New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

1. NEW JERSEY ARMY NATIONAL GUARD (NJARNG) RECEIVED A PERFECT RATING FROM THE NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU'S (NGB) COMMAND LOGISTICS REVIEW TEAM-EXPANDED (CLRTX). The NGB's CLRTX concluded a week-long inspection of the logistical and maintenance operations of the NJ Army National Guard on Friday, 28 February 2003. The NJARNG received Satisfactory ratings in ALL inspected areas. NJ is now one of only two states to receive a perfect rating from the NGB's CLRTX! The following personnel were commended by the team in writing: MAJ Bocchino, MSG Carrocetto, MSG Cihanowic, 1LT Coffland, SGT Costa, WO El, SSG Falls, SFC Giancola, SSG Hose, CW2 Kimbrough, CW3 Massey, CW3 Remig, Mrs. Russaw, and SGT Schiessl, and SSG Valentine. BG Rieth complimented the NJARNG staff for their hard work and the tremendous inspection results achieved. The General cautioned his staff to stay focused, as the NJNG will experience greater requirements with homeland security and possible war in Iraq. Congratulations on a job well done!

2. NJ-UNITED STATES PROPERTY & FISCAL OFFICE (USPFO) USED AS A BENCHMARK BY NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU FOR COMMAND EXPENDITURE REPORT. NJ-USPFO was selected as the Best Business Practice to Benchmark for the Command Expenditure Report. NJ's report has zero errors, and our procedures will be used by NGB through a contractor, Booze, Allen & Hamilton, to convert states that have problems with their Command Expenditure Report. Ms. Meg Petrangeli, who wrote our SOP and is responsible for the report, worked with NGB and the contractor to develop platform instruction and a Distance Learning program for all 54 states and territories to use. Zero errors are required for the new accounting system being adopted 1 October 2003 by the National Guard called STANFINS.

3. NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU (NGB) SELECTS OFFICER AND NCOs TO PARTICIPATE IN THE US EUROPEAN COMMAND (USEUCOM) EXCHANGE PROGRAM. The intent of this program is to expose Army National Guard Officers and NCOs and their foreign national counterparts to the organization, equipment, capabilities, and training of each country's reserve force. New Jersey's candidates competed in a highly competitive national selection process. The following soldiers were selected:

MAJ Jeffrey Westfield - IG office, Germany Exchange 12-27 Sep 03.
German Infantry Officers will visit Fort Drum, NY on 16-30 Aug 03.

CSM William Kryscnski and SGM James Dooley - 2/102 AR, UK Exchange, 12-27 Sep 03.
United Kingdom NCOs will visit Fort Drum, NY on 16-30 Aug 03.

4. DMVA WELCOMES MS. LINDA MITCHELL TO ITS CENTRAL OFFICE STAFF as Administrator of Employee Relations. Linda, who began work on Monday, 24 February 2003, transferred from the New Jersey Department of Human Services. If you see Linda in the hallway, be sure to introduce yourself and simply say "Hello."

5. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 108TH SECURITY FORCES SQUADRON PERSONNEL DEPLOYED TO ANDREWS AFB, MD. The 13-person squad received a grade of excellent during a January 27-31 Deployed Expeditionary Operational Readiness Inspection. Seventeen tasks were inspected, and the inspection report reflected "108th personnel were well trained and highly motivated with highly professional, confident leadership. Members provided outstanding support for the host air station and priority resource protection efforts, thus deterring sustained threats in a highly intense threat environment. Strong procedures for weapon, vehicle, and ground safety, resulted in no observed safety incidents." Integrated with the 89th Security Forces Squadron at Andrews, the team of the 108th SFS has been mobilized since October 2001 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. A job well done!

6. MOBILIZATIONS KEEP THE HRO TECHNICIAN BRANCH BUSY as they continue to schedule briefings for the increasing number of our mobilized soldiers and airmen. Chief Master Sergeant Kathy Christian of HQ NJANG has been conducting the briefings.

7. REPRESENTATIVES FROM PICATINNY ARSENAL VISITED DMVA on Wednesday, 26 February. Following a tour of the Homeland Security Center of Excellence, they met with BG Rieth and Patrick Brannigan, Deputy Chief, Governor's Office of Management and Operations. The purpose of their visit was to establish a working relationship with our Department and share sophisticated military technology.

8. NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU'S INTEGRATED MATERIEL ANALYSIS PROGRAM (IMAP) TRAINING/FIELDING IS BEING HOSTED BY THE NEW JERSEY ARMY NATIONAL GUARD (NJARNG) at the Training and Training Technology Battle Lab (T3BL), Fort Dix, New Jersey. WO1 Glenn Eckenrode, the G4-CSSAMO, is decisively engaged in the training and fielding of IMAP. NJARNG will be the training platform for the National Guard Bureau as the Logistics community moves toward a Single Stock Fund. This is a one-week training session involving all NJARNG Supply Sergeants that will begin in March and last through May 2003. Two classrooms, G6 support, and 20 computers have been identified specifically for this training. Upon completion of the training/fielding, the PCs will remain in the NJARNG inventory for our use.

9. DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU MAY BE TYING UP VALUABLE BANDWIDTH? If you go out to the Internet and open up Napster or another entertainment site and leave it playing while you continue to do your work, you are heavily impacting the Department's bandwidth. This then slows the speed of our system and the ability of your fellow employees to use the system. Almost everyone has the ability to bring in and play CDs on their system without disrupting that valuable commodity called bandwidth. You are to discontinue listening to music through the Internet.

10. ASSEMBLYWOMAN JOAN M. QUIGLEY TOURED THE HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER OF EXCELLENCE on Wednesday, 26 February 2003. Ms. Quigley, Chair of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee, also met with BG Rieth and MG Garrett to discuss security issues.

11. THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WILL BEGIN TO IMPLEMENT A SECURITY PROGRAM THAT WILL MAKE DEFENSE COMPUTER NETWORKS MORE SECURE AT THE CONNECTION TO THE INTERNET. The program will be a change from the current access policy of "deny by exception" to a policy of "permit by exception." This policy will affect users on the Reserve Component Automation System (RCAS) network. While every attempt will be make to allow necessary traffic to flow between the networks, some applications may experience difficulties during the process. If you experience difficulties with Internet traffic over the next several months, report it to the Help Desk immediately. If you are fielding a new application that requires a connection to the Internet, it will require advance planning to ensure it functions properly.

12. 177TH FIGHTER WING ATTENDS WARREN GROVE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING. Lt Col Roger Pharo, Lt Col John Elwood, and Maj David Harr attended the Warren Grove Council Meeting in Stafford Township on 27 February 2003 as part of a 177th Fighter Wing awareness and educational initiative to secure the support and assistance of municipalities surrounding the Warren Grove facility.

13. ARMORY HAPPENINGS - CHECK TO SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING AT AN ARMORY NEAR YOU.

28 Feb	Wrestling	Atlantic City Armory
4 Mar	Tool Show	Woodbridge Armory
21-23 Mar	Craft Show & Sale	Morristown Armory
	Home Design and Landscape Show	Westfield Armory
23 Mar	Emcee Sports Cards & Comics Show	Bordentown Armory
30 Mar	NASCAR Collectibles Show	Bordentown Armory

14. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE, VIETNAM SERVICE, AND MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL PRESENTATION CEREMONIES ARE SCHEDULED.

6 Mar - 1100 & 1300 hrs.	Distinguished Service Medal Meritorious Service Medal	VFW Post 1940 N. Black Horse Pike Williamstown, NJ
11 Mar - 1100 & 1300 hrs.	Vietnam Service Medal	Hall of Heroes Law & Safety Institute 281 Campgaw Rd Mahwah, NJ
20 Mar - 1100 hrs	Distinguished Service Medal Meritorious Service Medal	Athenia Veterans Post 147 Huron Avenue Clifton, NJ
27 Mar - 1100 hrs	Distinguished Service Medal Meritorious Service Medal	Strawbridge's Court Echelon Mall Burnt Mill Road Voorhees, NJ

15. PERSONAL COMPUTERS ARE GETTING MORE PERSONABLE. In Japan, the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages have been replaced with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku poetry has strict construction rules: each poem has only 17 syllables; 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third. These poems are used to convey a timeless message, often achieving a wistful yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity. Her are a few actual error messages from Japan:

Your file was so big. Windows NT crashed. Three things are certain:
It might be very useful, I am the Blue Screen of Death Death, taxes, and lost data.
But now it is gone. No one hears your screams. Guess which has occurred.

Yesterday it worked. Program aborting. Having been erased
Today it is not working. Close all that you have worked on. The document you're seeking
Windows is like that. You ask far too much. Must now be retyped.

Now admit it, aren't these better than "Your computer has performed an illegal operation."

16. QUOTES OF THE DAY…

"Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things,
But just look what they do when they stick together."
~ Verna M. Kelly ~

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face."
~ Victor Hugo ~