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WASHINGTON, April 10, 1997 – Cobra Gold Begins May 6 U.S. and Thai service members will begin the 16th Cobra Gold Exercise in Thailand May 6. Cobra Gold is the largest strategic mobility exercise affecting the U.S. Pacific Command forces this year. It ends May 23. Cobra Gold '97 is the latest in the continuing series of U.S.-Thai military exercises that shows U.S. support for security and humanitarian interests of allies in the region. It illustrates U.S. commitment to regional peace and stability through the cooperation. The exercise will strengthen the abilities of Royal Thai and U.S. armed forces to defend Thailand. As in previous Cobra Gold exercises, this training will include joint and combined air, land and sea operations. U.S.-Thai medical and civil affairs projects will assist the Thais. U.S. personnel and units from U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Space Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, Marine Forces Pacific, U.S. Army Pacific, Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Forces Command, Air Mobility Command and the reserve components will participate.(From a DoD release) ***** Military Continues Strength Decline WASHINGTON -- The number of service members Feb. 28, 1997, was 1,450,349. This is a decrease of 7,064 from Jan. 31, 1997, and a decrease of 48,126 from the same time in 1996. These figures represent full-time, reserve, officer candidate and cadets at the military academies. February 1997 figures for each service with month-ago and year-ago figures for comparison are: 2/28/97 1/31/97 change 2/29/96
Total DoD 1,450,349 1,457,413 -7,064 1,498,475
Army 485,674 488,316 -2,642 500,582
Navy 407,758 410,762 -3,004 430,053
Marines 173,432 174,245 -813 173,187
Air Force 383,485 384,090 -605 394,653 (From a DoD release)
***** GulfLINK Web Site Access Improved WASHINGTON -- DoD's GulfLINK World Wide Web site now has an improved electronic mail connection to the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses. "This is one more way that we can reach out to Gulf War veterans," Special Assistant Bernard Rostker said. "This is important feedback for us to communicate with Gulf War veterans and for them to ask questions. This also provides feedback on case narratives -- the first being the Army demolition operations at Khamisiyah, Iraq, which is already published on the GulfLINK site." The e-mail drop can be accessed on the Internet at http//www.dtic.mil/gulflink. From this site, click on brostker@gwillness.osd.mil. Toll-free numbers are available for Gulf War veterans to report information or to receive medical evaluations. The number is (800) 472-6719. Active duty members experiencing health problems they believe might have resulted from service in the gulf can call the Comprehensive Clinic Evaluation Program at (800) 796-9699. Nonactive duty service members who have health questions can call the Department of Veterans Affairs at (800) PGW-VETS (749-8387). The GulfLINK web site was created in August 1995 to provide on-line access to medical, operational and intelligence documents from the Gulf War to help the Defense Department better understand the nature of illnesses experienced by Gulf War veterans.(From a DoD release)
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