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

Category: Military issues

  • Rumor Doctor on Air Force spending priorities

    We’ve all heard the rumor that the reason Air Force bases are so loaded with niceties that the rest of the military doesn’t have is because they build the amenities first and then go back to Congress to complain there wasn’t enough to build an airstrip. Well, the Stars & Stripes Rumor Doctor, Jeff Schogol, does the leg work to uncover the truth;

    The Air Force says the myth about runways is pure hogwash.

    “The Air Force uses a deliberate process determine which projects deserve limited military construction funds,” Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Richelle Dowdell said in an email. “There is a scoring matrix that is used to determine the priorities of those projects, and the impact to the mission plays a big part in that scoring.”

    I guess that just means that the Army sucks at getting money for building nice things. It probably doesn’t help the Army that they build in shitholes like Liberty County, GA and the Air Force builds at Fort Walton Beach, FL.

    The last line of The Rumor Doctor’s piece puts the Air Force’s statement in some doubt, though.

  • 3 gay airmen request discharge before DADT repeal

    Stars & Stripes reports that three more airmen have “outed” themselves and seek an early discharge before the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy which is scheduled to begin in coming months;

    According to the Air Force, during the past month two female staff sergeants and a male 2nd lieutenant made statements identifying themselves as gay and asked to be separated quickly from the service. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley approved the discharges of the two women, and accepted the resignation of the man.

    I predict that dicksmith will use this as an excuse to lecture us again on how the policy is detrimental to the military’s readiness – I’ll also predict that he won’t mention that they outed themselves in order to be discharged. But this isn’t a new phenomenon – some of you may remember Bethany Smith/Skyler James who absconded to Canada when the soldier wasn’t discharged when she/he outed her/himself.

    I guess the value of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is in the eye of the beholder.

    Ooops, I should have checked VetVoice before i made my predictions about dicksmith.

  • Paramount’s Marauder

    Being a tool of the military industrial complex, I get emails from the corporate media about defense related stuff, like the one I got this morning about the South Africa’s Marauder, billed as the “The World’s Most Unstoppable Vehicle“;

    I can see how this truck might give me an advantage during my weekend trips through Home Depot’s parking lot, but it needs more cargo space. I wonder if I can get it with satellite radio and a cup warmer.

  • Military leadership disagrees with A’stan withdrawal plan

    Admiral Mullen and General Petraeus went on the Congressional Record as admitting that President Obama made his withdrawal plan against the advice of his top military advisers. According to the New York Times, Mullen said;

    “The president’s decisions are more aggressive and incur more risk than I was originally prepared to accept,” Admiral Mullen said.

    “More force for more time is, without doubt, the safer course,” he added. “But that does not necessarily make it the best course. Only the president, in the end, can really determine the acceptable level of risk we must take. I believe he has done so.”

    Petraeus added;

    “There are broader considerations beyond those just of a military commander,” General Petraeus told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “The commander in chief has decided, and it is then the responsibility, needless to say, of those in uniform to salute smartly and to do everything humanly possible to execute it.”

    In the Washington Post, Robert Kagan writes;

    It bears repeating that the deadline imposed by the president has nothing to do with military or strategic calculation. It has everything to do with an electoral calculation. President Obama wants those troops out two months before Americans go to the voting booth.

    This may prove a disastrous political calculation, too, however. If the war is going badly in the summer and fall of 2012, it will be because of the decision the president made this week.

    However, it’s not the president who has much at risk – he’ll only lose an election at worst. The troops are the ones who are going to pay the ultimate price with their lives and limbs as the chance that they’ll be injured increases as the number of troops draws down and the Taliban keep one collective eye on the calender.

  • Gallup: Military inspires confidence; Congress not so much

    Gallup took a poll of Americans asking how much confidence they have in 15 national institutions.

    Americans continue to express greater confidence in the military than in 15 other national institutions, with 78% saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in it. In addition to the military, a majority of Americans express high esteem for small business and the police. Congress ranks last among these institutions, behind big business and health maintenance organizations.

    Gee, I don’t know why…except that maybe the military does what they say they’ll do and Congress can’t keep their promises. Congress might want to keep that in mind when they’re looking to cut benefits and hike health care costs for military members…they may be joining the ranks of the unemployed next year.

  • It’s tough keeping all of those heroes’ names straight

    I first read this at Blackfive last night, and I should have known that my inbox would be full this morning. The President addressing the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum yesterday (from the CBN link that about fifty people sent me last night);

    First time I saw 10th Mountain Division, you guys were in southern Iraq. When I went back to visit Afghanistan, you guys were the first ones there. I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.

    Well, everyone knows that Sal Giunta is the only living Medal of Honor recipient (since Vietnam and during Obama’s term of office) and that Jared Monti was killed earning his.

    I used to have a problem remembering people’s names when I knew I couldn’t sell them life insurance when I was in that business years ago. I can’t help but think that same kind of memory block is at work with the President. He knows very few military members will vote for him, so there’s no real motivation for him to keep their names straight.

    But, you’d think he’d remember Sal Giunta since he said about Giunta “I genuinely like this guy” when he was awarding him the Medal of Honor.

  • Marines mugged by 2 unarmed men in STL

    Old Trooper sends us a link that sounds a bit funny about three marines who were attacked and robbed by two unarmed men during Marine Week in St Louis;

    Police say one of the suspects punched a Marine. Another suspect reportedly took a pocket knife from the other Marine and poked him with it, causing a minor cut. The Marines told police the suspects took one of their wallets and ran away.

    Police say a third Marine was also present, but was not fully involved in the fight.

    Marine Spokeswoman Capt Kate Vanden Bossche provides this reason that two criminals are still walking around with fully functioning limbs;

    Marines have been given rules of engagement not to engage in any violence except to protect their lives.

    I wasn’t there, so I don’t know, but it just sounds a bit unreal.

  • Gates dodges DADT bullet

    Speaking of dicksmith, Defense Secretary is expected to escape from the Pentagon without making a decision on the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell according to the Stars & Stripes;

    Two weeks ago, Gates said that he would finalize the repeal of the 18-year-old ban on openly gay troops if the service chiefs give him their OK before he retires on June 30. And in a message to commanders earlier this month, Army leaders said assessments on the progress and impact of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal training — underway since February — are due this Friday, leaving open a slim possibility that certification could come before Gates steps down.

    So Gates, for all of his talk about wanting DADT repealed, can walk away unencumbered by the label he’d have got. Like so much other shit he walks away from that he started. Adios, weasel.