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

Category: Historical

  • How Far Would YOU Go?

    It’s taken me a coupla days to calm down enough to post this one. I kept reading about the thing and getting pissed. For something different each time, mind you, but even as semi-literate as I am a post with little more than WTF! said over and over seemed a waste of time.

    So here goes: Army vet with PTSD sought the treatment he needed by taking hostages – but got jail instead

    Fifteen months of carnage in Iraq had left the 29-year-old debilitated by post-traumatic stress disorder. But despite his doctor’s urgent recommendation, the Army failed to send him to a Warrior Transition Unit for help. The best the Department of Veterans Affairs could offer was 10-minute therapy sessions — via videoconference.

    So, early on Labor Day morning last year, after topping off a night of drinking with a handful of sleeping pills, Quinones barged into Fort Stewart’s hospital, forced his way to the third-floor psychiatric ward and held three soldiers hostage, demanding better mental health treatment.

    “I’ve done it the Army’s way,” Quinones told Henson. “We’re going to do it my way now.”

    Aside: As a ‘Nam vet watching friends and others trying to get help before there even WAS a diagnosis of PTSD around; and watching civilians who had watched one too many movies about Crazy Vietnam Vets cringe away from me when it became known I’d visited the place I reckon I’m just a bit sensitive.

    The story of  “Q” gets worse as it unfolds:

    He saw an Army therapist twice a week, and he was prescribed high doses of medications to treat anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia and depression. In March 2009, his psychiatrist completed the Army’s Warrior Screening Matrix, a tool implemented by the service to determine when a soldier should be assigned to a Warrior Transition Unit, a medical unit for injured soldiers.

    The doctor answers questions about a soldier’s ability to perform his duties, his behavioral health, treatment needs, drug or alcohol abuse, suicide history, medical compliance, life stressors such as divorce and whether the illness or injury affects self-worth.

    Each answer gets a corresponding number, which are all totaled for a score.

    Less than 29: no need for the WTU.

    Between 30 and 199: Possible need for the WTU.

    Between 200 and 999: Needs to go to the WTU.

    A score of 1,000 or above: Failure to assign a soldier to the WTU is likely to hurt treatment.

    Quinones scored 2,331. The psychiatrist underlined it twice on the paperwork.

    He left a voicemail for Quinones’ company commander, but in the Army’s system, medical professionals are largely consultants. The decision on how to proceed is up to the commander.

    Quinones was never sent to the WTU. 

    There’s a lot of Army terms I’m unfamiliar with, but the story DOES come from S&S. The comments offer further validity.

    And it pisses me off! Not quite sure what to do next, but it’s for certain that this story needs to get out there.

     

  • 71st Anniversary National Airborne Day

    COB6

    That’s COB6 giving you the six minute warning above.

    National Airborne Day is set on the day of the first parachute jump conducted by the Army’s Parachute Test Platoon on August 16th, 1940.

    On the morning of 16 August 1940 the jump began. After the C-33 leveled off at 1500 feet and flew over the jump field, Lt. Ryder was in the door ready to jump. Warrant Officer Wilson knelt in the door waiting to pass the Go Point. When this was reached, he slapped Lt. Ryder on the leg and the first jump was made. Now Number One moved into position. Slap! “Go! Jump!”

    Still no movement.

    It was too late now to jump on this pass. Mr. Wilson motioned Number One to go back to his seat. As the plane circled Mr. Wilson talked to Number One. Number One wanted another chance. Okay, this time we’ll do it. Back into the jumping position and once again, slap!

    Sadly, no movement. Number One returned to his seat.

    Private William N. “Red” King moved into the jumping position in the door. Slap! Out into American military immortality leaped Red King… the first enlisted man of the test platoon to jump out of an airplane. Number One was transferred to another post and anonymity. Now there were forty-seven. Was Number One a coward? I don’t think many experienced jumpers would say so. There are things some men cannot do at a given time. Possibly another time would have been fine. He wanted to. He intended to. He just could not… at least that morning.

    The first US airborne operation was in support of Operation Torch, November 1942, in North Africa when 531 members of the 2nd Battalion 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment flew 1600 miles in 39 C-47s, of which only ten aircraft dropped their pacs, the rest landed because of navigation difficulties and low fuel.

    Ten years ago, 3rd Battalion, 75th Rangers secured an airfield in Kandahar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on October 19, 2001. On March 23rd, 2003, A Company, 3/75th conducted an airborne operation to secure an airfield in Northern Iraq a few days before the 173rd Airborne Brigade parachuted into Northern Iraq when the Turks wouldn’t allow the 4th Infantry Division to off-load and invade Iraq from their borders.

    In years past, the 82d Airborne Division Association, mostly the DC Chapter, had to lobby to get recognition for National Airborne Day from the Senate every year, until 2009 when the Senate made it permanent.

    We used to get a Presidential Proclamation every year, but for some reason, we haven’t had any since 2008.

    That’s me, on my ass as usual, in the days before Eric Shinseki;

    Thanks to Mr. Shackleford (I don’t think that’s his real name) for the link. And thanks to DrewM who pointed you Morons over here.

  • 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall

    East German border

    Stars & Stripes has spent a lot of column inches on the anniversary of the East Germans’ Berlin Wall which was begun fifty years ago yesterday. The East German wall played a big part of my nine years in Germany in the 80s and you can read about one of my experiences, if you missed it when I posted it more than two years ago. There are more pictures here. All of those pictures are pictures I used to train my troops to identify what they’d see and experience during their border patrols.

  • Carters’s Army, or maybe BOHICA?

    J. D. offers up some history and perspective at his place.

    I Remember Carter’s Army

    I remember President Carter’s Army. I remember Carter’s gasoline lines. I remember Carter’s interest rates. I remember his turn your thermostat down and wear a sweater energy policy speeches. I remember him really showing the Russians how tough we were by boycotting the Moscow Olympics. I remember his policy of restraint while Americans were held hostage and abused by Iranian terrorists. I remember his cheerleading for the “moderate” religious man to replace the “despotic” Shah of Iran. I remember his amnesty and upgraded discharges for military deserters and draft dodgers, most of whom got a better welcome home than our Vietnam combat veterans did.

    But his closing paragraph encapsulates the meaning of BOHICA quite nicely…

    Let me see if I can sum it up. Reduce defense spending by nearly one trillion dollars. Usher in “moderate” Middle Eastern governments. Abandon missile defense, abandon space, abandon development of future combat systems and use the military as a tool to normalize homosexuality. Mr. Carter’s Army is looking pretty good about now.

    Not much to add. We can’t be certain yet whether this piece is prophetic or  just a warning, but…

  • The Other Shoe?

    A friend sent this link along.

    One of Kerry’s enablers in propounding his imaginary heroism was a man named Wade Sanders, who himself held a Silver Star, and who introduced Kerry to the Democratic Convention. Scott Swett, who was central to the unraveling of the Kerry storyline, tells us that the Kerry enabler has been exposed for what he is. His Winter Soldier site has the details:

    John Kerry was introduced at the 2004 Democratic National Convention by Wade Sanders, a retired Navy Captain and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy who served as a Swift Boat officer in Vietnam. Like Kerry, Sanders was the recipient of a Silver Star for gallantry in action. During the 2004 campaign, Sanders functioned as Kerry lead attack dog against the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, repeatedly denouncing the veterans on the air as liars and comparing them to Nazi propagandists.

    Wade Sanders is now in Federal prison, serving a 37-month sentence for possessing child pornography. Now the Navy Times reports that Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has revoked Sanders’ Silver Star. The highly unusual decision appears unrelated to Sanders’ felony conviction. A Navy spokesman cited “subsequently determined facts and evidence surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself.” John Kerry has to be hoping this doesn’t become a trend.

    Not much to add. Child porn is disgusting unless yer a member of a certain peaceful religious group (look it up), but I highlighted the kicker for me.  Looks like a stolen valor case, but I don’t have the skill set or time to explore that aspect.

  • When is a Memorial NOT a Memorial?

    Political correctness gone mad at Ground Zero

    This Sept. 11, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks upon America, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will dedicate the massive, $600 million National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center. What Americans have not been told is that this “memorial” will remake Ground Zero so that it does not acknowledge 9/11.

    Instead of acting as a constant reminder of the attacks, a symbol for us and future generations of the evil that struck, the death and destruction it caused and the heroism and sacrifice in response, the memorial will wipe out all evidence and memory of the attacks.

    I haven’t studied this specific issue, but I HAVE visited the Flight 93 site more than once and noted a similar exercise ongoing there. Much of what made that place a true Memorial has been ‘placed in storage’.

    One line in the linked article captures the sense of the effort I’ve seen in action for myself in Pennsylvania, and what appears to be happening at Ground Zero.

    This is like banishing the USS Arizona from the USS Arizona Memorial.

    I’m hardly an expert concerning memorials, mind you. When The Vietnam Memorial was in the planning stages I was with “The Black Gash of Shame” crowd. Then I actually saw it! But it’s the names and dates that make it a memorial – NOT the architecture.

    It would seem that 9/11 doesn’t merit more than some artists rendering?

  • The CINC Knows Best

    The 1973 War Powers Resolution was passed during the era of the Vietnam War to set out the powers of the president and Congress regarding U.S. military actions. It prohibits U.S. armed forces from being involved in military actions for more than 60 days without congressional authorization.

    It seem that there actually has been some discussion about the “Kinetic Military Action” ongoing in Libya.

    President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.

    One quote struck me in particular:

    “It should come as no surprise that there would be some disagreements, even within an administration, regarding the application of a statute that is nearly 40 years old to a unique and evolving conflict,” Mr. Schultz said. “Those disagreements are ordinary and healthy.”

    Damn them old laws!

    If simply calling something “unique and evolving” means an old law doesn’t apply is that The Benchmark now?

    I won’t argue that there aren’t archaic and outdated laws on the books here and there, but this standard is more than a little troubling. The 21st century is unique and evolving compared to back around 1776.

  • The Conscientious Objector – A Reminder

    Many hear or see the words “I’m a conscientious objector.” and think of hippies and draft dodgers, and rightly so. But there have been others who could use that phrase with no small honor.

    I was reminded of that today when I stumbled across the name below. I remember reading about him years ago. Reckon maybe others here might not have heard of him?

    Meet Desmond Doss.

    Desmond T. Doss (February 7, 1919–March 23, 2006) was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor and one of only three so honored (the others are Thomas W. Bennett and Joseph G. LaPointe, Jr.). He was a Corporal (Private First Class at the time of his Medal of Honor heroics) in the U.S. Army assigned to the Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.

    Desmond Doss refused to kill, or carry a weapon into combat, because of his personal beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist. He thus became a medic, and by serving in the Pacific theatre of World War II helped his country by saving the lives of his comrades, while also adhering to his religious convictions. 

    His Medal of Honor was earned by the risks he took to save the lives of many comrades.

    Now there is a documentary about him.

    The Movie, with trailer.

    It’s on my to-watch list.