Commander of California National Guard resigns amid allegations

AP-San Diego Union Tribune ^ | June 7, 2005 | Associated Press

[calcowgirl]

SACRAMENTO – The commander of the California National Guard has resigned amid accusations that he failed to meet a Pentagon combat requirement and tried to arrange a flight on a military aircraft for members of a Republican group.

Major Gen. Thomas Eres resigned late Monday after questions were raised by the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times newspapers about whether he passed a required shooting-skills test before visiting troops in Iraq. The papers also said Eres attempted to provide a military flight for a Lincoln Club group – a partisan Republican organization – that wanted to travel last month to North American Aerospace Defense Command center in Colorado.

Eres, 61, was appointed in March 2004 as leader of the nation's largest National Guard force, which includes 22,000 troops, 13 bases and more than 100 armories.

In a resignation letter quoted by the news organizations, the two-star general said it was an "ideal time" to step down "so that my family and I can start to enjoy a much-anticipated retirement."

Brigadier Gen. John Alexander, the guard's second in command, has taken over the operation.

Questions about Eres' shooting skills relate to a Pentagon requirement that personnel pass a complex test before traveling to a war zone. Eres was scheduled to meet with California National Guard troops stationed in Iraq in August, a trip that was postponed. He eventually made the trip around Thanksgiving.

The newspapers' Sacramento bureau obtained interviews and documents indicating Eres did not meet the requirements and that a top aide improperly informed Department of Defense officials that the general had proven his shooting skills.

Also raising questions was a trip a Republican friend wanted to take last month to NORAD headquarters in Colorado.

Eres had offered to put the Coachella Valley Lincoln Club on a military flight for the trip, which appeared to violate military rules because of the group's partisan party affiliations. The Coachella Valley is the Southern California desert region that includes Palm Springs and Indio.

Two weeks before the planned trip, the National Guard Bureau in Washington rejected the request to put the group on a refueling tanker to Colorado, the newspapers reported. Schwarzenegger Cabinet Secretary Terry Tamminen also directed Eres to cancel the trip.

[Larry Lucido]

the ranges vary from 50 to 300 meters for the M-4/m16

I think you're right. Whatever were the closest ones, I missed.

If I remember, 75 and 250 meters have the same elevation adjustments. Less than 75m, you aim low; over 250m, you aim a tad high (since the round is coming down). Something like that.

[BurbankKarl]

doesnt the bullet path go up then down? you needed to flip your sight.

[Larry Lucido]

I remember a chart something like this, but I can't remember what the conjunction distances were for the M-16. I thought they were 75m and 250m.