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Letters

SENIOR NCO ‘WITCH HUNT’

While I do agree that there should be a program in place to remove problem noncommissioned officers, I think this witch hunt that the Army is embarking on is an outrage [“Ousting sergeants,” Aug. 10].

For six years these are the NCOs that volunteered to fight two wars — that stayed, despite not having enough troops nor the proper equipment. And they got the mission done.

Now that the economy is in the slumps, and we suddenly have more than enough soldiers, we’re going to force out the ones who want to be here. It might improve quality in the short run, but what happens when the economy picks up and all these new soldiers can get jobs outside the Army? Are you going to call back the guys who were here when it wasn’t their only option?

— Sgt. Claiborne M. Norman, Fort Lewis, Wash.

AGENT ORANGE MERITS MEDAL

Regarding the note in FastTrack on traumatic brain injuries [“Does TBI merit a Purple Heart?” Aug. 3]:

If TBI victims are considered for the Purple Heart, then so too should Agent Orange victims, since the considerations and effects are identical for both. The cause and effects of one are more recent than the other and get more attention, but both have identical results.

— Col. Thomas W. Johnson (ret.), Whittier, N.C.

NEW CAMO NEEDED

If the Army is considering replacing the current Army Combat Uniform’s Universal Camouflage Pattern [“Camo consensus,” Aug. 17], I have a very strong suggestion. I am deployed in Afghanistan with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.

I had a chance to take a good look at the Italian special forces’ combat uniform. It is, in my opinion, the very best desert combat uniform in the field. It is a digitized, rip-stop, desert-colored pattern with smaller digital pixels.

I believe it is perfect for the desert, the mountains in Afghanistan and even some environments with snow. Perhaps other colors (with more green and brown) could be used for a woodland environment. I make this suggestion with the Army’s best interest in mind.

— Maj. Robert E. Gowan, Kabul, Afghanistan

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I’m a former noncommissioned officer who served in the 82nd Airborne Division during the early and mid-1980s. I’ve also studied and been a collector of camouflage combat uniforms ever since I was a teenager.

When I first saw the camouflage pattern chosen for the ACU, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought that Program Executive Office Soldier and the Army leadership must have taken leave of their senses when they selected the Universal Camouflage Pattern.

Better late than never, but what a waste of time, money, effort — and maybe even lives — it has taken for the Army to finally wake up and smell the fertilizer they’ve stirred up over this whole fiasco.

Do the combat troops in Afghanistan need a better uniform with a more effective camo pattern? Yeah!

Should the Pentagon go one step further and mandate a common uniform and camo pattern for all ground combat troops under the “Stars and Stripes”? That would be the sensible thing, wouldn’t it?

— Former Sgt. Lawrence Holsworth, Dinton, Buckinghamshire, Great Britain

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I think the pattern should be changed for the entire Army. Keep the ACU design but change the color of the pattern in the material. This would be far cheaper to the Army in the long run than testing and fielding new designs.

The ACU pattern would be more effective if it had more shades of tan and brown in it. I hate to say it, but the Marine Corps’ digital pattern is very effective. In a dusty environment, it lightens up with dust accumulation on the material. This blends well with the mud wall buildings found in-theater. In a wooded/foliage environment it better blends the soldier into the background.

— Lt. Col. Norman Purdue (ret.), Middletown, Ind.

life-or-death MoH

The story of Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti brought tears to my eyes [“Generous in life and death,” Aug. 3]. The things people said about him were so admirable.

His parents should be so proud. All six of our Medal of Honor recipients [since 2001] were brave men who all shared a common thread — they put others first in life and duty.

Because of their actions that led to such a prestigious honor, so many now know how big their hearts all were. While finding out about their son being a recipient is hard on the parents, I hope they will find comfort in knowing that telling Jared’s story, like the other recipients’ stories, brings comfort to wives like myself and other family members who see a little bit of Jared in their own soldier. I will be thinking and praying for the Monti family on Sept. 17 [when President Barack Obama presents the medal to Monti’s parents].

While all six recipients are deserving of such an honor, let us not forget the living men and women that should also be honored with such a valorous medal.

All six have received the MoH posthumously, and until my husband really started telling me why one is awarded the honor, I assumed it was a posthumous award. My husband is constantly talking about how much of a morale booster it would be for the rest of them to have a living MoH recipient among them that has served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Medals are and should be given because of the hard work, bravery and sacrifice of soldiers such as Sgt. 1st Class Monti — regardless of whether they made the ultimate sacrifice.

— Carla MacDonald, Fort Stewart, Ga.

THE LACKLUSTER ACU LOOK

There is a call for professionalism in the Army. The problem I have is that we don’t dress like professionals. I’ve been considerably fair with the Army Combat Uniform, having worn it since August 2006. And while this most recent generation is more durable than its predecessors, it still doesn’t carry much in the way of a professional look.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a call to replace the ACU, but rather limit it to field and deployment environments. A more professional uniform for the garrison environment would help us look more professional and less like wash-and-wear soldiers. If given a uniform that has a real professional appearance, soldiers would have something to be proud of instead of something that we despise.

I believe that inspiration for a new garrison-level uniform could be directly drawn from the World War II-era uniform. The simple, tan-color-and-tie combination with well-polished low quarters and a brass belt buckle would do more for showing us as a professional army than wearing our combat uniforms in the garrison does.

— Spc. Matthew Austin, Fort Drum, N.Y.