Military Officer - November 2008 - (Page 22)

rapidfire ? ? ?? Employment or Service Questions? Are you a reserve component servicemember, or do you have employees who serve in the military? If so, you might have questions regarding your rights and responsibilities under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a DoD agency that offers free assistance with USERRA issues. ESGR has expanded its activity in step with the increased mobilization of the reserve component forces. Based on the operational use of the reserve component forces, DoD saw the need to institutionalize and systematically help reservists and their employers. ESGR established a national customer service center in 2003 that serves as the primary entry point for communication and information related to USERRA for ESGR constituents (members of the reserve components, their family members, the nation’s employers, human resource personnel, educators, and representatives of labor unions). ESGR’s customer service center is available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday, to provide answers to USERRA-related questions. To reach a customer service agent, call (800) 336-4590 and press 1, or visit www.esgr.org. ? ? ? ? In Review Endgame, 1945 By David Stafford. Little, Brown and Co., 2007. $26.99. ISBN 978-0316-10980-2. the Werwolf, and the geopolitical contest between the East and West for control of Europe. TRICAREUPDATE TRICARE “BACKS” NEW SURGERIES: If you’ve been dealing with pain from fractured vertebrae, you now have more choices for treatment. TRICARE recently approved two new back surgeries for beneficiaries with this type of pain. The two minimally invasive back surgeries, percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty, might replace the more invasive spinal fusion surgical procedure. This policy change is retroactive to March 1, 2007. The traditional treatment, spinal fusion surgery, requires up to 12 hours in the operating room and days of hospitalization afterward. Percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are outpatient surgeries that have patients back to relative normality in 24 hours. A health care provider must approve either surgery. Visit TRICARE’s Web site at www.tricare.mil for more information. 22 MILITARY OFFICER NOVEMBER 2008 In probably the best history of post-World War II Europe, noted historian David Stafford tells the dramatic story of the last two weeks of the Third Reich and the following two months of chaos, disease, starvation, and the collapse of law and order and basic services. This is a very human story, with Stafford relating the personal experiences of Allied soldiers and relief workers as they try to feed, clothe, and protect the hundreds of thousands of desperate refugees, POWs, concentration camp inmates, and other displaced persons. As Stafford describes, even after V-E Day Allied soldiers still had to ﬁght die-hard Nazi fanatics and combat lawlessness and the brutality of the vengeful, as well as chase down Nazi war criminals. He also vividly tells of hidden Nazi treasures, the myths of the Alpine Redoubt and The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760 By John Grenier. University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. $34.95. ISBN 978-08601-3876-3. Award-winning historian John Grenier has written an intriguing history of early colonial warfare, focusing on Great Britain’s imperial quest to wrest French Canada’s province of Nova Scotia from the French, Acadians, and Indians in the 18th century. This is a treatise about war, counterinsurgency, occupation, and paciﬁcation — and all the things the British did right and wrong while spending 50 years expanding their North American empire. Within the backdrop of European politics and conﬂict, Grenier tells of brutal frontier warfare, violence against noncombatants, ethnic cleansing, guerrilla operations, and the ﬁnal dispersal of the entire Acadian population to make room for British colonists. — William D. Bushnell PHOTOS: STEVE BARRETT http://www.esgr.org http://www.tricare.mil

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - November 2008

Military Officer - November 2008 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Chapters in Action Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Financial Guidebook Out of the Red 7 Year-End Tax Strategies Cover Story: Memory Survives Something to Say MOAA Scholarship Recipients Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Member Services MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - November 2008

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