Category: Army News

Bobo sends us a link to the story of retired Army Colonel Eric Peter Henderson who struck and killed Jaimie Jursevics a Colorado State Trooper while he was coming back from a Denver Broncos game, driving drunk.

On Nov. 15, Henderson killed Jursevics as she tried to wave him over to the side of the road following citizen reports that he was driving drunk. After the collision, prosecutors say Henderson attempted to hide evidence, including bottles, after he exited the interstate after the crash and drove away on a side road.

[…]

Henderson’s lawyers painted the retired soldier as a war hero who served several tours in combat and was diagnosed in 2013 with post-traumatic stress disorder. They said he had no criminal record and that he has been deeply affected by the case.

His defense was that the trooper wasn’t wearing her PT belt.

Another victim of PTSD – obviously, he did serve on a deployment – there’s a Bronze Star Medal at the top of the ribbon rack that he wore in the picture above at his retirement. But, there’s no Combat Action Badge and he left the military after serving his final years (2010-2013) at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC).

Anyway, he ended up with eight years in prison for vehicular homicide.

Ellen Haring writes in the pages of the Marine Corps Times about how, in her opinion, the Marine Corps’ Infantry standards for officers are not realistic. You know, based on her experience as a litigant when she sued the Army to make her an infantry officer.

During the break, I asked one of the Marine representatives how often Marines actually carry 152 pounds that distance and he said “infrequently .” I was still curious, so I polled a few Marine infantry officers to find out how often they had carried loads of 95 to 152 pounds during their deployments. I was a bit surprised by the responses because I thought the requirement might at least come close to some operational example. However, one infantry officer with two combat deployments, one as a weapons company commander said, “I’m trying to imagine the type of fighting and tactical task that requires you to move around administratively in an AO with 150-plus pounds on your back… Nothing is impossible, but trying to come up with a situation, mission and METT-T where this would be required is… a unicorn in my opinion.”

From what I can tell about Haring’s career, she has done a very good job of avoiding deployments to the war against terrorists. She sued the Army when they decided that she shouldn’t be on a Female Engagement Team probably because of her inexperience leading troops. Her only experience with combat seems to be the one time she watched Audie Murphy in his auto-biographical movie “To Hell and Back”. So she asks some people at a conference for their input, you know, because she has no personal experience.

The only reason that she has a problem with the 152-pound ruck is because it makes it hard for women to pass the course. There are men who can’t meet the standard either, and they’re booted from the course.

The Marine Corps Times is being disingenuous, though, when they call her “an Army colonel” because she’s really just a social justice warrior who wants women killed in equal numbers as men in combat. As long as she’s not included on those casualty lists.

Bobo sends us a link to the Army Times which reports that General Mark Milley, the chief of staff of the Army was on his way from Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington, DC Wednesday night when they came across an accident between a Metro bus and a car. The General and his staff pitched in to try and rescue the victims;

According to Army Lt. Col. Rob Shaw, two soldiers helped pull one person from the car before it caught fire, and two others provided first aid to that person until the ambulance arrived.

According to a person familiar with the incident, Milley helped direct the response and assisted with the first aid. The soldiers were unable to pull the other victim from the car because it was in flames, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident.

The soldiers who were with the general wished to remain anonymous, otherwise you’d read their names here, too. But, I can imagine someone else in government with equal rank and responsibilities to the general driving around the accident without lending a hand, their job being more important than a few lives, so kudos to the general for stopping to help out. I hope he properly rewards those soldiers who did the real work, but I’m sure he will.

David sends us a link to Popular Mechanics which reports that the Army is trying to decide what to do with a number of old 16″ Navy artillery shells that they have laying around for the Iowa-class destroyers which were retired after the Cold War;

According to Federal Business Opportunities, the Army has 15,595 16-inch artillery shells sitting at Crane Army Ammunition Activity in Crane, Indiana. These shells were intended for the 16″/50 caliber main guns of the Iowa-class battleships—like the U.S.S. New Jersey in the video below—which were the biggest guns ever mounted on a U.S. Navy ship. However, these ships, first commissioned for World War II, are now enjoying a much-deserved retirement, having exited service at the end of the Cold War.

But these ships’ rounds are still hanging around and they’re the real deal, built to smash other battleships—and hardened beach fortifications—to bits. The stockpile includes high capacity high explosive rounds, armor piercing shells, and practice rounds. Each high capacity round weighs 2,054 pounds, with 154 pounds of high explosive and a 1,900-pound steel body. Each armor piercing shell weighs 2,700 pounds and is filled with either 41 pounds of explosives or up to 666 grenades.

David is wondering if any of you have suggestions on how to help the Army with this dilemma.

The Army Times reports that the commander of the 1st infantry Division, Major General Wayne Grigsby has been suspended from his duties.

Maj. Gen. Wayne Grigsby “is currently the subject of an official investigation, and we cannot comment further at this time,” an Army official said in a statement.

Army officials declined to provide any additional information, including the nature of the investigation.

Grigsby took command of the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, in August 2015, according to his official bio.