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

Author: Sporkmaster

  • Kyle Barwan arrested for Fraud and Stolen Valor (Updated).

    Kyle Barwan arrested for Fraud and Stolen Valor (Updated).

    Yep the same person that was posted here for posing as a Army Officer has been arrested. Here is a photo from the side, I have seen the patch before but I cannot Id the unit off of the top of my head.

    Police in Knox County are holding Kyle Barwan of Crestwood, Illinois on charges of possession of cocaine and impersonating a public servant, and even more charges may be coming.

    I want to thank Smoke523 for bringing this to our attention. There is also a video included with the story that is too big to post.

    Just a reminder this is the Kyle posted this on August 28th 2010a few months back.

    By the way I impersonated to get into a bar and got caught I was being stupid I’ve learned from that I never stole any medals from my grandfather he earned those not me I have no right having those I have more respect then that for my family all I did was were the wrong rank no shiny medals no fake Iraq stories the army sniper blog was for my friend mike who was an army sniper who lost his life in Iraq back in 2007 I put that there for his memory I’m so sorry for all of this mess ladies and gentlemen my sincere apology to you all

    Or the people that he Scammed

    My family and friends were victims of Kyle Barwan..if that is even his name. He stayed in my house stole from me and my family, racked up debt that I can not afford to pay, and told unbelievable tales before I told him to get out. He was sleeping with underage girls and even told everyone he was going to be a daddy. I began to question when he did not have a military ID and said that his “orders” were constantly being changed at the last minute. He had multiple fake ID’s and I feel such anger that he would take advantage of people, like my family, that honor and hold all military personnel in the highest regard.

    Update: I got a photo from An Old Friend that shows him in ACU s as a 1st LT. It looks like he is wearing a Ranger Battalion Scroll above another unit’s ID. Because even the President’s hundred tap is being close to that big.



    Seen wearing ACUs, a beret (With 1st Lt. insignia), a combat infantry badge, ranger tab, First Cavalry patch, Jump wings, and a combat infantry badge.

    Update: goes under the following names/usernames.

    Kyle Reacher, Kyle Felucifer, Klutch, Klutch_Reborn.

  • “We have feminized the Medal of Honor” WTF?

    Yea, you read that right, a douche bag columnist for the American Family Association Bryan Fischer seems to think so. Here is is Bio.

    “When we think of heroism in battle, we used the think of our boys storming the beaches of Normandy under withering fire, climbing the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc while enemy soldiers fired straight down on them, and tossing grenades into pill boxes to take out gun emplacements. That kind of heroism has apparently become passé when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them.”

    Really? Then explain cases like Desmond T. Doss who not only earned the Medal of Honor while saving lives, he was a conscientious objector. (The first of two confirmed so far)

    It gets better, his excuse is that it was be cause he based his baseless claims on someone’s else baseless claims that it must be true.

    Fischer based his claim on a line in a column in The Wall Street Journal by William McGurn, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. In the midst of his high praise for Giunta’s heroism, McGurn noted that rather than “Rambos decorated for great damage inflicted on the enemy,” every Medal of Honor awarded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan “has been for an effort to save life.”

    In fact, that’s not exactly the case. The official account of the first Medal of Honor given for service in Iraq, to Army Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, shows how, among other courageous acts, Smith “braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons,” losing his life in the process.”

    It is like he is activity ignoring every single MOH award write up? The things people will write when playing arm chair general.

  • Rag Blog; a memorial to the fallen of the Global War on Terror is a waste of money.

    There were many reasons that I stopped reading the Rag Blog, this is one of them.

    GWOT LOVE

    By Marc Estrin / The Rag Blog / November 14, 2010

    BURLINGTON, Vermont — I hear on the news this Veterans Day that our thankfully exiting governor — cynically known as Governor Scissorhands for all his ribbon cutting — will be dedicating a new memorial to our Vermont dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    The “Vermont Global War on Terror Memorial,” planned and funded by the families of “Vermont’s 36 Fallen Global War on Terror Heroes” to the tune of $350,000, is aimed at “marking both the sacrifice of those who served and the heartbreak of the loved ones left behind.”

    A memorial to oneself?

    Yea I mean spending money on something that honors those who have giving everything when you cannot even be bothered to give a damn. But here are a few things from people that do.

    America paused to honor its veterans Thursday. And Vermonters gave a special tribute to its fallen heroes with the unveiling of a new memorial.

    From all across Vermont they came, flooding the entrance to the Randolph Veteran’s Cemetery. They came to honor the 40 Vermonters who have given their lives in the global war on terror.

    Paula Chapin came for her husband. Master Sgt. Chris Chapin was killed in Iraq in 2005.

    “It’s quite beautiful,” Paula Chapin said. “It’s a little overwhelming.”

    Gregory Murano came for his friend and fellow Wilmington Police Officer. Lt. Mark Dooley was also killed in Iraq in 2005.

    “It’s important that we take time to remember all those who have stood up for our country and fought for our country and for what we represent,” Murano said.

    But of course the fringe see it otherwise.

    It is hard to know where to begin reacting to all this. I cringe at the language — bathetic, maudlin, soupy, cloying, schmaltzy, large-P Patriotic — but the sentiments inscribed in this language are more problematical still.

    A guy stopped by at our peace vigil last night and said, “My nephew got back from Iraq and blew his brains out. He couldn’t deal with the stuff he had done — killing civilians and all that.”

    Great huh? I mean it going for broke on those stereotypes. I mean trying to label all Vets as crazy war criminals that are just a trigger pull from committing suicide. Not to mention trying desecrate the dedication of a memorial to the fallen on Veterans Day. Oh and the fact that the person saying this is namless, and impossible to track. Kinda like the story at McDonald’ that a mystery “Danny” that the Rag Blog was trying to push.

    If there was any doubt about this I leave you with this last quote.

    In any case, the language of the Vermont Global War On Terror Memorial is tired, empty, and ever less to any point. It perpetuates a sentimental, obscuring cloud-of-unknowing over the realities we currently face and must radically change.

    ADDED Yea it seems that the guy what was voted off of the Rag Blog island for his behavior has this little gem to add.

    richard jehn said…

    That is a tired (and false) argument. Sadly, the right wing doesn’t care about facts.

    The US is a hegemonic, invasive nation. If all we ever did was defend our own soil, rather than act as the world’s cop, what you say might have some truth to it.

    ADDEDx2 Speaking of not caring about the facts by Dennis Cunningham

    They are not defending our freedoms (such as they are). they are engaged in a gigantic war crime and crime against humanity, “the paramount international crime” under the Nuremburg Laws, and all the people they kill are murder victims. our country has no business putting armies and fighting wars all over the Earth; and you know it’s only for the sake of those who get rich from the way it’s done.

    Eighteen veterans a day commit suicide, why do you think? they cant forget what they did and saw being done to innocent people;     they know it’s all wrong, and their lives were ruined by it; better to end them.

    Our country is sliding down a moral chute into a sewer of barbarism, destitution and repression. Public indifference to torture and war crimes, and indulgence of the burgeoning police state, prepares the way. If you cant yet ‘throw your body on the gears, at least get off the fence…

  • That time again.

    The semi-annual gathering of protesters of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation closing off one of the main gates for a weekend. The SOA watch host these protests on regular dates. Also it seems that they get upset when people react to the protests that cause the gates to be closed. The God Bless Fort Benning Day is used as a counter protest to these guys showing up. It is interesting and not surprising to know that many of the SOA protesters try to get free food at the God Bless Fort Benning day event. My wife had to explain to a few of them that trying to close of both gates would be bad considering that many people live on base and need to get out to buy items not found on post.

    Over the seven years we’ve been doing the Friday nonviolence trainings, we’ve had to take into consideration a number of situations. The police have set up fences, increasingly restricting access to adjacent property. One year Fort Benning blasted “patriotic” music at us, attempting to drown out the speeches and music from our stage. “God Bless Fort Benning Day” has become a counter-event which has also grown over the past years. Fort Benning has also become a major base for soldiers going to and returning from Iraq, raising local people’s opposition to the presence of demonstrators.

    Or how about the punishments that they complain about when they try to enter the base they hey have done in the past.

    Trainings also take place to prepare people for roles such as Peacekeepers and Legal Observers. For those who engage in civil disobedience, sentences have been from 3 to 6 months. Therefore a strong support system has been created for those considering that risk ,to help them through the discernment process and during and after their time as prisoners.

    But of the mention about the concern about violence from the usual suspects.

    The 2nd Annual God Bless Fort Benning Rally got underway at the old fairgrounds Sunday, across from the Port Columbus National Civil War Naval Museum. The event features food and entertainment and is designed to counter the message of the SOA Watch protest at Fort Benning.

    Mayor Bob Poydacheff spoke to News Leader 9’s Jo Giles at the event and said he was pleased with the effort and the turn-out. He also indicated that event organizers did the right thing by relocating their rally away from the massive protest.

    Fears of violence or confrontations with “fringe groups” forced that relocation. Organizer Miriam Tidwell told News Leader 9 in a live interview that she didn’t want to risk any confrontation with the protestors that might result in injury to any of the people or children attending her event.

    There have been increased fears of possible violence surrounding the SOA protest this year, not because of the regular crowd of thousands of SOA Watch marchers but because of additional “fringe groups” attending this year’s event.

    But really the only people that really win are the people that rent parking spaces and sell food near the Victory Drive area.

  • To help sooth over those eyes.

    Since there was little warning about last post here is something to counter it. People may or many not know that I am currently living in Alaska and here is a photo my wife Christine took when we went to Old Seward. You now in the Simpsons movie where they gasp about how pretty it is, it really is that nice.

  • Tale of two wars.

    Found this story on NPR about a solider that fought in WW2 and Korea. It would not be such a abnormal thing until you learn that he fought in the German Army in WW2 and the US Army in Korea.

    When Welzel was 2 years old, his father got a job that took the family from Ohio back to Germany, where they had emigrated from before the war.

    Young Hank Welzel became young Heinrich. He grew up under the Nazi regime, complete with a requisite membership in the Hitler Youth.

    Because of his past he never told anyone because of what might happen.

    “You had to consider yourself a German if you wanted to stay alive. … You had to play the game,” Welzel says.

    On Oct. 10, 1944, just shy of his 18th birthday, Welzel was captured on a hill north of Florence, Italy. Soon afterward, an American officer who spoke perfect German began to interrogate him.

    “Should I tell him I was born in the United States or shouldn’t I?” Welzel thought to himself.

    “The next guy was like sittin’ 10 feet over — the next German soldier, waiting for his turn and, you didn’t know who to trust,” Welzel recalls. “I never told anybody that I was an American citizen by birth. That was my secret. It was my highest secret, so I didn’t dare tell him.”

    He served as a Medic in both wars, it does not say what awards that he might have gotten in the German Army, but he recived a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart in Korea. Then he went on to deal with what we now call PTSD and the fact that he was not sure who to trust with his past given of how people might change the way that they looked/treated him.

    Welzel finally sought help in the early 1990s for what was diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. He has not fully come to terms with his war experiences yet, but after a life spent keeping his past a secret, he has found the best therapy is to open up and discuss what he has been through.

    Today, Welzel and his wife live in Freeport, Maine, in a house he built. He helps his son with a lilac nursery business and keeps himself busy building benches from reclaimed lumber and selling them at farmers markets. At 84, he says his goal is to get to 100.

    A interesting story to say the least. Also about the German units, in a book I was reading about the Großdeutschland the Allied troops divided German units into “White” and “BlacK” units based on how they conducted themselves in the war. The Großdeutschland was considered one of these “White” units. Also there seemed to be a act that allowed the wear of German military awards that were “De-Nazied” in 1957 that would show that regardless of what the Nazis did that individual bravery would still be honored. Which would directly relate to the person in the story.

  • But we are suppose to be the horrible ones.

    So meanwhile while our image is being dragged through the mud by the people like Bobby Whittenberg while these are issues like this one going on in Mexico.

    Soldiers are hunting a 12-year-old suspected drug gang hitman accused of helping wage a gruesome turf war in central Mexico, a state prosecutor and Mexican media said on Friday.

    Yea, so in regards to us being accused of using our youth to comment horrible acts in war and that is the “obvious” reason that the world hates it. But in the mean time we have a 12 year old kid killing people for hire.

    The boy, known only as “El Ponchis,” is believed to be working for the South Pacific cartel in Morelos state just outside Mexico City and is one of a group of youths who have already committed “terrible acts,” Morelos State Prosecutor Pedro Luis Benitez told local radio.

    “These minors are still not fully developed and so it is easy to influence them, to give them a gun, pretending it is plastic, that it is a game,” Benitez said.

    Benitez did not name the boy or give more details but when asked directly about the teenage hitmen he said: “They’re persuaded to carry out terrible acts; they don’t realize what they are doing,” he added.

    Oh and never mind about doing wonders for the area.

    More than 31,000 people have been killed since Calderon launched his cartel crackdown four years ago, alarming many Mexicans and some foreign investors who are freezing investment in the country just as it is recovering from recession.

    So I imagine that good old Bobby and friends will be on this to giving full coverage, right?

    Also here is a link that is in Spanish if anyone can read it.

  • The real meaning of Veterans Day.

    In a matter of hours it will be Veterans Day. Festive grilling and parades will be the order of the day. But what is also on the schedule is the is the use of pandering veterans for political purposes, 4 day sales at 20% percent off and a day for dress up for the pretend heroes. All of these things have really have a impact on how Veterans Day is viewed as just another holiday. Veterans day should be a day were those who have served honorably should be recognized rather then just the one that we agree with politically. That it should be a day to dismantle every stereotype about Veterans that have endured various hardships, but also endured to live a happy and productive life after the guns go silent. To understand that a receptive ear with a helping hand have a more enduring effect then a free blooming onion. We are one of the few professions that has can provide such a strong and enduring connection with complete strangers. Also the task of making sure that the stories of those who have served before us are preserved for those yet to come. Also to protect them from those that would steal them for their own.

    The reason that I started with this post was after watching a video posted by Rethink Afghanistan. In the video it calls to honor the Veterans that oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on Veterans Day. I was insulted not because of the fact that they oppose the Wars, but in the sense that it was all but saying that we should only honor those Veterans with their point of view excluding many that have not be vocal about their views or have been on the opposite side of the fence. Veterans day should not be about scoring political points for your gain , but a overall reflection and respect to those that have served with honor and distinction, regardless their views. It is about the small token of respect that is offered to those who have come before, with and after us. Also in the respect that despite how may people would like to see us as shown by popular media or political organizations. That how highlight how we have lived our lives in and out of the Military in contrast to the unstable loner. Because if we are not willing to do this now then how can we expect others to do this for us in our Golden years?

    It should also be a day of family in that when we are deployed that may of us become close because of the hardships, separations and dangers. But that often disappears when we return home, a place were it could be said is needed the most. While family may want to help, it is the basic things like understood terms that help a difficult conversations to happen without having many intermissions to explain military jargon. If the military is to be considered a family then perhaps Veterans day should be looked more as a family reunion. To remember old times and learn of some new ones. We are certainly a dysfunctional family , but I think that is what keeps us coming back for more.

    Lastly is to use it to remember the past. That we must be open to new types of media and communications of the newer generations. In one of the past Veterans Day,before I joined the military I took part in a WW2 them table top tournament at a Army Museum in Austin. While we were there we got a chance to talk to those that served in previous wars. One of the stories was about several Shermans going down a hill and the fuel tank breaking open and flooding the the crew compartment. Also it was a lively exchange of stories from retired military , educators, and other history buffs alike. It is preservation of the character of these people that should remember in hopes that the next generation will emulate it.

    But lastly is the protection of the character from those that wish to steal it. Normally a medal is viewed a strand of fabric with a shiny signet. That it can infuse the wearer with respect and purpose just by wearing it, the more medals the larger the respect would be come. But it it not the undeserved praise that is greatest insult but in that many a times these medals come at cost, some more then others. The cost can be time, hardships, pain and longer natural life. If it were possible for these medals to allow these pretenders to relive what many had to do to earn these medals, then perhaps there would be less of a desire wear them.. But that will never happen, so it is up to us to keep a good look out and find these people. Because it is a crime not because of the honor taken from real honest to God Veterans, but because they are unwilling to endure the hardships to wear that strip of colored cloth.

    All in I hoped I would not get too wordy in this, though I believe I failed in that. I wanted to say with a detailed answer of what it means to observe Veterans Day and what we can do to make it have real meaning rather then just another four day weekend on the calendar.