Military Officer - September 2007 - (Page 20)

yourviews MILIT ARY J U LY 2 0 0 7 $4.50 THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF MOAA | ONE POWERFUL VOICE® W W W. M O A A . O R G OFFICER In Focus ANOTHER GOOD YEAR? House and Senate Defense bills include pay, benefits upgrades 31 AFTER THE KIM DYNASTY What will be the fallout from Kim Jong Il’s eventual death? 56 See the winning entries from MOAA’s third annual patriotic photo contest 50 “It’s long overdue. People can eat grass only so long. Kim [Jong Il] is a nutcase anyway.” — Maj. William M. Shaw II, USA-Ret. throat. The Koreans have been a convenient thorn to keep the U.S. and Asian powers busy stomping on brush ﬁres. There is no way that China will threaten its huge economic gains by letting North Korea do anything bigtime crazy. Right now, nobody wants 20 million indoctrinated ants. When Kim departs, the army will fuss a little, but the Chinese will take care of that quickly — and then comes due the bill to feed the populace and teach them how to make pencils or hoe radishes. —Lt. Col. David N. Suban, USAF-Ret. via e-mail Left-Handed Compliment I noticed on the cover of my July edition [of Military Ofﬁcer] that three of the four Marines appear to be lefthanded. This seems quite unusual to me, and I just wondered if the negative had been reversed? Thanks, [and] keep up the good work. —Lt. Col. Don Williams, USAF-Ret. via e-mail Editor’s note: The cover matches the digital ﬁle we received from a photo agency. (It’s possible to ﬂip a digital image, but it takes a concerted effort.) Also, the jacket and trouser ﬂaps don’t appear to be reversed. So either a lot of Marines are left-handed, or they shifted the weapons to their other hands as they hugged the wall. North Korea’s Future Thank you for your excellent article on North Korea [“After the Kim Dynasty,” July 2007]. In 1988 and 1989 I was the S2 (intelligence ofﬁcer) for 20 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2007 the 1st (Armored) Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, then at Camp Casey, South Korea. Since then I have followed the developments there with great interest. We used to say that North Korea was not a country with an army in the usual sense. It was an army that oh, by the way, had a country attached. … Almost 20 years ago when I was there, I was convinced that the South Koreans do not need our help, at least in terms of ground support. The [South Korean military] are the most professional military forces I have ever seen. They will do just ﬁne without us. They may need our air support and perhaps some naval assistance, but once they absorb the initial barrage from the North, it will be a short, but bloody, takeover of the North from the South. It’s long overdue. People can eat grass only so long. Kim [Jong Il] is a nutcase anyway. —Maj. William M. Shaw II, USA-Ret. Hollis, N.H. After many years of study of North Korea I am convinced that China holds the chain leash on North Korea’s Supporting the Troops Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USNRet.’s comments in the July issue [“Misplaced Concern,” “From the President”] will hopefully [serve as] a wake-up call to the many members of MOAA. The number of programs mentioned in this article, plus the additional pay and beneﬁt upgrades cited in the “Washington Scene” section, that are all being opposed by this administration give a glimpse of what is really being done. While Ryan refers to the people who seem to object to these programs as “administration bean counters,” one would believe that the president has nothing to do with this. How absurd is that? While it’s very easy to get up and give a speech and say how much you support our armed forces, few people are able to follow up and actually see what is really being done. When organizations like MOAA actually investigate the rhetoric, the true values of our leaders are exposed. Remember, it’s not what people say, it’s what they do. For those people who say we can’t afford all these beneﬁts and programs that will help the military forces that are living this nightmare, I say, http://WWW.MOAA.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - September 2007

Military Officer - September 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Plan for Your Future At Home in a High-Rise Lone Star Living Common Ground Insert: Community Source Cover Story: Waging War on Disease More Than Beaches MOAA Scholarship Donors Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - September 2007

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