This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Hondo

  • CPL Lonald D. Skeens – an Update

    A recent article announced the identification of CPL Lonald D. Skeens, who was lost on 4 September 1950 near Haman, South Korea. CPL Skeens’ remains were recovered in 1951, but could not be identified with that era’s methods.  He was initially interred at the UN Cemetery at Tanggok, South Korea as an unknown.  Subsequently, his remains were subsequently exhumed, but were still unable to be identified.  They were afterwards relocated to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (the “Punchbowl”) in Hawaii, again as an unknown.

    By 2011, advances in technology led to the belief that a number of individuals buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific might be identifiable using modern techniques not available in 1951.  CPL Skeens’ remains were exhumed, and earlier this year were identified.

    At the time the earlier article was written funeral arrangements were not available.  That information is now available.  He will be buried with full military honors in Paintsville, Kentucy, on 30 November 2014.

    Rest in peace, my elder brother-in-arms.  You’re home now.

    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in providing a positive ID for those recovered remains.

    Unfortunately, JPAC has recently reorganized their web site; they no longer seems to provide by-name lists of the MIAs for whom there is a need for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) samples to assist in possible identification of remains. So if you have a relative that is still MIA from World War II, Korea, or SEA – please consider reading this JPAC fact sheet to see if you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample.

    If you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample and have a relative from World War II, Korea, or SEA who is still MIA, please contact JPAC (there is an 866 number on the flier linked above) and see if they already have a mtDNA sample for your missing relative. If not, please arrange to submit a sample. By submitting a mtDNA sample, you may be able to help identify US remains that have been recovered and repatriated but not yet positively identified.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.

  • WTP?

    The following headline appeared yesterday on an article published on the Gainesville (FL) Sun’s website:

    Suspect attempts to rape, rob man
    leaving ATM, Gainesville police say

    That’s not the odd part – well, maybe it is a bit “odd” for Gainesville, FL, but it’s not the oddest thing about the incident.  The really strange part is the suspect’s moniker.

    Phuc Kieu.

    Seriously.

    It gets even better. Immediately before assaulting and attempting to rob and rape the other guy, Kieu was apparently watching pr0n in his car on a portable DVD player.

    You simply could not make this sh!t up if you tried.

  • An Update on RADM Giardina

    There’s been some recent news – again – about RADM Timothy M. Giardina. For those who’ve forgotten , RADM Giardina was the former Deputy Commander of STRATCOM who was relieved of duties (and who reverted to RADM rank) after being accused of using altered poker chips at a local casino. “Altered”, as in changed to make them to appear to have a much higher value than they actually did ($500 each vice $1 each).

    RADM Giardina was offered NJP (!) for this act, and accepted same. He also apparently lied to investigators during the initial investigation into his conduct. He initially told investigators that he bought the chips in question from a guy in the caniso’s rest room. He later changed his story to say e merely “found these items” in the casino’s rest room and decided to use them. Currently, “that’s his story and he’s sticking to it”.

    Well, information has now come out that his DNA was found underneath a sticker attached to one of the chips to alter its value. In truth, that’s not definitive; the investigator who discovered it indicates migration of DNA is possible in such cases. Draw your own conclusion as to what you believe that evidence indicates.

    But either way – sheesh, Admiral.  As I said before:  you flushed your career  for freaking $1500?  Really?

    Of course, RADM Giardina now says he “deeply regrets” lying to Iowa state investigators and giving them that initial cock-and-bull story – which he says was an “error in judgment”.  But he also says, “This lapse in judgment does not make me a thief and a criminal.”

    He also claims he “doesn’t have a gambling problem”.  Um, yeah.  Whatever you say, Admiral.   But the investigative report on your conduct in this incident obtained by AP appears to indicate otherwise.  It usually takes quite a bit to get banned from multiple casinos.  And smoking butts out of an ashtray is generally the act someone who desperately wants a smoke, but can’t afford a pack of his own.

    There’s an old saying that seems applicable to me here.  It starts out, “Fool me once, shame on me . . . “

  • This Could Be Interesting

    Can you say, “Lois Lerner”? Sure. I knew you could. (smile)

    For those who’ve forgotten: Lois Lerner was the former head of the IRS division that rules on nonprofit groups’ applications for tax-exempt status. That division was caught apparently blatantly playing politics with nonprofit applications – e.g., fast-tracking those of leftist groups, while slow-rolling and otherwise obstructing those of conservatives.

    Lerner later resigned, and has “taken the Fifth” when asked to testify in Congress. Conveniently, tens of thousands of her official IRS emails from the period greatest interest for the scandal were “lost”. The same happened to emails of some of her closest associates who were also believed to have been hip-deep in the scandal.

    Jonn and I have written numerous times about this and other instances of missing IRS email. Use the site’s search features if you want to see them.

    Lerner’s emails were initially held to be “lost permanently” – until very recently, that is. Now, it appears that the IRS has now magically “found” some “disaster recovery tapes” from the period in question that contain many if not all of Lerner’s missing emails.

    Now, maybe it’s just me. But if I had a bunch of, you know, missing email – and I had a disaster recovery system in-place that stored stuff like, say, copies of email traffic or email databases/transaction records – those records would probably be one of the first places I’d look for a bunch of missing emails to/from a high-ranking official. But apparently the IRS doesn’t do things that way.

    Or maybe it took so long because of, well, some little thing like an “upcoming Congressional election”. Nah – that can’t be it. The “most transparent administration in history” would never pull such an underhanded trick. Besides, that would require blatantly lying to Federal investigators and Congress multiple times. They’d NEVER stoop that low!

    In any case, it will still take a while to recover Lerner’s emails from those tapes. But you might want to follow this one for a while.  It looks like this just might get even more interesting.

    That just breaks my heart. (smile)

  • A Blast from the Past: Cults Aren’t Always Bad

    The 1970s were an . . . . interesting time in music. In truth, some of it was crap – remember that abomination called disco? And towards the latter part, punk?

    But some of the music of that era was good. The Stones did some wonderful stuff during the early 1970s. Ditto Deep Purple. The 1970s was Bowie’s heyday – along with that of Alan Parsons and Al Stewart.

    And in particular, I got a chance to reconnect with one band from that era recently.

    So be forewarned – yeah, I’m rambling off-res again. (smile)

    . . .

    New York City isn’t generally thought of as a musical Mecca. Yet in the 1970s, a fair number of influential bands hailed from there. KISS is a NYC band. Before KISS made it big, there was a thriving punk scene – of which some was even listenable! The New York Dolls, the Ramones, and Patti Smith all hailed from the Big Apple in the 1970s; ditto Blondie and the Talking Heads.  CBGBs was there, and was legendary. And for better or worse, Asbury Park isn’t that far away either.

    Of that group out of NYC, KISS eventually became the best known and most successful. There was, however, another NYC rock band out of NYC that made it reasonably big in the 1970s as well. They were also pretty good.

    Besides, ya gotta love a band that has the stones to write a song about freaking Godzilla (and use some clips from the Japanese movie as part of the video) – then actually make it work pretty damn well. And they may have had the absolutely neatest band logo of all time:

    They called themselves Blue Öyster Cult. And while they weren’t as flashy as KISS – and didn’t end up being as big – their music is IMO worth a listen.

    (And no, the logo is not an occult or Satanic symbol. It was created by the artist Bill Gawlick for the band’s first album, using the ancient symbol for Chronos/Saturn as a pattern and modifying from there.)

    I won’t bore you with a longer write-up. Here’s a sampler of their work:

    Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll

    Career of Evil

    Dominance and Submission

    (Don’t Fear) The Reaper

    E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)

    Godzilla

    Burnin’ for You

    Maybe it’s not your “cup of tea”. Or maybe you just had to “be there” in the 1970s. But hell, I liked them. Still do.

    Had the chance to see these guys once live in the late 1970s, before they’d released “Godzilla” and “Burnin’ for You”, unfortunately (IMO those are two of their best).   They really could play – and put on one helluva good show.

    Oh, and for what it’s worth: they’re still touring (3 of the original 5 members – the band’s creative core). They’ll hit Laughlin, NV, Thanksgiving weekend; Mount Pleasant and Milwaukee, WI, in Dec and Jan; and Everett, WA, and Leesburg, VA next Jan. Plus a load of other places later in the year. They’re still “rockin’ on”.

    Well, I think I’ll be heading back to the res . . . .

  • Oh, Fer Christsakes – Send the Little Idiot Back!

    You’ve probably all heard about the DNI – James Clapper – and his trip to North Korea earlier this month.  During that trip, the DNI secured the release of two Americans detained there – Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae.  He brought them back to the US.

    Well, guess what.  One of them now reportedly claims he really wanted to stay in North Korea.

    Seriously.

    Fine.  Then give the little dumbsh!t the paperwork to renounce his US citizenship – and once he’s done that, put him on a plane to Korea, bus him to Panmunjum, and march his stupid butt north across the “Bridge of No Return”.  Problem solved.

    For some reason this keeps running through my mind.  I’m guessing it’s also what must be running through Clapper’s mind right about now.  With apologies to Strother Martin:

    What we’ve got here is . . . failure to communicate.  Some men, you just can’t reach.  So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it . . . well, he gets it.  I don’t like it any more than you men.

  • Nuclear Troubles? Not Just in the Military.

    We all remember the recent spate of nuclear commanders being relieved by the US military. But it seems bad leadership and/or stupidity isn’t limited to the military’s nuclear community these days.

    Back in February, there were two incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) – an underground facility in a salt beds near Carlsbad, NM, that’s 2000’ below the earth’s surface. It was built as a place for long-term storage of the nation’s nuclear weapons-related nuclear waste.

    One of those incidents was a truck fire. OK, sometimes stuff happens.

    However, the other was a radiation leak. So, how did that leak happen?

    Well, it turns out that someone used the wrong kind of cat litter when preparing a batch of highly acidic nuclear weapons waste for storage at the WIPP. Rather than clay-based litter, wheat-based litter was used.

    Seriously.

    It turns out that this created a mixture that was quite volatile – it has been called “akin to plastic explosives”.  After arrival at the WIPP, one such drum cracked open. Twenty workers received radiation exposure (of a low level, thankfully). The facility will require extensive work (to the tune of $500M) for decontamination and substantial time (estimates by the contractor operating the WIPP are 3 years, minimum) before resuming operations.

    So, the WIPP contractor eats it, right? After all, their guys screwed up and used the wrong stuff?

    Well, not exactly. It seems that Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) – not the contractor – prepared the drum of waste for shipment to the WIPP. It turns out LANL’s supporting contractor, Los Alamos National Security LLC, was working in haste to meet a deadline for preparing Cold War waste for shipment that would give them a “leg up” in contract renewal negotiations. An internal investigation conducted at LANL blamed the error on “a typo in a policy manual”. It’s unclear whether that policy manual was prepared by LANL government or contractor personnel.

    Four managers – apparently on the contractor side – were reportedly replaced at LANL since the incident. Whether this will have any effect on that contractor’s contract renewal is at this point unclear.

    Some details of the WIPP and the original accident can be found here. An explanation for the errors leading up to the mistake causing the leakage incident can be found here.  (Unfortunately, this is the short version; the longer version with more details is behind a pay wall.)

    So, folks – no, it’s not just the military’s nuclear community that has its “sh!t in the wind” these days. Looks like the rest of the Nuclear Kingdom has its share of problems too.

  • I Don’t Think This Was “Career Enhancing”

    I’m guessing a few Navy careers are now toast.

    Two US Navy Vessels Collide in the Gulf of Aden

    The two ships involved are the USNS Amerlia Earhart and USNS Walter S. Diehl. The USNS Earhart is a cargo ship; the USNS Deihl, an oiler.

    Each ship suffered only minor damage, and there were no injuries.  Both ships are continuing their respective missions.

    The Navy has indicated it will conduct an investigation of the incident.  Gee, what a surprise.

    Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m guessing this means “someone’s got some ‘splainin’ to do” – probably multiple someones, actually. And I’m also guessing quite a few people just might be beginning to revise their resumes about now, too.