G-7

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Posted 07 August 2007:

It appears we are starting to communicate with each other. That is exactly what I had hoped this effort would initiate. I am beginning to see
mention of people I recall hearing about, but don't remember meeting. That is terrific! My blessing, and curse, was that I graduated from KSU
in three years. I was only in the company for two and a half. That means there are a lot of G-7 members I did not have direct contact with. The
goal is to reestablish contact with all of our alumni, whether they remember me personally or not. If we could work our way back to the
1940's, by word of mouth, that would be spectacular! If you have contact with anyone not posted at the web site, ask them to hit the "Contact
G-7" button and give us their e-mail addresses. It would not be appropriate to take e-mail addresses from your communications and post
them without permission from their owners.
I will put up more pictures in the next week or so. As the S-1, in 1972, I put together an album for the unit. It was probably tossed after the
deactivation of G-7, (along with our trophies, - I hate the thought of that) but I made copies of some of the better shots for myself, which I
would like to share. As I mentioned before, this is an experiment. Since I don't have a scanning machine in Bemidji, I need to get back to
Fargo to copy more pictures. Unfortunately, copied photos gobble up a lot of memory, Wish we had digital cameras in the early 1970’s.
Meanwhile, I am elated this trial balloon seems to be going up as hoped. I am still trying to contact a lot of people. If anyone knows how to
reach Jim Beckwith, Tom Schnepp, Steve Bartlett, Dave Magnusson. etc. please clue them into our web site. I notified "Google" last week
that our site was up. For several days I could not get a response. However, today I did get hits from searches on "KSU G-7 Pershing Rifles".
KSU seems to work better than Kansas State University. I am not sure why. From what I understand, the more hits the site gets, the easier it
is to find it. So, please keep checking it for up-dates. I will do my best to keep things current.
Meanwhile, plans are progressing for the National Alumni/ Active NATCON meeting next March. Bob Sierra (E-8) spent the last week in
Dayton Beach. He has narrowed the hotels down to two. The best prospect is the Hilton, which has many advantages. The estimated cost
there would be around $140, plus taxes, per night. He still has hopes of working that down a little lower. Really not bad considering that would
be spring break for a lot of universities. (That is why NATCON is scheduled that week.) The only problem is that Dayton Beach does not seem
to have good airline connections. I am planning to fly into Orlando, rent a car and drive to Daytona. That is about an hour drive. If anyone
wants to do the same, let me know so I can offer a ride. When we have something more concrete, it will be posted on the web site.
Incidentally, I did get a question about the honoraries. I guess I have avoided trying to contact them and Caper members for a number of
reasons. First, I figured, and hoped, they were all happily married. Meaning they had changed their last names, which would make it harder to
track them. Second, because finding the guys is still a difficult and ongoing effort. Third, I wasn't sure how their families would react to having
more than a dozen "old boy friends" (with me at the head of the pack) suddenly trying to dig them up after 35 years. Maybe I can start
working on the them later. Right now I've been too tied up trying to contact the old crew. In case you didn't know it, the P/R's are now co-ed.
The national commander a couple of years ago was Monica Olson, from Jamestown, ND. I have met her. She is a gracious lady, married to
an officer serving in Iraq,. They have a new little boy. She's serving as an RN at William Beaumont, Ft. Bliss, TX. Let us all pray for her
husband’s safe return.

John Chatelain

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Posted 15 August 2007

Dear Civilians,

We know that the current state of affairs in our great nation has many civilians up in arms and excited to join the military. For those of you
who can't join, you can still lend a hand. Here are a few of the areas where we would like your assistance:

1. The next time you see an adult talking (or wearing a hat) during the playing of the National Anthem---kick their ass.

2. When you witness, firsthand, someone burning the American Flag in protest---kick their ass.

3. Regardless of the rank they held while they served, pay the highest amount of respect to all veterans. If you see anyone doing otherwise,
quietly pull them aside and explain how these veterans fought for the very freedom they bask in every second. Enlighten them on the many
sacrifices these veterans made to make this Nation great. Then hold them down while a disabled veteran kicks their ass.

4. (GUYS) If you were never in the military, DO NOT pretend that you were. Wearing battle dress uniforms (BDUs) or Jungle Fatigues, telling
others that you used to be "Special Forces," and collecting GI Joe memorabilia, might have been okay when you were seven years old.
Now,it will only make you look stupid and get your ass kicked.

5. Next time you come across an Air Force member, do not ask them, "Do you fly a jet?" Not everyone in the Air Force is a pilot. Such
ignorance deserves an ass-kicking (children are exempt).

6. If you witness someone calling the US Coast Guard 'non-military', inform them of their mistake ---and kick their ass.

7. Next time Old Glory (the US flag) prances by during a parade, get on your damn feet and pay homage to her by placing your hand over
your heart. Quietly thank the military member or veteran lucky enough to be carrying her---of course, failure to do either of those could earn
you a severe ass-kicking.

8 . Don't try to discuss politics with a military member or a veteran. We are Americans, and we all bleed the same, regardless of our party
affiliation. Our Chain of Command is to include our Commander-In-Chief (CinC). The President (for those who didn't know) is our CinC
regardless of political party. We have no inside track on what happens inside those big important buildings where all those representatives
meet. All we know is that when those civilian representatives screw up the situation, they call upon the military to go straighten it out. If you
keep asking us the same stupid questions repeatedly, you will get your ass kicked!

9. 'Your mama wears combat boots' never made sense to me---stop saying it! If she did, she would most likely be a vet and therefore, could
kick your ass!

10. Bin Laden and the Taliban are not Communists, so stop saying 'Let's go kill those Commies!' And stop asking us where he is! Crystal
balls are not Standard issue in the military. That reminds me---if you see anyone calling those damn psychic phone numbers, let me know,
so I can go kick their ass!

11. 'Flyboy' (Air Force), 'Jarhead' (Marines), 'Grunt' (Army), 'Squid' (Navy), 'Puddle Jumpers' (Coast Guard), etc., are terms of endearment we
use describing each other. Unless you are a service member or vet, you have not earned the right to use them. That could get your ass
kicked.

12. Last, but not least, whether or not you become a member of the military, support our troops and their families. Every Thanksgiving and
religious holiday that you enjoy with family and friends, please remember that there are literally thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines and
airmen far from home wishing they could be with their families. Thank God for our military and the sacrifices they make every day. Without
them, our country would get it's ass kicked.

It is the Veteran, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.

It is the Veteran, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.

It is the Veteran, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the Military who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the
flag."

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a Veteran!

Submitted by Terry Bartkoski

Posted December 1 2007

Terrry Bartkoski sent this serval days ago. In spite of the amount of space this would require, it was too good not to post
here.

You may or may not like Ralph Peters, but below is an EXCELLENT article - strongly recommend your read. As usual, Ralph Peters does an
excellent job of stating the facts.

12 Myths of 21st-Century War

Unaware of the cost of freedom and served by leaders without military expertise, Americans have started to believe whatever's comfortable.

By Ralph Peters
The American Legion Magazine
November, 2007

We're in trouble. We're in danger of losing more wars. Our troops haven't forgotten how to fight. We've never had better men and women in
uniform. But our leaders and many of our fellow Americans no longer grasp what war means or what it takes to win.

Thanks to those who have served in uniform, we've lived in such safety and comfort for so long that for many Americans sacrifice means little
more than skipping a second trip to the buffet table.

Two trends over the past four decades contributed to our national ignorance of the cost, and necessity, of victory. First, the most privileged
Americans used the Vietnam War as an excuse to break their tradition of uniformed service. Ivy League universities once produced heroes.
Now they resist Reserve Officer Training Corps representation on their campuses.

Yet, our leading universities still produce a disproportionate number of U.S. political leaders. The men and women destined to lead us in
wartime dismiss military service as a waste of their time and talents. Delighted to pose for campaign photos with our troops, elected officials
in private disdain the military. Only one serious presidential aspirant in either party is a veteran, while another presidential hopeful pays as
much for a single haircut as I took home in a month as an Army private.

Second, we've stripped in-depth U.S. history classes out of our schools. Since the 1960s, one history course after another has been cut,
while the content of those remaining focuses on social issues and our alleged misdeeds. Dumbed-down textbooks minimize the wars that
kept us free. As a result, ignorance of the terrible price our troops had to pay for freedom in the past creates absurd expectations about our
present conflicts. When the media offer flawed or biased analyses, the public lacks the knowledge to make informed judgments.

This combination of national leadership with no military expertise and a population that hasn't been taught the cost of freedom leaves us with
a government that does whatever seems expedient and a citizenry that believes whatever's comfortable. Thus, myths about war thrive.

Myth No. 1: War doesn't change anything.

This campus slogan contradicts all of human history. Over thousands of years, war has been the last resort - and all too frequently the first
resort - of tribes, religions, dynasties, empires, states and demagogues driven by grievance, greed or a heartless quest for glory. No one
believes that war is a good thing, but it is sometimes necessary. We need not agree in our politics or on the manner in which a given war is
prosecuted, but we can't pretend that if only we laid down our arms all others would do the same.

Wars, in fact, often change everything. Who would argue that the American Revolution, our Civil War or World War II changed nothing? Would
the world be better today if we had been pacifists in the face of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan?

Certainly, not all of the changes warfare has wrought through the centuries have been positive. Even a just war may generate undesirable
results, such as Soviet tyranny over half of Europe after 1945. But of one thing we may be certain: a U.S. defeat in any war is a defeat not
only for freedom, but for civilization. Our enemies believe that war can change the world. And they won't be deterred by bumper stickers.

Myth No. 2: Victory is impossible today.

Victory is always possible, if our nation is willing to do what it takes to win. But victory is, indeed, impossible if U.S. troops are placed under
impossible restrictions, if their leaders refuse to act boldly, if every target must be approved by lawyers, and if the American people are
disheartened by a constant barrage of negativity from the media. We don't need generals who pop up behind microphones to apologize for
every mistake our soldiers make. We need generals who win.

And you can't win if you won't fight. We're at the start of a violent struggle that will ebb and flow for decades, yet our current generation of
leaders, in and out of uniform, worries about hurting the enemy's feelings.

One of the tragedies of our involvement in Iraq is that while we did a great thing by removing Saddam Hussein, we tried to do it on the cheap.
It's an iron law of warfare that those unwilling to pay the butcher's bill up front will pay it with compound interest in the end. We not only didn't
want to pay that bill, but our leaders imagined that we could make friends with our enemies even before they were fully defeated. Killing a few
hundred violent actors like Moqtada al-Sadr in 2003 would have prevented thousands of subsequent American deaths and tens of thousands
of Iraqi deaths. We started something our national leadership lacked the guts to finish.

Despite our missteps, victory looked a great deal less likely in the early months of 1942 than it does against our enemies today. Should we
have surrendered after the fall of the Philippines? Today's opinion makers and elected officials have lost their grip on what it takes to win. In
the timeless words of Nathan Bedford Forrest, "War means fighting, and fighting means killing."

And in the words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, "It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it."

Myth No. 3: Insurgencies can never be defeated.

Historically, fewer than one in 20 major insurgencies succeeded. Virtually no minor ones survived. In the mid-20th century, insurgencies
scored more wins than previously had been the case, but that was because the European colonial powers against which they rebelled had
already decided to rid themselves of their imperial possessions. Even so, more insurgencies were defeated than not, from the Philippines to
Kenya to Greece. In the entire 18th century, our war of independence was the only insurgency that defeated a major foreign power and drove
it out for good.

The insurgencies we face today are, in fact, more lethal than the insurrections of the past century. We now face an international terrorist
insurgency as well as local rebellions, all motivated by religious passion or ethnicity or a fatal compound of both. The good news is that in
over 3,000 years of recorded history, insurgencies motivated by faith and blood overwhelmingly failed. The bad news is that they had to be put
down with remorseless bloodshed.

Myth No. 4: There's no military solution; only negotiations can solve our problems.

In most cases, the reverse is true. Negotiations solve nothing until a military decision has been reached and one side recognizes a peace
agreement as its only hope of survival. It would be a welcome development if negotiations fixed the problems we face in Iraq, but we're the
only side interested in a negotiated solution. Every other faction - the terrorists, Sunni insurgents, Shia militias, Iran and Syria - is convinced it
can win.

The only negotiations that produce lasting results are those conducted from positions of indisputable strength.

Myth No. 5: When we fight back, we only provoke our enemies.

When dealing with bullies, either in the schoolyard or in a global war, the opposite is true: if you don't fight back, you encourage your enemy
to behave more viciously.

Passive resistance only works when directed against rule-of-law states, such as the core English-speaking nations. It doesn't work where
silent protest is answered with a bayonet in the belly or a one-way trip to a political prison. We've allowed far too many myths about the
"innate goodness of humanity" to creep up on us. Certainly, many humans would rather be good than bad. But if we're unwilling to fight the
fraction of humanity that's evil, armed and determined to subjugate the rest, we'll face even grimmer conflicts.

Myth No. 6: Killing terrorists only turns them into martyrs.

It's an anomaly of today's Western world that privileged individuals feel more sympathy for dictators, mass murderers and terrorists - consider
the irrational protests against Guantanamo - than they do for their victims. We were told, over and over, that killing Osama bin Laden or Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, hanging Saddam Hussein or targeting the Taliban's Mullah Omar would only unite their followers. Well, we haven't yet
gotten Osama or Omar, but Zarqawi's dead and forgotten by his own movement, whose members never invoke that butcher's memory. And no
one is fighting to avenge Saddam. The harsh truth is that when faced with true fanatics, killing them is the only way to end their influence.
Imprisoned, they galvanize protests, kidnappings, bombings and attacks that seek to free them. Want to make a terrorist a martyr? Just lock
him up. Attempts to try such monsters in a court of law turn into mockeries that only provide public platforms for their hate speech, which the
global media is delighted to broadcast. Dead, they're dead. And killing them is the ultimate proof that they lack divine protection. Dead
terrorists don't kill.

Myth No. 7: If we fight as fiercely as our enemies, we're no better than them.

Did the bombing campaign against Germany turn us into Nazis? Did dropping atomic bombs on Japan to end the war and save hundreds of
thousands of American lives, as well as millions of Japanese lives, turn us into the beasts who conducted the Bataan Death March?

The greatest immorality is for the United States to lose a war. While we seek to be as humane as the path to victory permits, we cannot
shrink from doing what it takes to win. At present, the media and influential elements of our society are obsessed with the small immoralities
that are inevitable in wartime. Soldiers are human, and no matter how rigorous their training, a miniscule fraction of our troops will do vicious
things and must be punished as a consequence. Not everyone in uniform will turn out to be a saint, and not every chain of command will do
its job with equal effectiveness. But obsessing on tragic incidents - of which there have been remarkably few in Iraq or Afghanistan - obscures
the greater moral issue: the need to defeat enemies who revel in butchering the innocent, who celebrate atrocities, and who claim their god
wants blood.

Myth No. 8: The United States is more hated today than ever before.

Those who served in Europe during the Cold War remember enormous, often-violent protests against U.S. policy that dwarfed today's
let's-have-fun-on-a-Sunday-afternoon rallies. Older readers recall the huge ban-the-bomb, pro-communist demonstrations of the 1950s and the
vast seas of demonstrators filling the streets of Paris, Rome and Berlin to protest our commitment to Vietnam. Imagine if we'd had 24/7 news
coverage of those rallies. I well remember serving in Germany in the wake of our withdrawal from Saigon, when U.S. soldiers were despised
by the locals - who nonetheless were willing to take our money - and terrorists tried to assassinate U.S. generals.

The fashionable anti-Americanism of the chattering classes hasn't stopped the world from seeking one big green card. As I've traveled around
the globe since 9/11, I've found that below the government-spokesman/professional-radical level, the United States remains the great dream
for university graduates from Berlin to Bangalore to Bogota.

On the domestic front, we hear ludicrous claims that our country has never been so divided. Well, that leaves out our Civil War. Our historical
amnesia also erases the violent protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the mass confrontations, rioting and deaths. Is today's America
really more fractured than it was in 1968?

Myth No. 9: Our invasion of Iraq created our terrorist problems.

This claim rearranges the order of events, as if the attacks of 9/11 happened after Baghdad fell. Our terrorist problems have been created by
the catastrophic failure of Middle Eastern civilization to compete on any front and were exacerbated by the determination of successive U.S.
administrations, Democrat and Republican, to pretend that Islamist terrorism was a brief aberration. Refusing to respond to attacks, from the
bombings in Beirut to Khobar Towers, from the first attack on the Twin Towers to the near-sinking of the USS Cole, we allowed our enemies
to believe that we were weak and cowardly. Their unchallenged successes served as a powerful recruiting tool.

Did our mistakes on the ground in Iraq radicalize some new recruits for terror? Yes. But imagine how many more recruits there might have
been and the damage they might have inflicted on our homeland had we not responded militarily in Afghanistan and then carried the fight to
Iraq. Now Iraq is al-Qaeda's Vietnam, not ours.

Myth No. 10: If we just leave, the Iraqis will patch up their differences on their own.

The point may come at which we have to accept that Iraqis are so determined to destroy their own future that there's nothing more we can do.
But we're not there yet, and leaving immediately would guarantee not just one massacre but a series of slaughters and the delivery of a
massive victory to the forces of terrorism. We must be open-minded about
practical measures, from changes in strategy to troop reductions, if that's what the developing situation warrants. But it's grossly irresponsible
to claim that our presence is the primary cause of the violence in Iraq - an allegation that ignores history.

Myth No. 11: It's all Israel's fault. Or the popular Washington corollary: "The Saudis are our friends."

Israel is the Muslim world's excuse for failure, not a reason for it. Even if we didn't support Israel, Islamist extremists would blame us for
countless other imagined wrongs, since they fear our freedoms and our culture even more than they do our military. All men and women of
conscience must recognize the core difference between Israel and its neighbors: Israel genuinely wants to live in peace, while its genocidal
neighbors want Israel erased from the map.

As for the mad belief that the Saudis are our friends, it endures only because the Saudis have spent so much money on both sides of the
aisle in Washington. Saudi money continues to subsidize anti-Western extremism, to divide fragile societies, and encourage hatred between
Muslims and all others. Saudi extremism has done far more damage to the Middle East than Israel ever did. The Saudis are our enemies.

Myth No. 12: The Middle East's problems are all America's fault.

Muslim extremists would like everyone to believe this, but it just isn't true. The collapse of once great Middle Eastern civilizations has been
under way for more than five centuries, and the region became a backwater before the United States became a country. For the first century
and a half of our national existence, our relations with the people of the Middle East were largely beneficent and protective, notwithstanding
our conflict with the Barbary Pirates in North Africa. But Islamic civilization was on a downward trajectory that could not be arrested. Its social
and economic structures, its values, its neglect of education, its lack of scientific curiosity, the indolence of its ruling classes and its inability
to produce a single modern state that served its people all guaranteed that, as the West's progress accelerated, the Middle East would fall
ever farther behind. The Middle East has itself to blame for its problems.

None of us knows what our strategic future holds, but we have no excuse for not knowing our own past. We need to challenge inaccurate
assertions about our policies, about our past and about war itself. And we need to work within our community and state education systems to
return balanced, comprehensive history programs to our schools. The unprecedented wealth and power of the United States allows us to
afford many things denied to human beings throughout history. But we, the people, cannot afford ignorance.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer, strategist and author of 22 books, including the recent "Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That
Will Shape the 21st Century.

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Posted 06 March 2008

I believe this explains why we were able to get together after 30 years and have such a great reunion. Lets make sure the next one is even
better!

Don Jacka

***********************************************
"A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve, is someone who at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable
to The United States of America for an amount of 'up to and including my life.' That is honor. There are far too many people in this country
who don't understand it."
- Author unknown
***********************************************

When a good Veteran leaves the "job" and retires to a better life, many are jealous, some are pleased and others, who may have already
retired, wonder if he knows what he is leaving behind, because we already know.

We know, for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few experience, it will remain as a longing for those past times. We know in
the Military life there is a fellowship which lasts long after the uniforms are hung up in the back of the closet. We know even if he throws them
away, they will be on him with every step and breath that remains in his life. We also know how the very bearing of the man speaks of what
he was and in his heart still is.

These are the burdens of the job. You will still look at people suspiciously, still see what others do not see or choose to ignore and always
will look at the rest of the Military world with a respect for what they do; only grown in a lifetime of knowing.

Never think for one moment you are escaping from that life. You are only escaping the "job" and merely being allowed to leave "active" duty.

So what I wish for you is that whenever you ease into retirement, in your heart you never forget for one moment that "Blessed are the
Peacemakers for they shall be called children of God," and you are still a member of the greatest fraternity the world has ever known.

Civilian Friends vs. Veteran Friends:

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Get upset if you're too busy to talk to them for a week. VETERAN FRIENDS: Are glad to see you after years, and will
happily carry on the same conversation you were having the last time you met.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry. VETERAN FRIENDS: Have cried with you.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back. VETERAN FRIENDS: Keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you. VETERAN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will kick the crowds' ass that left you
behind.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Are for a while. VETERAN FRIENDS: Are for a lifetime.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have shared a few experiences... VETERAN FRIENDS: Have shared a lifetime of experiences no citizen could ever
dream of...

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over
the place and say, "You better drink the rest of that before you spill it!!" Then carry you home safely and put you to bed...

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will talk crap to the person who talks crap about you. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will knock them the hell out OF THEM.....
for using your name in vain.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will ignore this. VETERAN FRIENDS: Will forward this.

A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made
payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life."

From one Veteran to another, it's an honor to be in your Company. Thank you Veteran!

Note: Don included a wonderful photo of a veteran standing from a wheelchair for the passing of our flag in a parade while younger "citizens"
sat on their butts. I tried everyway I could think of to copy that photo, but I could not get my system to record it. Sorry, it really brought a
lump to my throat.