By today, Pentagon officials intent on raising health care fees and co-payments for military retirees should realize they are in for a major and probably unwinnable fight. Reps. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.), House Appropriations Committee, and Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.), House Armed Services Committee, who on March 15 unveiled legislation to block the increases, also are out to strip DOD of any power to tamper with the program. Jones had a warning for the Bush administration: “They had better get on our side or they are going to get embarrassed.”
Two F-15EX Eagle II fighters arrived for training at Kadena Air Base, Japan, July 12 as the base gears up to receive a permanent fleet of the jets.