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ficers and senior NCOs, and having an officer corps and NCO corps that would have to concern themselves with investments and not having to complete 20 years for a pension is a sure recipe for the erosion of mili- tary professionalism. There would be much less personal identity to the armed forces if people came in with the attitude they can leave whenever they want and jump to something more lucrative or easy. The military pension does not need to be reformed. Our national priorities need to be reformed back to having national defense as No. 1. —Lt. Col. Harold Knudsen, USA (Ret) Quad Cities (Ill.) Chapter via email

The Old Guard As a retired Army officer who had colleagues working at [the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office], Joint Task Force Full Ac- counting, and similar organizations, I appreciated the article in the June 2015 edition, page 73, about the eight U.S. Army Air Corps airmen who were returned to their homeland and buried with full military honors in Arlington [National Cemetery] (“Returned at Last,” Pages of His- tory, June 2015). That is the least we can do to honor their service and sacrifice, as well as demonstrating our commitment to their families, re- gardless of the passage of time. Please allow me to pick a small

bone regarding the photo accompa- nying the story. As a lifetime member of the regiment, I immediately rec- ognized that the soldiers depicted in the photo are members of the Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (the Old Guard). The casket team in the pho- tograph is led by a staff sergeant, as evidenced by the rank on his sleeve,

16 MILITARY OFFICER AUGUST 2015

and the blue and white Honor Guard tab and black and tan buff strap also visible on his sleeve clearly indicate he is a member of the Army’s oldest infantry regiment. —Maj. John S. Shultis, USA (Ret) Life Member via email

Wherefore Orlando? I eagerly await the monthly arrival of my Military Officer magazine. I’m predominantly interested in military-retiree-oriented news and articles that I usually find in it. I was a little disappointed when I received my June 2015 edition. As I perused, I found the editor had dedicated five pages to coverage of tourist attractions in the Orlando, Fla., area. I’ve visited there many times, both funded by the government on official business and as a tour- ist with my family. I’ve been there, done that, and literally got the T-shirt. I can attest that there is plenty to do and see, dampened only by available time, money, and transportation. … The author’s piece was very tour-

ist-centric. It was of a format that I’d expect to find in a travel or retire- ment periodical. The military was mentioned only once in the article, and it was only the “bumper sticker” covering MOAA’s 2015 annual meet- ing in Orlando that specifically tied it to your readership. Maybe a more concise advertise- ment of MOAA’s Orlando meeting would have been more apropos. That would have left more space for your military-retiree focus. —Col. Bill Malec, USAF (Ret) O’Fallon, Ill.

For submission information, see page 6.