European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday november 16, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 from academies on up wounds military three West Point football player shave been benched for having groped female cadets during a Pep rally. The press played it As a sexual harassment  there is an untold Story Here too that of a fierce unchecked rivalry among the nation s military  Competition bred at the service academies Fosters a military culture that wastes billions of dollars in Public Money while lowering America s ability to per form of the Battlefield. At the . Military Academy at West Point n.y., army plebes Are told to bark beat air Force before saluting seniors. A recent Pep Rall there was buzzed by a-10 jets from the air forc Academy in Cpl Rado which is along Way from new York. These collegiate an tics take on a More serious aspect when army Navy and air Force computes Are unable to Trade data. Lives Are being put at risk because Theair Force and the Navy run incompatible air traffic control systems. Each service writes its own budget. Each service promotes its own  service has its own investigative Wing. Each service has its own medical setup. The list goes on. These rivalries were supposed to have been halted by the National Security act of 1947 and by later Laws that provide fora Strong chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. But in truth the repairs have Bee largely cosmetic. For More than six decades this state of affair has been allowed to fester at a huge Cost to Many key aspects of defense planning and operational Readi Andrew j. Glass. No White House has had the guts to take on the Pentagon Over these issues. On this score president Clinton has been particularly weak on Capitol Hill the service chiefs Cut deals with key Law makers that protect their Home turf. By now most nations have adopted better models. The israelis for example have an integrated defense Force called the if. An officer might Fly a plane or serve at sea. But if is universally viewed As a single operational unit under the tight control of a combined general staff and a Strong minister of defense. With the sole exception of George , . Defense secretaries have been civilians. Often they have come to the Job with indifferent military backgrounds. The joint chiefs largely continue to function As a collegial and consultative body rather than a tightly fused com Mand Structure. Since the infamous revolt of the admirals in 1949, each service has be enable to Fence off with impunity what it re Gards As its own vital interests. The resurgent House Republican pledge to ensure a Strong National de sense by increasing essential military funding. But their Call does not extend to end ing interservice rivalries. On that score the 1994 elections changed nothing. Warfare in the 21st Century might Well depend on space based systems never envisioned when the military was founded. Tothe Pentagon could Deal with this coming Issue in the same Way As the soviet Union once did. Moscow created the rocket forces we could have Pur space service a v a better approach would be to use the challenges that lie ahead to Mol the four services land sea air and space into one effective command. Merging the service academies might be a Way to begin. C coxnewt8rvcr . Must live up to its responsibility to troops the True meaning of veterans Day once known As armistice Day when it commemorated the end of world War i of nov. 11,1918 was brought Home during the 21st inf regt s dining out that celebrated my induction As the honorary colonel of the  the ceremony the 3rd in s command ser Geant major Dwight e. Anderson recited from Mem dry John Mccrae s famous world War i poem in Flanders Fields. A the poem had a special meaning for Anderson whose Grandfather served in the trenches with Mccra with the Canadian army in Flanders in world War i and Over the years it has served As a poignant reminder to All citizens arid veterans in particular of their responsibility of those who had gone before. _ to you from failing hands we throw the Torch be yours to hold it High Mccrae wrote before his death on the Western front in 1918. If be break Faith with us who die we shall not sleep though poppies Crow in Flanders  not Only was it a personal reminder of my fellow giblets who had died in the mountains and Nee pad Dies of Korea but it was also a reminder of the responsibility owed to the giblets of the 21st inf Reg today and their fellow soldiers sailors airmen and marines who have put their lives on the line to defend their country and their country s interests in this Trou bled and Uncertain world. Forty four years ago when i joined the ranks 01 the regi ment As a Young Corporal almost All of my fellow soldiers including most of the sergeants were  tunes have changed. When the soldiers of the regiment went through the receiving line at my dining in the majority of the sergeants were accompanied by Harry g. Summers their wives and so were Many of the riflemen in the ranks. This is a relatively recent development brought about by the end of the draft in the closing Days of the Vietnam  the same time that source of manpower was eliminated the educational and intelligence standards for enlistment were raised in order to recruit the Quality personnel necessary tonight and win on the increasingly Complex modern  attract sufficient personnel the previous limitations on soldiers with dependents had to be eased. As a sergeant in 1951,1 first had to get my company commander s permission before i could get  those Days Are Long gone As the Marine corps commandant Gen. Carl e. Mundy  found when he suggested recruiting and retaining Only unmarried personnel in the lower enlisted ranks. A virtual firestorm of Public criticism resulted and he soon had to Retreat from that  by not Only tolerating but also insisting on this change in enlistment standards the responsibility we Soweto our servicemen and women extends to those in the ranks and to their spouses and children As Well. This is especially so today when our armed forces Are constantly deployed around the world in both War fight ing and peacekeeping missions. There is Good news for Many of our soldiers and their families now that president Clinton has approved a Pentagon plan to withdraw some 6,000 of the nearly 15,000 service members Fror Arthe peacekeeping Mission i Haiti by dec. 1. At the same time he announced that the 7,800 us. Ground forces sent to Kuwait to demonstrate our War fighting capabilities there would be withdrawn by dec. 22. But the bad news is that Many of these troops will re turn to poverty level living conditions. Although there has been an enormous raise in pay since my Days of $75 per month it has still not kept up with the change from an unmarried to a married military. As the association of the . Army recently found 45 percent of army personnel earn less than $20,000 a year Well below the poverty line for a family of four " three percent of this nation s service members already qualify for food Stamps 1 percent or about 17,000, receive them monthly. Current pay and allowances often do not meet the needs of families transferred to High Cost areas where. Current housing allowances often do no cover the Cost of off base housing especially for Junior enlisted  has the potential for disaster. It is degrading that anyone could even conceive of a term such As the military poor in referring to America s armed forces the report concluded. And to avoid such degradation the lower ranking men and women at the fighting Edge May Well decide that military career is no longer Worth the sacrifices to them selves and their families and therefore opt out of military service. If we will follow Mccrae s plea to ensure those who have gone before sleep Well in their Graves we must keep the Faith with those who now Bear the Torch As Well. C los Angeles times