Word: billets
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President Reagan accepted blame for the deaths of the 241 Marines blasted from their billet in Beirut last October [Jan. 9]. If Reagan is personally responsible, was President Franklin Roosevelt liable for the thousands of naval personnel lost in the sinking of the fleet at Pearl Harbor? He definitely did not think so, even though he stationed them in Hawaii. F.D.R. summarily relieved the local commanders. Without question, they were guilty of not adhering to the standing operation procedure prescribed in military doctrine. This Beirut fiasco was a "failure of command" beginning at company or higher unit level...
...national dish. And now, with the speeches over, here they are, clustered around a piano in the Marriott Key Bridge Hotel, singing. Except for the gray in the hair, and a sagging of chests toward the belt line, the scene suggests (as it is meant to) a press billet in the city of Taegu, say, three decades ago when the United Nations forces were trying to hold the Pusan perimeter...
Among Soviet garrison troops, morale appeared to be high. "We have everything here we could possibly need," a swarthy, French-speaking 2nd lieutenant from Uzbekistan cheerily assured TIME Correspondent David DeVoss, outside his billet. His men were all delighted to be in Afghanistan, he said, mostly because of the perks. "This is a poor country so the only thing we purchase locally is fruit," he said with a smile. "We've brought everything else from the Soviet Union-in our cook tents it's just like eating at home." Best of all, he said, was the special combat...
...about a month before Walker was scheduled to leave Turkey, he received another "eyes only" message. In it, Rogers confessed that he had "struck out." There would be no new four-star billet for Walker. He could take a demotion and an assignment as a lieutenant general. Or he could retire. All three-and four-star generals hold temporary rank and are subject to losing as many as two stars if suitable assignments cannot be found for them. It is a rare reality of military life, not one likely to happen to a Sam Walker...
Every so often each year there occurs a self-bestowed Christmas in the American home. A package arrives. The eager family gathers round to rip it open. Instead of "Blessings from Gran," the enclosed billet-doux reads...