rapidfire Benefits Brief
MILITARY FAMILIES MOVE MANY TIMES THROUGHOUT A CAREER and potentially again during retirement. So many changes occur during a move, there is peace of mind in knowing TRICARE eli- gibility doesn’t. What can change, however, are health plan options. Here are some key points to keep in mind when a
move is on the horizon: Don’t disenroll from plans prior to a move. Your current plan provides coverage en route
to your new location. Contact the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Report-
ing System after your move to update your address and any other pertinent information. Active duty families can transfer TRICARE Prime
enrollment over the phone before they move with TRICARE’s Moving Made Easy option. Contact your current regional contractor at: TRICARE North, (877) 874-2273; TRICARE South, (800) 444-5445; or TRICARE West, (877) 988-9378. For additional information, visit
www.tricare.mil/lifeevents/moving.
MOAA WORKS TOWARD SOLUTION WITH VA The VA is working to manage a large number of dis- ability claim appeals and currently estimates 358,000 claims are on appeal at regional offices and 109,000 at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. The total number of claims at some stage of appeal might soon reach 2 mil- lion, unless significant changes are made to the VA claims system. As part of its commitment to serve the military community and its members, MOAA is engaged in discussions with senior VA leaders and other veterans service organizations to help craft a solution to this problem. For more information
on the VA claim appeals backlog and to read about MOAA’s top 10 legislative goals for 2016, visit www
.moaa.org/topissues.
20 MILITARY OFFICER MAY 2016 In Review
The Iran-Iraq War. By Pierre Razoux. Harvard University Press, 2015. $30. ISBN 978-0- 674-08863-4.
French historian Pierre Razoux off ers the most com- prehensive
and readable history of the Iran-Iraq War, “the lon- gest conventional war of the 20th century,” fought from 1980-88. No other author has ex- plained the war better than Razoux. He vividly de- scribes the long-standing, bitter religious and politi- cal enmity between Iran and Iraq and how that led to a horrifi c confl ict that involved Iraq’s indiscrimi- nate use of chemical weap- ons, Iran’s shameful use of unarmed children in futile human-wave attacks, and the utter destruction of cit- ies and economies. In addition to his excit-
ing narrative of bloody ground, naval, air, com- mando, and paratroop com- bat, Razoux also skillfully blends in the duplicity and self-serving maneuvering of regional and internation- al players, the impotence of the U.N., attacks on neutral shipping in the Persian Gulf, why the war lasted eight years, and how, in the
end, both countries were exhausted losers.
Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice. By Adam Makos. Ballantine Books, 2015. $17. ISBN 978-0-804-17658-3.
The Ko- rean War might be called the Forgotten War, but best-selling
author Adam Makos (A Higher Call) ensures two of its men are never forgotten. Devotion tells the story
of two naval aviators — Lt. Tom Hudner and Lt. Jesse Brown, one a white New Englander, the other the Navy’s fi rst African-Ameri- can carrier pilot — and their powerful friendship. In the bitter winter cold of December 1950, they fl ew their F-4U Corsairs in support of surrounded Marines at the Chosin Reservoir. Brown was shot down, trapped in his plane’s wreckage behind enemy lines. As Chinese troops closed in, Hudner crash-landed nearby in a desperate but futile eff ort to rescue his friend. Only one man survived.
This is a grim, heart-
breaking testimonial to the comradeship and willing sacrifi ce of two men bound together by war. — William Bushnell
PHOTO: STEVE BARRETT
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