Gen Xer more cynic than slacker
By Linda SternWed May 16, 12:57 PM ET
Gen Xers get a bad rap. They're often portrayed as slackers and runaway spenders who don't know how to work or save.
Not so, says new research sponsored by Charles Schwab Corp., one of several financial services companies trying to draw a bead on this age 27-to-42 demographic. Today's 30-somethings are hard workers who have more bills than cash. They also have a healthy distrust of the very financial services industry that wants their cash. Perhaps for good reason.
"They aren't being well served," says Jonathan Craig, who's heading up Schwab's effort to capture Gen X clients.
The new 30-somethings do face some challenges that others didn't. They're making less than their parents were at the same age. According to U.S. Census estimates, the median income for men between 25 and 34 in 2005 was $31,161. In 1975, adjusted for inflation, it was $35,296. The comparable data for female workers was $22,815 in 2005 and $16,247 in 1975.
And, they have much bigger bills. It's not just the school loans, it's the generally bigger lifestyle that hurts their bottom line. Think about the computer, cell phone, broadband service and more that are a necessary part of life now.
Gen Xers have some unique strengths, too. They are technologically savvy and unafraid to put their finances online or talk about their financial problems and solutions, says Marc Hedlund of Wesabe (http://www.wesabe.com), a social networking/financial planning Web site that is attracting users in their 20s and 30s. And they have that vaunted cynicism to keep them from trusting strangers -- or employers -- with their money too easily. Most are wise to not count on retirement benefits that are loosely promised to be there decades into the future.
So, too little money, too many expenses, nobody to trust.
What's a savvy 30-something to do with that scenario? Here are some tips.
-- Watch your fees. Hedlund contends that huge fees are a trap for this generation: Bank overdraft fees, which can pile up on debit card exchanges, as well as credit card late and over-limit fees. "These people blame themselves," assuming they deserve the fees they rack up because they've behaved badly. But those myriad fees have been ratcheting up faster than bad financial behavior has.
Make sure you keep a cushion in your checking account. Make an automatic payment to your credit card every month so you're never late, and complain if the fees seem to pile up too fast. Just by getting control of the fees you pay for financial services, you can put extra spending money in your pocket.
-- Create an electronics/communications budget and stick to it. Consider cable TV, movie rentals, cell phone service, Internet service, extra wireless fees, and downloaded music, movies and television shows all as one category of expense. Assign a reasonable number to it and apportion it according to your priorities.
-- Save for retirement, but don't beat yourself up if you can't do as much as you'd like. You've seen all the sales pitches aimed at how powerful it is to start saving early. All true. But it's especially hard when you're also trying to buy your first house, build your career (and your working wardrobe) and buy shoes for the kids. So make putting a maximum contribution into your 401(k) at the top of the list. Then look at adding a Roth IRA. Once you've had your Roth up and running for five years, you can break the emergency glass and get at some of the money for other non-retirement reasons if you need to.
-- Take advantage of all the attention. Those banks and brokers are just starting to roll out products aimed at your generation, and it's going to get better. Schwab's latest is a free, no-fee checking account paying 4.25 percent interest. That's a nice deal, even if the rate doesn't last. Bank of America has a new no-fee mortgage, and a policy of feeding customer savings accounts with change from their debit card transactions. Both require careful small-print reading to see if they make sense for you, but are worth looking at. Upromise (http://www.upromise.com) has a constellation of savings deals that can help you build up a college fund for junior painlessly.
-- Learn about financial products that can help with savings, as well as investing. If you're trying to accumulate a downpayment for a new car, you don't want to put all of that money into stocks, but you don't want to leave it all in your checking account either. Learn how to use money market mutual funds, short-term bond funds, certificates of deposit, zero-interest credit card deals, and more.
-- Get more educated. Almost everyone thinks they are bad with money, but they're not any worse than anybody else, observes Hedlund. This generation knows how to access information and use it for their own benefit. Choose a subject: credit cards, mutual funds, retirement savings, college loans or whatever, and start doing your homework -- via educational Internet sites or books, advice from experts and elders, or all of the above. By the time you're 40, you'll know enough to make you, if not rich, than at least put you comfortably ahead of where you are now.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Oh wow what a comedian this guy think that taxpayers want a fair juidical system. HA!
House bill offers student loan incentive
By BEN EVANS, Associated Press WriterTue May 15, 6:13 PM ET
The House voted Tuesday to pay off up to $60,000 in student loans for lawyers who commit to working as public defenders or prosecutors for at least three years.
The bill, which would cap the loan spending at $25 million a year, passed 341-73. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate.
House sponsor David Scott (news, bio, voting record), D-Ga., said the bill would help counter high turnover in public defender and prosecutor offices across the country.
"Our communities suffer when the criminal justice system lacks a sufficient supply of experienced prosecutors and defenders," Scott said in a statement. "Criminal caseloads become unmanageable, cases can be delayed or mishandled, serious crimes may go unprosecuted, and innocent defendants may be sent to jail while guilty criminals go free."
The bill would provide loan repayments of up to $10,000 per year — up to a cap of $60,000 — for law school graduates who work as criminal prosecutors or public defenders instead of taking what are often more lucrative jobs at private firms. The measure, which would expire in 2013 unless reauthorized, has backing from the American Bar Association and other legal groups.
"It is increasingly difficult for public law offices to retain experienced prosecutors and defenders," said Paul Logli, state's attorney in Winnebago County, Ill., and chairman of the board of the National District Attorneys Association. "Most of the young attorneys coming out of law school now are burdened with what most people would consider mortgage-sized debt."
Richard Goemann, a former public defender in Fairfax, Va., and director of defender legal services for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, said young lawyers often leave the public sector just as they gain experience and training.
"Taxpayers have an interest in a fair and reliable criminal justice system," Goemann said. "Without experienced, talented public defenders and prosecutors, the criminal justice system does not work."
By BEN EVANS, Associated Press WriterTue May 15, 6:13 PM ET
The House voted Tuesday to pay off up to $60,000 in student loans for lawyers who commit to working as public defenders or prosecutors for at least three years.
The bill, which would cap the loan spending at $25 million a year, passed 341-73. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate.
House sponsor David Scott (news, bio, voting record), D-Ga., said the bill would help counter high turnover in public defender and prosecutor offices across the country.
"Our communities suffer when the criminal justice system lacks a sufficient supply of experienced prosecutors and defenders," Scott said in a statement. "Criminal caseloads become unmanageable, cases can be delayed or mishandled, serious crimes may go unprosecuted, and innocent defendants may be sent to jail while guilty criminals go free."
The bill would provide loan repayments of up to $10,000 per year — up to a cap of $60,000 — for law school graduates who work as criminal prosecutors or public defenders instead of taking what are often more lucrative jobs at private firms. The measure, which would expire in 2013 unless reauthorized, has backing from the American Bar Association and other legal groups.
"It is increasingly difficult for public law offices to retain experienced prosecutors and defenders," said Paul Logli, state's attorney in Winnebago County, Ill., and chairman of the board of the National District Attorneys Association. "Most of the young attorneys coming out of law school now are burdened with what most people would consider mortgage-sized debt."
Richard Goemann, a former public defender in Fairfax, Va., and director of defender legal services for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, said young lawyers often leave the public sector just as they gain experience and training.
"Taxpayers have an interest in a fair and reliable criminal justice system," Goemann said. "Without experienced, talented public defenders and prosecutors, the criminal justice system does not work."
This is why the system of law and order is a farce. Cash is KING baby!!
"Web site" baffles Internet terrorism trial judge
By Mark TrevelyanThu May 17, 11:52 AM ET
A British judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like "Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via the Internet.
Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness about a Web forum used by alleged Islamist radicals.
"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws.
Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms "Web site" and "forum." An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."
Violent Islamist material posted on the Internet, including beheadings of Western hostages, is central to the case.
Concluding Wednesday's session and looking ahead to testimony Thursday by a computer expert, the judge told Ellison: "Will you ask him to keep it simple, we've got to start from basics."
Younes Tsouli, 23, Waseem Mughal, 24, and Tariq al-Daour, 21, deny a range of charges under Britain's Terrorism Act, including inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism "wholly or partly" outside Britain.
Tsouli and Mughal also deny conspiracy to murder. Al-Daour has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with others to defraud banks, credit card and charge card companies.
Prosecutors have told the jury at Woolwich Crown Court, east London, that the defendants kept car-bomb-making manuals and videos of how to wire suicide vests as part of a campaign to promote global jihad, or holy war.
The trial continues.
By Mark TrevelyanThu May 17, 11:52 AM ET
A British judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like "Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via the Internet.
Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness about a Web forum used by alleged Islamist radicals.
"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws.
Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms "Web site" and "forum." An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."
Violent Islamist material posted on the Internet, including beheadings of Western hostages, is central to the case.
Concluding Wednesday's session and looking ahead to testimony Thursday by a computer expert, the judge told Ellison: "Will you ask him to keep it simple, we've got to start from basics."
Younes Tsouli, 23, Waseem Mughal, 24, and Tariq al-Daour, 21, deny a range of charges under Britain's Terrorism Act, including inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism "wholly or partly" outside Britain.
Tsouli and Mughal also deny conspiracy to murder. Al-Daour has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with others to defraud banks, credit card and charge card companies.
Prosecutors have told the jury at Woolwich Crown Court, east London, that the defendants kept car-bomb-making manuals and videos of how to wire suicide vests as part of a campaign to promote global jihad, or holy war.
The trial continues.
How bad is it when a woman can screw up the likes of him?
Manson's failed marriage `destroyed' him
Fri May 18, 9:40 AM ET
Marilyn Manson says he was devastated over the breakup of his marriage to model and burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese.
"I was completely destroyed. I had no soul left," the 38-year-old glitzy goth rocker says in Spin magazine's June issue, on newsstands May 29. "I define myself as a person, a human, an artist, as someone who makes things — writing, painting, music — and I couldn't do anything."
Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, married Von Teese in November 2005. She filed for divorce last December.
"She said she had tolerated the lifestyle because she hoped I would change and threatened to leave if I didn't," Manson says.
"I was sleeping on the couch in my own home. I was no longer supposed to be a rock star. I was someone who had to be apologized for. I wasn't prepared to be alone. I came out of this naked, a featherless bird."
His outlook changed when his friendship with 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood turned romantic. He tells the magazine he was impressed when she said she would die for him.
"It might sound strange, but this made me want to live," he says.
Wood, whose screen credits include "Thirteen" and "Running With Scissors," was quoted in the story as saying, "Boys in eye makeup are the greatest thing ever — that whole androgynous thing."
Manson's new album, "Eat Me, Drink Me," is slated for release June 5.
Fri May 18, 9:40 AM ET
Marilyn Manson says he was devastated over the breakup of his marriage to model and burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese.
"I was completely destroyed. I had no soul left," the 38-year-old glitzy goth rocker says in Spin magazine's June issue, on newsstands May 29. "I define myself as a person, a human, an artist, as someone who makes things — writing, painting, music — and I couldn't do anything."
Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, married Von Teese in November 2005. She filed for divorce last December.
"She said she had tolerated the lifestyle because she hoped I would change and threatened to leave if I didn't," Manson says.
"I was sleeping on the couch in my own home. I was no longer supposed to be a rock star. I was someone who had to be apologized for. I wasn't prepared to be alone. I came out of this naked, a featherless bird."
His outlook changed when his friendship with 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood turned romantic. He tells the magazine he was impressed when she said she would die for him.
"It might sound strange, but this made me want to live," he says.
Wood, whose screen credits include "Thirteen" and "Running With Scissors," was quoted in the story as saying, "Boys in eye makeup are the greatest thing ever — that whole androgynous thing."
Manson's new album, "Eat Me, Drink Me," is slated for release June 5.
Holy Crap! Screw having my own business I have to work on the state dole!!
Six-Figure Public Servants
By Chuck Goudie
May 16, 2007 - Some public employees make more in retirement than they did on the job. Hundreds of them in Illinois are now being paid six-figure pensions.
Related Links
State University Retirement System of Illinois response
Teachers Retirement System response
The top pension paid to a public employee in the state of Illinois last year was nearly $1,000 per day, more than $350,000 a year in retirement pay to a single public employee. But he is not alone. Every year thousands of people find out that the public payroll can be very rewarding, even after their careers are over.
What do former Illinois governors Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar, George Ryan and ex-senate president Phil Rock all have in common? Not one of them is in the top 100 highest drawing pensioners in the state of Illinois.
Even the pension of former U.S. president Bill Clinton is less than many of Illinois top state pensioners. So who are these 100 retired Illinois employees currently paid the highest state pensions?
"Ninety-four are educators," said Bill Zettler, state pension critic.
Zettler started compiling pension stats five years ago after he questioned how his suburban school district was spending money. What he found stunned him.
"There are over 1.100 teachers who have pensions of over $111,000 a year and they can retire at age 55," said Zettler.
Zettler's findings, drawn from public records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, are posted by the Champion Foundation that fights public spending abuse and works for educational system reform.
Zettler says many people have a misconception that school teachers are poorly paid. While the average pay for a teacher in Illinois is about $57,000 dollars a year, nearly 3,500 teachers make more than $100,000 year. Most work only nine months a year.
Consider the former drama teacher at Stevenson High School who was paid $181,000 in his last year. The drama teacher's pension starts at $95,000 a year.
Official records show that 18 former state employees -- all of them university or public school educators -- each receive more than $200,000 a year in pension benefits. Most of it is covered by Illinois taxpayers.
"I don't blame the teachers for taking it. I blame the school boards for allowing it to happen. You have four soccer moms and dads on the school board with no concept many times of business practices," said Zettler.
Five men receive the largest public pensions in Illinois, all from their careers with the University of Illinois:
Dr. Jacob Wilensky, a glaucoma expert - almost $242,000 a year pension.
former Illinois basketball coach Lou Henson - $250,000 a year pension.
Dr. Mahmood Mafee, a nueroradiologist - $265,000 a year pension.
Dr. Riad Barmada, a retired orthopedic surgery professor - $333,000 a year pension.
UIC Dr. Tapas K. Das Gupta, top pensioner in Illinois - currently being paid $358,000 a year.
"There is nothing the matter with a good pension. The problem we have in the State of Illinois is politicians and governors for far too long have made promises to pay out but not contribute on an annual basis and left the taxpayers holding the bag," said Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.
Downstate Senator Bill Brady says six-figure pensions are necessary to recruit top educators and researchers.
"This is why we have to move to a 401K-type system. We make a percentage contribution to their payroll, they make a percentage contribution at the end of the day; we invest it for them, we keep the cost down, they get their pay and it keeps costs down and it doesn't look like a scam and it certainly isn't," Brady said.
Officials of the state retirement systems say that the majority of college and public school retirees receive modest pensions, not the six-figure annual payouts that are prompting calls for a switch to a 401K retirement plan.
"To turn the argument and point it at these individual's pensions confuses the issue, because that doesn't address what the problem is in the State of Illinois, which is the 40.7 billion unfunded liability which will not be solved by switching to a 401K type of benefit plan," said Jourlande Gabriel, Illinois Retirement Securities Initiative.
Pensions are based on an employees salary the last four years before retirement. In some cases, huge raises have been handed out in those years, pumping up the pension. What that means is that Illinois pensioners who live into their 70s or 80s will collect millions, far more in retirement than they ever did on the job.
By Chuck Goudie
May 16, 2007 - Some public employees make more in retirement than they did on the job. Hundreds of them in Illinois are now being paid six-figure pensions.
Related Links
State University Retirement System of Illinois response
Teachers Retirement System response
The top pension paid to a public employee in the state of Illinois last year was nearly $1,000 per day, more than $350,000 a year in retirement pay to a single public employee. But he is not alone. Every year thousands of people find out that the public payroll can be very rewarding, even after their careers are over.
What do former Illinois governors Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar, George Ryan and ex-senate president Phil Rock all have in common? Not one of them is in the top 100 highest drawing pensioners in the state of Illinois.
Even the pension of former U.S. president Bill Clinton is less than many of Illinois top state pensioners. So who are these 100 retired Illinois employees currently paid the highest state pensions?
"Ninety-four are educators," said Bill Zettler, state pension critic.
Zettler started compiling pension stats five years ago after he questioned how his suburban school district was spending money. What he found stunned him.
"There are over 1.100 teachers who have pensions of over $111,000 a year and they can retire at age 55," said Zettler.
Zettler's findings, drawn from public records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, are posted by the Champion Foundation that fights public spending abuse and works for educational system reform.
Zettler says many people have a misconception that school teachers are poorly paid. While the average pay for a teacher in Illinois is about $57,000 dollars a year, nearly 3,500 teachers make more than $100,000 year. Most work only nine months a year.
Consider the former drama teacher at Stevenson High School who was paid $181,000 in his last year. The drama teacher's pension starts at $95,000 a year.
Official records show that 18 former state employees -- all of them university or public school educators -- each receive more than $200,000 a year in pension benefits. Most of it is covered by Illinois taxpayers.
"I don't blame the teachers for taking it. I blame the school boards for allowing it to happen. You have four soccer moms and dads on the school board with no concept many times of business practices," said Zettler.
Five men receive the largest public pensions in Illinois, all from their careers with the University of Illinois:
Dr. Jacob Wilensky, a glaucoma expert - almost $242,000 a year pension.
former Illinois basketball coach Lou Henson - $250,000 a year pension.
Dr. Mahmood Mafee, a nueroradiologist - $265,000 a year pension.
Dr. Riad Barmada, a retired orthopedic surgery professor - $333,000 a year pension.
UIC Dr. Tapas K. Das Gupta, top pensioner in Illinois - currently being paid $358,000 a year.
"There is nothing the matter with a good pension. The problem we have in the State of Illinois is politicians and governors for far too long have made promises to pay out but not contribute on an annual basis and left the taxpayers holding the bag," said Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.
Downstate Senator Bill Brady says six-figure pensions are necessary to recruit top educators and researchers.
"This is why we have to move to a 401K-type system. We make a percentage contribution to their payroll, they make a percentage contribution at the end of the day; we invest it for them, we keep the cost down, they get their pay and it keeps costs down and it doesn't look like a scam and it certainly isn't," Brady said.
Officials of the state retirement systems say that the majority of college and public school retirees receive modest pensions, not the six-figure annual payouts that are prompting calls for a switch to a 401K retirement plan.
"To turn the argument and point it at these individual's pensions confuses the issue, because that doesn't address what the problem is in the State of Illinois, which is the 40.7 billion unfunded liability which will not be solved by switching to a 401K type of benefit plan," said Jourlande Gabriel, Illinois Retirement Securities Initiative.
Pensions are based on an employees salary the last four years before retirement. In some cases, huge raises have been handed out in those years, pumping up the pension. What that means is that Illinois pensioners who live into their 70s or 80s will collect millions, far more in retirement than they ever did on the job.
Every company should have a red team group...
Red Team U. creates critical thinkers
By JOHN MILBURN, Associated Press WriterFri May 18, 4:22 AM ET
During World War II, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery relied upon junior officers to study German Field Marshal Irwin Rommel in Africa and Europe, then assess the Allies' plans.
That idea's modern incarnation is the Red Team University course at Fort Leavenworth's University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies. The goal is to produce soldiers who don't hesitate to find the flaws in a commander's strategies to prevent failed operations and save lives.
Eleven students from the Red Team University graduated Thursday from the 18-week course. Its curriculum is designed to forge officers who anticipate cultural perceptions of U.S. coalition partners, adversaries and others and to find vulnerabilities.
In short, they're supposed to think like the "red team" — the enemy — and give other officers insight into that thinking. The first class graduated in 2006, as the war in Iraq entered its fourth year.
"They learn to escape the gravitational pull of Western military thought," said Greg Fontenot, a retired Army colonel and director of Red Team University.
Fontenot said the program teaches officers to approach problems and solutions from multiple perspectives, including using anthropological research about a given population. Students are also taught to work independently to help senior military staff find answers they need before plans are executed.
Maxie McFarland, deputy chief of staff for intelligence at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, told Thursday's graduates he became involved in red team concepts when he was with the 2nd Armored Division in the 1990s, when it was understaffed and lacked proper equipment.
"In order to win, it wasn't about the technology, and it wasn't about the planning. It was the ability to outthink the opponent and get inside his head," McFarland said.
The Red Team program also fits with the military's new counterinsurgency strategy, jointly developed by the Army and Marines at Fort Leavenworth under the direction of Gen. David Petraeus, now the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
But instructors note that Red Team graduates and their skills have wider application than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"You don't know where you are going next," said Steve Rotkoff, a retired Army colonel.
The concept isn't new, of course. Montgomery tried to anticipate Rommel's tactics, just as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee seemed to have the ability to guess what his Union counterparts would do during the Civil War.
Red and blue teams have been part of U.S. military training for years. Forces preparing for battle — the blue team — develop plans for exercises, while the opponent — the red team — attempts to counter those efforts by defending a position or disrupting operations.
But those traditional exercises were incomplete, McFarland said, because they were scripted according to the blue team's plans, without allowing the red team to alter its strategy and influence the blue team's tactics. Giving the red team a more active role gives a more critical mind-set to such exercises.
Susan Craig, a graduate of the first Red Team class, is now an analyst with the Joint Intelligence Operations Center at the U.S. Pacific Command. She wrote in a recent edition of Military Review that part of red team training is learning to ask good questions of those making decisions and to think outside one's own culture.
"We had to examine our most closely held beliefs and assumptions and fundamentally transform the way we think," she wrote.
___
On the Net:
Fort Leavenworth: http://www.leavenworth.army.mil
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command: http://www-tradoc.army.mil/index.htm
By JOHN MILBURN, Associated Press WriterFri May 18, 4:22 AM ET
During World War II, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery relied upon junior officers to study German Field Marshal Irwin Rommel in Africa and Europe, then assess the Allies' plans.
That idea's modern incarnation is the Red Team University course at Fort Leavenworth's University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies. The goal is to produce soldiers who don't hesitate to find the flaws in a commander's strategies to prevent failed operations and save lives.
Eleven students from the Red Team University graduated Thursday from the 18-week course. Its curriculum is designed to forge officers who anticipate cultural perceptions of U.S. coalition partners, adversaries and others and to find vulnerabilities.
In short, they're supposed to think like the "red team" — the enemy — and give other officers insight into that thinking. The first class graduated in 2006, as the war in Iraq entered its fourth year.
"They learn to escape the gravitational pull of Western military thought," said Greg Fontenot, a retired Army colonel and director of Red Team University.
Fontenot said the program teaches officers to approach problems and solutions from multiple perspectives, including using anthropological research about a given population. Students are also taught to work independently to help senior military staff find answers they need before plans are executed.
Maxie McFarland, deputy chief of staff for intelligence at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, told Thursday's graduates he became involved in red team concepts when he was with the 2nd Armored Division in the 1990s, when it was understaffed and lacked proper equipment.
"In order to win, it wasn't about the technology, and it wasn't about the planning. It was the ability to outthink the opponent and get inside his head," McFarland said.
The Red Team program also fits with the military's new counterinsurgency strategy, jointly developed by the Army and Marines at Fort Leavenworth under the direction of Gen. David Petraeus, now the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
But instructors note that Red Team graduates and their skills have wider application than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"You don't know where you are going next," said Steve Rotkoff, a retired Army colonel.
The concept isn't new, of course. Montgomery tried to anticipate Rommel's tactics, just as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee seemed to have the ability to guess what his Union counterparts would do during the Civil War.
Red and blue teams have been part of U.S. military training for years. Forces preparing for battle — the blue team — develop plans for exercises, while the opponent — the red team — attempts to counter those efforts by defending a position or disrupting operations.
But those traditional exercises were incomplete, McFarland said, because they were scripted according to the blue team's plans, without allowing the red team to alter its strategy and influence the blue team's tactics. Giving the red team a more active role gives a more critical mind-set to such exercises.
Susan Craig, a graduate of the first Red Team class, is now an analyst with the Joint Intelligence Operations Center at the U.S. Pacific Command. She wrote in a recent edition of Military Review that part of red team training is learning to ask good questions of those making decisions and to think outside one's own culture.
"We had to examine our most closely held beliefs and assumptions and fundamentally transform the way we think," she wrote.
___
On the Net:
Fort Leavenworth: http://www.leavenworth.army.mil
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command: http://www-tradoc.army.mil/index.htm
Oh great I'm as smart as I was when I 12!
Study peeks at how normal brains grow
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical WriterFri May 18, 12:35 AM ET
Can you get smarter than a fifth-grader? Of course, but new research suggests some of the brain's basic building blocks for learning are nearing adult levels by age 11 or 12.
It is the first finding from a study of how children's brains grow. The most interesting results are yet to come.
About 500 super-healthy newborns to teenagers, recruited from super-healthy families, are having periodic MRI scans of their brains as they grow up. They also get a battery of age-appropriate tests of such abilities as IQ, language skills and memory.
The project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is tricky work.
Move during an MRI, and the image blurs. Because scientists cannot sedate healthy children, they are having to get crafty to keep their subjects still. Tired toddlers are put in the scanners at naptime; mom squeezes in for a cuddle and earplugs help block the machines' noisy banging. Six-year-olds wear earphones and watch favorite videos beamed into the scanner.
The MRI images measure how different parts of the brain grow and reorganize throughout childhood.
Overlap them with the children's shifting behavioral and intellectual abilities at each age, and scientists expect to produce a long-sought map of normal brain development in children representative of the diverse U.S. population.
On Friday, scientists were publishing a sneak peek at some surprising early results.
Performance on a variety of cognitive tasks — working memory, vocabulary, spatial recognition, reasoning, calculation — rapidly improves between age 6 and 10, but then levels off.
"We don't honestly know why," said Dr. Deborah Waber of Children's Hospital Boston, who led the analysis published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
This is a snapshot of 6- to 18-year-olds' abilities during their first study visit. Results may change after researchers observe each child's progress with age and compare their MRI scans, she said.
The adolescent brain is still growing. Indeed, the region responsible for things such as impulse control and moral judgment is the last to mature, sometime in the early 20s, said Dr. Jordan Grafman of the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The study did not evaluate those kinds of skills. "It's an incomplete picture," he said.
But the age finding does make sense, suggesting a foundation necessary for higher learning is in place by puberty, said Dr. John Gilmore of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. The brain-development specialist was not involved with the project.
Scientists already knew that before age 12, the brain is racing to wire itself, making more connections between nerve cells that in turn enlarge vital regions. This is a time of rapid learning, the reason it is easier to learn a foreign language as a young child than as a teenager or adult, Gilmore said.
After puberty, the process slows and the brain "prunes" itself, focusing less on installing new wiring than on programming and refining what is already there.
"Obviously, learning continues to happen," Gilmore said. But the new study says that "by 10 or 12, kids have the basic building blocks they need to learn."
The study also found that girls start with a slightly better verbal ability but boys catch up by adolescence; they have an equal aptitude for math. While children from low-income families scored slightly lower on IQ tests, earlier suggestions of a bigger gap are due to poorer health among poor families.
Once those key MRI scans are added to the children's ability tests, scientists will have a better idea of the range of normal childhood development. Then they can use the data to help figure out what goes wrong in brain diseases such as autism.
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical WriterFri May 18, 12:35 AM ET
Can you get smarter than a fifth-grader? Of course, but new research suggests some of the brain's basic building blocks for learning are nearing adult levels by age 11 or 12.
It is the first finding from a study of how children's brains grow. The most interesting results are yet to come.
About 500 super-healthy newborns to teenagers, recruited from super-healthy families, are having periodic MRI scans of their brains as they grow up. They also get a battery of age-appropriate tests of such abilities as IQ, language skills and memory.
The project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is tricky work.
Move during an MRI, and the image blurs. Because scientists cannot sedate healthy children, they are having to get crafty to keep their subjects still. Tired toddlers are put in the scanners at naptime; mom squeezes in for a cuddle and earplugs help block the machines' noisy banging. Six-year-olds wear earphones and watch favorite videos beamed into the scanner.
The MRI images measure how different parts of the brain grow and reorganize throughout childhood.
Overlap them with the children's shifting behavioral and intellectual abilities at each age, and scientists expect to produce a long-sought map of normal brain development in children representative of the diverse U.S. population.
On Friday, scientists were publishing a sneak peek at some surprising early results.
Performance on a variety of cognitive tasks — working memory, vocabulary, spatial recognition, reasoning, calculation — rapidly improves between age 6 and 10, but then levels off.
"We don't honestly know why," said Dr. Deborah Waber of Children's Hospital Boston, who led the analysis published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
This is a snapshot of 6- to 18-year-olds' abilities during their first study visit. Results may change after researchers observe each child's progress with age and compare their MRI scans, she said.
The adolescent brain is still growing. Indeed, the region responsible for things such as impulse control and moral judgment is the last to mature, sometime in the early 20s, said Dr. Jordan Grafman of the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The study did not evaluate those kinds of skills. "It's an incomplete picture," he said.
But the age finding does make sense, suggesting a foundation necessary for higher learning is in place by puberty, said Dr. John Gilmore of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. The brain-development specialist was not involved with the project.
Scientists already knew that before age 12, the brain is racing to wire itself, making more connections between nerve cells that in turn enlarge vital regions. This is a time of rapid learning, the reason it is easier to learn a foreign language as a young child than as a teenager or adult, Gilmore said.
After puberty, the process slows and the brain "prunes" itself, focusing less on installing new wiring than on programming and refining what is already there.
"Obviously, learning continues to happen," Gilmore said. But the new study says that "by 10 or 12, kids have the basic building blocks they need to learn."
The study also found that girls start with a slightly better verbal ability but boys catch up by adolescence; they have an equal aptitude for math. While children from low-income families scored slightly lower on IQ tests, earlier suggestions of a bigger gap are due to poorer health among poor families.
Once those key MRI scans are added to the children's ability tests, scientists will have a better idea of the range of normal childhood development. Then they can use the data to help figure out what goes wrong in brain diseases such as autism.
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