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

Category: Military issues

  • Obama targets veterans’ votes

    The Associated Press reports that the Obama campaign thinks it has a lock on veterans’ votes because he ended the the war in Iraq and has a generally good record on national security. While I’ll concede that he has presided over the military during a successful period, it’s only because he’s interfered with the policies established by the Bush Administration less than we expected.

    The Associated Press gives him credit for the new GI Bill, which was signed before he came into office by his predecessor. It was the Obama Administration which screwed the pooch and paid veterans months after they’d promised because they only had a year or so to figure the whole thing out, while troops and their families suffered financially.

    And remember when he wanted to force service-disabled veterans to buy insurance? Do you really think he’ll cave as easily next time when there’s no election to worry about?

    Oh, yeah, and he’s got the Defense Department doing his dirty work jacking up TriCare premiums, so he can go around proclaiming that he won’t balance the budget on the backs of veterans.

    Did I mention that Obama and his hitmen are slashing $800 billion out of the defense budget – so much so that the American Legion commander says it imperils our national security? That this President has never given veterans a cost of living increase but our healthcare costs are rising along with fuel that we use to get to veterans’ treatment facilities?

    So what has really done? He failed to successfully negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement which forced us to withdraw from Iraq while it descends into violence. Disregarding the advice from his commanders, he half-assed surged in Afghanistan hoping that drones would make up for the number of troops…and then lost drone bases in Pakistan.

    He won’t admit that service members in Fort Hood and Arkansas were victims of Islamic terrorists, pretty much refusing to recognize that war against terrorists has followed the troops home.

    He’s made a lot of pretty speeches to veterans that few of us believed. And, bin Laden and al Awlaki were killed under his command, so that’s something.

  • More on that “one mile walk” LTC

    A little bird emailed us last night that we should check further into LTC Chris Cote, the Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who filed an EO complaint against the Air Force’s unfair standards for the one-mile walk. So I went over and checked the Air Force Times and he’s been in the news there before.

    Apparently a gang of LTCs got together and complained about their boss, the wing commander at Dover Air Force Base, DE, Col. Randal Bright;

    Lt. Col. Chris Cote alleges Bright retaliated against him after he told Bright in an e-mail that he didn’t appreciate being called a “loser” in a staff meeting. He believes he received a referral officer performance report and other negative reviews because of the e-mail.

    I guess it never occurred to Cote that maybe he got negative reviews because he might indeed be a loser. Only a loser would write to their Senator after the Equal Opportunity Office did them a favor and didn’t make a stink on their behalf.

    Our little bird tells us that Cote flies C-5s, an impressive job, but that doesn’t insulate him from being made fun of for giving the military a bad name.

  • As the situation on the ground dictates…

    One of my favorite games played by the Pentagon is to replace uniformed personnel with contractors and pretend the mission of the “eliminated” billet has gone away. As the Obama administration continues to pretend that the situation on the ground permits the natural withdrawal of military personnel comes the news that Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan will be taking on private military contractors to provide physical security for the base. According to the Marine Corps Times:

    U.S. commanders want civilian contractors to provide military security at the Marine Corps’ largest base in Afghanistan as a planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from the war-torn country expands.

    —

    “As we prepare for fewer Marine boots on the ground, the requirement to maintain a certain level of security aboard Camp Leatherneck must be maintained,” Player said. “That’s where contractor support will provide Camp Leatherneck security where Marines have in the past.”

    U.S. Army Contracting Command announced a competition for the job in November. At least 166 civilian guards will be needed at all times, meaning the company that wins the contract will almost certainly need more to account for vacations and other leave time. Companies who seek the job must hire guards who are citizens of the U.S. or some of its closest allies: the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

    Now, of course, the stationing of PMCs on base, even foreign nationals is nothing new to those of use who served in Iraq. I’ve worked with Marine Corps provisional security companies a few times from 3/2, 8th Tanks and, during work up, 2nd LAAD. As long as the mission is performed by a reputable company and the base QRF is still Marine Corps there’s nothing about the job that requires it be done by uniformed service members.

    Still, this begs the question, why replace Marines with contractors? The demand hasn’t gone away, Afghanistan will be as dangerous on the PMCs first day as the Corps’ last. The mission is already mainly performed by Reservists and the shortage of fresh troops isn’t nearly as critical as in the heart of the surge in Iraq. I doubt the DoD is saving any significant money, PMCs are not cheap and it doesn’t reduce the end force reduction goals with the looming cuts. They certainly aren’t going to do a better job.

    The answer is simple: reducing the number of American troops in Afghanistan creates the phony impression the war is “winding down” and the Obama administration is reducing our commitment there. Of course neither of these things are true but, as already displayed by the sabotaging of the negotiations in Iraq to keep the desperately needed US troops there another year, this administration doesn’t actually care about winning our nation’s military campaigns, only their party’s political ones.

  • Pentagon to trim flag officers

    William sends us a link to a Washington Post article which reports that the Pentagon is planning to cut the number of generals and admirals serving.

    Pentagon officials said they have eliminated 27 jobs for generals and admirals since March, the first time the Defense Department has imposed such a reduction since the aftermath of the Cold War, when the collapse of the Soviet Union prompted the military to downsize.

    The cuts are part of a broader plan to shrink the upper ranks by 10 percent over five years, restoring them to the their size when the country was last at peace, before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

    While it’s a good idea, we can all rest assured that they won’t be firing anyone who needs to be fired. Those guys who’ve spent the war years entrenching themselves in non-deployable slots will see their efforts come to fruition while the actual trigger pullers with brains and ideas will shuffle off to the South Carolina coast.

    The last time they cut back the General Officers’ Corps we got Wesley Clarke.

  • Colonel Lowe addresses new Marine LTs

    John sends us a link to a speech given recently to the graduates of the most recent Basic School at Quantico by the commander of that base, Col. Mike Lowe. Col. Lowe addresses the new lieutenants and tells them the eight things he learned about leading Marines during his 28 years in that business;

    1. Seek brilliance in the basics, always do the right thing, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

    2. If you are riding at the head of the herd, look back every now and then and make sure it is still there.

    3. Never enter an hour-long firefight with 5 minutes of ammo.

    4. This one is really important for all of you born North of Washington, DC. Never, never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

    5. If you’re not shooting, and I can see by your marksmanship badges that some of you are challenged in this area, you better be communicating or reloading for another Marine.

    6. There are three types of leaders. Those who learn from reading, those who learn from observation, and those who still have to touch the electric fence to get the message.

    7. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap.

    8. And finally, you might want to write this one down: Never slap a grown man who has a mouth full of chewing tobacco

    I can’t find anything wrong with any of that advice. Col. Lowe foes on to explain what he likes most about Marines, and you should read them all. Out of them all, I like this one best;

    I like the fact that if you are a self-declared enemy of America, that running into a Marine outfit in combat is your worst nightmare, and that your health record is about to get a lot thicker or be closed out entirely!

  • Iraqi Medal of Commitment

    Lucky sends us a link to Medals of America which is saying that there will soon be a new medal for Iraq veterans called the Iraqi Medal of Commitment issued by the Iraqi government. This is supposedly text from the letter to the Secretary of Defense from the Iraqi Minister of Defense;

    It is our intention that the medal be awarded to military personnel who served in Iraq as part of the armed forces of the United States and other coalition nations. To qualify to receive the medal, service members must have served for 30 consecutive days or for 60 non-consecutive days within the borders of Iraq, within its territorial waters, or within its airspace during the period of March 19, 2003 to December 31, 2011.

    Yeah, I know you didn’t do it for the medals, but it’s nice to know that someone in Iraq appreciates your selfless service to their country. And, oh, this is by no means authorization for you to wear the medal this morning, it’s only a proposal at this point.

  • Army plans cuts to NCO ranks

    Stars & Stripes reports that a memo leaked out of somewhere which outlined plans to trim NCO ranks. But of course, not where the fat lies;

    The first board, affecting the ranks of sergeants first class and above, will consider senior NCOs “for denial of continued service whose performance, conduct, and/or potential for advancement may not meet Army standards.”

    The other two boards will target staff sergeants and above who are in a job “where the 12-month operating strength projections exceed 100 percent” and in jobs where the time it takes a soldier to get promoted exceeds the Army standard.

    I may have said this before, but I floated a plan in the 90s to cut NCO ranks by giving E-8s and E-9s an option to take a command or first sergeant slot or GTFO. I saw so many E-8 and E-9s spend their careers doing their damnedest to avoid leading troops it disgusted me, especially since we were in the business of being a leader and not a fat ass coffee drinking POG.

    I watched a sergeant major yell at his branch chief over the phone because they were trying to send him to an artillery battalion in the 101st from his cushy ROTC assignment. A CSM in the 101st has to be one of the best jobs in the Army for someone who wants to be a leader, unless it’s being a CSM in the 82d, but the guy was a leg.

    Yeah, if the Army is going to trim the deadwood, that’d be fine, but start at the top of the enlisted ranks and boot those senior NCOs who’ve avoided leadership positions their entire careers.

  • No parades for returning troops

    The Army Times reports that there will be no parades or celebrations for the returning troops and for the end of their war in Iraq;

    Officials in New York and Washington say they would be happy to help stage a big celebration, but Pentagon officials say they haven’t been asked to plan one.

    Most welcome-homes have been smaller-scale: hugs from families at military posts across the country, a somber commemoration by President Obama at Fort Bragg, N.C.

    With tens of thousands of U.S. troops still fighting a bloody war in Afghanistan, anything that looks like a big victory celebration could be seen as unseemly and premature, some say.

    Me? I’d like to see a parade, but if I had to be in it, I might think differently. So I wonder what you think. Many of you have been in Iraq, and I’m really interested in what your feelings on this are. I avoided celebrations when I was home on leave after Desert Storm, but I’ve never been a big fan of crowds. I did, however, stop by my son’s classroom to thank his classmates for the letters they sent me while I was there.