|
|
|
|
=
EANGUS
37TH
ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
SAVANNAH, GA
18 - 21
AUGUST
2008
|
|
=
![3D"Choo-Choo](3D"JuneMMU_files/image001.gif")
|
|
|
|
=
EANGUS MINUTEMAN
UPDATE &=
nbsp;
JUNE 5, 2008
|
&nbs=
p;
|
|
This is=
an official
publication of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the
United States. Feel free to forward and share this information. EAN=
GUS
is non-partisan. We report the facts - you decide on your position.=
|
|
TRICARE FOR GRAY AREA RETIREES
Today, M=
r. Latta (D-OH) is introducing a bill to allow g=
ray
area retirees the option to buy into TRICARE. Called the TRIC=
ARE
Continuity of Coverage for National Guard and Reserve Families Act =
of
2008, it will authorize those retirees who choose to pay the full c=
ost
of TRICARE premiums the ability to continue their health care in the
TRICARE system.
We'll advise you of progress of this bill as it makes it through the
process.
|
|
|
![3D"conference](3D"JuneMMU_files/image002.jpg")
![3D"Conference](3D"JuneMMU_files/image003.jpg")
|
|
![](3D"JuneMMU_files/image006.jpg")
BAT GIRL
In unifo=
rm,
Tech. Sgt. Cheryl Hackley is a public a=
ffairs
specialist for the National Guard Bureau's counterdrug program.
Off-duty, she's a National's ball girl.
"This is my third year with the team," Hackley
said. "It's an unbelievable opportunity."
She expects to work about 40 night and weekend games this year. Her
mission: corralling souvenir foul balls.
"Protocol says give the ball to a young fan dressed in Nats gear," she said.
Nationals=
Park is designed to bring =
the
fans close to the game. More than half of the capacity crowd of 41,=
222
can find their seats straight from street level, without using ramp=
s,
escalators or elevators. Hackley said t=
he
atmosphere is intimate.
"This will be a new experience this year with the stadium, with
the seating - the fans are right there," she said. "I had
about 25 kids behind me the whole game. They want to talk. It's so =
much
fun. The kids look up to you. It's great."
Hackley's been a Guard member since 199=
9.
"It was never anything I expected to do with my life or my
career," she said. "Ever since I got in, it's been one
fabulous opportunity. The travel. The experience. Going to school p=
art
time and finishing my degree. I've been around the world now, and I
work in our nation's capital: a phenomenal experience."
As for the Guard's role in this Nationals
inaugural game, Hackley said, "It's
fabulous. The National Guard is part of your community, and what el=
se
is part of your community? America's favorite pa=
stime,
baseball."
|
|
'ON-SITE' COMMISSARIES REACH GUARD, RESERVE SHOPPERS=
By Tom Philpott
April 24, 2008
On a wee=
kend
in early April, Staff Sgt. Ingrid Rice drove to her North Carolina =
Air
National Guard facility in Charlotte
and bought $250 worth of groceries at commissary discount prices.
After filling one shopping cart and checking out, Rice, a mother of
two, returned and shopped again. She estimates that she saved=
at
least $100 over local supermarket prices.
The hook of the story is that the Guard facility in Charlotte has no commissary.&nb=
sp; The
nearest commissary is more than an hour away at Fort Jackson, S.C.,
and, given the distance, Rice said she never shops there.
But this month, the commissary came to Rice and to a few thousand o=
ther
reserve component members and military retirees in the Charlotte area. The commi=
ssary
benefit, with prices that, on average, save 30 percent over a
commercial grocer, arrived via a four-day "case lot" sale
held outside the same facility where Rice's unit, the 145th Security
Force, trains.
Twenty-four truckloads of grocery products from meats, fish and fre=
sh
produce to dishwasher detergent and diapers began arriving on a
Tuesday. By Thursday, a team of commissary employees from Fort Bragg, working with vendor=
s and
Guard unit leaders, had opened a makeshift store, mostly under tent=
s,
with eight portable checkout registers.
By Sunday, despite a weekend of steady rain, nearly 2300 patrons had
pushed through long lines to buy $250,000 in discounted goods.
"I don't know anyone who didn't go back twice," said Rice=
.
She and fellow Guardsmen look forward to an even larger sales event
planned here for June. This one will involve a base exchange =
too
so that not only are groceries sold on site but so are items from
military department stores.
Do such on-site sales boost morale? "Absolutely," R=
ice
said.
That's the goal, says Richard Page, acting director of Defense
Commissary Agency (DeCA). Since
November 2003, drilling Reserve and National Guard members have been
authorized unlimited shopping on base. Previously their
privileges were limited to their number of drill days.
But two thirds of Guard members and almost half of drilling reservi=
sts
live too far from a base to make shopping there practical. Th=
at
hurdle has to be overcome, says Page, in light of the sacrifices th=
at
reserve component members are making today with frequent deployment=
s to
fight overseas and to secure the homeland.
DeCA is committed to bringing the benef=
it to
reserve members whenever possible. The effort now is modest,
involving sales of 150 to 400 popular items at just over 100 Guard
facilities and reserve centers this year. These
"case-lot" or bulk sales events are getting larger, more
frequent and more festive, says Page. By 2010, the number cou=
ld
reach 400 sites.
A current schedule of "on-site sales" can be found online=
at:
www.commissaries.com/guardreservesales.cfm
But DeCA has more ambitious plans to he=
lp
reserve component members and their families. This summer, for
three on-site sales at Homestead, =
Fla., Knoxville, Tenn., and San
Luis Obispo, Calif.=
,
DeCA will test a system that allows
reservists and retirees to go online and place personal orders from=
a
list of products bundled into "club packs."
Orders will be delivered to the reserve facility for pick up and
purchase during the sale. Personal orders will not include
perishable products like produce or meats, but refrigerated items w=
ill
be available at the sale sites.
By the end of the year, Page says, DeCA=
plans
a third, more aggressive step to help reserve members. The go=
al
will be to establish an online site where military shoppers, willin=
g to
pay shipping costs, can order commissary club-pack products anytime=
on
line for delivery to their homes.
Excluded from these orders, again, would be perishables. But =
for
the first time, reservists and retirees living miles from bases mig=
ht
be able to enjoy commissary discounts, less shipping costs, on many
products.
Meanwhile, Page says, DeCA teams and
suppliers involved in on-site sales are hearing many favorable comm=
ents
from shoppers and getting good suggestions to improve future
sales. The most frequent complaint heard from shoppers, Page
quips, "is that their cars were too small."
Commissaries don't make a profit. DeCA's
motive is simply to improve quality of life, Page says. He
recalls visiting with wounded service members at Walter Reed=
Army Medical
Center in J=
anuary
and says, "It was "one of the most moving experiences of =
my
life. Our military has paid a heavy price in this war. =
It
makes those of us in the qualify-of-life world understand that what=
ever
we can do for them, we need to do."
|
|
![](3D"JuneMMU_files/image008.jpg") 'THE LONE BUGLER'
of New Jersey Busy
Again
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP, NJ-May 05, 2008 - "The Lone Bugler" =
of New Jersey is
once again preparing for his 8th Annual 21 Performance Salute on
Memorial Day week.
Richard Pinter - a retired Army First Sergeant - has been playing
"Taps" at military funerals and other events for 38 years
while serving in our military and 8 years since his military retire=
ment
in 2000. This years schedule will start on May 19th and continue th=
ru May 31st with talks at local organizati=
ons,
schools and senior centers. Other performances will take place at l=
ocal
cemeteries and monuments to include Brigadier General Doyle Veterans
Cemetery Wrightstown NJ, Bordentown City & Twp. Veterans Monume=
nt
Ceremonies. See complete schedule below.
For more information contact:
1SG Dick Pinter at 609-324-1373 Fax 609-324-1374
E-mail azmusic@comcast.net
|
|
DOD RECEIVES ADDITIONAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS=
The Depa=
rtment
of Defense announced today they have signed a memorandum of agreeme=
nt
with the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) to increase mental health
services available to active duty service members, retirees, and th=
eir
families.
"Thanks to this agreement, the U.S. Public Health Service will
send us mental health professionals with all disciplines, and the
military services will place them in locations with the greatest
need," said Dr. S. Ward Casscells,
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
The PHS Commissioned Corps is a uniformed service of more than 6,000
well-trained, highly qualified public health professionals. They wo=
rk
to promote and protect the nation's health and safety by providing
health care to people most in need and responding to public health
emergencies. While Corps officers care for military personnel,
they are not members of the military and will not deploy.
|
|
TAPS . . .
Bordentown
Township
It is a short melody - only 24 notes. But it brings te=
ars
to the eyes of retired 1st Sgt. Richard Pinter.
"The most emotional piece of music that has ever been composed=
is
taps," Pinter said.
Pinter, of Borden=
town
Township, i=
s a
military bugler and has played taps thousands of times. This year,
Pinter will play at 21 locations over eight days around the Memorial
Day holiday.
This will be the eighth year that Pinter, known as the Lone Bugler,
will make the rounds on Memorial Day, dashing from Trenton to
Bordentown to Wrightstown, NJ.
Pinter said he feels compelled to visit as many cemeteries as possi=
ble
to instill patriotism in the crowd and show his respect and
appreciation for our nation's veterans.
"This isn't me doing this for me," he said. "I'm doi=
ng
this for the families of the fallen veterans."
Pinter used to play the bugle while bandmaster of the Adjutant
General's 276th Army National Guard Band and the 78th Division Army
Reserve Band.
"It was a great way to spend your military career," he sa=
id.
After 38 years in the Army, Pinter retired in 2000. He said it was
difficult to stand on the sidelines and watch other bands and music=
ians
perform.
"The first year I kind of felt that I was put out to
pasture," Pinter said. "It was the first time I watched a
parade instead of being in a parade."
Pinter said three of his family members - World War II veterans - h=
ad
been buried without military honors and without the sounding of tap=
s.
So on Memorial Day in 2000, he visited their gravesites, played tap=
s,
and recited a prayer.
The following Memorial Day, Pinter decided to visit as many local
cemeteries as he could, to play the haunting bugle call for the
veterans there.
Pinter said many veterans are not aware that they are entitled to be
buried with military honors, if requested by the family. Pinter said
some veterans do not have taps played at their graves or they must =
use
a recording instead of a live bugler.
"I find that appalling," he said.
Pinter believes a recording should be used only as a last resort. <=
br>
The first year Pinter began his Memorial Day tribute, it was pouring
rain. Pinter said no one showed up at the first three cemeteries on=
his
route. So he stood in the rain alone and played.
"Our military has fought in some pretty tough circumstances and
some pretty bad weather," he said. "I will be there; beca=
use
that is the respect I want to show."
In 2006, Pinter's house caught fire the day before Memorial Day. Th=
at
didn't stop him from making his rounds. He said dozens of people
donated to help his family recover from the fire.
"It kind of confirmed that what I am doing is touching
people," he said.
|
|
|
|
|
![3D"Membership](3D"JuneMMU_files/image004.jpg")
![3D"EANGUS](3D"JuneMMU_files/image005.jpg")