My brother is leaving for Iraq. He has to go into combat training August 22nd. His sergeant doesn’t know about his mental illnesses, he is bi-polar and has a panic disorder and some type of aggression disorder also. How can the military except someone in this state of mind. To me it seems like committing suicide by going to Iraq in this state of being. Can he take his medication? What if he is unable to take it? He is also addicted to pain killers since he has a bad back. Is there a mental evaluation before he leaves? Would he be a danger to his own comrades?

ANSWER: All soldiers receive an entrance complete physical examination, including a review of psychiatric issues and past medical history. Soldiers also must undergo a five-year (or sooner, depending on the soldier’s particular job) physical reevaluating his physical status. Soldiers who exhibit symptoms of illness – physical or mental – are referred to the military treatment facility for diagnosis and treatment, if necessary. Soldiers preparing for deployment (such as your brother) undergo a predeployment examination in addition to the above examinations. If your brother has the problems you state he does, they should be included in his military medical records, which will be reviewed prior to his deployment and, when the conditions arose, whether at deployment or prior, will make him non-deployable.

The fact that he is scheduled for deployment and has the conditions you allege leads me to assume that he has not reported these conditions. If so, he needs to have his treating physicians report the conditions to the military physicians. Some of the above disorders may not make him nondeployable, especially if controllable with medication.

Your brother should see his military primary care physician and ensure his conditions are noted, diagnosed, and treated, and this physician will ensure that the necessary actions are taken regarding his deployment status. I recommend he do so as soon as possible.

I am a contracted cadet, so I am no longer able to get out of the Army. This year I have been having a lot of anxiety problem and feeling depressed (mostly form the anxiety). I think I may have some form of an anxiety disorder, however, I am afraid to seek help because I don’t want to get disqualified (I need ROTC to pay for college). From what I’ve read it seems that if I see a doctor and get diagnosed with something that I inform them about I will lose my scholarship. I’m wondering if I see a doctor and do not inform the Army if they can find out. Can the Army search my medical or insurance records without my consent? What would you suggest is the best course of action?

ANSWER: While you can visit a doctor and not inform the Army, ultimately (likely at your commissioning physical), you will be asked. If you lie, you will commit a felony under the UCMJ. The physician you see may turn to someone – ROTC – for billing for your treatment, and if s/he finds you need follow up because of the seriousness of your condition, s/he may wish to contact your primary care provider.

Not all anxiety disorders disqualify one from military service.

The bottom line comes down to this – is getting a diagnosis and treatment more important to you than going untreated and remaining in need of treatment, and is your integrity worth only the cost of your college tuition? As to the first question, if you feel you need treatment, you should get it, as going untreated with a real condition could endanger your health and prevent your recovery. As to the second, I would not want an officer who I could not trust, and if your integrity slips on this, it will slip elsewhere, causing you further frustration and heartache when it does. The Army is not the place for one who would lie about a medical issue.

Can the Army search your medical or insurance records without your consent? Your health is a military-related issue, and the Army has the right to check on it.

But in the end, the chance of the Army finding out about your visit to a physician, on your own, is not great. So you make the call.

The best course of action is to get yourself to a physician if you think you need it. Chances are any diagnosis you get will not be service-disqualifying, but if it is, then it is a serious diagnosis for which you will need professional treatment.

C.A.P. Emergency Services exercises are known as SAREX’s. The practice involves assembling a gathering of ground teams that coordinate search and rescue with Cap airplane crews. The U.S.A.F. calls Cap for an actual mission usually when an airplane is reported overdue or missing or when an emergency locator transmitter E.L.T. is monitored on an a/c vhf frequency. This activity is rewarding to Cap members who volunteer to help locate missing persons or provide rescue assistance in disasters. We make extensive use of vhf and HF 2 way radios to do the jobs.

Actually I was thinking there might just happen to be some of those here that might have taken part of that training/exercise, out of curiosity. You see I’m a member of the local Amateur Radio Emergency Service (A.R.E.S.) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (R.A.C.E.S.), I’m also considering becoming part of the Citizen Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T) and with me being a veteran of the US Air Force also having served as a civilian Police Officer at the Dothan Airport (in Alabama) I have an interest in this.

Well at least I got a dialogue started here now I’ll just have to wait and see if there are any Alabama CAP members to join in the discussion. Alabama Cap members to join in the discussion. You’ll find that there are many members of A.R.E.S. that are also members of Cap. The Vertex 150 for example (even if being phased out in Cap) can cover all the Cap repeaters as well as the ham repeaters.

Although we still generally call them “SAREXs”, most incorporate disaster relief/photo reconnaissance tasks into the scenarios now. I don’t pretend to follow C.A.P Communications closely at all, but I recently did see an article saying that every CAP repeater in the country was getting replaced.

The change in repeaters doesn’t change my post. But the change to narrow band does. After Oct 2007, all Cap radios must be narrow band, which means the market will be flooded with used personal radios (unless the member is also a ham) The change also means that Cap communications will be severely limited because of the cost of radios that comply with the new standards. Many members can’t afford the price of the radios.

Would there be any type of grants available to Cap squadrons to help purchase these new compliant radios? If the individuals are required to purchase their own, then yes with the higher cost it will most likely cut down the number of available radios which in turn could severely limit the missions’ capabilities.

Right now in the Amateur world there is some digital technology that is becoming available and it’s quite expensive. Once it is more available the price may come down and just in case anyone is wondering what I’m talking about, it’s D-STAR.

Cap radios and such, what was/is the reason for changing radios in the first place? Seems like having the H.A.M. radios that can be easily modified for Cap and or M.A.R.S. use would, or should have been the way to continue but then again I guess there are many pros and cons to be considered.

If the new compliant radios are going to be that expensive to which some or many members can not purchase them then how can Cap perform its missions to the high degree it normally does? These question may have already been asked and answered elsewhere in this forum but please entertain me for awhile and let’s open up a discussion about those new compliant radios and what the best possible solution may be.

But Cap members aren’t required to purchase their own stuff. They may do so if they want extras. National developed plans based on what they thought each unit needed and has been distributing radios based on that plan, including handheld and mobile (vehicle) units.

I think we are probably still somewhat lacking in handheld units for ground teams, however keep in mind that National never really used to issue them at all and those were sort of member/unit purchases. So, things are improving. As to the quality of the radios, I’m not an expert on them, just a user.

I know that Cap has been programming in other frequencies into the radios that might be helpful and at least at the state level there is some movement towards getting Cap radios from the state that will work with local forces. Not sure how widespread that is. Given that a lot of states are still struggling with that issue for their primary response agencies, Cap probably isn’t at the top of their agendas.

This process has been going on for almost 10 years so it’s something we’ve been dealing with for a while. Since the A.F. has ponies up a lot of money to buy radios, it has eased a lot of worries that were there at the beginning. Probably a lot of members who did have equipment that met the old standards which is no longer usable probably aren’t too happy about it, but realize there is nothing Cap could have done to change things.

Amazingly enough a great percentage of today’s tennis matches are indeed won at the net. What does this mean to all players? No matter how much you do not like to go to the net, if you want to win, you need to develop your net game skills and that means:

The Volleys

The Net Footwork

The Serve and Volley

The Approach Shots

The Overhead Smash

The Half-Volleys and other specialty shots

Why does it have to end at the net? After exhausting long rallies and having exploited all baseline possibilities against an opponent and all things are still equal, tennis players are often faced with the question, how am I going to win this match?

The answer is simple, by attacking!

A blunt example of this is the end of the match with David Ferrer serving at 4/6, 4/6, 3/5 against Novak Djokovic at the US Open 2007. After running themselves to death on previous matches and now faced with the specter of a Roger Federer final, both players knew a 5 set event would sap the rest of their already meager reserves. So they still stuck to their old baseline routine, but with more frequent attacks to shorten up points, culminating with these last three:

David Ferrer serving score – 40 -30

Djokovic shows his versatility as well as the full grasp of the tactical sense needed to win big matches and become a true contender in major Grand Slam tournaments. He takes Ferrer’s service early, drives it deep to the forehand side and moves in quickly to draw a mistake on Davids’ forehand passing on a not so good volley from Djokovic.

David Ferrer serving score 40 – 40

Novack Djokovic does not want to serve out the match and senses his opponent is about ready to throw in the towel, so he decides to attack once more. This time he takes the first short cross court backhand from Ferrer and once more attacks deep down the line two draw a second error passing shot this time on what could have been a relatively easy shot for David.

David Ferrer serving score Match-point

Emboldened by the previous two points success and realizing that his opponent is under enormous pressure, from the baseline Djokovic slams a deep forehand downline and moves in to finish with a superb short angle backhand volley winner!

So if you want to shorten up points, save much needed energy for future rounds, put your opponent against the wall in a do or die situation and win big matches, develop your attack!

Note: For the video sequences please go to, http://tenniscruz.com/content/view/156/27/

Many courses in HR leadership discuss the topic of marketing in the hospitality industry. Marketing is an important aspect of hospitality because it helps people in the industry understand their customers. Marketing is a useful tool to the hospitality industry. For example, just as understanding what people want is important in human resources leadership, understanding what customers want is important to those who work in hospitality management. Mangers and leaders in both hospitality and human resources need to work together to better serve the public. Human resources leadership experts as well as hospitality managers agree that the most important goal for any business, especially hospitality and tourism, is to recognize and please customers.

Marketing helps managers and leaders in this industry understand who their customers are and how to satisfy them. It also allows the company who successfully uses marketing, to compete in the marketplace. The main goal of marketing is to understand customers so it therefore becomes the main tool used in the hospitality industry, as their main goal is to satisfy customers.

Courses in marketing in the hospitality industry can show you how to conduct marketing research and analysis, which is essential for developing a strategy for your organization. If you want to be successful in the hospitality industry it is very beneficial to understand how to analyze and make a tactical strategy based on the market research. Not only will marketing allow you to understand your customers, but you will know how to handle your competitors as well.

In the field of marketing in the hospitality industry, it is important for you to make informed marketing decisions for your organization. It is often helpful to examine case studies. For those who work in marketing in the hospitality industry, common tasks include analyzing competitors, collecting data, studying consumer behavior, and using research strategically and tactically.

Additionally, if you plan on working in human resources leadership or are already working in this field, you can also benefit greatly from studying marketing. Marketing can take your leadership role to another level. You will know how people have handled situations in the past whether it is a good or bad example, you will learn about human relations and exchange. Marketing, in many ways, is also about an exchange.

Another important point to remember about marketing is that a good idea is not useful unless it meets the consumer’s needs. The process of figuring out what the consumer needs and then implementing your idea based on that, could result in having to discard your original ideas. It is beneficial to study marketing because you will know why certain ideas work while other seemingly good ones fail. If you already have a broad knowledge about marketing in the hospitality industry, a great way to develop your knowledge further into sharp skills that you can use in any organization may be through a variety of specialized marketing courses.

Overall, you should understand why it is so important to know how to use marketing. While working in the hospitality industry, you will most likely come across a need for some marketing skills. Whether or not you have a ground-breaking marketing idea, you can be extremely successful at satisfying the customers of your organization which will make you very valuable anywhere.

I have interviewed an Air Force Crew Chief: “What are the criteria for becoming a aerial gunner/navigator? Is it better than being a crew chief? First, you need to join a unit that flies helos if you want to be a gunner (aka Aerial observer A/O). You can’t be a Crew chief unless you lat move and go to the schoolhouse for the MOS – there is an exception to that in the case of ‘homegrown’, but that’s not in your cards unless you’ve been flying as an A/O previously.”

“Second – there has to be a need to have you as an AO – squadrons only have so many people they can have on flight orders at one time (it’s all about the money) and number of aircraft vs. T/O – it’s all spelled out in the Training and Readiness (T&R) manuals. Third – you need to be recommended by the squadron in the form of a Standardization Board (Stan Board) – which consists of the XO, Ops O, Natops O – and a few of the more senior SNCOs who have been flying for a long time).”

“Fourth – you need to be fit for the duty – swim quall, physiology and a flight physical. Fifth – If you make it this far – you should be able to start flying an initial A/O flight syllabus which includes different types of flight regimes.”

“It depends on aircraft maintenance, aircraft availability and scheduling – and if you don’t show your mentors, the’gods’, the crew chiefs, a desire to learn or willingness to help out with maintenance effort – you will gain no credibility or respect and your aspiring dreams to be a fly-boy will be squashed to the amount of a mis-formed cat turn that missed the litter box.”

“There is a gunner/observer that is part (part time that is) of a helo crew. No it is not better than being a Crew Chief. Although if you are in another shop and not a Crew Chief, then yes, it is a cool extra gig to do.”

“Remember, Crew Chiefs are god like. And if you don’t show your mentors, the gods, the crew chiefs, a desire to learn or willingness to help out with maintenance effort – you will gain no credibility or respect and your aspiring dreams to be a fly-boy will be squashed to the amount of a mis-formed cat turn that missed the litter box.”

“Delta probably included the most info. First you need to be in a squadron that ‘need’ aircrew. You can imagine, like working at a tanning booth rubbing massage oil on hot ladies, Flying jobs are easy to fill. ‘Make yourself marketable’! You have to be able to swim and you WILL need to be a Plane Captain. If you don’t know what a Plane Captain is then you should probably give up now.”

“It depends on the squadron. I was a Huey Crew Chief. We had the following chain of Learning. Get on Flight Orders. Observer (Go to NVG Classes) Responsible to keep your side of the aircraft from hitting stuff at night. You really got to fly at night unless needed for another mission. Gunners (Take the Gun Syllabus) are responsible for shooting all targets on your side. ‘Also’, responsible to ‘not’ shoot remember , you get whatever gun the Crew Chief does ‘not’ want to shoot that day.”

“We had 3 gun quails M60, .50 cal, and Mini Gun. Crew Chief are responsible for ‘every’ thing. You are the senior guy in the back and make ‘all’ decisions from the back of the pilots head to the rear of the bird. You are the go to guy for the pilots for mechanical issues and make sure nothing falls out. “

“You are equally responsible to keep the plane in the air as the pilot”. Each mission is different. As a Crew Chief you can fly as an observer — but, as an observer you ‘cannot’ fly as a Crew Chief. My squadron did not wing you until you finished the Crew Chief syllabus. We had guys in fight suits with EGA’s instead of wings because they were gunners ‘not’ Crew Chiefs. I ‘think’ the C-130 may use an enlisted navigator.”

Losing weight and playing a game of basketball go hand in hand. When you bounce the ball and jump high to put the ball in the net, it requires a lot of energy. Be it playing table tennis or golf, when there is a lot of running around you are sure to burn out those extra calories that have got accumulated in your body.

Buy yourself a pair of table tennis rackets and a good stock of TT balls. Since, this game requires you to react quickly and hop around, you will sweat out and lose calories too. It improves your hand eye co-ordination as you need to react quickly. Visual perception and motor skills go hand in hand. If a player is really skilled he can spin the ball differently. He is always on his feet and quite agile to quickly hit the ball that comes his way. This is the reason why, you seldom get to see table tennis players who are hefty and overweight.

Combined with it, is the food these players eat that makes a lot of difference. Protein is said to add bulk to your stomach thus giving you the feeling of fullness. This way, you can reduce your hunger pangs and keep your weight under control. Running around, jumping high, quick movement of your hands and legs, moving to and fro several times is all said to activate your hand and leg muscles. There is also a lot of pressure on your stomach. Playing a game of sport in the early morning improves your digestion and your metabolism too. Anything you eat will not get accumulated easily. Playing sports on a regular basis will burn any fat that has got accumulated in the past and if you continue to play it in future, it will prevent any accumulation too.

Start playing TT or badminton, half an hour daily and drink lot of water after a gap. Eat food rich in proteins which will control your hunger and you will soon see the difference. Do not over do this and strain yourself.

If you want to play this popular game, start buying some accessories to begin with. Online stores will offer you gamut of choices to choose from. Be it table tennis, apparel, rackets, balls, wrist bands, shoes etc whatever it is you want to buy, you will find them all under one roof.

In spite of the fact that there are actually table tennis tournaments all over the world, especially in China where table tennis is a major sport, the game itself isn’t really taken seriously by many people. We could debate on the why of this until our sun goes nova but we’ll leave that debate for another time.

Table tennis, or what we affectionately refer to as “ping pong”, began as a mild diversion. It was viewed with the same lack of seriousness as lawn tennis and badminton. It became popular in England in the late 19th century. It was known under its present name of table tennis and ping pong as well as gossima and whiff-whaff. The name ping pong was introduced by J. Jaques and Sons. The game was named ping pong because of the sound that the ball made when striking the table when hit. At the time ping pong paddles were not yet invented. Instead they used vellum bats. In a very short time the game became a very fashionable craze. During the period, there were many paintings made of people playing table tennis, usually in a home setting.

By the early 1900s, table tennis had already started to take on many of the characteristics of the game that we know and love today. However, it was still seen by most people as after dinner entertainment rather than as a serious sport. During this period publications found it necessary to warn people about what kind of attire they should wear when playing this game, such as not to wear tight fitting clothing. These were obviously meant as satire because of the fact that nobody took the game seriously.

Between 1905 and 1910 the game became very popular in Europe until it finally made its way to Japan, China and Korea where table tennis has become a way of life. Today, more than 4 million people in China alone play table tennis and it is seen as a very serious and competitive sport.

In the meantime, after finding its way to the Asian countries, table tennis started to fade from the European scene but in the early 1920s it was again revived in England. By that time the name “ping pong” had actually become a registered trademark of the game. However, the term table tennis was still retained for the more serious organizations where table tennis was actually played for sport.

Over the next 60 years table tennis actually developed into a world wide sport but never really got the recognition that other major sports had gotten during the time except in the Asian countries. The game itself has remained relatively the same since the early days with the exception of the vellum bats being replaced by what we call ping pong paddles. The paddles themselves have gone through a few modifications as far as materials they are made out of but for the most part have remained unchanged from their early days.

Table tennis may never get the respect that some say it deserves, but most people who play it do admit that it is a lot of fun, and also very hard.

One of the first things that many people do when they head outdoors is put on a pair of sunglasses. Sunglasses come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles so it can be hard to pick which pair is the best one for you. Many people use them to not only shade their eyes from the sun but to make a fashion statement as well. For this reason, there are many designer glasses out on the market today such as the Bolle Brand.

Bolle sunglasses are sold all over the world in areas such as: Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, North America and Europe. Bolle has been in business for over 100 years and has always made top quality sunglasses to provide you with the best fit and comfort a pair of shades can offer. People love these shades as they provide them with high fashion sunglasses with top performance on protecting their eyes.

The glasses that they offer are lightweight and very flexible. They have shatter proof lenses so that if you should drop them, you do not have to worry about the cracking or breaking. The frames are made to be virtually indestructible. They are made from Hydralon which means that they are glasses that will outlast their competitors.

They offer a little something for everyone ranging from ski goggles to sunglasses and tactical eyewear to safety eyewear. No matter what type of adventure you are tackling, you can be sure that Bolle will be right there to protect your eyes in style. For many, wearing sunglasses is not just about keeping the sun out of their eyes. It is making a fashion statement with the right shades and the right clothes.

There are many benefits to keeping your eyes safe from the sun such as reducing the amount of jet leg you have when traveling. People who travel a great deal have to live with jet lag from time to time but by wearing the right sunglasses and reducing the amount of glare they get from the sun, they can ward off jet lag so that they feel refreshed rather then ready to go to bed.

Today Bolle is run by the founder’s grandson, Maurice Bolle. He is the head designer of Bolle sunglasses, showing us constantly that he takes pride in his work. He keeps bringing new fresh ideas to the table, giving his clients a wide variety of eyewear to choose from. His brand of glasses can be seen on many young athletes all over the world as they know from the long history of Bolle sunglasses, that they provide the best protection and style that an athlete needs.

Bolle offers plenty of colors, designs and styles to choose from when it comes to getting the right type of sunglasses. The only trouble you will find with this product is that you will not know which pair you want to get.

Wakeboarding has quickly become one of the most popular forms of watersports. With the rise of stars such as Parks Bonifay and Brett Eisenhauer, they have sparked a whole new industry. You can buy boats, wakeboards, lines, cables, apparel, and just about anything else that has to do with the sport of wakeboarding. I love going boating in the summer time on the lake, and wakeboarding on my Hyperlite wakeboard has been very fun for me and my friends. I recently bought a new Hyperlite wakeboard and I paid more for it than most other brands of wakeboards. I will give the reasons why I think it was worth the extra cost.

Hyperlite has been in the wakeboard industry since the very beginning of the sport. There are many other brands available and most are somewhat cheaper. Liquid Force has some pretty sweet boards on the market right now also. I chose to buy the Hyperlite Era L7 132 Wakeboard. The board retails for around $350, and it is a great board.

The first thing I noticed about this board was the weight was considerably less than the other models. Hyperlite Wakeboards claims that the core of the board is made from the lightest synthetic foam available today. They say the foam is made from L7 Lithium, and I can say from experience that this thing is really light. It has made it easy for me to start doing higher jumps and more tricks, basically letting me ride more aggressively.

One of my favorite things was how high in the water that the board rode. If you have ever ridden wakeboards before you know how much easier this makes things. The Hyperlite wakeboard has been designed with fret rails as opposed to flow through rails enabling it to sit and ride higher in the water. This allows the board to ride stronger up and into the wake for easier jumps and tricks.

Hyperlite makes their boards with layered glass as opposed to woven fiber glass. This is a really nice feature because over time woven glass has the tendency to separate and come apart. I once had a cheap O’brien wakeboard and after a season the fiber glass on the sides was all coming apart and the board just wasn’t working as well as it did when I first got it. With the layered glass on a Hyperlite wakeboard it should last far longer, up to 5 seasons long. This is why they offer a lifetime guarantee.

The best part of the board is that it is so beginner friendly. When I take friends out on the water they always want to take a turn on the wakeboard. My new Hyperlite wakeboard [http://www.hyperlitewakeboard.org] is easy for them because it come out of the water so easily. If you wakeboard you know that the hardest part to learn is just getting up and out of the water. These boards are so light and with the fret rails it makes it easy for beginners, while providing all the great features that intermediate and advanced riders want.

If you are considering a new wakeboard you have many choices. There are some great brands on the market today. As I said it was a really hard choice between a Hyperlite wakeboard [http://www.hyperlitewakeboard.org] or a Liquid Force model. I think that I made the right choice in paying more for a Hyperlite wakeboard.Now I am looking forward to a long hot summer out on the lake. Be safe this year and have fun out on the water.