Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Military / Veterans Report

MQ-9 ReaperTHE GRIM REAPERS
The war on terror will soon get even scarier for America's enemies - the United States is on the verge of unleashing its best pilotless aircraft yet, the Reapers.

The robot killers from the sky - a step up from the current Predators - will be tracking down enemy fighters from 50,000 feet up.

The Reaper is outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting capability and packs a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles. The Reaper is loaded, but there is no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles (11,265 kilometers) away in Nevada.

Bigger Military Raise, Better Benefits Hit
With President Bush's popularity scraping bottom in opinion polls, with U.S. casualties rising in Iraq in a force surge that has stretched soldier tours to 15 months, the Bush administration July 10 said it "strongly opposes" key military pay and benefit gains tossed into their fiscal 2008 defense bill. Initiatives the administration "strongly opposes" include:

  • A military pay raise for next January of 3.5 percent versus 3 percent endorsed by the White House.
  • Lowering the age-60 start of reserve retirement annuities for reserve component members by the length of their future mobilizations.
  • Expanding eligibility for Combat-Related Special Compensation to service members forced by combat disabilities to retire short of 20 years.
  • Directing pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide the Department of Defense with same price discounts for TRICARE retail pharmacy network that are provided already on medicines dispensed from base pharmacies. To learn more, read the article

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