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

Category: Breaking News

  • Afghan charitably reminds Panetta of real threat

    There’s no need to reiterate Jonn’s post on Pannetta having his troops disarmed before speaking with them.

    It would seem, quite epiphanously, that while Leon Panetta was having American troops disarmed before allowing them in his presence an Afghan stole a truck and drove it through the airfield’s perimeter in what seems like an attempted attack. Initial reports indicate he was a civilian employee at the base. So our Secretary of Defense is distrustfully disarming American troops while one of our “partners” is trying to kill him. It’s good to be reminded of the perspective of our current leadership, from time to time.

  • JBLM Pvt stabbed to death off base

    The hits keep on coming for JBLM.

    Twenty-nine year old 5th Stryker Brigade Private Nathaniel Ollis was found stabbed to death at his off base apartment. He was a married father of three pending separation at the time of his death. When he was a Pfc he survived an IED blast in Iraq that killed three of his fellow soldiers and left him badly wounded.

    I’m unsure of the nature of his discharge or the exact circumstances of his death and I won’t echo the grusome details, those so interested can follow the link. After a police chase of the two losers who killed him came this:

    After Olympia detectives arrested the suspects, one of them told a detective that he and others helped clean blood from the crime scene Friday on Lilly Road. He said he was “masterminding” the cleanup efforts because “I’m the smartest one.” The same suspect told detectives that he was injecting methamphetamine during the police pursuit Sunday on I-5.

    I looked these two dipshits up but until I’m sure the guys I found are in fact the guilty parties I won’t post any of their information.

    My sincere condolences to his family.

  • Envelopes with white powder found in Northeast

    Someone is sending the FBI on wild goose chases in the District of Columbia this week, according to DC’s Fox5;

    Officers responded to the Amidon Bowen Elementary School on I Street in the southwest shortly before 10:00 a.m. where they say a letter containing white powder was found. Student and staff were evacuated. Officers say the powder was not hazardous. Students were allowed back in the building shortly after 11:00 a.m.

    Investigators responded to a second incident around 11:00 a.m. at the Bibiana Restaurant on 12th & H Street in the northwest for a similar suspicious incident. Police say an envelope with white powder was discovered at the location.

    Since Monday, officials say six similar incidents were being investigated by the FBI.

    The FBI reports that there’s been no hazardous material found in any of the envelopes yet.

    The Hartford Courant is reporting someone is mailing envelopes to at least 3 local schools in Connecticut, too, as well as other schools in Rhode Island.

    Someone’s got too much time on their hands. Or it’s another test.

  • Bomb squad sent to Rush’s house

    According to the local news, a bomb squad has been summoned for a suspicious package at Rush Limbaugh’s Palm Beach home;

    Probably one of those crazed veterans. Couldn’t have been an actual opponent, because they’re all for elevating the debate.

    Update: It seems the “bomb” was a package sent by a listener as a business opportunity.

  • 12345 ….the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!

    Well what makes it even funnier is that that is the password to at least one email account of top aides to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Yes it was literally 12345. Also seems that I am not the first person to make the connection between this and Space Balls.

    Expatriate Syrians pounced, gleefully delving through this treasure trove and pulling out newsworthy gems (some even joked about sending replies from the accounts, for example, “Curse your soul, Hafez”). There were few smoking guns, but one email, from U.N.-based press aide Sheherazad Jaafari to Damascus-based press aide Luna Chebel, was particularly interesting. It advises the presidential office on how to best handle Assad’s Dec. 7 interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters. If this is the quality of staff work Bashar al-Assad is getting… well, it explains a lot:

    So now would be a good idea to see if your password is strong enough. Oh and to stop everything you are doing if you have not seen Space Balls. Seriously right now. Ludicrous Speed. GO!

    “kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!”

    Love that line.

  • Australia looking to recruit in our military.

    Yep, with all the talks of cuts within the military and ending of the operation in Iraq, the military of Australia is looking into number of people that are being affected by it. That is, they are looking to enlist them for their military experience.

    With the Iraq War officially over and the Army downsizing in the face of defense budget pressure, more troops will be making the transition back to civilian life — a potentially challenging prospect given the state of the economy.

    But for those who want to stay in uniform, there may be a new option emerging — just not an American one. Australia has put out the “Help Wanted” sign for foreign national veterans.

    “We are looking for serving or ex-serving foreign military personnel, who can directly transfer their job and life skills to whichever Service they join, with limited training and preparation,” the Australian Defence Force has announced on its website.

    Also it seems that you do not have to lose your US citizenship for serving in the Australian military. What makes it more interesting is that is seems to have some level of support from the VFW.

    According to the U.S. State Department, the U.S. and Australia each recognize dual citizenship. Serving in the military of one is not listed as a cause for losing citizenship in the other. The Australian defense site also notes that security clearances acquired while in the U.S. military are transferable to the Australian military.

    “Australia is a great country and staunch ally, and aside from a common language, we share the same values and beliefs,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “As our military begins to downsize, it could be a great opportunity for those who want to continue serving.”

    I may email them to see what is going on with this program. I will post anything that I get back.

  • Those Patriot missiles found in Finland

    Several of you sent us links yesterday about those 69 Patriot missiles Finnish custom officials found on a ship that appeared to be headed for China. Well, it seems they were a legitimate weapons sales from Germany to South Korea according to Associated Press;

    A spokesman for Germany’s Defense Ministry said the missiles were an official shipment that was fully declared and had all necessary clearings from German authorities.

    “Those patriot guided missiles are from the Bundeswehr’s stocks and have been shipped to South Korea” according to an intergovernmental treaty, he said, declining to be named in line with government policy.

    He said no explosives were part of the shipment and he didn’t have any information on that part of the impounded cargo.

    So, I wasn’t ignoring your emails. Just waiting for the rest of the story.

  • Eight soldiers charged in suicide of Army Pvt.

    On the heels of my complaining about the need to hold leadership accountable for the Manning fiasco comes news that eight soldiers out of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team are being charged in a Soldier’s suicide. Six of the eight are officers or NCOs.

    The reporting from the Washington Post:

    Eight U.S. soldiers have been charged in the death of a fellow GI, a Chinese-American who apparently shot himself in Afghanistan after being subjected to what a community activist said were assaults and ethnic taunts from his comrades.

    My RADAR goes off any time I hear about accusations from a “community activist” especially those who peddle in identity politics. Nevertheless the Post goes on to detail the hazing the Army is asserting caused Chen to kill himself:

    In a statement, the Army said Wednesday that eight soldiers in his company were charged with crimes ranging from dereliction of duty to negligent homicide and manslaughter.

    Military officials gave no details on exactly what role the soldiers are alleged to have played in Chen’s death. But a community activist raised the possibility that their bullying drove him to suicide.

    Chen’s fellow soldiers dragged him across the floor, threw stones at the back of his head, forced him to hold liquid in his mouth while upside down as part of an apparent hazing, and called him “Jackie Chen” in a mocking accent in a reference to the action star Jackie Chan, according to Elizabeth OuYang, president of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans.

    Stories like this remind me of my own time in the barracks or overseas and all of the horrible things we did to each other, sometimes as an initiation of sorts but often times for no other reason than we were bored. I wonder if we always knew when it was in good fun and when it was going too far. Despite what the PR machine says hazing has a place in military culture and to remove it entirely will be to change that culture, for good or ill.