beached his boat only ten feet from the VC rocket position, and personally led a landing party ashore in pursuit of the enemy. Upon sweeping the area, an immediate search uncovered an enemy rest and supply area which was destroyed. This extraordinary daring and personal courage of in attacking a numerically superior force in the face of intense fire was responsible for the highly successful mission. His actions were in keeping with the higher traditions of the United States Naval Service.”
The citation I quote from is signed by Adm. Hylander. I couldn’t find a first name on him, but I did talk to the letter writer by phone. There is another, lengthier citation, signed by the late Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., which is quite similar but has a bit more detail. Then there is the Bronze Star citation, but that’s for another time.
Those are, in fact, actions worthy of a Silver Star.
Terry Calhoun
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Iraq mail woes unnecessary
There is just far too much incompetence in government. There are troops in theater. Part of their being in theater is mail delivery. Mail delivery is so familiar to the military, it’s a movie cliché. You plan.
Yet these geniuses are entirely unprepared, and worse, when it becomes apparent that it’s far beyond what they (under)planned for, they have no flexibility and creativity to respond.
Why is the American soldier the finest in the world? Because the American soldier does not require a commanding officer to make battlefield decisions. Each soldier is capable of making such decisions if necessary. The Soviet soldier was given no autonomy and relied on the command structure to act.
What a disgrace that the Pentagon has none of the creativity, resourcefulness and initiative of the people for whom it’s responsible. The great morale booster of all wars, mail from home, is hopelessly snarled by the incompetence of Soviet-style rigidity in the Pentagon. Our soldiers deserve the same type of brilliance they display on the battlefield from the people who are entrusted with managing the effort.
Right now, 72 air conditioners that the American people sent to specific troops in Iraq via my organization are sitting at the DHL air terminal (ISS) and will not be accepted by the military mail center in Baghdad.
Do readers know that Kellogg Brown and Root has taken over the mail in Iraq as of February? Go ask the Pentagon why there are thousands of pounds of troop mail stalled in Baghdad because KBR can’t find the addressees.
When the Army handled the mail in Baghdad, I had no trouble getting air conditioners for which my organization pays $4.50 a kilogram to soldiers who so desperately need them. Why is it that I have to fight my government to help our troops? I’ve been doing so for more than a year. I'm tenacious and I will not quit, no matter what the ever-changing rules are.
There are thousands of troops over there doing their jobs with honor and dignity, and we owe these soldiers to get off our behinds and help them get their mail.
Go ask the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It knows about this problem. It seems it takes a media person’s questions to get any action.
Frankie Mayo
President/founder
Operation Air Conditioner
Newark, Del.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=22350
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