Military Officer - April 2007 - (Page 24) rapidfire C Charitable Gift Annuity ontribute to The Scholarship Fund of MOAA through a charitable gift annuity. An MOAA charitable gift annuity provides help for many of the financial issues faced by retired MOAA members. Your gift can provide funding for grants and no-interest undergraduate student loans for officers’ and enlisted servicemembers’ dependents. You can claim a tax deduction for your charitable contribution and receive guaranteed income for life — income not affected by economic downturns, stock market turbulence, or interest rate fluctuations. Typically, rates of return run between 5 percent and 8 percent, depending on your age. You also can contribute stock rather than cash. If your stocks have appreciated a lot over the years, this can be especially helpful, because you can spread the capital gain over several years. To learn more, contact MOAA Director of Planned Giving Capt. Shelley Marshall, USN-Ret., at (800) 234MOAA (6622), ext. 169, or e-mail shelleym@moaa.org. In Review House to House: Playing the Enemy’s Game in Saigon, May 1968 By Keith Nolan. Zenith Press, 2006. $24.95. ISBN 0-7603-2330-5. eral civilian casualties and property destruction. General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man By Edward G. Longacre. Da Capo Press, 2006. $26. ISBN 0-306-81269-X. TRICAREUPDATE IN 2006, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) enrolled some TRICARE beneficiaries in a Medicare Part D prescription plan automatically. TRICARE is a secondary payer to Part D, according to federal law. Therefore, TRICARE has established payment rules with its claims processor to ensure compliance with the law. If you are a TRICARE beneficiary and want to find out if you currently are enrolled in Part D, call (866) 363-8779. If CMS records show no Part D coverage, the Defense Manpower Data Center will update your Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System information. If CMS records show you are enrolled in a Part D plan, representatives will advise you how to disenroll. For more information, visit www.moaa.org/april2007. 24 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2007 Close combat in an urban environment is an infantryman’s nightmare, a brutal slugfest of possible ambush with the added potential tragedy of civilian casualties. Keith Nolan, a respected chronicler of the Vietnam War, tells about the second bloody battle for Saigon, following the 1968 Tet Offensive. He describes the massive infiltration of Viet Cong and NVA forces into Saigon’s suburbs and the bitter battles fought by the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division to drive the enemy out. This was close combat at its most violent and unexpected for the riflemen, squadrons, and platoons fighting the enemy in Saigon’s alleys, streets, and houses. Nolan addresses small-unit tactics, command-and-control problems, and leadership heroes and failures as well as the timely subjects of the risks and rewards of propaganda, fire support proportionality, and the resulting collat- Ulysses S. Grant hated music, was a failure in civilian life, and did not look like a soldier, but he certainly could fight. Civil War historian Edward Longacre has written an insightful biography of Grant, covering his early years through his military career. As Longacre points out, Grant was an unlikely military hero whose career was marred by alcohol abuse, debts, and malicious slander, but he remained focused on fighting and winning. Even battlefield defeats did not deter his pursuit of the enemy and ultimate victory. Longacre explores Grant’s character and his moods, decisions, worries, initiative, and determination as he describes Grant’s battles with the bottle, his detractors, and Robert E. Lee. He also reveals that the gravest threat to Grant’s career was not on the battlefield but in his boss’s headquarters. — William D. Bushnell IMAGES: ABOVE, STEVE BARRETT; LEFT, IMAGES.COM/CORBIS http://www.moaa.org/april2007 http://IMAGES.COM/CORBIS
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