Government Executive - Authors - Gerry J. Gilmore

Navy chief says military health care delivers on promise

Gerry J. Gilmore — Tue, 05 Feb 2002 00:00:00 -0500

Defense Web site assists Pentagon attack victims' families

Gerry J. Gilmore — Wed, 02 Jan 2002 00:00:00 -0500

Pentagon begins checking incoming mail for anthrax

Gerry J. Gilmore — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 00:00:00 -0500

"Any kind of mail or package deliveries that come into the building are to be first physically opened and inspected, checked for anthrax and X-rayed," said Pentagon Administrator Tony Tatum. The Army, he noted, is responsible for Pentagon mail operations.

Officials stopped delivery of official mail to the Pentagon Oct. 20 after the discovery of anthrax bacteria at the U.S. Postal Service's Brentwood facility in Washington, Tatum noted. Brentwood had processed mail for Pentagon delivery.

"We're expecting the first truckload of mail tomorrow that they've been holding in the Washington area," Tatum said.

He remarked that all incoming Pentagon mail--including that delivered by Federal Express and United Parcel Service--will be checked at a special containment area adjacent to the Defense Post Office located near the five-sided building.

Normally, about 1.5 million pieces of mail arrive monthly at the Pentagon through the Defense Post Office, Tatum said. Contractors in protective clothing will now open and screen that mail, he added.

Tatum said specially constructed "downdraft tables" that suck air downward from opened mail to filters have been installed at the Pentagon mail handling/screening facility. The filters, he said, are tested for anthrax for each batch of mail opened. Tatum said the mail handlers wear protective clothing, facemasks and protective gloves.

All mail will be held for up to 72 hours, Tatum said, pending test results. Mail testing negative for anthrax will be forwarded for distribution to Pentagon recipients.

Mail reading positive for anthrax "would be held, the Defense Protective Service would be notified and take possession of the mail as possible evidence," Tatum said.

He estimated that the first batch of Pentagon mail under the new security protocol could start being distributed around Nov. 26, after negative results are received and after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tatum said he has confidence in the new mail security procedures. "Is it 100-percent accurate? No, but it is as good as you can do in this situation," he emphasized.

Regarding that 72-hour waiting time for anthrax test results, Tatum remarked: "We're hoping to get that reduced when improved test techniques become available."

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Pentagon employees crack safes to help save documents

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 04 Oct 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Pentagon official says attack was 'no accident'

Gerry J. Gilmore — Tue, 11 Sep 2001 00:00:00 -0400

It was the first official Defense news briefing after the incident.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was in the Pentagon at the time of the crash, and he walked outside the building to investigate and offer help, Quigley said. The admiral noted that the injured had been taken "to a variety of area hospitals" and added that Pentagon officials are working to provide a list of injured.

"We will work our way through to identifying them and getting their names out to their loved ones," Quigley said.

The Pentagon incident followed two other alleged aerial hijackings that resulted in crashes that ultimately collapsed the 110-story twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Quigley said defense officials began to assemble a crisis action team after the second aircraft struck the World Trade Center.

"Shortly after that, the aircraft hit [the Pentagon]," he concluded.

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Pentagon remains wary of 'Code Red' computer virus

Gerry J. Gilmore — Tue, 28 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Service members begin countdown to TSP

Gerry J. Gilmore — Tue, 21 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

http://www.tsp.gov, or can be obtained at local military finance offices. Participants can invest any whole percentage of up to 7 percent of their base pay in any or all of five TSP funds:

The conservative G Fund consists exclusively of investments in short-term, nonmarketable U.S. Treasury securities specially issued to TSP. Since 1991, the fund has earned an annual average of 6.74 percent.
The F Fund is TSP's bond market index fund. Since 1991, the fund has earned an annual average of 7.87 percent -- and 12.78 percent in the past 12 months ending July 31.
The C Fund is TSP's large-company U.S. stock index fund. Since 1991, the fund has earned an annual average of 17.43 percent, but it has reported a 14.3 percent loss in the past 12 months ending July 31.
The S Fund is TSP's medium and small company stock index fund. The I Fund is its international stock index fund. Both funds opened in May, so neither has a long-term track record.

Only G Fund investments and earnings are backed by the U.S. government against loss. TSP participants risk losing some or all their investments and earnings in the F, C, S and I funds -- but the funds' earning potential is unlimited. Service members can contribute as little as 1 percent of their base pay per pay period, up to the 7 percent limit in 2002. The limit increases by 1 percent per year until 2005, after which contributions will be limited by Internal Revenue Code guidelines. Members may also elect to contribute any amount of incentive pay or special pay, to include bonus pay. Like civilian workers covered by the old Civil Service Retirement System, service members generally will not receive TSP matching funds from the government. One exception is troops in specialties designated critical by their service secretaries; those receiving matching funds will be obligated to serve a six-year active duty commitment. Strict rules apply to service members' withdrawal of funds from TSP accounts before they retire. Federal and state income taxes on investments and earnings are deferred so long as the money stays in the TSP account. Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, and early withdrawals are penalized under some circumstances. Military members who already have a civilian TSP account, such as past and present federal civilian employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve, can open an entirely separate, second TSP account. ]]>

Defense considering longer tours of duty, more flexible retention rules

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 16 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Attrition rates dropping at all military services

Gerry J. Gilmore — Wed, 15 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Web site helps Guard and Reserve families deal with deployments

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 09 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

www.defenselink.mil/ra. Army Col. Jim Scott, program manager for the National Guard and Reserve Family Readiness Strategic Plan, said information in the tool kit is for service members and their families, commanders and family support groups. The five-year strategic plan, implemented in March 2000, contains quality-of-life initiatives that help family members and commanders prepare for deployments, he said. Later this month, Scott said, Guard and Reserve family support organizations will be able to post deployment training information to a family readiness calendar at the same Web address. An August 2000 survey of reserve component spouses showed that those having the most difficulties during deployments "were the young families with young children" that hadn't experienced deployments before, Scott said. "Unit or mission readiness is intrinsically linked to family readiness," he said. "We're trying to encourage commanders and unit leaders to work with new members of the units to educate and assist them in preparing for that first deployment. "The tool kit is going to be a resource for commanders and unit leaders and family members to pick the tools that they think will be most useful for their particular situation." For families, the tool kit lists Web sites and toll-free numbers for medical and pay assistance, financial management tips and other information, Scott said. The site will also contain a sample checklist that describes tasks families should accomplish before sponsors deploy. A kit supplement, called a "help guide," contains examples of best practices that have been used by commanders to prepare families for deployments, Scott said. Included are examples of how to create mission fact sheets, press releases, newsletters, and automated family member information databases. "The spreadsheet format compiles basic data on each member of the unit. It can be used to monitor and update family-member information," he said. Data include the number of children, where families live, and the existence of deployment family plans. The reserve components make up half of the total force. In the past decade, Guard and Reserve members have been increasingly called up to serve with active duty troops in Bosnia, Kosovo and other military operations in support of U.S. security interests. Service officials note that 54 percent of today's 1.3 million Guard and Reserve members are married and 34 percent have children. Scott said quality of life issues affecting Guard and Reserve families during deployments can impact military morale, mission accomplishment and retention. "If the family member has a problem that can't be resolved while the service member is deployed, and if it is significant or severe enough, it is going to cause the service member to be sent back home on emergency leave or, at the very best, get involved in solving the problem back home." Family crises affect active and reserve service members' ability to serve the unit and perform the mission, Scott noted. But most active duty families live on or near military bases or are just a few miles away from support facilities, while about 24 percent of reserve component members live up to 50 miles away from their units, according to Defense Department documents. Many other reservists serve in units hundreds of miles from their homes, Scott added. When a family lives far from the service member's unit, "it is difficult...to get up-to-date information and understand exactly what is going on with their service member," Scott said. "We want to help prepare them in advance to be self-sustaining while their service members deploy." When family members need support or information from the military, they need someone close at hand to turn to, Scott said. "That's one of the reasons we're asking commanders and other leaders to use the Internet, telephone, teleconferencing--any tool that they might have available at their facility in order to better communicate with families," he concluded. ]]>

Defense finance overhaul could save $30 billion annually

Gerry J. Gilmore — Fri, 13 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0400

New funeral program teams military, veterans groups

Gerry J. Gilmore — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Representatives from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans service organizations, the National Cemetery Administration, the Funeral Directors Association and other groups met June 28 at American Legion headquarters in Washington for the announcement of the Authorized Provider Partnership Program's July debut.

Charles S. Abell, assistant secretary of defense for force management policy, said the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and other groups will be asked to augment Defense provided personnel at military funerals by providing volunteers to serve as color guards, rifle detail members, pallbearers and buglers.

"We want to provide the appropriate honors to veterans who pass away," Abell told the American Forces Information Service at the Pentagon. "The veterans organizations want to help us, and we would like to have their help. (The program) will enhance the honors that can be rendered with their performance."

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 authorizes the partnership program and also states Defense will provide at least two active, National Guard or reserve uniformed service members to fold and present a ceremonial U.S. flag to survivors at military funerals. One of the two detail members must be of the same service as the deceased.

Defense also provides a military musician--if available--to play "Taps," or the music is rendered via high-quality compact disc. The CDs, recorded at Arlington National Cemetery in 1999, are part of a kit sent to licensed funeral directors working in association with Defense, veterans service organizations, and all active and reserve component military units conducting funerals.

Almost 450,000 active duty and reserve component service members participated in military funeral details in 2000, Defense officials noted.

The partnered veterans groups have augmented Defense efforts and provided enhancements to military funerals in the past, Abell said. Such help has been historically encouraged and authorized, he noted.

"What we have now is a formal program where veterans service organizations can be trained by the local (military) installation commander ... (to) ensure that the quality of the honors rendered are to standard and that the funeral honors rendered in any particular place around the nation will be the same," he said.

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Space Command chief says workforce retention is biggest concern

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 12 Apr 2001 00:00:00 -0400

"What really concerns me is recruiting and retaining the right people," Air Force Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, U.S. Space Command commander in chief, said during a March 28 interview with the American Forces Information Service. That concern transcends even worries over his budget and whether the command is harnessing technology properly, he said.

Space Command and three other organizations under Eberhart's command have "great people, and we're proud of them," he said. The general also commands the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Air Force Space Command and is the Department of Defense manager for Manned Space Flight Support Operations headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

The recruitment and retention of "the right quality of people," he said, is of paramount importance to technology-oriented organizations such as his. Eberhart said the military so far has done a good job of recruiting quality people in spite of difficulties caused by the recent, robust economic times.

"The challenge is retaining them," he said. "Other people want them, too, and other people are willing to pay a lot more than we can." He said civilian employers want troops who've received valuable technical training and have experience under their belts.

Some people, Eberhart said, believe that bonuses and higher salaries can solve military recruiting and retention issues. They're only part of the solution, he noted.

"We're working those type of things, but remember, bonuses don't go with you in retirement," he said. "When you retire, you go back to your base pay, and that is not lost on our people."

However, Eberhart believes most people join for reasons other than money. "If they were truly in it just for the money, they'd never come to us," he said.

Service members need "to be properly trained and equipped so they have state-of-the-art equipment [and] have challenging and rewarding things to do," Eberhart said.

"We have to make it very clear to them that we appreciate what they're doing and that they're doing important work for our nation," he said. Retention success is also tied to the quality of support provided to members' families, which expect available, affordable childcare, quality health care and housing, he said.

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Service members face choice between bonuses, retirement funds

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 08 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -0500

The career status bonus decision will affect those troops reaching 15 years of active service on Aug. 1, said Tom Tower, assistant director of DoD's military compensation office. Affected service members joined the Cold War-era military back in 1986, or later, he added.

"It is a personal decision, and an individual should base it upon the way they see things such as personal career expectations. That would include the member's final grade at retirement and the total years of service reached, plus what you might do with the bonus money," Tower said.

Bonus-takers would retire at or after 20 years of active service at 40 percent of the average of their last three years' basic pay, he said. Service members not taking the bonus would retire at 50 percent of the average of their last three years' pay, he added. Retired pay under both systems reaches 75 percent at 30 years of service. Bonus takers would also get reduced retired pay Cost of Living Allowances.

Service members eligible for the bonus will receive notice at about 14.5 years of service, Tower said. People choosing the bonus are obligated to serve at least 20 years, he added.

"Beyond that, you could stay as long as your service will allow," Tower said. The government would recoup part of any bonus money paid to service members who don't complete at least 20 years of service, he added, exempting those who receive authorized early retirements or disability separations.

Tower said service members eligible for bonuses before March 2002 may delay their bonus decision until March 1, 2002, after the military Thrift Savings Plan has gone into effect, Tower said. This way "service members can put more into a tax protected retirement account, if they so desire," he said.

"You'll get your $30,000 and be able to put some more money toward retirement, too," Tower said. "These choices are yours to make, so take your time, be deliberate, be careful. Your choice may not be revoked."

For more information about the career status bonus, see the Web site at pay2000.dtic.mil.

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Rumsfeld orders review of Defense civilian hiring

Gerry J. Gilmore — Wed, 14 Feb 2001 00:00:00 -0500

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a Feb. 9 memorandum that addressed a Jan. 20 White House memo from Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. that outlines a presidential initiative to flatten the federal hierarchy.

Rumsfeld's memo directs senior Defense managers to "establish procedures to review and approve hiring decisions" and says they may "appoint, promote or reassign individuals to positions after determining that doing so is consistent ... with the President's initiative." Certain nonmanagerial positions such as firefighters, police officers, and teachers, may be exempted from review, the memo said.

Additionally, the Defense memo exempts people hired under the Priority Placement Program, which is used to offer jobs to employees displaced by base closures and other downsizing actions.

Rumsfeld's memo set a March 1 deadline for component heads to submit their hiring review procedures and excepted positions to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy.

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Defense Commissary Agency to close six stores

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 08 Feb 2001 00:00:00 -0500

Agency spokesman Tim Ford said that DeCA recently completed a thorough review of its stores "to make sure the commissary benefit continues to be delivered in the most effective and efficient manner."

According to Ford, stores marked for closure are Pope Air Force Base, N.C., and Kelly AFB, Texas, April 13; the Defense Supply Center, Richmond, Va., April 14; Sierra Army Depot, Calif., April 15; Brooks AFB, Texas, Sept. 28; and Cutler Naval Computer Telecommunications Station, Machias, Maine, Sept. 29.

"Closing these commissaries, which altogether cost about $4 million a year to operate, will help DeCA improve the overall benefit," Ford said. "In many cases we can focus our efforts on stores able to serve more patrons with more groceries on the shelves and top-notch produce, meat, deli and bakery departments." For example, Fort Bragg, N.C., has two large commissaries that can serve customers who had shopped at nearby Pope, he said.

The closures were approved after consulting the affected military service, the Commissary Operating Board--whose members represent each of the services--the DoD staff and Congress, Ford said. The closures will reduce the total number of DeCA stores to 281.

DeCA officials said commissaries listed for closure fall under previous Base Realignment and Closure initiatives, and/or are older, smaller facilities with reduced numbers of active duty customers. Sierra Army Depot and Kelly Air Force Base, for instance, were named in the 1995 BRAC.

Active duty service members and their families are the primary beneficiaries of DeCA's worldwide grocery operations, officials said. The Brooks AFB, Pope AFB and Richmond stores are closing because of reduced active duty strength, Ford noted, while Cutler now has no active duty assigned to the installation.

"The review considered the number of active duty customers, the nearest commissary, the future installation mission, commissary sales and operating costs, and facility conditions," Ford said.

He reiterated that most customers affected by the closings, to include military retirees, will be able to shop at other commissaries, many nearby. Lackland Air Force Base's large commissary can serve former Brooks and Kelly customers, he said. Patrons of the Richmond, Va., store could use the Fort Lee commissary.

"We recognize the importance of the benefit to our patrons and encourage them to shop at their nearest commissaries," Ford said.

For more information about DeCA, see the organization Web site at www.commissaries.com.

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DoD lends thousands of troops to inauguration

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 18 Jan 2001 00:00:00 -0500

"I think it is going very well. A lot of people are working very hard. Every day is leaps and bounds in going forward to make plans a reality," said Army Col. Stephanie Hoehne, Armed Forces Inaugural Committee public affairs director.

The committee, she said, provides support and works closely with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the Presidential Inaugural Committee. The former manages inaugural ceremonies on the Capitol grounds while the latter, a nongovernmental group from the president-elect's political party, conducts events such as inaugural balls and galas.

Hoehne noted that her organization's work begins in earnest after each presidential election.

"We started with a core AFIC group of 200 service members from all services, and we've grown to our full complement of 700 members," Hoehne said.

In addition, she added, nearly 5,500 troops from all the services, including all the active and reserve components and the Coast Guard, will take part in inaugural ceremonial activities such as honor cordons, color guards, horse units, military bands and marching units. The program will also include choral groups in opening ceremonies, salutes to veterans and numerous event honor guards.

Hoehne noted that all parades, balls, galas and opening ceremonies are traditionally under the purview of the Presidential Inaugural Committee for each inauguration. Basically, she added, that means all the events except the actual swearing-in ceremony and a luncheon sponsored by Congress.

AFIC does much of the research and foundation-laying for inaugural events, Hoehne remarked, "but a lot depends upon the decisions of the PIC."

"Our goal was to have the parade participants notified by Christmas, and so as time marched on we became more concerned about meeting that goal. Because the PIC arrived ready to work right away, they were in position to make a lot of decisions quickly, so we were able to make that goal," she added.

The inaugural parade is slated to last two hours, Hoehne said. She noted that 1,500 military men and women from all services will line both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue to render honors as the new president passes on his way to the White House.

"However, if each unit is only five seconds late in stepping off, you add 10 minutes to the parade," she said. Any time lags caused by broken floats, recalcitrant horses and the like have an obvious ripple effect. Those possible ripples are among the several issues the AFIC and PIC people are managing behind the scenes, Hoehne said.

"Our people are assigned as people handlers, movement coordinators, and in parade management," she said.

AFIC conducted a rehearsal on Jan. 14 to validate its plans and to confirm camera angles for both civilian and military media, she noted. "It is a masterful piece of choreography to pull all this off," she said.

Hoehne noted that the armed forces and presidential committees work closely with the Law Enforcement Inaugural Committee, which is overseeing more than a dozen agencies involved in inaugural security.

"We coordinate not as a security role, but to ensure our plans do not interfere with theirs," she concluded.

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More troops sent to battle Western wildfires

Gerry J. Gilmore — Fri, 25 Aug 2000 00:00:00 -0400

More than 4,600 soldiers, Marines and airmen are now committed to the Department of Defense mission to augment federal and local firefighters and law enforcement officials in several western states.

A battalion of soldiers from Fort Bragg, N.C., are among the most recent troops to join firefighters in Montana following federal officials' request for more help combatting record wildfires.

A composite battalion of soldiers from XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg is scheduled to deploy Aug. 28 to assist firefighting efforts in Montana, said Army Maj. LeAnn Swieczkowski, a public affairs officer working with the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho.

The NIFC asked the Defense Department for 25 more 20-person firefighting teams, she said, so the new contingent would be about 500 troops.

Like the soldiers and Marines deployed two weeks ago to support firefighters in Idaho, these new troops will perform mop-up duties in burned-through areas behind forward lines, Swieczkowski said.

"They'll be digging through soil, smothering embers, like you'd rake through smoldering ashes in a fireplace," she said. Upon arrival in Montana, the troops will receive two days of firefighting and safety training before they deploy to the fire lines.

The Fort Bragg troops will join more than 500 soldiers from the 20th Engineer Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, Swieczkowski said. The 20th arrived in Montana Aug. 13 and is providing support to firefighters in the Lolo National Forest near Hudson, she added.

Extremely dry conditions across the western United States this year have transformed most forests into tinderboxes, especially in Idaho and Montana, according to NIFC officials. Calling the wildfire situation the worst in decades, they instituted a "Preparedness Level 5," committing all federal firefighting resources to the effort, including National Guard and Reserve troops.

In late July, the NIFC asked DoD for active-duty troops to bolster stretched local resources in battling fires that have now burned more than 5 million acres of forest, Swieczkowski said.

About 500 soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, also from Fort Hood, arrived in Boise Aug. 1 to help battle blazes in Payette National Forest and 500 Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif., arrived in Idaho Falls Aug. 5 to support firefighters in Salmon-Challis National Forest.

After two days of training and issuance of special firefighting equipment, the Fort Hood artillerymen began mop-up duty in Payette Forest on Aug. 4, a mission Specialist 4 Gerome Davis compares to wartime operations.

"This is a lot like combat," said Davis, a 26-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. "The fire is the enemy, and you have to be careful or you'll take casualties. Our military training helps with this.

"We're doing a lot of marching, so conditioning is important. Our discipline is real important, too. In combat, you can't complain. We know we always have to be flexible," he added.

Besides active-duty troops like Davis, the National Guard in 10 states has activated more than 1,300 Army and Air Guardsmen for direct air and ground firefighting support and to assist with law enforcement, according to DoD officials. Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130 aircrews continue to fly slurry missions, having dropped millions of pounds of fire retardant chemicals.

As local and military firefighters continue to battle blazes in Montana, state officials last week offered an assessment of the situation.

"This may be continuing until there is snow on the ground," said Jim Greene, chief administrator for Montana Disaster Services.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Army Staff Sgt. William Ellis, 4th Public Affairs Detachment, contributed to this report.)

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Phone call can resolve Tricare billing issues

Gerry J. Gilmore — Fri, 18 Aug 2000 00:00:00 -0400

Tricare beneficiaries are now just a phone call away from accessing help to resolve creditors' concerns over late or unpaid medical care bills.

While service members, retirees and family members consider the Tricare health care system a valued benefit, they don't like threatening calls and letters from collection agencies harassing them over unpaid medical bills.

"These problems tend to occur when physicians are impatient for payment, as they have a right to be. (However,) the burden of dealing with this system, of any system, should not fall on the individual (service member)," said Bernard D. Rostker, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, in a recent interview with the American Forces Information Service.

Service members and other Tricare beneficiaries raised the bill-collector issue at the Military Family Forum May 31 at the Pentagon, Rostker said. He responded June 27 with a memorandum directing the services' health affairs organizations to establish the Debt Collection Assistance Officer (DCAO) program within 30 days.

Implemented July 26, this new program formally established DCAOs as local points of contact that service members and other eligible Tricare beneficiaries, stateside and overseas, may use to resolve medical bill payment issues.

The new DCAO system, Rostker said, creates a formal method for beneficiaries "to gain help in dealing with what admittedly is, as is every health maintenance organization, a bureaucratic process."

He said there could be resolutions where beneficiaries owe money, "in which case we're prepared to work with him or her to find out how we can be most helpful in resolving that issue." He also noted "situations where the bill is misplaced ... we can work with the doctor or credit organization to resolve that."

The main thing, Rostker said, "is we don't want our people to feel they've been isolated. This is a part of the system and we want to be able to help them if and when this kind of situation occurs."

He said he has received varying feedback regarding the prevalence of conflicts involving Tricare bill payment. "I've asked some people, and one of the services (said) they thought this happens a couple of hundred times a year, and other people think it occurs a couple of hundred times a month."

"We will know better how often this occurs by how people use this service," he said.

Before the DCAO program was implemented, DoD resolved dunning letters and bad credit reports involving Tricare payments on an ad hoc basis, Rostker said. Besides this method not working very well, it left no central registry to track the resolution of late or unpaid Tricare payments, he said.

"Now, it will come to our attention because we've taken on the responsibility of being the agent for our service members in trying to resolve these situations," he said.

Tricare beneficiaries who've received dunning letters or bad credit reports can now just phone the designated debt collection assistance officer, who will coordinate a review/research process.

DCAO Program Manager Marcia Bonifas said the beneficiary provides the assistance officer with documentation- collection agency letters, bills and contractors' explanations of medical benefits. The DCAO in turn sends the information to the contractor's bill processing or collections unit, she said.

"The debt collection assistance officer will ask the collection agency to hold up further work until the research is done, and that will be done in less than 30 days," Bonifas said. "We cannot force them to hold up, but we can ask for their cooperation."

Bonifas said the DCAO receives the completed research information and then notifies the beneficiary in writing.

Contractors will research claims less than six years old, Bonifas said, but they won't have any documentation for claims older than that. These older claims will be researched by a special Tricare Management Activity claims evaluation office in Aurora, Colo., she said.

Although DCAOs can help beneficiaries to research and resolve Tricare payment problems and related credit reports, they cannot provide legal advice or repair bad credit ratings, she said.

Tricare beneficiaries can click a hyperlink button on the DCAO information Web site, http://www.Tricare.osd.mil/dcao/, to identify their local assistance officers, stateside and overseas, Bonifas said. In a month or two, active-duty service members will see the phone number for their local DCAO on their leave and earnings statements, she added.

In addition, beneficiary counseling and assistance coordinators at all military hospitals and clinics and at Tricare lead agent offices can provide assistance for all other Tricare issues, such as claims, explanation of benefits and enrollment procedures, Bonifas said. BCACs are listed on the Web at http://www.Tricare.osd.mil/Tricare/beneficiary/bcac_dir.htm.

Rostker called the DCAO program a timely response to important service member concerns.

"We believe the program is in place, we have training manuals, people in place (who are) responsible by name, Rostker said. "We're looking forward to gaining feedback from our service members, their beneficiaries and families to make sure this program is the help we designed it to be."

For more information about Tricare, visit the Military Health System/Tricare Web site at http://www.Tricare.osd.mil.

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Soldiers, Marines join Western firefight

Gerry J. Gilmore — Thu, 10 Aug 2000 00:00:00 -0400

It is hot, dangerous and dirty duty, but soldiers and Marines deployed to Idaho to help combat record wildfires in the western United States say they are glad to be there.

"They see it as a challenge and they're working hard," said Army 1st Lt. Andre M. Brown. "We're not on the direct fire line, but we're putting out fires. It is dangerous business, but I have good troops. … They're very motivated."

More than 2,200 troops have joined forces with civilian firefighters. About 500 soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, including those from C Battery, 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, arrived in Boise Aug. 1; about 500 Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif., arrived at the Idaho Falls airport Aug. 5.

After two days of training, the soldiers took their place on fire lines Aug. 4 at Burgdorf Junction, about two hours north of Boise in Payette National Forest.

"We went to a fire line that had been burned through … to perform mop-up operations," said Brown, C Battery's 1st Platoon leader, as he and his troops prepared to assault the wildfires for a second day. "You try to put out any existing fires and prevent them from recurring."

Brown, 25, noted his 20-troop unit had been outfitted with equipment and tools such as heat-resistant fire suits, safety helmets, goggles, leather gloves, heavy-duty boots, shovels and pulaskis, an ax-like tool. The Huntsville, Ala., native said he was proud of his soldiers.

An additional Army battalion of 500 soldiers, the 20th Engineers, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, is scheduled to go to western Montana to battle wildfires there, according to Army officials.

In Idaho, the soldiers' day begins at 5 a.m., said Staff Sgt. Eric L. Horton, 29, from Boynton Beach, Fla. After breakfast and wash-up, said Horton, who noted the meals in camp are catered and very good, National Guard trucks transport the troops for the 90-minute ride to the worksite. The troops eat a sack lunch in the field. Around 6 p.m., he said, the soldiers are usually done for the day.

"We're used to deployments," said Horton, a section chief in C Battery's 2nd Platoon. "The difficult thing about this mission is the physical part. The air is thinner here. We're walking up and down mountains. The elevation is between 7,000 and 11,000 feet, so we're pretty tired at the end of a shift.

"I feel that the Army is doing a great deed in helping civilian, other (state and federal) agencies now."

At base camp, the soldiers are housed in Army-issue general- purpose medium canvas tents and "sack-out" in sleeping bags on cots, said Horton, who estimates his soldiers will be in Idaho "about a month," and then be relieved by another unit.

"They're treating us real well," said Pfc. Alexander L. Morales, 21, a C Battery, 1st Platoon artilleryman from Detroit. "We're doing a lot of hiking up mountains, smothering fires. Not many soldiers here have fought fires before, and that is why the training is important.

"This is something new," he said.

Army Master Sgt. Don Thomas, 5th U.S. Army public affairs liaison to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, met the Marines when they arrived in Idaho Falls Aug 5. Fifth Army is the command and control element for all DoD forces deployed to the firefighting effort, he said.

"Great physical conditioning is among four reasons NIFC has called the partnership with the military a 'natural fit,'" said Thomas. "They (NIFC) also liked the fact the troops are used to structure and a chain of command, that they are mission-oriented and know and understand the importance of maintaining their equipment."

The Camp Pendleton Marines trained for two days and then deployed to battle another Idaho fire in Salmon-Challis National Forest. Thomas asked Marines Aug. 5 if they were ready to join the fray.

"It's the Marine Corps' job to protect our country in time of need, so that's why we're here," said 21-year-old Houstonian Sgt. Donald A. Hunt, I Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division. "We definitely want to help."

"From the classroom training I think we'll be digging fire breaks and clearing out some brush," said Marine Lance Cpl. Cody B. Brent of Jacksonville, Fla. "This is not out of the military's lane, because we're serving our country doing our job to help out the citizens."

The Idaho deployment is business as usual for Gunnery Sgt. Larry B. Robertson, a native New Yorker with 18 years in the Marine Corps.

"I enlisted to see the world and do everything that's ever needed … whether in war or peace, this is what we're here for," Robertson said. "So, if we need the Marine Corps to come help the people of Idaho, that's all right.

"Normally we're infantry. Basically, we do the same thing going on lots of forced marches and a lot of physical training, so we're up to the task," he said.

Army Master Sgt. Don Thomas of 5th Army Public Affairs, contributed to this report.

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