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

Category: Big Army

  • DoD’s $20m for firewood; “we just spend the money”

    I’m not sure, but if I was in charge at DoD, I’d have probably cut some of this stuff decades ago before anyone found out about it, and long before I was going balls-to-the-wall to raise retires’ Tricare fees;

    “It mentions in your report that the U.S. military is spending $20 million for firewood. Is there any justification for $20 million in Afghan firewood?” [Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)] asks John F. Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

    “Mr. Chairman that was one of the more interesting comments my auditor told me is that — you are absolutely correct we are paying…approximately $20 million a year for firewood,” Sopko confirmed. “And when my auditors asked for documentation on what we spent on firewood, we were basically told quote unquote ‘we don’t have, the records we just spend the money.’”

    Yeah, well, that’s not how we retirees spend our money, although apparently, the Department of Defense thinks everyone does. But, here we are buying firewood, I’m guessing, but not convinced, that it’s to keep Afghans warm because they’re too lazy to go out and collect the meager amounts of wood around their homes.

    Either that, or we’re buying it for those mansions on Fort Meyers, because those are the only Army residences that have fireplaces that I can think of.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

  • “Outside your lane” Part II

    Last night, we talked a little about General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who suddenly thought it was his duty to counsel American citizens about their rights to free speech. Well, our buddy DrewM (from Ace of Spades and DrewMusings) had the same thoughts and went a step further to contact the good general’s spokesman and asked if he was pressured into making the statement. Drew sent us a link to the Tweet;

    Yeah, that’s not my jaw on the floor. Either he lied, or Dempsey is just that stupid that he thought it was his job, either way he looks bad. The video is not the reason our troops are in danger – the troops are in danger because the jihadists think they can get away with anything and this administration won’t do anything. The same way they felt before January 20th, 1981, but then thought differently on that day.

  • The definition of “outside your lane”

    ROS sends us a link to the story that General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, asked that nutball Pastor Terry Jones to condemn “Innocence of Muslims”, that movie which Egyptians and Libyans claim was the impetus for the riots this week that claimed the life of four Americans in Libya.

    “In the brief call, Gen. Dempsey expressed his concerns over the nature of the film, the tensions it will inflame and the violence it will cause,” his spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said in an email.

    “He asked Mr Jones to consider withdrawing his support for the film,” he said.

    Pentagon officials worry the outrage caused by the amateur, American-made film — which mocks Islam’s revered prophet Mohammed — could spark violence in Afghanistan and endanger troops in NATO’s US-led force there.

    Ya know what else endangers US troops in Afghanistan, General? Making them walk around unarmed until a scant few weeks ago. And they’ve been doing that during most of your tenure through scores of green-on-blue attacks, but suddenly you’re worried about a film killing troops?

    This is bowing to his political masters, trying to take the heat off the administration for their inept handling of the Arab Autumn. Those of us living on this planet have already come to the conclusion that film was just an excuse, and some of our common sense has finally seeped into Washington.

    Deflecting blame onto Terry Jones is just childish. And not in your job description, General. The next thing you know, the Sergeant Major of the Army will be talking about social ills stemming from tattoos, or something.

  • Prosecutor back-pedals on Alemar, speaks an incoherent language

    You guys have been sending and posting links for few days to update the story about William Everett Alemar who was arrested by Deputies Barney Fife and Goober Pyle, apparently in Martinsburg, WV for running “near schools” with a an Airsoft rifle. If given an opportunity, I think I’d punch the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela Games-Neely square in whatever set of genitalia she’s sporting for not being able to admit she and the police are wrong in pursuing charges against the young soldier. To wit;

    “He is not a danger to the community. It was unique to that moment in time,” Games-Neely said…

    That’s how she explains the fact that the soldier, from whom they demanded $50,000 cash bond before he could be released, is suddenly out and running free in the streets without a bond. Yeah, unique to the incident; wtf does that mean? He was a danger to the community last week, but after a week locked up with Otis Campbell, he’s not a danger anymore?

    “In the beginning of this case, the Martinsburg Police Department was confronted with a fairly dangerous situation at Martinsburg High School,” Games-Neely said.

    I’ve yet to see the address where he was arrested so I can see for myself whether he was “at” or “near” any schools at all. And it was the first day of school, he probably didn’t even realize he was near any school, even if he was.

    Games-Neely said “we honor our military” and Alemar was a “decent soldier,” but told the court that authorities were met with a unique set of circumstances at the time of the incident and that police acted appropriately.

    Yeah, if they “honor the military”, they’d swallow their pride and back off from the charges. Period. This is all about Mayberry RFD trying their best to mitigate their idiocy.

    “The State believes that the evidence supports the felony with which Mr. Alemar is charged. I personally commend the law enforcement officers on the first day of school for their quick and decisive actions in protecting the community and its children from harm,” Games-Neely said in her statement.

    Who did the police protect? Who did Alemar threaten? Now Games-Neely is taking quick and decisive actions to save her own reputation. And that of the Mayberry Police Department.

    It seems that a condition of Alemar’s release is that he has to “seek treatment” for his problem. The problem being that he’s training for Ranger School, I guess, because no one in their right mind would want to graduate from Ranger School.

    “If I had the ability to charge somebody with being stupid, I would have,” Games-Neely said.

    But she supports the military. The only stupidity here is the overreaction by the Martinsburg justice system. And, of course, Big Army is more than willing to be her accomplice in the never-ending boobery;

    The state has been in touch with Mr. Alemar’s military commanders since last week in an effort to assist in preserving his military career if possible,” Games-Neely later said in a statement.

    If he’s the terrorist you said he was last week, ditz, why would you want to preserve his military career, unless you’re willing to also admit that these are specious charges and you’re an incompetent, drama queen boob.

  • AFRICOM commander facing dismissal

    I don’t know how I didn’t know this but the commander of Africa Command, Gen. William E. Kip Ward, was my Battalion XO in 1/7th Inf back in the 3rd ID in Aschaffenburg, Germany. He was one of the best infantry officers I’ve ever known. We bumped into each other at Fort Drum and he remembered me even though I was one of countless platoon sergeants in the battalion. I loved that guy.

    But, it looks like he stepped in something at AfriCom. according to a link to us by David from Boston.com;

    Gen. William ‘‘Kip’’ Ward has been under investigation for about 17 months, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to make a final decision on the matter before the end of the month, according to several defense officials.

    The defense officials said Ward is facing numerous allegations that he spent several hundred thousand dollars allowing unauthorized people, including family members, to fly on government planes, and spent excessive amounts of money on hotel rooms, transportation and other expenses when he traveled as head of Africa Command.

    That really sucks. I mean really. Like I said, I loved that guy. Best Battalion XO I ever had.

  • Charges dropped against SFC Walter Taylor

    Pat sends us a link to the LA Times which reports that that the charges have been dropped against SFC Walter Taylor for negligent homicide in the death of an Afghan doctor who drove her car into a firefight.

    “It’s not just a victory for me, it’s a victory for all the soldiers,” Taylor said in an interview Thursday. “For all the soldiers that did great things down range [in Afghanistan]. They don’t have to think in their mind that one of their comrades was being done wrong.”

    Well, I think that’s incorrect. Because of the fact that Taylor was charged in the first place will cost seconds everyday when soldiers decide whether they should pull the trigger or not. It will cost lives. While I applaud the Army for ending their case against SFC Taylor, they should have used a modicum of common sense and not charged him in the first place.

    “I got nothing but respect for him,” Spc. Wayne Wedgeworth, who was one of those injured in the explosion on the day of the firefight, said in an earlier interview. “He fought when he had to fight. He did not back down. He fought the enemy off.”

    Enough evidence that SFC Taylor had acted properly existed before the Army made a show of the Article 32 hearing.

    According to the LA Times article, SFC Taylor is continuing a series of surgeries to treat the wounds he received a few days after the incident.

  • Army officer’s MOH nomination “lost” in aftermath of crucial battle

    Parachute cutie sent us a link last night to a Stars & Stripes/ McClatchy article about the nomination process for a Medal of Honor for former Army Capt. William Swenson it seems that the paperwork got “lost” in this here digital age we’re livin’ in. But the reasons it was “lost” might be more political than clerical;

    It couldn’t be determined whether there was an effort to kill Swenson’s Medal of Honor nomination, but there are several possible motives for doing so.

    Interviewed by military investigators five days after the battle, Swenson implicitly criticized top U.S. commanders in Afghanistan by blasting their rules of engagement. Angered that his repeated calls for artillery and air support were denied during the ambush, he charged that in trying to prevent civilian casualties for political reasons, the rules were costing U.S. soldiers’ lives.

    “We are not looking at the ground fighter and why he is using these air assets,” Swenson said, according to a transcript obtained by McClatchy. “We just reduced an asset that’s politically unpopular. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there saying, ‘I would really like that asset.’ There are probably a lot of people who got killed as a result of not having that asset.

    “I’m not a politician. I’m just the guy on the ground asking for that ammunition to be dropped because it’s going to save lives,” he continued.

    His criticism of the folks who held back the fire power that Swenson so desperately needed to extricate his command from the firefight doesn’t change the facts that he saved his unit or the fact that he drove back into withering fire to rescue fallen troops repeatedly.

    If this is Big Army’s way of silencing critics about their inability to balance their rules of engagement against fighting an effective war, message received. Now do the right thing. I’m pretty sure that CPT Swenson could care less, but we, the public, do care.

  • Update on SFC Walter Taylor?

    We talked about SFC Walter Taylor a few months ago before his article 32 investigation. Now it seems that the Article 32 Board has recommended that he not be prosecuted, apparently.

    I haven’t been able to find anything else on the internet in regards to this besides this copy and paste job on SFC Taylor’s support site on Facebook, and I don’t know where they got it, so do with it what you want;

    Findings and recommendations per the Article 32 Investigating Officer, LTC Alva Hart, dated 31 July 2012:

    1. CHARGE I: VIOLATION OF THE UCMJ, ARTICLE 92:

    1st Specification: In that Sergeant First Class Walter M. Taylor, US ARMY, who should have known of his duties at or near Wardak Province, Afghanistan on or about 21 July 2011, was derelict in the performance of those duties in that he negligently failed to obtain positive identification that Dr. Aqilah Hikmat was engaged in a hostile act or exhibiting intent before shooting at her with a loaded firearm, as it was his duty to do.

    2nd Specification: In that Sergeant First Class Walter M. Taylor, US ARMY, who knew his duties at or near Wardak Province, Afghanistan, on or about 21 July 2011, was derelict in the performance of those duties in that he willfully failed to obtain positive identification that Dr. Aquila Hikmat was engaged in a hostile act or exhibiting hostile intent before shooting her with a loaded firearm, as it was his duty to do.

    BASED ON THE EVIDENCE CONSIDERED DURING THE ARTICLE 32 INVESTIGATION, I HAVE DETERMINED THAT NO REASONABLE GROUNDS EXIST TO BELIEVE THAT THE ACCUSED COMMITTED THE ALLEGED OFFENSE.

    2. CHARGE II: VIOLATION OF THE UCMJ, ARTICLE 134:
    The Specification: In that Sergeant First Class Walter M Taylor, US ARMY, did, at or near Wardak Province, Afghanistan, on or about 21 July 2011, unlawfully kill Dr. Aqilah Hikmat, by negligently shooting her in the chest and head with a firearm, which conduct was the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces and was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.

    BASED ON THE EVIDENCE CONSIDERED DURING THE ARTICLE 32 INVESTIGATION, I HAVE DETERMINED THAT NO REASONABLE GROUNDS EXIST TO BELIEVE THAT THE ACCUSED COMMITTED THE ALLEGED OFFENSE.

    RECOMMENDATION: Due to the lack of basis for the violation of Article 92, and therefore the resulting failure in the requirement for an “unlawful” act in the Article 134 specification, I RECOMMEND THAT THESE CHARGES DO NOT PROCEED TO COURTS MARTIAL.

    Of course, even if it’s true, and there’s no reason to believe otherwise at this point, it’s just a recommendation. Big Army can do what they want with it.

    Thanks to Just Plain Jason for the heads up.