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Letters

Focus on cuts misguided

I’ve been listening to the Navy trying to figure out where to make cutbacks: what Navy jobs can be contracted out to save money and which jobs are unnecessary. Now I’m stationed overseas, watching American Forces Network commercials promoting the Navy Band and the Sea Chanters chorus. And the Navy is busy eliminating “unnecessary rates” from the fleet?

If the Navy is looking to find rates that are not essential to our national defense, maybe we need to start in Washington, D.C.

MA1 (SW) Nathan Stalker

Rota, Spain

Female uniformity needed

It would be good to focus on more stringent behavior for women in the Navy involving female uniform regulations. For example, a chief petty officer may reprimand someone while she herself is wearing bright red nail polish. We are aware that red nail polish is out of regs — nail polish must blend in, and red definitely doesn’t blend.

How about a pull-out section in Navy Times outlining which colors are not within regulations? We need to remember it is our Navy, as well.

SK2 Stephanie Harries

San Diego

Change injury regulation

Sometimes I think there is a unit within the Pentagon charged with dreaming up regulations designed to aggravate our military forces and veterans.

In March, the Pentagon issued a change in regulations that narrowed the definition of combat disabilities. The Pentagon stated that disability benefits should be higher for those wounded in combat than those with non-combat injuries.

Two recent cases point out the absurdity of the new regulation. Army Sgt. Lori Meshell suffered hip and back injuries while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. Because she was not hit by shrapnel, the Pentagon ruled her injuries were not combat-related and she was not entitled to about $1,200 per month in benefits. Marine Cpl. James Dixon experienced a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip, and hearing loss from roadside bomb and mine explosions in Iraq; his case was ruled non combat-related. (This information is based on a Nov. 27 article in the Boston Globe.)

This regulation has to be changed to classify all injuries experienced by military personnel in war zones as combat-related.

Former Lt. Donald Moskowitz

Londonderry, N.H.

Repeal ‘Don’t ask’

The statements of the officials opposing the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy [“Troops oppose repeal of ‘don’t ask,’” Jan. 5] are outdated and out of touch.

Elaine Donnelly’s warning of cohabitation shows a lack of understanding of the current military situation. Heterosexuals are already cohabitating with homosexual service members, both downrange and at home. While this is not without incident, little can be done until the current policy is repealed and leaders can begin their efforts to prevent these occurrences.

Donnelly’s opposition to gay and lesbian soldiers is an insult to all these brave men and women who have served and continue to serve in our military, often in silence.

Additionally, Army Capt. Steven J. Lacy’s comments are an echo of the played-out argument that officials have been pushing since this policy began. It is an argument that has outlived its accuracy. Everyday, more and more troops return from global deployments, during which many have served beside service members that they knew were homosexual.

Many of our allies allow openly homosexual service members, who serve alongside our troops downrange. Even our civilian counterparts, serving in Department of the Army and defense contract positions, are allowed to serve openly. As a leader, I would rather my troops were able to be honest and open about their personal lives than forced into silence or deceit by policy.

Army Sgt. Anthony W. Moll

Columbia, Md.

‘Don’t panic’

I enjoyed reading Ken Perrotte’s “Prepare for the worst” article [Lifelines, Dec. 29]. If there’s a little more room in his survival bag, I’d suggest adding a couple more items — foremost, a towel.

Douglas Adams may have had his tongue in his cheek when he extolled the many uses of towels in his “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, but I have personally used a towel as a bandage for myself and later as a pillow for someone else in an emergency situation.

You can use it as a blanket; you can cut it up into multiple bandages; in a pinch, you can dry yourself with it.

The other item is a roll of toilet paper. The comfort it provides in an extended survival scenario means one less stressor.

You also can use it to stop bleeding from small cuts or as a sponge to collect water.

Air Force Lt. Col. Christopher Bohn

Hurlburt Field, Fla.

Right to bear arms

The departments of Defense and Homeland Security, along with civil law enforcement agencies, must be on the front line in preventing criminal attacks like the one in India. However, I am struck by the failure to recognize the important role individual citizens could potentially play in reacting to such attacks. Many states have liberalized right to carry concealed weapons laws and have seen a decrease in violent crime rates.

Acknowledging the value of a trained and armed citizenry to resist violent criminal acts would be a positive step. Certainly there are real concerns about individual citizens using firearms in public places, but in comparison with what happened in Mumbai, these concerns are minimal. It is interesting to note that India has essentially disarmed its citizenry. As a result, a city was held hostage by 10 armed criminals who slaughtered unarmed victims at will.

Air Force Col. Michael R. Gallagher (ret.)

Hillsboro, Ore.

Silver better than gold

I was wandering through the exchange in Norfolk, Va., and decided to see what it had available in regards to the new Navy Working Uniforms.

There were no uniforms out, but they had patches for rank, warfare pins and badges. I noticed that the E-7 to E-9 anchors were all gold.

The stars were gold. The “USN” was gold. Is this a mistake?

The last time I pinned an anchor on my collar that was not blacked out, it contained the silver letters “USN,” and my fellow senior and master chief petty officers had silver stars above their anchors.

Who approved these patches? If you look at any other uniform patch, besides the blacked-out ones, it has the stars and “USN” in silver. The all-gold anchor, stars and “USN” looked pathetic! They blended together. So was this a production error, or did someone screw this up?

HMC (SW/AW/FMF) Justin R. Harris

Norfolk, Va.