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Simply stated: there are too many chiefs, not enough Indians . . . S.L.





Pentagon Cuts Worry Top Brass

Defense Secretary Robert Gates promises to slash spending; why not start with the armed services' 40 four-star generals and admirals?

The total number of active-duty generals and admirals has also increased by 13 percent since 1996. Of course when it comes to making cut backs and sacrifice, it's predictable how its all going to come out in the wash: one- and two- star generals and admirals will be forced into premature retirement, and rising colonels and captains possibilities for promotion will shrink.

In Europe, the Army, Navy and Air Force have four-star officers overseeing their individual forces in Europe. Each general cut would save the Pentagon $200,000 a year in pay alone - only a drop in the bucket of the DOD base budget of $535 billion for this year.

Read it at The Washington Post

MIA's REMAINS DISCOVERED, ID'd

The Department of Defense says the remains of Captain Michael "Scott" Speicher have been found. Speicher was the first American lost in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.



The remains of the first American lost in the Persian Gulf War have been found in Iraq, the military said Sunday, after struggling for nearly two decades with the question of whether he was dead or alive.

The Pentagon initially declared Speicher killed, but uncertainty — and the lack of remains — led officials over the years to change his status a number of times to "missing in action" and later "missing-captured." The family Speicher left behind continued to press for the military to do more to resolve the case.

Family spokeswoman Cindy Laquidara said relatives learned on Saturday that Speicher's remains had been found.

"The family's proud of the way the Defense Department continued on with our request, to not abandon the search," she said. "We will be bringing him home."



Read more of the saga of Scott Speicher here.