Category: Military issues

Back in October, we talked about Major General John Rossi’s suicide. Folks speculated about the reasons that he took such an extreme step. KSWO says it was merely sleep deprivation and fear of the Peter Principle that sent him off the edge;

Former Fort Sill Commander Major General John Rossi struggled with feelings of inadequacies in his abilities to perform his new job and sleep deprivation before he committed suicide in July of 2016, according to a report released by Army Investigators.

MG Rossi was just days away from becoming a three-star general and assuming command of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama when his wife found him dead in their home.

According to a report in the Army Times, Rossi had been struggling with sleep deprivation and feelings he was not smart enough for his role within the Army for years prior to his decision to end his life on July 31. His death has triggered a review of mental health issues across the entire Army.

I can’t help but think that if he’d reached out, or if someone had been paying closer attention to the general, this could have been avoided.

Fox News reports that Because of cuts to training and maintenance, US military aircraft are succumbing to gravity more often.

A Fox News investigation reveals that, overall, the entire U.S. military saw a 48 percent increase in non-combat aviation crashes in 2014 and 2015 compared with the two prior years, based on press reports.

“They are going up partly because they are not getting the training they should get. They’re going up because maintenance is harder and harder to accomplish. They are going up because the airplanes are getting older and older,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, in an interview with Fox News.

Sequestration has played a major role in the state of disrepair. Pilots’ flight hours have been slashed because of cuts to military spending while there is war being conducted against terrorism. Congress and the White House won’t cut social spending, so the military takes on the entire burden of spending cuts – that costs lives and it reduces readiness. Who could have seen that coming? We went through this all once before – during the Carter years.

The Associated Press reports that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton dropped in on the American Legion Convention today and she outlined her platform on National Security;

[T]he Democratic presidential nominee called the United States an “exceptional nation,” and accused Republican rival Donald Trump of thinking that approach is “insulting to the rest of the world.”

Clinton said the country has a “unique and unparalleled ability to be a force for peace and progress.” She questioned Trump’s support for the military and hit him for his last-minute trip to Mexico Wednesday, saying it “takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours.”

Like dropping in on the American Legion for a few minutes after years of insulting the military?

From Military Times;

“Threatening to walk away from our alliances, ignoring the importance that they still are to us, is not only wrong, it is dangerous,” she told a crowd of veterans gathered at the Cincinnati event. “If I am your president, our friends will always know, America will have your backs, and we expect you to have ours.

“You don’t build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon. You do it through slow, hard work of building relationships.”

The entire time that Obama has been President, he’s been threatening to walk away from Afghanistan and essentially that’s what he did to Iraq – with predictable results. I think Clinton was Secretary of State when he walked away from our alliance with the Iraqi government. So, who does she think that she’s fooling?

Devtun sends us a link from Military Times which reports that the President has “ordered” Congress to give the troops a 1.6% cost of living increase for next year. I remember the Bush years when folks criticized that President for his “anemic” 4% and 5% COLA increases. Well, this is the seventh year that COLA raises have been below 2%, so where are those critics now;

“I am strongly committed to supporting our uniformed service members, who have made such great contributions to our nation over more than a decade of war,” Obama wrote. “As our country continues to recover from serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, however, we must maintain efforts to keep our nation on a sustainable fiscal course.

“This effort requires tough choices, especially in light of budget constraints.”

The language is identical to the letter Obama sent to Congress in summer 2015, when he set the military pay raise for this year at 1.3 percent.

This is the same president that promised that he wouldn’t balance the budget on the backs of the troops and veterans. The same president whose wife has promised to make things better for military families.

On August 7, 1782, George Washington established the Badge of Military Merit – he awarded the distinction to only three members of his Army, although others were awarded the medal. After World War I, the Purple Heart Medal in it’s current form, replaced “Wound Stripes” as recognition for service members who were wounded or killed in action.

The Department of Defense lists the eligibility criteria for the Purple Heart Medal;

(1) Eligibility Criteria

(a) In accordance with Reference (p) the PH is awarded to any member of the U.S. Armed Forces who, while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Forces, after April 5, 1917, has been wounded, killed, or who has died or may hereafter die of wounds received under any of the following circumstances:

1. In any action against an enemy of the United States.

2. In any action with an opposing armed force of a foreign country in which the U.S. Armed Forces are or have been engaged.

3. While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

4. As a result of an act of any such enemy or opposing armed forces.

5. As the result of an act of any hostile foreign force.

6. After March 28, 1973, as a result of an international terrorist attack against the United States or a foreign nation friendly to the United States, recognized as such an attack for purposes of award of the PH by the Secretary of the Military Department concerned, or jointly by the Secretaries of the Military Departments concerned if members from more than one Military Department are wounded in the attack. The Secretary of the Military Department concerned shall notify the USD(P&R) prior to awarding the PH for an international terrorist attack that occurs in the United States or its territories.

7. After March 28, 1973, as a result of military operations while serving outside the territory of the United States as part of a peacekeeping force.

8. On or after December 7, 1941, a Service member who is killed or wounded in action as the result of action by friendly weapon fire while directly engaged in armed conflict, other than as a result of an act of an enemy of the United States, unless (in the case of a wound) the wound is the result of willful misconduct of the member (in accordance with section 1129 of Reference (f)).

9. Before April 25, 1962, while held as a prisoner of war (or while being taken captive) in the same manner as a former prisoner of war who is wounded on or after that date while held as a prisoner of war (in accordance with section 521 of Public Law (P.L.) 104-106 (Reference (q))).

10. On or after December 7, 1941, to a Service member who is killed or dies while in captivity as a prisoner of war (POW) under circumstances establishing eligibility for the POW medal pursuant to section 1128 of Reference (f), and section 15, Enclosure 3, Volume 2 of this Manual, unless compelling evidence is presented that shows that the member’s death was not the result of enemy action.

11. After September 11, 2001, pursuant to section 1129a of Reference (f), to a Service member on active duty who is killed or wounded in an attack by a foreign terrorist organizations in circumstances where the death or wound is the result of an attack targeted on the member due to such member’s status as a member of the armed forces. An attack by an individual or entity shall be considered to be a foreign terrorist attack if the individual or entity was in communication with the foreign terrorist organization before the attack and the attack was inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization.

a. An award is not authorized if the death or wound was the result of the willful misconduct of the member.

b. To assist in making a PH determination pursuant to section 1129a of Reference (f), the Military Department Secretary concerned may request an intelligence assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agencies’ Defense Combating Terrorism Center (DCTC). The DCTC assessment of potential foreign terrorist attacks by an individual or entity will assess whether the individual or entity was in communication with the foreign terrorist organization before the attack and if the attack was inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization. The assessment shall include supporting citations and rationale.

(b) A wound for which the award is made must have been of such severity that it required treatment, not merely examination, by a medical officer. Additionally, treatment of the wound shall be documented in the Service member’s medical and/or health record. Award of the PH may be made for wounds treated by a medical professional other than a medical officer provided a medical officer includes a statement in the Service member’s medical record that the extent of the wounds were such that they would have required treatment by a medical officer if one had been available to treat them.

(d) The PH may be awarded posthumously and, when so directed, may be presented to such representatives of the deceased as the Secretary concerned considers appropriate.

Like the POW Medal, only phonies really *want* the Purple Heart Medal – the rest of us understand the cost that it represents.