Retired Affairs Office Newsletter
RAO Newsletter - 05/15/2010 - Page 4 of 4
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Archive
Contents of Page Four
- Military History ---------------------- (Philippine-American War)
- Military History Anniversaries ------------ (May 16-31 Summary)
- Military Trivia 4 ---------------------------------- (Number 04)
- Tax Burden for Nebraska Retirees ----------------------- (2009)
- Veteran Legislation Status 13 MAY 2010 ----- (Where we stand)
- Have You Heard? ------------- (How to Simulate Being A Sailor)
Military History:
The basic causes of the Philippine-American War can be found in the U.S. government's quest for an overseas empire and the desire of the Filipino people for freedom. In other words, this war was a clash between the forces of imperialism and nationalism. After centuries as a Spanish colony, a revolution led in part by Emilio Aguinaldo broke out in 1896 in the Philippine Islands. After fighting a savage guerilla war for two and a half years, the Filipinos suddenly found themselves in a seemingly advantageous position as allies of the United States. In 1898, Spain fought a losing war with the United States in which her colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam were overrun with relative ease by the U.S. Army. Her Atlantic Fleet was devastated outside of Santiago, Cuba. Similarly, Spain's Pacific Fleet was wiped out in the Battle of Manila Bay by the U.S. Navy, and American troops landed on the outskirts of the capitol city. Following the surrender of the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines to American military forces in AUG 1898, tensions developed between U.S. and Filipino forces near Manila. The American government decided to keep the Philippines as a colony, thereby denying independence to the Filipino people. Aguinaldo and his army of nearly 80,000 veteran troops realized that their "allies" in the Spanish War would soon become foes.
As early 1899, U.S. and Filipino forces faced off as a tense situation became worse. American forces held the capitol of Manila, while Aguinaldo's army occupied a trench-line surrounding the city. On the evening of 4 FEB 1899, Private William Grayson of the Nebraska Volunteers fired the first shot in what would turn out to be a very bloody war. Grayson shot at a group of Filipinos approaching his position, provoking an armed response. Shooting soon spread up and down the ten-mile U.S.-Filipino lines, causing hundreds of casualties. Upon the outbreak of hostilities, U.S. troops, supported by shelling from Admiral Dewey's fleet, quickly overwhelmed the Filipino positions while inflicting thousands of casualties. Within days, American forces spread outward from Manila, using superior firepower, mobile artillery and command of the sea to full effect. By NOV 1899, Aguinaldo and his forces had been pushed further and further into central Luzon (the main Philippine island) and he realized he could not fight the Americans with conventional military units. At this point, he ordered his followers to turn to guerilla tactics to combat the American army. From this point on, the war became a savage, no-holds-barred guerilla conflict made up of ambushes, massacres and retribution. Both sides engaged in wanton violence and slaughter. Villages were destroyed, civilians murdered, prisoners tortured and mutilated along with a host of other atrocities. Many American officers and noncoms had served in the Indian Wars, and thus applied the old belief that ‘the only good Indian was a dead Indian’ to their relations with the Filipinos. This attitude was reciprocated by the native forces.
Emilio Aguinaldo was captured in MAR 1902, and organized opposition from his followers soon faded. Despite the official end to hostilities proclaimed on 4 JUL 1902, individual tribes in Luzon and the Muslim Moros of the southern islands launched further uprisings for another decade or so. The consequences of conflict were:
- Independence for the Philippines was delayed until 1946.
- The United States acquired an overseas colony which served as a base for U.S. business and military interests in the Asia/Pacific region.
- Following the conclusion of major hostilities, the U.S. did it's best to "Americanize" the Philippines. Through successful civilian administration, the Islands were modernized and the nation prepared for eventual independence. The Philippines became an independent nation on 4 JUL1946.
- The U.S. suffered 4,234 dead and 2,818 wounded.
- The Philippines suffered 20,000 military dead and 200,000 civilian dead (approximate numbers). Some historians place the numbers of civilian dead at 500,000 or higher.
[Source: The History Guy www.historyguy.com/PhilipineAmericanwar.html May 2010 ++]
Military History Anniversaries:
- May 16 1940 - WWII: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins the invasion of France.
- May 17 1987 - An Iraqi missile hits the American frigate USS Stark in the Persian Gulf. 37 sailors die
- May 18 1863 - Civil War: The Battle of Vicksburg begins.
- May 18 1917 - WWI: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
- May 18 1944 - WWII: Battle of Monte Cassino - Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate.
- May 19 1848 - U.S Mexican War: Mexico gives Texas to U.S., ending the war
- May 19 1967 - Vietnam: U.S. planes bomb Hanoi for the first time.
- May 20 1864 - Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church - in the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
- May 20 1902 - Latin America Interventions: U.S. military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1, 1899) ends
- May 20 1969 - Vietnam: US troop capture Hill 937/Hamburger Hill
- May 20 1951 - Korea: U.S. Air Force Captain James Jabara becomes the first jet air ace in history.
- May 21 1941 - 1st U.S. ship sunk by a U-boat (SS Robin Moore)
- May 21 1951 - Korea: The U.S. Eighth Army counterattacks to drive the Communist Chinese and North Koreans out of South Korea.
- May 23 1900 - Civil War hero Sgt. William H. Carney becomes the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor, 37 years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.
- May 25 1915 - WWI: 2nd Battle of Ypres ends with 105,000 casualties
- May 25 1953 - The first atomic cannon is fired in Nevada.
- May 26 1940 - WWII: Battle of Dunkirk - In France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
- May 26 1945 - WWII: U.S. drop fire bombs on Tokyo
- May 26 2004 - The U.S. Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
- May 27 1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George
- May 27 1944 - WWII: American General MacArthur lands on Biak Island in New Guinea.
- May 27 1965 - Vietnam: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.
- May 29 1916 - U.S. forces invade the Dominican Republic, stay until 1924.
- May 29 1945 - WWII: U.S. 1st Marine division conquerors Shuri-castle Okinawa
- May 29 2004 - The World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
- May 30 1868 - Memorial Day begins when two women place flowers on both Confederate and Union graves.
- May 30 1912 - U.S. Marines are sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests.
- May 30 1965 - Vietnam: Viet Cong offensive against U.S, base Da Nang, begins
- May 31 1900 - U.S. troops arrive in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
- May 31 1912 - U.S. Marines land on Cuba
[Source: Various May 2010 ++]
Military Trivia 4:
- The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was named after Mexican liberator Benito Juarez.
- Seven inmates were liberated from the Bastille after it was stormed by an angry mob on July14, 1789 at the start of the French Revolution.
- The ice-locked Dutch in Amsterdam mobilized using ice skates to defeat the invading Spanish during the winter of 1572-73?
- Butch Cassidy, whose real name was Robert LeRoy Parker after escaping to Bolivia with his partner-in-crime, the Sundance Kid reportedly returned to the U,S, and went into the adding machine manufacturing business.
- Adolf Hitler's sister-in-law worked for British War Relief in New York City during World War II. Bridget Hitler was the Irish-born wife of Hitler's older half-brother, Alois.
- The first American congressman to don a uniform following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was President-to-be Lyndon Johnson, who served in the Navy.
- In 1940, Davis Sr. became the first black general in U.S. Army history and in 1954, his son Davis Jr. became the first black general in U.S. Air Force history.
- The actor who attained the highest U.S. military rank in history for an entertainer was James Stewart, who rose to the rank of a brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
- Before the U.S. Navy adopted the standard 21-gun salute in 1841, how many blasts did its warships fired one blast for each state in the union when they sailed into foreign ports.
- The tenth-century Chinese alchemist was trying to discover a formula for immortality when he accidentally produced gun powder?
- British-born newspaperman-explorer Henry Morton Stanley (of" Dr. Livingston, I presume" fame) fought on both sides in the American Civil war. He first joined the Confederate Army, but after being captured at Shiloh, he enlisted in the Union Navy to avoid imprisonment.
- Russian czar Peter the Great gave himself no rank in the Russian Army. He served as a common soldier in the artillery.
- EGADS in the military world is the signal used when it's necessary to destroy a missile in flight. EGADS is an acronym for Electronic Ground Automatic Destruct System.
- Andrea Doria, the person for whom the famous passenger ship was named, was a sixteenth-century Genoese admiral who was known as the "Father of Peace" and the "Liberator of Genoa."
- You may remember the Alamo but the word means in Cottonwood in Spanish?
- Marquis de Lafayette, America's Revolutionary War ally, name his only son George Washington Lafayette.
- Michael Strank, Harlon H. Block, Franklin R. Sousley, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and John H. Bradley were the six servicemen who raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II and who are memorialized in the dramatic 78-foot-high Iwo Jima Monument in Arlington, Virginia.
- Actor Paul Newman disqualified from the Navy's pilot-training program during World War II because his dazzling blue eyes were colorblind.
[Source: HERE May 2010 ++]
Tax Burden for Nebraska Retirees:
Many people planning to retire use the presence or absence of a state income tax as a litmus test for a retirement destination. This is a serious miscalculation since higher sales and property taxes can more than offset the lack of a state income tax. The lack of a state income tax doesn’t necessarily ensure a low total tax burden. Following are the taxes you can expect to pay if you retire in Nebraska:
State Sales Tax: 5.5% (food and prescription drugs exempt); local option taxes could add an additional 1.5% to the state rate.
Gasoline Tax: 26.8 cents/gallon
Diesel Fuel Tax: 26.8 cents/gallon
Cigarette Tax: $0.64 cents/pack of 20
Personal Income Taxes
Tax Rate Range: - 2.56%; High - 6.84%
Income Brackets: 4: Lowest - $2,400; Highest - $27,000 (The tax brackets reported are for a single individual. For married couples filing jointly, the same rates apply for income under $4,000 to over $50,000)
Personal Tax Credits: Single - $118; Married - $236; Dependents - $118;
Standard Deduction: Single - $5,700, Married - $11,400
Medical/Dental Deduction: Federal amount
Federal Income Tax Deduction: None
Retirement Income Taxes: Railroad Retirement benefits are exempt. Out-of-state government pensions are fully taxed. Social Security is taxable to the extent of federal taxation.
Retired Military Pay: Follows federal tax rules.
Military Disability Retired Pay: Retirees who entered the military before Sept. 24, 1975, and members receiving disability retirements based on combat injuries or who could receive disability payments from the VA are covered by laws giving disability broad exemption from federal income tax. Most military retired pay based on service-related disabilities also is free from federal income tax, but there is no guarantee of total protection.
VA Disability Dependency and Indemnity Compensation: VA benefits are not taxable because they generally are for disabilities and are not subject to federal or state taxes.
Military SBP/SSBP/RCSBP/RSFPP: Generally subject to state taxes for those states with income tax. Check with state department of revenue office.
Retired Military Pay: See above. Survivor benefits are taxed following federal tax rules.
Military Disability Retired Pay: Retirees who entered the military before Sept. 24, 1975, and members receiving disability retirements based on combat injuries or who could receive disability payments from the VA are covered by laws giving disability broad exemption from federal income tax. Most military retired pay based on service-related disabilities also is free from federal income tax, but there is no guarantee of total protection.
VA Disability Dependency and Indemnity Compensation: VA benefits are not taxable because they generally are for disabilities and are not subject to federal or state taxes.
Military SBP/SSBP/RCSBP/RSFPP: Generally subject to state taxes for those states with income tax. Check with state department of revenue office.
Property Taxes
Real property is assessed at 100% its actual (market) value. A property tax credit is provided for all parcels of property based on the valuation of each parcel. The estimated credit for 2009 is $82.22 for each $100,000 in valuation. The state has a homestead exemption that provides relief from property taxes by exempting all or a portion of the valuation of the homestead from taxation. There are three groups of exemptions: A) persons age 65, B) certain disabled individuals, and C) certain disabled veterans and their widow(er)s. Call 800-742-7474 or 402-471-5984 for details or refer to HERE.
Inheritance and Estate Taxes
Nebraska's inheritance tax, which is collected at the county level, applies to bequests, devises, or transfers of property or any other interest in trust or otherwise having characteristics of annuities, life estates, terms for years, remainders, or reversions. Nebraska inheritance tax is computed on the fair market value of such annuities, life estates, terms for years, remainders, and reversions. The fair market value is the present value as determined under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, and its applicable regulations with respect to estate tax. The Nebraska estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax have been repealed for decedents dying or transfers made on or after January 1,2007.
Note: The state has a statutory provision for automatic adjustment of tax brackets, personal exemptions or standard deductions to the rate of inflation. For further information, visit the Nebraska Department of Revenue site, located HERE.
[Source: www.retirementliving.com Apr 2010 ++]
Veteran Legislation Status 13 May 2010:
For or a listing of Congressional bills of interest to the veteran community that have been introduced in the 111th Congress refer to the Bulletin’s Veteran Legislation attachment. Support of these bills through co-sponsorship by other legislators is critical if they are ever going to move through the legislative process for a floor vote to become law. A good indication on that likelihood is the number of cosponsors who have signed onto the bill. Any number of members may cosponsor a bill in the House or Senate. HERE you can review a copy of each bill’s content, determine its current status, the committee it has been assigned to, and if your legislator is a sponsor or cosponsor of it. To determine what bills, amendments your representative has sponsored, cosponsored, or dropped sponsorship on refer to HERE.
Grassroots lobbying is perhaps the most effective way to let your Representative and Senators know your opinion. Whether you are calling into a local or Washington, D.C. office; sending a letter or e-mail; signing a petition; or making a personal visit, Members of Congress are the most receptive and open to suggestions from their constituents. The key to increasing co-sponsorship on veteran related bills and subsequent passage into law is letting legislators know of veteran’s feelings on issues. You can reach their Washington office via the Capital Operator direct at (866) 272-6622, (800) 828-0498, or (866) 340-9281 to express your views. Otherwise, you can locate HERE your legislator’s phone number, mailing address, or email/website to communicate with a message or letter of your own making. Refer to HERE for dates that you can access your legislators on their home turf.
[Source: RAO Bulletin Attachment 13 May 2010 ++]
Have You Heard?
How to Simulate Being A Sailor
- Buy a dumpster, paint it gray inside and out, and live in it for six months.
- Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.
- Repaint your entire house every month.
- Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of the bathtub and move the shower head to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.
- Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.
- Once a week, blow air up your chimney, with a leaf blower and let the wind carry the soot onto your neighbor's house. Ignore his complaints.
- Once a month, take all major appliances apart and reassemble them.
- Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and back doors so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through them.
- Disassemble and inspect your lawnmower every week.
- On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water heater temperature up to 200 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn the water heater off. On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they use too much water, so no bathing will be allowed.
- Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can't turn over without getting out and then getting back in.
- Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say "Sorry, wrong rack."
- Make your family qualify to operate each appliance in your house - dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc. Re-qualify every 6 months.
- Have your neighbor come over each day at 0500, blow a whistle so loud Helen Keller could hear it, and shout "Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out and trice up."
- Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in your back yard at 0600 while she reads it to you.
- Submit a request chit to your father-in-law requesting permission to leave your house before 1500.
- Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep the driveway three times a day, whether it needs it or not. "Now sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms, give the ship a clean sweep down fore and aft, empty all sh**cans and butt kits!")
- Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item before delivering the rest.
- Watch no TV except for movies played in the middle of the night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch, then show a different one-- the same one every night.
- When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone shouting "Now general quarters, general quarters! All hands man your battle stations!)
- Make your family's menu a week ahead of time without consulting the pantry or refrigerator.
- Post a menu on the kitchen door informing your family that they are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for an hour. When they finally get to the kitchen, tell them you are out of steak, but they can have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they ignore the menu and just ask for hot dogs.
- Bake a cake. Prop up one side of the pan so the cake bakes unevenly. Spread icing real thick to level it off.
- Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread. (Midrats)
- Set your alarm clock to go off at random during the night. At the alarm, jump up and dress as fast as you can, making sure to button your top shirt button and tuck your pants into your socks. Run out into the backyard and uncoil the garden hose.
- Every week or so, throw your cat or dog into the pool and shout "Man overboard, port side!" Rate your family members on how fast they respond.
- Put the headphones from your stereo on your head, but don't plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck on a string. Stand in front of the stove, and speak into the paper cup, "Stove manned and ready." After an hour or so, speak into the cup again "Stove secured." Roll up the headphones and paper cup and stow them in a shoebox.
- Make your family turn out all the lights and go to bed at 10 p.m. "Now taps, taps! Lights out! Maintain silence throughout the ship!" Then immediately have an 18-wheeler crash into your house. (For aircraft carrier sailors.)
- Build a fire in a trash can in your garage. Loudly announce to your family, "This is a drill, this is a drill! Fire in hangar bay one!"
- Place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand in front of the podium for 4-hour intervals. Best done when the weather is worst. January is a good time.
- Next time there's a bad thunderstorm in your area, find the biggest horse you can, put a two-inch mattress on his back, strap yourself to it and turn him loose in a barn for six hours. Then get up and go to work.
- For former engineers: bring your lawn mower into the living room, and run it all day long.
- Make coffee using eighteen scoops of budget priced coffee grounds per pot, and let the pot simmer for 5 hours before drinking.
- Have someone under the age of ten give you a haircut with sheep shears
- Sew the back pockets of your jeans onto the front
- Add 1/3 cup of Diesel fuel to the laundry.
- Take hourly readings on your electric and water meters.
- Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go to the scummiest part of town. Find the most run down, trashiest bar, and drink beer until you are hammered. Then walk all the way home
- Lock yourself and your family in the house for six weeks. Tell them that at the end of the 6th week you'll take them to Disney World for liberty. At the end of the 6th week, inform them the trip to Disney World has been canceled because they need to get ready for an inspection, and it will be another week before they can leave the house.
"It's awful hard to get people interested in corruption unless they can get some of it." --American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)