Technical Intelligence Bulletins Sept

Technical Intelligence Bulletins Sept - October 2000

Vol. 5 No. 5 September - October 2000

A non-profit publication about the veterans of Technical Intelligence in war and peace,the current operations of the National Ground Intelligence Center, the Technical Intelligence Unit at Aberdeen Proving Ground and news itemsof interest to the technical intelligence community.

Chinese shown sensitive data on joint war fighting By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Senior Chinese military officials were shown sensitive data on how the U.S. military trains its forces for joint war fighting and other operations, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times. The documents are raising questions among critics in the Clinton

administration and in Congress about whether the Pentagon is skirting a law passed last year limiting contacts with the Chinese military on sensitive topics, including joint war fighting. Briefing slides outlining the sensitive data were presented during an hourlong presentation to a delegation of Chinese military officials from the Academy of Military Science at a training center that is part of the U.S. Joint Forces Command in southern Virginia.The sensitive, unclassified information was explained by Army Maj. Gen. William S. Wallace, the head of the Joint Warfighting Center and director of the command's joint training on Aug. 24.

The briefing outlined the structure of the command and its approach and activities in support of joint military training â€” how to integrate various military services and components into a single fighting force. According to the documents, the dual requirements for joint training are

to "preserve and advance joint operational and warfighting skills with [Unified Endeavor] exercises," and to support commanders in conducting joint training. Several defense officials said privately that the joint war-fighting briefing appears to circumvent congressionally mandated limitations on military exchanges with the Chinese military.

Sen. Robert C. Smith, New Hampshire Republican, and Rep. Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, have said the visit to the Norfolk-based command and similar activities involving a group of Chinese colonels at Harvard University violate congressional restrictions on information sharing.

Mr. Smith said the programs are "a clear violation of the intent of Congress" in limiting such contacts. "I regret deeply that our soldiers are being forced to submit to the Clinton pro-Beijing agenda," he said. Mr. DeLay has said the visit to the Joint Forces Command and Pentagon

support for a group of visiting Chinese colonels showed the administration's "reckless disregard" for U.S. national security.The congressmen said they are considering new legislation to close loopholes that appear to have been exploited by the administration in helping the Chinese learn about U.S. military capabilities. China has not reciprocated with visits or briefings in China for U.S. military officers, according to Pentagon officials.

The Chinese are the only Asian military to be given the briefing, Pentagon officials said. Taiwan has been denied access to the information, and military officials from Japan, South Korean and other Asian nations have not been briefed at the Joint Force Command. "This is partly a Chinese initiative," one official said. "They singled out this briefing as the most important part of their visit." James Lilly, a former U.S. ambassador to China, said the exchange program with the Chinese military "has been remarkable for its lack of reciprocity." "That's the way it has been all the way through, and we've been outmaneuvered," said Mr. Lilly, now with the American Enterprise Institute. Al Santoli, a China defense specialist and aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, said the joint war-fighting information contained in the briefing slides could help the Chinese military develop joint war-fighting capabilities. It is an area of intense interest to the Chinese, who could use the information to improve their capability for future military action against Taiwan, he said. The Academy of Military Science delegation, including three generals, began its visit Aug. 18 and ended Friday with a trip to the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Honolulu. A section of the fiscal 2000 defense authorization bill that President Clinton signed into law in October states that the secretary of defense "may not authorize any military-to-military exchanges or contact . . . with representatives of the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China if that exchange or contact would create a national security risk due to inappropriate exposure" to military information. The law lists 12 topics the Pentagon is barred from discussing with the Chinese, including "joint warfighting experiments and other activities related to a transformation in warfare." The law also bans any discussion with the Chinese military on "advanced combined arms and joint combat operations" â€” the specialty of the Joint Forces Command. Gen. Wallace could not be reached for comment on the briefing, and a spokesman for the Joint Forces Command had no immediate comment.

WW II aircraft Ammunition- Popular Mechanics for Tech Intel

Can someone provide a definitive definition of the distinction, always drawn in accounts of World War II aircraft, between machine guns and automatic cannon? I believe cannon fired explosive shells and machine guns did not, but I have never found an explicit definition. Keith Allen

Keith; At one time I had in my collection a Japanese 50 caliber explosive machine gun cartridge which I had picked up at a crash scene at Loiwing, China. I made a drawing of this in September of 1942 and sent it in to Popular Mechanics Magazine and actually got paid for it. I also had a 5 round belted 7.62 of Russian explosive machine gun ammunition that came off a Russian made Chinese flown biplane fighter Our own . 50 caliber armor piercing incendiary rounds were very close to being an explosive type. I would suggest that anything of larger caliber than 20 mm would be in the cannon range not the type round it fired.But heck I'm not the one who determines this type of nomenclature, this is just my imput, for whatever it's worth.Chuck B

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Washington Times September 22, 2000 Inside The Ring By Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough

The Army hired a private research firm to travel out in the field and find out why so many soldiers are quitting. We obtained a copy of the company's final report submitted to the U.S. Army Research Institute. Nearly 10,000 officers and enlisted personnel responded to the survey. The top reason for so many resignations is the Army's open-ended peacekeeping missions overseas. Here are some revealing answers to the question, Why are you leaving?

A lieutenant: "The incompetence of higher-ranking officers; specifically their concern of making the themselves look good and not properly taking care of the soldiers. I would honestly not want to go to war now with the leadership I have seen above battalion level." Another lieutenant: "The largest problem affecting retention of junior officers is the perception that the senior leadership is completely out of touch with soldiers and their needs. Ticket punching and 'looking good' are the priority." A senior enlisted man: "The biggest reason I will retire at exactly 20 years is because the civilian and senior military leadership is so out of touch with reality. They are more concerned with votes or their next star or civilian job than that of the welfare of their soldiers."

A warrant officer: "We are doing too much, moving too fast and I predict more exits. Soldiers will sacrifice much, but without some hope of a family life, they will not stay." A captain: "Will terminate my active military service so that I can be a husband to my wife and a father to my children." A major: "This is not the Army I joined. I joined an Army whose mission was to fight our nation's wars. . . . Today, the context is [the] mountains of Albania? Bosnia?"

Another major: "I do not trust the senior political leadership and do not support our involvement in the Balkans and Yugoslavia operations. This would not stop me from deploying but I do question the motivation behind going." A lieutenant: "For an Army that is supposed to be the best in the world, the quality of equipment, tanks and other combat vehicles, is not only old but the ability to get parts to accomplish a field exercise is like requesting parts for a nuclear bomb." A staff sergeant: "Soldiers are coming out of basic training without the level of discipline that is needed to survive combat, due to the softening of the Army. The kinder, gentler Army will not work." The Army is using the data to figures out ways to keep soldiers longer.

The Senate is playing cat and mouse with the CIA over the stalled nomination of John McLaughlin, a veteran analyst, to be the No. 2 agency official. Various senators have placed a "hold" on Mr. McLaughlin's nomination. Sen. Robert C. Smith, New Hampshire Republican, had held up the nominee until yesterday. He wanted the CIA to produce records on U.S. prisoner-of-war and missing-in-action cases. At least one other senator is secretly blocking the nomination over various intelligence issues, we are told by congressional and administration sources. The backstage nomination battle has been under way for several weeks. Each time CIA lobbyists succeed in getting one senator to remove his hold, another senator steps in and adds a new one. "There's a shell game going on," said one U.S. official close to the dispute.

*The U.S. military has failed to confirm reports that an Iraqi fighter crossed into Saudi Arabian airspace last week. A military source tells us no Iraqi plane showed up on Airborne Warning and Control System radar. The original report had come from a "secondhand" intelligence source, he said. *Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki is set to present a dire picture of the service's problems with the current defense budget request, according to officials familiar with his draft Senate testimony. Gen. Shinseki's plans for force transformation "will collapse" unless the Army budget is increased. Also, there will be major problems with spare parts for equipment. The testimony is set for Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. *Pentagon insiders tell us that the Joint Chiefs of Staff are in a quandary over how to publicly discuss readiness problems. If they lay out the shortages candidly, they risk the wrath of Al Gore and the White House, both of whom are belittling George W. Bush's criticism of military preparedness. But if the chiefs hold back, they risk the ire of congressional Republicans who control defense dollars, and of troops in the field who know the real story. *The Senate Budget Committee staff has compiled numbers showing the extent to which President Clinton cut the defense budget at the same time he was sending troops on a record number of peacekeeping and war missions.

The committee's calculations show Mr. Clinton slashed arms spending by $102 billion over the last five-year budget submitted by his predecessor, George Bush. "Assertions that the defense budget cuts of the Clinton administration were initiated by the Bush administration are simply not supported by the data," says a staff report. "The Clinton-Gore team took $100-plus billion more out of defense resources than the Bush administration had planned."

*U.S. military personnel are using the euphoria-producing designer drug "ecstasy" in greater numbers, according to Army Col. Mick Smith, science and testing officer for the Pentagon's Office of the Coordinator for Drug Enforcement Policy and Support. Col. Smith told the American Forces Press Service that ecstasy use has "increased markedly." The Pentagon conducted 2,273,998 urine drug tests in fiscal 1999, according to Col. Smith. The results: Marijuana positives, 12,006; cocaine positives, 2,839; methamphetamine positives, 807; ecstasy positives, 432; and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) positives, 325. Service members caught using drugs

are subject to discharge or imprisonment.

Well, I can not help but wonder if this would have applied in 1930-1941, 1947 - 1950, 1955- 1965, and every other interwar year. WLH

More than two-thirds of officers in a survey sample agreed with the statement "I see no possibility for continued job satisfaction in the Army."...........

.."Job satisfaction is down across the officer corps," .... "Optempo [operational tempo, meaning the frequency of missions], micromanagement and not adhering to training doctrine are the major factors causing job dissatisfaction among the officer corps."

.......The Leavenworth study offered a simple solution: "The Army must restore the spirit and quality back into the unit experience by reducing optempo [operational tempo] and enforcing our training doctrine. We must provide more time to units for [mission essential task list]-focused training."

........A majority of officers stated that "some pressure exists to inflate unit status on readiness reporting." A lieutenant gave a typical written response: "Reason for first thinking about leaving the Army: Lack of training time and resources. I don't want to do battle with an unarmed unit; i.e., untrained is unarmed. Task Force Smith will happen again and I don't want to lead it, just because I stayed in and found easy promotion, along with less qualified peers." andy

Government web sites. There is a new site that connects you to all of the government web sites. http://firstgov.gov/

Comment: As someone once put it, we took the French Plan for defeat and proved it would work.

Reply: I don't believe we can militarily compare the French experience with ours.**

Col. Nicholas Andreacchio

**See: "An Historical Analyis of ARVN Armor Operations from Conception to the Present, with a Focus on the Northern Areas." by Maj. N. A. Andreacchio. Of course the Army classified it Secret, even though no classified sources were used. It wouldn't be all that nteresting---except from a historical viewpoint---and some of the French trivia, such as the first VN OCS set up by the French was for Armor, and that all VN Armor units were volunteer.

The F-22 and its current situation in the USAF inventory. Will the goverment buy it or not?

So far so good the Air force is still doing operational testing. An AIM 9 sidewinder was just recently successfully launched and a AIM-120 is next. Operational status is for this decade so Congress has some decisions to make. Even though it is pricey the F-22 puts us way above

the competition. Sure others can make more maneuverable fighters but no one can put the whole package together like us.

Training Chinese Intelligence Officers in the USA.

Right now there are 21 Chinese officers, mainly intelligence officers, under taking a two-week seminar at Harvard on US military capabilities and US national command authority decision making. It is not sponsored by the US military as laws prevent this. It is sponsored by Harvard and funded by a grant from the Democratic Party. It is a third such seminar sponsored by Harvard.

Accident or modern dasy Kamakazi? MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTSWASHINGTON, Oct. 12 — At least four U.S. sailors were killed and 12 were missing Thursday after an explosion ripped a large hole in a Navy destroyer docked at a port in Yemen. The Pentagon suspected it was a terrorist attack, but backed off initial reports that a speed boat had rammed the USS Cole. “The explosion apparently occurred on a small boat that was assisting the Cole with mooring lines,” said Lt. Cmdr. Cate Mueller, a Navy spokeswoman at the Pentagon.

THE BLAST ripped a huge hole in the USS Cole, and seamen were working frantically to keep it afloat. At least 36 of its 350 crew were injured, six seriously. Mueller said she could not confirm whether the boat on which the explosion occurred was an inflatable boat that was earlier reported to have rammed into the USS Cole. She said the blast might have occurred away from the side of the warship.The turn of events raised the possibility that the explosion was an accident, not a terrorist attack. But NBC Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reported that U.S. officials still suspected an attack because of the size of the explosion. A small diesel boat would not have left a 20- by- 40-foot hole in a destroyer, they told Miklaszewski. Miklaszewski said the explosion cut power to the ship and caused it to take on water. “We are trying very hard to keep the ship afloat,” Navy spokeswoman Lt. Meghan Mariman said. If it was a terrorist attack, it would not have surprised U.S. officials, Miklaszewski said, since U.S. intelligence had recently intercepted more communications traffic than normal from the Yemen area, he said, and those intercepts are now being reviewed The USS Cole, which is armed with standard missiles and torpedoes, is part of the operation to enforce U.N. sanctions against Iraq. Yemen is on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula on the Red Sea. The Cole was in port for a four-hour refueling stop and was to have headed to Bahrain for a port visit. It is part of the U.S. 5th Fleet, which has more than a dozen ships, including an aircraft carrier, in the region.Thursday’s explosion was heard all over Aden, the city where the ship was in port, and ambulances rushed to the port. The injured were removed to local hospitals and the Navy was flying a medical team in from Bahrain. Yemen has become a more frequent refueling stop for Navy ships following a December 1997 U.S. government policy decision to open up contacts and cooperation with the country.

President Bill Clinton was expected to talk to reporters about the bombing later Thursday morning. A spokesman said the president was “obviously horrified” and had ordered officials to “do everything possible to find those responsible.” At the Justice Department, Attorney General Janet Reno declined to comment on a possible terrorist link. She said a team of FBI agents was en route to the scene. Asked if consideration is being given to putting on a worldwide terrorist alert at U.S. installations, she said, “That is an issue that is being addressed.” Background about the USS Cole is available on a Navy Web site at www.spear.navy.mil/ships/ddg67

A Navy assistance line was set up for families of those aboard the USS Cole, at (877) 414-5358.

The USS COLE was on a scheduled stop at Aden. 2 to 1, her arrivel time, assigned berth, and any other pertinent information were known well before she arrived. Way things work, unfortunately. Please note that I would say 99% sure that the logistics of the operation required excellent intelligence, cooperation from officials in harbor administration, preplaced explosives and other material, prepared and trained teams both boat operators and logistic types, material source and means of procuring and preparing the explosives .. .. none of which would work as a "last minute" idea ... This has all the earmarks of a well planned and supplied operation..in my humble opinion .....Ghost Dance (LTC Ray Hatmaker) Why on earth would we refuel at a place like Yemen? Hal TurellIt would seem that this is relatively new....the last year or so; and that the Cole's stop was only the twelfth(?) time it has been done. Without getting in to politics, it appears that the US was "improving" their relations with Yemen (a strongly pro-Arabic country), and had elevated Yemen's financial advantage with the US in order to received this ability to refuel as well as other perks. I presume, that the State Department counts any country not with Saddam Hussein; as one, if not with the US, at least is not against it. It would then seem that the US now fights, after Desert Storm, the slow battle of attrition, as in Korea. 'Nuff said, off topic. Being older, it is always such a tragic loss to hear of such young men dying, especially in such a cowardly, dastardly manner. Condolences(to the families of those killed), Gene

October 12, 2000 The space shuttle was finally launched for the 100th mission. After four delays, it finally took off. The international space station nears completion.

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Spy Satellite Chief Seeks Modern Eyes In The Sky By Vernon Loeb, Washington Post Staff Writer

Sometime in the next two or three weeks, Keith R. Hall and the National Reconnaissance Office can expect to find themselves, once again, in the eye of a storm on Capitol Hill. But it's likely to be a cloudburst, not a gale. Forgive Hall, a man who builds satellites, if he feels like a kite. Four years ago, when Hall took control, the agency was reckless and out of control, having salted away $2 billion in unspent funds and secretly building itself a new, $300 million headquarters in Chantilly. The scandal didn't exactly foster a risk-taking environment. But Hall did the best he could, fixing the budget, doubling research spending and presiding over the design of a whole new generation of spy satellites--the most expensive new intelligence program in U.S. history. Congress, though, was far from appeased, creating a national commission of

legislators and luminaries to investigate the agency in the belief that it had become a hidebound bureaucracy wedded to billion-dollar, 1970s-era spy satellites the size of school buses when it should have been moving toward smaller, cheaper, stealthier birds. Hall himself admits to a certain amount of frustration trying to move the agency toward technology's cutting edge. With the commission's report due out early next month, Congress has just shot down Discoverer II, the most ambitious, cutting-edge satellite initiative ever proposed by the NRO and two partners, the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

"I won't say that I feel whipsawed," Hall said yesterday in his Pentagon office. "But I do think it is the dilemma the NRO faces at any point--nothing that we can conceive of will be risk-free or inexpensive." Hall, 53, started out in Army intelligence, departing as a captain after he

was selected as a presidential management intern and assigned to the Office of Management and Budget as an analyst overseeing the CIA. From there, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) asked him to join the staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he served from 1983 to 1991. He joined the Pentagon late in the Bush administration as deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and security, where he remained into the Clinton administration, until CIA Director John M. Deutch took him to Langley.

Hall crafted Deutch's plan to create a new spy bureaucracy in the Pentagon--the National Imagery and Mapping Agency--by merging the CIA's center for interpreting spy satellite imagery with the Defense Mapping Agency. CIA partisans still bitterly oppose the move, arguing that it leaves the Pentagon in charge of assessing its own performance on the battlefield. But Hall says the new agency has succeeded in fusing mapping and imagery analysis in the digital age while reversing a funding decline that was killing both disciplines. By the time he took control of the NRO on an acting basis in March 1996--he was confirmed by the Senate a year later--the agency responsible for designing and operating the nation's fleet of spy satellites was still adjusting to life in the open world. Its very existence had been classified until 1992, despite more than three decades of service during which it designed successive generations of spy satellites that gave policymakers and military commanders information no one else had. After 31 years in the intelligence business, Hall's legacy will surely be the next generation of satellites, to be deployed in the middle of this decade. Outside the agency, he is also described as a modern thinker, championing the emergence of commercial satellite imagery as a means of developing America's industrial base for space and filling gaps in the NRO's satellite coverage. The only question now is whether Congress's commission will feel he's pushed the NRO far enough.

"Has Keith done a good job? The answer is yes," said Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), a commission co-chairman, explaining that the issue at hand is how best to move the agency to a new level of performance. Hall believes it is already well on the way. The agency may have had

trouble with its budget in the past, he said, but it has always delivered the world's most technologically advanced spy satellites. "This," Hall said proudly, "is rocket science."

Army creates multi-compo 9th TSC by Master Sgt. Paul Turk

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (Army News Service, Oct. 16, 2000) -- The last Theater Army Area Command went away this week as U.S. Army Japan reorganized and activated a multi-composition unit formed mostly of reservists. The 9th Theater Support Command, activated Oct. 14, consists of about 40 active-duty soldiers at Camp Zama, Japan, and 400 Army Reserve troops at Fort Belvoir, Va., located 9,000 miles and 14 hours away. The senior logistics headquarters in the Army Reserve, the 53-year-old 310th Theater Support Command, cased its colors Saturday and merged with the 40-year-old 9th Theater Army Area Command - the Army's last TAACOM. They formed the new 9th Theater Support Command with headquarters in Japan, but the bulk of its people in Virginia. The new unit is the latest multi-component active-reserve unit. The merger, officials said, gives 9th TSC the manpower to carry out its mission, logistics support of the Army's Pacific Command. The merger is part of the continuing trend to combine active Army and Army Reserve units to support the Army's worldwide commitments, officials said, and to take continuing advantage of the skills and experience reservists can bring to active-duty units. "We have the mission, and merging with the 310th gives us the people we need to carry it out," said Maj. Gen. Alan D. Johnson, commander of the 9th TSC and U.S. Army Japan. "The whole idea of the multi-component unit is to give active army units additional resources to accomplish the mission. For reservists, the merger means they will be able to focus their time and training on real-world missions, and to know where they fit and what they'll be doing in the event of mobilization." Maj. Gen. David J. Kaucheck, the 310th commander, said, "We have worked on our relationship with 9th TSC for four years to determine how best we could blend the skills and experience of our officers and soldiers in Virginia with the needs of the command and its headquarters in Japan. I believe we have done so and that we will both be better able to serve the needs of the Army through this arrangement." Brig. Gen. Anthony D. DiCorleto, 310th deputy commander, becomes deputy commanding general of the 9th, and commander of its Support Operations Center based here. Along with the regular active-duty 9th TSC soldiers in Japan, the Army Reserve has about 15 Active Guard and Reserve, or AGR, soldiers at Camp Zama, making up the core of an advance party element for mobilizations called the "early entry module." A basic concept in the organization of a Theater Support Command is the use of modular teams, officials said, customized to missions as they arise. The EEM has a similar function, to represent the command on a new site or mission and to put assets in place to accommodate cells or teams that follow to carry out the mission. In remarks the next day, Johnson told the reservists that despite the 9th's site in Japan, their work would be everywhere else in the Pacific. "Don't spend your time learning Japanese," he said, "because you won't be working there. Learn Thai, learn Vietnamese, learn Chinese, learn Tongan or Tagalog. Those are the languages you'll need." (Editor's note: Master Sgt. Paul Turk is a member of the 9th TSC (Conus) public affairs staff.)

. CALIFORNIA CONVENTION SPEAKER "ON THE AIR" - The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and Frontline have produced "The Future of War -- the price to prepare tomorrow's army." It includes segments with Dr. John Hillen taped in California in conjunction with the April 2000 Department of California ROA Convention. It will be broadcast on PBS Television on Monday Tuesday 24 October 2000 at 2200 hours (check local listings).

SPECIAL TRAVEL WARNINGS - The State Department is circulating special travel warning for the following countries: Israel - October 12, 2000 - U.S. citizens should defer all travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza at this time due to continuing tensions and violence. Click here for details: http://travel.state.gov/israel_warning.html Yemen restricted as of October 12th at: http://travel.state.gov/yemen_warning.html and Liberia restricted as of October 11th at: http://travel.state.gov/liberia_warning.html

Jane's Intelligence Watch Report and Jane's Terrorism Watch Report

Website: http://intelweb.janes.com----------------------------------Lebanon-Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks (ha-Mossad le-Modiin ule-Tafkidim Meyuhadim (Mossad)) - Hezbollah leader Said Hasan Nasrallah on 16 October told a news conference in the capital Beirut that a captive Israeli army colonel was working for Israel's Mossad and was seized in Lebanon while trying to recruit a Hezbollah member, Washington Post reported on 17 October. Nasrallah said that Elhanan Tannenbaum is a colonel in the Israeli army who has been in the Mossad "for a long time," working on penetrating Hezbollah at a high level. Tannenbaum flew to Lebanon from Brussels, Belgium with a forged foreign passport to meet a Hezbollah activist with whom he had established contact through a go-between. Earlier on 15 October, Israeli sources had said that Tannenbaum was "kidnapped" by Hezbollah operatives in Europe, possibly Switzerland. The Israeli government has described Tannenbaum as a "businessman" and denied he has any connection with Israeli intelligence.

Handgrenades Did any WWII grenades use a fragmenting wire core?

No, although there were a few that had add-on fragmentation sleeves made from a coiled steel strip. Virtually all WWII grenades, and I have almost 300 cataloged, relied on segmented bodies, smooth cast bodies, or stamped sheet metal bodies. The internal coiled wire and embedded ball bearing fragment grenades are post-war developments.Gordon Rottman

One of the more interesting developments in personal weapons is the modern Flash/Bang grenade.

Does anyone know their history ?

The flash/bang or stun grenade was developed by the US Special Forces, SAS, Israeli, or French counterterrorist forces (depending on which history you read) in an effort to quickly stun, disable, and disorient terrorists in hostage situations. I think Israel was the first to use them, but the SAS had a lot to do with their development and may have been first. No one source seems to know. They work by generating a blinding flash, an extremely sharp crack, and concussion. There is virtually no fragmentation, although there is a secondary fragmentation effect. Yes, hostages can be injured or even killed by them. Most are filled with compressed photoflash powder. The only time I've used stun grenades was when I trained with the SAS. We chucked one into each room we cleared during their basic close-quarters battle course. We had hearing protection and goggles, but you could feel it in the next room. I would not wanted to have been in the room. In another exercise the aggressors threw some at us in a wooded area at night. They went off about 30 feet away. Being outdoors the bang and concussion were uncomfortable, but not a big deal. Everyone, including the aggressors, was dazzled by the flash and lost all night vision for awhile. Regular grenades do the same thing though. The key to stun grenades is surprise. If you know they are coming and have a second to prepare its really not all the disabling unless one lands with a few feet. The follow-up has to be immediate or the bad guys recover quickly, unless they are inexperienced and panic. In WWII many countries used blast grenades for room and bunker clearing. They essentially had the same effect, but their blast effect was much more potent and was intended to kill as will as stun. The US used what was called the Mk III offensive grenade, but it was commonly called the concussion or demolition grenade. It had very little fragmentation.Gordon Rottman.

Thought this might be of some interest. When I was in the AVG( American volunteer Group) [Flying Tigers] and we were getting a bit active in hitting Japanese bases in the Moumein area. We got our hands on some British type 69 grenades which were made from plastic "Bakelite." You had to unscrew the cap and on throwing a weighted tape would come off pulling out the safety pin and the thing would go off on contact. These were offensive grenades but it was all we had and B model P-40s had no bomb racks. I used some of these stuffed in a flare packaging tube with a long piece of cloth tied to one end and loaded them into the flare racks on one of our P-40s. Pilot by the name of Bill Reed dropped them while attacking a Japanese air field. He never said if he any good with them. Also put some magnesium incendiaries in another plane flown by Parker Dopey and he set a twin engine transport on fire with them. Doug Tidy

From an ASA web site:

Larry Dayhoff (DiscoVet) maintains the ASA Webring at

http://discodesigns.com/asa1/asaring/asaring.html . The webring recently made a few moves and has now landed at its new home at ringsurf.com. Larry apologizes for the changes and any inconvenience it may have caused. Things are running fine now so if you haven't updated your webring code please do so. If your website isn't on the ASA webring Larry invites you to join.

Being a webring member is a great way to drive more traffic to your site. Ringsurf.com sent its compliments on the ASA Webring's great logo which was created by Clayton (CD) Strand.

Jimmy Gaulden ( http://my.websitenow.com/jfgaulden/) sent me an email saying he was astonished that I found his website since he only has a brief mention of ASA on it. That's the magic of META tags and search engines. Jimmy served with 3rd RRU in Saigon.

James Harshman (358th ASA Co and 313th ASA Bn websites) and I caught up on mutual friends and ASA events. Unfortunately part of our correspondence this week was about a mutual ASA/MI friend whom passed away on October 20th - Gerry Sharples. Gerry spent most of his career with the MI Company supporting 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). If you knew Gerry feel free to drop me an email asking for details.

Roger Hislop (05H) used to maintain a FS-San Antonio website but hasn't had the time in the last few years to update it. He's willing to turn the website over to anyone who wants to give it a shot. The website is at URL http://www.topsecretsi.com/users/hislop/strangler/ . Rogers email address is on the website.

Mark Ives (FS-Berlin site at Military.com) is also webmaster for the MI webring. If you'd like to join the MI webring go to http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=militaryintellig Ralph Kennedy (509th RRCUV) sent his compliments on the Yellow Pages. Ralph has been searching for any information on the few women who served at the RRCUV (Saigon) during the Vietnam war. If you have any information on these women please contact him at sarge@crcom.net.

Here's another hard to find an unusual website by an ASA vet - Don McCabe, Research Director for the AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation (http://www.avko.org/chapter_7_of_to_teach_a_dyslexic.htm), tells about his ASA experience in his manuscript "To Teach a Dyslexic". Chapter 7 covers his ASA days, titled "The ASA: Learning Russian in California and Teaching English in Japan".

The 199th Infantry Brigade (Light) has a website, Redcatcher.org that maintains a member roster for ASA vets that served with the 856th RR Det in Vietnam. The 2001 reunion will be held at BMB Brigade Main Base in the Columbus Georgia area during Memorial Day weekend 2001. Go to URL http://www.redcatcher.org/856thASAD.htm for more details. Contact Gary Pierce to be added to the 856th RR Det roster.

Ralph Thadeus (POC for ASA Alpiners) reports that the Alpiners reunion group now has over 650 members. This makes them one of the larger ASA reunion groups out there. Chitose group has over 2000 members! Ralph served with ASA from 1947 to 1956 and helped me out with the history of the 333rd CRC. Ralph was with the 333rd from Camp Pickett to Fort Devens to Nome Alaska.

James Deaton and I got his 177th ASA Company (Camp Humprey Korea) website up and running this week. James has lots of pictures on the site that are sure to bring back memories if you were ever stationed on Zoeckler Station in the 60's or 70's.

Ralph Reinhold was kind enough to forward me the latest Florida ASA Friends Newsletter by Burt Slesinger. Burt invites any ASAers interested in joining their newsletter mailing list to contact him. This group is open to ANY ASA vet - you don't have to live in Florida. Send Burt

(slesingerburt@spacey.net) your snail-mail address, phone number, name of significant other and a brief bio of your ASA service. Burt's newsletter is full of useful information on reunions, deaths, comments and news from ASA vets. Burt has almost 700 members on the mailing list.

Ralph has also been helping me to fill in some of the blanks on my master ASA unit list. This is a very informal list of every ASA unit that I encounter during my web surfing. I plan to update the list soon. It's currently available for viewing at the website.

Walker (Gus) Cone is currently updating the 14th USASA FS-Japan Alumni roster. He plans to publish the updated roster on 1 December 2000. He asks that any alumni that want to change/update or add to the listing contact him at walkerc@qwest.net. Walker doesn't maintain his own website but you can find him at Bob McKnight's 14th USASA Field Station Military Connection Club.

The 198th ASA Company has a website at Military.com but I haven't added it to the links yet because I can't find where the unit was located. If you know please pass it on to me. I have a couple of emails out to the site's members but no one has responded yet.

Dave Ward sent me information on the 407th RR Det and it's different locations during the Vietnam war. Dave has some awesome pictures at his website of FB Sarge and FB A-4 (Con Thien). If interested visit URL http://home.earthlink.net/~warddav/. The images are large so the pages take awhile to load.

Also heard from John Clark (Det K-1 (Coburg), Co A, 318th ASA Bn Military Connections Club), Tom Harris (USASA HF DF Website), Brian Murray (307th ASA Bn Military.com website), and Fred Yeary (ASA Old Timers (for 33 CMF)).

The ASA Vets club at Yahoo is up to 820 members. You never know what the topics being discussed will be - anything from world affairs to war stories about the good ole days. If you haven't checked out the club you should give it a look.Keep the ASA Spirit Alive,

_________________________________________________________________________

Weekly Update, 3 November 2000

1. National Media Calls Reserve Three Star Provision "A Victory For ROA"

3. 2001 ROA Coast Guard Reception

4. State Retirement Credit For Military Service

5. Service Academy Appointments For Children Of Reserve Component Members

6. Position Vacancy - ROA Military Personnel Records Review

7. United Way and CFC Donations to DEF

8. Mid-Winter ROTC Sponsorship Program

9. ROA Weekly Voice Of The Reserve Survey Question

1. President Signs National Defense Authorization Act

2. Eligible Uniformed Services Retirees, Spouses, Survivors To Get Expanded Health Care Benefits

3. Act Paves Way For Military Participation In Thrift Plan To Include Reservists

4. Reserve Forces' Dental Benefits To Expand

1. Army Reserve Captains May Get Back Pay

2. Gulf War Commemorative Web Site Highlights Army Reserve Roles

Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, PHS, NOAA Corps

1. Distance Support Makes A Difference

2. Ceremony Will Remember Chosin Reservoir Campaign

3. USCG Reserve Solicitation For ADSW-AC To Pentagon

4. USCG Flight School Service Obligation Change To Training And Education Manual

1. US Joint Forces Command Needs Two Reserve Officers, O-3 To O-5, For 6 -Months

2. AF Medical Team Looks At USS Cole Evacuation Missions

3. Reserve Space Program Expands With Activation Of 2 Units

1. NATIONAL MEDIA CALLS RESERVE THREE STAR PROVISION "A VICTORY FOR ROA." -

In their weekly "Inside the Ring" Column, Washington Times reporters Rowan Scarborough and Bill Gertz credit ROA for securing passage of the provision directing promotion of the Reserve Chiefs to Lieutenant General/Vice Admiral. For story, click on:

http://www.washtimes.com/national/inring-2000113213434.htm

2. JCS ORIENTATION - For the second consecutive year the office of the Reserve Component Advisors to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, will offer an orientation for ROA members during the Mid-Winter Conference. Attendance will be limited to 85 drilling Reservists who are ROA members and registered at the ROA conference. Orientation registration information will be published in the November 2000 issue of The Officer magazine and in a later Weekly e-Update.

3. 2001 ROA COAST GUARD RECEPTION - The traditional ROA Mid-Winter Conference Coast Guard Reception will be hosted by ROA Coast Guard (D.C.) Chapter #4. The reception will be held at the ROA Headquarters building on Capitol Hill, Monday 5 February 2001 from 1700 to 2000 hours. Special ceremonies will begin at 1800 hours. For more information click here: http://www.roa.org/midwinter/mid-index.html or email: mailto:rcarmack@ventera.com

4. STATE RETIREMENT CREDIT FOR MILITARY SERVICE - Virginia (VA) law permits

employees of Virginia and its counties and cities to count military service for Virginia state retirement credit if performed prior to the start of a civilian career with the state. But Virginia's "no double dipping rule" has prohibited the use of military service time for state retirement credit if you were also using the time for a military retirement paycheck. Virginia's Attorney General recently agreed with ROA's CAPT Sam Wright that VA's "no double dipping" rule violates federal law. The result should mean no prohibition of using military service for a Virginia state retirement as well as Reserve Retirement pay. The full opinion will be online at ROA as soon as available. For more information click here: http://www.roa.org/press/va-opinion-summary.html

5. SERVICE ACADEMY APPOINTMENTS FOR CHILDREN OF RESERVE COMPONENT MEMBERS -

The author of ROA's Law Review for The Officer magazine, CAPT Samuel F. Wright, JAGC, USNR has investigated the new rules concerning the possible appointment of children of Reservists to the military academies. For more, click on: http://www.roa.org./members/lawrev20.html

6. POSITION VACANCY - ROA MILITARY PERSONNEL RECORDS REVIEW -

The ROA Military Personnel Records Review is an independent consulting service for active reservists seeking professional career guidance with an emphasis on improving promotion potential. This service is partially funded by ROA as a service to its active reserve members in the Army Reserve, Army National Guard, Coast Guard Reserve and, until recently, the Air Force Reserve.

Current opening - We are currently seeking a retired Air Force or Air Force Reserve officer experienced in reviewing and maintaining personnel records, efficiency reports and promotion boards. This is currently a part-time position requiring an independent work ethic and a strong desire to help fellow USAFR officers. Personal computer experience including the Internet and MS Word are strongly desired. Pay is based on a rank structured fee system. See our ad in The Officer magazine. This is an excellent opportunity for a retired USAF or USAFR officer who seeks a supplemental income, independence and flexibility. If you are interested in applying for this position, please send your resume to: COL(R) Jeffrey M. Freeman, 20961 Country Barn Drive, Estero, Florida 33928 or via e-mail at: mailto:jmcjfree@mindspring.com

7. UNITED WAY AND CFC DONATIONS TO DEF- The DEF is an approved agency of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) with a unique designation code, 2964. Although we are not yet listed as a United Way agency, the United Way will accept donations directed to the DEF. To make your United Way designation to the DEF, list Code 2964 and the words "Defense Education Trust Fund of the ROA." This direct designation will provide the transfer of your contribution to the DEF. For DEF donations under the CDC, you need only list the code number, 2964. Many ROA members have directed their federal contributions to the DEF which allows us to maintain a robust schedule of defense education seminars and workshops supporting the mandate of our Congressional Charter.

8. MID-WINTER ROTC SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM - As a reminder, 10 November 2000 is

the original suspense date for Departments to advise ROA National Headquarters of the total number (Department & Chapter) of Cadets and Midshipmen being sponsored for the DoD ROA/ROTC Seminar. To date we only have 14 attendees. Please call (800-809-9448 ext. 734) or email mailto:mhagen@roa.org and give Ms. Mickey Hagen the number of Cadets/Midshipmen you are sponsoring.

1. PRESIDENT SIGNS NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT - TRICARE changes,

military modernization and lifetime medical benefits are just some of the aspects of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001. For more, click on:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2000/n10312000_200010311.html

2. ELIGIBLE UNIFORMED SERVICES RETIREES, SPOUSES, SURVIVORS TO GET EXPANDED HEALTH CARE BENEFITS - Medicare-eligible uniformed services retirees, their

spouses and survivors who are age 65 and over will be entitled to expanded health care benefits under legislation signed by President Clinton on Oct. 30. According to Pentagon data, this population represents approximately 1.4 million people. The new benefits include coverage under TRICARE, the military's health care program, and pharmacy coverage. For more, click on :

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2000/b11012000_bt673-00.html

3. ACT PAVES WAY FOR MILITARY PARTICIPATION IN THRIFT PLAN TO INCLUDE

RESERVISTS- Military members will be able to create their own retirement nest egg by using the Federal Employees Thrift Savings Plan beginning next year, DoD officials said. For more information, click on: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2000/n10312000_200010314.html

4. RESERVE FORCES' DENTAL BENEFITS TO EXPAND - Reserve and families will be

included as beneficiaries for the new TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) beginning Feb. 1, 2001 . For more information, click on:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2000/b10312000_bt665-00.html

1. ARMY RESERVE CAPTAINS MAY GET BACK PAY - More than 1,500 reserve-component captains may be eligible for nine months to a year of back pay with adjustment of their dates of rank. This opportunity comes under the second phase of a program to review records of about 6,000 Army Reserve and Army National Guard officers, officials said. The first phase was

announced in April and covered captains selected by the promotion boards which convened from November 1997 through March 1998. Phase II, about to start, is for captains who were promoted by boards which met from November 1998 through February 1999. For more, click on: http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/Oct2000/a20001031backpay.html

2. COMMAND SGT. MAJ. JOHN J. LEONARD JR. SELECTED AS RESERVE AFFAIRS TOP

ENLISTED ADVISOR - Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen announced today that Army National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. John J. Leonard Jr. has been selected as the sixth senior enlisted advisor to the assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs For more, click on:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2000/b11012000_bt671-00.html

3. GULF WAR COMMEMORATIVE WEB SITE HIGHLIGHTS ARMY RESERVE ROLES - Army

Reserve soldiers delivered most of the 500 tons of mail sent daily to the half-million service members engaged in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. This is just one of the facts and other information on a new web site commemorating the 10th anniversary of Desert Shield and Storm. The Office of the Chief, Army Reserve in Washington opened the site as a tribute to the men and women who took part in America's largest reserve call-up since the Korean War. Leaving behind family, friends and jobs, 84,000 Army Reserve soldiers mobilized in what would be a successful test of the Total Army. For more information, click on: http://www.army.mil/usar/shield-storm/storm.htm

International Space Station

The most recent shuttle mission managed to get the station ready for the first crew./ The crew blasted off from Russia and occupied the station on 2 November 2000. They have named it Station Alpha. It may not be Deep Space 9 but it is a start.

Desert Storm JCMEC Veteran visits my Web Site

I thought that I would say a quick hello. I've always been interested in what is going on in the field of technical intelligence, especially since I was a member of the J-CMEC during Desert Storm. I was a intelligence analyst deployed with the Army's Foreign Materiel Intelligence Battalion to Dahrain, Saudi Arabia where we formed the core of the J-CMEC. Of course, we got to see a lot of interesting things out there. I'm still involved in the military intelligence community as an intel analyst in the Air Force Reserves. It's nice to see a site dedicated to Techint. I do hope that you will be able to add much more to your site about Techint in Desert Storm.

Sincerely, Jerry Hall

THE WILLIAM L. HOWARD ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE MUSEUM

e-mail wlhoward@gte.net Telephone AC 727- 585-7756

http://www.wlhoward.com

This page last updated June 15, 2004