Military Service

I'LL ADMIT I was a little ticked off watching President Bush step from the cockpit of a Navy fighter plane into a waiting photo-op last May. Just didn't seem right to me that the commander-in-chief would schlock up a war he got us into just to create a more commanding image for himself. I did remember seeing him posed perfectly to look like the fifth great head on Mount Rushmore. And if anyone was surprised by his "surprise" visit to the troops on Thanksgiving they haven't been paying attention to the greatest media manipulator since JFK. That was just politics and I ain't mad at him for being better at it than almost anyone.

I must disagree with the letter writer (Aug. 12) who said it was illegitimate to ask presidential candidate Mitt Romney about the military service of his sons. The question is essential to ask any Republican or Democrat who continues to support and fund the Iraq war. It is as relevant as a fifth deployment, a stop-loss order, a crushed limb or the casualty officer's knock on the door. It is the question that should be asked of everyone who is not actively working to end this nightmare war: If you support the war and think that soldiers should continue to be sent to their deaths and dismemberment, then which young one whom you love are you willing to place on the altar of Iraq?

Wherever he goes, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark is asked: If your military career was so great, why were you relieved early of your NATO command? What did Gen. Hugh Shelton really mean when he said that it happened because of "character and integrity issues"? Clark's 34-year military career is at the heart of his bid for the Democratic nomination, but differing perceptions of that career shadow his campaign. The Republican National Committee has "research" about the Democratic candidates on its Web site.

Up to 90 percent of young adults in Philadelphia can't join the military because they're undereducated, too physically unfit or have serious criminal records, a recent study found. The study, conducted by the nonprofit Mission: Readiness, said that the percentage of 17 to 24-year-olds ineligible for miltary service was worse here than the estimated 75 percent who are unfit nationwide. District Attorney Seth Williams and others said at a news conference yesterday that funding for early-learning programs would be a good way of battling the problem.

Deborah Sampson Gannett - alias Robert Shirtliffe - disguised herself as a man to sneak into the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Now, more than 200 years later, her service won't be a secret. It will be celebrated. Today, ground will be broken at Arlington National Cemetery for the first major memorial to honor the 1.8 million women who have served in the U.S. armed forces. A platoon of dignitaries, including President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, are to attend.

Like a boy discovering that the neighborhood bully has a glass jaw, Chuck Robb shyly admits that maybe getting provoked and deciding not to take it any longer is not such a bad thing after all. "It obviously touched a nerve," Robb says in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building. "It probably brought me out swinging a little bit earlier than I had planned. " For the umpteenth time - in a political rumble so personal that "you liar" has become a morning salutation - Virginia Sen. Charles S. Robb had taken a hit from his Republican adversary, Oliver L. North.

Listen to the voices of the people fighting President Clinton's plan to allow openly gay men and women in the military and you will hear an escalating, alarming note about the spread and cost of AIDS. But gay advocates, and some medical experts, say the dire projections are based on faulty assumptions: that gays will flood recruiting offices if the ban is dropped, and that, once in the service, they will contract the disease at very high rates. "Homosexual young men will seek out military service for two reasons: to be where the boys are, and to locate a safe haven where all medical services are both competent and free for life," said Robert Spiro, a former undersecretary of the Army who last week released a report predicting a sharp increase in AIDS in the military if the ban is lifted.

By Catharine Hill As the U.S. military presence in Iraq draws to a close, it's time for colleges and universities to increase their commitment to veterans who want more education. Selective private colleges in particular must step up and do our part. In 1975, Arthur M. Okun published an important little book, Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff , in which he wrote about the benefits of capitalism, but also about the values that we are not willing to submit to the marketplace.

Lynn D. "Buck" Compton, 90, a veteran whose World War II exploits were depicted in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers , died Saturday in Burlington, Wash. He suffered a heart attack last month. Mr. Compton also is remembered for his legal career in California. He headed the team that prosecuted Sirhan B. Sirhan for the slaying of Robert F. Kennedy and was appointed to the Second District Court of Appeal in 1970 by Gov. Ronald Reagan. He retired from the bench in 1990. He was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart during World War II. But it wasn't until later in life that he became famous for his military service as a first lieutenant in the 101st Airborne Division's Easy Company after the unit parachuted into France on D-Day in 1944.

About one in five veterans receiving disability payments from the federal government are getting money for medical diseases that were neither caused nor aggravated by military service, the General Accounting Office reported yesterday. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, estimated that $1.7 billion was paid in 1986 to veterans suffering from problems ranging from hemorrhoids to heart disease that were unrelated to their duty in the armed forces. Franklin Frazier of the GAO said current law makes veterans eligible for medical benefits for problems that arose or got worse during their time in the service - even if the problems were not caused by military duty.

Frank W. Wellons, 93, an engineering executive and former resident of the Philadelphia suburbs, died Friday, March 15, of pneumonia at Harborview Hospital in Seattle, Wash. Mr. Wellons lived in Devon and West Chester for 72 years before moving to Seattle in January to be near his daughter, Amy. He was recognized as an expert in roller bearings and was instrumental in developing a version of the buffering mechanisms that were used in aircraft turbine power plants. He also helped develop international engineering standards for roller bearings, his family said.

Navy sailor Pasquale Troisi completed four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, served in combat, and had once dreamed of becoming a Navy SEAL. But during his most recent deployment, his chief responsibility was perhaps the closest to his heart: protecting military chaplains, doctors, and others who did not carry weapons. Troisi built his military career on a foundation of his strong Catholic faith, according to those who knew him. For Troisi's loved ones, that dedication to God and country has made the events of the past weeks even harder to accept.

WASHINGTON - Chuck Hagel appeared more at ease during his first day on the job at the Pentagon on Wednesday than he did during his turbulent confirmation process, as he repeatedly paid homage to a military that has been engulfed in war for nearly 12 years. Hagel, sworn in earlier in the day, is the only Vietnam combat veteran to serve as defense secretary. In his remarks Wednesday, the former enlisted infantryman did not dwell on his experience or the two Purple Hearts that he was awarded for wounds in combat.

SEOUL, South Korea - The South Korean military will punish pop star Rain for meeting with a top actress while on duty during his mandatory military service, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. Paparazzi photos showing Rain meeting with Kim Tae-hee have raised suspicions that highly sought-after entertainers may be receiving special favors during their military service. The ministry denies Rain has received special treatment. However, Rain, an "entertainment soldier," broke rules by meeting with Kim at least three times late last year while on duty, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing.

Louis W. Schneider, 97, of Glenmoore, who aided victims of war and poverty for more than four decades as an administrator with the American Friends Service Committee, died Thursday, Sept. 20, at his farm. Mr. Schneider grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. He earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and graduated from Union Theological Seminary. Mr. Schneider, whose grandfather and four uncles were Protestant ministers, then became a minister at a nondenominational church in Riverside, N.Y., after graduating from the seminary.

LONDON - The U.S. women's soccer team made no secret of the fact that Thursday's gold-medal showdown with Japan was a grudge match since Japan beat the Americans in penalty kicks in last summer's World Cup final. And, after their 2-1 win before a crowd of more than 80,000 at Wembley Stadium, the women learned that payback can make you rich. That's because each U.S. athlete who wins a gold medal in the London Games gets a cash reward of $25,000 from the United States Olympic Committee.

Mubarak leaves hospital for prison CAIRO - Ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak returned to prison Monday after weeks in a top-line military hospital, a security official said. A prosecutor said that the 84-year-old former president's health had improved from several weeks ago, when he was reportedly on the brink of death. Others in Egypt see the move as an attempt to allay skepticism that officials sympathetic to Mubarak were exaggerating his health crisis to give him a more comfortable imprisonment.

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday dissolved a high-profile committee assigned to overhaul the country's military draft law to spread the burden among more sectors of society, conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews and requiring Israeli Arabs to perform civilian service. The issue is one of the most charged in Israeli society and could create a coalition crisis. The country's secular majority considers the mass exemptions unjust, while the ultra-Orthodox say they are serving the state by serving God. Compulsory service for Israel's Arab minority is just as fraught.

JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister on Tuesday moved to contain the first crisis in his newly expanded coalition government after his most significant partner threatened to quit in a dispute over how to overhaul the country's military draft. Benjamin Netanyahu is rushing to meet an Aug. 1 court deadline to end a contentious system that has exempted tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the army. The issue is threatening to drive Netanyahu's new coalition partner, Kadima, out of the government, although he would retain a narrow parliamentary majority if Kadima bolted.